I've been teaching my 10 year old son to cook...

[catabryna]

Today we made chicken pasta salad. What recipes are you teaching your kids?

[Denninmi]

1. Good for you.

Personally, my only "child" is a springer spaniel, and he's more trouble in the kitchen than he's worth. He'd do a great job if part of the food prep was "steal the cheese" or "lick the raw steak".

Seriously, I grew up watching my father act all stupid and helpless in the kitchen. His attitude was that cooking was "woman's work" and he thought it was my mother's job to boil every cup of water and wash every fork he ever used.

I never wanted to be like that. I love to cook, and I am capable of doing any other kind of domestic chore with the exception of sewing -- anything more complicated than sewing on a button or hand stitching a simple seam that has come out is beyond me.

Boys should be taught to take care of themselves, and to learn how to care for others if need be. It doesn't make them any less "manly" -- IMO, it makes them more so. Frankly, if I were looking for a wife, I think I would be a great catch, but I'm NOT looking.

[catabryna]

2. Well, I'm not looking for a husband...

I've been through two of them... one I willingly left, and one who was unwillingly taken away from me. My son has high-functioning autism, so it's even more important to me that he learn to take care of himself. He's 10 and I'm nearly 46. I could be hit by a bus any day now. :)

But, just because your child is a spaniel, doesn't mean you don't have a "kid-friendly" recipe to share. Any suggestions?

[grasswire]

3. my former husband's "shtick" in the kitchen is to cook wildly...

...and grandly, using every possible piece of cookware. Flour on the stove, dribbles and mess. And then someone else gets to clean it up. He doesn't clean as he goes, or do any washing up. Fortunately, his second and now third wives took over that task. Ha! What a prize.

[catabryna]

13. I can understand that...

my deceased husband made the mess, I cleaned it up... but, I REALLY appreciated the fact that he cooked for me. :)

[trud]

51. Denninmi

No kids, no spouse - what do you do with the gigantic amount of produce from your garden?

[grasswire]

4. an omelet is always a useful thing

I recall seeing a copy of Esquire magazine a couple of years ago that touted pancakes as the recipe every young man should carry in his wallet.

Other ideas:

A white sauce

Cornbread

Bruschetta

Grilled cheese sandwich

[catabryna]

6. We've covered the grill cheese sandwich...

Cornbread is a good idea. Thanks.

Too bad he doesn't like chili. The two go together.

[catabryna]

7. Oh, and we've also done a frittata

(I don't know if I've spelled that right)

[elleng]

5. Nice idea. You may enjoy these, Cooking w Dexter, from NYT.

http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/features/magazine/series/cooking_with_dexter/index.html

[catabryna]

8. Great link...

bookmarked it.

Thanks. :)

[Duer 157099]

9. Focusing more on techniques than recipes

Although the one recipe that I taught my son (and only because he really wanted to know it) was for salsa.

I'm trying to make sure that he knows all the basics of fending for himself in the kitchen. How to boil water (lol) and make coffee or hot chocolate, make scrambled eggs and toast, pasta, steamed veggies, steak, chips and salsa.

How to care for my cast iron pan (! this is a critical one), how to reheat leftovers properly, use of the blender to make smoothies, knife skills.

He's no chef but he's probably way ahead of many males his age.

[catabryna]

12. We made homemade spaghetti sauce a couple of days ago...

Being a little kid, it's always a struggle to get him to eat, but he loved it.

We have also made pizza using flat pita bread. He has a lot of fun with that.

[Phentex]

24. Excellent advice! Add making rice to the list...

I remember many college nights eating rice for dinner, ha!

Rice is not difficult to make if you measure properly and watch the heat. I don't know why so many people struggle with it. When I was growing up and fending for myself I made a creamy concoction of rice and Parmesan cheese. Years later I figured out it was an early attempt at risotto!

Like another person below said, I also like to teach them to make the things they like to eat most.

[Tesha]

29. IMNSHO, the automation provided by a rice cooker is well worth the money spent.

The tricks with cooking rice, of course, are 1) getting the rice/water
proportions right and then 2) knowing when to take it off the heat
so it has absorbed all the water but not yet started to burn. The
rice cooker automates that critical second step so you can focus
on everything else you're cooking while the rice "cooks itself".

Tesha

[trud]

52. rice

Or, buy Uncle Ben's Ready Rice, 90 seconds in the microwave and it's done.

[Tesha]

10. My grandsons helped us make pasta

from scratch - then turned it into various shapes including ravioli.
That was fun - and tho' they're picky eaters - they ate seconds!

[catabryna]

11. We made homemade pasta ravioli

a couple of weeks ago... we had so much fun. :)

[cbayer]

14. Quesadillas!

Easy and he can put whatever is around and he likes in them.

