Little Chefs

As I’ve mentioned quite often before, we LOVE to cook and to involve the kids in the kitchen too. It’s a great time for quality family fun, it’s hands-on and creative, and they can even learn a little math (counting the number of cups of an ingredient, for example) and science (like how yeast works) along the way!

The boys love to eat pizza, but it had been a while since we’d made one, and I thought it’d be great to involve them in the process. We even added another touch of fun by making our pizza Halloween-themed.

To start, we got the Chef Boyardee pizza kit.

The boys helped me make the pizza dough – they each had to have a turn stirring:

Just a note – you can very easily incorporate extra flavors into the dough! I added some Italian seasoning, but you could add garlic powder, red pepper flakes, or whatever else you really like.

Now, earlier I mentioned we made our pizza Halloween-themed. How, you ask?

Pepperoni bats! We bought large pepperoni from our grocery store. Then Brian folded each one in half and cut out half of a bat shape, and voila! J helped us make the scene on our pizza (I cut out a little crescent moon, too).

What do you think?

I ended up taking the leftover pepperoni pieces from our bats and cutting them up into very small pieces to scatter around the bats. That way we didn’t waste any pepperoni, and we decided those were stars in the night sky. :)

Speaking of cooking, be sure and join me and some of my blogging buddies for a fun event tomorrow to really get you in the mood for fun in the kitchen! You’ll even get to see me and my five-year-old J working on another great Chef Boyardee recipe. Here are the details:

What: A virtual Cook-Along called Everyday Fun, part of The Little Chefs Project series on The Motherhood. 

The Little Chefs Project series consists of live chats called Cook-Alongs taking place every Thursday at 2 p.m. ET (1 p.m. Central for all you fellow Texans out there!) until November 15, and each Cook-Along covers a different topic around cooking with kids. Everyday Fun addresses how you and your kids can create fun, lasting memories in the kitchen around events like sleepovers or holidays, or around everyday events like family dinners.

When: Thursday, October 25, at 2 p.m. ET.  It will last 30 minutes.

Where: The Motherhood – This is the link to the page where the class will be held!

About the class: From weekend breakfast rituals to holidays like Halloween, you can find any occasion to cook up some everyday fun with your kids. Grab a can of Chef Boyardee and join in for further inspiration and ideas for getting started.

To participate, just click the link above, log into The Motherhood using your member ID (if you don’t have one, it’s easy and free to sign up), and chat away in the text-based comments. We’ll also have a video feed running during the half-hour Cook-Along, so you’re welcome to show up simply to watch if you’d like!

The Cook-Along is sponsored by Chef Boyardee, and it is hosted by The Motherhood.  You can visit Chef Boyardee online at http://www.chefboyardee.com/ or on Facebook.

Like I mentioned, I’ll be there with several other bloggers to co-host the class, and I hope you’ll join us!  The fabulous people who will be co-hosting with me are:

Brett, This Mama Loves Her Bargains  
Carrie, Making Lemonade 
Corine, Complicated Mama 
Kim, Shop With Me Mama 
Michelle, Ace and Friends Co.  
Roxanne, Children Teaching Mama

As if I haven’t already crammed enough fun in this post, I’ve also got a great GIVEAWAY for you!

One winner will get their own Chef Boyardee prize pack, with tons of great things included! Check out what all you’ll get:

• Kids’ kitchen measure and prep kit
• Kids’ recipe box
• Scrapbook album
• 2 Chef Boyardee chef hats
• Chef Boyardee adult apron
• Chef Boyardee child apron
• Chef Boyardee pizza kit
• Time capsule
• 2 coupons for free Chef Boyardee Beefaroni
• 5 Chef Boyardee recipe cards

This contest is open to all U.S. residents aged 18+. Entries will be accepted until the end of the day (midnight Central) Wednesday, November 14. By entering this giveaway you agree to the Official Rules.

Note: I am participating in the Chef Boyardee Little Chefs program with The Motherhood. I have been compensated for my time.  All thoughts and opinions are honest and are my own.

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Brian and I love to cook together – it’s always been something we’ve enjoyed, and now that the boys are getting old enough we love getting them involved in the kitchen too. So when I was offered the chance to be a part of the Chef Boyardee Little Chefs eBook, I knew we’d be a perfect fit!

My theme was Everyday Fun, and since it’s almost Halloween we had fun making “Boo Breakfast” pancakes and writing about ways to have fun for holidays and year-round. Here are some of our pancakes (this pic didn’t make it into the book):

And here are the boys ready to help me with ingredients (I think they did a LOT of taste-testing with the candy corn and chocolate chips!):

Be sure and check out our section of the book – you’ll even see a photo of our five-year-old, J, putting some Reddi-Whip on his pancakes.  But beyond our contribution you’ll find all sorts of fun tips, recipes, and ideas! So, be sure and take a look at the book and prepared to get inspired!

Note: I am participating in the Chef Boyardee Little Chefs program with The Motherhood. I have been compensated for my time.  All thoughts and opinions are honest and are my own.