The cornbread we made last Sunday had fresh corn kernels in it, and when their parents picked them up the kids excitedly exclaimed, "It has real corn in it!" Of course the cornmeal was made from real corn too, but what thrilled them was the whole topsy turvy (to them) idea of putting whole corn kernels into the batter.
What excited me was the agave syrup we used in place of granulated sugar. Agave syrup is a liquid sweetener that comes from the agave plant and is low on the glycemic load scale.
And, in simple terms, it is also sweeter than sugar, which means you can use less to get the same level of sweetness you'd get in table sugar. Thus, healthier cornbread!!
We also made oven "barbecued" chicken, slathered with our own homemade spicy barbecue sauce. Onions and garlic were chopped,
spices were mixed with tomato sauce, and the whole thing was cooked slowly until the flavors were just right. Then each child brushed two chicken legs with sauce and we put them all in the oven to cook.
Twenty minutes later the chicken emerged hot from the oven, ready to eat.
The kids loved everything on Sunday's menu and the parents sent rave reviews too!
This week we're going to do some Indian food and I can't wait to see what the kids say about one of the more unusual ingredients we'll be using.
In other news, I just agreed to write a monthly column about cooking and gardening with kids at www.camps.com. I'll let you all know when the first article appears.
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