An early start in the kitchen

'We are e-mul-si-fy-ing," trills Lisa Prell, as she shows a young student how to whisk a mixture of mustard, oil and Tabasco sauce. "You know what that is? It's when all the ingredients are separate and come together for a group hug. Cool beans, huh?"

At the Saturday morning cooking class, three girls and three boys, ages 7 to 11, listen attentively to a lesson on knife safety at the Kitchen Kapers studio in Moorestown.

Then Prell passes around Rachael Ray Tadpole knives ergonomically designed for little hands. As the kids go to work slicing the potatoes into strips for baked French fries, Prell explains why they are leaving the skin: "Fiber is very good for you and when you get to be my age you will appreciate it more." Observing parents nod appreciatively.

In an era of skyrocketing obesity and diabetes among children, some parents are adding cooking classes alongside piano and soccer lessons. What's more, introducing local, seasonal and organic ingredients to kids expands their awareness of the food chain, while giving parents greater assurance about the safety of the food their children are eating.

"By cooking, my kids are learning that it's as easy to make a selection of food that's not processed," says Monica Kruse, whose two daughters attend Vanilla Beans cooking classes in Swarthmore.

The retail industry is happily collaborating as well, with products to coax kids into the kitchen. In the last year, numerous cookbooks including Healthy Cooking for Kids! (DK, 2008), Grow It Cook It (DK, 2008), Betty Crocker Kids Cook! (Betty Crocker, 2007), and Kitchen Playdates (Chronicle, 2007) have hit shelves, while Paula Deen's My First Cookbook (Simon & Schuster) and child celebrity chef Sam Stern's Get Cooking (Candlewick) will be out later this year.

At Williams-Sonoma, there is an entire retail division, wsKids, that specializes in goods like carrot-shaped tongs, princess silicon spatulas, and baby-size chef jackets with matching tocques.

"The market for kid's and teen's cooking products is growing consistently," says Alexandra Mack, director of merchandising for Cooking.com, who says her company has seen triple-digit increases on kids' products this year.

Locally, cooking classes for kids are held everywhere from Whole Foods Markets to cookware stores to arts centers, with an increasing number of summer cooking camps for pint-size chefs.

"People know you have better control over the content of the food if you make it yourself, and that's a big impetus for parents getting their kids to learn how to cook," says Art Roman, owner of Kitchen Workshop, a cooking school in Paoli with a Parent and Child series as well as a summer camp for kids.

Though nutrition can be stealthily baked into chocolate cake in the form of beet puree, as Jessica Seinfeld has demonstrated with her Deceptively Delicious recipes, these instructors reason that children stand a better chance of developing healthier habits when they can recognize a beet, and, better yet, learn how to roast and peel it.

"When my kids made chicken soup, they could see fresh vegetables going in - you don't get that when you open a can of Campbell's," says Linda Schiavone, whose son and daughter both attend camp at Kitchen Workshop.

Beyond connecting kids to the origins of their meals, cooking classes teach portion control, nutrition and widen kids' familiarity with food beyond chicken nuggets and orange mac-and-cheese.

Instructors say the level of sophistication their students have coming in varies. Some kids are already seasoned cooks who know their way around the kitchen.

"They get a lot of information from the Food Network," Roman says. "They know what EVOO stands for."

Other students come in with heightened awareness because of dietary issues such as gluten or dairy allergies.

"If we can introduce cooking to kids from an early age and get them more involved in what they're putting in their mouths, we can reduce childhood obesity," says cookbook author Yvette Garfield, who also teaches kids' cooking classes in her Los Angeles home. "They can bring these creations to school instead of eating from a vending machine."

At Vanilla Beans' summer camp, 8- to 15-year-olds learn to make multi-course meals - a typical Italian feast might include Caprese salad, wild mushroom risotto, minted fresh fruit, and homemade biscotti, all using seasonal ingredients from the Swarthmore Co-op and garden herbs.

"I know a lot of clientele are attracted to the fact that we use real ingredients and serve healthy portions," says Carrie Shankweiler, who runs the cooking classes with her business partner Debbie Sloman.

At the end of the day, campers set the table, create a centerpiece, serve, eat, and clear their dishes. The camp's slow- food philosophy not only heightens awareness about whole seasonal foods, but also encourages kids to sit down at a proper table and share the fruits and vegetables of their labor.

One of the subtler lessons of cooking schools and camps is that a meal made and eaten together can promote emotional well-being as much as physical health.

"I love when parents come back and say, 'We made one of your recipes together," Prell says. "Cooking is one of the things that's lost between running between softball practice and this and that. So to have that time in the kitchen - cutting, stirring and chopping - finding out about your child's day, that is really magic."

A more obvious benefit is that cooking classes open students up to foods they might not have otherwise chosen to put on their plates. At the Kitchen Workshop's summer camp, Roman eschews smiley-face pancakes for dishes like paella and chicken mole, and he encourages students to bring in their own ideas.

Shankweiler adapts most class recipes from epicurious.com and insists that students abide by a "four-bite" rule, giving each of their dishes a fair taste. One of her student started as an especially fussy eater.

"One day I told her were making Portobello mushroom sandwiches and she looked like she would pass out. She said, 'Can't we just make brownies or something?'

"By the time she took her fourth bite she reluctantly admitted the mushrooms were not bad." A month later, Shankweiler says, the student's mother reported that they'd made the sandwiches four times. "Apparently the student could not get enough. She kept saying, 'Isn't this the best thing ever?'"

