My Very Own Personal Chef

A few weeks ago (for the second winter in a row), Matthew started an eight-week, city-run program called "Little Chefs," for five- and six-year-olds.  Every Monday afternoon, he goes to a ninety-minute class, and participates in cooking or baking whatever's on the menu that day.  He wears his apron, and sometimes even a chef's hat that I bought him a few years ago for dress-up.  He has a great time, and I love it, too, because although he and I regularly bake together, I haven't done a lot of cooking with him yet.  In Little Chefs, they have the kids handling raw meat (for example, when making meatballs a couple of weeks ago), and teach them the hygiene involved in how to handle it and clean up from it afterwards.  While things are in the oven baking, the kids go into the gym neighbouring the kitchen of the community centre, and they play games. They finish off by being able to eat their creations.

Last week, they learned how to make little pizzas, using bread or buns as a pizza crust.  Since that class, Matthew has been pestering me about wanting to 'teach' me how to make pizza.  Yesterday was finally the day.  Late morning, though we were still in our PJs, I pulled a couple of 100% stone-ground whole wheat flat breads out of the freezer, and Matthew (very proudly) made our lunch:

First, the sauce, sprinkled with herbs (note: I asked for a bit less sauce on my crust than he saturated his with!):

Next came the tomatoes - Matthew loves tomatoes and you'll notice how many he piled onto his:

Finally, after cheese and some ham, and about fifteen minutes in the oven, the finished result:

They were pretty good, I must say, and made for great leftovers today, too!