Cooking with kids

I have a gorgeous 11 year old daughter and we love to cook together. At the moment she is in the kitchen making a chocolate packet cake mix into cupcakes for a playdate she is going to tomorrow.. I've turned on the oven and she will do the rest.

This isn't the most gourmet offering but she's doing it herself and it's a very frugal afternoon's entertainment for her...she has already painted a canvas as well and been swimming.

I think teaching kids to cook is important for a host of reasons. It teaches them that dinner doesn’t magically appear courtesy of the dinner fairy, it teaches them about nutrition and ingredients, it teaches organisation, measurement and planning. Most importantly it teaches them how to feed themselves.

My daughter’s repertoire now includes:

-          Spaghetti Bolognese

-          Spagetti and meatballs

-          Hamburgers

-          Pasta salad

-          Scrambled eggs and bacon

-          Pancakes

-          Salads

-          Sushi

-       Various sandwich fillings such as chicken salad and tuna salad

-          Toblerone Mousse

-          Cakes

-          Cookies

-          Various confections (eg truffles, caramel popcorn etc)

-      Chicken Satay and Nasi Goreng

-      Vietnamese Spring rolls

-      Tartare sauce

She has done menus and run her own restaurant at home for my husband and I twice now creating a three course meal.

She likes the independence and the control cooking gives her. I like to think if I got sick or was incapacitated that she would not starve.

 What are your favourite meals to cook with kids? We are always looking for new ideas here.

New Year, New Start Again

Apparently I decided at the same time last year to commit to posting regularly on this blog. Clearly that didn't happen in 2011 so let's hope for a much better result in 2012.

Summer is in full swing here and for us it means lots of picnics, boating and catching up with friends. Yesterday as I was preparing for a houseful of guests I decided I would host a themed dinner every month in 2012.

Last night's dinner was an easy favourite a pizza and pasta night. We made a double batch of pizza dough and made up four pizzas; ham and pineapple, ham and mushroom, supreme and bbq meatlovers. I also did a big batch of bolognese suace and pulled a ham, pea and mushroom pasta bake from the freezer. Friends brough nibbles, garlic bread and salad. Easy.

Some of the themed dinners I have in mind for the year include:

• Chinese New Year
• Greek night
• Indian or Curry night
• Christmas in July
• American
• Paella night

Meanwhile we have been doing some dinners of fish which we catch on the harbour. We usually serve it with home made tartare sauce. Tartare sauce is really very easy to make and the homemade is far superior to the stuff you get in the jar so take 5 minutes to make your own next time you are having fish for dinner. The most important thing is to use good whole egg mayonaise - if you use the cheap vinegary stuff you may as well just open a jar or tartare. I like the S&W brand but there are other good ones out there such as Paul Newmans and Hellmans.

This is the basic recipe but you need to taste for for sweetness and saltiness yourself.

Tartare Sauce
1/2 a cup whole egg mayonaise (you can of coure make your own)
1/2 teaspoon dill (Fresh or dried)
2 sweet cucumber pickles diced
1 teaspoon of capers
generous squeeze of lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

 Combine all in a small bowl or ramekin. Enjoy! It does taste better if you can pop it back in the fridge for a while to let the flavours combine but you can certainly have it straight away.