sunday dinners

 I've been a looooong time reader/follower/obsessed fan of Mel from Mel's Kitchen Cafe. I use so many of her recipes (that's probably an understatement). 

several months ago she mentioned that her family uses Sundays as a day for her kids to practice cooking skills by rotating assignments for parts of the meal. her kids plan their part, make sure they have the necessary ingredients, cook and then clean up their assigned part. 

we have been doing this off and on since then and its really been a great thing for us! here are the assigned portions that get divvied out:

main dish

side dish (usually a veggie of sorts)

bread item (rolls, bread, breadsticks, biscuits, etc) 

dessert

I wish I had thought to document this with photos from the start because, although it is usually chaotic and our kids (mostly Owen and Charlie) still need a lot of hands on help to make everything from scratch, I've been so proud of what our kids have accomplished! and the best part, they are proud too!

here are a few recent menus we've had and who has prepared what. the main dish is picked first and then everything else gets picked to go along with it.

 loaded baked potato soup (Ellie), spinach salad with apples onions craisins pecans and homemade maple dijon dressing (jack), buttery pull apart bundt bread (Charlie) and funfetti cake w/ cookie dough frosting (Owen)

lemon roasted whole chicken (Charlie), French bread rolls (jack), mashed potatoes (Owen), salad (dad) and shortbread (Ellie)

chicken pot pie (jack), breadsticks (Owen), fruit salad w/creamy dressing (Ellie), and salted caramel rice crispy treats (Charlie)

grilled citrus and soy marinated pork tenderloin (Owen), lion house rolls (Ellie), roasted potatoes (Charlie), roasted asparagus (mom), and peach pie (jack)

here are a few pictures from kids in the kitchen, including when Charlie was getting his chicken ready. so glad chris thought to take some pictures and video! it was hilarious... he wasn't a fan of chicken skins or chicken cavities