Recently we picked up a cookbook at the library because Elijah is always wanting to help me cook. I thought we could use a kids cookbook and give it a try. We used the Cool Italian Cooking by Lisa Wagner. It has your basic italian recipes; red sauce, garlic bread, fettuccine alfredo and lasagna. Plus a few others. We decided to go with the fettuccine alfredo and garlic bread because that is usually a winner when served to all my kids. The recipe was different than the one I typically use so we didn’t know if it would be a hit or a miss.
I put together salads first so that would be out of the way and I could focus on working with Elijah on the pasta and bread. My husband was gone refereeing so I knew that I would still need to be aware of the younger two while working in the kitchen. We made a couple adjustments because my grocery store didn’t carry shallots for the sauce so I used some yellow onion. I also had to make some adjustments for the spread that went in the bread because I didn’t have enough parmesan cheese on hand and I didn’t want to use 12 tablespoons of butter and 5 cloves of garlic (I just put some butter in a little bowl with 2 cloves because they were large).
We got the bread prepped for the oven. I let Elijah help put the butter on. I realized that this was a good lesson on learning how to hold a knife in your hand to spread something. He also got to try to use the garlic press but just couldn’t get it (I don’t like mincing it when I can use the press). Elijah always wears his craft apron I got for a $1 at Michaels when he works in the kitchen.
Note: Elijah didn’t use my sharp knives pictured. 
When the bread was ready and I had cut up the onion Elijah worked on the sauteing.
Then he stirred the sauce. This also required a lesson on holding the spoon and making sure you stir in the whole pan so it doesn’t burn on the edges.
And finally we have the finished product (I am not a food photographer).
The verdict: Elijah had two servings. He said it was “mmmm really delicious”. Josiah and Noah both ate theirs too. But luckily they didn’t ask for seconds otherwise daddy wouldn’t have gotten any when he got home later. It called for 8 oz. of pasta but the sauce would have allowed for more so I should have boiled more. The sauce was runnier than what we normally make but still very good. However, the boys weren’t real big fans of the bread. The said it was spicy (garlic). Next time I would probably just use garlic powder to tone it down a bit instead of real cloves. It also said to slice lengthwise and place the butter spread on both sides and then slice but that didn’t allow for the butter to get all over the bread. Maybe if I had used those 12 tablespoons it would have seeped farther in. :)
Overall it was a fun experience and very tasty too. It was kind of nice to have another set of hands in the kitchen. What fun have you had with your kids this week?
You can see that it has kids playing hockey and that alone got his attention. 
