Two-and-a-half year old cooking Givech together with his sister: independently from start to finish

I am loving this age: when my children work, play, read, and cook together! Today, Adrian and Julia are making "givech" – my favorite dish, which is a caviar of mixed vegetables (what ever you have in your refrigerator) sauteed with onions and garlic. This dish is really simple, very delicious and super nutritious!

Montessori Toddler "Baking" Apron (the elastic neckband and velcro waistband allow independence for a child who does not know how to tie yet)

washing vegetable with a mini-vegetable brush 

Adrian is using a Carrot Peeling Activity

… while Julia is using a regular serrated knife to cut vegetables Adrian just cleaned

After a tremendous research, we decided to purchase an Electric Induction Cooktop, which uses magnet sensors to determine which surface can be heated or not. The cooktop activates electronic heating elements only on contact with the same magnetic sensors present only in magnetic ferrous cookware. So, a towel (or a baking mitt) laying nearby will not heat up because the cooktop sensors will not recognize the surface of a towel (which is not magnetized) as "induction-compatible" and thus will NOT heat it up even if you turn that burner on. Children of any age still need supervision with ANY heating elements, but I trust that this cooktop is pretty safe to operate, and that was the main reason we decided to go with this new technology. As you see, Adrian has to turn the cooktop on, choose the burner and selects the desired temperature. 

The cookware has to be induction-capable, or the cooktop will not "recognize" pots and pans, and will not heat them up.

Adrian is using a wavy vegetable chopper - which is easier to press down into something hard, like a carrot.
Julia is using a regular serrated knife (purposefully not the sharpest in my collection 🙂

Julia is wearing an Apples and Pears Apron from Esty

here, Adrian is using a blunt-tipped Serrated Knife to cut an eggplant

child-sized wooden spatula
adding salt, garlic powder and Italian seasoning 
Basil from our "garden"

p.s. my secret recipe ingredient is adding ketchup and some brown sugar at the end. Lastly, squeeze some fresh garlic and let the dish stand (or you might want to skip the garlic the first time you introduce the dish, since not all children might like the fresh garlic taste (:

My children LOVE vegetables (in any form, in all forms:) but for those who have not acquired a taste for different vegetables yet, givech might be a good way to introduce such food since most likely, children will eat what they themselves have cooked, even if generally, the dish is not on the top of their menu list 🙂

I would love to hear what types of dishes your children cook.