Hellobee

As I mentioned before, I love having the kids in the kitchen and Lion loves to help cook. Here are a few tools that we’ve found particularly helpful for cooking with a toddler.

1) Learning tower: A learning tower is an absolute must for a toddler! It lets Lion see all the action and stay relatively confined. When he was younger, we didn’t have a tower so he would either play on the floor with mixing bowls and spoons, or he would insist that I pick him up and carry him, so I would have to try to cook one-handed. The learning tower keeps him off the floor and gives me the use of both hands! I’m so grateful to my dad for gifting this to Lion for Christmas because it has been a game changer. Lion loves to be in the kitchen and starts clamoring for his tower when he realizes I’m going to start cooking.

2) Miniature measuring cup: Sometimes, instead of using measuring spoons, it is easier to use these tiny measuring cups that go up to a quarter cup. Particularly for wet ingredients, it’s easier for Lion to handle a small cup than a teaspoon. Lion also uses this sometimes when he wants to pour the milk into his bowl of cereal by himself.

3) Large spoons: Because we use large bowls, small spoons are easily dropped or lost in the bowl. Lion loves these big spoons because they are easy to grab and are colorful. He is also just super excited because they’re much larger than normal spoons and he will often try to use it to taste whatever we are mixing up while laughing like crazy. Panda likes chewing on these spoons as well when he watches us cook from his high chair, so they do double duty.

4) Small measuring cup: We have 1, 2, and 4 cup measuring cups. The 4 cup ones are just too big for him to handle, especially if we’re using a large bowl. It becomes too heavy and hard for him to pick up and pour into the bowl.  The 1 cup ones are ideal and I will often fill it up twice, though the 2 cup ones are manageable if the 1 cup one we have isn’t readily available. We use these measuring cups instead of the miniature ones if I have one cup or more of ingredients for Lion to add to a recipe.

5) Spice shakers: Lion likes to use the measuring spoons to measure out spices a lot of the time, but it’s also fun to shake them directly out of spice shakers. Because I usually can’t extract the spice jars from his hands once he starts shaking it into the bowl, I’ve learned to have him help me measure out spices from the jar with the measuring spoons and put them into spice shakers. When we’re done measuring out all the spices, I screw on the top and let him go to town shaking them out to his heart’s content.

6) Large mixing bowls: We have these mixing bowls and I prefer to use the large bowl when cooking with Lion, even if the batter or whatever we’re making only fills up the bowl a quarter of the way. When he stirs the flour and other dry ingredients together, they are less likely to go flying out of the bowl if they have high sides and lay relatively low in the bowl.

7) Instant Pot: I’ve professed my love for our Instant Pot before but wanted to give it another shout out. This thing is amazing! We use it all the time to make bone broth, beans, soups, stews, risotto, congee/jook, artichokes, roast chicken and potatoes, and more. I love that it can be used as a pressure cooker to save time, or we can use the slow cooker function to have dinner cook all day while we’re at work. It also has a great sauté function which is the setting I use when I cook with Lion. While on the sauté setting, the bottom of the pot heats up, but we’ve never had an issue with the rim of the pot heating. Lion loves to throw vegetables into the pot, squirt in some olive oil, season it with a bit of salt and pepper and stir it up with a wooden spoon. Again, I suggest that if you do this with your kids, you explain that they should not touch the rim of the pot and keep a close eye on them just in case. This piece of equipment is used several times a week in the Dolphin household.

8) Squeeze bottles: We transfer a lot of our condiments into squeeze bottles. They are very useful for cooking, generally, but especially helpful when cooking with kids. It’s easy for Lion to hold and he loves squeezing the bottles to add in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, ketchup or other ingredients. Beyond that, there are other great uses for the bottles. You can also cut the tips off to make the hole bigger and use it to fill cookie cutters placed on a pan for fun pancake shapes. Sometimes, I’ll fill one with just water and let Lion have fun squirting it into a bowl, which usually keeps him occupied for a good twenty minutes. We’ve also put baking soda on a plate and let Lion use a squirt bottle of distilled vinegar to have some fun.

9) Gallon sized Ziploc bags: These bags are helpful when I am marinating meat and don’t want Lion to touch any of the raw chicken because, inevitably, he will want to put his fingers in his mouth after tasting the marinade. I have him help me mix up the marinade in a bowl, then he pours the mixture into the bag while I hold it. I will then throw the meat into the bag, seal it up and let Lion squish it around for awhile before putting it in the fridge.

10) Pasteurized Eggs: Lion has a habit of wanting to stick his finger into anything we’re cooking and taste it. I would try to work harder at curbing this behavior, but it’s tough because Mr. Dolphin will often walk by while we’re cooking, stick his finger into the bowl and then into his mouth. It’s hard to ask Lion not to do the same thing! With pasteurized eggs, bacteria is reduced and the risk of food-borne illness is dramatically lower so I don’t worry as much when he wants to sample the uncooked product. We also use them for soft-boiled eggs or when we throw it into a bowl of udon or ramen where it may not get fully cooked. I will say that I find it more difficult to separate the egg whites from the yolk when using pasteurized eggs. They’re also significantly more expensive than regular eggs, but are worth it for the peace of mind. Luckily, they go on sale about once a month at our local grocery store, so I can stock up then.