*This post may contain affiliate links.  This costs you nothing extra but provides us with a small commission so we thank you for purchasing through these links.*  

I originally intended for this to be a weekly series but I took a lot of blogging breaks last year.  I’m working on getting back at it and I really want to make this a weekly feature again because I love it so much!  By that I mean, I hate cooking a little less when I have my adorable little helpers doing all of the work.  I’m excited to share how a kids cookbook turned my daughter into a chef.

Since Charlie was old enough to sit, he has always loved helping in the kitchen.  He will be five at the end of June and he can cook his own eggs, quesadillas and loves browning hamburger.  He can do a lot more than that, but those are his personal favorites.  Henry is two and loves being involved, not always helpful, but always willing to lend a hand or spill something.  Maggie hasn’t always loved to help cook.  She could take it or leave it for the most part.  That’s basically how this mom feels about cooking, but hey – we have to eat, right?!

Anyways, I ordered the Start to Cook cookbook awhile back.  I thought it was pretty neat, but it kind of sat on the book shelf for a little while.  Then randomly, I’d see Maggie {six years old} looking through it.  Nothing more, just looking.   Every now and then she will pull it out and tell me we should make something from it.  It’s so fun to watch her not only get excited, but get involved.  Best of all, it is really helping with my picky little lady.  Last month she wanted to make a stir fry which really shocked me because it’s all things she normally wouldn’t eat.  She got to go on a special date with me to pick up the ingredients.  We all had fun checking out what ginger smells like and how it flavors our food.  She tried the stir fry without complaint and was actually super excited and SO proud of herself because she did most of it herself.

Last week she pulled it out and wanted to make pancakes.  Shocker – it’s one of her favorites.  It was fun to make the pancakes from scratch.  The kids loved helping to make these and she was really proud to cook them herself and flip them.  Turns out, they were delicious.  Henry couldn’t even wait to get to the table to eat them and laid down on the floor right next to where we were cooking them.

Start to Cook has made such a difference in how Maggie views meal time and it’s been such a blessing for our family.  It’s laid out in sections on the type of food.  It also covers things like allergies, substitutions and teaches food safety as you go through it.

Be sure to visit the rest of the Cooking With Kids series and get your kids in the kitchen.