Sponsored post
My two girls have grown up eating Annabel Karmel’s food. When they first started weaning I knew I wanted them to get healthy, tasty, homemade food and Annabel’s recipes provided lots of ideas. So it was wonderful to meet Annabel at the recent blog conference I attended and even better when she offered to share some of her books with me – and you!
The girls and I have spent the last week testing out recipes from You Can Cook
Getting children involved in cooking has so many advantages. They’re gaining valuable life skills learning to make their own meals of course but they’re also reading menus, weighing and counting ingredients, exploring different textures, and seeing science in action. Plus we discovered that – just like when you grow your own food – cooking your own food makes you far more likely to try what you’ve made. L has this week being scoffing not only chicken (usually yuk), fish (always yuk) but even a big bowl of curry. Thanks Annabel!
Win a signed Annabel Karmel cookbook
So would you like to try some of Annabel’s recipes with your little chefs? I have two books to give away: one person will win a copy of the Mummy and Me Cookbook
Here are the rules:
1. The giveaway is open to readers in the UK only. Each person is allowed one entry.
2. To enter you need to leave a comment on this post telling me what you love cooking with your kids. Make sure you leave your correct e-mail address when you comment.
3. The competition is open until Wednesday 11th August 2010 at midnight (GMT).
4. The two winners will be chosen by random.org The first person picked will win the Children’s First Cookbook, the second person picked will win the Mummy and Me Cookbook.
5. The winner’s will be announced on Thursday 12th August 2010. Once they have sent their address their prize will be posted to them.
So, leave a comment telling me what you love to cook with your children. Good luck!
My daughter is too young still, but I will definitely be cooking with her in the future. I grew up cooking from a book called the Little Cook & Enjoy (translated. Sounds much better in original!!) and I still have it and still cook from it, so I love knowing that there’s something similar for my daughter when the time comes!
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Annabel Karmel and Luschka van Onselen, Cathy James. Cathy James said: (Drumroll) There is a fab @annabelkarmel giveaway on the blog today – come on over and enter http://bit.ly/bOwoxq [...]
Joseph (3 yrs) and I, love cooking A.K Spaghetti bolognese. After reading A.K advice about children enjoying food, I had such a more relaxed attitude. We have had lots of fun making & playing with food especially the messy moments! I think this has a lot to do with Joseph eating everything!
My daughter Sophie is 3 years old and has grown up with all of Annabel’s receipes and now enjoys cooking with me, she absolutely loves the Veggie burgers. Sophie and I make a batch of these that I freeze. Sophie puts the carrots, cheese and courgettes in the food processor to grate, helps mash the potato. She watches me chop the brocalli (which she doesnt normally eat) and make them into round little shapes. She enjoys eating them just as much and when I’m working her Daddy sticks them in the oven and serves them with carrot and cheese sticks – so I know its easy for him and nice and healthy for Sophie
hiya!!! my daughter and i love cooking, we made recipes all the time, she would totally love the mummy and me cook book, we have matching aprons and off we go!!
)
cheese sticks are a hit, and brocilli and cheese balls, hash browns we tried yest too!!!
chicken and rice is mega tasty for all the family
I love cooking pizza with my eldest son who is 4. I make pizza dough in my breadmaker then he helps me stretch it out on the baking tray. He spreads my home-made tomato sauce over the base, then he sprinkles on the grated cheese. Finally, he places pieces of cut up veg to make a picture – faces are his favourite, with carrots for eyes, a slice of mushroom for a nose, half rings of onion for eyebrows, sweetcorn for hair and red pepper pieces for a mouth. Then it’s into the oven for 10 mins and voila!
My little one is too young to cook with (only 5 m/o!) but I’ve started making some Annabel Karmel purees for him. I can’t wait til he gets more interested in cooking so we can bake together
My 6 month old twins are to young to help but they love sitting in their high chairs watching me make all the purees up for the week for them. Cant wait to try the other recipes with them as they get older.
We love cooking chocolate cake
It’s a recipe we got from a friend of the kids – she’s only 8 and makes a fantastic chocolate cake, only assistance needed is dealing with getting it out of the oven. Similarly here, as I have a 10 year old who is extremely capable in the kitchen, but the 7 year old could do with more time slaving over a hot stove 
My 8 year daughter loves cooking Mini blueberry and Chocolate muffins from Annabel Karmel’s – After School Meal Planner. It is good fun cooking with her it is when I notice how independant she is getting and loves to do as much as she can on her own, they get so quickly but with Annabels help you can give them good food.
My girls of 3 and 20 months love helping to make the yoghurt pancakes for daddy on a Sunday morning with me
My daughter loves cooking chocolate brownies and muffins. She loves to lick the bowl and spoon once we have finished!
My son Aaron and I enjoy cooking banana and chocolate muffins together – they are yummy!
