| Cooking With Kids on a Nice Summer Day |
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By Kathie Smith
Toledo Blade Midsummer days can drag for youngsters. Many are not ready to return to school, but are running out of activities to fill their days. One solution: Children can whip up tasty creations in the kitchen with adult supervision. Many recipes don't require cooking with the stove. In fact, some are downright cool to the touch. Christine Palmer of Toledo, Ohio, teaches children how to make ice cream using two plastic sealable bags, four ingredients, and ice cubes. She had a dozen eager junior cooks measuring ingredients and following the recipe. Into one pint-size plastic sealable bag, she mixes 2 tablespoons sugar, 1 cup half-and-half and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and then seals it. The ingredients are mixed by rubbing fingers over the exterior of the sealed bag or mildly shaking. This sealed bag is put into a gallon-size bag that has 1/2 cup kosher salt or rock salt with ice cubes filled half-way up the bag. After it is sealed, the big bag is turned by the corners to mix the ice cream, just like an ice cream maker, for about 5 minutes. "Depending on their age, kids can measure ingredients," said Mrs. Palmer, who recently showed Dakota Holey, 7, and her brother, Matthew, 6, how to make ice cream. "Recipes teach how to use fractions." "It gets cold," said Dakota, as she and Matthew each turned a plastic bag over and over. "Grab the bag by the corner with two fingers and roll it back and forth," said Mrs. Palmer. "The key is to make sure the Zip-Loc bag is closed, or the salt will seep into the ice cream." For added flavor, the children sliced strawberries using an egg-slicer and chopped Oreo cookies into crumbs using a food chopper. The strawberries and cookie crumbs can garnish the ice cream or be put into the bag of ice cream. If adding to the bag, be careful to keep salt water out. Then knead the strawberries or cookie crumbs into the dessert. In fact, the youngsters' mother, Jane Holey, is planning a birthday party for Dakota next month. One of the activities will be making ice cream. "They'll eat the ice cream out of the bag with a plastic spoon," she said. "I won't have to deal with spoons and bowls to wash. On the invitation, I wrote, 'Bring mittens.' I'm going to have 18 kids, so I'll have everything pre-measured." Palmer and Holey are independent kitchen consultants with Pampered Chef. "We've done parties where kids send the invitations to their friends to come with their parents and help with demonstration of recipes," said Palmer. "We make snow cones using ice shavers, taco rings, and mix lemonade." Recipes come from The Pampered Chef: Kids in the Kitchen ($13.75). For more information, call 734-848-3270. Cooking with children also teaches them to use the right equipment. Sharon Dela-Hamaide and Carrie Ann Geggus have had classes for youngsters at Kitchen Tools & Skills in Perrysburg, Ohio. At a recent demonstration, they featured tasty snacks such as Apple Cinnamon Tortilla Dessert and Peter Cottontails. Both recipes come from Healthy Snacks for Kids by Penny Warner (Nitty Gritty Cookbooks, $8.95). Peter Cottontails consist of cream cheese, shredded cheddar cheese, and shredded carrots. After they are formed into bite-size balls, either by hand or by using a melon-baller, they are rolled into a cereal coating. For Apple Cinnamon Tortilla Dessert, a flour tortilla is spread with cream cheese and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. Thinly sliced apples and raisins are added before the tortilla is rolled like a burrito or simply rolled lengthwise and then sliced into bite-size pieces. As Dela-Hamaide's grandson, Ramone Edwards, 13, found when he followed the recipe recently, the tortilla should be warm so that it doesn't crack as easily. His grandmother recommends microwaving the tortillas for 30 seconds on 30 percent power. "There's a trick here as we fold it up," said Dela-Hamaide as she helped him roll and then seal the tortilla. "To make 'glue' on the edge to hold it fast, spread a bit of cream cheese and then press and seal." The wrap is easier to eat if cut into bite-size pieces. "The whole idea is to get kids to eat fruits and vegetables, which mothers are always trying to do," she said about these recipes. Some children have been so successful with cooking that they have submitted their own recipes in national contests and won prizes. Last winter, Jeanne Holt of Mendota Heights, Minn., found culinary inspiration from the Disney movie "102 Dalmatians." Her entry, Dalmatian Cake, was chosen the $1,000 first prize winner in the Kids Favorites category of the 11th annual Quaker Oatmeal Bake It Better With Oats Recipe Contest. The recipe was a white cake mix with 1 1/4 cups of Quaker oats. Chocolate chips provided the spots. A fluffy white marshmallow frosting cover with coconut and chocolate chips completed the dessert. Deadline for entering the next contest, which is co-sponsored by the National Honey Board, is Nov. 16. For information and rules, visit quakeroatmeal.com and click on "What's New" or send a self-addressed, stamped, business-size envelope to Bake It Better With Kids Contest Rules, P.O. Box 4495, Naperville, IL 60567-4495. (Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.shns.com)
RESOURCES :
The Cookbook for Kids
Model: 0962814806
Author: David Ferguson
(1991)
To order this title from Amazon.com, click here.
Abigail Publications
Perrysburg, OH 43551-9546
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