The Autistic Chef
For Jonathan
Introduction
For many parents of autism afflicted children, especially those with siblings, their challenge is finding things for the mentally challenged kids, soon to be adults, to do other than following orders or receiving the commands of their siblings. This cookbook sets out to deliver to parents a very practical approach to building confidence and competency in their autistic children.
For many parents, what they see in their autistic child is an extremely talented and versatile individual that is lacking key of social skills that allow them to be fully functioning or similar to their siblings or other adult individual. What follows in this article is an excerpt from The Autistic Chef: Teaching Cooking and Life Skills to your Autistic Child. That e-book list a series of autistic chef-tested recipes that match the practical motor and mental ability of these gifted children and when used appropriately can make them feel both good about themselves and also a contributing, viable member of the household.
The key to these recipes is ensuring that the food falls in the category of comfort - so speaks to their siblings - as well as to the autistic chef and is not so complex as to be regarded try fully or disdainfully.
The best thing about learning to cook is that it follows a very specific set of rules that plays well to the emotional challenges that many autistic children face. Routine and recipes is good ensuring a quality end product and ensuring for you as a parent areas where you can clearly identify risk and yet still fully engage your child.
The other aspect about cooking is that good food and time spent around the meal table or in front of a television with a meal in your lap can be quite bond building as well as offering confidence in the individual who's done the cooking and the people who are enjoying the food.
As a practical matter every parent needs to keep an eye on respect to safety as most cooking involves heating elements accurate measurement proper ingredients and experience. But with time your autistic child Can become a surprisingly competent chef amazing both him or herself their siblings and you as a parent. There is no greater joy in seeing your child feel good about what they've done and receiving unqualified praise from their siblings. With that in mind we began with our first recipe
The recipes
Editor's Note: All recipes are kitchen tested and have been produced by children with autism is important to note that no autistic cook here is severely impaired all have functional ability in the normal discourse of life. We urge you to supervise your children as they work through these recipes one by one so you can ascertain their skill level competency and ability to perform.
Spaghetti with Red Meat Sauce
This quintessential comfort food is a breeze to make well received at the table and an excellent choice for Sunday night family dinner. Add to that that they can be prepped and made for the time it takes to actually cook the pasta between 8 and 15 minutes depending on your stove. Additionally, you as the supervising chef (or a sibling), have several simple things that can be done to enhance the meal while keeping an eye on your autistic chef and their cooking techniques.
Origin
The origin of this recipe is simple. I spent four years as a child in Italy - age 2 to 6. During this time I really learned to love a bowl of pasta especially with a red sauce more so than most Americans. The addition of our maids, Maria and Teresa, along with their loving affection of adolescent boy, made my experience even more delightful. Once my wife found out about this lovely memory she decided that this was an area in which you can make progress with respect to the nature of our relationship. One evening she produced a dish of similar emotional capacity. I praised it, endlessly. I was convinced that it was some old family recipe and she had spent hours developing the flavors. As you'll see from recipe below I was sorely mistaken and Artest shafts did a great job with this recipe producing the same emotional dish.
One more note about the recipe it can easily be halved or doubled with little or no loss to flavor and value depending on family size or guest list.
Ingredients:
1 pound spaghetti pasta
1 pound ground hamburger
1 8 oz (or more) jar Prego„ spaghetti sauce, vegetarian (you can alter with any of the various herb and flavor added varieties to add flavor to the meal).
Simple cooking timer with audible chime
Cooking instructions:
1. Place the ground hamburger into a medium-size (9 oz or greater) soup pot on the stove top on medium heat. Provide your autistic chef with a spatula or similar kitchen utensil and as the meat begins to sizzle (which is what you tell them to listen for) have them break up the hamburger meat using the edge of the spatula or kitchen utensil until it is both cooked and in small pieces (approximately 8 minutes).
2. Add 8 ounces of the Prego jarred spaghetti sauce to the cooked meat and combine. Allow mixture to simmer on a very low setting for 5 to 8 minutes to mix flavors.
3. Fill pasta pot with water and 1 teaspoon of salt set on high. Cook for 8 to 15 minutes per package instructions (this depends on your stoves developed temperature and how well cooked you want the pasta to be).
4. Once complete drain pasta - this should be handled by the supervising chef for your for first few times to ensure your child's competency with respect to this kind of action.
5. Set out heated plates and fill appropriately with cooked pasta and spoon on an desired amount of meat sauce directly from the stovetop pot. (This is an area where your autistic chef can employ the assistance of his siblings to aid in final meal prep).
Pass the Parmesan cheese and enjoy your comfort food.
For more delicious recipes for your autistic Chef please visit my website under the publications section.
