What's Cooking with Kids Interview

Michelle Stern is the owner of What's Cooking with Kids. She is known as a kid friendly green cooking school owner, in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she teaches kids all about eating healthy and using fresh fruits and vegetables. 

Reader's of her site, What's Cooking with Kids, also 
enjoy reading about ways to get kids involved in cooking and 
eating healthy. She also has a new cookbook that she tells us about below.
 

Thanks Michelle for the interview and sharing with us a few fun and helpful tips!


Do you have advice for parents who are trying to encourage more healthy eating with their kids?
It may sound trite, but kids who spend time in the kitchen, helping to prepare meals, are more likely to be better eaters.  It can take between 8-15 exposures to a new food before many kids will enjoy it - so every bit of time that children can be touching, smelling, or tasting foods helps!  Also, encourage your kids to help you plan the weekly dinner menu - give them a few options to choose from, that way, you'll be happy with their selection.


Do you have a tip for cooking with kids? Perhaps, something that might help moms or dads who are trying to get their kids involved more in the kitchen.

Children are probably more capable in the kitchen than most parents expect.  Even children as young as the age of 2 can help!  My new book, The Whole Family Cookbook, has the recipe steps color coded by age, so parents know what their kids can do safely to help.


Tell us about your new cookbook.
The Whole Family Cookbook offers time-saving strategies for shopping and cooking, along with the resources you need to cook healthy, local food in any season. 

Our delicious recipes will please discriminating adults and will tickle the taste buds of your children, getting them excited to eat healthy meals – for their bodies and for the benefit of the planet.




We have many users of our website that are cooking teachers and after school teachers. How can they bring in more healthy, locally, green cooking in their school?

It helps to know what is in season. There are lots of great resources online, such as Sustainable Table  which can help you see what is growing in your region.  Also, if people read the labels on their foods, they will be surprised to find several ingredients that they probably don't recognize.  If nothing else, that can be a big motivator to try to cook from scratch, or from simple convenience foods, such as pastas or canned tomatoes.


Do you have a favorite kids recipe your kids like or a recipe your cooking students enjoy?
I am a Kale Chip evangelist.  It may sound odd, but they truly are delicious - and they perform a miracle, too. They get my kids to eat kale! Here's a recipe for Kale Chips.