Thank you, Chris for this fantastic post!

First, I want to thank Michelle for this fun opportunity to write for a blog other than my own!  I am a huge fan of Scholastic and all they do.  So, I am honored to be a guest on this site, especially as she is a finalist for the Scholastic Parent & Child Parent Blogger Awards in the Green category!

As far as children go, I don’t have any, nor are children in my life plan.  So, why write about cooking with kids?  Because I can, of course.  *grin*.  Seriously though, a former educator/administrator, liking kids (and having patience) has sort of been a prerequisite. And then, there are the roles I must fulfill as the surrogate auntie with my friends children, as well as babysitter for the post-Pull Up age children.  (I don’t do diapers…really.  Never changed-a-one.)

So, what does a single, non girly girl do with my other people’s children when asked to plan a fun get-together? We partake in an afternoon of baking fun can bring smiles and joy. I find cookies enjoyable, especially if decorating is involved. But, cupcakes and brownies work too!  Whatever it is you choose to do in the kitchen, here are a couple of things I have learned after facilitating a few afternoons of flour flights, confection conveyance, and sprinkle splash, along with some of the specifics I did that worked.

Have a plan. To help with that plan, ask yourself the following questions:

• Where will the cooking/baking take place?
• What is your time frame?
• How many will be participating?
• What do you want to make? What is the recipe and its requirements?
• Do you have all the necessary ingredients/tools/pans?
• Decorating?  Will the item be prepared &/or baked prior to the activity?

Furthermore, set up is critical.  Set up includes guidelines and a little reminder session of do’s and don’ts. For instance, a quick run through of health and safety tips is never a bad idea.  Does everyone have their aprons/smocks?  Hair tied back?  Does everyone have a towel or two, one damp, one dry? To lessen the “I am hoping my kitchen doesn’t look like a tornado hit it” tone, the reminder session is a great time to incorporate a swag bag.  Swag bag?  Yup!  A bag of inexpensive, but fun goodies that make everyone feel part of the group.  Hair baubles, aprons (plastic are great), food service plastic gloves, little towels, etc. are fun finds for the participants.

Some other thoughts? There is nothing wrong, with kids of all ages, having “stations”, or place settings in which to work.  Then, in the middle of the table, or placed throughout the work area, Lazy Susans are great tool to house the decorative items, like pre-bagged icings, small bowls of sprinkles/sugars, a box of toothpicks, and cookie cutters.

Cookie cutters are important if the party begins at the dough.  If so, I would strongly suggest (while I understand kids love to crack the eggs), that the dough be mixed prior to rolling out for shaping.  A perfect dough for that is Lydia’s Sugar Cookie Dough, which she includes with her Drop in and Decorate information. The best sugar cookie dough I have come across, it is pliable, very forgiving, not too sweet, and enjoyed by all who taste.

As far as the icing in the decorating bags, I find, with the exception of a star, tips aren’t really necessary.  But, what I do find helpful is having some random pictures/clip cart of different items for the kids to reference.  While they are not necessary, I feel the pictured give the less creativity inclined an idea or two.  A jumping off point is always promising. For the kids who are more inspired, they can just dig in and ice away.

How does that sound?  Have you hosted parties before?  What have you found helpful?

If you cook with your kids, we’d love for you to do a guest post for us, too!  Thanks, in advance, for helping to inspire a nation of families to cook with their children.

When I was growing up, my parents taught me that it is customary to be grateful and polite when you are invited to somebody’s house. The rules would be no different for the White House, of course.  Maybe that is why I have been hesitant to write about my trip to DC until now.  I have been struggling with how to capture the whole event – the thrill, the honor, the inspiration…and also some of my concerns and constructive feedback.  I don’t have any real dirt to share and I am not leaking any government secrets.  So, I suppose my grandmother wouldn’t mind if I give some feedback about the experience, especially if it is done respectfully (and without too much kvetching.)

Here it is…The good, the bad and the ugly.

The Good:
I should start by saying that I still wonder if this was all a dream.  Seriously – was I really invited to the White House?  I told my friend to pinch me, but then immediately regretted that decision…

The day began with a policy-heavy breakfast, sponsored by Share our Strength.  There were several speakers, including the Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, who talked about the connection of academic success to our current fast-food culture.  While they were preaching to the choir, the statistics they shared were staggering, and got us even more excited for the White House event.

