Painting Potatoes (Grilling with Henry)

By Mark Bishop, Deputy Director

For those who read my blog entries (and there must be millions out there, right?), you probably think that I'm always cooking with my son Henry. And while I do involve him as much as possible, I struggle with new ideas for appropriate three-year-old recipes. I mean, if I need minced garlic, I don't think Henry is the right sous chef for the job -- at least not yet.

And grilling. In the summertime I love to cook out, and you can't have a 3-year-old flipping burgers in front of a hot grill. But you can have him paint potatoes.

So much of what I do is less about a recipe, and more about involvement. For grilled sweet potatoes, we coat the potatoes with a bit of olive oil, then sprinkle with a little salt, cinnamon and powdered garlic. It makes a nice sweet/salty mix that we all love to eat.

But involving Henry is the main point -- that's where painting potatoes comes in. Just get a basting brush and and let your kid paint the olive oil all over the place. It makes a mess but that's what makes it fun.

One more quick idea for grilling... Corn. Kids love to shuck corn.