Cooking With Kids:Kid-Friendly Recipes

Feb 15, 2010 WAHM Life

Come join your children in your kitchen for a fun cooking experience. Share and Learn some great cooking tips and recipes that you can enjoy with your child. What better way to teach measurement, following directions and taking turns than in the kitchen with you! You have to cook anyway, why not make it a family affair!!

In fact, some professionals believe that cooking is as educational as it is exciting for children. Helping to cook involves several valuable skills important to child development:

• Planning a series of steps in a process

• Using mathematical skills to measure ingredients and time the cooking of foods

• Reading and interpreting written instructions used in recipes

• Expanding creative boundaries

• Mastering teamwork when cooking with adults and other children

Supervision is the key to cooking with kids…they develop cooking skills at different rates so it’s important to have an adult introduce children to skills that match their ability levels. Preparing meals can be more fun and a lot of help when the whole family is involved.

Don’t forget to praise your youngster’s efforts and newfound kitchen skills consistently, to encourage more fun in the kitchen. This way, they’ll feel rewarded and get more enjoyment from cooking. And they just might be more likely to eat their nutritious lunch!

Here’s a few simple kid-friendly recipes I share with my HOSTS, GUESTS AND CUSTOMERS and their FAMILIES:

MOZZARELLA TARTS

1 can (8 oz) pizza sauce

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 loaf soft white or wheat bread

½ cup butter, melted

1 pressed garlic clove

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 400 F.

2. Combine pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese in small bowl.

3. Place one teaspoon of pizza sauce mixture in center of a slice of bread. Fold bread in half. Cut and seal bread with 3-inch Cut-N-Seal.

4. Repeat with remaining slices of bread. Place on baking stone.

5. Combine melted butter and garlic. Brush tops of tarts with garlic butter.

6. Bake 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

 BASIC GRANOLA

1 quart Oatmeal

1/3 cup Wheat Germ (optional)

1/2 cup Coconut

1/3 cup Sesame Seeds (optional)

2/3 cup Sunflower Seeds (optional)

2/3 cup broken Nuts (whatever kind you like)

1/2 cup Oil

1 tsp. Vanilla

1/4 cup Honey

1 cup Raisins

 Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350-F degrees.

2. Mix the oats, wheat germ, coconut, seeds, and nuts in a large bowl.

3. Put the oil, vanilla, and honey in a small saucepan, and heat over low to medium heat until it’s a little warm, stirring as it heats. Pour over the oatmeal mixture, and stir until all the dry and wet ingredients are blended.

4. Spread out on ungreased baking sheets. Slide them into the oven and set the timer for 45 minutes. When it dings, take a peek. If everything’s all toasty, it’s time to remove it; otherwise, bake for 5-10 minutes more. (But you can turn the oven off, because it’ll stay hot that long, if you leave the door closed.)

5. When the granola is out of the oven and set on a heat-proof surface, sprinkle the raisins over the top and stir a little to mix them in. Allow everything to cool, and then store it in air-tight containers. You can keep them on the shelf with your other cereals.

GRANOLA COOKIES

If you made granola, you already have the prime ingredient for this recipe at the ready!

1 cup Butter or Margarine

3/4 cup White Sugar

3/4 cup Brown Sugar

1 tsp. Vanilla

1 large Egg

1 1/2 cup Flour

1 3/4 cup Granola

1 tsp. Baking Powder

1 tsp. Salt

Optional:

1 cup Raisins

1 cup Nuts

1 cup Chocolate Chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325-F degrees.

2. Cream butter and sugars. Add vanilla and egg.

3. Combine dry ingredients, and stir into the wet ones, blending well. (Beat for a couple of minutes.)

4. If you wish, add with some or all of the optional additions – raisins, nuts, chocolate chips, whatever you like.

5. Bake on lightly greased cookie sheets for just 12 minutes (check at 10). Remove to cooling racks.

As always, my quick and easy recipes for Busy Moms can be found on my website Noel’s Kitchen Tips.
 
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Tags: Family, Food, Kids In The Kitchen