It’s hard to imagine that the walk to the White House and the ensuing hour-long wait to get through (three!) security checkpoints would be listed in “The Good” section of my experience.  But it allowed us to network and get to know some of the other 500+ chefs in attendance.  I loved chatting with fellow IACP members and meeting Food Network star, Aaron McCargo Jr., who is an avid supporter of Share our Strength.  I hope that this isn’t the last I see of him – I’d love for him to make a guest appearance at DooF-A-Palooza in May 2011.  More on that later…

The long wait on the White House lawn got progressively steamier as chefs rushed to get their photo taken in front of the residence and then quickly crowded under trees, stripping off their chef coats in hopes of a cool breeze.  At long last, we were asked to take our seats.  I am pretty confident that I can speak for most of us there – we were giddy with excitement…and couldn’t help but guess what color Michelle Obama would be wearing.

Sam Kass, the (adorable) assistant White House Chef opened the discussion, followed by a chef and a school principal who talked about their success improving the way that their students interacted with food.  But the real show began when Michelle Obama took to the podium and worked her magic.

“We are going to need your time and talent to solve the childhood obesity epidemic and I am calling on our nation’s chefs to get involved by adopting a school and working with teachers, parents, school nutritionists and administrators to help educate kids about food and nutrition. You have tremendous power as leaders on this issue because of your deep knowledge of food and nutrition and your ability to deliver these messages in a fun and delicious way and I want to thank you for joining the Chefs Move to Schools campaign.”

She had several suggestions for how chefs can get involved in their adopted schools: doing cooking demonstrations, teaching kids to prepare meals at home, leading a cooking club, planting a garden, and working with teachers to integrate cooking with their existing lesson plans.

Keep reading →

This has been quite a week!  I just returned home from Washington DC where I attended the launch of Michelle Obama’s Chefs Move to Schools campaign.  And as if that weren’t cool enough for one week lifetime, I just found out that this very blog won the Scholastic Parent & Child Green Blog award!   I’ll be featured in the August/September issue along with the winners from 5 other categories.  Don’t miss it!

Thank you for all of your support!  I could have never made it without you.

ps.  Don’t worry – there will be a post about my White House (lawn) visit soon!

This week’s installment of What’s Cooking with YOUR Kids is brought to you from Romy of DoughReMe Kids, a cooking school for children in Brooklyn, New York.  She and I seem like two peas in a pod – both eager to get kids excited about eating fresh and healthy ingredients.

If you ask any parent what foods they wish their child would eat, the answer is inevitably “more vegetables”. These Vietnamese Summer Rolls incorporate numerous vegetables, so when a child enjoys them, the veggie goal is achieved really fast. Plus, they aren’t fried like spring rolls and contain very little fat, so they are nutritious as well.

We made these in class a couple of weeks ago and the kids loved every part of the lesson – creating, snacking on ingredients along the way and gobbling down the finished product. In fact, they loved the rolls so much that they worked extra hard to make as many as they could so they would be able to take more of them home. When we started to run out of a vegetable, they kept going with whatever ingredients were left. Needless to say, we had a blast.

My students love food with lots of flavor instead of plain steamed or boiled foods that we are trained to think will appeal to their tastes. We made a rice vinegar based dipping sauce that each of them spooned into their rolls and licked off of their fingers. Without the sauce, the rolls were just too boring for these confident eaters.

The great thing about these rolls is that they are not “kids food”. They look as gorgeous on a platter for a dinner party, as they do for a play date.  Have fun with them and experiment with different vegetables, meats and fish. As long as the kids are making them, they’ll eat them. It’s a win-win in every way.

Vietnamese Summer Rolls

Ingredients for dipping sauce

1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 tsp. ginger, grated
1 scallion, white part only, cut into thin slices
1 tsp. Thai fish sauce
3 tbsp. rice wine vinegar
1 lime, juiced
1 tbsp. agave sweetener or sugar

Ingredients for rolls

10 +- round summer roll rice wrappers (found in Asian markets)
2 steamed skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 large carrots cut into thin matchsticks
1 large cucumber cut into thin matchsticks
1 large zucchini cut into thin matchsticks
1 package enoki mushrooms, rinsed well, large base stem removed, small stems separated (substitute button mushrooms, thinly sliced) optional
4 oz. sunflower or pea shoots optional
1 handful of fresh cilantro, stems removed and lightly chopped
1 cup unsalted peanuts, chop
1 cup bean sprouts, rinsed

