Sprouting a new ritual

One of my causes -- and there are many -- focuses on the idea of getting in the kitchen and cooking alongside your children. (I used to say "cooking with children," but that almost got me in trouble with DHR.) My 5-year-old girl seems to have a budding interest in food. The irony is that she doesn't eat much.

Her recent interest has centered on the produce aisle. Collard greens are becoming her obsession. She loves tearing the leaves in the precise two-inch square. She'll toss in a ham hock. Slog on a few drips from the molasses jar.

Of course, the danger comes when she wants to add them to everything. Soup. Hamburgers. Cole slaw (she made some collard-free slaw last night; it wasn't bad).