Kids Can Cook

Teaching Your Kids How To Cook

Update - I have recently posted an article on the topic of Teaching Your Kids to Cook that looks at these benefits in much more detail. Please check it out and leave me a comment at the end of the post.

My daughters love to help me cook, and they really enjoy helping mom bake cookies and banana bread. I thought it was about time to address the topic of "Kids Can Cook" and the great experiences one can have teaching their kids how to prepare delicious meals at home in their own kitchen.

I know there are cooking schools for kids out there. I get emails every week from parents asking me to recommend them. Some of them are only 6 and 8 years old. Cooking classes for kids are great, but this is a great opportunity to spend a little time in the kitchen bonding with our children while teaching them some skills they will have the rest of their lives.

Remember - We All Have To Eat, So Learn To Cook & Eat Well!

My youngest daughter is 9 years old with cerebral palsy but that doesn't stop her from standing in her "stander," helping me whisk a sauce, stir the pot or grind herbs in the mortar & pestle. Is it demanding? Do they ask a lot of questions? Does it take longer to get the meal on the table? Yes, Yes and Yes but it is worth every second.

Some Advantages of Cooking With Your Kids

• Spending quality time with your children
• Teaching them life skills they will use for the rest of their lives
• They tend to try eating more varieties of foods when they are involved with cooking them
• They might develop a greater appreciation for food
• They learn food doesn't just magically appear from the refrigerator
• It's a great learning experience - they learn where food comes from and the differences between different types of food.

 Turning Onions Into Candy

When you cook with your kids, you can teach them skills to serve them for the rest of their lives. Many of them aren’t even skills you might first consider when considering cooking. How about sequencing and prioritizing? Cause and effect? Sanitation? How about communication and social relationships?

It really is amazing! Cooking with my kids is one of the most constructive and fulfilling ways to spend time with them. They can learn so many different skills, just the icing on the cake.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think you should pull out your mixer and, in the middle of creaming sugar and butter, say, “Honey, I want to talk to you about washing your hands.” That is a sure way to make your kids NOT want to cook with you. For another, it is completely unnecessary.

You don’t need a set lesson plan to teach your kids. Kids are sponges, and they will soak up the lessons from you because they love you, they want to be with you and be like you, and they’re in a relaxed environment that engages them not only intellectually but emotionally and physically as well.

When you cook, you need all five of your senses, and teaching through a multi-sensory activity like cooking will almost ensure that your kids learn, whether you feel like you’re “teaching” or not.

An Example Of What I'm Describing

A few weeks ago, my 9-year-old daughter Maddie wanted to help me caramelize an onion that I was going to serve with her favorite meal of steak with demi-glace sauce. I asked her to take a small bite of raw onion so she would have something to compare it to. She did, and her reaction is what you would think it would be.

After we finished caramelizing the onion I again asked her give it a taste. She "reluctantly" gave it a try and was blown away at the sweet, delicious flavor of this transformed substance. So much so that she wanted to write about it on my website. So here is my daughter Maddie's first web posting and I hope it's not her last.

Caramelized Onions

By My Daughter Maddie in Third Grade

Have you ever tasted a caramelized onion? It tastes like sugar. It tastes sweet, like putting caramel on onions, which is why it is called "caramelizing."

You might be asking yourself, "How do I do it?" Caramelizing onions is easy if you know how to do it.  But if you don't know how to caramelize onions, don't get scared because that's why I am here.

First, you need to know a raw onion tastes really spicy; it makes your throat burn, like putting pepper in your mouth and it's very sour.  That is why I don't eat them plain and like to caramelize them.  Here are my step-by-step instructions to caramelizing an onion.

What is caramelizing? By definition, "The process of causing sugar or the natural sugars in food to darken to a golden brown and develop a rich flavor by cooking on a constant heat."  And what does that mean? To make something really sweet!

Start by getting an onion and cut it in half.  Slice a skinny piece off both ends of the halves so when you are cutting the onion into slices, you make the onion stand up so it is easier to cut.  After you have finished that, slice up your onion halves.  Pop up all the rings in the middle so it looks kind of like a giant ring.

Next, turn on the stove to medium-low heat.  Put a little butter in the pan. Now it time to caramelize the onion rings. Put the onion rings in the pan and start moving the onion rings with a wooden spoon for 10 -13 minutes but don't let them burn but it's ok if they brown a little bit.  Then, you have your caramelized onions.  You did it!

How Does Daddy Caramelize Onions?

Be sure to read my cooking technique on how to caramelize onions. It says essentially the same thing but with more words. Check out How to Caramelize Onions

What Are You Cooking With Your Kids at Home?

Let me know what kind of cooking you are doing with your children in your kitchens in the comments area below. We can all learn from each other, what types of foods our kids enjoy cooking and eating the most.

Thanks,

RG