When kids are very young, they often want to emulate what their parents are doing. For example, if Mom and Dad are preparing dinner, Junior will want to be involved. Unfortunately, while cultivating an interest in food - especially homemade food, as opposed to fast food - is a wonderful thing for a child, they can occasionally get in the way of the chef.

An easy solution is to assign your child age-appropriate tasks that they can do with little to no supervision once they have been shown how to do it in the first place. Real Simple offers a helpful list of such tasks, sorted by age, so your kids can join in the cooking process. Here are a few of their suggestions:

5 and over

• Retrieve ingredients from the pantry or refrigerator.
• Wash vegetables and fruits.
• Stir together dry ingredients.
• Smash crackers into crumbs.
• Set the table.

Recently, someone asked me if there was a difference between the "zest" of a citrus fruit and the "peel." In short, the answer is yes. The peel is the name for the whole skin of the fruit, which is comprised of two layers: the zest and the pith. The zest is the colored, outer surface of the fruit while the pith is the soft, white inner layer. The vast majority of recipes will call for the zest of a fruit only. The pith is actually bitter and gives an unpleasant aftertaste if eaten, but the zest contains the very flavorful oils/essence of the fruit.

Once you know what the zest is, the question is how to get it off. The layer is very thin compared to the fruit as a whole, but it can be cut off with a knife and then chopped into fine pieces. A more efficient way is to use either a zester (pictured) or a microplane, both of which are tools that slice off only the zest from a fruit. A zester produces long, thin strips that need to be finely chopped, while a microplane naturally creates a very fine chop that needs no further alteration before being added to a recipe.

How often do you wish that you could boil a potato without peeling it first? Though some will argue that there are nutrients to be had in the peel, there are a lot of people who just don't want to eat it. Peeling a potato can be hazardous to your fingers, not to mention that slicing and dicing a firm, raw potato can be a difficult and slipper job. Thanks to the YouTube video, below, you can learn to peel a cooked potato in one shot, avoiding potentially dangerous exposure to potato peelers and without having to scrape the skin off plated potatoes with your fork. Just follow these steps or watch the full video after the jump!

1. Cut a vertical line around the potato.
2. Boil until tender.
3. Plunge into iced water.
4. Grab both ends of the potato and twist.