cooking lessons: graham crackers

It's a constant challenge for me to be creative in my teaching.

Teaching? I'm still so surprised that I ended up in the role of the teacher of my kids. Not just teaching them how to tie their shoes, but stuff like math. Reading. It's still intimidating, but we're getting along. And I find myself challenged to find ways to keep things interesting.

Last week, I was so inspired by this blog post at Local Nourishment. And thus I decided to start "cooking school."

Here's the deal: it's not uncommon for Ben and Kyle to show interest in working in the kitchen. Remember this post?

Still, I tend to resist. Part of it is knowing I can do things so much more quickly, neatly, efficiently. And while I readily admit to being a very messy cook, at least I'm aware of it. I do make an effort to clean up after myself. And I'm fairly sure that I'm not as messy as my two boys are.

Of course, I do invite them to help sometimes...but to be honest, it goes against my grain. It's a stretch for me. I'd rather do it myself.

But after being challenged last week by the idea of using a "Real Food Kitchen" as a classroom, I've made a commitment - to myself, and to them. Yesterday we brainstormed things they'd like to learn to make (they're pretty excited!), and today we had our first lesson.

The goal: homemade graham crackers. I used a recipe I found Wardeh by at GNOWFGLINS, click here to take a peek. We made the sprouted flour variation. The boys were so interested!




I let them be creative when cutting the crackers, although I admit that it pained me a little bit.


Here's the pan I kept a tighter rein over:

The thing is, they loved the experience. And they loved the crackers. I have a feeling that this could be the beginning of a beautiful thing.