Dinner or lunches on the weekend when all 3 can help out and make the meal. With three daughters aged 3, 7 and 10 each one can do different tasks to help. The girls love to cook and eat almost anything and I actively encourage them to help out whenever time allows, less so during the week if they are tired from school. However on the weekend all meals (including cooking breakfast) are a team effort
My little ones love cooking, the youngest likes to sit in the high chair playing and tasting the ingredients (cheif taster) while the older one enjoys looking for new recipes to try, although she enjoys making smothies, pizzas and ginger bread people the most. It is nice to watch them develop knowledge and skills that will be with them for life and to see them get adventrous with food both tasting and expermenting like what will happen if we freeze our smothies or diffrent toppings on the bread rolls.
I love cooking and baking with my 3 year old Isabelle, she loves baking banana bread and cup cakes with me and also chopping mushrooms for spahgetti bolognese (using a very blunt kids knife). Would love to win any of the two books
Little Mister Ice Maiden and I love to make cakes together. His favourite job is cracking the eggs although he has to crack them into a separate bowl so I can check that there’s no egg shell in there
I love Annabel Karmel! Her books have given me loads of ideas, especially her pasta book we reviewed! I love baking with my 3 yr old. We’ve recently made cookies, biscuits and butterfly fairy cakes. He’s really good at helping me put cheese in my cheese sauce too!
In our house, Small Boy (4) and Small Girl (2) love to get involved with whatever I am making. SG sits up on the kitchen counter and tries to get her hands on everything. She particularly enjoys trying to spread her own toast, which is entertaining and a tad messy. SB is getting pretty good at making his own sandwiches now, with a bit of help slicing tomatoes. But of course, everyone’s favourite is cake baking. Partly for the mixing fun, but mainly to lick to bowl afterwards! Yum!
My lovely grandaughter at just less than three years old was up on a chair cutting out scones for her lunch. It’s amazing what they can do if you give them the chance. She was staight in there with the cutter and after I had shown how to flour it and wiggle it in the flattened dough, there was no looking back! Wonderful memories.
Squeaky’s still to small to help in the kitchen right now (6 1/2 months), but I have great memories of making banana bread & potato birds nests with my mum when I was little, and I’m looking forward to doing the same with Squeaky when she’s older. I wonder if my mum still has that recipe book?
[...] *****Have you entered our giveaway to win fantastic Annabel Karmel goodies?******* [...]
My little boy is only seven months old so we’re not cooking together just yet, but I LOVE to make pizzas with my 6 year old niece – brilliant fun!!
We love AK’s recipes, and she presents her dishes so beautifully all kids must live eating them!! Her party princess book is a favourite, and my little girl loves helping with baking and decorating cakes.
My daughter is only 13 months old but last weekend we attempted scones together. She didn’t seem that interested but did slop dough all over the floor!
[...] This post was Twitted by emmaand3 [...]
[...] This post was Twitted by DANNCLAN [...]
My son is also too young for us to cook together yet but he is growing up on AK recipes and once he is old enough I am very much looking forward to cooking things with him – especially treats for Daddy!
I love cooking with my little girl because it allows her to be messy with a purpose! And she can experience all those new textures, colours and flavours in one go. It’s also lots of fun!
we really love to cook all sorts but our favourites right now are what we call tomato rolls…. where we roll out puff pastry… spread on tomato puree… decorate with basil, cheese and sometimes ham, roll it up and cut it into slices before baking it in the oven… delish and my son can do it pretty much by himself age 4 as its dead simple !
My son and I usually make sweet snacks like banana muffins, pancakes and smoothies which he loves. He also helps with certain processes like smashing up croutons to make fish cake crumbs and adding fresh herbs to pasta sauces etc.
I’ve loved cooking with all mine since they were very small and my Bonus Boy (4) is carrying on the tradition with gusto. He loves baking and is obsessed with anything which can be sprinkled on top of cakes at the moment. My eldest (14) is a dab hand with a tin of beans but can also whip up a wicked Salsa. Number 2 (12) does a mean welsh rarebit and my daughter (10) bakes far better scones than I ever can! BB would love a cookbook to share with me, the ones we have are now very dog eared!
I like to make cakes and biscuits mainly with my two littles ones mainly for myself. But we do enjoy making cheese, tomato and basil whirls made from puff pastry, tomato puree and cheese. My little ones are only 3 and 1 so it’s a simple, easy and relatively healthy fun thing to make. x
My daughter is only 13 mths so too young for me to have fun cooking with her but I’m really excited for when the time comes!
I enjoy cooking ‘real’ food and we’re growing some vegetables this year so anything with tomatoes or chillis in will be made in abundance!
I try and make healthy snacks with the children – one of our favourites is Annabels’ healthy flap jack recipe
http://www.annabelkarmel.com/recipes/healthy-recipes/flapjack