During virtual storytime last week with one of our grands, I took out a cookbook we made for her mom’s bridal shower. As you can imagine, it’s full of old family recipes and precious photos. I showed them to my granddaughter. We talked about favorite soups, salads, ingredients and food shopping.  It was like a virtual memory tour of loved ones and yummy treats.  Inspired by feedback from our readers,  I began to think about how we could cook together while we are apart.  And, I’ve called it: Parallel Cooking!

What is Parallel Cooking?

Think about how toddlers play together. They sit next to each other, but do their own thing, right? And, they are having a blast. Well, Parallel Cooking is the same idea. Over a video chat, you cook in your home, while your grands cook in theirs. You chat, you laugh, you show each other what you are doing. Best of all, you each get to taste the final product!  Although you are apart, you can enjoy cooking together.

Try These Parallel Cooking Ideas 

Virtual Cooking Class

• Use an old family recipe or one of our favorites below.  Remember to include stories of loved ones who made these creations.  Maybe show some photos.
  • Chat #1: Review the recipe and make a list of ingredients.  Talk about where you will get the ingredients and how you will measure them.
  • Chat #2: Assemble the ingredients. Then, cook..  At the same time, you each create you own masterpiece.  Of course, you can compare notes and taste test along the way,.

Virtual Cooking Show Contest  – think Cupcake Wars

Try this either with one grandchild or a couple of grands via VideoChat such as Zoom or HouseParty.

• • Decide on the rules and scoring criteria in advance. For example, how much time will each team have? Limits to ingredients or cooking tools?
  • Name your teams.
  • Invite a “judge” to join in at each home.
  • Assemble your masterpieces either together or separately.
  • Come back together for judging.
  • Get timers ready – GO!
  • Prizes could be favorite online gift cards or donations to a local food bank.

Most importantly, plan ahead.  Parents will probably need to assist to some extent. At the very least, they’ll need to get the ingredients.

Recipes for Parallel Cooking: Together & Apart

Mug Cake

 Tip: I love Samantha Skaggs’ website, Five Hearts Home. Her Mug cake recipes are great for parallel cooking. (Our favorite is Snickerdoodle Mug Cake ).  And, they take less than 5 minutes to assemble and bake! You can do it all in one video chat.  You and your grandchild will each make and taste your own cakes.  For my test taste, it took 20 minutes from start to finish.  Start with these 6 ingredients and discuss together about treats to add like peanut butter and chocolate chips.

 Here’s what a 5 year-old thinks about making a mug cake with her Rockville, MD Savta:  “I want to do it again! It felt like we were in the same place doing this together.”  Now that’s smiles beyond miles!

Bread in a Bag

 Tip: Try the recipe yourself before parallel baking or cooking with grands. I tried this Bread in a Bag recipe myself first before doing it with the grands. EASY PEASY is all I have to say!  And, delicious!  You’ll need a ziploc bag and these 6 ingredients:   Flour, sugar, Rapid Rise or Bread Machine yeast, salt, warm water, olive oil.

For all grandkids – toddlers to teenagers, go to Little Bins for Little Hands for this recipe, slime and more fun. There, you will also find discussion ideas (and the answers!) such as, “How does the bread rise?”  “How does yeast work?”  “Why is salt an important ingredient for bread?”  Or, maybe your grandchild can teach you the Spanish name for flour? Or simply, What is your favorite kind of bread?  Endless possibilities.   It’s as much about time together, as it is about the final product!

Fun Gifts Related to Kids Cooking

While we are on the topic of kids cooking, here are few fun kids’ cooking tools that make great gifts.  And, for those grandkids eager to cook but not quite ready to slice and dice with a real knife, try these play knives.  An awesome partner at Franklin Toys told me about these – huge hit!

Share Your Story About Cooking Together While Apart

Have you done virtual or parallel cooking with your grandchild?  Have you discovered other ways to share special recipes and tasty treats with them while you are apart?  Tell us your tips and stories in a Comment by clicking on the title of this post.

Enjoy!
Bon Appetit!  B’tai’avon! Buen Apetito!