Cooking With Your Children:
Why it's so important to spend time in the kitchen with your children -- and how you can get started
Parents, grandparents, and youngsters cooking together in the kitchen, sharing family recipes and secrets passed from one generation to the next, is a lost art in many households across America. These days, it's hard for busy parents even to take time out to teach their kids basic cooking techniques.
It's true that including the kids in cooking meals requires time, patience, and some extra clean-up, especially when the children are younger. But many experts think it is well worth the effort.
For one thing, cooking with your kids can help get them interested in trying healthy foods they might normally turn their noses up at. Susan Moores, MS, RD, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, says she has seen this happen countless times. It's true that kids will be kids -- they'll snack on chips at a school party or enjoy ice cream after a soccer game. But what is most important is how they eat most of the time, Moores says. And that's where parents can play a role. Keep in mind that for kids today, healthy eating essentially means eating more fruits and vegetables, having whole grains and beans when possible, and choosing leaner types of animal foods (even some fish every now and then.)
Encouraging kids to try healthier foods isn't the only benefit of cooking as a family. Among the recommendations in a recent American Heart Association report on overweight in children and teens were:
Reducing the number of meals eaten outside the home.
Having structured times for family meals.
Offering healthier, low-calorie foods.
Involving children in meal planning, shopping, and food preparation.
Indeed, cooking with kids can be the gift that keeps on giving; it has both short-term and long-term payoffs.
Some of the short-term benefits:
It encourages kids to try healthy foods.
Kids feel like they are accomplishing something and contributing to the family.
Kids are more likely to sit down to a family meal when they helped prepare it.
Parents get to spend quality time with their kids.
Kids aren't spending time in front of the TV or computer while they're cooking.
Kids generally aren't eating junk food when they're cooking a meal at home.
Some long-term benefits:
Learning to cook is a skill your children can use for the rest of their lives.
Kids who learn to eat well may be more likely to eat healthfully as adults.
Positive cooking experiences can help build self-confidence.
Kids who cook with their parents may even be less likely to abuse drugs.
Less likely to abuse drugs? It makes perfect sense if you consider a report from The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. In the report, Family Matters: Substance Abuse and the American Family, the center recommends 10 steps parents can take to prevent substance abuse. Among them are these three:
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Measuring Ingredients by Sandra K. Nissenberg, M.S., R.D.
To make a recipe properly, it is necessary to measure ingredients accurately. Your cooking tools should include measuring spoons and a set of measuring cups for both liquid and dry ingredients.
Glass measuring cups are used to measure liquids like milk and water. These cups are marked with different measurements (¼ cup, â�� cup, ½ cup, â��cup, ¾ cup, and 1 cup) so you can see how high to fill them.
Stacked measuring cups for dry ingredients come in specific sizes. The sets are usually made from either plastic or metal, and there are separate cups for each measurement. You usually use these cups for dry ingredients, like flour and sugar.
Measuring spoons measure small amounts of either liquid or dry ingredients.
Make sure to fill the cup or spoon evenly to the top. Level off dry ingredients using a blunt knife or spatula. Soft ingredients, like brown sugar, peanut butter, or shortening, get packed in, as shown in Figure 1-2.
FIGURE 1.2: Measuring Methods
Some ingredients are measured differently from others. These diagrams will help you.
Measuring Brown Sugar
Measuring Soft Ingredients
Measuring Liquids
Measuring Dry Ingredients
Measuring Butter
Using Measuring Spoons
Common Measurments:
pinch = about 1/8 teaspoon
120 drops of water = 1 teaspoon
60 drops thick fluid = 1 teaspoon
2 teaspoons = 1 dessert spoon
3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon
16 tablespoons = 1 cup
8 fluid ounces = 1 cup
16 fluid ounces = 1 pint
32 fluid ounces = 1 quart
128 fluid ounces = 1 gallon
2 cups = 1 pint
2 pints = 1 quart
4 quarts = 1 gallon
2 cups granulated sugar = 1 pound
3–3/4 cups confectioners' sugar = 1 pound
2–3/4 cups brown sugar = 1 pound
3–1/2 cups wheat flour = 1 pound
5–1/3 cups dry coffee = 1 pound
4 cups cocoa = 1 pound
6–1/2 cups dry tea = 1 pound
2 cups shortening = 1 pound
3–1/2 cups walnuts (chopped) = 1 pound
9 eggs = 1 pound
3 cups cornmeal = 1 pound
2 sticks butter = 1 cup
8 egg whites = 1 cup
2 tablespoons sugar = 1 ounce
3 tablespoons flour = 1 ounce
2 tablespoons butter = 1 ounce
1 ounce yeast = 1 scant tablespoon
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