June 21 // At-Home Cooking Camp (Days 1 and 2)

easy, fun meals that kids can safely make inspired by France and Mexico

Hello! This week we’ve got a treat for you: a 5-day cooking camp you can do at home with your kids! We’ll share the first two days this week and the other three on Thursday. (That email will be for paid subscribers only!) Also, check out this month’s contest at the bottom of this email!

Before you feel severe dread about letting your kids in the kitchen, listen: this edition of Cooking Camp includes no stovetop cooking and only one instance of measuring out ingredients. In other words, the menu items we chose are not nerve-wracking or messy. These recipes are also all vegetarian (except for the kafta on Day 3 or so.)

You can easily do a couple of these meals in one day. Each day’s theme is inspired by a different country, but if you’re actually from that country, please don’t be offended by the lack of authenticity. We’re keeping things really simple to give kids a taste of the world that awaits them when they make their own food!

Let’s jump in!

Day One: France-Inspired Cooking

On the menu: Salt-Baked Potatoes, Cheese Board, and Mason Jar Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients needed: Waxy potatoes, about 2 lbs of kosher salt, Herbes de Provence, cheese board ingredients (such as smoked cheddar, brie, apples, crackers, grapes, rosemary, etc), heavy cream, cocoa powder, and sugar or maple syrup.

Salt-Baked Potatoes

You have to watch the video above by Carolina Gelen! So fun, right?

Preheat your oven to 400 F. In a bowl, combine 4-5 c salt with about 1/2 c water. (Add some fresh herbs or a couple spoonfuls of Herbes de Provence in there too!) In a cast iron pan (ideally) cover the bottom with some of your salt mixture. Add washed potatoes, then cover them with the remaining salt. Bake for about an hour, until the salt has browned and it’s super hard to the touch. Then crack it open with a rolling pin or any tools you have, and dig for potatoes! They’re exceptionally creamy.

It’s a little indulgent to use this much salt, but the kids have so much fun cracking the salt crust and digging in the little salt cave for their potatoes. (You can also reuse the salt or save it to clean your cast-iron pans.)

P.S. If you want a more practical dish instead, Change-Your-Life Chicken by The Lazy Genius is a great meal to make with kids. Basically you just put chicken thighs on top of vegetables and bake them on a sheet pan (with seasonings and a little drizzle of olive oil) at 500 F for 50 minutes. The fat from the chicken crisps the veggies and it’s glorious.

Cheese Board

Cheese boards are just the best lunch ever and they’re a great way to let kids get involved in cooking. This is a great time to teach your kids proper knife skills—I love these Victorinox knives—but if your kid isn’t ready for sharp knives, they can still make great progress with plastic chef knives.

We like to serve our cheese boards straight from the cutting board. Ingredients we used in this one: smoked cheddar, a soft cheese like Brie, blueberry-soaked hard cheese from Trader Joe’s, apples, a bell pepper, and grapes. Sprigs of rosemary add a lot of class!

Mason Jar Chocolate Mousse

This dessert is extremely fun to make. Simply fill a lidded mason jar about 1/3 or 1/2 way full with heavy cream. Add a small spoonful each of cocoa powder and sugar or maple syrup. Screw the lid back on, then invite your kids to shake! After a few minutes, the texture of the cream will be noticeably thicker. You can make butter with this method if you keep going, but mousse takes a lot less perseverance 😉 It’s kind of more like whipped cream than mousse, but either way, kids will love this! Serve with a spoon.

Day Two: Mexico-Inspired Cooking

On the menu: Baked Quesadillas, Guacamole, and Paletas

Ingredients needed: Tortillas, shredded cheese, a can of black or refried beans, avocados, garlic powder, limes, salt, pepper, tomatoes (optional), frozen fruit, and milk (optional.)

Paletas

Make your dessert the night or morning before! Paletas are essentially popsicles made from fresh fruits and usually a bit of cream. We blended some frozen pineapples, peaches, and mangos with a touch of milk (you can use water if needed.) Popsicle molds are ideal, but if you don’t have them, feel free to pour the smoothie into cups and use a spoon as your stick/handle! If you want a more nuanced taste, you can mix chili powder, lime, and sweetened condensed with your mango like in this recipe from Pioneer Woman.

Baked Quesadillas

Quesadillas are one of the easiest foods to make, but it can be stressful to let your kid use a stove. Baked quesadillas still turn out great!

Preheat your oven to 450 F. Then simply get your ingredients ready in bowls, and pour some oil on a baking sheet. We let the little chefs make their quesadillas directly onto the baking sheet, oiling each side of their tortillas as they went. The fillings we used: salt, refried beans, and shredded cheese.

When the chefs are finished with the fillings, fold the quesadillas in half and press them down. Bake for 10 minutes; no need to flip if both sides are oiled. When serving, consider cutting the quesadilla with kitchen shears. Also, provide some lime slices and maybe cilantro to give the quesadillas an extra-fresh taste!

Guacamole

As we talked about yesterday, picky eaters might be less intimidated by new foods if they prepare the dish themselves!

Peel avocados and remove the pits. Place them in a bowl that’s good for mashing things. Optional: chop up some tomatoes. Sprinkle some salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Squeeze some lime juice. Then invite your chef to mash up the guacamole with a fork (or whatever mashing tools you have on hand.)

And now…for the contest!

June’s Contest: Family Scripts Cooking!

For this month’s contest, we want to see pictures of foods you made! Use a Family Scripts meal idea—there are literally hundreds at this point; check the Meal Inspiration section—and share a pretty picture of it! I highly recommend using natural light 😉 You can even use one of the recipes on this page!

The goal is just to make a meal that looks really appetizing. You can enter as many times as you want; simply DM us on Instagram (@family.scripts) or email us at family.scripts.info@gmail.com. You can submit photos until Tuesday, June 28, and we’ll vote on it on Instagram and share some of the best ones in the Friday newsletter that week 😊

First place will get $50 to the small business of their choice, 2nd place gets $30 to the small business of their choice, and 3rd place gets $20 to the small business of their choice. (Etsy shops count!) I can’t wait to see your entries!

See you tomorrow with the final book club post for the month!

Warmly,

Hope and the Family Scripts team

P.S. Is anyone watching Ryan Trahan’s one-cent 30-day challenge? It’s been really enriching and unifying for our family. And you might notice a familiar name on the donor list at the end after Day 19! (Even though they got our website wrong 🤷)