I might try lasagna as well. My kids loved the layering of the various ingredients. Plus it's an inexpensive meal for entertaining guests and freezes well.

Good work!

[catabryna]

17. Awesome idea...

simple and fun (quesadillas). Lasagna works good, but I'm picky, so it's a bit more work. I like to make the pasta with my kid.

Thanks! :)

[beac]

15. My pre-teen godson has a real interest in cooking

but doesn't get much opportunity to practice at home(three siblings and busy schedules), so whenever he visits we make a point to cook together.

Some of his favorites have been Asian stir fries and curries (easy, fun and lots of variations possible), a cheesy breakfast casserole (made with faux sausage in this vegetarian house, which he declared even better that the 'real' kind) and a mixed berry sauce which we used on everything from ice cream to pancakes. He also loves seafood and came up with a quite tasty caper marinade for salmon steaks and did a nice job with pan-seared scallops seasoned with Old Bay.

I'm childless by choice, but it makes me so happy that I can pass my love of cooking down to him.

[catabryna]

18. My son likes scallops...

but curry is a bit much for him. He likes veggies, but I have to find a way to add calories. He's only about 42 lbs. at 10 y/o.

He loves smoked Salmon. We are in Oregon, so we go with Tony's Fish Market for that. I look for the Omega 3s. Brain food, ya know?

I do my best to get the most caloric intake. I look less to spicy stuff.

Sometimes, I will admit, I have to resort to junk to get it all to work out.

[beac]

20. If it's mega-calories you want, that breakfast casserole is a winner!

;)

My godson is a skinny kid too. Bet they'll grow up to be the kind of eat-whatever-they-want gourmands that stay slim and trim no matter how much they gobble.

Slightly more exotic variations on grilled cheese sandwiches could be another fun and easy way for him to make tasty (and full of calories) meals. Cheddar, bacon & avocado is a good one (thank goodness for me Morningstar farms makes a faux bacon so I can still indulge.)

Does he like soup? Those are fun to make too. And most freeze well.

[KC]

16. How about

some kind of soup? Like an easy vegetable soup? It always goes good with grilled cheese sandwiches too.

Scrambled eggs, bacon ?

Fruit salad, just any combination of whatever fruit he likes

[catabryna]

19. We made lima bean soup last week...

We make scrambled eggs and bacon. Of course, it takes him until 2pm to eat it! He loves fruit.

Especially tomatoes and cucumbers. He loves oranges and granny smith apples.

[beac]

21. LOL. I didn't see your post when I replied above.

Great minds. ;)


I think soup and grilled cheese is destined to be tomorrow's dinner!

[catabryna]

22. Avocados...

Those are especially good... high calories... high fat content, but healthy.

[pinto]

23. My mom "showed me around " the kitchen by having me work on stuff I liked.

Tuna salad (prepping a number of things to toss together), grilled cheese (working a pan on the stove), hard boiled eggs (timing a dish), oatmeal with diced fruit (building on a simple basic dish), meatballs (melding raw ingredients, then cooking) and the ever popular pot luck from the refrigerator (making do with what's on hand), etc.

(on edit) The refrigerator pot luck was a game of sorts. Find what can we make out of this. In a way, I think she meant it as my final "exam" in the kitchen before I moved on to other things...

I found it really fun and got some good, basic skills out of it all. :hi:

[catabryna]

36. Oh, meatballs, good idea.

He's tried hamburger patties, with a rolling pin. That was fun. The kid hates oatmeal; it's a texture thing. Malt-o-meal would be a good alternative. Right now, we work mostly on prep because he's so short he can't safely work on the stove just yet; and it makes him nervous.

[pinto]

45. Meatballs are fun. And they can be any number of combinations.

:hi:

[pengillian101]

63. Wow.

Lucky you - your Mom did a great job of teaching!

:hi:

[Tesha]

25. Breads...

dinner rolls, breakfast breads like cinnamon rolls, quick breads like zucchini, batter breads


muffins!


:9

[catabryna]

37. Great ideas....

especially the quick and batter breads. mmmmm.... banana bread. :)

[Tesha]

26. Eggs!

custards, bread pudding, custard fillings
If you want some fun calories!


quiche and frittata and omelets of all kinds

[Phentex]

27. This thread warms my heart!...

I know many adults who claim they can't cook. I have described how to make hard boiled eggs to more than a few. I know people who won't attempt to make a cake or cupcakes even from a box cake mix. I don't know if they had parents who didn't cook or were just not interested but I find it puzzling that even the basics were never taught.

I applaud everyone here for passing on their knowledge to their kids and grand kids!

:toast:

[catabryna]

39. I enjoy cooking...

I learned it because I needed to... single mom with little brother and sisters. I think I learned more cooking techniques from my grandma even though I didn't see her often.

