Friday Fives: Five Meals My Kid Will Know How to Cook
A blogging friend, Elizabeth, has a Friday Five hosted on her blog. I decided to join in because Five things? Easy peasy! http://table4five.net/
Chef and I had a talk the last day of school. The objective for us this summer was to refresh him on cooking. More specifically, get him comfortable with actually using the stove, the one thing he did not do in all those cooking lessons. So, we will work together on him learning some easy meals to make and things that will make big batches to either feed him for a while or feed a crowd if he's entertaining. These are what we'll be covering:
1. Homemade Macaroni and Cheese.
As GameTeen can't have dyes, my kids have pretty much been raised on mom's homemade (or Dad will make velveeta shells and cheese, because it doesn't use dye). It has all the things that a kid likes in a meal: One pot, quick, and it makes a bunch. Both boys know you can vary the cheese according to what is on hand, but now I'm going to show him how the 'everything is better with bacon' rule applies. Best part is that it can be on the table in about 20 minutes.
2. Biscuits and Gravy
Basically, Chef is going to learn how to make a roux, which every cook needs to know how to do. In fact, the Mac and cheese uses a roux with cheese added, which is then called a Mornay sauce. The beauty of a roux is that it can be used to make sausage gravy, chicken a la king, chipped beef, and a minor modification makes it into Chicken Pot Pie, which Chef lovingly calls 'Paste'. One pan, one baking sheet and in 15 minutes, food is ready to consume.
3. Spaghetti sauce.
This, like the biscuits and gravy, is really a mother sauce and Chef will get to learn how to make marinara, arrabiatta, and bolognese sauces. It is one of the first things my mom taught me, all of my siblings and I have our own unique twist to mom's marinara. It'll be interesting to see what Chef does. Somehow, I envision something with tons of rosemary and garlic, his favorite herb and ingredient together. Along with that will probably be meatballs, and at the very least, he'll have meatball subs.
4. Chicken soup.
Chef is my soup fan. I think the only one he doesn't eat is tomato and he is all over any homemade soups. He has been spoiled by homemade chicken soup using the rotisserie chicken shortcut for a while, and the objective is to teach him how to properly pick a carcass, make the stock from it, then create a hearty soup from it. The bonus is that my pot pie recipe is a hybrid of this and the roux, so he gets to expand the repetoire by combining the two.
5. Chicken cutlets.
You can put a fine steak in front of my son and he's indifferent to it. Chicken? He gets excited.
Which is why my goal is to have him making the family favorite. Heck, when I was his age, my mom deemed mine better than hers, and I'd be tasked with cooking them on her night off every once in a while. Is it too much to hope that my son does the same for me?
So, if you have teens, do they cook? If they do, what do they prepare?
1. Homemade Macaroni and Cheese.
As GameTeen can't have dyes, my kids have pretty much been raised on mom's homemade (or Dad will make velveeta shells and cheese, because it doesn't use dye). It has all the things that a kid likes in a meal: One pot, quick, and it makes a bunch. Both boys know you can vary the cheese according to what is on hand, but now I'm going to show him how the 'everything is better with bacon' rule applies. Best part is that it can be on the table in about 20 minutes.
2. Biscuits and Gravy
Basically, Chef is going to learn how to make a roux, which every cook needs to know how to do. In fact, the Mac and cheese uses a roux with cheese added, which is then called a Mornay sauce. The beauty of a roux is that it can be used to make sausage gravy, chicken a la king, chipped beef, and a minor modification makes it into Chicken Pot Pie, which Chef lovingly calls 'Paste'. One pan, one baking sheet and in 15 minutes, food is ready to consume.
3. Spaghetti sauce.
This, like the biscuits and gravy, is really a mother sauce and Chef will get to learn how to make marinara, arrabiatta, and bolognese sauces. It is one of the first things my mom taught me, all of my siblings and I have our own unique twist to mom's marinara. It'll be interesting to see what Chef does. Somehow, I envision something with tons of rosemary and garlic, his favorite herb and ingredient together. Along with that will probably be meatballs, and at the very least, he'll have meatball subs.
4. Chicken soup.
Chef is my soup fan. I think the only one he doesn't eat is tomato and he is all over any homemade soups. He has been spoiled by homemade chicken soup using the rotisserie chicken shortcut for a while, and the objective is to teach him how to properly pick a carcass, make the stock from it, then create a hearty soup from it. The bonus is that my pot pie recipe is a hybrid of this and the roux, so he gets to expand the repetoire by combining the two.
5. Chicken cutlets.
You can put a fine steak in front of my son and he's indifferent to it. Chicken? He gets excited.
Which is why my goal is to have him making the family favorite. Heck, when I was his age, my mom deemed mine better than hers, and I'd be tasked with cooking them on her night off every once in a while. Is it too much to hope that my son does the same for me?
So, if you have teens, do they cook? If they do, what do they prepare?
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