What's Cooking? (Guest Post) In the Kitchen With Audrey -Today I Ate a Rainbow

My name is Kris and Audrey is my daughter. I started cooking with her as a way to keep her occupied while I made dinner. We began when she was around 21 months old. At this age she could not do much by herself other than helping with salads. I would line up empty salad bowls and place the ingredients in front of her, one at a time. It was interesting to watch her pop a favorite item in her mouth and to see how she piled all of the cheese or strawberries in one bowl. After a bit I would invite her into the kitchen to help add stuff to a pot or stir a dish that did not need to be cooked. She loved every minute and started to ask to help more. That was a year ago and we are still in the kitchen. We have graduated to more complicated cooking as well as baking. She still has trouble cracking eggs and gets batter all over the counter while stirring but we have a good time.

Recently our focus has turned to finding healthy ingredients for our meals. Kia Robertson, founder of Today I Ate a Rainbow stepped in to help us out. She gave us a Rainbow kit that has helped tremendously in the way we look at meal composition. Now we try to make sure that we have as much of a rainbow as possible at every meal. We make two or three quick trips to the store and farmers market each week to shop for a rainbow of fresh ingredients. Audrey’s loves to look for all of the colors and then will help prepare the food when we get home. Her favorite new side item is salad on a stick.

I never knew how easy it would be to get my picky eater to become excited about new foods. She may not like everything she tries but I am happy nonetheless. Please, visit In the Kitchen With Audrey and see how she does with her rainbow. Hopefully it will continue to be fun!

**Thank you, Kris, for your wonderful guest post for cooking with kids!