Kids Cooking and Cookbook Blog Site

Good content here on helping your children listen better. See http://bit.ly/b9eNis. It has lots of good suggestions for parenting.

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• Learning Effective Communication Skills (personal-work-habits.suite101.com)

Now that school is over, or almost over, children will be home for longer periods. Make those days productive and fun. Working with them in the kitchen can be a fun, educational and a safe activity, providing certain rules are followed.

Following directions
In all aspects of life, there are certain rules that must be followed. Working in the kitchen requires certain rules and directions as well. Depending on the age of the child, you may need to repeat directions on how to do different jobs.

Tell and then show the child what needs to be done. Show how to “cut-in” butter into a flour-sugar mixture, for example, using two table knives or a pastry blender. Explain what “folding-in” means and use the spatula to show how you gently bring the spatula over and over to “fold-in” the ingredient. This often refers to folding-in beaten egg whites into the remainder of the ingredients.

Some children can remember a list of more than one jobs. For example, for some you can say: please get out the big bowl, the mixing spoon and the measuring cups. For others, asking the child to do one or two jobs at a time may be appropriate.

Read the recipe out loud to help everyone know what you will be doing. Pictures help, too.

Offer praise and thanks

Make sure you praise the child for offering to help and the work  done. You can also offer such statements as: “We really make a good team here in the kitchen.” “You are doing such a good job of following directions”. “Thank you for helping today.” Won’t our family be surprised when they taste what we made today?”

Following safety rules
There are certain safety rules that must be followed when working with children in the kitchen, such as:

Always wash your hands before working in the kitchen.
Young children should not use sharp knives.
Small appliances are not play toys.
Potholders and not towels are for handling hot dishes. Towels could catch fire from the stove.
Handles of pots and pans should be turned inward.
Always use a separate spoon when tasting food.

Do you have stories about working with children in the kitchen?

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Here is an easy dessert kids will love to make for their Mothers this week-end. The only difficult part is having the rhubarb. Hope you have a plant or two in your backyard. If not, stores should have it for sale. Then it is a quick job to put together, bake, and enjoy. It’s colorful, too.

Rhubarb Dessert

4 cups rhubarb, chopped in 1/2 to 1- inch pieces
1 cup sugar
1 package strawberry Jello
1 yellow Jiffy cake mix
3/4 cup water
1/2 stick butter, cut in small pieces

Grease a 9 x 9-inch pan (NOT 9 x 13-inch). Place chopped rhubarb in bottom of pan.

Sprinkle sugar over the top of rhubarb.

Sprinkle 1 package strawberry gelatin over top.

Sprinkle cake mix over top.

Dribble water over top.

Place dobs of butter on top.

Bake 30 – 40 minutes in 350 degree oven

Asparagus can be stir-fried, grilled, steamed, boiled, and pickled. You can use it in quiches, salads, omelets, wraps, casseroles, stews, and yes, even soups. Following is the soup recipe I promised. It was featured at our party earlier this spring and received rave reviews.

Asparagus-Potato Soup

3 medium potatoes, chopped
1/3 cup chopped onion
1 13-oz. can chicken broth
1 teaspoon salt
1 10-oz. box frozen cut asparagus or
1/2 pound of fresh asparagus cut into half-inch pieces
1 4-oz. package cream cheese
1 1/2 cups light cream

Combine potatoes, onion, chicken and salt in a medium saucepan.

Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until potatoes are barely tender.

Add asparagus and return to boiling. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 5-10 minutes until vegetables are tender.

Cut cream cheese into chunks and add to vegetables. Add light cream. Heat, but do not boil.

Serves 6.

Here is another recipe using asparagus in a soup:

Asparagus and Leek Soup

1 leek, white part only, halved lengthwise, washed thoroughly and chopped
2 tablespoons butter
¾ lb asparagus cut into half-inch pieces
1 -13 oz. (1 can) chicken broth
1 garlic clove, minced
1/3 cup heavy cream
Salt and pepper, to taste

In a large soup pot, saute leeks in butter over medium-high heat for 3 minutes or until slightly wilted.

Add the asparagus and cook for 2 minutes.

Add the chicken broth and garlic to the pot and bring to a boil.

Lower heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until the asparagus is tender.

Mix in the heavy cream, salt and pepper.

Cool slightly, then blend soup in batches in a food processor until smooth.

Return to the pot to heat through.

Here is how to prepare fresh asparagus: Trim the stem end about 1/4 inch and wash in warm water several times. Wrap a moist paper towel around the stem ends if not using immediately, or stand upright in two inches of cold water, as you often see done in grocery stores. Refrigerate and use within 2 or 3 days for best quality.

History: Asparagus has been used from earliest times as a vegetable and as a cleansing and healing medicine. Recipes for using asparagus are found in some of the oldest surviving recipe books. It was cultivated by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, who ate it fresh when in season and dried the vegetable for use in the winter. Asparagus does not have a long growing season so snap it at its peak and enjoy!