Cooking Recipes For Kids

Simple Kids Recipes

noreply@blogger.com (T Lynch) — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 03:36:00 +0000

One of easiest ways to get our children to eat healthy is to get them involved in the kitchen and the cooking process. It is easier to teach our children about healthy cooking and eating when the food is right in front of both you and the child. You can discuss the basics of healthy eating, and get into more complicated discussions as they get older. Having a child interested in what goes on in the kitchen is also an extra set of hands that can help you while you prepare meals. If you can train all your kids to get involved, you'll be able to sit back and relax after a few years!

Here are some simple kids recipes. They're simple in terms of ingredients, and are really easy to do. You will probably have to help out the littler kids, but older ones will be able to do these by themselves just fine!

Fruit Pancakes
These are really easy to do! You can get store bought pancake mix (be sure to check the nutritional facts on the back) and tell your kids to choose their fruits. Blueberries, strawberries, and mangoes are commonly used, but don't be afraid to get creative. It will probably take a few tries before your children will know what a good fruit to batter ratio is, but pretty soon, they'll perfect the recipe!

Macaroni and Cheese
Put a healthy spin on this classic. Use whole wheat macaroni instead of regular refined pasta. Whole wheat macaroni will take a bit longer to cook, just check on it often or teach your children to check on it and recognize when it is al dente or almost cooked. Next, use unsalted butter to grease your baking casserole. Line the casserole with the noodles then sprinkle a generous helping of cheddar, mozzarella, and swiss on top. You can use other kinds of cheese as well. Make it as cheesy as you want! Be sure to put a few bits of butter, salt and pepper before adding the next layer of noodles. Layer cheese over noodles till you run out of noodles then top it off with cheese, bits of butter, salt, pepper, and evenly pour a cup of low fat milk. Bake this in an 375 degree preheated oven for an hour, and you're done!

Super Sandwich
One of the easiest things a child can do, and the possibilities are endless! Canned tuna, cold cuts, and grilled chicken are some of the things children can use to make they sandwiches for you and the family. Encourage them to use leftovers if they can, and always add lettuce, tomato, and cheese. You can never go wrong with these in a sandwich!

Tacos
Store bought, whole wheat taco chips are great for this dish. Fill it with lettuce, chopped tomatoes, chopped onions, cheese, some sour cream, and your choice of cooked ground beef or minced chicken. The results are always superb! There are ready to buy taco mixes that you can use to cook your beef or chicken with, if you can teach your kids to spice it up themselves, however, all the better and all the healthier!

Little Pizzas
Use whole wheat tortilla bread. Get the ones that come in smaller circles. Teach your kids to spread some tomato sauce on top, sprinkle with cheese, black olives, artichoke hearts, or whatever other ingredients they may like. This is really fun for kids as they love making their own pizzas. Cook it in the toaster for a few minutes (till the cheese melts) and voila! A healthy and quick meal!

Get your kids involved in the kitchen at a young age. These simple kids recipes are a good start to introducing healthy food to your kids. You will also be encouraging healthy habits of cleanliness, independence, and imagination. These are things they'll need when they begin living alone and cooking for themselves!

Children who are involved in the kitchen may take the initiative to come up with their own creations. Learn how to stock your kitchen with only healthy foods so that you'll have little to worry about! Check out the Kids Food Pyramid to learn what foods you should always have ready in your home!

Cooking For Kids - Breaded Chicken Fingers

noreply@blogger.com (T Lynch) — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 20:47:00 +0000

By Christine Szalay Kudra

Kids can be notoriously hard to cook for and the fact that one week's favorite can turn into something hateful the next does not make life easier. There are a few recipes however, which will always appeal to kids. Breaded chicken fingers are easy to make and kids tend to love these. They might even forgive you for serving some broccoli or carrots on the side, as long as they have some hot and delicious chicken fingers and something to dip them into.

