The nostalgic thread of cooking with grandma leads me to ask, does anyone cook with his/her kids or

M

miainmd

Well-known member
grandkids or nephews/nieces or friends' kids?

My kids are 2 and 5. The 2 year old LOVES pushing the lever on the Cuisinart food processor.

He also loves turning the mixer on. Basically, he likes any electronic gadget -- in or out of the kitchen.

My 5 year old loves baking with me, mainly so she can sneak chocolate/butterscotch/white chocolate chips and lick the bowl. I find I bake with the kids, but for some strange reason, I don't cook as much with them (I mainly cook after they go to bed). I'm curious what other people do?

 
Yes, absolutely.

I started helping in the kitchen at age 3. By 5 I had the super deluxe Betty Crocker bake set that was bigger than I was and I was off and running. Learned A LOT watching and helping my great grandmother and grandmother make the family recipes handed down through the generations (so I literally was only once-removed from my great-grandmother's teachers, some of whom were born in the mid-1800s--my great-great-great-great line) I feel so lucky to have received this gift.

So, I seem to be about the only one in the family who was interested in capturing this culinary heritage and I am passing it on to my granddaughter, aged 2 1/2. First off, all sorts of whimsy is added (the bagel/pretzel stick/animal cracker merry-go-rounds or zoo cages), wild cake sculptures, jello "art", etc.

Plus, the old germanic baking and holiday traditions are being introduced this coming year as she will be old enough to sit at the counter and assist. This will be built upon each year until she knows by heart how to make Lebkuchen, Zimtsterne, Gugelhupfen, Tafelspitz, Falscher Wildschwein, Sauerbraten, Kartoffknoedel, and all the rest.

 
I do.

My 7 y/o loves to make scrambled eggs in the AM, cinnamon french toast, mac and cheese, of course and many other things. In the afternoon and eve he is not as interested anymore because he wants to be outside with his friends.
Enjoy your children's interest as it might decline as they get older!

 
Richard, my wife, the originator of the bagel zoo concept (I'm bragging a little here)...

...is very pleased to hear that your granddaughter is enjoying this fun project. We still go back to our son's school's Kindergarten classes and make these zoos with the kids. Our boys come out of their regular classes (with teacher's permission, of course) and help the Kindergarteners with the project. The kids get a big kick out of it. It ties in with the year-long, "Animals, A to Z" that teaches the Kindergarteners their alphabet. It's awesome!

For anyone that missed this, you take a fresh bagel and slice it as you normally would to fill it with goodies. You have the child schmear cream cheese on both halves. Then they stand animal crackers up in the cream cheese. Using pretzel sticks, the child puts verticle "bars" around the perimeter of the bagel and then tops the whole thing with the cut top of the bagel.

Wah lah! Bagel zoos.

My wife modified this concept from using brownies and chocolate frosting into something a bit more stable and a lot more healthy.

Michael

 
Mia, my boys, now 12 and 10, both cook basic stuff already. They are...

...on their way to becoming good cooks, I hope.

Since they were little they helped me in the kitchen with baking, and Christmas is always a great time for them in the kitchen.

I have a 13-year-old niece who will be helping me with Christmas Eve dinner and New Year's Eve dinner this year. She has wanted her own cooking show since she discovered Emeril Live years ago.

My wife's mom (my MIL) told all the girls to marry men who cook. I plan to get two more of those guys into "the market" in a few years!

Michael

 
Michael, thanks for the update

I had no idea where that idea came from, but I was pretty sure it was from here. It's a lot of fun for the "adults" too.

And if you really want to get creative, tint some cream cheese and pipe garlands and rosettes on top to have a festive day going on at the zoo.

Tell your wife thanks for a great idea!

 
My daughter is 14 but shes been cooking as long as she can remember....

I think the most famous is her helping her dad make 'punkin' pie - we have it on video and it's great. She loved cooking and she loves experimenting. She took the Teen Basics series at Viking several years agot - I just wanted her to take them with other kids so she could get a better feel for the basics and have some fun at the same time. I bought her Ropa Vieja leftovers last night so now that is going to be her next thing to try. I've already been pulling recipes today for it so she can try her hand at it.

Several of her friends moms ask me what I did to their children because they would come home knowing how to do some basics fun cooking and they would eat foods they never ate at home. It's because we had fun and they did it - they would try things.

 
It's what is left of the Ropa Vieja I got at Back to Cuba Cafe ....

up on Trousdale. Ropa Vieja is a Cuban 'roast' - translated it means old clothes. Very flavorful and easy to make.

You need to go try Back to Cuba - the guy that owns it also owns Mama Mia's Italian. He opened that because he didn't think anyone was ready for Cuban here but he opened this in the last year or so. Both of them are just hole in the wall places by the Mapco but they are very good. The Cubano is good and there is another sandwich that is bistek (steak) with shoestring potatoes on it - your kids will get a kick out of it. When he starts back doing soups in the fall, you have to go. His beef & vegetable soup is stuck in my head - has plaintains and cauliflower in it but your kids won't recognize the cauliflower - I didn't and had to ask. The stock is SO flavorful. But you can't get the soups to go - he serves them in these huge bowls with a side of rice.

 
My daughter's favorite memories are of Christmas and ginerbread houses.

They would help me make the frosting and put all kinds of sprinkles and things in bowls. We would buy boxes of graham crackers, then invite friends over, put on their aprons, and spend the afternoon assembling and making their "gingerbread" houses. When they got older, we would make the actual gingerbread, but those graham crackers houses were still their favorites. They are now 25 and 32 and still talk about it.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top