Registration for Fall Kids Cooking Program opens

The West Milford Community Services and Recreation department is opening registration for its Fall Kids Cooking program this week.

The program begins on Sept. 23, but if that’s too long of a wait then you can still register for the summer program that’s currently running.

The week-long Summer Kids Cooking Program, called “A Taste of the Holidays,” kicked off this past Monday at the Recreation Center’s full kitchen and will conclude on Friday.

The program is designed for children entering grades 3-9 and, each day, children are instructed on how to prepare different holiday-themed dishes.

For instance, the children learned how to make cold pasta salad, potato salad, deviled eggs, and hamburgers in honor of summer holidays like Labor Day and Memorial Day during Tuesday’s class.

Wednesday’s class is centered around Easter recipes, while the children will learn how to make Thanksgiving dishes on Thursday and Christmas dishes on Friday.

All classes are instructed by children’s book author Marjory Yacco.

There were three children in attendance during Tuesday class, all of whom had attended one of the past Kids Cooking programs.

The previous cooking programs have included a “cake war,” in which the participating children’s parents and siblings acted as judges in a cake bake-off contest.

The upcoming fall program includes classes on cooking for parents/guardians, cooking pretzels, making cupcakes, and more.

According to Yacco, the cooking classes average about 8-10 children and she wouldn’t want them any larger as she believes the individual attention is important, not just for educational purposes but for safety reasons as well.

Those interested in registering for the remainder of the summer program or the upcoming fall program, then you can stop by the West Milford Recreation Center, call at (973) 728-2860, or register online at www.westmilford.org.