For Jonathan
Introduction
For many parents of autism afflicted children, especially those with siblings, their challenge is finding things for the mentally challenged kids, soon to be adults, to do other than following orders or receiving the commands of their siblings. This cookbook sets out to deliver to parents a very practical approach to building confidence and competency in their autistic children.
For many parents, what they see in their autistic child is an extremely talented and versatile individual that is lacking key of social skills that allow them to be fully functioning or similar to their siblings or other adult individual. What follows in this article is an excerpt from The Autistic Chef: Teaching Cooking and Life Skills to your Autistic Child. That e-book list a series of autistic chef-tested recipes that match the practical motor and mental ability of these gifted children and when used appropriately can make them feel both good about themselves and also a contributing, viable member of the household.
The key to these recipes is ensuring that the food falls in the category of comfort - so speaks to their siblings - as well as to the autistic chef and is not so complex as to be regarded try fully or disdainfully.
The best thing about learning to cook is that it follows a very specific set of rules that plays well to the emotional challenges that many autistic children face. Routine and recipes is good ensuring a quality end product and ensuring for you as a parent areas where you can clearly identify risk and yet still fully engage your child.
The other aspect about cooking is that good food and time spent around the meal table or in front of a television with a meal in your lap can be quite bond building as well as offering confidence in the individual who's done the cooking and the people who are enjoying the food.
As a practical matter every parent needs to keep an eye on respect to safety as most cooking involves heating elements accurate measurement proper ingredients and experience. But with time your autistic child Can become a surprisingly competent chef amazing both him or herself their siblings and you as a parent. There is no greater joy in seeing your child feel good about what they've done and receiving unqualified praise from their siblings. With that in mind we began with our first recipe
The recipes
Editor's Note: All recipes are kitchen tested and have been produced by children with autism is important to note that no autistic cook here is severely impaired all have functional ability in the normal discourse of life. We urge you to supervise your children as they work through these recipes one by one so you can ascertain their skill level competency and ability to perform.
Spaghetti with Red Meat Sauce
This quintessential comfort food is a breeze to make well received at the table and an excellent choice for Sunday night family dinner. Add to that that they can be prepped and made for the time it takes to actually cook the pasta between 8 and 15 minutes depending on your stove. Additionally, you as the supervising chef (or a sibling), have several simple things that can be done to enhance the meal while keeping an eye on your autistic chef and their cooking techniques.
Origin
The origin of this recipe is simple. I spent four years as a child in Italy - age 2 to 6. During this time I really learned to love a bowl of pasta especially with a red sauce more so than most Americans. The addition of our maids, Maria and Teresa, along with their loving affection of adolescent boy, made my experience even more delightful. Once my wife found out about this lovely memory she decided that this was an area in which you can make progress with respect to the nature of our relationship. One evening she produced a dish of similar emotional capacity. I praised it, endlessly. I was convinced that it was some old family recipe and she had spent hours developing the flavors. As you'll see from recipe below I was sorely mistaken and Artest shafts did a great job with this recipe producing the same emotional dish.
One more note about the recipe it can easily be halved or doubled with little or no loss to flavor and value depending on family size or guest list.
Ingredients:
1 pound spaghetti pasta
1 pound ground hamburger
1 8 oz (or more) jar Prego„ spaghetti sauce, vegetarian (you can alter with any of the various herb and flavor added varieties to add flavor to the meal).
Simple cooking timer with audible chime
Cooking instructions:
1. Place the ground hamburger into a medium-size (9 oz or greater) soup pot on the stove top on medium heat. Provide your autistic chef with a spatula or similar kitchen utensil and as the meat begins to sizzle (which is what you tell them to listen for) have them break up the hamburger meat using the edge of the spatula or kitchen utensil until it is both cooked and in small pieces (approximately 8 minutes).
2. Add 8 ounces of the Prego jarred spaghetti sauce to the cooked meat and combine. Allow mixture to simmer on a very low setting for 5 to 8 minutes to mix flavors.
3. Fill pasta pot with water and 1 teaspoon of salt set on high. Cook for 8 to 15 minutes per package instructions (this depends on your stoves developed temperature and how well cooked you want the pasta to be).
4. Once complete drain pasta - this should be handled by the supervising chef for your for first few times to ensure your child's competency with respect to this kind of action.
5. Set out heated plates and fill appropriately with cooked pasta and spoon on an desired amount of meat sauce directly from the stovetop pot. (This is an area where your autistic chef can employ the assistance of his siblings to aid in final meal prep).
Pass the Parmesan cheese and enjoy your comfort food.
For more delicious recipes for your autistic Chef please visit my website under the publications section.
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