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What can your child/ren cook?
How old are they?
Yasin is a keen fan of cooking shows lol and he's forever saying let's cook this Mum and then when we get to the shops "Mum, we need this to cook ..., we need these to go with the chocolate"
I feel a bit slack because I hate the mess so I don't let him cook as much as he would like.
He's good at meatballs (although they come out a bit flat and not very uniform lol) and gingerbread.
I used to do meatballs as a kid, and my bro and sis loved crumbing stuff - I couldn't stand the egg.
Mum let us do packet cake mixes by ourselves - great photo of my sis sitting in the sink with a spoon and ice cream container and chocolate batter all over her. She would have been not even 2 - so cute!
When I was nannying, I would let kids dictate the amounts of certain things so they felt in control, then taste it to see what they thought, then I would suggest things to adjust it accordingly. We got some wacky shaped stuff, but it always tasted good. I sort of discovered with cake (and I have good kitchen sense, I know not everyone does) that as long as it's pretty much the right consistency and the batter doesn't taste too floury/fizzy/salty then it would turn out as cake. Great way for kids to achieve confidence and learn about tasting their food (do I sound like someone off MasterChef yet?)
I have just started with Jack cooking so far he has helped me make rasp coconut slice, he held the mixer to cream the butter an sugar, broke th eggs into a bowl, help bind the base, and press into the pan, I spread the jam and he sprinkled the topping over it all :) I have to say it was the best one I have made in a decade or more every element was perfect :)
we also did mini pizzas he watched me chop everything and place in little bowls tasting everything as we went :lol: then he helped me spread sauce and he got to put ingredients on the pizzas some were heavy on certain ingredient but they tasted good :)
he ehlped me make bickie on sunday he got his hands in to mix the dough and then he got to put the smarties into mix :)
also he is 33mths :) but he loves best of all to wash up :lol: gotta start em young
My kids do heaps in the kitchen!! BUT I expect them to make a huge mess, so I'm all ready for it.
Whenever I bake, I put the bowl in the middle of our island and the kids are perched either side to help mix, or add ingredients. DD1 will help measure things out, but DD2 doesn't yet (I'm not ready for that step). Often I have DD1 measure, and DD2 add to the bowl and then they take turns mixing.
Lately we've been making pretzels. I add ingredients to the big bowl and have them help me knead the dough and then it rests for 90 minutes and then we make it into pretzel shapes and they each do a few shapes themselves and then we dip it in a bicarb/water solution and bake. They love kneading the dough and making the shapes.... Its playdough to them, but they get to eat it later ;)
They will put their own toppings on their pizzas for pizza night. I will throw the dough around in the air etc much to their delight and put the sauce on and they top their pizzas.
They help grate vegetables for things, and often that means that they get to snack on them as well which can only be a good thing.
DD is 4 and mostly helps me with muffins, cookies and biscuits. Depending on how messy it is, she does all the mixing and pouring the ingredients and loves to roll the cookies into balls etc.
Grace is 8 and she cooks spag bog, we buy the fresh vegies that u microwave so there is no chopping, and i put the pasta in the boiling water and drain it, but she does everything else.
All the kids help make muffins, cakes, etc.
DS cooks up rice pops and milk then eats it raw! Usually while I make some cake. He's a bit too messy to have cake mix yet.
He can't help with flapjack either because we eat it before we cook it that way.
He can do his own pizza toppings and last night he asked for me to help him wrap up his tortilla (he did put food on it then try to fold it up) - but then decided he didn't like the fillings we were having, so just ate two tortillas with nothing in. He can also chop vegetables, but he gets bored quickly of that because his knife isn't very sharp.
Angie is my star chef in the making, lol. Just need to give her a recipe and the ingredients and she can do it. So far she has cooked Beef Stroganoff, Spag Bol, Ham and Potato Bake and bangers and mash with onion gravy. Other stuff she does regular is pikelets, self saucing chocolate pudding, Jam Drops, chocolate crackle and choc coconut slice (although its more like a heavy cake).
CJ helps me out with mousse, scones, the chicken cacciatore and osso bucco/braised lamb shanks.
Lyta and Sam tend to help me out with the angel cakes and other stuff - although thats just to "clean the spoon" for me, haha.
My kids are the same, and it all got a bit much with homeschooling and all (I use cooking for a few crossover subjects) so they're allowed to cook one thing with me a week - and they can choose whatever they like so its like a treat. We've made cupcakes, jelly, pizza, cookies, cheese toast, turkish pide, they make their own salads too now lol easy stuff but still helping out nonetheless.
eta: DD 7y, DS 6y
DD- 8years helps me cook most things. She uses the stove and oven provided I am in the kitchen supervising. She cooks spag bol, sausages, things in the oven etc. I do the dangerous things like draining hot stuff, transfering from frypan.
DS 3years LOVES cooking. For instance, yesterday we made lemonade scones and today we made weet bix slice (which is delicious and SO easy might I add. Do an internet search on weet bix slice and the recipe will come up). He does all the tipping in of the ingredients and helps with the mixing. He sets the oven and I have taught him to use the oven mit when we both put the tray in and out of the oven. Its all age appropriate for HIS development and I am teaching him safty too. He also has a little vegetable knife that he gets to use sometimes too.
Miss 4 loves to help cook, but sometimes I just do not have the patience. As I am doing a lot more home cooking, rather than buying processed, our biscuit making is for need not fun. So there are days where I just need to get in and get it done, rather than deal with the extra time it takes with a little helper.
I know I should let her help more, but I do need to psych myself up for it.