1. Combine all of the ingredients for the dipping sauce in a bowl and set aside at room temperature.
2. Arrange all of the ingredients on your work surface on a large platter. Also place a rimmed baking sheet on the work surface with an inch or more of warm water. One at a time, place a rice wrapper into the water and allow to soften for about 15-20 seconds. They will become soft and pliable, but not as soft as a cooked spaghetti noodle. Carefully remove from the water and pat dry with a paper towel. If the edges curl, gently unfurl them so the roll is completely flat. If you cannot undo the curled edges, discard the wrapper and start over. Note: this happened with the kids, but they were able to salvage most of them.
3. Place the softened rice wrapper in front of you. Fill the roll with a few pieces of the various vegetables, chicken, cilantro and peanuts in a vertical line in the center of the wrapper stacking as necessary in order to leave several inches of empty space on the top and bottom (there will be much more space on the sides). If desired, spoon a ½ teaspoon of dipping sauce over the filling. Do not use too much sauce or it will soften a hole in the wrapper.
4. Using two hands, lift the top of the wrapper up and over the vegetables about a ¼ of the way down. Lift the bottom of the wrapper up and over in the same fashion.
5. Next, lift the right of the wrapper over the vegetables and then roll to the wrapper to the left to conceal the filling. It may take a couple times to get it just right.
6. Continue filling all of the rice wrappers until you use all of the vegetables. Remember – the more you make, the more you get to eat. Serve with the remaining dipping sauce. If the sauce is popular, be prepared to make more.
7. The rolls can be refrigerated overnight, if necessary.

On an already emotional day of service and community building, I nearly went over the edge when our school principal dedicated this song to me.  He wrote the song after taking a tour of the farms in West Marin with MALT (Marin Agricultural Land Trust).  He has been very supportive of my work trying to change our school lunch program and wanted to publicly acknowledge how important it is to know where our food comes from and support our local farmers.  I was touched when he shared the lyrics with me, and honored when he gave me permission to share them with you.

Bob Marcucci - Principal at Glenwood School

Mouths to Feed   (B. Marcucci)

You can’t separate a man from his land
From behind your desk you could never understand
It takes a lot of love to fill those acres
Giving all his life and we’re just takers

You can’t trust the power of a shaken hand
When the feet only know concrete and white sand
The earth is true, it finds its keepers, A prize awaits those who dive deeper

You can buy all you need
There’ll be plenty more….
Mouths to feed

Let’s take it back to seed and stable
How far has it come to see your table
Should we stop to think, have we got the space?
Or should we just wreck the place

Take a ride west of here and be humble
Lord knows we try our best but still we stumble
When you’re at the end take a back view
If you are what you eat that’s where we’ll find you

It would be an understatement to say that I was excited to be heading to the White House for the launch of Michelle Obama’s new campaign, Chefs Move to Schools.  I’m not sure the right words to express my enthusiasm are even in my vocabulary.

I see your thought bubble now, “Did she just say she was going to the White House?  Whaaaat? How did that happen?”  Here’s how it went down:

1. A couple of years ago, a very bubbly and persuasive woman convinced me that I should join the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP), especially because they have a special group called Kids in the Kitchen.
2. So, I did.
3. Then, I started meeting people who are passionate about cooking with kids.
4. Said people suggested that I submit a proposal for a workshop on Cooking with Kids and Community Service for the annual conference in Portland.
5. So, I did.
6. And it was accepted.  Oh dear – what had I done?
7. Then I worked with an incredible group of people to plan the workshop, and it went really well!
8. I met more people, got more inspired, and agreed to become the co-chair of the Kids in the Kitchen committee.
9. The next thing I knew, I got an email from the outgoing IACP president (my newly adopted Godfather) with an invitation to attend this fantastic event.  I shared it with all of our Kids in the Kitchen contacts, and then it got shared with all of the IACP members – and now it looks like at least 50 of us will be there to become partners with the new initiative!
10. Yes, I know I skipped a few things, like my efforts at school lunch reform in our community and the cooking classes I teach to kids…but you most likely already knew about those…

What’s this initiative, anyway?  Well – you probably know that kids in our country aren’t as healthy or as svelte as they should be.  And you have probably heard about the Let’s Move campaign to help kids get in better shape…But you also realize (I hope) that movement is only part of the solution.  Without adequate nutrition, it doesn’t matter if kids are exercising non-stop.  They need to learn about good fuel for their bodies and their minds – and that’s where the new program comes in.

