We want to teach children more about healthy lifestyles and encourage the adoption of healthy eating. We believe understanding the importance of nutrition is easier if from a young age children have been active participants in food preparation and if allowed to take opportunities to ask the questions we can answer to explain what constitutes a healthy balanced diet.
Thus began our weekly cooking lessons :-)
Week 1
Menu
- Marinade for olives
- Feta, pea, mint and grain salad
The children made the marinade for olives to take home with them - although by all accounts the olives didn't last long once they were home! :-)
We LOVE the fact that some of the children so enjoyed the ingredients that they couldn't resist sampling a few items. Isn't that the best sort of cooking?!
Week 2
Menu
- Twice baked potato with creme fraiche and mackerel
- Herby corn salad
Based upon the huge success of our first cookery lesson, we decided to push the boundaries a little further and ask the children to cook their own dinner! We are delighted to say they utterly loved the activity and created some delicious gorgeous looking food... then more importantly scoffed it all immediately upon completion!
It's so lovely to see their pride in their work and so nice to encourage such independence and creativity.
Week 3
Menu
- Roasted marrow and butternut squash
- Simple tomato pasta bake
- Fruit kebabs
The children loved personalising with their favourite fruit combinations. Another round of empty plates following the lesson and an impressive amount of attention paid to the detail of cooking.
We may encourage the next Jamie Oliver with these lessons - who knows! :-)
Week 4
Menu
- Cut out pastry tarts Beetroot
- Cucumber and cress salad
- Traditional fruit cobbler
The children's furthered their ability to use tools, transferring their knowledge of safe tool use from the forest into using kitchen equipment to safely prepare a meal. They impressively and skillfully chopped beetroot and cucumber. It's so satisfying to see them working together as a team and enjoying their food preparation so much but also lovely to see them all sitting down together and heartily tucking into the fruits of their labour.
Week 5
Menu
- Little pork and apple burgers
- Salad with cucumber, petit pois, edamame and little gem lettuce. With a mellow cider vinegar and olive oil dressing
- Natural yogurt with a 'pick your own' topping choice of dates, raisins, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and maple syrup or honey
For dinner this week our clever chefs cooked then devoured burgers and salad. Then made a simple but tasty dessert of natural yoghurt picking their your own toppings :-)
Learn more about Little Forest Folk
Great thanks to Becky from Bea's Handmade for our our fab cookery lessons! :-)