In the kitchen with Karen

If you’ve been around here for a while, you’ll know that I’m not exactly the world’s best chef. In fact, I struggle to muster up the enthusiasm for much more than eggs on toast. Which are delicious, but don’t exactly make for a career as a gourmet.

That’s not to say I can’t cook. Just that I always feel so rushed and stressed, and Poss eats such a limited menu, that dinner has become a massive chore and anything to do with the kitchen goes straight into the CBF pile pretty quickly.

But when the team at The Dairy Kitchen asked me to come along and do a cooking class with Poss and the lovely Karen Martini, I couldn’t say no. Dairy is probably my favourite food group… ice-cream… cheese… cheese… cheese…need I say more? And meeting Karen was just a bonus.

We rocked up early on Sunday morning, and heard a bunch of stuff about milk, cheese and yoghurt and how it’s amazing and full of all these great things; and I thanked my lucky stars under my breath as it’s one of the only things I know I can get Poss to eat (or drink) with any certainty. At least it’s good for her.

They mentioned that in teenage girls in particular, dairy consumption is way under what it should be, which can lead to all sorts of issues with development. We chatted about why that might be; it’s not cool, it’s considered fattening… who knows. Thankfully Poss’ love of cheese only rivals mine, so I’m hoping this will continue into those important growing years.

After the cooking session, we all had a challenge. A hot cake challenge. Poss was inspired and pushed me out of the way, insisting she had it nailed. And to be fair – she totally did. With a little help from Karen, she produced a pretty amazing recipe; ricotta hot cakes with mango and berry salsa, banana, coconut and chocolate dipped strawberries.

While she didn’t win the competition, it was an awesome effort and she’s now inspired to get into the kitchen and give some new things a try; pouring over the cook book we took home with us, booking marking recipes that she might want to try.

Not sure if she’ll actually eat these things, but hey, I’m loving the enthusiasm of her wanting to give it a go… and I’m willing to take one for the team to eat the spoils if required… 😉

I’ve got five copies of Karen’s favourite cook book – Feasting – to give away to inspire your own little chefs. Or yourself. To enter just tell me your favourite dairy recipe, and Poss will pick a winner on 20th May.

Disclaimer – while this is not a sponsored post, we did attend this PR event as guests of The Dairy Kitchen and are offering the giveaway with their assistance.