Background:
My grandsons love cooking with me. Jack in particular really enjoys everything about cooking – unfortunately he doesn’t enjoy eating different things as much as he likes to cook them. So even though I can rarely get him to eat eggs, he is happy to make them for his brother,Jonah, with me. Jonah’s favorite is cheesy eggs. I use eggs from our chickens as you see in the photo above, or quail eggs from our quail (the same taste as fresh chicken eggs, just smaller).
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 5 minutes
Ingredients:
Fresh farm eggs ( if possible – if not -then use Organic Eggs) – one per person
Butter ( unsalted is best) again I use organic so its pure.
Grated cheese of any kind – cheddar, monterey jack, low fat mozarella, or goat cheese (which our family eats a lot since we make it ourselves)
A little non fat or low fat milk
Description:
1. Cut off a tablespoon of butter from a stick, and heat the butter gently in a warm pan – I hold the knife, and the little one holds my hand and together we make the cutting motion. Then the little person throws the chunk of butter into the pan being careful not to touch the sides of the pan. Learning how to behave around hot things under supervision is essential – much better than keeping children away from such things altogether, since they then have no appreciation of how they could be harmed. Of course all of this is under the closest of supervision by me ( or you!)
2. While the butter is melting, show the child how to crack an egg – expect that shell will arrive in the bowl and just scrape it out – its not a big deal really – but they will learn fast not to crush the egg but to crack it and then pry it open and empty it out into the bowl.
3 Add a little milk to the egg mixture.
4.Using a small whisk ( you can get mini ones) that fits nicely into a small person’s hand, show the whisking motion and let ‘er rip! Expect mess on the counter – its part of learning distances, depth perception and hand control. It will come over time and practice.
5. Whisk the eggs with the milk until frothy ( I hold the little hand and show the right movement – they get it after a few times). Then add the grated cheese and stir once to mix.
6. Take the pan off the heat – explain that the sides of the pan are HOT and show the child how to pour the egg mixture into the pan – I hold the bowl high up above the pan which is standing on the counter so that any drops don’t fall onto the hot stove, and once all is in the pan, I put the pan back on the stove without the child’s help.
7. Then I will hold the child in my arms and show them with a rubber spatula how to stir the eggs. Make sure that the handle of the pan is pointing INTO the stove and away from you, the child and the edge. After they have done a few stirs – I finish it off.
8. I always have the children lay the table – a mat, a napkin, knife, fork, spoon and plate. Then I ask for their plate and ladle on the eggs and hope that they will tuck in.
9. I make fresh bread every day – so while the eggs are cooling on their plates, I will butter some fresh bread, cut it into pieces ( including the crusts which are part of eating good bread – I never cut them off) and there it is. Cheesy eggs!
