Cooking with Teens: Chili Mac

Cooking with Teens: Chili Mac

Francina M. Parks

Cooking provides opportunities for teens or older adolescents to learn about nutrition, kitchen safety, cooking basics and organization skills. While cooking together, parents and children spend quality time together talking and learning. In addition, cooking with teens is just plain fun for everyone. Chili Mac is a quick and easy dish for teens to make.  The recipe takes about 20 minutes from start to finish, each step if kid-friendly and the one-pot cooking process means an easy clean-up. Choose your ingredients carefully to make a healthy Chili Mac. Your kids are more likely to eat and enjoy a meal they helped to prepare and cook. Smaller kids can help with setting the table and assembling a salad.

Getting Started

Choose the perfect day for launching this cooking event since you will need time to supervise the teens for preparation, clean-up and cooking. A weekend day might work best. This two-batch Chili Mac recipe feeds a family of five for two meals. Serve one batch the day of cooking and save the other for a quick thaw-and-heat meal later in the week. Your teens will be proud to revisit their handy work.

INGREDIENTS AND UTENSILS

Have the teens gather the ingredients and cooking utensils and place everything on a counter.

1 1/2 lbs. ground chuck (85-15 percent lean) or ground turkey for a healthier meal
Two 16 oz. jars chunky vegetable Spaghetti sauce
One 14 oz. can diced tomatoes with basil and Garlic
One can Chili Magic, Bush brand if available
One 16 oz. box elbow macaroni
One medium onion, diced onion

One medium green pepper, diced
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
10 oz. package shredded cheese
Seasonings

Large spoons

Food processor or chopper
2-qt. pot
Colander
Two casserole dishes with lids or foil baking pans and aluminum foil

Pot holders

Preparation

Supervise the teens as they prepare the ingredients. Provide aprons if they are available. They should use the food processor of chopper to prepare the onion and green pepper, open the jars, set the pot on the stove and assemble the cooking utensils and seasonings.

COOKING

In the two-quart pot, bring cold water to a rolling boil and add the macaroni. Cook the macaroni for 12 minutes or until it is tender. Do not add oil to the water since it will prevent the sauce from sticking to the macaroni. Drain the macaroni and set it aside. Use the same pot to brown the ground meat and drain the excess fat. Add the extra virgin olive oil to the pot and sauté the diced onions and green peppers until they are tender. Add the browned ground meat, diced tomatoes, Chili Magic and spaghetti sauce to the pot and set the heat to low. Allow the mixture to simmer for about 15 minutes and remove the pot from the heat. Add the macaroni to the pot and mix well.

SETTING IT UP

Spoon the Chili Mac into the two casserole dishes until they are half-full and sprinkle the ½ bag of cheese on top of each. This is a good time to talk about safety and handling hot items in the kitchen. Cover the dishes for about 10 minutes while the cheese melts. Supervise the teens since the Chili Mac is hot. That’s it – no oven time needed. Allow one dish to cool completely and place it in the freezer.

Dishing It Up

Have the teens set the table. This is where smaller kids can help. Allow them to set the table with minimal help from parents unless they ask for help. Add a simple side salad assembled by the smaller kids – you do the prep for safety – and display the salad prominently on the table. Add Italian style garlic toast and a healthy beverage, such as fruit juice or homemade lemonade. A fruit cup is a healthy end to a great meal. Have fun, add drama, light a few candles. Don’t forget to tell everyone what a good job they did cooking the meal.