{"id":541989,"date":"2026-07-10T01:54:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T01:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/541989\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T01:54:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T01:54:09","slug":"empowering-kids-in-the-kitchen-teaching-healthy-eating-is-best-done-hands-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/541989\/","title":{"rendered":"Empowering kids in the kitchen: Teaching healthy eating\u00a0is best done hands-on"},"content":{"rendered":"

School summer holidays are long and, with everyone\u2019s routines disrupted, it can be difficult to manage small people\u2019s constant demands for meals and snacks. Food writer and educator Jolene Cox has the solution: Get them into the kitchen to cook for themselves.<\/p>\n

Known on her popular Instagram account as One Yummy Mummy, Cox and her daughter, 12-year-old Lily Mae, have been teaching online cooking classes for kids for the last six years. Over that time, she\u2019s learned a thing or two about the kind of things that children like to make in the kitchen \u2014 and about what stops them.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes, the barrier can be us [the parents] because we think about the cleanup,\u201d Cox says.<\/p>\n

Mess aside, when you encourage your children to start cooking, you\u2019re giving them tools to enable them to have a healthy diet. \u201cWe all want our kids to eat that little bit healthier,\u201d says Cox. \u201cYou want them to eat their veg with every meal, their fruit, to have the basics of good health. But it all starts with cooking from scratch.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo matter what you\u2019re making, it\u2019s going to be healthier than take-away because you have control of [the ingredients].\u201d<\/p>\n

Cox, who worked as a Montessori teacher and cr\u00e8che manager before Lily Mae\u2019s birth, has been cooking with her daughter since she was in her high chair. The Montessori method of teaching emphasises independence, with the phrase \u2018Help me to do it myself\u2019 as a guiding principle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have always thought there\u2019s something to do [in the kitchen] at any age,\u201d she says. \u201cThe Montessori method would have used a lot of spooning and pouring, so there are loads of things that kids can do when they start off cooking, like peeling garlic or peeling ginger with the back of a spoon. We use graters at first, and scissors, for younger kids. They feel a sense of accomplishment, and then it builds.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Now You\u2019re Cooking! 70 Recipes That Kids Can Make, the bestselling cookbook that Cox wrote with her daughter, the first section focuses on kitchen skills, starting with absolute basics \u2014 preheating the oven, weighing ingredients, seasoning food \u2014 moving through preparation skills for beginners (grating, how to crack an egg) before delving into more involved knife skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always say to parents, \u2018try and resist the urge to take over\u2019 because that\u2019s a confidence killer for the kids and it\u2019s too easy for us to do that,\u201d says Cox.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t be afraid of knives,\u201d she adds. \u201cOnce kids are taught how to chop safely, that\u2019s a lifelong skill.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the book, there are detailed descriptions of how to use knives, complete with photos. \u201cIt shows them the little steps and just lets them have that visual when they are chopping \u2014 this is the bridge method, the claw method, the scatter method \u2014 and to understand once they have their fingers tucked behind that knife as it glides down, they\u2019re going to be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plenty of encouragement is key, she notes and \u201ca sharp knife is actually safer than a dull, blunt knife.\u201d<\/p>\n

Food doesn\u2019t have to be complicated to be successful with children, either.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes all it takes is making a simple tomato sauce, just a tin of tomatoes, some fresh garlic, some basil\u2026making it themselves and just adding pasta.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Cox also notes in Now We\u2019re Cooking!, this homemade tomato sauce can also count towards one of your five a day. It\u2019s also a step towards sharing the daily dinner load.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce they learn how to grate a garlic clove, chop an onion\u2026 that\u2019s the start of so many dishes,\u201d says Cox. \u201cFor instance, the kids love making curry from scratch. We break [the recipe] down and make it age-appropriate. These are things that make them feel they can do this, giving them a sense of achievement. Once they\u2019ve made that, their parents are so impressed they\u2019ll ask [their child], \u2018Can you do it again?\u2019 Or maybe, instead of ordering a spice bag takeaway on a Friday, they\u2019ll try and make it themselves. Tray bakes are great too because you\u2019re flinging everything onto one tray, putting it into the oven, and 40 minutes later, dinner is ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

