Everyone loves dining out at restaurants. It’s a great way to spend time with friends and family and the food is yummy! But, while it’s fun to eat out, restaurant fare can be expensive, not allergy friendly, and/or not as healthy as you’d like. Plus, you may get a craving for a restaurant favorite at an inopportune time like when the restaurant is closed or your parents don’t want to go!
So what are you to do when a craving for a restaurant fave strikes? Thankfully, you are an awesome Healthy Little Cook who is able to not only duplicate (or improve!) your most beloved menu items! Here’s how to get started:
- Pick a Favorite. You may love the entire menu at your favorite restaurant, but it’s best to start small. Pick one favorite dish you’d like to learn to cook and start with that. You can always work on mastering other recipes at a later time.
- Do Your Research. Spend some time looking at the ingredients listed on the menu, search for similar recipes on the internet, and ask your parents or other experienced cooks what they think might be in the dish you are trying to recreate.
- Form a Hypothesis. When scientists are working to figure out a problem, they take what they have learned and form an educated guess about the outcome of their experiment. These educated guesses are known as hypotheses. Now that you have some clues about what the pros are putting into the restaurant dish it’s time to form a hypothesis of your own! Ask yourself questions about what ingredients you think will taste best in the recipe, what can be improved upon to make the recipe healthier, and the best way to prepare your copycat recipe. This working plan is your hypothesis!
- Start Cooking! Now for the most fun part of the process: the cooking! Ask a responsible adult for help and use your hypothesis as your recipe blueprint to start cooking.
- Host a Taste Test. Once your creation is cooked, it’s time to taste test. You can taste test on your own or invite friends and family to join in on the fun. Don’t worry if your first (or second!) attempt doesn’t turn out well. The fun is in the creating. Keep trying till you find a version you love!
All done? Share your results with us on the Healthy Little Cooks’ Facebook page!