Here is a list of local classes for young chefs:

Kitchen Kapers, 1341 Nixon Dr., Moorestown, N.J.; 856-778-7705

Kitchen Workshop, 21 Plank Ave., Suite 204, Paoli, Pa., 610-993-COOK; www.kitchen-workshop.com

The Playful Chef, various locations; www.theplayfulchef.com; 267-242-8478

Junior Chef Camp, Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College, 4207 Walnut St., Philadelphia, Pa.; 215-222-4200; www.walnuthillcollege.edu.

Vanilla Beans, 27 Oberlin Ave., Swarthmore, Pa. 484-574-1256; www.tastingpossibilities.com.

Viking Culinary Arts Center, 1 Town Place #100, Bryn Mawr, Pa.; 610-526-9020; www.vikingcookingschool.com

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Makes 6 servings

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Vegetable oil

6 slices lean ham

6 eggs

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1. Preheat oven to 400. Using a pastry brush, lightly brush the holes of a large 6-muffin tin with vegetable oil.

2. Arrange a slice of ham in each hole. Using kitchen scissors, carefully trim the slices to make them even, but make sure that the ham is still slightly above the edge of the tin.

3. One by one, crack an egg into a small bowl and pour it into each ham-lined hollow. Bake in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until the egg has set.

4. Using oven mitts, remove the tray from the oven and leave it to cool for a few minutes. Then carefully lift out the pies with a small spatula.

Per serving:

152 calories, 11 grams protein, trace carbohydrates, trace sugar, 11 grams fat, 225 milligrams cholesterol, 397 milligrams sodium, no dietary fiber.

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Makes 6 servings

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3 medium-sized eggplants

2 tablespoons salt

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Marinara sauce for dipping (optional)

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1. Preheat the oven to 375.

2. Slice the eggplants into ¼-inch rounds. Lay a paper towel on a plate and sprinkle with a few shakes of salt. Place a layer of eggplant rounds on top of the paper towel, sprinkle salt on them and top with another paper towel, repeating until all the eggplant is salted. Allow the eggplant to "sweat" for 20 minutes.

3. Using a pastry brush, brush oil on a rimmed baking sheet. Arrange eggplant rounds on sheet and brush each one lightly with olive oil. Place sheet in oven and bake for 15 to 25 minutes, until eggplant is soft.

4. Wearing oven mitts, remove baking sheet from oven. Use tongs to place eggplant rounds onto a large plate and sprinkle mozzarella on each one. When eggplant has cooled, stack slices to form six large towers.

- From Handstand Kids Italian Cookbook (Handstand Kids, 2007)

Per serving (without dipping sauce): 257 calories, 11 grams protein, 16 grams carbohydrates, 7 grams sugar, 18 grams fat, 29 milligrams cholesterol, 627 milligrams sodium, 9 grams dietary fiber.

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Makes 8 enchiladas

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1 onion, finely chopped

8 ounces mushrooms, finely chopped

1 red pepper, finely chopped

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 bunch spinach (about 1 pound), coarse stems discarded, washed well and spun dry

2 garlic cloves, minced

¼ cup water

1 cup canned black beans, rinsed well and drained

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

2 scallions, finely chopped

¾ cup coarsely grated

pepper Jack cheese (about 5 ounces)

Salt to taste

½ cup mild enchilada sauce

8 8-inch flour tortillas

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1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Heat oil in a heavy skillet over moderate heat and cook onion, mushrooms and pepper, stirring occasionally, until softened. Add spinach and garlic and cook, stirring, until spinach is wilted, about 30 seconds. Stir in water, beans, lemon juice, scallions and pepper Jack. Add salt to taste and cook, stirring, until cheese is melted.

3. In a small saucepan, heat enchilada sauce. Coat the bottom of two 13-by-9-inch baking pans with a ladle of enchilada sauce. Using the back of a spoon, spread some of the enchilada sauce on each tortilla to lightly coat. Spoon some of the vegetable/bean mixture in each tortilla.

4. Fold tortilla over filling, and place each enchilada in the pan, seam-side down. Top with remaining enchilada sauce and cheese.

5. Bake for 15 minutes until cheese melts.

Per serving:

294 calories, 15 grams protein, 36 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams sugar, 11 grams fat, 19 milligrams cholesterol, 492 milligrams sodium, 10 grams dietary fiber.

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Makes 6 to 8 servings

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2 cups fresh strawberries, cut into quarters

1 cup vanilla yogurt

½ cup orange juice or sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons sugar

2 cups chopped pineapple

1 cup vanilla yogurt

½ cup sweetened pineapple juice or sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons sugar

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1. Combine strawberries, yogurt, orange juice or sour cream, vanilla and sugar in the bowl of a food processor or in a blender. Puree until mixture is smooth. Pour into a large bowl or measuring cup with a spout. Rinse out food processor or blender.

2. Combine pineapple, yogurt, pineapple juice or sour cream, vanilla and sugar in the food processor or blender. Puree until mixture is smooth. Pour into a large bowl or measuring cup with a spout.

3. To serve, take two teacups and fill one with strawberry soup and the other with pineapple soup. Holding a cup in each hand, pour soups at the same time into a bowl so they meet at the center. With the tines of a fork, swirl soups together.

Per serving (based on 8 with orange and pineapple juice):

137 calories, 3 grams protein, 30 grams carbohydrates, 26 grams sugar, 1 gram fat, 4 milligrams cholesterol, 44 milligrams sodium, 1 gram dietary fiber.

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