Oman family: The mess is the best

Lifestyle Wednesday 24/May/2017 18:16 PM
By: Times News Service
Oman family: The mess is the best

Preparing a family dinner doesn’t have to be a solo chore when there are helping hands nearby. Getting the children involved in the kitchen not only teaches them valuable lessons, but it’s also an opportunity to create fun family memories with a few spills and messes along the way.

“The dinner table is a great place for sharing the day’s events, but it’s in the kitchen where family memories are made,” says actor, dad, and cookbook author Freddie Prinze Jr. “Some of the best moments with my kids are when we roll up our sleeves and get messy while making our favourite recipes.”

There is no doubt that splatters, splashes, and spills are a mess, but these messy moments can lead to laughter and unforgettable memories. To encourage families to make time for fun in the kitchen, Prinze Jr. has created a series of “Messipes,” kid-friendly messy recipes that are tasty, simple to prepare, with handy cleanup tips along the way.

“One thing I’ve learned from cooking with my kids is to appreciate the time spent together and not worry about the mess,” he says. “Of course, the clean-up has to happen at some point, so I like to add a few cleaning steps to encourage my kids to help while we’re in the kitchen.” A trick he uses is to ask the children to fill a large bowl with warm water and a few drops of dish liquid, to quickly cut through the grease. Then, the children help by collecting the used dishes and place them in the bowl to make cleanup easier.

The first step to family fun in the kitchen is selecting the “Messipe.” One of Prinze Jr.’s favourite “Messipes” is: The Sauce. This tasty tomato-based sauce has enough steps and ingredients to get the whole family involved, yet it is also easy to make and delicious.

“Between the prep, taste tests, stirring and adding the Parmesan cheese at the end, the whole family works together,” he says. “This time spent with family is just as good as the meals we make.”