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living healthier lives in service to the King!

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2 Free Video Courses to Master Meal Planning & Help Your Family Eat Healthier!

By Kelly · 61 Comments

Navigating MotherhoodEach year, I have the honor of teaching hundreds of women the benefits of meal planning, time-saving cooking techniques, and how to help the whole family eat healthier as part of Compass Bible Church’s Navigating Motherhood ministry.

Even more exciting is the fact that these these presentations are recorded and I’ve included both of them for free below. So now even more women, just like you, can learn these simple strategies for saving time in the kitchen, and be encouraged to help your family enjoy a healthy whole food lifestyle!

Video #1: Mastering Meal Planning: Simple Strategies for Saving Time in the Kitchen

Just click here to view “Simple Strategies for Saving Time in the Kitchen.” If you’d like the that pdf I mention in this video, you can download it here. It’s a great way to start putting these super easy, time-saving principles into practice.

I also recommend checking out the Meal Planning section on this site for more helpful strategies to save time and money. My prayer is that these free resources will bless you as you strive to nourish your family!

Video #2: Healthy Eating for Kids & The Whole Family

Just click here to view “Healthy Eating for Kids & The Whole Family.” If you’d like the that pdf I mention in this video, you can download it here. It’s a great way to start putting these super easy, time-saving principles into practice.

I also recommend checking out my Kids in the Kitchen section on this site for more helpful techniques for helping your kids and whole family eat healthier!

FREE GF Family-Friendly Meal Plans:
Just a friendly reminder, that I provide free monthly meal plans over at The Better Mom blog. Each week’s meal plan contains delicious family-friendly GF recipes utilizing a time-saving method to make getting a healthy dinner on the table a snap! I highly recommend you pop over to The Better Mom and download these free meal plans.

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Mastering Meal Planning

Filed Under: Kids in the Kitchen, Mastering Meal Planning ·

Kids Belong in the Kitchen {Free Cooking w/Kids-of-All-Ages Printable}

By Kelly · 5 Comments

Cookie Boys Stirring

No matter the age or skill level of your child, there’s always a task that any child can do. For details, be sure to download my FREE “Cooking with Kids of All Ages” printable. This helpful chart outlines age-appropriate cooking activities, as well as provides a few creative ideas for making mealtimes fun.

What thoughts come to mind when you think of kids in the kitchen? Inconvenient. Unsafe. Messy! Did I mention messy?

I’ll be the first to admit that it’s definitely easier to cook without children in tow, but is that a good enough reason to keep the kitchen off-limits? I don’t think so.

I passionately believe kids belong in the kitchen, and for more reasons than just to learn the important lifelong skill of cooking. For us busy moms with overflowing calendars, I know time is limited. Yet, let me encourage you that time in the kitchen with your kids is time well spent!

Here are just a few of the many reasons why kids belong in the kitchen:

• The Kitchen as a Classroom
Think of your kitchen as a fun-filled classroom. Kids can learn so many important skills in the kitchen, such as reading and vocabulary by reading the instructions in a recipe and learning the names of all the various tools and ingredients involved. Cooking also helps to build math skills through measuring and learning fractions. And of course there’s always a science lesson to be found in the kitchen, such as  how eggs help to bind recipe ingredients together, and how baking soda helps baked goods to rise.

• Helps to Builds Important Life Skills
It’s important for both boys and girls to learn how a meal is created from start to finish, so they can do it themselves as they get older and eventually leave home. It will be an invaluable skill you are teaching them – one that they will use the rest of their lives. Yet, there’s even more important life skills a child learns by spending time in the kitchen with you. Cooking together affords a wonderful opportunity to teach your kids other important life skills, such as time-management, organizational skills, responsibility and confidence. As you can see, the lessons to be learned in the kitchen are endless and are of great value!

• Fosters Teamwork, Strong Bonds & Memories to Last a Lifetime
Preparing a meal with your children is one of the best ways to foster focused, intentional quality time together. Planning and preparing meals with your kids gives you a wonderful opportunity to talk, laugh and accomplish something together as a team – it’s good quality bonding time and it’s a wonderful opportunity to build memories that last a lifetime!

• Provides an Opportunity to Nourish a Healthy Lifestyle
In the kitchen, in the garden and even at the market, we have the opportunity to make food come alive for our kids and encourage within them a love for real food, as well as help them to develop an understanding of how real food truly nourishes the body. By spending time in the kitchen with our kids, we’re passing the baton of healthy eating on to them with the hope that one day they’ll pass it on to their own children as well.

Ready to Get Started?
My hope in sharing this is to encourage you to take advantage of the many opportunities that come from spending time in the kitchen with your kiddos. And, to help you get started, I’m excited to provide a free copy of my FREE “Cooking with Kids of All Ages” printable. This helpful chart outlines age-appropriate cooking activities, as well as provides a few creative ideas for making mealtimes fun.

I also encourage you to take a moment to check out How to Cultivate Little Sous Chefs before you get started for some practical, helpful tips and strategies to make it a smoother process for you both.

And if you’re looking for some easy and delicious kid-friendly recipes, I invite you to pop over and explore the “Kids in the Kitchen” section of this site. There you’ll find many of my boys favorite recipes, as well as more helpful tips and strategies for cooking with your kids!

Remember, your time in the kitchen with your precious little ones is so much more than just teaching them valuable cooking and healthy eating skills, it’s about sharing and enjoying time together – building strong bonds and happy memories!

So I encourage you to welcome your kiddos into the kitchen with open arms and an open heart! Be assured that your patience and joy in having them in the kitchen with you will most certainly be blessed!