Boneless chicken is ideal for making these tasty dippers. Perhaps you have made a recipe for chicken parmesan or some grilled chicken recipes with boneless chicken, in which case you will already know how easy this economical ingredient is to work with and how versatile it is. You can buy chicken fingers readymade and frozen, of course, so you might be wondering why you would want to learn how to make chicken fingers but homemade chicken recipes always taste better than readymade ones, which is a great reason to make your own.

How to Serve Chicken Dippers

Serve breaded chicken fingers with ketchup, mayonnaise, salsa, or any dip you like. A sweet and sour dip is another good choice and barbecue sauce is great for dipping chicken fingers into. Serve some French fries or mashed potatoes on the side, as well as one or two vegetables. Chicken dippers should be drained on paper towels before you serve them, to soak up most of the grease, and then they are nice served hot. They can be eaten with the fingers or with cutlery.

Recipe for Chicken Fingers

In the following recipe, the chicken is marinated in a garlic, egg, and buttermilk mixture before being coated in the breadcrumbs. This tenderizes the chicken and gives it a wonderful texture and taste. This recipe serves six people or makes enough for ten kids to snack on. This is a great recipe to make if your kids have friends coming over.

You will need:

1 beaten egg
1 teaspoon salt
1 quart oil, for frying
1 teaspoon baking powder
6 chicken breast halves, no bones, or skin
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder

How to make it:

Cut the chicken breast halves into half inch strips and put them in a big Ziploc bag. Combine the garlic powder, buttermilk, and egg and pour this mixture into the bag with the chicken. Leave it in the refrigerator for three hours to marinate. Combine the breadcrumbs, flour, baking powder, and salt in another bag. Take the chicken out of the first bag and drain it. Throw away the marinade.

Add the chicken to the bag with the breadcrumbs in and shake it well. Heat the oil to 375 degrees F in a skillet, and then fry the chicken in the oil until the juices run clear and the breadcrumb coating is golden brown.

Drain on paper towels and serve with your preferred dipping sauce.

There are grilled chicken recipes for adults and kids but if you want to thrill your kids, using your boneless chicken to make breaded chicken dippers is something they will love. Another time you might like to try an easy recipe for chicken parmesan.

BonelessChickenRecipe.com - Chicken so delightfully moist, you can almost smell it through your monitor.

Four Recipes For Kids Lunch Boxes

noreply@blogger.com (T Lynch) — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 04:23:00 +0000

By Maggie Rahn
Finding recipes for kids lunch boxes can be tricky. Most parents just reheat last night's dinner left overs and send their kids on their way. Lunch is a pretty important meal during a child's day, though, so if you have more time to think about and make what your kids will be taking to lunch at school, put in the extra effort. Making sure your kids are eating right in the middle of the day will definitely pay off in the future! Here are four recipes for kids lunch boxes:

· Tortilla Wrap

This is easy to do, and you can still use the leftovers! Wrap some meat and vegetables in a tortilla. You can add salsa, cheese, and/or sour cream if you like. Brown rice and beans are good additions too! Roll it up and put it in a sandwich bag or you can wrap it up in foil so it's easy to hold. It's a no fuss recipe that most kids will love, and it covers four of the five major food groups. Plus, you're sure it'll be healthier than anything your child can but at the school cafeteria!

· Chicken Salad Sandwich

Put some chopped chicken, lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumber between slices of whole wheat bread. You can add cheese or salad dressing to this sandwich to make it yummier and more appealing. Remember that you don't have to use chicken. You can substitute chicken for tuna, sliced beef, or sliced turkey. Almost any member of the protein group will go well with this sandwich, and so you can actually mix it up and have a different one everyday!

· Meatball Sub

Grab a mini baguette and line it with mustard (if your kid likes mustard), mayonnaise, cheese, tomatoes, and pickles. Put in some meatballs cooked in tomato sauce (you can use the leftovers from the spaghetti and meatballs you served the other night), and top it off with some sour cream. Wrap this well in a sandwich wrapper or foil, and your kid is ready to go!

