Move over Chef Ramsey

THIS STORY RAN IN THE PRINT EDITION OF THE KANSAN ON JULY 12, 2008.

Editor’s note: The Kansan asked its readers to tell us about youngsters who love to cook. Here are their stories:

Hannah loves to

cook, wash dishes

This is my little cook. My granddaughter, Hannah Utecht, has been helping me in my kitchen since she was 1 year old.

She loves to help cook!

Her favorite things to make are lemonade and chocolate chip cookies.

Hannah made a pecan pie for her “Papa” for his birthday.

Doing dishes afterwards is a treat, but we have to put a towel on the floor to protect it from all the water that splashes out!

— Debby Graber,

Newton

Grandsons whip up

county fair breads

When I visit my grandkids in Texas they like to help me cook some of their favorite foods. It’s not unusual for them to cook breakfast for the family.

Before I come home, I make sure we’ve baked their favorite breads to put in the freezer.

They visited me last year at Harvey County Fair time, and I suggested they learn to make their favorite breads to exhibit at the fair.

Ben, age 7, and Simon Schrag, age 9, joined me in the kitchen for a cooking class. They learned to read recipes and measure ingredients.

Ben mixed up and baked his favorite pumpkin nut bread. Simon make zuchinni bread and banana-nut bread.

Both of them used a “bread-in-a-bag” recipe from the Harvey County Extension office and baked honey-wheat yeast bread.

Each recipe made one large loaf and several small loaves so they could assemble a bread basket for a sweepstakes competition.

It seemed that waiting for the bread to come out of the oven was the hardest part, but I reminded them it goes faster if you clean up while you wait!

They had baked a muffin from each recipe so they could taste the finished product.

When the bread was baked and cooled it was wrapped to exhibit at the fair. Between them they won three purple ribbons, a blue ribbon, a red ribbon and sweepstakes for the bread basket.

On the last day of the fair they helped me clean up the exhibit area and collected their prize money. They we all went to the carnival.

Baking is a great way to connect with your grandkids!

— Joyce DuFriend,

Newton

Burger recipe a

winner in contest

I’m 11 years old, going to be in sixth grade at Santa Fe middle school, and I love to cook all kinds of things!

I’ve been helping cook and bake since I was 2 years old, learning from my parents and my grandmas.

A few things I’ve made include zwieback, bread, cinnamon rolls, cookies, scrambled eggs, pancakes, bruschetta, lasagna, chili, strawberry jam, homemade pizza and chocolate fondue.

I like to cook because I get to make people happy by serving them my dishes, and I love practicing math when I measure ingredients!

Trying new recipes is great! Like the time last summer when I entered the Red Robin Restaurant Kid’s Gourmet Burger Contest. I had no idea what other kids were going to submit, but I submitted a recipe for a Bruschetta Burger.

One night when my parents were looking through the mail they saw something had come from Red Robin!

The letter said I had placed as Wichita’s local winner! I got my name on a poster and a gift certificate to their restaurant!

It was a great feeling. The next time we went there, I treated my parents and I paid the check!

My favorite thing to bake is chocolate chip cookies, with lots of chocolate chips.

I look forward to learning more new recipes and getting better and better with lots of practice!

— Maura Thieszen,

Newton

She makes it all:

fettucini to jams

Michia is my youngest of two daughters. You may even know Michia as it seems everybody does.

She never turns down a request for a dish for the monthly church luncheon, or a chance to make a surprise dinner for the family all by herself.

Our own gardens holds many of the simple foods she loves to cook with, but once in the kitchen these simple foods become works of art.

According to Michia, you can’t just serve fresh strawberries on a plate after dinner, they need to be made into an elaborate dessert, decorated and complete with color and style.

Peaches from the orchard become a luscious peach cobbler. Tomatoes end up in salsa or perhaps stewed and preserved for steak soup late in the year.

On the flip side, she can serve a shrimp fettuccine that will make your mouth water.

She discovered this side of cooking while attending a cooking demo at the Sedgwick County herb show a couple of years ago, and she has never been the same.

I don’t think she has ever heard of “Hell’s Kitchen” and although she does know who Rachel Ray is, to her, she is only a TV icon her cousin and aunt from the “city” rave about.

She relishes the family cookbook and, although she is only 15, she has been building her own for years.

She loves to collect recipes, both old and new.

Great-grandma Jane’s recipes fill the pages along with the collection of others she has experienced firsthand each holiday at the family farm.

From Grandma Susan’s meatloaf, to my chicken soup, to her own version of hamburger casserole (the version with tomato soup), to whatever the future holds, I look forward to my time in the kitchen with Michia, for you never know what the next dish will be.

— Sonja Bottiger,

Newton

Grandson wants

to be a ‘cheffer’

Our 4-and-a-half-year-old grandson, Konner, comes to visit weekly and, while here, he is eager to participate (help) with whatever is happening — especially if it’s in the kitchen.

He’ll hurriedly get the footstool to stand on so he can be a part of everything.

When preparing various recipes, Konner’s contribution is adding pre-measured ingredients and stirring the mixture.

At mealtime, he is the salad maker, tearing lettuce into individual bowls.

Konner’s greatest fun, however, is helping make zwiebachs (an ethnic roll).

I loosely tie one of my aprons around his neck to protect his clothing top to bottom from excess flour and give him a small piece of dough to knead and form as I’m working the rest of the dough into the traditional shapes and placing them on the pans.

By the time I’m done, he usually has decided to make a zwiebach “taco” — a flattened piece of dough, folded in half.

To make it really tasty, he’ll sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on it, and as it’s baking, decide which lucky family member will be the recipient of his special treat.

Konner is sure someday he and Granny will be “Cheffers!”

— AnnaLee Ewert

Halstead

This young cook at

head of the class

Elizabeth’s love for cooking started at an early age.

She could be found at her Lil Tyke’s kitchen with her own dishes as well as those from my kitchen.

She would practice stirring and pouring, and sharing her creations with whoever would bravely pretend to take a bite.

Once she was old enough to stand on a chair, she could be found standing beside mom, dad or even her grandmother’s on visits to their houses.

She loved to make pudding, roll the bread dough for pizza and cinnamon rolls, and a turn the crank to peel and core the apples for applesauce or apple crisp.

Not only would she help cook, but she helped to clean up by washing the dishes in the soapy water.

Elizabeth has had many opportunities to practice cooking, either through Girl Scouts or after-school activities.

The most recent opportunity came this year.

Elizabeth entered the sixth grade and had the opportunity to cook during class. She made lasagna, snickerdoodle cookies and baked potatoes in the microwave.

Since her success at school, she has continued to cook for us at home.

Elizabeth always receives rave reviews from her family.

This summer, she is spending three days at Culinary Cooking, which is a Girl Scout day camp.

I can hardly wait for what new creations she will bring home for us for us to try.

This summer, Elizabeth made rhubarb bread all by herself. The only thing I did for her was to chop the rhubarb into small pieces.

Her newest creation is coming up with a variety of smoothie flavors.

I wouldn’t be surprised if she went into business selling smoothies and rhubarb bread.

— Jonni Brown,

Newton