Top 3 benefits of cooking with your children

Natasha Shamji is a private Chef who trained at Le Cordon Bleu London. Earlier this year she started a culinary business called Thyme in the Kitchen and has been holding regular zoom and face to face cooking classes throughout the pandemic.

The company was founded on the idea that everyone can learn to prepare delicious and nutritious meals at home, and Natasha continues to inspire and teach students from all ages and skills. She is particularly passionate about teaching children healthier home cooked recipes and inspiring them to become confident in the kitchen. Additionally she offers small event catering and often caters for birthday and dinner parties. Have a look at her website www.thymeinthekitchen.co.uk and on social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook for more information on her classes, private catering and homemade treats that she sells. She previously shared with us 3 easy family recipes so you can try them at home.

The Benefits of Cooking with your kids and how to get them involved in the Kitchen.

Before I became a chef and before deciding to go to cooking school, cooking was a passion for me. It was and continues to be how I relax, how I explore my creative side and how I express my love to family and friends. When my son was born, I wanted to share this love of cooking with him. He has been in the kitchen with me since infancy and has been learning about food and cooking since before he could walk. While not always eager to help me out, and sometimes I myself would prefer to cook without interruptions, I definitely have noticed how cooking with him has moulded the way that he eats, how he sees food and his ability to cook and prepare food for himself now that he is older.

Cooking with kids and getting them interested in food however can be messy, tricky and time consuming. And parents have often shared with me that they don’t know where to start or how to get them interested, especially with kids that are hesitant to trying new foods or are not big eaters. It can require a lot of time and patience, which can be hard to find at times.

But there are ways to make it work and get them involved that will reap the rewards in the future. Here are 3 of my top tips on how to get your children interested in food and in cooking more, which will ultimately have a positive impact on their relationship with food.

1. Use your time in the kitchen as an alternative to education- turn cooking into playtime and a classroom; where you are able to spend quality time and ensure that they are learning something of value. Kids love figuring out challenges and ‘playing’. And they love playing with their parents- well to a certain age! Something I used to do with my son when he was younger was get him to describe the ingredient that he was touching- how it feels, what it reminds him of, what colour it is and what he thought it was and where it was grown. And you can make this as challenging as you can or want, depending on their age of course. This is just one example and you can use this principle in so many ways- using weighing out ingredients as an opportunity to increase their maths skills or using baking as a way to do a fun science experiment. Improve their reading and comprehension skills by getting them to read recipes and ingredients. The learning opportunities are endless.
2. Make cooking about the cooking and playing rather than about eating– Cooking with your kids should be a non-pressurised way to get them thinking about food. It’s okay for kids to play with food – touch it, learn about it, understand it and not actually eat it. Does that make sense? Or are you thinking right now- What is the point of cooking something with them if they are not always going to eat it? Trust me – the way to get kids to eat and try something eventually, is to not ask them to eat it repeatedly. They may not eat it right away but in the future they might one day decide to. Talk to them about how food is grown, where ingredients come from, how they get to supermarkets, shops and markets and what benefits they have for our bodies. But whatever you do – do not force them to eat what they are cooking or touching. Ask them what they think it would taste like and if they want to try it, but don’t force them to try it. Because that’s when you will lose their interest. If they say no, pick one up and try it yourself. Without looking for a response or a reaction from them. You might be lucky and have a kid/kids that are eager to try everything and that is fantastic. If like me though you have a child that needs to take his time and make his own decisions when it comes to food, you might need to try a different approach.
3. Make recipes with kids that they enjoy eating and that get them excited- If your kids are new to cooking and you want to excite them about cooking with you then cook things with them that you know they love, but make it healthier and add ingredients that you are happy to feed them. Make a homemade pizza with them or baked fish fingers and fresh home cut chips. Make lasagna, and grate some veggies really finely into the sauce so that you can ensure that they are getting their 5 a day. If they love baked goods like cupcakes and brownies- make them at home so that you can control the amount and type of sugar that you use and add ingredients that have some nutritional value to it.

Chocolate cake with grated courgettes are delightful and brownies with beetroot are an unexpected surprise. Cookies boosted with bananas and oatmeal and some super foods, like chia and matcha are a dream. There are so many creative recipes out there that kids and parents will love. See my recipe below for Baked Pumpkin Doughnuts to cook this holiday season with your kids. With the addition of pumpkin puree these doughnuts are healthier, moorish and delicious for both kids and adults.

Baked Pumpkin Doughnuts

Ingredients:

½ cup/100g rapeseed oil

3 large eggs

1 cup/198g Caster Sugar- use coconut sugar as an alternative to refined sugar

1 1/2 cups/340g of pumpkin purée- You can use sweet potato as an alternative to pumpkin. Fresh roasted pumpkin is delicious and easy to make if short on time ready-made unflavoured pumpkin puree works just as well

1 tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

¼ tsp of ground ginger

¼ tsp ground cloves

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 3/4 cups/225g all purpose flour

50 g butter melted

2 tbsp Cinnamon Sugar

150g Milk or Dark Chocolate melted

Method

• Pre heat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius and prepare two doughnut pans or muffin trays if you don’t have doughnut trays. They will taste the same- they will just have a different look.
• Mix together the oil, sugar, eggs, and pumpkin puree in a big bowl. Mix together the flour, spices, salt and baking powder and mix that gently into the wet ingredients being careful not to overmix so that the batter stays light and airy.
• Pour the mixture into your doughnut or muffin trays and bake for 15-20 min or until a skewer comes out clean.
• Let the doughnuts cool for a few minutes and remove them from the moulds.
• While they are still warm baste them with a little melted butter and coat them in cinnamon sugar. Alternatively wait till they are completely cooled and coat the tops with melted milk or dark chocolate and sprinkle lightly with cinnamon sugar or other toppings of your choice.

For more recipes and inspiration please check out @natashashamji  Instagram page and more information on her  www.thymeinthekitchen.co.uk. Natasha also runs  bespoke cooking classes for kids, families and adults of all ages and skill levels. The family classes are extremely popular and is a great way to do a fun activity with your kids and get some guidance on what recipes to cook.

*please note that this does not apply to children with food disorders or kids with medical issues relating to food. Always seek the advice of a nutritionist or GP in cases like that.