Meet Niomi

Meet Niomi, daughter of my cousins, Heather & Jim, and an aspiring chef. Last week we were very fortunate to re-connect with cousins and celebrate this beautiful family we are lucky to be apart of. So off we went to a quaint scenic lake in Western MI. The family planned and prepared delicious meals throughout the weekend and all locally sourced food. Niomi was excited to see me and talk about her love of cooking. She chose a tasty, creative dessert and spent lots of time planning and executing this chocolate pudding pie with a graham cracker crust. Recipe below. Loved by all. Thank you Niomi. Keep those creative juices flowing.

Seeing Niomi’s interest in cooking once again reminded me of the importance of children and the kitchen!! Being involved with Common Threads for years, I had a first hand view of the impact on teaching children how to cook and learn about healthy eating and nutrition. Giving adolescents opportunities in the kitchen, and especially preparing their own healthy food and meals for their family can make a difference in how healthy they’ll be as adults. Here’s a list of benefits of teaching kids to cook as seen in the New York Times.

A LIFE SKILL

Learning the basic skill of cooking, that can be used for the rest of your child’s life, is perhaps the most obvious skill gained.

By starting the cooking lessons at a young age, it becomes a skill that they are well adapted to by adulthood.

DEVELOPS AN ADVENTUROUS EATER

One of the greatest benefits of cooking with children is that it can help them develop an adventurous and varied taste palette. Those who have been involved in the cooking process are generally more keen to try new foods.

The younger you start, the better. Children are more likely to try different ingredients and foods if they experience them at an early age

HEALTH

One of the best things you can do for your health is to cook at home. Research shows that people who eat home-cooked meals, on a regular basis, tend to be happier and healthier and consume less sugar and processed foods.

Involving children in the kitchen, from a young age, cultivates a habit that will have lifelong benefits.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

Stirring, measuring, rolling, squeezing and spreading are just a few of the kitchen tasks that allow young children to develop their fine motor and hand-eye coordination skills.

LANGUAGE, MATH, SCIENCE & CREATIVITY

Children learn by touching, tasting, feeling, smelling, observing, reading and listening. This is why the kitchen is a perfect environment for learning – it hits a range of senses and a range of learning styles.

Cooking offers a great opportunity to help with language development. Talking and describing what you are doing can expose young children to new words and terms.

Counting (three spoons of…), number recognition, (reading numbers on scales), mathematical language (more than, bigger, smaller), multiplication (doubling a recipe) weighing (scales) and fractions (1/4, 1/2 cups) are just a few of the many mathematical skills that can be developed in cooking.

The kitchen is like a mini Science Lab. Children can watch materials change colour, texture and form (liquids, solids, gases ) and they can make predictions and observations e.g what happens if you use too much/little baking powder, wrong temperatures etc.

Kids can express their creativity through recipe development and food presentation. This could be something as simple as deciding what ingredients to add into a salad, or something more complex, like creating a menu to feed their family.

BUILDS RELATIONSHIPS

A kitchen is a great place for parents to spend quality time with their children. It can be a place to talk about family traditions, through passed down family recipes, or it can simply be a place just to catch up with day to day life.

BUILDS CONFIDENCE

The kitchen can be a place to nurture your child’s self-esteem, confidence and sense of self-worth. Teaching children to cook provides many opportunities to encourage and celebrate their work.

FUN

Last but by no means least, cooking with kids can be fun and enjoyable for both the children and adults. Your kids will get the joy of creating a dish and eating it, all while you create lasting memories that your children may treasure forever.

Niomi’s Chocolate Pudding Pie

1 (9 oz.) 10 inch Pre-Made Graham Cracker Crust
2 boxes (5.9 oz) of Jell-O instant chocolate Pudding
1 (8 oz.) container of Cool-Whip or whip cream
4 cups 2% milk

Prepare the crust according to package directions by baking it for a short period of time. Allow the crust to cool completely.

Combine the pudding mix and the milk and whisk it vigorously for two minutes, taking care to eliminate any lumps. Allow the pudding to sit for an additional two minutes.

Scrape the pudding into the prepared pie shell and smooth it with a rubber spatula. Cover the pie and place the pie in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. Note that the plastic pie crust liner can be flipped over to make a nifty cover for the pie.

Approximately 30 minutes before serving the pie, stir the Cool Whip or whip cream until it is nice and creamy. Place all of the Cool Whip on top of the chocolate pie and spread it around evenly. Place the pie back in the refrigerator for an additional 30 minutes. YUM!!