(BPT) – The kitchen is known as the heart of the home, a central place where families gather to relax, work, share stories and most importantly – cook meals together. By teaching your kids how to help in the kitchen from meal prep to cleanup, you’re also helping them understand how to prepare healthy meals and appreciate food for years to come.

Parents can always use an extra pair of hands, and when encouraged, kids can enjoy spending time cooking and preparing meals. Plus, helping in the kitchen teaches useful skills that will last long past dinnertime. The good news is nine out of 10 children help in meal preparation at least once per week, according to results of a new nationwide “Coaching Kids in the Kitchen” survey conducted for global home appliance brand LG Electronics. One in five parents prefer to engage their children in the kitchen during the summer and winter months, to help keep their child’s mind sharp and occupied during breaks from school.

Have little sous chefs in the making? You might be wondering what activities are appropriate for what ages. Setting the table and retrieving ingredients from the pantry or refrigerator are good activities for younger children who might not have the skills necessary to prepare food. Parents indicate age 8, on average, is the appropriate age to start participating in meal preparation.

If you want to get your kids motivated in the kitchen, and help them learn about food preparation, healthy eating, math and measurements, try these helpful tips from Chef Peter Thornhill, LG’s executive chef, who himself caught the cooking bug when he was a child. Your kitchen will be transformed into a family fun cooking school in no time.

Grocery discoveries. Take the kids grocery shopping with you to jumpstart creative cooking juices. Picking out ingredients is the first step in cooking a meal, after all. Plus, when children are involved in picking out new foods, such as an exciting new vegetable, they’re more likely to try (and like) new things, helping to expand their palate.

Easy access. Keep your kids’ favorite ingredient items in easy-access areas around the kitchen. Ninety-seven percent of parents agree that keeping greens and healthy snacks in easily accessible areas of the refrigerator is an important part of teaching your child healthy eating habits. LG’s super-capacity fridge with a built-in magnetically sealed door within a door is perfect for easy access to commonly used cooking ingredients and small, healthy snacks kids are able to retrieve themselves.

Party in the kitchen! Don’t let meal preparation seem like a chore. The more excited you are to cook with your kids, the more excited they will be, too. Turn on some music, have a giggle, and share tidbits about your day as you whip up something delicious.

More pepper? During the cooking process, taste the food and talk with your kids about alterations. This will encourage them to engage their palate and analyze the flavors they taste. Just watch as your little rosemary-lover or garlic connoisseur blossoms.

Clean machine. As your child gains more experience in the kitchen, allow him or her more control over recipes, cooking methods and cleanup. Start with simple cleaning tasks like clearing the table and loading the dishwasher to emphasize the importance of cleanliness and kitchen upkeep. To spend more memorable moments with your kids in the kitchen, parents can look for new ways to save time and tackle even the toughest tasks from greasy pans to dirty ovens. For example, LG’s EasyClean ranges have a quick and easy clean-up for mess inside the oven – just spray water into the oven, press a button and wipe away any residual grime 20 minutes later.

Armed with these tips, consider trying this kid-friendly recipe from Chef Thornill and gather your whole family in the kitchen for some cooking fun.

Recipe:

Mixed Fruit Flatbread

It’s always tough to get kids to adopt healthy eating habits with all the unhealthy items that are presented to them at school, in restaurants and in advertising … and yet these are the foods that they clamor for. Bringing a healthy angle to their favorite foods is a great way to point them in the right direction.

This recipe is easily adapted to the kinds of ingredients that you have in your house and gives your kids the opportunity to play with different flavors. You can easily make a large batch of the flatbread dough in advance and freeze smaller portions for individual use. Store bought pizza dough and flatbread (or naan bread) work great, too.

Dough

• 1 packet instant dry yeast 
• 1 teaspoon sugar 
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 1 cup warm water 
• 2 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1 teaspoon olive oil

Directions

1. Combine water, yeast, salt and sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer and let sit for five minutes.

2. Add flour to mixture and place dough hook attachment on mixer. Combine ingredients on low speed for 30 seconds, then turn onto medium speed for 3 to 4 minutes more, or until dough is smooth and no longer clings to the sides of the bowl.

3. Rub top of dough with olive oil, cover with plastic wrap and a tea towel. Store somewhere warm for one hour.

Topping

• 1/4 teaspoon cornmeal 
• 2 tablespoon Raspberry jam 
• 1/2 cup frozen peaches, thawed 
• 1/2 cup frozen strawberries, thawed 
• 1/2 cup apples, sliced thin 
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 
• 1 teaspoon honey

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 500F with a cookie sheet or pizza stone positioned on center rack.

2. Divide dough into three pieces, set two aside (you can freeze these and use later or make multiple pizzas).

3. Using a rolling pin, evenly roll dough to 1/3-inch thick. Place dough on a smooth surface, sprinkled with cornmeal.

4. Spread jam evenly over entire surface, then top with peaches, apples and strawberries, lightly press these down for better adhesion.

