This is my blog, A Green and Rosie Life, which is all about helping you live life that bit greener without having to build an off-grid log cabin in the woods or knit your own nettle fibre undies! It's about helping you make simple changes that together will make a big difference to our beautiful world and make it a better place for our children.
Showing posts with label Cooking with Kids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cooking with Kids. Show all posts
Sunday, 23 March 2014
Friday, 7 March 2014
The Reluctant Chef
Posted by Rosie
As regular readers to the blog may realise, Ben enjoys a bit of cooking - he's a dab hand at cakes, gingerbread men and flipping pancakes all I which I have blogged about before. Tom however is a very different kettle of fish. Mention cooking and he's gone in a flash. "It'll be boring," he moans. However as a mother I feel it is my duty to equip BOTH boys with the ability to cook a few dishes so that the day they finally fly the nest they will not be limited to take-aways and pot noodles.
On Tuesday then I dragged (metaphorically speaking) Tom into the kitchen and decided it was high time he learnt to cook something. That something was mince as I reckoned that once he could cook mince he would have a fair array of menu options at his fingertips - lasagne, spag bol, shepherd's pie, mince over baked potatoes and the meal we were having on Tuesday - chilli. Actually as it was pancake day we werre having chilli pancakes and Tom was cooking the mince.
How did he do then?
Yup - I think my reluctant cook did OK. In fact I know he did OK. The chilli was lovely and I know he enjoyed cooking it because he has already asked when I can next help him cook again. Lasagne this time he says. And Ben is doing pudding.
Linking up once again with Corinne over at Motherhood Journeys and her new Cooking with Kids Linky. Come and join in if you have been cooking with your kids this week.
As regular readers to the blog may realise, Ben enjoys a bit of cooking - he's a dab hand at cakes, gingerbread men and flipping pancakes all I which I have blogged about before. Tom however is a very different kettle of fish. Mention cooking and he's gone in a flash. "It'll be boring," he moans. However as a mother I feel it is my duty to equip BOTH boys with the ability to cook a few dishes so that the day they finally fly the nest they will not be limited to take-aways and pot noodles.
On Tuesday then I dragged (metaphorically speaking) Tom into the kitchen and decided it was high time he learnt to cook something. That something was mince as I reckoned that once he could cook mince he would have a fair array of menu options at his fingertips - lasagne, spag bol, shepherd's pie, mince over baked potatoes and the meal we were having on Tuesday - chilli. Actually as it was pancake day we werre having chilli pancakes and Tom was cooking the mince.
How did he do then?
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| Ingredients were gathered |
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| Careful knife skills were practised |
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| Mince was browned |
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| Looking good! |
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| Chef Tom with his very own chilli pancakes |
Yup - I think my reluctant cook did OK. In fact I know he did OK. The chilli was lovely and I know he enjoyed cooking it because he has already asked when I can next help him cook again. Lasagne this time he says. And Ben is doing pudding.
Linking up once again with Corinne over at Motherhood Journeys and her new Cooking with Kids Linky. Come and join in if you have been cooking with your kids this week.
Friday, 28 February 2014
Crèpes à L'Anglais?
Posted by Rosie
I had just left the supermarket yesterday and was heading to collect Tom from his saxophone lesson when the phone rang. Pulling over Ben asked if I could get some plain flour as we had run out and he wanted to take some pancakes into school tomorrow. On February 2nd here in France it was la Chandeleur, more commonly know as Candlemass in the UK and a day when the French traditionally eat pancakes. On that date parents had been asked to send in some home-made jams to eat with the pancakes that the cook had made for them. Tomorrow is the last day before their 2 week half term break and with lots of jam left over the teacher asked if anyone would like to bring in some pancakes ... and Ben immediately volunteered. When he told me this my first though was how ironic that the only English boy in the school was the one volunteering to make that most French of dishes - crèpes!
So I popped into Netto after picking Tom up and bought the flour ... and a bargain that turned out to be with a huge bag of offer! Back home hands were washed, ingredients were gathered and the making of Crèpes à L'Anglais began.
I have no idea if the recipe for British pancakes is exactly the same as French crèpes but I hope the children at school enjoy them. There are unfortunately a few children who have made rather a fuss when we have taken in some other British goodies. OK, I can understand Marmite being a shock to the taste buds but even the teacher got cross when one girl feigned sickness on eating a spoonful of Christmas Pudding and this same girl was told in no uncertain terms NOT to make a fuss when trying lemon curd! I hope she likes Ben's pancakes - he worked hard making them and only one ended up on the floor - much to the disappointment of the dogs!
Linking up with Corinne from Motherhood Journeys and her Cookery with Kids Blog Linky. If you have been cooking with the kids this week do think about blogging about it and adding your post.
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I had just left the supermarket yesterday and was heading to collect Tom from his saxophone lesson when the phone rang. Pulling over Ben asked if I could get some plain flour as we had run out and he wanted to take some pancakes into school tomorrow. On February 2nd here in France it was la Chandeleur, more commonly know as Candlemass in the UK and a day when the French traditionally eat pancakes. On that date parents had been asked to send in some home-made jams to eat with the pancakes that the cook had made for them. Tomorrow is the last day before their 2 week half term break and with lots of jam left over the teacher asked if anyone would like to bring in some pancakes ... and Ben immediately volunteered. When he told me this my first though was how ironic that the only English boy in the school was the one volunteering to make that most French of dishes - crèpes!
