With a refrigerator and children, there are sure to be some odds and ends that shouldn't be wasted. Part of motherhood is attempting to save money for the family. Having confidence in the kitchen can help. There are a number of websites that can combine ingredients into a recipe that may solve the problem of potentially wasted extra ingredients. Supercook.com allows users to enter a few ingredients and browse recipes.
Before cookbooks, food science and websites, people experimented in the kitchen. Sure, sometimes the experiments were good and sometimes, not so good. With a little cooking experience, anyone should be able to make some basic decisions about what may or may not work.
Experimental Cooking in the Kitchen With Children
Cooking with children can include easy recipes and cooking experiments. Having kids help in the kitchen with food experiments can be a fun bonding experience, even if the food bombs. The key is knowing that experiments can fail and having a backup and enough time to employ the plan before disaster strikes. These are terrific rainy or winter day activities.
The easiest way to start experimenting is by trying to make things that the family has enjoyed in a pre-made form or in a restaurant. For example, raspberry yogurt can be purchased at the store. It's a known combination.
Raspberry Yogurt Recipe Guidelines
Here is a recipe (guideline, actually) for making deliciously fresh yogurt, packed with fresh picked nutrition. Here are the ingredients:
- 16 ounces of plain yogurt
- 1 cup reduced raspberries (boiled for 1 minute), with or without added sugar to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon sugar
First, reduce the raspberries slightly on the stove until boiling for about a minute. If desired, add sugar to taste (this is a fun way to include children in decision-making). Let the raspberries cool. In the meantime, kids can add the vanilla and sugar to the yogurt and stir well with nothing more dangerous than a spoon. Add the cooled raspberries and enjoy the fruits of a fun and successful food experiment. Many other fruits would probably work well as substitutes. Try whatever is fresh and note which ideas work best. Some the family will want to save, and surely some will be purged.
Many recipes can be modified to the taste of the audience without changing food chemistry too much. It is often a matter of confidence and experimentation. Leftover parts of other recipes can combine to make not only culinary delights, but also great memories of working together in the kitchen.
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