Easy Recipes Kids Can Help With

I dont have any specific recipes, but I have my (almost) 6 yr old help me by taking garbage to the can, ir gettign things out of the fridge for me, when I am chopping stuff (depending on what it is), I will let her stand by me and put her hand under mine while chopping (got her to try red bell pepper that way!) ir if I am making a gravy, I will give her a spoonula and let her help me stir (im stiring at the same time) She knows not to come into the kitchen once I say Im cooking dinner unless I am in there. anything that makes them feel useful is a great way to get them started in the kitchen!

Hi Denise,

I let my kids do breakfast. We do breakfast burritos a lot. They can microwave an egg for 1 minute (after breaking the yoke) and then add a little cheese and then wrap it in a tortila. If I want clean up to go a little easier, I spray the bowl with cooking spray so the egg doesn't stick. I have let my 9 year old do this since she was 7. Especially because I had surgery and couldn't do it myself.

Also, I always make extra pancakes and waffles so that they can heat them in the microwave themselves. (My 6 year old does this now.)

As for lunch, I usually let them choose what I put in their lunches from the food I already have. Being a SAHM things are a little tight so we do not have a lot of packaged treats.

Lastly, we play cooking show. Using only one child per meal, we play cooking show where they tell me the ingredients reading off the recipe and then I get them and they put them in the bowl or the pan. This works for almost everything but the oven. I won't let them take things out yet.

Because they know they get to take turns, I do not have many arguments and they feel like they cooked the meal. And there are days when I am too stressed and no one gets a turn that day. (Also, their attention spans are short when they realize that cooking is sometimes a chore.)

D.

You have lots of great suggestions below.

My daughter, who is 7, has always loved to make pancakes. She measures and mixes the batter. I spoon and flip. Just recently, she's asked to spoon and flip and sometimes I let her do it if I am standing right next to her.

She also likes to make cake and cookies. We puré 8-10 oz. of raw baby spinach and add it to our batters (2x dry ingredients and 1x liquids per recipe).

She likes to mix the flour, salt, and pepper in a ziplock and flour chicken for baked chicken.

Grilled cheese- she butters the bread and assembles in the pan. She's started flipping.

Good luck,
Stephanie

Hi Denise,
My kids are only 2 1/2 and 4 but they love to help cook. They get things from the refrigerator and pantry, stir and add ingredients. They have also helped me assemble things like enchilada casserole, lasagna, pizza (anything with cheese at these ages). They love to make their own sandwiches. Some things we do at the table and some at the counter - whatever works. We have made baked goods using Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious, so they are used to putting vegetables in anything. I have also seen the cookbook "Cook It In A Cup!" - that looks like fun, kid friendly food. We look forward to trying some of the other suggestions, too.
Good luck whatever you try,
C.

Here's a recipe I do with my kids. Found it in a magazine years ago. I have 4 boys in the summer so it works out great. Use the pop n fresh biscuits. There are 8 singles so that works for 4 in the end. What you do is let them flatten 2 each or 4 in your case. They spread the one with pizza sauce, then put whatever they want inside, like pepperoni or black olives and cheese. Top that with another flattened one. Use water around the edges to seal it. They can do all of this. Then use a fork to seal it even more and it makes designs which they like too. Next you use egg whites in little bowls and put food coloring in them to get different colors. Then I use q-tips or something to draw on the backs of the "pizzapede" (like a centipede). Put them on the cookie sheet side by side and then I cut up little carrots real thin and they use those as legs and antennas. Black olives as eyes. Bake at 325 I think for 13 minutes or so. The color on the backs turns shiny and they know exactly which one is there's because it has their "artwork". It's fun and pretty easy. I add fruit and some more carrots and it's a great lunch or supper.

Make sense?? I've never typed it so if it looks like I left something out, please let me know. And I use the Winco brand ones, so it doesn't have to be the big flaky ones. Just up to you. Good luck and please let me know if you make them. Happy baking.

M.
Folsom, CA

As mentioned previously, go to the library or look on line for recipes for kids. I would also suggest that you look on line at Montessori Services for Small Hands products www.forsmallhands.com to find cooking utensils that are safe for kids to use. My almost 3 year old stands by me at the counter on a learning tower and uses the vegetable chopper already.

