Tasty Pilgrim Hats...

These tasty Pilgrim Hats are easy breezy and 
really fun to make! 

While the kids are gathering the ingredients and making the treats why not take turns telling stories about the Pilgrims. It doesn’t matter if the little ones don’t get the history just perfect… it’s their perceptions of what Pilgrims and Thanksgiving means to them that’s important and precious!

Have some fun with these…

Ingredients you’ll need:

Miniature Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups

Oreo cookies

Candy corn or yellow jelly bean

Yellow or orange fruit roll-up

Chocolate frosting (a store bought can will work just dandy)

Decide how many Pilgrim Hats you want to make and then have the kids take the foil off of the peanut butter cups and set aside.

Separate the two halves of the Oreo cookies… you’ll need only the half without the icing so you can be gobbling up the other halves while you work! Or, set them aside and read the PS for a later project.

Take a small spoon of frosting and place it in the center of the plain chocolate cookie half.

Turn the peanut butter cup upside down and stick it in the center of the cookie in the dab of frosting. Then, frost over the entire cookie and the peanut butter cup so chocolate frosting covers all and is smooth.

Slice a thin strip of the fruit roll-up and wrap it around the base of the peanut butter cup, forming a band around the Pilgrim Hat. I think it’s more likely that you have some candy corn around rather than yellow jelly beans… so slice off the yellow part of the candy corn and dip it into the frosting. Stick the yellow slice onto the band of the hat, forming the buckle.

These are so cute displayed on a platter for a special Thanksgiving treat for the kids with some hot chocolate.
Having fun in the kitchen with kids,

Jan McCracken, Culinary Coach

Old English "Sallet"... History & Cooking!

This recipe comes from a very old book that was read by the Pilgrims. It's a recipe for a great "sallet" or salad as we call it today.

It's fun for the kids to learn just a little bit of history along with the fun of cooking!

Here's the list of ingredients:

1 cucumber

Raw spinach

Lettuce

Cabbage

1 red onion

1 Tablespoon mint  (chopped)

1 teaspoon sage (chopped)

1/4 cup walnuts

1/4 cup almonds

1/4 cup raspberries

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup vinegar

1/4 cup sugar

Utensils:

Measuring cup and measuring spoons

Cutting board and knife

Colander

Salad Bowl

Salad tossing fork and spoon

Do some of the ingredients look a bit strange for a salad today? Let the kids know that there were nuts and fruits available in the wild as well as fresh sage and mint.

Okay, let's make this "Sallet!"

Have the kids peel off enough leaves of spinach, lettuce and cabbage to fill about half of the large salad bowl of choice. Wash and drain the leaves well in the colander.

Put the greens in the big salad bowl and toss together with the salad fork and spoon.

Now it's time to ask for your adult sous chef's help. Ask your grown-up helper to please chop the onion, cucumber, wanuts and almonds.

Add the freshly chopped ingredients to the salad greens. Toss again.

In a smal bowl, mix the sugar, oil and vinegar mixing well. Pour mixture over salad, toss and serve.

Wasn't it fun learning about something the Pilgrims ate while actually making it yourself? 

More Thanksgiving recipes are coming soon so stop back by!
Happy Thanksgiving Cooking,
Jan McCracken, Culinary Coach

Fun Facts

There is a legend that when the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, they stepped onto a huge granite boulder jutting out of the sand. This boulder became known as "Plymouth Rock."

 Although the boulder was in the area in which the Pilgrims landed, no one knows if the Pilgrims ever actually stepped on it. Plymouth Rock can be visited today in Plymouth, Massachusetts!

P.S. "Fun Facts" are a new addition to KidsCooking411 that hopefully will add to the "flavor" of your cooking with the kids. I'm going to try to provide you with tidbits of history and other related facts that you can have fun with in the kitchen while you're cooking!

Enjoy! Please tell your friends about KidsCooking411 and follow us on Twitter. I'm hoping to get a new Kids Cooking book out in 2012. Stay tuned!

Thanks for dropping by... I'd love to have some input from you!
All the best... and keep those kids in the kitchen cooking!
Jan McCracken, Culinary Coach

Sautauthig (Sawf-taw-teeg) Cornmeal Blueberry Mush

We're stirring in a bit more history while we're cooking with the kids. They will enjoy this recipe as it's an oldie and was a favorite dish of the Native Americans of the Northeast.

It's a very simply pudding made with cracked corn (called samp), crushed dried blueberries and water. As time went on, the settlers would add milk to make it rich and yummy!

Ingredients:
2 cups fresh blueberries
1 1/2 cups low-fat milk (or your milk of choice)
1 1/2 cups water
3/4 cups cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon sugar

Utensils:
Measuring cups
Measuring spoons
Wooden spoon
Colander
3-quart heavy bottom saucepan with lid
Wire whisk
Small bowl

Put the blueberries in the colander. Rinse under cool running water. Gently shake and dump onto a paper towel. fold paper towel over and gently pat blueberries dry.

Combine the milk and the water in the saucepan. Stir constantly over medium heat with the wooden spoon. Bubbles will begin to form around the edges of the pan.

Grab the wire whisk and slowly stir the cornmeal and salt into the hot liquid (an adult helper may want to do the whisking as liquid is very hot). Stir the hot mixture until there are no lumps.

Reduce the heat to simmer and cover the pan. Set the timer for 10 minutes and simmer. Mixture will thicken.

Remove from heat and fold in the blueberries and the maple syrup (a great opportunity to teach the difference between "folding" and "stirring"). Be patient as it sometimes takes the kids to get the rhythm of folding.

In a small bowl mix the sugar and nutmeg together. sprinkle on top of the mush and serve right away.

Not only is this tasty but it's a very hearty dish!

Happy Cooking,

Jan McCracken, Culinary Coach