Whoever told me that cooking with toddlers was a good idea was clearly an idiot.
Or maybe I'm an idiot for trying to take pictures and make jelly with a 17 month old all at the same time. Alone. For all future experiments I will either skip the pictures or make sure Jonathon is there to help me.
Today's "learning activity" was making jelly. We had 6 pounds of strawberries from the farm yesterday - maybe 4 since Promise had already been into them several times! Jonathon eats a LOT of PBJ and I buy the natural jelly with no preservatives and no corn syrup. Of course. He's not on board with the fruit spreads that Promise and I eat, but he likes that stuff. Anyway, I thought since strawberry jelly is easy to make (my Aunt had walked me through it and Pinterest provided the recipe) and might save us a little money I would give it a shot.
It was easy... except for the toddler helper part. I washed and cut the strawberries last night after she went to bed. I knew there would be nothing left if I had her "help" with that part. And knives are dangerous.
Today we crushed the strawberries in the food processor. She liked getting to push the button - buttons are one of the best things in the world! But we had to do it in a few batches and she kept trying to grab handfuls of the strawberry goop in between. I gave her some to eat, but the goop was much more interesting. That's what I get for encouraging so much messy sensory play.
Next we measured and poured in the sugar. As I was trying to get my camera to take a picture of US pouring sugar, she picked up the measuring cup and spilled sugar all over the stove and kitchen floor. Nice. Because it's not hard enough to avoid ants, we are now sending them personalized invitations. Aren't we sweet?
In the mean time I knocked over a glass of water because I saw her climbing the step stool by herself and was worried she would grab something she shouldn't. So the floor was wet and we were both barefoot. Don't worry, no one fell. Though Promise did slip a little in our battle over the step stool. Sigh. I gave her a towel and had her wipe up the water. That bought me enough time to get the berries and sugar mixed. Then I let her come back and stir a little. This was very much like meal time - she held the spoon in one hand and grabbed food with the other. It looked like blood on the kitchen floor. Yuck. She loved it though.
This was her first taste of refined sugar (aside from the sip of Kool-Aid she swiped from a kid in nursery last week.) Yep. I'm serious. And it was such a tiny taste (because I grabbed her hands and wiped them off before she could get more than a lick) that I don't think it really counts. I'm still holding out until either her 2nd birthday or until I need a new potty bribe.
After that I had to boil water, so she had to leave the kitchen. She was DEVASTATED. I even opened her new Hot Wheel Jeep that Daddy bought her, but she was only slightly pacified. She doesn't get to come in the kitchen often. I like the idea of having her help me. People say it is great to have toddlers help in the kitchen. Those people have obviously never been in a kitchen. There are knives and glasses and a hot stove and a hundred other ways to get hurt. I seldom have a recipe that doesn't involve mortal danger for a 17 month old.
In the end, the jelly turned out good. It has to sit at room temp for 24 hours and tomorrow I will put it in the freezer. We had so much fun picking strawberries and the jelly would have been a million times easier if done during nap time, so I think we will go back next week for more and do one more batch. That should keep us in jelly for a few months.
No comments:
Post a Comment