K is for Kids in the Kitchen

It’s ‘K’ week, which makes me think of my favorite place in our home: the kitchen! Everyone knows that kids love to cook, and mine are no exception. One teeny tiny problem, however, is that I don’t like to teach kids to cook. Not even a little bit. I get impatient. I crank up the perfectionism. I wrinkle up my eyebrows. Mama ain’t happy… and nobody’s learning to love the kitchen.

But we homeschool, which means I don’t have to do it myself! We have a wonderful baker at our church, and she has come to my rescue. (Oh, how I love her!) She spends most days each December baking Christmas cookies: at least six varieties each day. Even better than her baking skills, though, is her willingness to teach my children how to bake up a storm without breaking a sweat. Spending time with her for the past two Christmas seasons means my daughters know how to take charge of a kitchen and produce delicious results!

So I’m happy to introduce them as my very first Guest Bloggers, and my in-house experts on Kids in the Kitchen.

First, a recipe from my middle daughter, who uses the pen name George.

these are really good!!!!! enjoy!! 😉

compost cookies
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup butter, softened
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 cup everything you like (such as chocolate chips, craisins, raisins, butterscotch chips, peanut butter chips, crisp rice cereal, crushed potato chips, coconut, etc.) up to 5 cups total.

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix sugars, butter, and egg. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt (dough will be stiff). Stir in everything you like. Drop dough by rounded spoonful about 2in apart (I make them big) onto un-greased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 min or until light brown. It will be soft until not hot. Do not worry! If you care, they are roughly 162 calories per cookie.  And now I, George, take my leave. Good-bye, O faithful reader.

Want to try some?

Oldest daughter is a good baker and a cookbook critic, as well. 

Cookbook review for Eat Fresh Food: Awesome Recipes for Teen Chefs

Book by Rozanne Gold and her All-Star Team
Photographs by Phil Mansfield
Review by Semi-Vegetarian Teen

This book is now my favorite cookbook. It has sections on breakfast, soups, pastas, sandwiches, salads, full dinners, and, most importantly, desserts. The recipes are well-written and easy to prepare, while still being complex enough not to bore. And they all use fresh, delicious ingredients that add vibrancy and flavor to each dish. The philosophy of this book is simple: make your food

• Farmer-friendly
• Ripe and Ready
• Easy and Exciting
• Sustainable and Simple
• Honest and Healthy

You can’t get much better than that.

Fresh is Best

And as long as we’re on the topic of recipes and the letter ‘K’, I really need to tell how I make kale chips. Move over, potato chips… now there’s something healthier! Here’s what I do: 

1. First, remove the stems from a bunch of kale.
2. Tear the leaves into chip-sized pieces and place in a gallon sized plastic bag.
3. Drizzle in a little bit of olive oil — only a teaspoon or two.
4. Seal the bag and let your preschooler shake it. Shake it, baby, shake it!
5. Dump them out onto a baking sheet and sprinkle with a bit of salt.
6. Bake at 300-350 degrees until crisp but not brown. I like to check every 5 minutes or so, removing the crispy ones when they’re ready and shifting the others around.

These keep well in glass jars if you can keep from eating the entire batch. I usually can’t, because they are the crispiest, shatter-in-your-mouth, bits of deliciousness I could ever hope for in a vegetable. They’re fantastic straight from the pan, or you can wait and crumble them over pasta or baked potatoes. 

Do you and your children have any favorite recipes or cookbooks? I’d love to swap. 🙂 And I’d enjoy knowing if you try our suggestions. Happy cooking!