Chocolate and Craft, Junior Chefs and Brilliant Baking

At Just Cook Cookery School we open our doors for more delicious half-term cooking workshops for children of all ages.

Chocolate and Craft is a totally chocolate-based session designed for children 6 years and up. They will have fun creating treats such as Rocky Road, or Chocolate Fridge Cake, and a decorated box of hand-made chocolates for someone special.

Junior Chef class is a slightly more advanced, hands-on classes for budding masterchefs where they will cook a delicious two-course meal to take home for the family. Using free-range and locally sourced ingredients where possible, they will learn about creating and enjoying nutritious food, with lots of tasting along the way.

Brilliant Baking will be a fast paced lesson, learning to cook different types of breads, cakes, muffins and cookies……enough to fill a table at a Mad Hatters tea-party! Everything they have lovingly cooked will be packed up and brought home in a goody-bag.

For our regulars you’ll know how much fun they have whilst acquiring important cooking skills to inspire all mini Masterchefs. If you are new to the school, take advantage of a few spare hours of free time in delightful Saffron Walden while your sons or daughters prepare some treats or even dinner for you!

Get the wellies out! Friday 23rd September is officially the first day of Autumn, so we have added two new courses to celebrate this colourful and cosy season. Out go the leafy salads, and in come homely soups, comforting bakes and toasted marshmallows.
They start next week with a short lunchtime course -
“Autumn Soups”
Starting with simple stock making, followed by a selection of soup recipes and garnishing ideas, and how to adapt the basics to whatever you have in your store cupboard, or what catches your eye at the market.
The second course is a half day course;
:A Taste of Autumn”
This covers three courses and a light lunch is included. You will be taking home what you’ve made to share with family or friends, plus the recipes.

See under the individual titles for further information.
Looking forward to seeing you.

Ghouls and Boys from ages 5 – 10 are invited for some wicked kitchen fun. Conjure up some Spiderweb Pumpkin Soup, Witches Fingers, a frightfully delicious dessert, and creepy cookies to take home.

Your little monsters will be fully hands on while being encouraged to enjoy, taste and cook food with the emphasis on fun. Scary mess is expected and ghoulish refreshments are provided.

This will be the first of our new Children’s Cookery Classes run by Maxine Quinn.. Continue reading →

 We all lead busy lives: we work long hours and spend more hours commuting. When we finally get home we have to spend yet more time as our kid’s private taxi service, running them to and from ballet, football practice or piano lessons. It’s a wonder we have time to eat, let alone cook. And eating together? Don’t make me laugh! When the whole family is at home, we spend our precious minutes nagging the kids to do their homework or tidy their room, or else we’re slumped in front of the TV, too tired to care.

 We certainly don’t have the energy to create a family meal from scratch. It’s hardly a surprise then, that the sales of ready meals in the UK have trebled in the last 10 years (source: The Guardian, 05/01/08), or that we rarely eat together (when we do, it is usually in the lounge, with the TV on).

 But, increasingly, studies show that eating together as a family has a host of benefits. A report in Time magazine said that “the more often families eat together, the less likely kids are to smoke, drink, do drugs, get depressed, develop eating disorders and consider suicide, and the more likely they are to do well in school, delay having sex, eat their vegetables, learn big words and know which fork to use.”

 Why should this be? If you think about it, it’s logical. If we can eat our meals independently of others, at any time that seems convenient to us, we learn to satisfy our hunger instantly, with snacks and convenience foods, rather than cook from scratch or wait for mealtimes. If we continue to teach our children to eat selfishly, we can hardly complain if they also live and act selfishly.

 Regular, family meal times bring stability to the daily routine, offer time for all the family to be together and bond over conversations about the everyday. Parents can display an interest in their children’s lives outside of home; the children instinctively pick up on it and feel nurtured, valued and loved. Children begin to learn the art of conversation, of listening and responding to others, which surely, is the foundation of respect. Through conversation, parents will gain a better understanding of their children’s viewpoint and can be more sympathetic to what otherwise might seem to be an insignificant, childish concern. The child will be more likely to air their worries if they feel secure that they won’t be mocked, dismissed or belittled.

 It is clear that the time spent together is more important than the food, but serving a home made meal may bring other benefits: 

• Home cooking is cheaper than serving ready made food.
• Children can help with the preparation and cooking. They will learn new skills, are more likely to try different foods if they helped to cook them and it’s fun!
• Home cooked meals are usually more nutritious and healthy, with less added fats, salt and sugar.
• You can use local seasonal produce. It’s tastier, supports your community and it’s more environmentally friendly.
• Cooking doesn’t need to be time consuming. You can get a casserole underway in minutes and get on with other things while it slow cooks its way towards a delicious dinner time.

 So, if it’s cheaper, tastier, healthier, quicker and better for your family to cook at home, why don’t we? I believe it is because we have forgotten how to or haven’t been taught in the first place. And that’s probably the best reason why we should start learning – so we can start teaching.