For some reason, my kids decided one day that they wanted to cook dinner for us. They’ve never cooked anything before… and they didn’t want me in the room AT ALL.
Yikes! Stoves! Ovens! Knives! But I said yes, trusting that they would come to me for help if they needed anything, anything at all, and knowing I would be listening intently from the next room.
I started giving them kid-friendly cook books and ideas, which they promptly rejected, grabbing instead all of my adult cookbooks and running off to plan. Wouldn’t even tell me what they were making, except to ask me if we had any chicken.
So with that, Craig and I sat on the sofa when he got home from work that afternoon and listened to the sounds of our kids cooking.
Right as they were washing their hands and getting everything ready, I heard Clara say, in a happy and excited voice, “I’m ready to cook something delicious, aren’t you, Miles?”
The hope and the joy and the positive anticipation just radiated out in her voice and echoed across our home. It made my heart pound and it made the meal so much more exciting. I love that she deliberately chose the word *delicious*, felt the joy of getting started, and also reached out to her brother to share this moment… all wrapped up into one sweet sentence. “I’m ready to cook something Delicious, aren’t you, Miles?” Why don’t I start every single meal that I cook out with that type of inner excitement?
And guess what?
They decided on Chicken Spaghetti, from my The Pioneer Woman Cooks cookbook… recipe found on-line here as well!
No surprise. Even though they have never cooked one single thing in their entire lives alone (not even a piece of toast!) this is what they made.
It was something not only delicious… it was actually magical. The whole room felt enchanted… they had set the table with a tablecloth and placemats, used china bowls to serve it in… Miles put on jazz music and they had two bottles of wine out and had poured themselves fruit juice in their own wine glasses… they wanted us to dance after dinner was over… and as I twirled around the room with my little family, I felt the intention that Clara had spoken out loud at the onset absolutely *fill* the evening with deliciousness.
Thank you Clara and Miles!!! xoxo
