You Too Have a Live-In Chef
Read more about: Daily Routines, Work-Life Balance, Working at Home
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If you’re like me, you hate to have to stop working to figure out what to have for dinner that night. It’s at these moments I always wish I had a live-in chef. Then one day it occurred to me, I have not one, but two live-in chefs looking for something to do!
So, instead of stopping my work for the afternoon, I asked my kids:
“Would you like to pick out what we have for dinner?”
“Yes!!!!!”
Before they could answer that they wanted ice cream sundaes and chips, I explained that they’d need to do the following:
1. Pick out a dinner recipe from a cookbook.
2. Check to see what ingredients we already had.
3. Make a list of ingredients we needed from the grocery store.
They jumped at it! I quickly learned that what’s a chore for me is fun for my kids!
So while they busied themselves in the kitchen looking at recipes and checking for ingredients, I kept busy at the computer. It was a win/win situation. I got more work done and didn’t have to think of yet another dinner idea. They relished the responsibility and got to pick a meal they were sure to like.
After they made their decision and the list was completed, we all went to the grocery store. It felt like an outing, instead of an errand!
When we got back home, they couldn’t wait to start making the chicken nuggets with honey-mustard dipping sauce from Emeril’s There’s a Chef in My Soup! cookbook.
Not only did my kids enjoying cooking dinner, especially when they got to shake the chicken in a bag of seasoned corn flakes, we loved the meal too!




Shannon Hutton draws on her experience working full-time, part-time and from home with three kids to blog about the universal challenge of achieving work-life balance. She also uses her Master's in Education and professional experience as a School Counselor to address parenting and school issues in her weekly 
“I quickly learned that what’s a chore for me is fun for my kids!”
SO TRUE!!!
For us it’s washing the dishes. And making the beds, but they tend to do a miserable job of that.
Vered - MomGrind’s last blog post..Shoes, a.k.a Torture Device (Wordless Wednesday)
And it’s educational!
Andrea’s last blog post..Using technology in your home(school)
Ooh - that is a splendid idea. I have the same problem - I’ll be up to my neck in a project for work, and stopping to cook dinner throws a wrench in my productivity. I might just borrow this idea from you and see what my monsters come up with.
Thanks for sharing!!
Dette’s last blog post..What are your kids listening to?
That sounds like something I could get into.
Now…my husband is the cook, most days. (Don’t say I’m spoiled…I know this!) But on the days that I cook…I could make it a family event!
Thanks for sharing this. I can always use an extra idea!

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My daughter cooks for us quite a bit and it always tastes better when she makes it.
Mycrazylife’s last blog post..Wordless Wednesday - Boston Chicken - It’s What’s for Dinner
I see a recipe book in the girls future.Great idea to get them involved.
And they didn’t pick Mac & cheese!
Love DAD
Great idea!