· Croquettes

This recipe takes a bit more time to prepare. You can do the prep for it the night before, and just do the frying on the morning you're going to pack it. While frying isn't the healthiest form of cooking because of the excessive oil, croquettes are easy finger foods for kids. You can shape them into ping pong balls to make them easier to eat. Stuff them with mashed potatoes, tuna, turkey, or other healthy proteins. You can also just stuff them with bechamel and cheese, and your kids are in for a tasty treat!

Always try to put in a juice box and fruit cup into the lunch box apart from the above suggestions. Yogurt and granola bars can also work as a sweet snack. Ask your children what "extras" they'd like in their lunch boxes and keep them healthy!

Wish you could find more healthy recipe ideas for your kids? Need an easy way to feed your kids healthy foods? There is a place with your answers! Check out healthy recipes for kids and begin trying these quick and easy kid friendly, healthy recipes now!

Easy Recipes For Kids to Follow

noreply@blogger.com (T Lynch) — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 22:18:00 +0000

By Aldric Chang

Irrespective of their age or gender, kids love experimenting at the kitchen and easy recipes for kids to follow are therefore given so that your kid can spend time fruitfully. When you teach your kid these recipes you would observe that their basic skills in math, communication, reading and comprehension are also getting developed. Your kid would also learn to carefully follow the instructions provided which is really the preliminary lesson taught in primary schools. In addition to knowing the easy recipes for kids to follow you also need to get certain kitchen items handy for your kids like plastic/metal mixing bowls, wooden spoons, hot pads, cups, and apron.

The 2 easy recipes for kids to follow which would be discussed over here are "Krazy Kake", and "Mouse Cupcakes".

For preparing the dish of "Krazy Kake", you would require 2 teaspoonfuls of baking soda, 1 teaspoonful of common salt, 2 teaspoonfuls of vinegar, and 1 teaspoonful of vanilla. You would also require 2 cups of sugar, 3 cups of flour, 1/2 cup of cocoa, 3/4 cup of oil and 2 cups of water. Before putting anything, preheat the oven to a temperature of 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix all the dry ingredients in a baking pan. Make the ingredients smooth. With the aid of a spoon, you need to make 3 big holes in a dry mixture. Pour vanilla in one of the holes, in another one pour vinegar, and then oil in the 3rd hole. Pour water over the total mixture and stir with the help of a fork until the mixture becomes uniform. Bake this at the same pre-set temperature for approximately 40 minutes. Then take out the cake and allow it to cool. You can use powdered sugar as a topping for this cake. Ensure that your kid has understood the quantities of ingredients required and the process of preparation, which is quite simple.

The second preparation that is going to be discussed in easy recipes for kids to follow is "Mouse Cupcakes". The ingredients required would be 1 chocolate-cake mix, 8 scoops of vanilla ice-cream, small candies, skittles and licorice. The quantity of ingredients taken would be sufficient for preparation of 8 cupcakes.

First make the mixture for the cake preparation. Keep the muffin cups two-thirds full. Then make the preparation and allow it to cool after baking has been completed. When the cakes become cool, put ice-cream as a topping on them, and decorate them in a manner which gives a mouse's appearance. You can use 2 mint-cookies to make the ears of the mouse and candies to resemble the eyes and the nose. Cut the licorice and insert it appropriately for the whiskers of the mouse. If the cake has started to melt in between all this, place the cupcakes in the freezer for half an hour. This recipe is extremely easy to prepare and your kid would also use his creativity in giving the appearance of the mouse to the cake.

These easy recipes for kids to follow would help your kid to learn a lot about the cooking nuances and also improve his observation and improvisation skills.

Aldric Chang is a creative entrepreneur who is at the moment building kids games and free hidden object games. He runs an animation studio and his creative accomplishments span across the production of several hundred animation projects, casual games, music compositions, cartoon animated series and a virtual world for kids.

