A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of (finally!) meeting Daniela of Kulinary Kids NYC. Daniela has come highly recommended to me by a friend for kids cooking classes.

I wanted to work with Daniela immediately so I asked her if we could arrange a class for my boys and their friends to learn how to cook a special dinner for Mother's Day. She said YES and I said YAY! I mean...Daniela works with the kids in the LMP studio while I remain in my apartment...drinking wine with my friend Ilana? Pretty sweet if I do say so myself.

I do have a bad case of FOMO (fear of missing out) so I:

a. Had Diane of Diane Hu Photography here to capture every special moment.

b. Got a recap from Daniela on exactly how it all went down.

Here's what Daniela told us...

We had a great time with your children today making Parmesan Garlic Twists, Lasagna Roll-Ups and Caesar Salad.

Before preparing our meal, we made some beautiful spin art flowers using paper plates, paint and a salad spinner. The kids loved it!

Then we began cooking.

First, we made our Parmesan Garlic Twists. We melted butter and then added garlic powder and Parmesan cheese and mixed to form a spread. The children each had a chance to spread the buttery mixture on to a triangular crescent roll dough. They twisted the dough and had fun shaping it. Some said that it reminded them of playing with playdough. “Gary the Grater” helped with the Parmesan Cheese which we used to make our twists cheesy.

Once the twists were in the oven, we worked on the filling for our Lasagna Roll-Ups. The children all had a chance to taste the three cheeses that we use for the filling. We mixed Parmesan, Mozzarella and Ricotta together in a bowl. Each child was given two cooked lasagna noodles on a cutting board. They put some of the cheese filling on to the noodle and rolled it tight. Then they set the roll-ups in a  baking dish that had Marinara sauce on the bottom. The roll-ups were topped with some more Marinara and then the children used their “pinching fingers” to sprinkle a bit more Parmesan and Mozzarella on the top.

The twists came out of the oven to cool and the Lasagna Roll-ups were put in to bake.

Lastly, we prepared our dressing for the Caesar Salad. The children pulled apart Romaine Lettuce and put it in the salad spinner to dry. (They loved using a salad spinner for two completely different purposes during the class.) Then we made our dressing. We measure, mixed, squeezed and poured all of the ingredients into “Charlie the Chopper” and he helped to combine the flavors. We dressed the lettuce, tossed it well and topped it with some more Parmesan Cheese that we had left over from our other dishes.

While our meal was being plated, we read Can I Eat That by Joshua David Stein.

The dinner was a hit!!!

Needless to say, Ilana and I were pretty floored when we walked back into the studio and the table was set (with a Little Miss Party in a Box) with dinner, the kids were jumping up and down with joy over their creations and then got to enjoy this meal all together. What a treat!

Thank you for coming in to work with our kids, Daniela and Dana! We can't wait to have you back.

Happy Mother's Day!

→Daniela said she is happy to share the recipes for the dishes we made for this Mother's Day Meal. If you'd like to get your hands on these, email us here.←