Masterchef &The Great British Bake Off

We don't have a television, (could you imagine the arguments over channels or the Christmas lists from adverts with 6 children!) but we do have broadband so if there is something we would particularly like to watch we put it on the computer. Our family viewing over the last few weeks has had a decidedly culinary flavour. We have been following both Masterchef Ireland and The Great British Bake Off (having been tipped off by Grandma). Both had a similar vein with the challenges getting increasingly more tricky and one person being eliminated each time and we began to really feel for the contestants as we got to know more about them each episode!

The children have always been keen on spending time cooking and baking but these two series have captured their imaginations even more and our menu's have gone up several notches, as will our waistbands if  the current rate of pudding plus cake each day continues!

A while back I was finding that the number of sous chefs I had made producing a meal on time near impossible not to mention the mess that ensues when you have a couple of small boys 'creating' shapes in handfuls of flour whilst you're making sure another doesn't cut her hand off or get scalded whilst 'stirring'. Therefore in the name of health and safety, my sanity and to give each child a voice in what we're 'cooking up today' it was decided to allocate one day a week to each child as their 'baking day'. That child then gets to bake something for tea, choosing either myself or an older sibling as their helper if it's one of the younger ones. The older three girls will usually also take over the main meal for the day, hence our menu and shopping list boards. They were frustrated by, not surprisingly, the contents of our cupboards not matching up to the ingredients lists in the cookbooks they were browsing through so we are encouraging planning, whereby they have to put on the board particular ingredients before the shopping is ordered for the week. We also had to include the concept of budgeting at this point too especially once the lists were were leaning towards artisan!

I think cooking is such an important life skill and love that the children find such enjoyment in it. Meals are a big deal in our house and eating well certainly adds to the experience. Often when I suggest doing some maths Anna will tell me she'll be doing arithmatic and volumes etc. when she cooks as making anything in our house invariably involves doubling or even trebling recipes. They are also learning about nutrition and food groups as when they are taking over the family's food for the day they have to seek 'nutritional approval' and ensure that everyone has the opportunity to achieve their 5-a-day and get adequate protein and iron. This is further complicated in our house as neither Beth nor Eoin will touch meat or fish so there is a fair amount of creativity and thought required if everything is to be eaten as we have more than our fair share of 'fussers' too.

Making pastry creations from the left-overs is always a favourite occupation.