LEEDS – Amy Banks and her 5-year-old daughter, Grace, enjoy cooking together. As Banks says, “When she gets involved in making it, she eats it.”
Banks, who has wonderful memories of her own childhood, hopes that spending time with Grace in the kitchen will help her to have great memories too.
Banks has three brothers and recalls cooking dinner for her family every third night when her dad, a Lewiston firefighter, slept at the fire station. “Whoever cooked didn’t have to clean … so liked to cook,” she said.
Little Grace also enjoys cooking for family. Amy’s father is one of 10 children, so Grace has lots of cousins, aunts and uncles to help feed when they have their large family gatherings.
Grace made pizza cups with her mom for a recent family barbecue on Tacoma Lake. “Grace can do almost all of this meal,” Banks said. “After have browned the ground beef, Grace pours in the pizza sauce. Then open the rolls of biscuits, and Grace flattens them out and places each one in a muffin cup. She even scoops the meat mixture into the cups and tosses on the cheese – after eating lots of it.”
Chocolate, says Banks, is an obsession of her husband, Doug. When she and Grace want to make a meal extra-special for Daddy, they end it with the “Too-moist chocolate cake.” Grace’s favorite part of this recipe is making the holes.
When cooking with children, Banks offers the following advice: “Don’t worry about the mess, and always try to make something that your child is going to love to eat.”
Grace’s favorite part of cooking is “when put it in the oven.” She also notes that “it is fun to do it with Mom.”
Banks lives in Leeds with Grace, Doug and their 2-year-old son, Joey. When Banks isn’t busy cooking with her daughter, she works at Pettingill Elementary School in Lewiston and enjoys cross-stitching and throwing parties for her family and friends. This fall, Grace will be in kindergarten at Montello Elementary School in Lewiston, since that’s where she has been attending day-care.
Too-moist chocolate cake
ngredients:
1 box chocolate cake mix
1 12-ounce bag toffee chips, divided
2 jars caramel ice-cream topping
1 large tub Cool Whip (thawed)
Method:
Prepare cake as directed in a 9-by-13-inch pan. Let cake cool for about 30 minutes. Using back of a wooden spoon, poke holes all over top of cake. Pour both jars of caramel sauce over cake. Sprinkle half of the toffee pieces over cake. Spread Cool Whip over cake. Sprinkle remaining toffee pieces over Cool Whip. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Garlic pretzels
ngredients:
3 pounds pretzels
1 12-ounce bottle Orville Redenbacher butter oil for popcorn
1 envelope Hidden Valley ranch dressing mix
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
Method:
Mix butter oil and seasonings. Pour over pretzels. Let sit in an airtight container for 24 hours, stirring occasionally. Then enjoy.
Amy’s note: My kids love pretzels. This easy recipe gives them a great garlic-butter flavor no one can pass up. use salted pretzel twists, but you can use your favorite.
Pizza cups
ngredients:
½ pound ground beef
1 cup pizza sauce
1 roll of Pillsbury Grands! biscuits
1 cup shredded pizza cheese
Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brown ground beef, drain, add pizza sauce and stir. Remove from heat.
Separate and flatten each biscuit. Place each flattened biscuit in a muffin cup. Scoop 1 tablespoon of the beef mixture into the center of each cup. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and top with shredded cheese. Bake 10 additional minutes or until browned. Remove from oven and let sit 10 minutes.
Amy’s note: This is a great party snack, as it is easy to walk around with. No plates needed and the kids just love them. The recipe is from “Kids Party Foods and Cooking for Kids” published by Publications nternational.
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