Blakely and I have been cooking in the kitchen together since she was just a toddler. I started by taking her to the market to pick out fruits and vegetables and using the process to engage her in food selection, thus expanding her palette. Children will be more likely to eat a diverse diet when they have invested time and energy into the preparation. So when we found this book we thought it the perfect opportunity to try some of the fun and healthier-style recipes.
We actually made homemade butter! In all my years of cooking I’ve never done that before, and it was easy and a lot of fun. We used our butter on our grilled cheese sandwiches and our corn on the cob. The whole family enjoyed this special treat. We talked about where cream came from and how we get buttermilk from the process before it turns to butter. Just enough information to keep a four-year-old interested.
Next we made the chickpea patties. I was explaining how onions made your eyes water and she said she had an idea. She came back wearing her snorkel goggles and said she was now not worried about her eyes! What a clever kitchen trick that is! We made a lot of extra patties and then froze what we didn’t eat. These are a great on-the-run breakfast food, as well as an easy dinner recipe the entire family can enjoy.
Interspersed with the recipes are some projects related to cooking you can do with children, such as making a volcano (with baking powder and dishwashing liquid), a chef’s hat, a cake plate, and even some homemade modeling dough.
The book’s photographs show the absolute joy children get out of shaking and baking and rolling and patting. Even the youngest can squish through their fingers to just experience the textures of different foods. My son-in-law tried to capture the joy and pleasure we took in our cooking time as well. Blakely and I had a fun time and know you and your favorite child will as well.
Cheerful Chickpea Cakes: Chickpeas are super healthy for healthy bodies. These handy, snack-size, savory cakes team up all that goodness with a cheesiness that makes them irresistible.
- ²/³ cup fava beans
- 1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
- ½ cup shredded Gruyere cheese
- 1 small red onion, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons chopped mint
- 1 egg, plus 1 egg yolk
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Cook fava beans in a saucepan of boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain; then coarsely chop.
Place the chickpeas in a bowl. Crush with a fork. Alternatively, process the chickpeas briefly in a food processor. Mix together the crushed chickpeas, chopped beans, cheeses, onion, mint, egg, and egg yolk until well combined and the mixture easily sticks together when pressed with a spoon.
Place a 2 ½ inch round cutter on the prepared sheet, and pile some of the mixture into it. Pack down firmly with the back of a spoon and carefully twist and lift away the cutter. Repeat with the remaining mixture to make 10 cakes, rinsing and drying the cutter if the mixture starts to stick to it.
Bake the cakes in the oven for 20 minutes until firm and just beginning to turn pale golden around the edges. Let cool. The cakes are best eaten on the day you make them, but you could store them overnight in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
NOTE: We chose this particular recipe because it is gluten-free, one of several in the book. We substituted Vidalla onion for red onion and decided to eliminate the mint. We also decided to make this a scooping exercise, as well, using a muffin pan and scooper for more careful portion control. One of the great outcomes of cooking with children is the ability to modify recipes to their particular tastes or nutritional restrictions.
Tomorrow’s Child / September 2014 / p 31