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Tips for Cultivating Little Sous Chefs
2 Free Video Courses to Master Meal Planning & Help Your Family Eat Healthier!

Filed Under: Kids in the Kitchen ·

Tips for Cultivating Little Sous Chefs

By Kelly · 4 Comments

One of my favorite things to do is cook with my boys! I can’t tell you the number of times they’ve come up with some pretty brilliant ideas for new recipes, or ways to enhance an existing recipe. Cooking together gives us time to talk, laugh and accomplish something together as a team – it’s good quality bonding time and it’s educational too!

For busy moms, I know time is limited, but here are just a few of the many reasons why spending the extra time to get your kids in the kitchen with you is so valuable. I encourage you to read my post on Why Kids Belong in the Kitchen for more important facts about why cooking with your children is so valuable.

  1. Got a picky eater? Kids are more likely to eat what they make, so getting them involved in making a healthy meal, will give you a better shot at them actually eating it. You can also use this time together to lay a solid foundation by talking about healthy food basics – but don’t just lecture, seek their thoughts and opinions and help steer them toward understanding the “whys and hows” of making nutritious choices.
  2. Kids are naturally creative and like to be helpful (especially when they’re little). Once they begin experiencing the accomplishment of making a meal that everyone enjoys, they will begin to take pride in their effort. And eventually, they may actually discover they have a passion for cooking.
  3. Kids need to learn how to prepare healthy homecooked food. It’s important for both girls and boys to learn how a meal is created from start to finish, so they can do it themselves as they get older and eventually leave home. It will be an invaluable skill you are teaching them – one that they will use the rest of their lives.
  4. The kitchen is a wonderful classroom! Kids learn so many important skills in the kitchen – including math skills, following directions, time-management and organization – the lessons are endless and are of great value!

How to get started …
Cookie Boys StirringIf you want to get your kids in the kitchen with you, here are a few helpful tips and strategies to make it a smoother process for you both:

  1. Be realistic! It’s important to be realistic in your expectations of this time together. Plan the cooking session with your child in mind – what his/her interests are, attention-span, skill level, etc. By taking time to think this through and plan an age-appropriate cooking session, you’ll have much more success at making it fun and interesting for your child. And the more fun it is, the more you both will enjoy this time to together! Curious about which kitchen activities are age-approriate? Be sure to download my FREE “Cooking with Kids of All Ages” printable. It not only contains lots of ideas for developmentally appropriate kitchen activities, but also contains some great ideas for making mealtimes fun!
  2. Be sure to schedule it on your meal plan! Plan time for cooking with your kiddos on a day when you’ll have extra time to spare – being in a rush and cooking with kids is a recipe for disaster (pun intended).
  3. Start off with an easy recipe – have them watch you do one of the tasks first, then help them do it once, then let them do it by themselves. When getting started, focus on age-appropriate fun tasks – anything that needs to be shaken, stirred, mashed – kids love that!
  4. Keep the time short and sweet (especially for little ones). Be sensitive to your child’s age- and personality-related attention span. For little ones, it’s important to have all of the ingredients ready ahead of time, so they don’t have to sit and watch you get everything prepared, but can instead immediately jump in and participate. After they’ve accomplished the age-appropriate tasks you planned out (or if you notice boredom setting in) thank them for helping you, and let them run off to play while you finish the meal. You can slowly build from there – increasing the time spent and the skills they learn – to the point where they’re eventually helping you execute an entire meal from start to finish. And of course, my dream is when they can completely take on a meal without my help at all – definitely something to look forward to! Even the most passionate chef enjoys handing over the apron every now and then!

The Kids in my Kitchen
I started my boys in the kitchen as toddlers with very simple tasks that they loved to do, like stirring and mashing – especially the mashing part – they are boys after all!

From there, we slowly progressed based on their age and abilities to include more and bigger tasks – adding ingredients, measuring out ingredients, reading and following a recipe, and right now, they are learning how to properly use a knife and how to safely cook on the stovetop, always under very careful supervision, of course. As they get older, my goal is to have them begin cooking some of their own favorite lunches and then as noted above, taking on dinner for the entire family by themselves – that will be awesome!

A little extra time and mess are worth it!
One more thing, if you decide to do this, be prepared for extra time and extra mess – but think big picture and don’t get discouraged! Remember, this is so much more than just teaching them valuable cooking and healthy eating skills, it’s about sharing and enjoying time together! Your patience and joy in having them in the kitchen will be blessed!

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Kids Belong in the Kitchen {Free Cooking w/Kids-of-All-Ages Printable}
2 Free Video Courses to Master Meal Planning & Help Your Family Eat Healthier!

Filed Under: Kids in the Kitchen ·

My New Cookbook is Here!

Welcome to The Nourishing Home!

I’m so glad you’re here and want you to feel right at home! My heart in creating this blog is to help you by sharing helpful meal planning strategies and nourishing GF recipes that are healthy, easy and delicious with thanksgiving to God! [Read More …]







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Please Note: All content (recipes, photos, text, etc.) on this site is the creative property of Kelly Smith of The Nourishing Home. You are welcome to share a photo via social media, as long as it contains a link back to the corresponding recipe from this site. However, re-publishing a recipe in any form is strictly prohibited. Additionally, please refrain from adapting recipes without properly linking back to the original recipe, and keep in mind that simple substitutions do not constitute an adapted or original recipe. For details regarding recipe copyright law, please visit the Food Blog Alliance.
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