Cooking Made Easy History The Need The Response The Result The Need: For a number of years, I worked for people with developmental disabilities in their homes, teaching them independent living skills. One of the primary skills I taught was cooking, and I was always on the lookout for resources to help. After some diligent searching, I was able to find picture cookbooks to assist the people I worked with who could not read. The results were wonderful! They began to cook independently. However, I could find no resources for the people who could read. Standard recipes were too confusing for them to follow without my help: They didn't understand the abbreviations. They would only complete the first part of a combination step. They didn't understand what cooking terms meant (i.e. "brown the meat" or "parboil the potatoes"). The recipes assumed some automatic cooking knowledge they didn't possess (i.e. size of pans needed, or to peel an onion before chopping it). They could only do one step at a time, whereas many recipes required fast-paced, simultaneous actions. And so on. Back to Top The Response: Since I could find no resource that addressed these needs, I began to experiment with creating my own: I assumed no automatic cooking knowledge. I began each recipe with "Wash hands." I ended each recipe with "It is done." I put an ingredient list at the top (designed specifically for shopping). I also added a utensil list, to be gathered before beginning the meal. I coded the recipes according to level of difficulty, so people could "work their way up." I also added "cost of ingredients" codes, so they could choose recipes within their budget. I wrote very detailed steps, with specific directions (i.e. size of bowl needed, what utensil to use, what part of vegetables to keep & which to throw away). And so on. I brought these new recipes to work and offered them to people to try. Whenever they got "stuck", I noted where they were on the recipe, and what additional direction they needed. I then went home and re-wrote that step. Eventually, they stopped asking me for help. With my recipes, they were cooking independently!! Back to Top The Result: What began as a cooking resource for the people I worked with, is now Cooking Made Easy, available worldwide! Here are some of the people it has helped: People with developmental disabilities People with learning disabilities People with traumatic brain injury People with autism People with down syndrome Children, Teenagers New parents Staff who are beginning cooks Order Form Recipes Features Testimonials Back to Top