Easy Pasta Recipes For Kids

noreply@blogger.com (T Lynch) — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 05:14:00 +0000

By Cyndi Wagner

If you're trying to encourage your kids to learn to cook, then you might consider some easy recipes for pasta. Most kids quite like pasta, and if they can make something gooey with lots of cheese, or make something with lots of slippery sliding pasta shapes, they might eventually notice that they like other things about pasta dishes as well.

There are lots of places to find easy pasta recipes that kids can make. For example, at Get-Kids-Cooking.com there is a recipe that takes very little time, but which gives parents an opportunity to teach kids how to cook spaghetti.

While seven ounces of spaghetti is cooking for ten minutes, the kids help chop six ripe tomatoes, and will no doubt enjoy giving two cloves of garlic a good crush. The tomatoes and garlic, three tablespoons of olive oil and two ounces of carefully grated Parmesan cheese can go into a bowl, and the cooked spaghetti can be stirred into it, along with fresh chopped basil. It's very simple, but introduces kids to some good tastes.
Easy recipes for kids to make can sometimes be found on larger recipe websites like AllRecipes.com or Epicurious.com, but most of those are geared toward adults. You may have to look harder for pasta dishes aimed toward the kids themselves as the cooks, but there are some entertaining and fun ideas out there. If they prepare the pasta themselves, then the kids may eventually become interested in cooking more elaborate, "grown-up" dishes.

You can get elaborate for your own pasta meals, with complex sauces and ingredients, but for getting kids involved in cooking, there's nothing like a few simple and fun to make pasta recipes.

Nothing beats the taste of fresh pasta made right in your own home. And surprisingly, it's not difficult at all to make. Click here to learn how a pasta roller machine such as the Imperia pasta maker can make it easy for you.

Kids Cookery - Recipes With Kids in Mind

noreply@blogger.com (T Lynch) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 16:43:00 +0000

By M Newbold

These days it can be a real challenge to get your children to focus their attention on learning some basic cooking skills that will stand them in good stead for life when they eventually leave home.
When my mother taught me to cook as a child, there were no computers, game consoles, or hundreds of TV channels to tempt me attention away from the kitchen. In fact it was expected of me to help prepare the family evening meal, and at weekends you would always find me peeling potatoes or slicing string beans for the Sunday Roast Dinner.

Even the preparation of the weekly family fruit cake eventually fell to me. I did not mind helping with the cooking, and I actually quite enjoyed it. Little did I know that my mother was slowly teaching me the basic skills I needed to become independent, and eventually provide for my own family.

Nowadays I am sure that the Health and Safety Brigade would have a thing or two to say about my use of sharp knives at such a young age, but I never once cut myself, and I also learnt about handling hot pans and kettles correctly so that I never had a burn or scald either. You can call it good luck, or you can call it life skills.

But when I remember back, although I did my fair share of peeling and chopping of vegetables, it was the good old fashioned lure of creating sweet treats that got me into the kitchen in the first place. Treats such as jam tarts, currant biscuits, apple pie, flapjacks, and fruit cake were just too tempting to turn down, and the promise of being able to scrape out the mixing bowl and lick the spoon clean was my extra special reward. Children naturally have a sweet tooth, so getting them interested in producing some simple sweet treats can go along way in teaching them basic kitchen skills.

But it is not just cooking skills they will be absorbing while in the kitchen. If you think about it, cooking is quite scientific. You are mixing lots of different ingredients together, both we and dry, to produce something completely different, so there is basic chemistry involved.

Also, to get the desired result of a fruit cake, you will need to weigh and measure the correct amount of ingredients, and bake at the right temperature for a specific amount of time, which in itself requires basic mathematical skills.

Regardless of how technical you want to make it seem, cooking as a family is a very social activity, it helps nurture children, and strengthen the bond between you.

So think of cooking with children as teaching them good life skills, social cooperation, mathematics, and chemistry.

But at the end of it all you will still have lots of yummy treats to gobble up for tea!

