Making Donus on New Year's Day

  I remember two years ago on New Year's Day making homemade cinnamon rolls for the first time and feeling ironic that while everyone else was starting their New Year's resolutions to eat healthier, here I was gorging on mounds of white flour, butter, and sugar. This year, I kept with that pattern and kicked off 2016 making homemade donuts.
  My mother in law gave me two donut pans and 4 donut mixes for Christmas. Last night as we drove home from our New Year's Eve party and Ellie, in typical Ellie fashion, asked for a play by play of tomorrow, I threw out donut making as a lazy stay at home activity (for me) that she would find thrilling. Knowing it's all about delivery and that my level of enthusiasm typically correlates with my kids' level of enjoyment, we made a grand slam today while I took pictures for the blog (a new and exciting concept to Ellie) and she declared, "This is the best time in my life- being four years old." Oh, the one liners I hear from this girl!

  If you have kids do you cook with them? Do you enjoy it, or does it stress you out? I'd rather have the kids helping me than running around under my feet and creating chaos in the kitchen. I do get short tempered sometimes, but my kids really do quite well helping me. Ellie can make scrambled eggs all by herself. All I have to do is turn the stove on for her!

 

Did you cook when you were young? I remember making my way through the American Girl Doll character cookbooks when I was young. I remember the cucumber sandwiches in Samantha's book, and the Alphabet soup in Molly's. Kirsten's had some sort of apple baked good. I also remember a time or two playing a game with my best friend that we were really poor and we used the rhubarb out of her garden to make some sort of disgusting soup. Creating in the kitchen has always appealed to me, I guess!

  I used to love when my mom would hand me the beaters to lick. It was worth putting my time in in the kitchen just for that!

  The donuts were easy and fun to make, and come baked instead of fried, with a short list of ingredients- a big improvement from the usual.

They were delicious and very rich. We all enjoyed them, and took the extras to friends.

  An inspiring video on the benefits of cooking with your kids:
https://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/happy-families/a-recipe-for-a-happy-family-happy-families

One more resource to support the good that comes from including your kids in the kitchen:
http://www.zak.com/articles-7-surprising-benefits-of-cooking-with-kids

And one of my favorite, user-friendly cooking websites that gives you a step-by-step guide with each recipe of the parts your kiddos can do:
http://www.thelittlesouschef.com