Kids Cooking

[DVCLiz]

DD11 has leafed through a cookbook of mine, found a recipe for chocolate-dipped strawberries, and conned older DD into a trip to the grocery store. She's in the kitchen, having asked me to improvise a double boiler, melting chocolate and using the stove (I had a sudden attack of needing a chocolate chip cookie itis while they were gone and phoned in a request!)

I did go in and remove the cookie sheet from the oven, but otherwise stayed away and let her learn and have fun, with several reminders about hot stoves and many (in fact, all I own) hotpads in use. Still, I'm nervous as a cat - I remember when older DD was learning to cook!! I just don't want her to get a burn - she is going out of town with a friend on Sunday, then leaves for camp next weekend, and I want everything to go smoothly for her. Oh, the agony of letting them learn to do things for themselves!!!!

Anyone else have a DD or DS who cooks or wants to? How much do you let them do by themselves???

 

[sweet angel]

My DS14 wanted to learn how to make pancakes. I make them from scratch, so he had to learn to measure, mix, etc. First batch, I totally supervised, double/triple checked, etc., and I poured the batter and flipped the pancakes.

Second batch (the catastrophe), I kind of sat back. He didn't pay attention, measured wrong, got upset and dumped the whole thing. I made him try again and let him pour the batter and flip the pancakes. Aside from having some well done pancakes and a huge mess on my stove, they turned out pretty good.

He can also make jello.

 

[ChrisnSteph]

My 9 year old dd is getting the itch to cook. We got her a kids cookbook - Twisted Pretzels. It has some really simple and surprisingly good recipes in it. From really easy things they can make on their own, to stuff they might need a little help with. She loves it!

 

[Serena]

Kelsea loves to cook. It's pretty scary some concoctions she's made for me and I had to try. {{shivers}}

She knows I'll cry if she gets hurt so she tries not to get hurt.

 

[DVCLiz]

Well, as predicted, she ran out of strawberries before she ran out of chocolate, so I just went in and she is dipping LEMON WEDGES in chocolate!!!!!!! I am dying laughing here...but she did a great job and she didn't burn herself! Now, about that clean up...

 

[Jenn Lynn]

DD is almost 4. She has been helping me bake since she was 2. The first thing she learned was how to crack an egg. She is great at it. No shells.

Yesterday we made a cake and I was teaching her the levels on a measuring cup. Tonight she learned the names of 3 different kinds of cheese, what 'ziti' is, and what 'puree' means when she helped me make dinner. She also ate 1/3 cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese.

I remember my Child Development teacher telling us she taught her DD fractions and measuring conversions at a young age through cooking. Hopefully I can teach the same to DD.

 

[HTH]

Sounds yumalicious!

 

[mudnuri]

Well, as predicted, she ran out of strawberries before she ran out of chocolate, so I just went in and she is dipping LEMON WEDGES in chocolate!!!!!!! I am dying laughing here...but she did a great job and she didn't burn herself! Now, about that clean up...

DD's do this when they make chocolate dip from Rachel Ray's kids cookbook....some nasty stuff being dipped in the chocolate!

Both of my girls have been in the kitchen since they were very little. DD8 has graduated to me, just being in the kitchen, i let her do the oven etc. herself as long as the cookware is not that heavy etc... She makes all kinds of stuff. I highly recomment rachel rays 30 minute meals for kids- "cooking rocks" book. It goes from young recipe's- to teen recipes.

She "cooks" one night a week....

DD7 likes to make brownies, and cupcakes stuff like that. She's not into chopping, (unless she can run my PC chopper)....but for the most part, she wants to make fun stuff to eat LOL... DD8 wants to make MEALS.

Both my mom and my X DMIL are bakers, so the girls always bake something when they go to either of those houses....they have a blast.

Matter of fact, DD8 has her own set of wooden spoons, an apron, and most of the "double" PC utensils I have she has claimed to herself, and has her own "junk drawer" with them all in it in the kitchen.

Brandy

 

[Sparx]

I don't remember when I learned to cook. I am still learning, I have been cooking for years and I always find something new to try. My friends are amazed when I cook something that they eat, they are like, "OMG! She can cook!!" lol. I don't think that you ever stop learning, because there is always something else to try. I can make alot of things now, and I have won baking contests, but still, when people ask me if I know how to cook, I say that I will always be learning more than I know now. profound... lol

 

[teacherforhi]

I don't have children, but I have students and they love to cook! Every Friday, I have two "chefs" (supposedly for good behavior, but I try to make sure everyone gets a chance at some point) cook for the class for our reward time. We do a variety of foods and of course, the chefs are carefully supervised. It always amazes me how much they love to cook though. Even the boys! Depending on the physical and/or mental ability of the student, I try to let them do as much as possible. This might mean I arrange so non-reading students get simpler recipes on picture cards, but they really never seem to pay attention to that. They're only concerned with getting thumbs up from their classmates.

 

[betsyboop]

My DD10 made dinner for us the other night - Cajun Shrimp. It honestly was one of the best dinners I've had in a while. She found the recipe in the ccokbook and begged for the ingredients. I was a little leery, but she did a great job! What made it even better was her sister doing the dishes!

 

[disykat]

My son who just turned 10 has alway liked to cook and has been helping me in the kitchen from quite young. I still supervise each step and he's a bit clumsy, but quite confident and proud of his ability. My 12 year old, on the other hand, has only cooked when he had to for school and is scared to death of it. He had to make cookies for a project and made me handle the oven - he wouldn't even go near it. Even when he needed salt dough for a relief map, he made me help. He was hilarious. "Do I put this flour in now? Do I pour this salt in here? Do I add the water now? How do I stir it?" My normally confident son is totally tenative in the kitchen - he's a real perfectionist and is just terrified it won't be "right". He chose to make cookies again as part of his country project (the other ones were for his state project last year) and he'll be making them later this week. It should be interesting to see if I can get him near the oven. (This is the same child who loves to be in charge of the fire when camping and uses power tools with his dad - for some reason he's just nervous in the kitchen.)

 

[DVCLiz]

Today she is making cookies -having learned the valuable lesson that when you come home from the grocery store, you should put all the groceries away before you begin cooking, or you will probably leave the bag containing a dozen eggs on the counter overnight and then your mom will make you throw them away and scare you with dire warnings about food poisoning and salmonella, and then she will make you wait until it is convenient for HER before she takes you to the grocery store and makes you spend your own money on them!!!! Actually I did give her some money but she chose to use her own, so I let her!!)