<em>Positively Philadelphia:</em> Cooking Up Fun For Kids

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Outside, on a recent winter day, it was cold and sleeting.  But inside the Rittenhouse Hotel, it was warm and toasty as dozens of kids took part in a "Cooking with the Kids" class at the hotel's Lacroix Restaurant.

"It was so cool!" said one kid.

"Awesome!" said a second.

"Fantastic," agreed a third.

"Awesomely awesome!" said a fourth participant, not to be outdone.

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The restaurant's team of expert chefs, including executive pastry chef Fred Ortega (top photo), were teaching the kids how to cook in a healthy way.

"In my generation, everybody was pulling things out of a box and throwing it in the stove and eating TV dinners, but I see kids today and they're interested in cooking," says Ortega.

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The cooking was fun, but so was the eating.  Everyone had their favorites.

"Pizza hummus!"

"Pineapple smoothies!"

"The hazelnuts!"

"Caramelized hazelnuts," explains Chef Ortega.  "It's got very little sugar, but the kids like it.  Put it into cereal, muesli, put it on salad."

"My favorite part was the lettuce wrap.  It was really, really good."

"The chicken wrap was really good, and it was easy to make."

"Our chef, Jon Cichon, did a Thai lettuce wrap," explained Keith Wagner, assistant general manager of the Rittenhouse Hotel.  "Fresh piece of bibb, then choose sautéed chicken, beef, or shrimp.  Carrots and cucumber, bean sprouts, hoisin sauce, toasted peanuts, and udon noodles."

Parent Shannon Brown was pleased with what her daughter was learning.

"I brought my daughter and her two girlfriends from school," she said.  "My daughter just loves to mess around in the kitchen."

And mess around they did, even learning how to make marshmallows.

That's Positively Philadelphia!

Reported by Lauren Lipton, KYW Newsradio 1060.