A Kid's First Recipe

I have 5 grandchildren.  I’m happy to have been the person to help all but the youngest cook their first meal ever (Dean at age 2 is still too young I think).   

In an informal survey I took among my parenting friends and food colleagues, I asked what dish a kid should first try to cook as an introduction to the culinary world. I got two answers:  Kraft macaroni and cheese in the blue and yellow box and, of course, scrambled eggs. But since scrambled eggs isn‘t really a recipe, it’s a one-ingredient technique, I always add at least some shredded cheese when teaching my grandchildren how to prepare them.

Here’s how it usually goes, at least this is how it went with my grandson Frank. Kids love to crack eggs open. For a 3-year old it’s oh so messy, but it’s do-able. So for a Sunday morning breakfast for mom and dad, siblings and grandpa, we cracked 2 eggs per person into a bowl. Then I watched Frank play with the whisk in the bowl of eggs as if it was a new toy. I showed him the official whisking motion for which the “toy” was designed, but after a few tries he got to giggling as he stirred and stirred. The eggs were stirred alright, but hardly beaten.  So when Frank wasn’t looking I finished off the whisking for him. Then it was salt and pepper time.    

Standing on his potty stool secured for this new purpose, Frank dropped a pad of butter into a warm skillet and we watched it sizzle. Then together we poured in the eggs.  Then Frank took fistfuls of shredded cheddar cheese right out of the package and tossed the cheese into the eggs in the pan. Then the cooking really began.  With a wooden spoon he stirred and stirred and stirred. With each stir more of the egg set-up and it started to look familiar to him. In another minute or two he had a pan full of gooey, cheesy scramble eggs that he made himself!   

Take a bow, Frank. Grandpa welcomes you into his world of egg cooking. Just don’t go after his Guinness Book records.

What’s the first recipe you made with the children in your life?

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