More Cooking with Children

These are the recipes from another English camp I have taught with my students. They really enjoyed the Calzones, the wedges... unfortunately didn't get cooked all the way through, so the one group that had the best wedges kept having the other students coming around to steal theirs, and then the muffins... were really good.

The problem with cooking at the particular school I was teaching these recipes at, is that I have only 1 oven in my apartment, and when I take that with me to school (it's only a table top oven of 45l in size), not everyone's food fits in it at once, and the cooking time is extended because of so much food in the poor oven. We end up running out of time because of it. So if you were doing this with a small group of students/children it would be much easier, and you would be able to guarantee foods are cooked correctly, which would improve the appreciation rate of the chefs-in-training.

So here are the recipes we used...

Pizza Calzone dough

3/4 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast

3/4 cup warm water

2-1/4 teaspoons olive oil

3/4 teaspoon white sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1-3/4 cups and 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided

3/4 teaspoon olive oil

To Make Dough: In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add the oil, sugar and salt; mix in 1 cup of the flour until smooth. Gradually stir in the rest of the flour, until dough is smooth and workable. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface for about 5 minutes, or until it is elastic. Lay dough in a bowl containing 1 teaspoon olive oil, then flip the dough, cover and let rise for 40 minutes, or until almost doubled.

Calzone Filling

1 sausage per person

1 bottle of pizza sauce

1 100g bag of grated cheese

Make the filling. Cut up 1 sausage per person in your group. Use 1 bottle of pizza sauce. One bag of cheese. Mix all the ingredients together.

Putting the Calzone together...

When dough is ready, punch it down and separate it into 2 equal parts. Roll parts out into thin circles on a lightly floured surface. Fill each circle with filling and fold over, securing edges by folding in and pressing with a fork. Brush the top of each calzone with egg and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 30 minutes. Serve hot.

Wedges

450g potatoes, washed, peeled

 2 tablespoons olive oil

 Salt & freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven 220°C. Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper.

Cut the potatoes in half lengthways, then cut each half into 1.5cm-thick wedges and place in a large bowl. Put wedges into a pot of boiling water and boil for 10 minutes.

Spread the potatoes in a single layer over the lined tray and drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes until tender and crisp. Serve immediately.

Choc-Orange Muffins  (This recipe is the same as the no milk, egg, butter or bowls cake, but with the orange juice in place of the water)

1 1/2 Cups flour (all-purpose)

3 Tbsp. cocoa (unsweetened)

1 Cup sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp.  salt

1 tsp. white vinegar

1 tsp.  pure vanilla extract

5 Tbsp. vegetable oil 

1 Cup Orange juice 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix first 5 dry ingredients in a bowl.  

Make 3 depressions in dry ingredients - two small, one larger.

Pour vinegar in one depression, vanilla in the other and the vegetable oil in third larger depression.  

Pour orange juice over all.  Mix well until smooth.

Put a scoop into each muffin liner

Put into the oven and back for 12-15 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Easy cooking with Children

I teach middle school children in South Korea. During the Summer and Winter, we have an "English Camp" which is a week or 2 week long series of 3 hour classes with the students. The idea during this time is to have the students interact with and have fun using English. I always try to cook something with them.

These are the recipes we used for one particular camp cooking day.

The students loved the Garlic bread, they said they would have preferred beef in the bolognese (personally I would have too, but cost restraints told us we weren't allowed to do that), and they LOVED the Spiders/Cokefloats. The Coke-float was a new experience for them, and they were a little unsure to begin with, but once they tasted them, they were lining up for 2nds and 3rds. It was fun to see them experiment with the different flavors of soft drink - we had coke, lemonade, pineapple, grape, strawberry and orange. They mixed some of the flavors together to try and get the best combinations too. It was fun to watch.

The most important thing to remember when cooking with children, is to keep things simple so they can do as much as possible, and they can have fun with it. If they don't get to do much in the cooking of the food, and they just eat it, they aren't learning a useful life skill. I always encourage EVERY student/child I am teaching to cook, to get involved. I make sure everyone in the group gets a turn to do something. That way, the meal is more rewarding for them.

Garlic Bread

 

You need:

1/2 cup butter

1 tsp garlic (crushed)

1 slice bread per person

 

Mix crushed garlic and butter together in a bowl until combined.

 

Spread butter mix on both sides of the bread.

 

Place bread in frying-pan and cook for 1-2 minutes each side, until golden brown.

 

Cut bread diagonally to serve.

 

 

Spaghetti Bolognese

 

You need:

800gm ground pork/ ground beef

1 bottle Spaghetti sauce

1 packet Spaghetti

 

Fill pot with water and bring to a boil.

 

Put spaghetti into boiling water.

 

In frying pan, cook ground pork until no pink can be seen.

 

Add spaghetti sauce to ground pork in frying pan.

 

Stir until combined.

 

When spaghetti is finished cooking, it will change color and be soft to the bite, remove from heat and remove water.

 

Wash the spaghetti and put back in the pot. Add the spaghetti sauce and stir.

 

Serve on a plate.

