Teach Your Children To Cook
Children are beset with so many activities that for many learning to cook is not an option. If a parent can share the experiences of shopping for food and its preparation the rewards will be great.
Pre-schoolers can help in the selection of fruits and vegetables. Then they may be aware of the process involved in getting food on the table.
Older children can learn more details from school Home Economics classes, participation in 4-H Baking groups and grandparents.
I know it is often easier to do it yourself than to have a child help, but the rewards of having your child looking on as you cook are great.
Years ago I worked as an Activities Director in a retirement center.
One of the residents, Irma, was a charmer. She regaled me with the story of how she baked a cake while her mother was working in the field with her father. The child was not yet in school and was left alone in the country home. This must have been about 1920. Bored, she decided to bake a cake for the family meal. She stoked the fire in the wood burning cook-stove. Got out the ingredients, (no doubt, lard was one), a big bowl and a wooden spoon. She needed no recipe, she had watched her mother. And the cake was in the oven. On her mother’s return, she was shocked to learn that the child had indeed baked a cake.
The really good part of the story is the joy Irma still felt in telling of her childhood accomplishments.
Easter is a time of family get-togethers. You are blessed if when the children come home, they come bearing nutritious, beautiful food.
The food may be prepared in a different way, it may even be better.
Our daughter prepared this fruit tart.
I am the s.l.t.t.n.r. (she likes to try new recipes) We change as we age.
When the children were growing up, biscuits were an easy step with Bisquick. When they were older I learned to make dinner rolls, they were a staple for family dinners. As energy slackened and s.l.t..t.n.r. abounded I found a recipe for Angel Biscuits. They looked beautiful in the pictures, a combination of yeast, baking powder and soda. Despite my best efforts they turned out heavy.
Live and Learn, next time it will be the super market, Bisquick, or a new recipe.
Chocolate Meringue Pie was a holiday dessert. Thanks to tips from Milk Street Magazine and an old clipping from Heloise here is my take on the pie.
Chocolate Meringue Pie
The filling
2 cups milk
1 cup sugar
3 eggs, separated
¼ cup cornstarch
¼ cup cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla
Heat milk in heavy pan over medium burner. Combine sugar, cornstarch and cocoa in bowl. Add a little of milk to make a paste, then add to pan. With fork beat lightly egg yolks in a small bowl. Add small amount of hot filling to egg, stir , then add to filling. Cook until thick. Leave in hot pan while you prepare meringue.
3 egg whites at room temp.(this is important)
6 level tablespoons sugar
tiny smidgen of salt
1 teaspoon cornstarch
The method is the tricky part. Sugar must be completely dissolved in egg white. To accomplish this you must have perfectly clean bowl and beaters.
Combine sugar, salt and cornstarch. Beat egg whites until foamy throughout, beater on medium, add sugar slowly, tablespoon at a time, still on medium speed. Beat until satiny and smooth. Do not over beat.
Put hot filling in cooled crust. Spread meringue, touching crust on all sides.
Bake in 325 oven, middle rack until beginning to brown. Turn off oven and leave oven door ajar. When cool, keep out of drafts. It should be perfect, and still be nice the next day.
That tart looks delicious. You have taught your children well!
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