[Arkansas Granny]

28. I started my kids off with basics like how to cook pasta, fry hamburgers,

fix eggs and other simple things and built from there. The more they learned, the more they wanted to cook. With every new recipe they gained new skills. They are all good cooks now that they are adults.

[Monique1]

30. I taught my son how to cook, clean and sew buttons

before he was 10 yrs. old. I taught my daughter the same. I told them if something ever happened to me I want them to be able to exist without me. They are both very self sufficient and tough, tough in a positive way. Throughout my life I arranged my house or apartment to the point if I had no lights or lost my vision I could exist. Not sure if my children can do this - but I can. You teach yourself by touch when it is dark outside. I am sure some of you think this is silly but I do have an aunt who quickly turned blind and she cannot not cope. I know where things are in my cupboards, some I can tell by touch and can navigate very well in the dark.

[catabryna]

35. My son has poor small motor skills

so, he's not quite at the point where'd he'd be safe with needles, but we are starting to work on washing dishes. He can pretty much clean, but he is a boy, so it doesn't come naturally to him.... know what I mean? lol

[Arkansas Granny]

41. I raised my sons and my daughter in an "equal opportunity" household.

They all learned how to do their own laundry, ironing, how to mow the yard, change a tire, etc. I wanted all my children to be self sufficient so they wouldn't have to rely on someone else to do the basics chores for them.

It's interesting that you have taught yourself to navigate in the dark. My father was blind and my brother and sister and I all learned to do things in the dark and by touch just by following his example.

[pengillian101]

62. Such an interesing upbringing!

Thanks for sharing :-)

Just today I watched a program called Minnesota Bound about a blind man who made items from deer antlers and it was so interesting - he donated his creations to kids with cancer.

[trud]

43. Monique1

Welcome to the neurotics' club. I always expected to lose a hand, so I can now do stuff with my left hand. What's with us :-)

[trud]

53. delected

self deleted, dup.

[Arugula Latte]

31. I've been trying to pass along "technique" tips ...

Things like, when you make grilled cheese, butter the outside, then cover it w/ a pan lid and let it sit at low heat for a few minutes to melt the cheese. Then crank the heat a bit to brown the bread. With scrambled eggs, I whisk them thoroughly in a bowl to make sure they're frothy, mix in a little milk and salt and pepper, and cook on low heat so they stay soft...Just things that make some of life's basic foods taste delicious rather than ordinary.

[catabryna]

38. Had him start whisking eggs a

couple of weeks ago... it's also good for motor skills. Teaching him how to use a grater as well. Thanks!

[Manifestor_of_Light]

46. Put some milk and baking powder in your scrambled eggs.

Mom taught me to put milk and baking powder in them.

Just sayin' :D

[pengillian101]

32. Well, I am not teaching anyone, but I have an idea.

Casseroles or hot dishes are simple, easy and delish.

Various components for varied tastes.

http://allrecipes.com/Search/Recipes.aspx?WithTerm=hot+dish&SearchIn=All

Myself, I still love tuna noodle hot dish. http://www.learninghowtocook.com/




http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=&imgrefurl=http://www.learninghowtocook.com/recipe_search.php%3Fcat_name%3D6%26id_cat_r%3D9%26pageNow%3D35%26limit%3D35&usg=__GBL6T78pu_hhhHx2SV9jSCqlQBg=&h=299&w=401&sz=104&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=14Cn7AtCR-49wM:&tbnh=141&tbnw=188&ei=Mn1jTdioE4KKlwfIraHjCw&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtuna%2Bnoodle%2Bhotdish%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1271%26bih%3D546%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=530&vpy=126&dur=6850&hovh=194&hovw=260&tx=189&ty=161&oei=Mn1jTdioE4KKlwfIraHjCw&page=1&ndsp=12&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0

Website http://www.learninghowtocook.com / looks like a great start.

[catabryna]

40. I use "allrecipes" for things

that aren't in my cookbook, or for ideas on what to do with odds and ends in the fridge. It's a great site!

[pengillian101]

33. My Grandma taught me in the 1950's.

Bread and cookies is what I recall. I still have my little kid rolling pin, lol.

7th grade Home Ec was a little more advanced and I was hooked.

[catabryna]

34. Heehee...

don't even know if there are HomeEc classes anymore... I took it as well. Thanks for the links in your post above. :)

[trud]

42. toll house cookies

When he gets older, so it's safer, learning to preserve. Very important to get confidant about that with one's own veggie garden, etc.

[japple]

44. Macaroni and cheese, with butter, cheese and white sauce

is full of calories and is my ideal comfort food. I like the recipe in my Mom's old Better Homes and Gardens cookbook (the notebook with the red/white plaid cover). It has a bit of grated onion in it which gives more interesting flavor.