And on this note, here is one of my favourite recipes to tempt your kids into the kitchen, they can help with the measuring, mixing and pouring:

Flapjack Crunch. These start out quite crunchy, but after a couple of days become wonderfully soft and sticky, if they last that long!
225g butter
2 tablespoons golden syrup
225g soft brown sugar
460g rolled oats

Melt the butter and syrup in a saucepan over a low heat, or melt together in a microwavable bowl in the microwave.

Put the rolled oats and sugar into a mixing bowl, then stir in the melted butter and syrup with a wooden spoon, mixing until well combined.

Tip the mixture into a shallow baking tin and spread out and flatten with a spoon until even.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes at 180C, 350F, Gas mark 4 until golden brown.

Allow to cool for two minutes then cut into slices. Leave until completely cool before removing from the tin.

Keep in an airtight container or biscuit tin.

Ideal for lunch boxes!

If you enjoyed this recipe, come on over to http://www.cotswoldfamilylife.co.uk for more!
Sign up for our FREE weekly email newsletter for lots of readers recipes, FREE kids crafts, simple games, frugal family fun, and time saving tips. Sign up from our home page at http://www.cotswoldfamilylife.co.uk.
See you soon!

Michelle, Joint Editor, Cotswold Family Life

Homemade Peanut Butter Granola Cereal

noreply@blogger.com (T Lynch) — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 00:45:00 +0000

This homemade granola recipe with peanut butter is a Lynch family favorite! We love it so much, when I make it, I always quadrupole the recipe and make two 8x13 pans at a time so that I don't have to make it daily. Then I can put the rest away for another day.

5 cups rolled oats
3/4 cups brown sugar
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup peanut butter

other extras such as dried fruit, berries, or nuts

Place rolled oats in a 9x9in pan, and preheat oven to 375F and set aside.

In a small pot, mix brown sugar, honey and peanut butter. Stir, as you bring to a light boil.

Pour peanut butter mixture over the rolled oats, and mix in thoroughly.

Place in oven and cook for 15 Minutes.

Remove, break up any large chunks, and stir in any extras such as dried fruit, berries or nuts.
(We throw in a 1/2 cup of raisins, and some dried apples, and today I added a few chocolate chips)

Store any leftovers in an air tight container.

Cooking With Kids - Easy Cupcake Recipes For Kids

noreply@blogger.com (T Lynch) — Mon, 24 May 2010 17:53:00 +0000

By Audrey Okaneko
Both of my girls have been helping in the kitchen since they were quite young. I believe by making kid friendly recipes, your kids really do get to see that cooking can be both fun but also delicious.

Most kids I know love cupcakes. We have always used normal sized cupcake tins when the kids are helping. The small muffin tins make cupcakes that are just too small for young hands to handle.

The easiest way to make cupcakes for younger kids is to start with a boxed cake mix. This first recipe starts with one box of Devil's Food Cake mix. Make the batter according to the box directions. This recipe has a yummy filling and is easy for kids to make:

Combine eight ounces of softened cream cheese, one-third cup of sugar and one egg. Mix until blended. Then mix in six ounces of chocolate chips.

Line your muffin tin with papers and fill each one about one third full. Now put one heaping spoonful of the cream cheese mixture on top of the batter. Then fill up the muffin the rest of the way, allowing some room for rising. Bake at 350 degrees for about twenty-five minutes. If you want to add frosting, I always bought the already mixed frosting that the kids could just spread on.

Another really fun cupcake idea for kids is to use ice cream cones. Buy the ice cream cones that are flat on the bottom.

Use a cake mix and prepare the cupcakes according to package directions. Place paper liners in muffin tin. Fill each muffin tin about two-thirds full and then turn the cone upside down and place on top of the batter. Bake 18-20 minutes at 350 degrees. Test with a toothpick to make sure the cupcakes are done. After the cupcakes are cooled, remove the paper lining and frost. Add decorations to the frosting such as M&M's, Skittles and either rainbow sprinkles or chocolate sprinkles.