5. Sprinkle cinnamon and drizzle honey over the fruit.

6. Slide pizza carefully onto preheated pan or pizza stone and let bake for 6 to 8 minutes.

7. Remove from oven, let stand three minutes, cut into six pieces and serve.

The LG Coaching Kids in the Kitchen Online Survey was conducted by Ebiquity, formerly Echo Research, between June 7-13, 2013 among a total national sample of 2,515 U.S. adults with children age 4-17. Overall the results have a margin of error of ± 2.0 percentage points at the 95% level of confidence.

The post Little hands inspire creative kitchens: appeared first on AKAMom Magazine.

Identical twin culinary explorers! We’re 9 years old and have loved everything about food and entertaining since we were toddlers. As kids we feel you shouldn’t just eat what some people call kid food, kids should have the opportunity to eat healthy, beautiful grown up style food. Kids and grown ups sharing and cooking together the same wonderful foods. It’s fun and tasty, and while you’re cooking and entertaining you learn so much. Its time well spent with your culinary grown up helper. We have learned from a young age to love all different kinds of healthy foods. We want to spread our passion for cooking to other kids. Kids can be so creative in the kitchen; it is sort of like art.

We would see interesting food on TV or at the market we wanted to try. One of our outings when we were little was going to our local farmers market. Our Mom would let us pick out some fruits and veggies that we found pretty or unusual, that maybe we had not tried before. We would take it home and we would help her prepare it different ways. Usually we loved it, occasionally we decided it wasn’t our favorite but the point is that we tried everything! Our Dad is a wonderful cook, we love learning his family recipes. As we have gotten older we even do reports on the fruits and veggies we cook. We learn interesting facts about them like cocoa beans were once used as currency, when they were worn out they were ground up and used for a drink.

Some kids have activities like soccer or piano, we have cooking! Cooking is so much fun, we are so fortunate to have grown ups in our life that share their cooking knowledge with us. We have even taken local cooking classes. Meeting new chefs and talking with them about their cooking style is so great. We like to tour restaurants and take pictures of their big kitchens! We especially like to plan menus for parties, shop for tasty ingredients, cook with our grown up helper and invite family and friends to share our grown up style food.

At twinchefs.net we share our recipes, cooking videos, food reports, and party ideas with kids and grown ups! Brainstorming recipes, finding ways to make it tasty, fun, and beautiful are some of our favorites. With the help of our Mom, Dad, and others who inspire us we get to share our recipes and ideas with you on our website. We want to be the youngest kids ever to go to culinary school. We eventually want to open restaurants and even have our own TV show. In the mean time visit us at twinchefs.net and see how kids can love grown up style food and parents can be inspired to be a kid again! Just remember to bring your culinary helper along on all of our adventures!

Recipe: Breakfast Polenta

Most people think that polenta is for lunch or dinner, but we also love it for breakfast! Turns out syrup on polenta is exceedingly tasty! Just add creamy cheese and berries and our Breakfast Polenta (video) recipe turns into tutti-frutti goodness.

Shortcut: If you’re short on time you can purchase readymade polenta at most grocery stores. Cut the polenta into
circles and your ready to brown them.

Ingredients

1 cup polenta

1/4 cup onion (finely chopped)

2 tablespoon olive oil

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup fromage blanc, soft cows milk cheese

(you can substitute with plain greek yogurt)

1/4 cup unsalted almonds

1 cup blueberries

1 cup rasberries

pure maple syrup

mint (optional for garnish)

Directions

This recipe requires a grown-up helper! Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. In a medium pot, bring 4 cups water to a boil. While the water is heating, on the stove top, heat a medium sauce pan that can be placed in the oven. Put in 1 tablespoon olive oil, then add the onions. Only cook onions stirring with a wooden spoon for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the polenta and salt to the onions, cook for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring with your wooden spoon and do not let it brown. Have your grown-up helper pour the boiling water into the polenta, stir once and put in the oven. Cook the polenta for 30 minutes stirring at least 2 to 3 times during the cooking process. Have your grown-up pour the polenta into a heat proof dish approximately 6” x 6” and let it chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. (Polenta can be made up to 1 day ahead.) After it has cooled turn the container of polenta upside down onto a cutting board. Using approximately a 2 inch biscuit cutter, cookie cutter or similar size open end of a glass or cup, press out circles of polenta as close together as you can. Heat a medium size non stick saute pan to high, put in 1 tablespoon olive oil. Be very careful with the hot oil, have your grown-up helper place the polenta circles skin size down into the pan. Cook them until golden brown, you can see the edges starting to turn golden. Turn the polenta circles to the other side and cook until golden. Remove polenta with tongs onto a paper towel lined plate to remove any excess oil. Place 1 or 2 polenta circles onto a small plate or bowl. With a spoon put on desired amount of fromage blanc or greek yogurt on top of the polenta. Then add some of your berries, almonds, and a sprig of mint, and finally the syrup. Serves 4 to 5 people. We change up this recipe by choosing different fruits like orange segments or banana slices! This recipe is especially great to serve for brunch; try it buffet style and let everyone make their own tutti-frutti masterpiece!

The post We are Lilly and Audrey! appeared first on AKAMom Magazine.