So I popped into Netto after picking Tom up and bought the flour ... and a bargain that turned out to be with a huge bag of offer! Back home hands were washed, ingredients were gathered and the making of Crèpes à L'Anglais began.
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| Measuring flour from that massive bag I bought |
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| Carefully cracking eggs |
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| Flip ... what you can't see is the dogs waiting on, ever hopeful for failure! |
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| Ben with his Crèpes à L'Anglais |
Linking up with Corinne from Motherhood Journeys and her Cookery with Kids Blog Linky. If you have been cooking with the kids this week do think about blogging about it and adding your post.
Monday, 17 February 2014
Chinese and Cheesecake
Posted by Rosie
To celebrate his birthday Tom asked if his friend Matéo could come over for a Chinese meal. Matéo had never eaten Chinese but was keen to try and excited about trying to eat with chopsticks. To finish the meal, Ben wanted to make a cheesecake - OK, not Chinese in any shape or form but something he had had on his "To Make" list for a while, so now seemed as good a time as any. Tom was more than happy with this so when he was at athletics in the morning, Ben set to preparing the cheesecake:
First there was the base. Biscuit bashing (fun for anyone but especially 10 year old boys!), butter melting and remembering to grease the flan dish.
The base was put aside in the fridge to harden and it was on with the filling. Ingredients were gathered including lemons that were zested and juiced. Guess what - it's going to be a lemon cheesecake!
Finally it was on with mixing the mascapone, lemon zest, juice and sugar which was added to the biscuit base. Shortly before it was to be served Ben added a topping of bottles blackcurrants which I had in the store cupboard.
But the tasting of the cheesecake would have to wait a bit longer as there was the important business of eating the Chinese. Simon did most of the cooking whilst I was chief washer-uper and mopper of spilt soy sauce, most of which seemed to land on Poppy's "Lampshade". (oops - sorry Poppy). Simon did us proud and for his first taste of Chinese cuisine Matéo tucked into Sweet and Sour Pork, Fish and Prawns in Oyster Sauce and Mixed Chinese Vegetables all served with noodles. He tried everything and whilst he didn't particularly like the fish or the baby sweetcorn in the vegetable dish, he loved everything else. He did attempt to use the chopsticks but found them too hard so had to resort to a fork to ensure he got his fair share of the meal eaten!
At last, it was on to Ben's cheesecake - this was something else Matéo had never eaten but he was once more happy to try. Three slices later I think we can safely say he liked it. Thank you Simon for our main course and thank you Ben for our pudding. It was a lovely meal, perfect for the celebration of Tom's 12th birthday.
Click here for the recipe if you fancy making lemon cheesecake.
I am joining Corinne at Motherhood Journeys on her new Blog Linky - Cooking with Kids. If you are writing a cooking with kids type blog do think about joining in. It runs from Thursdays for 6 days. Click on the image below to see the first Cooking with Kids blog or here to see her second. (You can also link to an old blog!)
To celebrate his birthday Tom asked if his friend Matéo could come over for a Chinese meal. Matéo had never eaten Chinese but was keen to try and excited about trying to eat with chopsticks. To finish the meal, Ben wanted to make a cheesecake - OK, not Chinese in any shape or form but something he had had on his "To Make" list for a while, so now seemed as good a time as any. Tom was more than happy with this so when he was at athletics in the morning, Ben set to preparing the cheesecake:
First there was the base. Biscuit bashing (fun for anyone but especially 10 year old boys!), butter melting and remembering to grease the flan dish.
The base was put aside in the fridge to harden and it was on with the filling. Ingredients were gathered including lemons that were zested and juiced. Guess what - it's going to be a lemon cheesecake!
Finally it was on with mixing the mascapone, lemon zest, juice and sugar which was added to the biscuit base. Shortly before it was to be served Ben added a topping of bottles blackcurrants which I had in the store cupboard.
But the tasting of the cheesecake would have to wait a bit longer as there was the important business of eating the Chinese. Simon did most of the cooking whilst I was chief washer-uper and mopper of spilt soy sauce, most of which seemed to land on Poppy's "Lampshade". (oops - sorry Poppy). Simon did us proud and for his first taste of Chinese cuisine Matéo tucked into Sweet and Sour Pork, Fish and Prawns in Oyster Sauce and Mixed Chinese Vegetables all served with noodles. He tried everything and whilst he didn't particularly like the fish or the baby sweetcorn in the vegetable dish, he loved everything else. He did attempt to use the chopsticks but found them too hard so had to resort to a fork to ensure he got his fair share of the meal eaten!
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| Matéo and Tom (NB - the wine is mine!) |
At last, it was on to Ben's cheesecake - this was something else Matéo had never eaten but he was once more happy to try. Three slices later I think we can safely say he liked it. Thank you Simon for our main course and thank you Ben for our pudding. It was a lovely meal, perfect for the celebration of Tom's 12th birthday.
Click here for the recipe if you fancy making lemon cheesecake.
I am joining Corinne at Motherhood Journeys on her new Blog Linky - Cooking with Kids. If you are writing a cooking with kids type blog do think about joining in. It runs from Thursdays for 6 days. Click on the image below to see the first Cooking with Kids blog or here to see her second. (You can also link to an old blog!)
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