Making 'dough'

One of Kiefer's favorite activities this winter has been making 'dough'. Dough is his universal term, for anything we mix up in a bowl or use the mixer for. Now to his credit, the vast majority of what we DO make is dough, but there are a few batters thrown in for variation.

He is great at scooping and pouring ingredients. He is not so great at stirring (well, he stirs, it's just that a lot of the mixture ends up on the counter.) He is also a fabulous taste tester. I'm constantly amazed at what this guy will taste, from raw onions to uncooked bread dough. One of his favorites is straight up flour. Yuck. But whatever floats your boat I guess.

Sometimes I tell him we are going to do some cooking, and other times he pushes his little chair up to the counter while chanting 'dough, dough', and I scramble to find a recipe, if we have time to whip something up.

He has made bread many times (hearing him say 'yeast' is hilarious), cookies, graham crackers, granola bars, cinnamon rolls and much more. He pleasantly discovered chocolate chips one day when several of them fell off the food scale onto the counter. He thought about tossing them back into the bowl, but then thought better of it and popped them in his mouth.

Happily, this all coincides with the launching of my new food blog: www.tallgrasskitchen.com. (However, we had some minor technical difficulties, so don't look for any content until Monday at least.)

If you haven't made any dough lately, Kiefer and I highly recommend getting yourself to the kitchen, putting on your apron, and getting a little messy. Warm weather will be here before you know it (really, it will), and you won't want to turn on your oven for a few months.