Chef Nicks Kitchen

Kids In The Kitchen
by Chef Nick Cavataio


Kids are curious and want to learn. Let them in the
kitchen to assist with different projects and help make
their own snacks. With adult supervision 'Kids in the
Kitchen' can be a safe and fun time for all. Our
6-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter sometimes have
the most fun participating in the simplest task. Quite
often when they see me gathering the ingredients for a
batch of meatballs or for a cake they will volunteer with
enthusiasm asking, 'Can we help, Can we help?'

We start out with washing our hands. Then I lay
down some ground rules and give assigned task before
we get started. I let them know that we will all get a
turn to do some part of the process. This will help
prevent arguments about who is going to do what task
and when.

Keep in mind your working with kids and you'll
need to be very patient. Expect it to get real messy
and maybe sticky. Our kids enjoy just about any
project they can get involved in. They help with
adding ingredients, mixing ingredients, using cookie
cutters, rolling out pie crust, opening containers
(especially the store bought crescent rolls that
POP open), shaping meatballs, scooping muffin
batter, forming hamburger patties, spooning cookie
batter on sheet trays, dipping chicken or beef cutlets
in the flour, egg and bread crumbs before baking.

What more fun can you have than watching a
six year old cracking a fresh egg for the first time?
It's also probably a good idea to be wearing an apron
and maybe even a pair of safety glasses, the first
time you're making chocolate frosting and one of them
lifts up the hand held electric mixer, before they shut
it off.

Another big deal for kids is the excitement of
building their own creation. Get all the ingredients
ready and let them go for it! They get to use their
imagination and motor skills by building their own
sandwich, sundae, taco, wrap, burger or whatever!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chef Nick Cavataio is the author of "Conquering
Healthier Recipes and Beyond," an cookbook
packed with more than 300 mouth-watering recipes
you can cook quickly at home.
http://www.conqueringhealthierrecipes.com
 

Nick Cavataio 99 Hall Road Owego NY, 607-687-5654 mailto:ncavataio@stny.rr.com