 

 

Spiders

 

You need:

2 scoops ice cream

250ml soda

 

Put 2 scoops of ice cream into a cup

 

Pour soda over ice cream

 

Use a spoon to help you drink

The most delicious Chocolate Pie

On our search for a real chocolate pie, we came across many recipes. We tried a few and didn't like them for different reasons - too bitter, too rich, too sweet, not sweet enough... and then we found this recipe...

Growing up my Mom made this Chocolate Pie that was creamy and delicious!!! NO one knew the recipe and we were too afraid to ask. One Christmas, my mom surprised my sisters and me with the secret recipe. As well as the proper cookware. (It was the best gift ever according to my daughter). Now I get the "wow" at dinner parties when I bring my Mom's famous and VERY easy chocolate pie. Her secret is out and I'm glad that the WORLD can enjoy what I consider to be the best chocolate pie ever.

2 Graham Cracker pie crusts
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup cocoa
pinch of salt
4 egg yolks
4 cups milk (2% or whole)
2 t vanilla

1. Measure dry ingredients and stir together until blended.
2. Separate egg yolks and egg whites
3. Add 4 cups milk, beaten egg yolks and vanilla flavoring to dry mixture
4. Heat in microwave on high in 2 minute increments in a glass bowl
5. Stir after each 2 minutes
6. When thickened to right consistency (thick and creamy) pour into pie crusts
7. Cool, then top with whipped cream
Serves 16 (makes 2 pies)

Enjoy this recipe? We have a whole cookbook full in Cooking With Grace:http://modo.ly/1BAfCdm

Chocolate Pie Cake

A couple of months ago, this little beauty popped up on facebook. My husband made it and he really enjoyed it, and when he went to make it again, he couldn't find it. We searched for a long time, and finally we found the recipe again. I am sharing it here so that we can use it again in the future, and so that anyone else who is interested can make it too.

In honor of Chocolate Day, I am making Hot Fudge Pie! It is the easiest thing ever to make!

1 stick butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 Tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup all purpose flour.

Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy about 3 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla and mix in well. Add cocoa powder, salt and flour and stir until well combined. Grease a 8" pie plate with butter or Pam. Pour mixture in pie plate. Bake for 30 -35 minutes until center is set. If you like , you can dust with powdered sugar and serve with a side of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream!

CRAZY CAKE RECIPE (NO EGGS, MILK, BUTTER OR BOWLS)

I have been holding onto this recipe for a while now... I made it for my husband's birthday late last year, and changed out the water for orange juice, to make a Jaffa or Choc-Orange cake instead. He loved it. It's a super easy recipe, and it works really well.

CRAZY CAKE RECIPE (NO EGGS, MILK, BUTTER OR BOWLS)

 

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 Cups flour (all-purpose)
• 3 Tbsp. cocoa (unsweetened)
• 1 Cup sugar (All purpose sugar - Granulated Pure Cane Sugar)
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp.  salt

• 1 tsp. white vinegar
• 1 tsp.  pure vanilla extract
• 5 Tbsp. vegetable oil 
• 1 Cup water 

Directions (picture tutorial below)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix first 5 dry ingredients in a greased 8" square baking pan.  Make 3 depressions in dry ingredients - two small, one larger (see #3 in photo below). Pour vinegar in one depression, vanilla in the other and the vegetable oil in third larger depression.  Pour water over all.  Mix well until smooth.

Bake on middle rack of oven for 35 minutes.  Check with toothpick to make sure it comes out clean. Cool.  Top with your favorite frosting.  Enjoy!

Note:  Oven cooking times may vary, be sure to check your cake to make sure you do not over bake.

TIPS:

• You can double this recipe, just use a 9x13 baking pan.

• Mix batter in a bowl for neater, easier mixing.  Be sure to follow the directions the same way - mixing the dry ingredients then making the depressions for the wet ingredients.  Don't forget to grease your pan.  You can also make cupcakes - be sure to adjust baking time. 

• Although I have not used Gluten Free flour mixes for this recipe, many people have and said the cake turns out wonderful!  This is a great tip from someone that made the cake using a GF mix -  "...the mix I use is 1c. brown rice flour, 1c. white rice flour, 1/3 c. tapioca starch, 2/3 c. potato starch, 1tsp. xanthan gum. I've used it in everything from bread to cookies to cakes, and I love it. I do add just a bit more leavening agent *usually baking soda* than the recipe calls for.  For instance, in this recipe I just added 1/2 of what it called for more. So the recipe called for 1 tsp, so I added 1 1/2.  And it was SO good. Hubby didn't even know it was vegan.  And he's a full on man lol. Meat, potatoes, you get it."  She also added another note for this GF mix - "I only increase the leavening on cakes and bread. cookies are fine."   A big thank you goes out to the sweet reader for being so helpful and sharing this tip with all of us! 

• Head here for a GF Crazy/Wacky Cake recipe - Bob's Red Mill's Gluten-Free Wacky Cake

• Many have shared that this recipe is great served warm or cold with just sprinkling powdered sugar on top.  

• This cake is also a great activity to do with kids.

• For the cupcakes, you can make a dozen using  muffin tin and cupcake liners.  The cupcakes were baked at 350 degrees F for 13 mins.  (Oven cooking times vary)