Yesterday I talked about cooking with a waffle iron, today were using a mug and a microwave. My source of inspiration: Mug It by Pam McElroy from Zest Books. I can also do this kind of cooking, and it’s a great teen activity. If I can do it, a teen can. And The Teen, The Bestie and I tested it out for you.
All you need to make this work is a mug (and in some cases a mason jar), ingredients and a microwave. It’s quick and easy. Some of the recipes are even healthy. In fact, Mug It! have a lot of salads in a jar. I liked this because I want to balance healthy eating habits with fun things like waffle cooking. The pictures from inside the book below come directly from the Zest Books website.
We tried out a variety of the recipes. We began with a cake in a mug, because of course that’s where you would begin. Cake!
This was yummy. In fact, I lost my cake to Thing 2 who was only going to take a bite and then she ate the entire thing.
We next tried macaroni and cheese in a mug. The Teen and I are very fond of mac & cheese and I was excited to learn you could cook it in a mug.
For our version we used gluten free pasta and once we figured out how to cook the noodles correctly it worked really well.
Cooking in a mug is actually really popular. I frequently see posts on Buzzfeed and in my FB feed. Having a recipe book was nice. And I liked this one because it has color pictures, which is a must in my cookbook requirements. If you don’t have pictures of the recipes and they aren’t in full color that is a deal breaker for me.
In addition to doing a fun Iron Chef/Chopped type program with mug cooking, adapting the post from yesterday, this book would also make a great gift. Let’s be real, a lot of teens spend some time in the home alone and they have to cook for themselves. And I would have loved to have had this when I was a college student living in the dorms. If you are going to do a series of food programs, I would do something like this:
- Day 1: Waffle Cooking
- Dday 2: Mug It!
- Day 3: Creative Ramen Noodles (see:Ramen Hacks: 30+ Easy Ways to Upgrade Your Instant)
- Day 4: Spam (there are recipe books)
- Day 5: Cooking with an iron (see:How to Cook with an Iron | MUNCHIES)
What days would you add? A post-apocalyptic survival cooking camp would also be fun. Remember, it can be a long running series or it could be a weeklong event – which would be fun for Spring Break. Teens come every day, learn about nutrition and cooking, and they get to eat! I may not be a fan of cooking, but I do love to eat!
Additional Resources
- 18 Microwave Snacks You Can Cook In A Mug – BuzzFeed
- 9 Mug Cakes You Can Bake in Just Minutes | Real Simple
- 22 Quick and Tasty Snacks You Can Cook In A Mug – Style
Cooking Programs for Teens
- Sprinkle, Mold, Blend, Create: Cooking Programs for Teens
- Teen Cooking: Microwaves and Mugs | So like YA know
- Cooking Up Library Programs Teens and ‘Tweens Will Love
- Building a Teen Nutrition Program | Urban Libraries Council
Food Based TPiBs
- Food Fight (based on The Sweetest Thing by Christina Mandelski, food activities)
- Marshmallow Madness
- Tiny Food Party
- On a Stick
- Sprinkles!
- Waffle It!
So what’s the tip for getting the gluten free pasta to cook right? I’m always hesitant to try these because I need all the gluten free substitutions, but I really want to try the mug cooking-my kind of easy cooking!
For older teens, I’d do some College Dorm Cooking Hacks as a lead-up to the start of a semester (maybe with some sophomores and older advising new freshmen about to leave?)
Smoothie day?
Also- stick/immersion blenders are awesome & smaller than an actual blender for smoothies, soups, etc