Looking for a way to introduce your Girl Scouts to cooking in a professional kitchen but don’t have the personal connections for meeting a chef or touring a restaurant?

One option for introducing your Girl Scouts to new ideas for the kitchen without breaking your budget is sampling one of the Williams-Sonoma Junior Chef workshops on Saturday mornings.

We took a class recently as a family and I was wholly impressed with what my second grader and fifth grader took away from the class.  Both their parents are foodies, but neither of us had heard about the trend of cooking in a salt plate before.  The kids came away with the experience of understanding flavored salts, how salt plates work and how to make a main course dish of chicken and corn quesadillas, in addition to understanding kitchen safety and working with others. (Even better,  my second grader “taught” me how to make them in the oven for lunch.)

The Williams-Sonoma classes are typically for ages 5-13 or 8-13 and at this time are free, however registration is required by calling your local store. It’s a fun way for girls to dabble with cooking basics – and not so basics – in a secure environment. I do recommend using this with a girl or two that’s interested rather than an entire troop, as this is a community program.  But Williams-Sonoma does offer “on the road” classes where a chef could conceivably visit your troop setting. You can read about how one Cadette troop earned their New Cuisines badge with a Williams – Sonoma chef here

Looking for more cooking ideas? Check out Easy Meals for Hungry Scouts.