As I’ve mentioned before I grew up in a big family and being a slacker wasn’t an option. You had chores weekly and they better of been done or there would be no going to the roller rink on Saturday with your friends. My husband Eric was a very self sufficient guy when I met him. He could already cook better then me (and still can), plus he can iron a mean men’s collar shirt. I’m grew up in the 80′s when wrinkled cotton was in. I prefer clothes that I don’t have to iron, (thank you for the dry cleaner and my love for good fitting jeans). I don’t have near the patience Eric does when it comes to cooking. A blessing from God above that he does because well the Johnsons we like food. Seriously, at any point if you came to our house and looked at our t.v. recorder you would see many food channel shows such as Chopped, Worst Cooks in America, Diners, Drive-in, and Dives to just name a few. What is so funny is how much the kids have picked up. We laugh at their critiques and our excited when they say we should make that or can we go there? We are constantly impressed with their love to try new things even if they still give us that kid excuse of “What is that? It looks gross.”
As a mom one of my main goals especially bringing up boys was to teach them that being a family is like being part of team. When everyone works together everyone benefits. When they leave my home I want them to know how to take care of themselves, and to do it well. So when we told Cole that when he started Middle school he would be responsible for one meal a week there was “Are you kidding me?” but he stepped up and asked “what I’m I suppose to cook?”
Over the years he has helped in the kitchen and has learned some basics of boiling an egg, making a grilled cheese, pancakes, and of course baking cookies. But this was the first time I really let him pull out the good knives and use the gas stove, and have to make a complete meal from beginning to end. We kept it simple and something that I knew he personally liked, taco salad. He did a great job (with a little coaching), and some basic instructions. Little brother was overjoyed to of not gotten food poisoning. (Yes, there is drama with boys too!) Over the next couple of weeks he’ll learn more complicated items but for now this was the perfect start and he actually kind of liked it. I’m looking forward to the day when I won’t have to come up with dinner at least one night a week.
