Evanston sisters engage children in the kitchen
The Spatulatta sisters, better known as Isabella and Olivia Gerasole, learned to make delicate pizzelle cookies from their grandmother, Hawaiian salads from their mother and acquired a love of all foods Italian from their dad.
They also learned how to turn all that quality kitchen time into a budding culinary career, with a cookbook and a James Beard Award-winning Web site (spatulatta.com) to their credit. All by the age of 13 and 11.
"Your parents are the ones who teach you to have domestic abilities," said the eldest, Isabella, as the siblings sat in their Evanston kitchen after making basil pesto and caprese salad. "It's a fun way to spend time with family, family history and family culture."
In an era when many parents struggle just to get dinner on the table, never mind involve the kids in the prep, the Gerasole sisters are an enviable example of the difference a little stove time with the little ones can make.
Research repeatedly has shown children eat healthier foods, are more confident and learn valuable life and academic skills when they cook with their families. So for on-the-go parents looking to get cooking with their kids, the experts offer some easy advice.
Start by embracing the fact that they are children. Mistakes will happen, says Food Network host Guy Fieri.
"You can't do everything for a kid in cooking and expect them to get the whole experience," he said. "Yes, there's the potential they're going to drop the cookie sheet, but we've got to let them be involved."
Fieri, who makes pizza and popcorn with his two young sons, urges parents to be cautious with kids in the kitchen but also give them enough freedom to make the experience meaningful. This includes involving them in decisions of what to make.
Barbara Beery, a kids cooking expert and president of the Batter Up Kids cooking school in Austin, Texas, said parents need to make sure their children are given age-appropriate tasks that won't be too hard.
"If it's too difficult it's going to defeat the purpose," Beery said.
She said 2-year-olds can scrub food clean, 3-year-olds can put toppings on a pizza or decorate cookies, 4-year-olds can crack eggs over a bowl or spread peanut butter with small spatulas and 5-year-olds can measure ingredients, stir with spoons or knead dough.
Choosing recipes wisely is key, Beery said. She suggests recipes that are simple to put together, have fewer ingredients, quick preparation and fast finish time. Parents also should have something to occupy children, a coloring book or games, while they're waiting for the dish to cook.
Tanya Wenman Steel, editor-in-chief of recipe site Epicurious.com and co-author of "Real Food for Healthy Kids," said parents should manage their kitchen time for efficiency and organization. Plan a night for cooking with the children so you aren't trying to jam it in on busier days. She suggests making two or three dishes together on Sunday that can be leftover lunch and dinner the rest of the week.
"A roast chicken on Sunday can be lunch Monday," she said. "A casserole type of food or a stew always tastes better the next day. You can keep up every day by doing something for the next day."
More tips from Steel: Children can toss a big bag of lettuce from the grocer with olive oil and vinegar for a ready-made side dish. And they can microwave a baked potato or sweet potato and pair it with light sour cream. Younger children can make a simple dessert of fruit and ice cream.
Bridget Swinney, a registered dietitian, family eating expert and author of "Baby Bites," a book about feeding babies and toddlers, said children love making dishes that include toppings, like pizza, tacos or pancakes. Parents can set out ingredients and let children decide what to add, she said.
"That's when it's really fun for kids to experiment and let their imagination go," Swinney said.
Beery suggests parents put ingredients in muffin tins or other small containers that fit kid-sized hands. She also said while parents don't have to buy kids cooking sets, kid-friendly smaller utensils do make cooking easier for children. And they enjoy having their own tools.
"They have to have appropriately sized tools to be able to manipulate them," Beery said. "If they don't, they're not going to be able to do it."
And don't forget, children can help clean up, too. Beery suggests giving children their own colored sponges and having them wipe up as they go along. She also said setting out a scrap bowl for items like vegetable peels and extra pieces of dough can cut down on messes.
As for advice for the kids? Try to ignore how unhip your parents are.
"Parents can be a little bit embarrassing at times," said Isabella Gerasole. "Maybe you don't want to spend so much time with them sometimes. But really, they love you and they care about you. So it's important. Spend some time with them by cooking with them in the kitchen."