Making Mashed Potatoes

1st Post!

Hello! I’m Mumma Z. I have a sweet daughter, who I will call Kiddo. Kiddo and I like to cook together. Honestly, Kiddo likes to do just about anything with me, and I like to cook with her. She is almost 2.5 years old (SLOW DOWN, TIME!), and I started cooking with Kiddo when she was 23 months old. I just checked the date of my first cooking photo to be sure of when we started. It seems like it has been longer than 6 months.

Anyway, I recently sent my sister some of the cooking photos and she gave me the idea for this blog. I hope to share fun stories about cooking with my toddler. I’ll share recipes, tips, failures…

The first thing Kiddo and I ever made together was mashed potatoes. I waited until my parents were away so we could make as big a mess as we needed without horrifying them. 🙂

I don’t follow a recipe for mashed potatoes, I just eyeball it, but this is what I used:

• 4 Idaho potatoes
• low sodium chicken broth
• Earth Balance: Soy Free Buttery Spread (aka butter)
• Onion powder
• Garlic powder
• Salt
• Pepper
• large pot of water

1. Wash the potatoes.
2. Use a peeler to remove the skin. I did not have Kiddo help with this part because I was new to cooking with her, but I would let her help me do it now- with close supervision.
3. Cut potatoes into quarters, then place in water to boil until tender.
4. Drain water.
5. Use masher to mash potatoes, I started this and waited for the potatoes to cool a bit before letting Kiddo help. She loved this part.
6. Add broth, butter, and spices to taste (the adding and tasting are great toddler jobs).
7. Continue to mash until potatoes reach the desired consistency.

We didn’t end up making as big of a mess as I anticipated. But, please go into this expecting a mess. Do NOT cook with your toddler expecting perfection. If your kid is like mine, you will have spills (accidental and intentional), incorrect ingredients added, ingredients added multiple times and/or in the wrong order… But you know what else you will have? A great memory. A shared experience. A new story to tell (for both of you).

Thanks for reading Cooking with the Kiddo!