Tiny Chef Kitchen

  • Home
  • Start Here
  • Resources
  • Books
    • Getting Started Guide
    • Kitchen Activities Book
    • Recipe Book
  • Blog
  • Home
  • Start Here
  • Resources
  • Books
    • Getting Started Guide
    • Kitchen Activities Book
    • Recipe Book
  • Blog
Picture

Cracking Raw Eggs with Young Kids

2/9/2017

9 Comments

 
Picture
In case you haven't heard, many chefs recommend cracking eggs on a FLAT surface. When you hit a raw egg on a sharper edge, you're more likely to get a small piece of shell in the egg (because the sharp edge pushes small shell pieces inside). Many people like how an edge helps to break eggs cleanly into two large sections, but that's a trade-off for producing more small fragments. 

Something we've discovered is that a flat surface also works better for small, less-coordinated hands! Not only does the raw egg come out more slowly, but (most importantly) the egg is already OVER the surface where you want it to fall. Young kids have a hard time coordinating multiple connected movements (they often need to practice one at a time), so cracking an egg on an edge and then swiftly moving it to the interior of a bowl can be very challenging (and frustrating). Instead, we use a large plate so we can use the wide surface to both crack the egg and open it.


Steps for Cracking a Raw Egg

  1. keep the egg OVER the plate
  2. tap it until it cracks
  3. pull it open with your thumbs (kids can also practice this step with a plastic egg)
  4. hold onto the shell while the egg falls out
  5. put the shell aside
  6. pick out any extra shell pieces
I usually dump each egg into a bowl (or plastic bag) after our Tiny Chef cracks them so he doesn't end up trying to crack a new egg on top of the old one (and so it's less likely new fragments will get into the already clean egg). 
Picture

Bonus Idea!

Put the cracked eggs into a plastic bag (that seals well), so your Tiny Chef can scramble it by hand! 
Picture
Picture
9 Comments

Banana-Oat muffins

1/24/2017

18 Comments

 
Vegan! Gluten-free! Sugar-free!
​Makes 12 muffins.
​
  • 4 ripe bananas
  • 2 cups oats, ground into flour (in the food processor)
  • 1/2 cup coconut oil (or 1/4 cup apple sauce & 1/4 cup oil)
  • 1/2 cup coconut milk 
  • 2 tbsp ground flax seeds (or 1 tbsp flax & 1 egg)
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 tbsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • a little bit of maple syrup, honey, or stevia (optional)
  • 1/2 cup sugar-free chocolate chips (optional)
Picture
Picture
Grind oats in the food processor. Dump the oat flour into a bowl, then process bananas until smooth. Mix the oil into the oat flour with a fork. Add all of the ingredients together and mix until combined. Add 1/2 cup of chocolate chips if desired.

​Line muffin tin with 12 muffin liners. Fill with the batter (these will appear pretty full since there's no egg in the recipe to make the muffins rise). 


Bake at 350 degrees (F) for 22-25 minutes (until golden brown).

Kid Tips!

Ask kids to:
  • peel all of the bananas,
  • stir,
  • add dashes of cinnamon from the bottle,
  • put liners in muffin tin,
  • top the muffins with toppings (for example, 3 chocolate chips per muffin). 
Picture
18 Comments

Peeling Produce Stickers

12/19/2016

0 Comments

 
You can always find something for your kitchen helper to do, no matter how small the task!

I wasn't feeling very creative this morning when putting together some oatmeal, but I did have our Tiny Chef help remove the apple stickers.
​
Another idea is washing the produce! Little ones love to play with water, so you can set them up with a bowl of water on a towel on the floor and maybe a scrub brush if you have one handy.
Picture
0 Comments

CUtting and Scooping Melon

12/15/2016

0 Comments

 
We experimented with cantaloupe this morning, but I think our strategy would've worked much better with a (squishier) watermelon.

Mr. Tiny Chef really struggled to get his butter knife through that big cantaloupe and he wasn't in the mood to scoop out all of those seeds (both of these challenges would disappear if we used a watermelon instead).

However, I'm really proud of him for persevering in cutting and pulling the cantaloupe in half all by himself - he tried many different strategies to get it done!

​In the end, I scooped most of the seeds and cut the halves into segments (after letting him try first), and he was much happier slicing the segments into bite-sized pieces.
Picture
0 Comments

Eat Avocado with a Spoon

12/14/2016

0 Comments

 
There are many ways to offer an avocado to your Tiny Chef.

Daddy Chef likes to score the avocado while it's still in the skin to make it easy to eat with a spoon.

When TC digs into an un-scored avocado half, sometimes the pieces fly across the room or are too large to eat in one bite (however, I think this is great scooping practice!).

​I like to serve the avocado plain, but a light sprinkle of salt may enhance the flavor if your little one doesn't already like avocado.

Picture
Picture
0 Comments

Grab A Grapefruit!

12/12/2016

1 Comment

 
Grapefruit is a bit of a challenge for little hands since it's big and has a thick, hearty peel.

I had our Tiny Chef roll and bang it on the floor for a few minutes to loosen up the juices (thanks for the fun idea grandma!). Then I washed it (because, you know, dirty floor) and sliced it in half.

​We squeezed each half into a bowl together and TC picked the seeds out of the juice.

​He decided to pick extra chunks of grapefruit out of the peels and eat them or squeeze them into the juice bowl before drinking the juice.
Picture
Picture
1 Comment

Easy Kiwi Snack

12/12/2016

0 Comments

 
A simple kiwi snack!

Scrub a soft kiwi and then cut it in half. Set the halves out with a small spoon for scooping.

The skin is edible so don’t worry if they eat it on accident (or on purpose!). 
Picture
0 Comments

Kids Love Pouring Water

12/11/2016

0 Comments

 
Water pouring is a great activity for kids, especially while you’re in the kitchen preparing food.

They can practice scooping and pouring skills while still being a part of the cooking environment.

​Just lay out a towel and put out some cups, measuring tools, and water! 

When they're done pouring, hand your tiny chef a towel to dry their tools. Then they can hang their wet towel to dry or drop it in the washing machine. 
Picture
Picture
0 Comments

Pomegranate Entertainment

12/11/2016

0 Comments

 
The Tiny Chef in our house loves pomegranates! For breakfast this morning, I scored the pomegranate and pulled it apart to make a 6-petaled flower shape. Then, I set Tiny Chef up on a towel with a bowl full of water, and he spent half an hour separating seeds from pith and eating them. We still ended up with a half a cup of seeds after he ate his fill for breakfast.
Picture
For more detailed instructions on how to tackle a whole pomegranate, see Mama Natural's Youtube video: https://youtu.be/5BExPRwPdAs
0 Comments
Forward>>
    Picture

    Categories

    All
    Baking
    Breaking
    Cutting
    Holidays
    Kitchen Skills
    Parenting
    Peeling
    Plant-based
    Pouring
    Pressing
    Scooping
    Sprinkling
    Squeezing
    Stovetop
    The Tiny Chef Book
    Tips & Tricks
    Whole Foods

    Archives

    December 2018
    October 2018
    April 2018
    August 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016

    RSS Feed

    Terms & Conditions

TERMS & CONDITIONS

FREE MINI COURSE
CONTACT TINY CHEF KITCHEN
TINY CHEF BOOKS
Copyright © 2020  Teacher Kendall LLC