It's great that you are helping him learn to cook and become more self sufficient. Many children only know how to heat things in the microwave and aren't encouraged to learn about cooking. My mother always let us "experiment" in the kitchen and I think it fostered a love of cooking for my sister and me. Please keep us posted on your kitchen adventures with your son!!

[Melissa G]

47. deviled eggs, cupcakes, egg in a hole, grilled tuna fish/cheese sandwich

I like my tuna salad with apples and walnuts. (childhood memories, I rarely eat fish, now)

Toasted walnuts and Gorgonzola dressing on a garden salad is delish! Mushroom or faux beef stroganoff (no meat at my house), Pecan pies, Ice box cookies ( my favorites were peanut butter and butterscotch in a double boiler with chow mein noodles. Oh Goodness, I'm hungry now!

[Melissa G]

48. more thoughts about cooking

My second major live in relationship taught me a lot about food. I don't generally 'do' breakfast, My sweetie loved it. Weekdays he made some amazing cold cereal combinations that he created from an asst of jars on our shelves. Grapenuts, weetabix, shredded wheat, various granolas mixed with milks or yogurt etc. Sometimes topped with fruit etc. Lunch was generally cold sandwiches, chips and fruit and the occasional dessert treat. He taught me to elevate the sandwich to an art form. Sometimes the sandwiches were from things we had grilled during the weekend. These same grilled leftovers often made the basis for some of the dinners I fixed as well.

Saturday breakfast was the treat of the week when he made me sourdough waffles from scratch from a starter sourdough batch he got from his mom. Sunday lunch/dinner was the big barbecue party and we frequently cooked for friends. The leftovers saw us through a lot of the week. We often made fish for Sundays, then grilled hot dogs and sausage etc. for later.

I think a 10 year old could help with barbeque and breakfast cereal and sandwich making. It was helpful to me to stop thinking about so many hot meals in relation to food.

[pengillian101]

50. I don't mean to sound mean, honestly!

But that just sounds awful.

Sorry to say it, truly.

[randr]

49. My 8 year old grandson has been cooking with me for a few years

Last weekend he surprised us and asked to cook a whole meal.
He made an excellent salad with mac and cheese.
My mother was an excellent cook and encouraged us all to lend a hand at dinner time. We were also encouraged to "cook whatever you want" anytime we got the munchies.
I passed this on to my two sons and in turn they have children that are at home in the kitchen.

[Arkansas Granny]

54. My 4 yo grandson has started helping me. He mostly puts ingredients in the bowl

after I've measured them out and helps me stir, but he really enjoys it. This morning we made pancakes. He is really proud of his accomplishments.

[laylah]

55. Depending on the age...

I started my girls out with tearing salads OR "ants on a log"=celery sticks, peanut butter, and raisins.

Many more lessons they learned from "Mom"...they now create/cook better than I EVER did...and I am a very good cook! They make me so PROUD!

Great thread, thank you!

[Warpy]

57. My friend's three year old daughter used to push a chair over to the stove, climb up

and cook herself a scrambled egg when she got peckish. I have to admit my heart was in my mouth the first time I saw it, but the key was supervision. Her mom or dad were always close by.

She's grown up now and an excellent cook.

[fizzgig]

58. i wouldn't be as good without you, my mommy

:loveya:

[Hotler]

56. I was about ten when my mom..

gave me a Betty Crocker cookbook for kids, measuring spoons and a set of measuring cups for Christmas. (1965) taht started it all and I haven't looked back. ( I miss my mom.) I love to cook. I love food. Sometimes I cook as a way to get away from every day life, therapy so to speak.

[pengillian101]

64. Similar here!

"I was about ten when my mom gave me a Betty Crocker cookbook for kids, measuring spoons and a set of measuring cups for Christmas. (1965) taht started it all and I haven't looked back. ( I miss my mom.) I love to cook. I love food. Sometimes I cook as a way to get away from every day life, therapy so to speak.

:hi:

I remember that cookbook for kids! My sis, cousin and I made all the recipes over and over again.

[eleny]

59. Learning how to build a really good sandwich is fun

And I think it's really important. I used to make our lunches every day to take to work. My hubby's coworkers often commented on what new combo he'd bring. Plus, the sides of different pickles and such rounded it out for zing.

Sounds like you two are having a good time and then there's the reward of eating everything you make!

[no_hypocrisy]

60. My parents' first priority was teaching me how to make coffee the way they liked it

before they got out of bed.

I was the first coffee machine in the house.

[Mojorabbit]

61. I am teaching my niece

We have done a basic stir fry and turnovers using puff pastry. We are getting ready at her request to do a week of oreo recipes.