Thinking Outside the Recipe is a new Vegan Cooking feature by Ginger Carlson, vegetarian cook, educator, and author of Child of Wonder: Nurturing Creative and Naturally Curious Children. Here you will find simple recipes, inspiring ideas and personal stories from real families, learn the importance of cooking and experimenting in the kitchen together, and find the inspiration and tools in which to do so. Discover not just what it means to provide children with cooking experiences, but to explore the kitchen together, to combine favorite ingredients with creativity, and express it in new, positive and exciting ways. So enter the family kitchen with absolute abandon, and begin your journey towards thinking outside the recipe!
We challenge ourselves and our kids to think outside the box. Even
with the best of intentions, we sometimes do things to inhibit the
very curiosity we're trying to spark. Before we notice it, we catch
ourselves falling into old patterns, telling our little ones to "color
inside the lines" or "follow directions" on a worksheet. We focus
more on the product than the process. It can easily be a limitation
in the kitchen. Treating a recipe as sacred, it's easy to miss out on
the fun and the learning.
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But when you talk about learning and kitchen in the same sentence, for
many people that instantly conjures up a picture of measurement,
fractions, counting, volume, capacity, temperature, addition,
subtraction, multiplication and division. Those are all wonderful
perks of cooking with kids, but what about creativity?
Sure, we want the perfect banana bread. Having "something to show for it"
gives our learning meaning. It becomes easy to drive ourselves right
out of our innate sense of inquiry, the pure joy we accessed while
digging in the mud or exploring texture while mouthing the velcro as
babies. As a result, we (often unintentionally) give up our wings.
When children are given the opportunity to truly spread their wings in
the kitchen, they are able to come to a new place in their creative
development. Cooking allows children another way to connect with
their world, exploring natural materials, mimic what real scientists,
and learn ways to approach future problems and "recipes." Being able
to ask questions and make discoveries on their own is what will lead
them to an understanding of their world. Even though science is logical,
systematic and objective, it is often only through the spirit of play
do scientists solve problems most effectively.
When you enter the kitchen as a scientist, realize it is not just a
place where "the box" must prevail. It's a freeing notion to realize
that it can be the creative center of a home, and anything can happen
there. That the blender is a forgiving tool that accepts spinach,
peanut butter, mangoes, and grains. That a breakfast bar can hold
bananas, jam, oats, yogurt, seeds and nuts, tofu, and whatever else
the fridge or pantry offers. That it is just like everything else in
life: learning to find ways to work together (in this case, ingredients
that work together) is an investigation into relationships, and what
we strive for.
In the precious little book The Wise Woman and Her Secret by Eve
Merriam, a woman refuses to reveal the secret of her wisdom. A young
girl finally discovers it: "The secret is to be curious—to keep on
wandering and wondering." When exploring creativity, it is the
"wandering and wondering" that we seek to nurture. Continuing to
explore, finding more ways to think outside the recipe is one tool you
can use to help your children get there. While not all of your
kitchen explorations and exploits may be tasty, marching to the beat
of your own recipe will truly provide the ingredients needed to cook
up some good old fashioned curiosity.
Inquiring Eats: Foods You Can Get Creative With
"I'm gonna need my chef hat for this!" my curly-headed five year old
excitedly exclaims as he carefully arranges his stool at the kitchen
counter. A pinch of this, a smidgen of that. Cupfuls of shredded
carrots. Scoops of raisins. Perhaps a helping of maple syrup and some
nut butter. Throw in a boogie and his own vibrato of "Sammy the Dog
Has Learned to Play Trombone!" Instant Energy Balls! It's his recipe,
his timetable, his mess, his fun, and definitely his inquiry.
Pies and Crumbles
Experimenting with fruit and toppings is a great place to start with
kids in the kitchen. With or without a crust, let your kids throw
together the fruit of their choice (apples, blueberries, cherries,
peaches, or blackberries) and top with their own combination of grains
and sweeteners. Served warm or cold, this is a great way to help
your child begin experimenting with their own combinations of foods.
Roll-ups!
Think sushi. Think burritos. Think way beyond the recipe here. Once
you start making roll ups in your home, your kids will likely take off
in their creative exploration of food. Use a tortilla, lavash bread (large flat bread) or a large green leaf (favorites are chard and
collard greens) and add whatever ingredients you have on hand.
Provide a dip like hummus or peanut sauce and you're good to go!
Salads
Salad greens are a common missing ingredient form the diet of American
children. Maybe it's the texture. Maybe the color. Regardless of
the reason, salads are a great place to explore more. Cut out the
greens if that's the problem and see what your kids come up with for
salad. Try shredded carrots and beets with raisins. Or cucumbers,
tomato and avocados. Encourage them to try their own combinations
without making judgments about what things go together. Let them
experiment with toppings: toasted pumpkin or sunflower seeds, sea
vegetables, dried fruit or their own homemade dressings. Even yogurt
or cottage cheese. And don't forget fruit salads, which are an easy
way to let go of recipes.
Pizza! And Pretzels too.
It's the most wonderful way to get the creativity happening in the
kitchen, and perhaps one of the easiest to start with. Use this
recipe to make single portions of pizza dough. Provide all
the usual toppings and a few new ones, and let everyone make their own
dinner tonight. Use the same pizza dough recipe to let your kids
make their own pretzel shapes. See what interesting things they can
come up: letters, numbers, crazy shapes.
Perhaps the best thing to motivate our young chefs is to allow them to
work through an entire recipe by themselves. Rather than just being
involved through a bit of pouring, mixing, and lots of watching,
children take charge of their cooking experience while they measure,
mix, cut, pour, grind, mold, and knead all themselves. But don't just
stop at pizza. It's fairly easy to take your family's favorite
recipes and make a single portion recipe by just halving and then
halving again until you get one serving.
Juice and Smoothies
Juice out that creativity! Because juicing and blending completely
changes the form of any given food item, it's one of the most exciting
ways for kids explore with a variety of ingredients. Smoothies,
especially, are a great way to get creative in the kitchen! See the VegFamily article
Totally Smoothie for some
super smoothie ideas!
Cookies
"C is for cookie, it's good enough for me; oh cookie cookie cookie
starts with C."
Once your children have explored with "what goes together," try
letting them come up with their idea of what goes in the perfect
cookie. Even very young children can do this. Brainstorm together
what your child would like to put in their cookies, and without
judgment, start combining. Let their ideas guide the process and see
what happens.
Play with Your Food: Experimenting in the Kitchen
So now that you are beginning to explore in the kitchen, take a look
at all the neat things your food can do. From playing with cornstarch
goo and swirling food colorings to watching yeast "work," there are
many great experiments you can do with food.
Get Motivated
If you think your children aren't interested in cooking, try these
ideas for getting and keeping them motivated in the kitchen:
Masquerading
By using chef hats and aprons, you make it "official" and bring all
the fun of pretend play to your kitchen.
Let them use their own utensils.
Have a set of measuring spoons and other utensils set aside just for
your child. Search garage sales or flea markets for interesting
cooking tools.
Publish your successes.
Allow your child to create his/her own "favorites" cookbook and refer
back to it often: the repetition will build independence and reinforce
process and measurement vocabulary as well as boosting their self
esteem in what they did.
Get messy.
Instead of spoons, allow your chef to get messy and stir with his/her
hands. It's amazing how much better granola tastes when it is mixed
this way. Don't forget to wash your hands first, roll up your
sleeves, and then clean your hands with the best cleaning tool, your
tongue.
Act it out.
Experiment with acting out your creations and processes. Whatever
actions you come up with will deepen your child's experience and
understanding of cooking.
While the bread is baking, act like yeast. What would happen to you
if we added a bit of sugar and warm water? Work, yeast, work!
Pretend to be oozy cheese melting. Pretend to be the toast in the
toaster and "pop!" Even pretend to milk the cow before opening the
fridge. What does the oil do when it is starting to heat up in the
pan? How about boiling water?
Shop together.
Shopping for ingredients together introduces categorization, consumer
awareness, denominations of money, making change, and writing lists.
And you'll never know what new and interesting things your child might
decide to try when they are involved in the choices.
Be safe, healthy, and enjoy some good home cookin' together. And the
next time you hear, "Hey Mom! Can you get that mixing bowl down for
me?" Let yourself allow your children to think outside the recipe.
Now off to the lab you go!
Ginger Carlson is a parent, educator, and author of Child of Wonder: Nurturing Creative and Naturally Curious Children (Common Ground Press, 2008). Her work has focused on critical thinking and creative development. If you have a question or comment, contact her through her website www.gingercarlson.com.
. Here you will find simple recipes, inspiring ideas and personal stories from real families, learn the importance of cooking and experimenting in the kitchen together, and find the inspiration and tools in which to do so. Discover not just what it means to provide children with cooking experiences, but to explore the kitchen together, to combine favorite ingredients with creativity, and express it in new, positive and exciting ways. So enter the family kitchen with absolute abandon, and begin your journey towards thinking outside the recipe!
by Eve
Merriam, a woman refuses to reveal the secret of her wisdom. A young
girl finally discovers it: "The secret is to be curious—to keep on
wandering and wondering." When exploring creativity, it is the
"wandering and wondering" that we seek to nurture. Continuing to
explore, finding more ways to think outside the recipe is one tool you
can use to help your children get there. While not all of your
kitchen explorations and exploits may be tasty, marching to the beat
of your own recipe will truly provide the ingredients needed to cook
up some good old fashioned curiosity.