Kids can help out with any recipe. My 3 yo daughter loves to stand at the sink and wash veggies or fruits that I am going to cut up. After I cut them, she is allowed to put them in the pan. I also let her and/or my 9 yo stir anything that needs to be mixed, including meat in the skillet. I just cook things on low and closely supervise if the 3 yo is stirring. I have to say that no matter what you do, it always takes a little longer when the kids help out. Just be patient with them...you will not only teach them to eat better, but this is the start of learning to cook. Perhaps you can have them cook with you on the weekends only if it is too overwhelming or too slow on weeknights.

Company's coming has a recipe book for kids called 'Kids healthy cooking'. By Jean Pare.
It has some simple recipes for every meal that kids can prepare. Have Fun!

Here's a fun one that brings together all the shapes/colors ( I know it's a little young for your kiddos, but it will probably still be fun :). You can also throw in with the meal, a bagged salad (Green salad with colorful vegetables: radish, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, green peas, sprouts)and have the kids pour on the dressing. Have them get it ready at the kitchen table instead of in the kitchen:

You will need: frozen pizza dough; pizza sauce; mozzarella cheese; and favorite pizza toppings.
Gather the entire family together to make a pizza! See how many shapes you can create and find during your cooking and eating time. Forexample: the crust may be a circle, square or rectangle; the toppings may include pepperoni circles, rectangle pieces of onion or green pepper, and when you cut the pizza, you can cut it into triangles!

My daughter got a Rachel Ray cookbook for kids when she was 6. We have had a lot of fun making recipes from that book. She also loves her American Girl Doll cookbook. My kids help make cookies and pancakes and my daughter (now 8) has mastered scrambling her own eggs. Your right...they do tend to eat better when they help make it!

Hi There,

My boys are 5 & 2 and this works for us.....
I buy the premade personal pizza crusts and I get lots of toppings...then the kids build their own. Another thing they love is taco night, I set everything out and they build their own. They love feeling like little chefs! Hope this helps and have fun!

~DJ

Tortilla Pizza---- easy, affordable and the kids love them! Take flour tortillas (you can also use the thicker tortillas or pita bread), put on spaghetti sauce, cheese (we use whatever kind we have), toppings (we usually go w/ just pepperoni) and bake at 350 degrees for approx. 15-20 min., maybe less depending on your oven.... my kids love them and they are cheap to make.... I also let the younger ones add the stuff when making dinner if they want to help, like stuff I measure out, now that they're older, they measure it out and add it to the recipe. Good luck on this.... microwave quesadillas are always easy for kids to do by themselves, just buy shredded cheese...

My son loves to help me make frittatas (really easy -- just look up recipes on Epicurious.com). I let him crack the eggs, though I have him crack them one at a time into a small bowl so that I can pick out any shell that gets in before adding each to the other eggs. Then I have him bring me other ingredients, such as cheese I've already shredded or cubed, to add to the frittata while I'm cooking it. I also ask him for his opinion on whether the frittata is done, though I don't wait for him to say it is done if it's going to get overcooked.

Get some kids cookbooks (library, borrow, offer as gift ideas for the upcoming holiday season). Your children are old enough to read (or close to it for the younger one) and kids' cookbooks have lots of pictures and illustrations to help them maintain interest.

Have the kids pick what you'll make. They stay interested longer when they're chosing the food to make. I also include them in menu planning now and they choose a night to pick the foods and help with dinner.

We have a few and my kids flutter between them. The Pampered Chef Kids and Klutz ones seem to be their longtime favories, although my daughter is fixated now on one from my childhood about foods from different countries.

My kids enjoy making cookies, pancakes, scrambled eggs / omelets, grilled (ham &) cheese, and desserts.

My 7yr old likes to help make breaded chicken breast tenders.

Season raw chicken breast stip.
Dip in egg.
Dip in italian bread crumbs.
Bake in oven or in fry pan with olive oil.

WASH HANDS WHEN DONE.

RAW EGG AND CHICKEN . YUCK!