Cooking With Kids

I grew up learning how to make a few things from my mom, and I could follow simple recipes. I decided in Colorado that I wanted to learn how to cook and I took classes at a local culinary school. Since then, cooking has become one of my favorite things to do.

When the kids were little, their "help" in the kitchen was limited to stirring things or frosting cupcakes or cookies. A few months ago, I started looking for recipes that the kids can help me make - a way for us to spend some time together and hopefully inspire them to become cooks as they get older.

I thought that I would post some of our tried and true favorites, starting with one of the easiest and most fun recipes for the kids: Monkey Buns.

I think Monkey Buns are a midwestern specialty - take frozen bread dough and turn it into gooey caramel rolls. The recipe follows, with my commentary on how the kids help with the recipe.

Ingredients:

2 (1-pound) loaves frozen white bread dough
1 1/4 cups sugar, divided
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup 1% low-fat milk
1 tablespoon reduced-calorie stick margarine
1 3/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
Cooking spray

Thaw bread dough in refrigerator for 12 hours.

Combine 1 cup sugar, brown sugar, milk, margarine, and 1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon in a small saucepan. The kids usually measure everything and put it into the pan. Bring to a boil; cook 1 minute. Remove sugar syrup from heat; let cool 10 minutes.

Combine 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon in a shallow dish; stir well. We double the ingredients here. The kids measure the ingredients in a measuring bowl, and I divide up the mixture into 3 bowls. Cut each loaf of dough into 24 equal portions. Roll each portion in sugar mixture; layer balls of dough in a 12-cup Bundt pan coated with cooking spray. The kids have fun with rolling the dough in the sugar mixture. To cut down on the mess, put the bowls over a cookie sheet to catch the extra sugar mixture that mysteriously spills. Pour sugar syrup over dough; cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 35 minutes or until doubled in bulk.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Uncover, and bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Immediately loosen edges of bread with a knife. Place a plate upside down on top of pan; invert onto plate. Remove pan; drizzle any remaining syrup over bread.

Yield: 24 servings (serving size: 2 rolls)

CALORIES 201 (10% from fat); FAT 2.2g (sat 0.5g,mono 0.8g,poly 0.8g); IRON 1.4mg; CHOLESTEROL 0.0mg; CALCIUM 41mg; CARBOHYDRATE 40.1g; SODIUM 302mg; PROTEIN 5.2g; FIBER 0.0g

Cooking Light, APRIL 1997

Election Day - Don't Forget to Vote!

Don't forget to vote today!

That is what I told Dan this morning as I was leaving the house. The kids looked at me funny because Dan tells them that he is going to write in "Tiger Woods for President" instead of vote for either Obama or McCain. I took this as another teachable moment opportunity for the kids: It doesn't matter who Dad votes for, as long as he votes. Everybody should vote because that is one of the greatest freedoms that we have in our country.

The kids get to vote today in the classroom. So, Andrew thought he would be funny and told me that he is going to vote like Daddy, for Tiger Woods. I told him - if you think he would make the best President, then vote for him. Ha - I stumped a 4th grader. Moral victory - to Mom.

Detention and the "M" Word

On Friday, the boys were anxious to tell me that another little boy in their class got detention. Detention is a very rare thing in 4th grade at our school, so my curiosity was piqued. So, I asked what "Joe" did to deserve detention. His crime was twofold: (1) he stuffed his hot pocket in his milk (not sure why this was an act worthy of detention because it seems like normal boy behavior to me, but according to Mark & Andrew it was detention worthy because it was wasting food), and (2) he called a teacher the "m" word.

Now, being the helicopter mom that I am, I was surprised that my kids knew what the "m" word even was - and more importantly, where did they learn the "m" word. I thought the "m" word was the Hip-Hop swear word mother ______. So, I asked them what was the "m" word. They told me, Mom, you know, the word that you use all the time. I am instantly perplexed because the "m" word I am thinking of is a word that I have never used to my recollection. So, I asked them for some context. Andrew explains, you know, when somebody is driving in front of you and making you mad. Oh....you mean "moron".... The boys just looked at me with a big "duh" look on their face.

Don't get me wrong. I think calling a teacher any name is disrespectful and worthy of detention...it just surprised me that "moron" is now put in the same class of derogatory words that can't be uttered out loud. Perhaps civility is returning to our society after all (just not in our car when I am driving!)