"Cut Throat Kitchen" for Kids

My kids and I enjoy watching the show "Cut Throat Kitchen" on the Food Network.  It is a cooking game show where the chefs show their skills in making delicious dishes.  The chefs only have a small amount of time to gather their ingredients so they must think fast!  And, to make it even more difficult, each chef can buy sabotages to make the cooking hard for their fellow contestants. These sabotages can be quite funny like cooking while a wind fan blows on you or only being allowed to cook with measuring spoons!  We thought this would make for a fun activity to try at our home one day for lunch to beat the summer boredom! 

What to do:

Know your kids' cooking strengths, what they can and can't do

Pick a meal to cook for, one that everyone has skill in (we chose lunch)

Make sure you have a variety of ingredients for the kids to choose from (the kids could choose anything from our pantry and fridge, I made sure to have ingredients for some of their favorite lunches on hand)

Have some "sabotages" set aside beforehand (I chose a fan, Sriracha hot sauce, and a variety of strange cooking utensils like tongs and ice cream scoops)

Have a timer ready 

Get out some Monopoly play money for each contestant (each child had $50 to buy sabotages

Choose a "judge" ( I was the judge and gave everyone an award such as most creative, best looking, most authentic, and best bite)

I gave the kids one minute at the start to gather their ingredients- wow they moved fast!  They then had 20 minutes to make their dishes-and not a minute more so they had to cook fast and have their meal on a plate and ready to be judged.  We had three sabotages that I would administer,  the kids bid on two at the beginning and the last around 8 minutes into the game.  The highest bidder won the sabotage and then could give it to a fellow contestant!  But, that also meant that they had fewer dollars to spend for another sabotage.  It worked out pretty fairly.  The hardest of our sabotages was the hot sauce-they had to include it somewhere in their dish!

Here are their creations:

Nachos with salsa, sour cream, and diced avocados.  Made by my 4 year old, with some help from mom.  The winner of our "best looking" award.  

Spaghetti with homemade sauce- made with ice cream scoops, a wisk, and mini spoons sabotage!  Made by my 9 year old-he was really proud of the sauce.  Winner of our "tastiest" award.

Hot turkey sandwiches with......Sriracha sauce and while a fan blew on him!  Made by my 7 year old and winner of our "most creative" award.  He did well getting two sabotages- although he ended up liking the cool breeze of the fan!  It made for a spicy sandwich!

Cheese Quesadillas.  Made by my 12 year old.  Winner of our "most authentic" award.