Calling those of you with older children or teenagers please

[janeite]

What can your older primary children/teenagers cook for themseleves/the family? Have any of them graduated beyond toast and sandwiches and if so, what do they make, where do they get their ideas and how much initiatove do you allow them?

I'm looking to encourage my two into the kitchen more but a bit nervous about mess/cut fingers etc! Thanks.

Blush - I can spell, honest, so please ignore terrible typos.

Janeite, My dd has been cooking from very small and from about the age of 8 she has been able to cook meals (initially things like spag bol). But she started 'helping' me bake cakes and biscuits at a very young age and it simply progressed. I think the trick is not to get too hung up about the mess, judge the risk by supervising but not intefering too much. Also, not to be critical when things go wrong. That happens to us all. By 10 dd was cooking things like lasagne & moussaka. She loves cooking and at 17 finds it incredibly relaxing & if I can't get her to do anything else to help she will cook afamily meal but she has never learnt to be tidy in the kitchen Now my ds (6) is following in her footsteps and loves to make biscuits and cakes he can get bored and disappear after a while which is ok as I am sure this will pass in time. I am hoping he will be cooking meals in a few years time too

Get hold of the book called "Cooking up a Storm" written by a teenage boy for teenagers

Thank you both. They both help out in the kitchen a lot and we have both of Sam Stern's books. Matters are complicated by the fact that dd2 and I are veggie and dp and dd2 are total carnivores. I just wondered the kinds of things that other people's children can cook. They can do fruit crumbles, pizzas, pasta and pesto etc but any more inspiration gratefully received!

DD (9) can cook

Scrambled & poached eggs
Pasta with cheese/salsa/tuna
Sponge cakes
Onion Gravy
Yorkshire pudding (except I take them out the oven)

Quiche is her next big attempt - but pastry is a big one & she also wants to do spanish omlette

Thanks Katy. Yprkshire pudding sounds great and they could do veggie or meaty sausages as required.

Today they are going to make a plum crumble and tomorrow they want to make pasta and sauce and apple pie.

The weather is so awful that this is a good way of keeping them occupied - not so good for my weight though!

Agree with what everyone else has written. Something like bolognese sauce is a good one, because as well as spag bol, is the basis for chilli/lasagne/shepherds pie etc etc. So, get them to make spag bol first, then next time, make the same sauce but use it for something else.
Basic skills, like pastry/cake/white sauce making are also useful.
And clearing up the mess is part of the deal!

DD can cook quite a lot of stuff - spaghetti with lots of things, stir-fries- but she makes the best bacon sandwich ever!!!!

Have you got the River Café Easy and Easy Two Cookbooks? I love those, the recipes are really straightforward and you get fantastic results.

mine like making pizza (with 'guidance' from me. Ds2 (9) also likes to do stirfry (I watch, he does it) and helps make the base for green curry which he loves. He knows how long to cook pasta for and assuming he could cope with the tomato tin, could probably produce an edible sauce. He knows what goes into spag bog but doesn't like it greatly
They can also make pancakes (with supervision)

I did the illustrations recently for a cookbookfor teens. I'm not sure if it's available in the UK though. I have no teens and I'm usless in the kitchen so I haven't tried any of the recipes but maaaan the illustrations are good

Looks good emat - well done you! Loving the phrase "grab grub".