So easy a 9-year-old could make it! **DISCOUNT CODE**

I am a firm believer in teaching kids life skills they'll need to become functioning adults, and one of the biggies on my list is teaching them to cook. Fortunately, my 9-year-old has recently taken a really keen interest in cooking. When Chef's Plate generously offered to send me a package for review, I knew this would be a golden opportunity to foster her love of cooking.

I was able to choose 2 meals from their weekly menu. I chose two I knew C would like: Chicken Tikka Masala Meatballs and Irish Chicken Pot Pie. We were so excited when this showed up at our door:

C was immediately asking, "Can I make this tonight?!" which I knew would happen, so the Chef's Plate meals were already on the menu plan. Nope, not my first rodeo. <pats self on the back for the forethought>.

Here's what was inside:

All of the ingredients for each meal were packed separately, except for the meats, which were packed on dry ice on the bottom of the insulated box:

Everything was packaged beautifully! The ingredients were still very cold, just as though they had come out of the fridge, even though we didn't open the box for a while after we got it. Kudos to Chef's Plate for that!

The first recipe we decided to make was the Turkey Tikka Masala Meatballs with rice. We laid out all of the ingredients before getting started:

Everything is labelled clearly -- no guesswork involved here! That's sets a young chef (or even an inexperienced adult one!) up for success right from the get-go. The ingredients are all preportioned and prepped where possible, too. The garlic was peeled, for example, and the crushed tomatoes were in exactly the size carton that was needed for the recipe.

One of the best features of Chef's Plate when it comes to getting young people involved in the kitchen is the recipe cards. These are a full 8 1/2 x 11-inch size, with beautiful photographs. Each step is outlined clearly and concisely, allowing young chefs to easily read and follow the directions without much guidance. Also, if you have nutrition concerns in your house (counting macros, following Weight Watchers, etc.) all of the nutrition information is laid out for you on the recipe card, too. (It's also on the bag of ingredients).

Now it was time to get started. I was called off the process with a declaration of "I can do it all myself, Mama." Fair enough. I will play a supervisory role only. Time to let the kiddo shine!

And boy, did she.

Let me wax a little parentally poetic here for a moment. There is a moment of conflict in a mother's life when she simultaneously feels pride in her child's newfound confidence and independence and wistfulness for the days when she was more needed. This exercise was, for me, that moment. As I stood by and watched her read the directions (a feat in itself, since she was once a struggling reader way below the curve), execute the instructions and do so with a can-do attitude I really hadn't seen to quite that extent before, I was proud. Oh, so very proud. But as most of you mamas can probably understand, I secretly held my breath, waiting for her to turn to me and said, "Can you help me, Mama?"

That moment did not come.

She made the entire meal, start to finish, on her own.

(Perks of being the chef including sampling as you go!)

The result was a very delicious home-cooked meal bursting with flavour, and all of the ingredients came right to our door! The meal selections were varied and tempting, meeting a variety of tastes and preferences, including some vegetarian options. They offer 2- and 4-person plans, so you can cater (see what i did there?) your choices according to how many you are feeding. Every week there's a new menu, so there's always something new and delicious to try.

Here's the finished product and the proud chef! This meal was absolutely delicious, as was the Irish Chicken Pot Pie.

If you want to give Chef's Plate a try for yourself, I have a present for you! If you use the referral tag "#3PLUSABUNNY" you'll get 3 FREE meal credits! Check out the weekly menu here. If you give Chef's Plate a try using my tag, post a picture and tag me! I'd love to see what you made. I"m 3PlusaBunny on FB, IG, Twitter, and YouTube. Let's be friends!

Thank you to Chef's Plate for generously sending us these two meals and for offering the discount to you, my lovely readers.

#subscription #cooking #kids #recipes