Teach Your Children Well

Home cooking is becoming an endangered skill. Every day fewer people take a couple of basic ingredients and make them into a nice meal. Is it because so many adults are working outside the house and come home too tired to fix meals from scratch?

Step by step, we have accepted cooking shortcuts--canned foods, box mixes, frozen foods, microwave ovens, take-out--to make dinner easier. But in the process, much of what Americans eat has become impersonal, mass-produced food.

For the end result of all this time-saving has not been more time with our families but the opposite, the end of the communal table. Today, for many people the dinner hour is 15 minutes of eating alone--standing, walking or driving.

This is the great loss, far more important than not having a home-cooked meal. We have lost our greatest opportunity for daily communal life, the vital element of being nourished and civilized at a shared table. The best hope we have to cure this loss is to teach our children to cook simple, real food.

I emphasize real food. Don’t entertain them by sculpting animals out of cookie dough; in teaching many children’s cooking classes, I have found they are naturally fascinated with cooking. The transformation of raw ingredients is magic. One egg can do amazing things.

*

The following recipes can easily be done by children aged 7 through 11--and older, of course. Watch and advise the child in the beginning because of the danger of cuts and burns. Of course, children don’t like pain any more than adults, but they quickly learn to be careful. And their own home-crafted food will be genuinely appreciated by the other members of the household.

This is the best way to bring the family together once again.

*

This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled, but it is purposely done in a small amount as a beginning lesson. The best knife for beginners is a serrated paring knife with deep grooves that grip the vegetable for slicing.

SIMPLE VEGETABLE SOUP 2 tablespoons butter 1 small onion, cut in half lengthwise and chopped into small pieces 1 small carrot, peeled, cut into slices 1 rib of celery, rinsed and sliced Salt 2 cups chicken broth 1 small tomato, stem end cut out and chopped 1 small zucchini, stem ends cut away and sliced Pepper

Melt butter in 1 1/2-quart saucepan. Swirl pan around so butter covers bottom. Add onion, carrot and celery. Season to taste with salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Add broth and tomato.

Simmer over low heat 10 minutes, stirring often. Add zucchini. Cook 3 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve soup hot. Makes 6 servings.

Each serving contains about: 66 calories; 360 mg sodium; 11 mg cholesterol; 4 grams fat; 5 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams protein; 0.49 gram fiber.

*

It’s important to not only rinse lettuce leaves but to dry them before dressing; if you don’t, the dressing won’t coat the leaves. Always use a large salad bowl so there is plenty of room to toss the leaves with the dressing. Serve the salad right away after tossing; salads kept with dressing on lose their crispness.

BASIC LETTUCE SALAD Lettuce leaves, about 8 cups Basic Oil and Vinegar Dressing Salt, pepper, optional

Rinse lettuce and dry with paper towels. Put into large salad bowl. Cover with damp paper towel. Cover bowl and refrigerate.

Just before serving salad, sprinkle about 1/2 of Basic Oil and Vinegar Dressing all around top of lettuce. Toss well using 2 large spoons. Add more Dressing, if desired. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Makes 4 servings.

Each serving contains about: 120 calories; 148 mg sodium; trace cholesterol; 14 grams fat; trace carbohydrates; trace protein; trace fiber.

Basic Oil and Vinegar Dressing 2 teaspoons lemon juice 2 teaspoons cider vinegar 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup olive oil 2 tablespoons water

Put lemon juice and cider vinegar into 1-cup jar with lid. Add salt. Let mixture stand 1 minute. Then put lid on jar and shake well. Remove lid, add olive oil and water. Put lid back on and shake jar to mix dressing.

BAKED VANILLA CUSTARD Butter 2 egg yolks 3 eggs 1/2 cup sugar 1/8 teaspoon salt 3 cups very hot milk 2 teaspoons vanilla

Butter 1-quart baking dish or 8 custard cups. Set shallow pan large enough to hold baking dish or custard cups in 325-degree oven and add 1 inch hot water.

Put egg yolks and eggs in bowl. Beat with fork until completely blended. Add sugar and salt. Stir until mixed in. Add hot milk, little at time, stirring with spoon until all milk is blended into egg mixture. Add vanilla and stir. Strain custard mixture into 1 quart or larger measuring cup or pitcher.

Pour custard mixture into baking dish or custard cups. Take pan of hot water from oven, put cups or baking dish carefully into it, put pan back in oven and bake until custard is set, about 45 minutes. Custard is done when knife inserted in center comes out almost clean.

Remove from oven. Serve warm. Or let custard cool, then cover and refrigerate until serving. Makes 8 servings.

Each serving contains about: 137 calories; 108 mg sodium; 155 mg cholesterol; 5 grams fat; 17 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams protein; trace fiber.