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Food: Kid's the cook
There's a bright side to unpaid child labor...

by Brooke Jackson

At my family dinner table one recent evening I found myself answering the same question I'd been asked for more than a decade now: "Do I have to eat this?" The inquirers were my two daughters, ages 10 and 13, as they were picking through and analyzing every green morsel of the dinner I had just spent an hour making. As I contemplated throwing something in frustration, the younger one actually gagged on a piece of asparagus. Something needed to change.

The next day I asked both of them to make dinner two nights per week, either together or on their own. They had to pick the recipes, make the shopping list, cook the different parts of the meal, set the table and clean up after themselves. I was expecting the usual heavy sigh I get when they are asked to help with chores but, much to my surprise, they were ecstatic. Both immediately got out cookbooks, chose their meals and made a shopping list.

The first dinner was sweet and sour meatballs with rice, roasted asparagus and pineapple. A food processor was used to make the bread crumbs and chop the garlic and onion, eliminating the risks of knife use. Willing hands massaged the meat mixture with the other ingredients and shaped them into balls. I was in the background monitoring and helping when needed, but my daughter did just about everything on her own. The meal was devoured by both kids; but the most amazing thing was that all the asparagus was eaten without one gag! She chose it, she cooked it and she ate it all.

The next meal was chicken chow mein with pears. As my other daughter got all the ingredients together and chopped the veggies, I pulled a container of tofu out of the fridge. "I hate tofu," she said. I contended that we'd only use half, that it needed to be used up and that it was a good source of protein. As she was stir-frying everything together in the wok, I threw in a couple of handfuls of the diced tofu. Later I noticed her wolfing down a huge portion, still claiming she hated tofu as she shoveled a big bite of it into her mouth. A couple of minutes later her plate was clean as a whistle.

This new meal-making responsibility has been working great. Not only do I get a couple of nights off from cooking (for the most part), but the kids are eating everything, choosing healthy meals to make and having fun doing it. They are even pretty good at cleaning up. It seems that taking ownership of dinner is making them care more.

Michelle Stern, owner of What's Cooking, has found the same thing in her cooking classes. "I completely agree that when kids are involved in the selection and preparation of their meals, they are much more inclined to enjoy eating them. They seem more willing to taste new foods and eat healthier if they are encouraged to participate in the planning and cooking process. One of my students warned me that she would not be eating any of our mashed sweet potatoes with caramelized apples [during a Thanksgiving class]. But when they were finished cooking, she asked for seconds and thirds, saying that they were the best food she had ever tasted!" Stern's business offers cooking classes to kids. Her Web site, www.whatscooking.info, is a wealth of information on all aspects of cooking with kids, from a catalog of kid-friendly tools to blogs about culture, cookbooks, cooking contests, school lunches and much more. One of the links is to www.whatscookingweekly.com, Stern's weekly menu service with recipes. The service provides tips on how the kids can help with the prep, along with five seasonal dinner menus per week complete with grocery lists and nutritional information.

Another resource we've found helpful is cookbooks directed at kids. We have two published by DK: Children's Quick and Easy Cookbook and Children's Cookbook. Both are very colorful with lots of pictures and step-by-step instructions. They have healthy ideas as well as dessert recipes; all are easy to follow.

If you've been in my shoes at mealtimes with your kids, try getting them more involved as a solution to good eating habits. Here are a couple of recipes to get you started.

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CHICKEN AND TOFU CHOW MEIN

Yields 4 servings

8 ounces dried egg noodles, cooked, drained and tossed with 1 tablespoon canola or peanut oil

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and stir-fry until it's golden and cooked through, about 5 minutes. Remove to a plate. Add the rest of the oil and the ginger, garlic, carrots, asparagus and sugar snaps. Stir-fry until mixture is fragrant and vegetables are tender-crisp, about 4-6 minutes. Return the chicken to the pan with the scallions, tofu and noodles. Mix everything together and stir-fry for another 5 minutes until chow mein is hot and flavors have blended. Add the soy sauce and lemon juice and stir to combine, cooking for another 2 minutes. Serve immediately.

GRILLED PINWHEEL STEAKS

Yields 4 servings

1 pound skirt steak or 2 T-bone tails (see note)

Salt and pepper

For skirt steak, use scissors to cut the steak in half lengthwise. If using T-bone tails, they will already be in the correct shape. With a rubber spatula, evenly spread pesto sauce on one side of each length of steak. Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese over the pesto. Carefully roll up a piece of steak into a pinwheel and thread a skewer through the middle to hold it in place. Repeat with the second piece of steak. Season both sides of each pinwheel with salt and pepper. Preheat grill on medium high for 5 minutes. Put steaks on and lower heat to medium. Grill for about 8 minutes per side for medium rare. Cut into the middle to make sure the steak is done to your liking before turning off the grill.

Note: T-bone tails are trimmings from the steak of the same name. They come in thin pieces about 10-12 inches in length, usually 2-3 per package. If you find them, they work really well in this recipe.