Cooking with Children Course - review by Bex

Last week we started a 4 week course at a Children's Centre nearby.  It's free (government funded surprisingly since our old twin group there had to close due to lack of government funding!) and teaches us simple recipes using healthy foods and is a great way to get the young ones involved in food preparation early.  Our teacher, Hayley, runs a local forest school, Natural Connection Sussex, which I'll be checking out too!  She has a background working with children and various educational activities.  The recipes are
quick and easy but full of good nutrition and great fun to make with the kids, I've asked if I can share them here so I'll keep you updated!

The first week we went along there were only 3 families which seems a shame but I suppose it could get pretty chaotic if there were a lot more.  This week one of my friends joined us with her little girl and it was nice to be able to enjoy it with a friend (the other two mums there knew each other so didn't really chat with me).  Hayley is so calm and the kids can get up and move around freely if they need to (at 2 they're never going to sit still in a room for 2 hours even if we are cooking and making a mess!)  They get to taste lots of different things, having a try of the ingredients as we go while the mums are informed of the health benefits of each food.  It's obviously aimed at educating families about nutrition and eating healthily, starting to introduce these ideas at a young age and getting the children involved.

At the first class we made veggie burgers, smoothies and flapjacks.  The majority of Kalyan's flapjack never made it home but what was left was squished and patted into the baking tray (with a few more bits of fruit pinched), baked and devoured for dessert.

They enjoyed their burgers, despite carrying on with the patting and squishing them like the flapjacks, although they were a little dry after being baked.  I'd fry them next time but they were nice dipped in some greek yoghurt and went down a treat.

The flapjacks were even more popular though!  Once they'd cooled down enough to eat...

Waiting impatiently...

The twins certainly enjoy it and I'm loving being able to do some cooking with them in an easy environment with some support.  Plus they get a good dinner out of it too!