In article . com>,
"Alexis" > wrote:

> Okay, here's the deal :-)
>
> I'm trying to seriously revamp the cooking portion of my math, reading,
> and fine-motor development curriculum. I usually have about 24
> students, ages 5 and 6. When we cook, it's in small groups (usually 6
> or so students, depending on what else is going on and how much adult
> help I can get). I don't have ready access to either a stove or an
> oven (we're an old building and our one stove was recently placed "off
> limits" by the fire marshall). Losing the oven -- as old and
> inaccurate and spotty as it was -- is going to mean that I have to get
> rid of quite a few cooking projects that I've done in the past few
> years.

Will knives and other utensils be available? If so, how about salads?
There are practically an infinite number of different salads in
different ethnic cuisines that can be prepared with either cold
ingredients and/or ingredients that can be heated in a microwave oven.

Since part of your curriculum is motor development, teaching the
children recipes that involve hand-eye coordination, such as chopping
vegetables would seem appropriate. Salads fill that requirement.

Just google for "salad" recipes and I am sure you'll find enough recipes
for several years worth of classes. For example, if you are teaching
this class now, tomatoes are in season (at least in my area) so you
could cover some recipes that involve uncooked tomatoes or perhaps pasta
dishes. You can cook pasta in the microwave, or perhaps cook it at home
before the class to use in cold pasta dishes.

Just one idea that comes to mind along those lines in a tomato basil
appetizer. You have each kid place round crackers on a serving plate and
then slice plum tomatoes and put, mozzarella cheese. Put one tomato
slice on a cracker. Put a slice of cheese on top of the tomato. Put a
basil leaf on top of the cheese and drizzle with a bit of EV olive oil.

You could also show the kids how to make snacks such as nachos with
chilly and cheese on top. Not the healthiest snack in the world, but its
fine as an occasional treat and preparing the ingredients is a great
exercise for motor development.