Cooking with Toddlers

Sometimes I think the most difficult part of working full time with two small kiddos is the rushing around that happens in both the morning and the evening.  Try as we might, there just seems to be no avoiding it due to our schedules and trying to ensure everyone gets enough rest.  Dinners during the week are thrown together quickly and are usually easy standbys simply because we know we can get them made in half an hour without thinking twice about it.  Even using the crockpot during the week can be difficult because so many recipes are done in 8 hours and I need something that is more like 10-12 hours.

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Because of our time constraints, the weekend tends to be the time when we have the most fun with food or branch out and try new things.  With that in mind, we decided to make pizza because we figured it would be a good meal that Enzo could help prepare and be involved in.

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Using my tried and true Weelicious cookbook, I made a fantastic veggie pizza sauce and really great pizza dough.  I may alter them a bit next time, so I’ll share the recipe once I do that.  Catherine’s recipes have always been a hit in our house, though, and great for our entire family. It’s not always easy to convince a toddler to try something new… or sometimes even old favorites for that matter.

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One area in my own life in which I need more patience, however, is when Enzo is assisting in the kitchen. So often it’s just easier to do it myself (as well as less messy and time consuming), but he gets so excited when I ask him if he wants to help me make something. He runs over to grab a chair from the kitchen table and pushes it over to the island so he can climb up and assist me in pouring and mixing ingredients.  I try not to turn my back too long as Enzo is known to stick his fingers in everything and loves the way flour goes everywhere when you stir it really fast.

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Anyway, I digress.  The pizza was a hit in terms of constructing it, but Josh and I were the only ones who really ate it.  Enzo had eyes only for pepperoni.

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