Cooking with Kids

Welcome to Cooking with Kids, COVID edition.

As you can imagine, now that we’re all stuck home for the immediate future, I’ve been receiving recipe requests left and right this week, especially for those that you can do with the kids. In an effort to organize and streamline what I have available on the blog, I wanted to create this resource that everyone can access and I can update real-time as I post more recipes (we’ve been cooking so much here that I have a backlog right now!).

I am breaking it down by type of recipe you can try, how you can engage your kids in cooking and make it fun, and offer additional resources from some other blogs that I follow. There is a virtual village out there of every resource you can imagine, but there is SO much at our finger tips it’s sometimes hard to know where to find it. Please comment below and let me know your thoughts and what else you’d like to see! Happy cooking, together!

WHAT CAN YOU COOK?

Believe it or not, there are really endless options for what you can cook together, as long as your cool with making a little mess. I honestly let my kids help with almost every recipe, I just find the most kid-friendly steps and let them help with it. For example, I made a pork tenderloin last night and I had them help make the marinade. I measured out the ingredients, let them pour them into the bowl and then let them help stir. My 3 year old is more engaged than my almost-2 year old, but even he can help (with extra supervision).

Here are a few recipe ideas!

COOKING:

Pizza:

• Make your own dough (find my easy recipe here), let the kids help knead it and roll it out. Make individual pizzas in different shapes. Curious George and the Pizza Party is a great book to read while they are cooking.
• Make pita or nan pizzas: just add sauce + toppings and put in the oven (or toaster oven) for 10 minutes (or until cheese melts)
• Make foccacia pizzas. We did this recipe with Fiddleheads Cooking Studio last week. It’s a great way to use up any produce you have in your fridge that you don’t want to waste and the kids can have fun making it “artful” – every pizza is like it’s own canvas, have fun with it!

• You can easily make bake “fried” chicken, healthier because it’s baked. Use a variety of different coatings (whatever you have on hand panko, breadcrumbs, crushed cornflakes) and set up an assembly line for dredging. Have one bowl of whisked eggs, one bowl of your coating. Have the kids help with dipping and rolling the chicken in the coating, just make sure they wash your hands!
• My favorite from the blog actually uses matzah: check it out here.
• Here are some other easy, kid friendly recipes:
  • Cornflake Chicken
  • Panko Crusted Chicken

• • • Here’s my favorite meatball recipe from the blog (with my Mom’s homemade sauce also)
    • Also, my Stuffed Meatballs.
    • Also recommend this recipe from Yummy Toddler Food.Another fun thing to make with the kids are baked meatballs. My kids love helping me make the meatball mix and it’s a good opportunity to sneak in some “hidden” veggies. Another recipe courtesy of Fiddleheads! Just throw a bunch of vegetables in a food processor (think carrots, celery, onion), process until finely minced, and add this right to your meat. Then just bake for 20 minutes and add to sauce once they’re cooked through.

• Pancake Loaf
• Brown Sugar Banana Bread
• Pumpkin Banana Bread
• Cast-iron Focaccia 

• There are legitimately endless opportunities to jazz up your breakfast. I of course have you covered on the classic pancake and waffle recipes, but you can also add different fruits and vegetables in the waffle batter, OR add them before you flip. I’m sure you know some of the standard recipes (blueberry, banana, chocolate chip) but have you ever considered pesto waffles? Or butternut squash pancakes? Or Bacon Pancakes? So many ways to get creative and use what you’ve got on hand!

Why? Engaging your kids and letting them join you in the kitchen empowers them in so many ways:

• It teaches them about new ingredients
• It builds their confidence and inspires their work ethic
• It teaches them the importance of contributing to the household
• PLUS, and most importantly, it’s something you can do together. Right now, I’m balancing the new norm of WFH and for many hours a day I’m locked in my office doing work and participating on conference calls. But once I log off, it’s still time to do the work of the house, making dinner being the most immediate one. So why not take advantage of this time to spend it together. It makes it fun for them and fun for you.

So how do I engage them?

• Get acquainted: I take out all of the ingredients before we cook and I quickly highlight some of them, especially the new ingredients. After washing our hands, I let the kids touch the produce, smell the herbs and spices and really get a chance to “meet” the ingredients. Do the same with your tools.
• Delegate:
  • Depending on what we’re making, I will let my older son combine and stir ingredients. (I pre-measure and he dumps them into the bowl). If we’re using a kitchen gadget, like a food processor, I also let them press the buttons.
  • If you have slightly older kids, you can also have them help chop vegetables. I highly recommend these kid safe Curious Knives.
• Make it fun and silly! Let them “name” the produce, draw a silly face on it (if you’re peeling something like a potato or squash). Turn on the music and dance and sing while you cook.
• Make them feel a sense of accomplishment: If you have a printed recipe, let them check off the ingredients as you use them and the steps as you do them. They’ll keep you accountable too!. My son reminded me i forgot to put on the timer the other day.
• While you wait: If you have downtime while things are cooking, let them help set the table. Have them decorate napkins or place mats as a craft. You can also find a variety of different books (at all age levels) that you can read while you’re cooking.

Questions? Comments? Or have you totally hit a wall and need my help? Message me: