Kids Cookery - Recipes With Kids in Mind
By M Newbold
These days it can be a real challenge to get your children to focus their attention on learning some basic cooking skills that will stand them in good stead for life when they eventually leave home.
When my mother taught me to cook as a child, there were no computers, game consoles, or hundreds of TV channels to tempt me attention away from the kitchen. In fact it was expected of me to help prepare the family evening meal, and at weekends you would always find me peeling potatoes or slicing string beans for the Sunday Roast Dinner.
Even the preparation of the weekly family fruit cake eventually fell to me. I did not mind helping with the cooking, and I actually quite enjoyed it. Little did I know that my mother was slowly teaching me the basic skills I needed to become independent, and eventually provide for my own family.
Nowadays I am sure that the Health and Safety Brigade would have a thing or two to say about my use of sharp knives at such a young age, but I never once cut myself, and I also learnt about handling hot pans and kettles correctly so that I never had a burn or scald either. You can call it good luck, or you can call it life skills.
But when I remember back, although I did my fair share of peeling and chopping of vegetables, it was the good old fashioned lure of creating sweet treats that got me into the kitchen in the first place. Treats such as jam tarts, currant biscuits, apple pie, flapjacks, and fruit cake were just too tempting to turn down, and the promise of being able to scrape out the mixing bowl and lick the spoon clean was my extra special reward. Children naturally have a sweet tooth, so getting them interested in producing some simple sweet treats can go along way in teaching them basic kitchen skills.
But it is not just cooking skills they will be absorbing while in the kitchen. If you think about it, cooking is quite scientific. You are mixing lots of different ingredients together, both we and dry, to produce something completely different, so there is basic chemistry involved.
Also, to get the desired result of a fruit cake, you will need to weigh and measure the correct amount of ingredients, and bake at the right temperature for a specific amount of time, which in itself requires basic mathematical skills.
Regardless of how technical you want to make it seem, cooking as a family is a very social activity, it helps nurture children, and strengthen the bond between you.
So think of cooking with children as teaching them good life skills, social cooperation, mathematics, and chemistry.
But at the end of it all you will still have lots of yummy treats to gobble up for tea!
And on this note, here is one of my favourite recipes to tempt your kids into the kitchen, they can help with the measuring, mixing and pouring:
Flapjack Crunch. These start out quite crunchy, but after a couple of days become wonderfully soft and sticky, if they last that long!
225g butter
2 tablespoons golden syrup
225g soft brown sugar
460g rolled oats
Melt the butter and syrup in a saucepan over a low heat, or melt together in a microwavable bowl in the microwave.
Put the rolled oats and sugar into a mixing bowl, then stir in the melted butter and syrup with a wooden spoon, mixing until well combined.
Tip the mixture into a shallow baking tin and spread out and flatten with a spoon until even.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes at 180C, 350F, Gas mark 4 until golden brown.
Allow to cool for two minutes then cut into slices. Leave until completely cool before removing from the tin.
Keep in an airtight container or biscuit tin.
Ideal for lunch boxes!
When my mother taught me to cook as a child, there were no computers, game consoles, or hundreds of TV channels to tempt me attention away from the kitchen. In fact it was expected of me to help prepare the family evening meal, and at weekends you would always find me peeling potatoes or slicing string beans for the Sunday Roast Dinner.
Even the preparation of the weekly family fruit cake eventually fell to me. I did not mind helping with the cooking, and I actually quite enjoyed it. Little did I know that my mother was slowly teaching me the basic skills I needed to become independent, and eventually provide for my own family.
Nowadays I am sure that the Health and Safety Brigade would have a thing or two to say about my use of sharp knives at such a young age, but I never once cut myself, and I also learnt about handling hot pans and kettles correctly so that I never had a burn or scald either. You can call it good luck, or you can call it life skills.
But when I remember back, although I did my fair share of peeling and chopping of vegetables, it was the good old fashioned lure of creating sweet treats that got me into the kitchen in the first place. Treats such as jam tarts, currant biscuits, apple pie, flapjacks, and fruit cake were just too tempting to turn down, and the promise of being able to scrape out the mixing bowl and lick the spoon clean was my extra special reward. Children naturally have a sweet tooth, so getting them interested in producing some simple sweet treats can go along way in teaching them basic kitchen skills.
But it is not just cooking skills they will be absorbing while in the kitchen. If you think about it, cooking is quite scientific. You are mixing lots of different ingredients together, both we and dry, to produce something completely different, so there is basic chemistry involved.
Also, to get the desired result of a fruit cake, you will need to weigh and measure the correct amount of ingredients, and bake at the right temperature for a specific amount of time, which in itself requires basic mathematical skills.
Regardless of how technical you want to make it seem, cooking as a family is a very social activity, it helps nurture children, and strengthen the bond between you.
So think of cooking with children as teaching them good life skills, social cooperation, mathematics, and chemistry.
But at the end of it all you will still have lots of yummy treats to gobble up for tea!
And on this note, here is one of my favourite recipes to tempt your kids into the kitchen, they can help with the measuring, mixing and pouring:
Flapjack Crunch. These start out quite crunchy, but after a couple of days become wonderfully soft and sticky, if they last that long!
225g butter
2 tablespoons golden syrup
225g soft brown sugar
460g rolled oats
Melt the butter and syrup in a saucepan over a low heat, or melt together in a microwavable bowl in the microwave.
Put the rolled oats and sugar into a mixing bowl, then stir in the melted butter and syrup with a wooden spoon, mixing until well combined.
Tip the mixture into a shallow baking tin and spread out and flatten with a spoon until even.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes at 180C, 350F, Gas mark 4 until golden brown.
Allow to cool for two minutes then cut into slices. Leave until completely cool before removing from the tin.
Keep in an airtight container or biscuit tin.
Ideal for lunch boxes!
If you enjoyed this recipe, come on over to http://www.cotswoldfamilylife.co.uk for more!
Sign up for our FREE weekly email newsletter for lots of readers recipes, FREE kids crafts, simple games, frugal family fun, and time saving tips. Sign up from our home page at http://www.cotswoldfamilylife.co.uk.
See you soon!
Michelle, Joint Editor, Cotswold Family Life
posted by t_l_lynch @ 10:43 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home