Difficulty Level Easy

I wrote a post a couple of weeks ago about getting your young children interested in cooking and about a program where children were sent ingredients, recipes and a child sized kitchen tool each month. Frequent commenter Elaine said she wished she had something like that when her nieces were small. That got a bit of an email discussion going between the two of us, and I thought why not now? There's no need to feel like you've missed the boat if you didn't teach your kids how to cook from an early age. You could still put together a package with vegetables, a recipe and some small kitchen items such as measuring spoons or a spatula, creating a collection of things they could take with them when they leave home. Teenagers can be just as receptive to learning to cook as little children, perhaps even more so.

When I was teaching my kids to cook they had one or two evenings during the week where dinner was their responsibility. They chose the menu, they usually joined me for the shopping and then they cooked it under my supervision. My daughter was recently telling me that she loved those dinners because she knew that she was going to eat exactly what she wanted. They could choose a family favourite or try something new, it was up to them. They looked through my cookbooks and I also had cookbooks written with children in mind. If they were stuck for ideas I would sometimes find a few recipes that I thought would be appealing and then let them choose which one to try.

Once your children are involved at that level, the possibilities for discussions about food and healthy eating are there without being forced. It's also a chance to talk about lifestyle and environmental issues. You can talk about buying your vegetables locally and in season. You can talk about which fish you can eat and which are endangered. You can talk about eating less meat. You can talk about ethical eating, what kind of coffee or chocolate you should buy.

In my experience, teenagers have a strong sense of right and wrong and often have a highly developed moral code. Whereas small children sometimes reject meat after seeing movies such as Babe or Chicken Run because they identify with the characters, teenagers may turn to vegetarianism for ethical or political reasons as they become more aware of the world at large. I hear parents laughingly say that their non-vegetable eating teen has just announced that they won't eat meat any more. If your teenager decides to become vegetarian, don't treat it as a phase that they will outgrow. Respect their choice and help them understand what foods they need in their diet to stay healthy. If this is new territory for you, make an appointment with a dietician so that that your child learns and understands how to get the proper amount of calcium and nutrients and how to eat a balanced diet. Support your child by letting them choose and cook a few meatless meals a week so that the whole family is eating the same thing. Be tolerant of their choices even if they don't match your own and be patient and help them achieve their goal. If you are open-minded then they might have something to teach you.

Here's a really easy recipe to get your child started. If you have other spring vegetables available to you such as spring onions, or asparagus or garlic scapes, then add them as well.

INGREDIENTS