Kids can make this deep dish

It seemed like a great idea when Greg - a bored 10-year-old boy newly relocated to Clearwater - started digging through old family recipes and taking them on by himself. It's pretty safe to assume that very little that he attempted was remotely edible. (Homemade eggnog in August, anyone?) But his parents let him get on with his bad self, despite the mess in the kitchen and on the plate.

It became clear, later in life, why Greg's parents were so patient with his culinary experiments. Children learn valuable lessons in the kitchen: mathematics, simple physics, chemistry, and self-reliance. So, though we're not really advocating letting your kids run wild with cooking tools (like our parents did), we do strongly encourage families to cook together.

Schools have long known the value of children cooking, but with programs like home economics being slashed from school budgets, teaching kids about the fine art of cooking is more than ever up to parents.

Schools are trying, though. Buckhorn Elementary in Valrico has volunteer chef visits for students who meet goals for the county's Battle of the Books program. The visits were the brainchild of Joyanne Herdman, media specialist at Buckhorn. Chefs teach the students a simple, kid-friendly recipe, and then, of course, they get to eat. The Buckhorn staff has even compiled a book of staff and students' recipes.

On our visit to Buckhorn, we knew it had to be pizza - but with a Sherpa twist. We decided to put a healthier spin on the staple and disguise it as a soup with all kinds of measuring and mixing. Kids and parents loved it. More importantly, your kids will love making it.

Find more food guidance at the Sherpas' Web sites: www.culinarysherpas.com and www.cooksncompany.com.

PIZZA SOUP WITH PARMESAN STICKS

4 mild Italian turkey sausage links

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ medium sweet onion, diced small

½ green bell pepper, diced small

2 cloves of garlic, diced

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried oregano

28 ounces tomato sauce, unseasoned

28 ounces chicken stock

Salt and pepper to taste

1 can premade pizza dough

¼ cup parmesan cheese, grated

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

12 slices pepperoni

Heat a nonstick pan to medium high. Brown sausage links on all sides. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Bring a large stockpot to medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add onions, garlic and green pepper. Add dried herbs. Stirring occasionally, cook onion mixture until onions are translucent in color, about 5 minutes. Cut browned sausage links into bite-size pieces. Add to onion mixture. Add tomato sauce and chicken stock. Bring to a boil and then cut heat to medium-low so that tomato mixture simmers. Season with salt and pepper to taste and stir occasionally. Allow to simmer for 20 minutes.

While soup is simmering, prepare premade pizza dough. Bake pizza dough according to package instructions. Prior to baking, cut dough into 3-by-1-inch strips. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Once dough is thoroughly baked, remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes.

Spoon soup into individual bowls while soup is very hot. Top each bowl with 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese and four slices of pepperoni. The cheese will melt from the heat of the soup.

Allow the soup bowls to cool for 5 minutes. Serve soup with Parmesan Sticks. Serves 4