June 22 // At-Home Cooking Camp (Days 3-5)

Lebanese, Italian, and Jamaican-inspired foods that your kids can make!

Hello! Are you ready to give your kids some enriching activities that engage all their senses while also cooking good food that your family will actually eat? P.S. If you don’t have kids, you’ll still enjoy making these 😉

Days 1 and 2 of Cooking Camp were shared on Tuesday. Again, you can expect minimal mess, no stovetop cooking, and a wide range of kids in mind as we prepared this plan for you!

Day 3 - Lebanese-Inspired

On the menu: Balela, Kafta, and Mint Sun Tea (Bonus: Naan with Zaatar)

Ingredients needed: A can of chickpeas, a can of black beans, tomatoes, fresh parsley, red onion, lemon, olive oil, minced garlic, ground beef or vegan alternative, Middle Eastern spices, fresh mint (optional: egg, breadcrumbs, cilantro), mint tea or fresh mint leaves, honey

Mint Sun Tea

Mint tea is popular in Lebanon, and this fun twist is perfect for summer. Simply place a mint tea bag or two (or even just mint leaves) in a mason jar with water, and leave it out in the sun for about four hours. Once your tea is made, add honey to taste and some fresh mint leaves for garnish! If your kids still aren’t interested, add soda water and lemon juice and serve over ice!

Kafta

Kefta, Kofta, Kafta…the spelling depends on the region in the Middle East, but the main point is delicious grilled beef skewers. They’re like more flavorful hamburgers, without the bun. Ideally this is grilled, but since we’re keeping Cooking Camp safe and stress-free even for little kids, we’re baking it today!

Prheat oven to 350 F. Chop up herbs such as mint, parsley, and cilantro and place them in a large-ish bowl. Massage some ground beef (or Beyond Meat) with lemon juice, minced garlic, and the herbs you cut, and Middle Eastern spices such as allspice, cinnamon, cardamom, cumin, paprika, salt, and pepper. Add egg and some breadcrumbs (or even just flour) if you’re nervous about the kebabs falling apart.

Sniff the meat mixture to enjoy the smells of all the freshness and adjust flavors as you shape them into hot dog shapes. Slide them onto skewers.

We placed the skewers on a grate over a sheet pan so the fat could drip down a little, but that’s not totally necessary. Bake for 10-15 minutes, check on them (and flip), then bake about 10 mins more. You might even want to broil them for a little. You want the meat’s internal temp to be at 160 F. Enjoy!

Balela Salad

A good bean salad is an excellent, portable lunch! This one tastes particularly fresh because of the lemon and herbs, and chopping and mixing it all together is truly easy enough for kids.

Drain and rinse a can each of chickpeas and black beans and pour into a medium-sized bowl. Chop up tomatoes, parsley, mint, and red onion, and add to the bowl. Stir in some olive oil, salt and pepper, and squeeze some lemon juice in there. Taste it and see if you need to adjust any seasonings. Keep refrigerated and enjoy!

Bonus: Naan with Zaatar

An extra delicious meal that’s very common in Lebanon is taking naan drizzling olive oil over naan, sprinkling some Zaatar seasoning and maybe a little salt, and pan-frying it! (Psst, our kids make this themselves just by microwaving it.) For this meal, we made the naan right after the kafta by placing parchment paper over the sheet pan and broiling for a few minutes. It’s delicious and filling, and it even works great as breakfast when paired with hard-boiled eggs!

Day 4 - Italian-Inspired

On the menu: Caprese Skewers, Baked Lemon and Bean Rice, Strawberry Shrubs

Ingredients: Grape tomatoes, fresh mozzarella balls, fresh basil, balsamic vinegar, basmati rice, rosemary, lemon juice, Great Northern beans, chicken broth, soda water, strawberries