On Thu, 13 Jan 2005 09:46:41 -0600, Melba's Jammin'
> wrote:

>In article >, Jeanne Burton
> wrote:
>

>
>Hello-o-o-o-o, Jeanne! Welcome to the fray that is r.f.c.

Thanks!

>About all I know about the Oster Kitchen Center thang is that a friend
>had one about 30 years ago and used to make quadruple batches of
>chocolate chip cookies for her 6 kids all the time.

That sounds promising...I'm really curious about the meat grinder
part. Gonna have to try that. I think we'll enjoy making
sausage...probably the Alton Brown recipe. (The kids LOVE him. And
Emeril, but I think that's because he's very animated/showbiz and
entertaining to them.)

>I've a just-3-year-old granddaughter and figure the only cooking she'll
>learn to do will be from me, her loving baba.

Yeah...the kids' mom doesn't cook at ALL...we had some issues with her
at first because she didn't want Wayne using a chef's knife, etc. I
taught her to stay OUT of the kitchen while we cook, and we're all a
lot happier now <G>

Was it difficult to get
>your little one willing to get her hands mucky from oil?

Not at all...Sarah doesn't mind getting messy. She has an apron that
she likes which protects her clothes, but arms/hands are always fair
game. You should see her up on a chair, punching down dough...she's
up past her elbows, little as she is. It's cute!
Perhaps the reason I'm successful with the kids is that I assume they
can do anything, and I teach 'em to do it. I don't assume they're
"too little". I grew up in a house where my mom didn't cook at all,
and my dad cooked all weekend and we reheated all week. By 8, I was
doing the majority of cooking in our house. I know I did my first
complete Thanksgiving dinner at 11.

My little
>one's experience is limited to sprinkling the sprinkles on cut-outs
>after they're frosted. I've got a couple nice birdies in the freezer
>that would make for good-enough roasting -- what's your recipe (time and
>temp)?

We use an adaptation of the roasted chicken recipe from Emeril's
"There's a Chef in my Family" (highly recommended. Every thing we've
made from it is wonderful and it's written for children. The sequel,
"There's a Chef in my Soup", is also good. The children pull them down
along with other cookbooks with pictures and love to pick out things
they'd like to make.)

We use a 3 to 4 lb chicken, wash it, stuff the cavity with a quartered
onion and 2 or 3 cloves of garlic, then rub the outside with olive
oil, pepper, paprika, and whatever spice sounds good that
day...sometimes thyme, sometimes sage, sometimes even oregano (we like
oregano!) and always snipped chives and fresh parsley. Rub that in
well, then put the chicken on a rack in a baking pan, and put it into
a preheated 500 degree oven. Leave the chicken in for 20 minutes,
then without opening the door, reduce the oven temp to 375, and bake
around 45 minutes more, or until the internal temp is 160 degrees.
Let it rest about 15 minutes, then serve.

This is known as "picnic chicken" in our house, as we take it with
salad and side dishes to the park and eat it cold. The best thing
about it is that the skin gets REALLY crispy and a beautiful brown
color.

What's in your rub?

It's not a "real" rub...we kind of make stuff up as we go...

>I'm thinking you can teach me about cooking with a leetle one. (I
>didn't teach my own.)

Plan on EVERYTHING taking twice as long as if you do it yourself.
Plan on finding fun ingredients. We buy at least one veggie/fruit
every week that we've never eaten before, and figure out something fun
to do with it. A big favorite is different-colored veggies, like
purple potatoes, or purple green beans (disappointing because they
turned green when we cooked them), fun lettuces for salads like frisee
or radiccio, etc. If the kids cook 'em, they're involved with them
and they'll eat ANYTHING...these kids have never met a food they
didn't like.

Jeanne