For fast rewards \u2014 and to fill in that snacktime or lunchtime space \u2014 Cox\u2019s book has recipes for easy dishes that also involve learning extra skills: Egg mayonnaise on toasted bagels (\u201chow to boil the eggs and peel them\u201d), a quick chicken ramen, posh beans on toast \u2014 \u201cusing butter beans for more fibre, adding passata and a little bit of sour cream too\u201d \u2014 and homemade jambons, using mascarpone instead of b\u00e9chamel (white sauce).<\/p>\n

And, yes, cooking can be messy. Cox remembers a day when she had children grating butter for the online class and a parent told her afterwards that the butter went everywhere, even on the ceiling.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, we teach them hygiene and keeping your countertops clean and things like that,\u201d says Cox, \u201cBut if they\u2019re actually doing something productive, they\u2019re out of their room, they\u2019re making a bite to eat, the bigger picture is we can deal with the mess, we\u2019ll work together on it.<\/p>\n

\u201cParents are telling me that phones are a huge issue at the moment, even with younger kids, and [cooking] is getting them off that scroll and doing something really productive that sparks joy in them and gives them a sense of achievement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen cooking with kids, it\u2019s just amazing to see them just blossoming in front of your eyes, their confidence and happiness,\u201d says Cox.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven the presentation. They take so much pride in the way they plate it up. It\u2019s like, \u2018I\u2019ve made this. I\u2019m really proud of it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The proof is in the pudding. Or in the dish that your children serve to you for dinner.<\/p>\n

Jolene and Lily Mae Cox’s Jambons<\/p>\n

A jambon is a flaky pastry stuffed with ham and melty cheese \u2013 the ultimate lunchtime snack. Recipe from Now You\u2019re Cooking! 70 Recipes That Kids Can Make by Jolene and Lily Mae Cox (\u20ac30, Nine Bean)<\/p>\n

\"Jolene <\/p>\n

Ingredients<\/p>\n

2 sheets of ready-rolled puff pastry<\/p>\n

150g mature white Cheddar cheese<\/p>\n

100g cooked ham<\/p>\n

250g of mascarpone cheese<\/p>\n

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard<\/p>\n

\u00bd teaspoon ground nutmeg<\/p>\n

1 egg<\/p>\n

Method<\/p>\n

If your pastry is frozen, put it in the fridge overnight to thaw it.<\/p>\n

The next day, preheat your oven to 200\u00b0C for a conventional oven or 180\u00b0C for a fan oven.<\/p>\n

Line two baking trays with non-stick baking paper.<\/p>\n

Grate the cheddar. Cut the ham into small pieces using clean kitchen scissors.<\/p>\n

Unroll the puff pastry sheets on a chopping board. Cut each sheet in half lengthways, then into thirds widthways so that you get six small rectangles on each sheet.<\/p>\n

Put the mascarpone cheese, mustard and nutmeg in a large mixing bowl and stir with a wooden spoon. Add the grated cheddar and diced ham and stir together.<\/p>\n

Put a generous tablespoon of the ham and cheese mixture in the middle of each puff pastry rectangle. Fold in the corners to create little parcels. Put the parcels on the lined baking trays, spaced apart to give them room to puff up a little.<\/p>\n

Crack the egg into a small bowl, then whisk with a fork. Using a pastry brush, paint the top of each parcel with the beaten egg to give them a golden shine.<\/p>\n

Put the trays in the preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes, until the jambons are puffed up and golden. Don\u2019t worry if some of the filling oozes out the sides.<\/p>\n

Using oven gloves, carefully remove the trays from the oven and put them on a wire cooling rack. Let the jambons cool completely before putting them in an airtight container. They will keep in the fridge for up to three days, ready to pack into your lunchbox.<\/p>\n

\"NowNow You’re Cooking! by Jolene and Lily Mae Cox
\n Now You\u2019re Cooking! by Jolene and Lily Mae Cox (\u20ac30) is available in all good bookshops.
\n Monthly membership of the One Yummy Mummy online Family Cooking Club with access to two live cookalongs per month and all past classes costs \u20ac10.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"School summer holidays are long and, with everyone\u2019s routines disrupted, it can be difficult to manage small people\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":541990,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[26054,1649,103,61,60,446],"class_list":["post-541989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-health-life","tag-health-nutrition","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-nutrition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=541989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/541990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}