Cooking With Kids: Chicken Salad Sandwiches

Probably the most difficult aspect of my cooking club at the Crestmont Boys and Girls is balancing between meals that are simple enough for young children to be able to do, yet complex enough that there is enough things for the kids to do to keep them busy.  It is a very fine line to walk.  The whole purpose of my cooking club is to be able to provide them with easy recipes they can duplicate on their own at home when they are left to fend for themselves for dinner.  However, if they are too simple they get restless while we are cooking, and then I have to deal with bored kids running around the kitchen while I am showing one person how to cut onions and another how to saute chicken.

Today for cooking club we made chicken salad sandwiches.  This was a good type of recipe to do with a big group of young kids because it involved a lot of chopping vegetables into tiny pieces, which they dove into full steam.  One thing I have found out about adolescent boys is they love to use knives, and as long as you supervise adequately you can keep them focused for a pretty good amount of time.  I was also lucky today because one of the older kids came in to help, so he cooked the chicken and worked with some of the younger kids so I barely had to watch them and could focus my attention on my 7 year-old trouble makers.

All in all it was a very simple recipe, pretty much your standard chicken salad sandwich.  And the kids really seemed to like it, which is great in a recipe like this that has so many vegetables.

Cooking with Kids: Spaghetti Tacos

I had never heard of spaghetti tacos before, but it got such an overwhelming response when it was suggested for Cooking Club at the Boys and Girls Club that I figured we could try it.  I looked it up and it was popularized on a tv show called iCarly, which I guess is why there were so many elementary school aged girls excited about it.  I thought it was perfect for what I am trying to do with the Cooking Club because it is easy enough for kids to do on their own, and because spaghetti sauce is an easy way to get vegetables to the kids.  I almost can’t believe I just typed that.  I sound like Rachel Ray or some 40-year-old parent trying to sneak healthy food into their kid’s diet.  Definitely just lost some street cred.

Anyways, this was nice because the kids were able to do this entirely by themselves.  They boiled the water and cooked the pasta, they cut vegetables and stirred the sauce, and they heated the taco shells.  Of course we again had problems sharing, but there was certainly enough to do that everyone was able to help and they all kept pretty busy for the whole time.  For the sauce we took some plain tomato sauce and added onion, garlic, green peppers, salt, pepper, oregano, and a little parmesan cheese.  We also threw in some meatballs of the store-bought variety.  The sauce was then mixed with the pasta and used to fill the taco shells (although some preferred their spaghetti sans taco shell).  Sprinkle a little parmesan cheese over the top and you got yourself a gourmet meal.  I personally only sampled a little bit of the sauce to make sure it was ok, not wanting to ruin the leftovers that I didn’t know I had waiting for me at home, but the kids all seemed to like it.  In fact, everyone had seconds and I’m pretty sure a few of them sneaked thirds.

I will continue to chronicle my foray into cooking with kids in the coming months.  I hope to get pictures of the wonderful food we create, but I have to figure out all of the legal issues.  Until then my masterful way with words will have to suffice.

Cooking with Kids: Pumpkin Muffins

One of the great things about my position at the Boys and Girls Club is that I get to pretty much choose what I do in my time with the kids, as long as it pertains to healthy living.  This means I will get to spend plenty of time with them in the kitchen, trying to show them recipes that are delicious enough to satisfy their still developing taste buds, easy enough to make that they can recreate it on their own at home, and affordable enough to fit within a very modest budget.  It can be a challenge at times, so if anyone has any suggestions I would love to hear them.

This past week I decided to do some Halloween themed snacks.  For starters, I had the younger kids clean out some pumpkin seed and toast them with a bit of salt, pepper, and nutmeg.  This was perfect for the younger age group, because they got to have a tasty snack, and it only took about 30 minutes so they could then go outside and play.  Then, with the older kids I started some pumpkin muffins, using shredded pumpkin I had done the night before at home.  Now I don’t know if you have ever used fresh pumpkin before, but if you haven’t I suggest you keep your eyes out for recipes that use canned pumpkin.  It’s not that shredding pumpkin is hard.  It is just time-consuming.  And dangerous.  And hard.  These weren’t even big pumpkins, and it took me like 3 hours to get 6 cups of shredded pumpkin.  Plus I nicked up my fingers pretty good with the peeler and the grater.  But it’s all about the kids, so I endure.

As I am typing this in our cramped kitchen I happened to look out the window and see a giant banana fly down my street on a motorcycle.  I don’t have anyone here to tell this to, so I am telling you.  Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

It really is a blast working with kids.  They were so excited about getting to cook, and they really did a good job.  And some of them are so funny it is impossible to keep a straight face, even if they are doing things they maybe are not supposed to be doing.  But they also work hard, and they all did a good job making the muffins.  I was impressed by their ability to share ingredients with each other, and to take turns mixing and measuring.  They were even generous enough to let me join in the fun and clean up after them.  What angels.

Pumpkin Muffins

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
2 tsp cinnamon + some to sprinkle on top
2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups shredded pumpkin

Directions:
-Combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
-In a different bowl combine sugar, eggs, vanilla, and vegetable oil.  ix well, and then add to the first bowl.
-Stir wet and dry ingredients together, then fold in shredded pumpkin.
-Pour into muffin tins, sprinle some cinnamon on top, cook at 325 degrees for 25 minutes

Recipe courtesy of the Food Network.