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By JANET K. KEELER
© St. Petersburg Times,
Her children, Kevin, 15, Steven, 13, and Colleen, 10, cook dinner for the family every now and then and can fend for themselves at morning, noon and night meals if need be. The trio has been known to satisfy a sweet tooth by whipping up a cake at 10 p.m. on a Saturday. Grilled steaks a la big brother graced the table on Father's Day. The short-range payoff for the Reilly parents is that the Reilly kids bring a little relief from kitchen duties. It's the long-term benefits, however, that nutrition experts would applaud. The ability to cook lessens dependency on fast food and convenience products, neither of which build strong bodies. With obesity and Type II diabetes rates rising among the under-18 set because of poor eating habits, it appears cooking lessons are in order.
Attention busy parents: Here's another thing to add to your to-do list. Teach your children to cook, or find a camp or food store classes that can do it for you. No longer can you depend on home ec to teach Johnny how to dice. That school offering is long gone, replaced by "life skills" classes that might include nutrition information but no hands-on cooking instruction. Even colleges and universities are asking parents to do their part. This summer at orientation programs at the University of Florida and the University of South Florida, parents have been urged to teach their children basic cooking before they head off to school. At UF, where residence halls have shared cooking facilities, campus police and fire departments have responded to calls of burned toast setting off fire alarms and blazes started when pizzas are reheated in boxes. "It's a life skill they need, and it's a life skill their parents need to give them," says Sgt. Walt Hamby of the university's police department. "They need to know you can always cook it more, but you can never cook it less." Teaching cooking is not like teaching rocket science. Find age-appropriate tasks and loosen up a little. Be aware of safety issues and your child's capabilities, but try not to let your fears of injury prevent him from learning. Yes, it may take longer to get dinner on the table and, no, it won't always be (or taste) pretty. Focus on the long-term benefits and forget the shell bits crunching in the scrambled eggs. Cooking is a wonderful way to spend time with your kids, without the TV, the Game Boy, Destiny's Child or other distractions that can divide parent and child. Let the answering machine get the phone, pull up a stool for your son or daughter, and begin your lesson.
"We have to take this very seriously," says Leanne Ely, certified nutritional consultant and author of Healthy Foods: An Irreverent Guide to Understanding Nutrition and Feeding Your Family Well (Storey Books, 2001, $19.95). "We are feeding souls, not filling holes. It will not happen with microwaveable food; that's garbage." Ely, who also teaches parent-child cooking classes at Bloomingdale's department stores around the country, says that cooking is the most obvious tool to teach children about nutrition. They learn by doing, not by just sitting and listening, she says. Active participation is the motto at the weeklong summer cooking camps at La Maison Gourmet, formerly Home Gourmet Kitchen Emporium, a cooking school in Dunedin. During a recent session, the Reilly kids and other campers ages 8 to 14 chopped vegetables with big, sharp knives and deep-fried shrimp in bubbling hot oil. At this cooking camp, what parents won't let kids do at home is mastered under the watchful eyes of a professional chef. Chef Eric Webber of Sutherland Cafe in Palm Harbor didn't baby the novice chefs. The last-day menu, which was served to parents for lunch, included panko-breaded deep-fried shrimp over greens with miso dressing; pecan-cinnamon crusted chicken with stir-fried vegetables; and bananas Foster for dessert. Every bit was made from scratch, and the sight of four side-by-side burners aglow with bananas flambe elicited plenty of "ooohs" and a few "acks" from adults in the audience. Safety is No. 1 on Webber's mind and also should be for parents, he says. "You need to really make them aware of their surroundings," he says. "Kids are impulsive and rambunctious, but they still need to know what's going on around them in the kitchen." One of the most important tools in the kitchen is also one of the most dangerous, and that's why Webber insists that campers respect knives. It's easy for kids, or even adults, to cut themselves if they aren't paying attention. In a kitchen full of people, the hazard is multiplied because people are walking around with knives. "Keep your fingers tucked under," Webber reminds campers. A boy is gently admonished for walking across the kitchen with an 8-inch chef knife up in the air rather than down by his side. Webber, a father of three, says that although safety is paramount, it's also important not to underestimate a child's abilities. They often can do more than their parents think, he says. Remember, many kids are fans of the Food Network and have already seen the Naked Chef fillet fish and Sara Moulton blast creme brulee with a blowtorch. "By about age 8, kids can work with sharper knives as long as there is an adult there," author Ely says. "If we hold the bar up high for them, they almost always hit it." Before age 8, even when kids are as young as 4, Ely advocates teaching knife handling with a butter knife or a plastic pumpkin carver, which is sharp enough to cut a carrot. Ely has a daughter, 11, and a son, 9, who trade off being the "kitchen helper" who assists Mom with dinner. Her son was an avowed salad hater who has come around to the green stuff now that he's the family's designated saladmaker. She says that once picky eaters start participating in the shopping and cooking, they'll begin to sample more