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Branching out to brunch

Are your young ones getting bored of sitting at home this summer? Sharpen their culinary skills early with a kiddie potluck party

It's that time of the year when water cooler talk at work is taken over by parents who often wonder how to keep their children engaged all summer long. Even summer schools and camps come to an end. If your child is in the Middle East, here is a fun activity to do. It will take three days - one day of planning, one day of shopping and the day of the actual event. This may well be called the "anti-but-I-am-so-bored" trifecta.
If your child has two or five friends who are around this summer, you can join forces with their parents to create a Kiddie Potluck Summer Brunch. You can do it as a one-time event or as often as every other week or even weekly if you, the kids and their parents are ready to take up the challenge. Simply rotate the courses so that each child ends up doing something new every time.
This activity will ease boredom; plus, it will teach kids essential life skills. As you know, I am a staunch advocate of involving children in meal preparation from early on in life. Everybody has to eat, so everybody should learn to cook. A person who cooks for himself or herself will never go hungry.
The premise of this Kiddie Potluck Summer Brunch is to have each child bring a dish to a brunch event at one of the participant's homes. This way, all the kids can enjoy a multi-course brunch without all the work being done by one family. Plus, each child gets a chance to participate and proudly display the fruit of their handiwork. There is something really encouraging about cooking and sharing a dish and having it displayed publicly to be praised by others. I guarantee you that organising this small event will help you raise kids who will be making dinner on weekends by the time they are in their mid-late teens. Who can resist that?
The Planning
First things first, make calls to ensure there is no food allergy. Any allergy must be communicated to the parents of all participants. Create a menu. The first day of planning will be dedicated to this. Each brunch will have as many courses as people who are involved. It is better to have no more than five and no less than three children participating, but if you can only find two, it is still worth the effort. Just be sure that they make an extra dish each or the kids can prepare one together on the day of the brunch, in addition to the ones they each prepared for the potluck.
Menu Breakdown
Meat dish: Chicken wings or drumsticks would be perfect, or you can do homemade breaded chicken strips from chicken breast tenderloins. Get a simple recipe online. I suggest baking the chicken for ease. Serve with a selection of barbecue, honey mustard and ketchup as sauces. All of these chicken dishes can be cooked a day ahead and put in the fridge and can be warmed up the day of the event right before serving. If you are transporting your dish to the potluck, take it cold and warm up at the venue when you are ready to eat.
Side dish: Great sides include mac and cheese, potato salad, mashed potatoes or rice. Oven-baked sweet potato fries could be the perfect dish for the person hosting the event; it's also easy to prepare.
Vegetable dish: This could be a fresh salad or a cooked vegetable dish. If it is a salad, add thin slices of fruits like strawberries, apples and plums to make it fun, and bring along a balsamic vinaigrette. Make the salad on the day of the brunch in order to keep it fresh.
Additional courses: If you have two more kids joining in, add a dessert and a snack each. Cakes can be baked two days prior and frosted the day before. If someone has an ice cream maker, homemade ice cream or frozen yoghurt would be welcome desserts in this sweltering, oppressive heat. Finger snacks could include homemade popcorn, or homemade cookies.
wknd@khaleejtimes.com