Curriculum Review: Growing Time Cooking – Delicious Dinners Course

Disclosure: Complimentary product received.

I recently tried out Growing Thyme Cooking with my children. Growing Thyme Cooking is a culinary education curriculum that teaches children about nutrition, food origin and science, and environmental responsibility. It is geared towards children of all ages in both the classroom or homeschool setting. My family tried the Delicious Dinners Course, which provides instruction to kids on preparing healthy, whole food-rich dinner meals. 

Growing Thyme Cooking is the creation of Nellie Johnston, who has an extensive background in Nutrition and Health Science. She is also a Mom and a Kids Nutrition Specialist with experience teaching children of various ages. 

Just like a fine-dining restaurant experience, Growing Thyme Cooking offers five courses to indulge in, including the Delicious Dinners Course that I received, plus a general Nutrition course. (Find out more about these courses here.) Growing Thyme Cooking offers these courses in both print or electronic PDF formats. The Delicious Dinners Course typically costs $75 for the print version and $40 for PDF. (Note: I will be referring to the PDF format for the remainder of this review.)

Because the Delicious Dinner Course can be adapted to students in either a classroom or homeschool setting, there are plenty of activities to choose from. Depending on how in-depth you want to go and the ages of your children, you may decide to do all or some of the activities. We decided to skip the vocabulary words and the quizzes that review each lesson for my homeschooling family of young children. In the course, students are provided with a list of ingredients and cooking tools needed and an in-depth background on each ingredient for each lesson. For example, how ground mustard is made, how butter is made, and different types of pasta are some of the topics discussed. 

My children and I enjoyed using this curriculum! I appreciated the simple, illustrated pictures on each step of the attached recipe cards. It made it easier to include my four and five-year-old, who are still learning to read. The written recipes in the guide included thumbnail-sized photographs of each step, which also makes it super easy to follow. I also liked the list of video lessons linked throughout each lesson. There are helpful instructions on how to wash your hands, use a knife appropriately, and more topics that honestly were very informative for me to use when I cook!

The real question you’re probably wondering is, “How do the meals taste?!” The simple answer here: GOOD! The meals we cooked actually tasted good, both kid and husband approved! Now, if you’re looking for big flavors, you won’t get them here. These recipes are designed to keep things super simple and super healthy. These recipes are great starting points when you are out of ideas or just want to make healthier versions of kids’ favorites. Definitely add on your family’s favorite seasonings. Next time, I would add some pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and a dash of smoked paprika in the White Cheddar Mac and Cheese recipe. (But that’s just how my family likes it. It’s honestly really yummy without all of that, too.) However, I really would not add anything to the Sausage Spinach Pasta recipe. It was delicious as is!

Overall, I recommend the Delicious Dinners Course by Growing Thyme Cooking for homeschooling families. It is a comprehensive nutrition and food science course that teaches kids how to be great chefs. It also provides both the parent and child some yummy, healthy recipes to put on the weekly rotation. For instance, now I don’t mind my kids eating so many chicken nuggets now that I have a healthy, simple, and adaptable recipe to use. This curriculum has also sparked more of an interest in cooking within my children. This is major because that means that they will be making dinner while I take a much-needed break (hopefully one day soon, with parental supervision from their Daddy)!

Check out what my fellow Melanated Gold Review Squad Members thought about Growing Thyme Cooking.