foods. If we just give them the chance. In Webber's cooking class, the rule, and there are no exceptions, is that everyone must try everything. Even if it's only one bite. "A lot of children have a predisposition about what they are going to like," Webber says. "They are surprised when they like something they thought would be bad." Ely concurs and says that the reason kids are eating more junk food is because that is what parents are giving them. "We don't give kids enough credit," Ely says. "We are such a hypocritical society. We say "Eat healthy, eat healthy' and then "Here are the Bagel Bites for after school.' " Ely has mastered the kids in the kitchen challenge, but what about the rest of us who have made ourselves into short-order cooks? Is it ever too late to get a kid to help in the kitchen once we've trained him to be a guest at his own dining room table? No, Ely says, if you're willing to confess to your offspring that you've shortchanged him in his education. "I'm a big believer in the power of apology," she says. "Tell him that you should have let him be more involved (in cooking)." An older child, Ely says, can be reasoned with. Tell her that the family's eating habits need to be improved and that learning to cook is a part of that. Set goals with your children and then work with them to make sure they are reached. "Cooking is a skill you want them to have for life," Ely says. And if you need more incentive than the good health and independence of your child, how about money? This year's grand prize winner of Pillsbury's Kids' Bake-Off won $25,000 for her Flaky Apple Pecan Torte, plus a matching award for the charity of her choice. "The first thing I remember about cooking is decorating Christmas cookies with my grandma," Christine Latta, 11, of Carmel, Ind., told organizers. What will be the first thing your children remember about cooking? Will they know anything at all? Three-Cheese Macaroni and Cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a deep, 1 1/2-quart baking dish. Bring water and salt to a rolling boil in a medium saucepan. Add macaroni and cook until tender, about 15 minutes. Prepare a basic white sauce by melting butter and then whisking in flour. Cook for 3 minutes then gradually whisk in milk. Let thicken and season with salt and pepper (a touch of oregano adds an extra flair). This sauce should be somewhat milky because the macaroni will absorb liquid as the meal cooks. Add macaroni to baking dish; add cream sauce; stir in cheeses and mix thoroughly. Melt tablespoon of butter and add approximately 1/2 cup bread crumbs. Sprinkle over mixture. Bake for about 45 minutes or slightly more if you like crunchy bits. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Note: This dish can be assembled a day in advance. Source: www.about.com. Sesame Chicken
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Arrange the chicken in a single layer in a casserole dish. Warm the honey slightly in a microwave or small saucepan over low heat and brush evenly over chicken. In a small bowl, combine the sesame seeds, garlic powder and pepper, and sprinkle evenly over chicken. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through (no pink shows in the middle). Serves 4. Per serving: 227 calories, 5 gm fat, 27 gm protein, 19 gm carbohydrates, 65 mg cholesterol, 74 mg sodium. Source: "The Healthy College Cookbook" by Alexandra Nimetz, Jason Stanley and Emeline Starr (Storey Books, 1999, $14.95). Enchilasagna
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 13- by 9-inch pan. In a saucepan, combine enchilada sauce and tomato sauce. Let simmer. Brown beef, drain and add seasonings and salt and pepper to taste. Add about half of the sauce to browned beef and set aside. On the bottom of the pan, pour 3/4 cup of sauce and add about 1/3 of the beef mixture and then beans. Next, make a layer of corn tortillas, using 1/3 of what you have. Add more beef, 1/3 of the beans, 1/4 of the cheese. Repeat these layers -- corn tortillas, beef, bean and cheese -- till everything is gone. Top with remaining sauce and remaining cheese. Bake uncovered for 30-40 minutes. Wait 10 minutes before serving. Serves 12. Per serving: 290 calories, 14 gm total fat, 20 gm protein, 20 gm carbohydrates, 46 mg cholesterol, 552 mg sodium. Source: "Healthy Foods: An Irreverent Guide to Understanding Nutrition and Feeding Your Family Well" by Leanne Ely (Storey Books, 2001, $19.95). Real Sloppy Sloppy Joe
In a non-stick skillet over medium heat, brown the beef with the onion and garlic. Drain excess fat. Add the ketchup, crushed tomatoes, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir well and simmer for 5 minutes. While the beef mixture is simmering, toast the hamburger buns. Arrange the buns face-up on plates. Ladle a healthy portion of the beef mixture over each and serve immediately. Serves 4. Per serving: 536 calories, 30 gm fat, 37 gm protein, 31 gm carbohydrates, 118 mg cholesterol, 779 mg sodium. Source: "The Healthy College Cookbook" by Alexandra Nimetz, Jason Stanley and Emeline Starr (Storey Books, 1999, $14.95). Garlic Pull-Aparts and Sweet Cinnamon Pull-Aparts
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In saucepan, on medium-high heat, melt butter. Stir in garlic and herbs. Remove pan from stove. Cut each biscuit into 4 pieces. Roll them in the butter mixture. Stack biscuits on top of each other and with sides touching in oven-proof bowl. Bake 40 minutes. For sweet cinnamon pull-aparts, omit garlic and herbs. Roll biscuit pieces in melted butter, then roll buttered pieces in 1/2 cup brown sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon. Continue as above. Note: It's easy to cut refrigerator biscuits with kitchen scissors. Each recipe makes 10 rolls. Source: "The Starving Students' Vegetarian Cookbook" by Dede Hall (Warner Books, 2001, $11.95)
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