Chefs Move to Schools partners chefs with schools in their communities, and they work together to teach the students and their families about cooking and proper nutrition.  Chefs, do you want to volunteer in the schools and change lives? Please sign up to participate! Schools, would your students benefit from learning about better nutrition?  Let the campaign know that you would like some chef support.

Why do I care?  Cooking with kids is my business, and service is my passion.  Clearly, it takes a village to raise a generation of healthy eaters.  I am eager to do my part to inspire children and their families to eat better.  It’s in the best interests of our nation – financially, physically and ecologically.  Plus, is’t simply the right thing to do.

What part will you play?

I am so happy to share another story from Kris with you.  She is a maverick when it comes to cooking with her daughter.  (Stop thinking about Alaska when I say that word!).  Can you believe that Audrey, her 2 year old daughter, has her own night of the week to make dinner.  Yes, you read that right.  If a 2 year old can help choose the menu and prepare dinner once a week, what’s stopping your older kids from doing the same.  She’s my new hero!  You can read more about Audrey’s kitchen adventures at In the Kitchen with Audrey.

With the Food Revolution happening all over the United States (and the world?) I thought there no better time for me to share how easy it is to get even young

Is it ready yet?

children in the kitchen. I started cooking with Audrey after spending some time with my in-laws. We would eat family meals and they kept inviting Audrey to help prep any time she would get underfoot in the kitchen. After seven weeks of watching them include her and enjoying the family dinners so much, I vowed to continue once we got back on our own. It was hard in the beginning; Audrey is two. Not only did I have no idea how to successfully include her, but I had a new baby in the house. We started simple: making bread in the bread machine; using the stand mixer to make cookies; baking oven fried chicken. After a while it got easier and we started having more fun. I have experimented with a great number of recipes covering just about any type of meal and found a few basic tips to help anyone wanting to cook with young children:

1. Baking, roasting, and slow cooking are the simplest types of meals to prepare. Audrey still loves to make her famous Oven Fried Chicken. It requires no more skill than brushing chicken with butter and sprinkling bread crumbs on top. And it is delicious!
2. Experiment with simple recipes until you find what your child enjoys. Audrey loves to crack eggs, measure and add ingredients, and place stuff in the cooking containers. She does not really want to stir much and usually asks me to do that. One of her favorite dishes to make is Muffin Tin Meatloaf. She gets to crack an egg, use the food processor to make bread crumbs, put the meat mixture in the tins, and place sauce on top. Again, quite tasty.
3. There are hundreds of children’s cookbooks out there. Find one that looks good and start cooking. Rachel Ray, Mollie Katzen and Better Homes and Gardens make good ones. We also love the ones with Pooh and Cookie Monster. Those are Audrey’s celebrities. Cookie Monster has a Carrot Cake Cookies recipe that I could not stop eating. We only make it now when we have play dates and I can be assured most cookies will be consumed.
4. Laugh. When your child makes a mess, laugh with her while you help clean it up. She is going to drop an egg or miss the bowl with the milk. The kitchen cleans up later, your child will remember the fun in the kitchen for a lifetime. And remember Rachel Ray’s tip about keeping a trash bowl handy on the counter.
5. Take your child shopping for ingredients. Talk about the food. Let her know you are buying a chicken to make dinner with tonight or ask her which apples to get for the crisp you are making for dessert. I like to let Audrey bring her own reusable shopping bag to the store to put her ingredients in. We have also started going to the farmer’s markets together and soon plan a trip to a local garden to pick our own food.

If it is a little rough the first time, take a few days to plan and do it again. Nothing worth doing is ever easy the first time. One day last week Audrey completely crushed, instead of cracked, an egg. She looked at me, laughed, and we tossed that egg and started over. I made sure to talk her through the process again and she was fine the second time around. I want her to understand where her food comes from and enjoy eating something she helped prepare.

My mother never taught me to cook more than boxed macaroni and cheese and one good chicken dish. For my daughter, I want more. Hopefully, soon, she will surpass me in skill and start teaching me to cook. In the meantime, we are having fun. Soon Audrey’s little sister, Maurene, will be old enough to hold the spoon and stir or brush melted butter on the chicken. I love cooking with my daughter, it makes me feel so close to her.