Friday, October 5, 2012

Cooking With Kids

On Tuesday, I shared a list of my favorite cookbooks. Then, on Wednesday, when I was at my kids' Pediatrician's office, I was reminded of another cooking resource I wanted to share with you:  ChopChop: The Fun Cooking Magazine for Families that is distributed free through Pediatrician's offices in our area.

From their magazine:
"ChopChop's mission is to inspire and teach kids to cook and eat real food with their families."

"We believe that cooking and eating together as a family is a vital step in resolving the obesity and hunger epidemics."

If cooking as a family is new to you, you won't find a better resource than this quarterly magazine. The recipes are kid-friendly and kid-tested. Every step is explained in language accessible to kids (and adults who may not be comfortable in the kitchen). Beautiful photographs show a variety of kids cooking together and enjoying what they cooked.  Kids can complete some of the recipes alone while others require adult assistance. All clearly indicate when adult supervision is needed. The magazine also provides fun activities related to cooking and healthy living. For example, the fall issue includes as an article written by a teenager about beekeeping and directions for sprouting celery on a kitchen windowsill.

One unspoken part of the magazine that I also love is the children who are shown in the photographs. Children from a variety of ethnic backgrounds are shown engaged in cooking and having fun in the kitchen. The fall cover shows a variety of children including a girl who may be Muslim since she's wearing what appears to be a head scarf. I'm happy to see a magazine that portrays all kinds of kids doing the everyday job of cooking. (If only there were more children's books that did the same!)

ChopChop is a non-profit organization. Readers can pick up the magazine in Pediatrician's offices or subscribe. A Pay-It-Forward Subscription, which costs $14.95, gets a subscription for you plus a family or community in need. There are also many other ways you can donate to help bring this resource to families or communities in need.  Communities in need can contact ChopChop through their website. They offer bulk rates to Doctor's offices, community health centers, teachers, etc.

If you haven't seen ChopChop, I hope you'll check it out. You can also visit their website through the links I've provided in this post. Even if you can't access the magazine, the website includes tons of great recipes.

Does your family Read ChopChop? Do you know of other resources that may be helpful to readers?

A few of my favorite fall recipes:

2 comments:

  1. I love cooking with my two-year-old. She's becoming such a great sous chef! She makes chai with our housekeeper every day; she'll be making it for me once we're back in the U.S.! One of her favorite books right now is "Bee Bim Bop," which is about a mother and daughter making, of course, bee bim bop.

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    1. Stephanie, I love that your daughter in involved in cooking. My son loves being in the kitchen. At 10, he already has excellent skills with a French knife.

      Thanks for the reminder about Bee Bim Bop. We haven't read it in a while and I forgot to put in on my list of suggested books.

      Her's one about cooking Pancit (a Filipino noodle dish) that you might not have seen: http://michellecusolito.blogspot.com/2010/05/cora-cooks-pancit.html

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