Sunday, Fun Day...

By far, my favourite pastime on Sundays is baking with my daughter. I admit, I was not very big on baking until my husband bought me all new kitchen appliances a couple years ago. They were so shiny and new, I just had to use them but who has time to read instructions? I mean, it's a simple concept: throw all the ingredients in the stand mixer, turn on the oven to the desired temperature, throw in the cookie dough, and voila, you have cookies, right? Not right. After a hideous first attempt at baking chocolate chip cookies, my dear friend DP, a typical Southern Belle, gave me a hands-on tutorial in the "labour of love" that baking entails. I was hooked.

Every Sunday morning, before my NASCAR race, (yes, Black people watch NASCAR too), I would spend some quality time with my daughter baking something special. We started out with chocolate chip cookies at first. Now, we have graduated to more complex sounding recipes, which gives her a sense of growth and accomplishment. Of course, the recipes are still quite basic but who's gonna tell her? Today, we are making homemade "Sicilian Styled Pizza".

Baking with a child is really simple when you've got great tools. My favourite kitchen gadgets are my KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer and the KitchenAid Food Processor, again courtesy of my husband. Pizza dough takes all but 15 minutes in prep time and mixing in the food processor. And my daughter loves the baking process. There's added educational benefits as well. She gets to learn math measuring the ingredients. She learns reading comprehension following the recipe. And at the end of it all, after much patience, she gets to eat her favourite dish, pizza.

One Love, Se'Lah

For some great child-friendly recipes, check out: http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/kids.cfm