Get The Kids Cooking!

One of my favourite things to do is cook with kids! I love it. With my business..."Sweetpea Cuisine" (http://www.sweetpeacuisine.com.au/) I regularly run workshops and cooking lessons with kids aged from 5 to 13. It is fantastic to see them getting excited about food, working together, following recipes, learning about measurement and tasting their creations (yes...even veggies!).

I also cook, whenever I can, with my gorgeous niece. She is now 3 but we have been cooking since she was about  18 months old. She loves it. Not long after she had started talking she would see my sister or myself cooking and say "my mix" which meant that she wanted to get her hands dirty and get involved. Her she is mixing up some of her own beef meatballs.

Here is a great recipe that kids from 5+ can make almost unassisted, although supervision is always necessary when they are working in the kitchen. Kids younger than 5 can also do lots of this recipe themselves with a little extra help. Give it a try and watch them devour the vegies in these tasty little creations that are also perfect reheated as an after school snack or cold in their school lunchbox...and pretty healthy too!

Chicken & Veggie Pastry Rolls: - (K = kids to do A=adult to do recommended)

They'll Need:
200g chicken mince
1 medium zucchini
1 medium carrot
1/4 cup corn kernels (frozen, fresh or tinned)
1/4 cup peas (frozen or fresh)
1 tbs tomato ketchup
1 tbs kecap manis (sweet soy)
2 pieces puff pastry (thawed)
1 egg (beaten)

To Make: (preheat oven to 200 degrees C)
1. grate the zucchini on a coarse grater and then peel and coarsely grate the carrot. Place in a med to large mixing bowl - K
2. measure and add the corn and peas - K
3. measure and add the ketchup and kecap manis - K
4. add the chicken mince and use your hands to squish together until well combined - K
5. lay the puff pastry on a chopping mat or board and carefully slice in half with a knife - K supervised
6.with your hands make a sausage shape of the mixture along the long side of one of the pastry halves - make sure it goes all the way to each end and is the same thickness all the way down (about 3cm wide) - K
7. carefully peel the pastry away from the backing plastic (if any) and roll it over until the chicken mix is covered (like a sausage roll) - K
8. repeat with the remaining pastry and mixture - K
9. line a baking tray with baking paper and carefully place each pastry roll onto the tray with the join on the bottom- K
10. use a knife to carefully cut through the top layer of pastry about every 6 cm along each roll (to make snack sized pastries) - K
11. crack the egg into a cup and beat with a fork until combined, then use a pastry brush to paint the top of each pastry roll - K
12. place the pastries in the oven to cook for 15-20 mins or until golden brown and cooked through - A
13. remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 mins on the tray, then slice into the smaller pieces and serve immediately or refrigerate to be reheated later or served cold - A or K

Enjoy. You may be surprised at how even fussy kids will eat these, veggies and all, especially if they make them themselves. If they throw a spaz at the zucchini you can promise them they won't taste it...I guarantee it!

So get those kids into the kitchen and teach them that fresh is best and homemade from the heart is better!