Multi-instrumentalist Tasha Platt had been performing as a solo artist with Calgary bands. Then she had kids...

So she was inspired to find a new creative outlet – writing songs for her young girls and giving out home recordings of her music as birthday party favours. They were a hit.

The Calgary International Children’s Festival loved her young-at-heart music and booked her. Then she hit the studio and started recording her own music and lyrics. On Big Bad Bantam Rooster she sang lead vocals and harmonies, played guitar, banjo, metallophone, percussion, bells and whistles – she’s one talented Mama!

Tasha and her Bantam Band released the album at a soldout show, in front of more than 250 enthusiastic parents and kids. (Her CD is available in select childrens’ stores, and can be purchased online at tashaplatt.com.)

But having children also required that she hone other skills: For ParentsCanada, Tasha tries out brand new recipes that she baked with her daughters, Priya, age six (pictured with Tasha above) and Seren age four, which the girls were eager to have taste-tested by their dad, Mike Platt, a writer for the Calgary Sun.

Ready-made tubes of dough that streamline the baking process miss the point, says Tasha. It’s the act of, together, measuring, stirring, tasting, shaping the dough, watching it bake and then decorating it that makes it such a happy holiday family experience.

These steps are divided into adult steps, child-friendly steps, and those that may need adult assistance.

Upside-Down Pear Gingerbread
Chewy Chocolate Crinkles
Sugarplums
Mini Pavlovas
Puffed Apple Pancake
Eggnog Sugar Cookies

Got a hankering for jam and bread? Check out Julie Van Rosendaal's Festive Irish Soda Bread and Cranberry-Apricot Marmalade.