BBQ Rub for Father's Day!
The perfect (and cutest!) gift to celebrate every dad or father figure in the kids’ lives.
Chicken & Vegetable Skewers seasoned with our BBQ Rub
Setting up the activity:
We think this BBQ Rub is an awesome idea for Father’s Day! Not only is it a very easy-to-set up classroom sensory activity, it also has the potential to promote discussions around cooking together as a family, create an opportunity to share recipe ideas with whanau and expose children to some new flavours they may not have been exposed to yet. It can be set up as process or group cooking, and most children over 2 will be able to make the BBQ Rub by themselves (under 2s’ teachers could make a big batch and then help children fill their jars with the aid of a funnel). This recipe will create a mild and flavorful rub, but the quantities of each spice do not need to be exact - children spooning slightly more or less of each spice will not matter much to the final product.
The recipe:
The BBQ Rub itself is super versatile. As well as rubbing on meats, this Mexican-inspired mild seasoning can also be used when marinating, grilling or roasting meats and vegetables, or even to sprinkle on cheeses like halloumi before pan frying. For our Chicken and Vegetable Skewers in the main picture, for example, we simply cut up some chicken thighs, orange capsicum and button mushrooms in smallish chunks, sprinkled some of the BBQ Rub and drizzled with a little olive oil. Yum!!
This recipe – like all other Clean Plate ones - was primarily developed to be used in an early childhood education environment, either to be served or made with the children (or both), therefore, it’s fairly mild and low on salt/ pepper. For dads, teachers and whanau who like their food hot n’ spicy, adding a good pinch of cayenne pepper to the jar will do the trick.
Purchasing the ingredients:
Finally, buying the ingredients in bulk from a refill or bin inn-type shop will definitely be cheaper and environmentally-friendlier as well, as you won’t end up with lots of empty packaging to dispose of. We purchased our ingredients from Spice World, with amounts varying from 50 g to 100 g of each spice/ herb, and estimate that would be enough for at least 15 jars.
BBQ Rub
Makes one jar (about 1/3 cup)
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp mild chili powder
1 Tbsp paprika (or smoked paprika)
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 Tbsp salt
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano (shop-bought or home dried, check “how to” here)
1 tsp ground black pepper
You’ll need:
Small jars (we’ve purchased the adorable clip top jar from The Warehouse, $2 each)
Labels: black masking tape and chalk permanent marker (or alternative)
Gift tags: empty cereal box, scissors and pens/ paint/ crayon, etc., to decorate and ribbon/ string to hang (or alternative)
Method:
Place each spice separately into bowls or similar, with measuring spoons (or teaspoons) for scooping (we used a muffin tin to hold the spices. You could also line them up individually, with instructions, for a process cooking-type activity).
Have children spoon each of the ingredients into their jar.
Once all the spices have been added, close the jar and shake well to mix.
Decorating the jars:
To label the jars, we found the best (and most budget-friendly) solution was to use black masking tape and a chalk-effect permanent marker, which turned out to be very effective and attractive.
To add a final, personal touch, and make the gifts even more special, you may choose to get each child to cut and decorate a tag to hang (ours were cut out from a cereal box and hung with twine).
Don’t I look so cute?!
We hope you liked our Father’s Day gift idea! We’d love to hear from you or see any photos you’d like to share if you try to make it at the centre or home! And remember, if you’ve any questions or would like any suggestions or variations for this, or any of our other CP recipes or activities, please get in touch!