The Baking Queen

Not everyone likes to cook. For some, a cookbook is much like a calculus paper to the mathematically challenged. Then there are those who would if they had more time or could find easy recipes. Children can work with easy cooking recipes too, offering parents a chance to teach some basic math and nutrition, not to mention kitchen safety.

Eggs make a great base for many meals. Make them elaborate or fun, enjoying the benefits of protein and flavor. If your child knows how to make scrambled eggs, start here. Add extras such as chopped vegetables or grated cheese. Poach an egg, toast some bread, then cut a hole in the centre. Place the egg right in the hole to present in tidy and unusual fashion: in bread, not on it.

When your harvest thins out leaving an insufficient amount of any one fruit to make cherry, plum or blueberry pie, combine all of them in a pan with spices and honey. Cook over low heat for a half hour. When cooked, pour this concoction over ice cream, yogurt, or eat on its own. Just make sure all pits and any tough peels are removed.

A colorful variety of vegetables looks great on a dinner plate. Cut peeled carrots into long, thin slices. Meanwhile, heat peanut, sesame or walnut oil in a frying pan or wok. As that heats, slice more vegetables: spring onions, mushrooms and broccoli for example. Add carrots to the hot oil first, stirring regularly. After a few minutes, add other vegetables to lightly cook. Serve them over a bed of rice or pasta.

Rice and noodles make for easy cooking. Some noodles, like Chinese egg noodles, will soften sufficiently when you soak them in boiling water from the kettle. Others need six or more minutes. Cooking rice is easy but can take time, or at least attention. White rice cooks quickly. Just boil the water ahead of time, add rice and check every so often for up to six or seven minutes. By now you should have fluffy white rice. Brown and wild rice take longer, while both benefit from salting the water or adding bouillon, perhaps even homemade broth instead of water.

Pizza may look complicated, but really the issue here is merely time. For those who have none for making their own dough, buy ready made crusts. Simply top these with sauce, cheese and meat, vegetables or pineapple. Cook in the oven just long enough to warm the bread and melt the cheese.

Meat pie with crust, like pizza, would pose a time-consuming challenge. Instead, go for one of two alternatives. Purchase ready made crusts, already rolled and placed in foil cases. You can also top filling with mashed potato, sweet potato or yam. Add dollops of butter at regular intervals or grated cheese. Make sure you cook the meat or poultry first and have cooked vegetables to a consistency just short of what you like. Heating in the oven will soften them further.

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