Teaching Children to Cook

Cooking With Kids, May 24, 2010

Kids need to start learning a skill as soon as they possibly can, and with

this is mind I plan to work at that this summer. I learned from my mother,

who thoroughly enjoyed her craft. Once at a café where she worked she

was required to wear one of those tall chef’s hat. That was okay, because

she was a chef. Her life was quite tied up with the service of providing her

children with food first, but for a whole city, it seemed. Respect, admiration

and genuine affection was given to her from total strangers for this, too.

Today’s recipe

Vegetarian Spaghetti

1 package thin wheat spaghetti

½ stick butter

1 Tablespoon finely chopped garlic

1/3 cup soy sauce

In a 6 quart sauce pan put 2 quarts water and heat. To this add the butter,

garlic and soy sauce.

Put the thin spaghetti in this water to cook until tender.

Sauce:

1 onion

4 ribs celery

2 Tablespoons oil or butter

1 small package frozen corn

1 small package frozen lima beans

1 can tomato paste

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

½ teaspoon tumeric

Chop up onions and celery into small pieces. Cook these in a skillet with

the butter until the onions are transparent. To this add the corn, lima beans,

1 can tomato paste, cumin, Italian and tumeric spices. Add about 3/4 quart

water to this and cook until the onions and limas are done.

Put the spaghetti on a large platter and pour the sauce over the middle of that.

Tip: When using celery, if it comes wrapped in it’s own bag, pull the ribs out

for just the amount you are gong to use. Cut that off. Slide celery back down

into the plastic bag and refrigerate. This will keep celery fresh longer. This is what

I taught the children today. I also taught them how to chop the onion on the cutting

board while keeping their fingers out of the way.