I've also seen recipes that reverse this a bit. These recipes say to fill an ice cream cone about 2/3 of the way with batter, stand upright on a baking sheet and bake. I've never done it this way, but I see it on many websites and blogs.

If you buy white frosting, you can mix a few drops of food coloring into the frosting so that kids can have almost any color frosting they'd like. You can add almost anything on top of the frosting. My kids have always liked gummy worms. Add a few of those to a green frosting and the kids just love it. You can also add jellied candies on top.

We once had a birthday party where I put tons of decorations in various bowls and let the kids come up with their own combinations of colored frostings and decorations. Some kids are so creative with their designs. You can cut licorice strips into smaller pieces so kids can create bugs and butterflies. Truly, the possibilities are endless on how to use other candies to decorate cupcakes.

Try making cupcakes with your kids. It's a great way to get them into the kitchen and cooking.

Audrey's mom always entertained when she was growing up. Audrey learned to prepare for large groups and has often entertained 15-30 people in her home at a time. You can find more great recipes at http://www.recipe-barn.com

Simple and Easy Cooking Recipes Children Will Find Irresistible

noreply@blogger.com (T Lynch) — Fri, 14 May 2010 20:41:00 +0000

By Joe L Golson
Children love the full approach to cooking. They love exactly how big pieces of ingredients are chopped, sliced, or grated and mixed together to create a excellent dish. Maybe to them it's really a big jigsaw puzzle which when you get it right you'll have one whole piece of dish that you can enjoy and eat.
How often have you scolded your children for playing around the kitchen? Well this really is simple given the potential dangers around the kitchen, knives, hot surfaces, boiling water, hot oils, etc. But by including them with the cooking method you will be able to show them the right and safe conducts in and around the kitchen.

Remain calm if you find yourself working with kids. Expect to have a good mess of things. Your work table will most probably be overrun by various ingredients, drops of seasonings, scattered utensils, measuring instruments, and other cookware. This is fun to them, and who knows you might enjoy a taste of chaos once in a while. It might sometimes be liberating. Except for the kids, the experience is comical and when they made good with their food, the feeling would be rewarding.

There are several simple recipes that kids can create. Some easy and simple dishes consist of omelet recipes as well as other breakfast dishes. Making French toasts isn't very difficult as well. Salads and sandwiches are also not hard to produce plus they are very healthy. Your children can also carry these sandwiches for lunch breaks.

One easy recipe is building a banana crepe, or make a chocolate banana crepe. What you will need is some crepe flour, milk, eggs, melted chocolate, butter and of course sliced bananas. Mix together everything in the bowl except for the chocolate, bananas and butter. Let your child do the blending process. Make use of the butter to grease a crepe pan and then pour the crepe mixture on it. Make sure to spread out the mixture over the pan. Remember to flip it to cook the opposite side. When cooked, spread the melted chocolate, line up the banana slices, and then fold it. You can actually add some more chocolate around the outside. Savor this with all your kid.

Helping to make pancakes is also one more easy one. You are able to either opt for the quick cooked pancakes on hand in the market or make your own from flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Whatever you select, your children can manage the mixing of the pancake mix, the greasing of the pan, the flipping of the pancakes along with presentation and extra touches like topping with chocolate or strawberry syrup.

Permit your kids to experiment and be imaginative. You are likely to enjoy fast and simple recipes if you cook them with your youngster. Sure expect a soiled kitchen later, however, you have so much to gain if you involve all your family members with the things you decide to do.

About The Author
If you know you need to lose weight - but you are not going to eat right. Weight Loss Supplements or a Glycemic Index Based Diet Plan along with exercise may be right for you to reap the health benefits of weight loss.

How to Make Healthy Recipes For Kids

noreply@blogger.com (T Lynch) — Wed, 05 May 2010 13:57:00 +0000

By Mark Rocco

If selling real estate is all about location, location, location, then when making healthy recipes for kids, it's all about presentation, presentation, presentation. You can talk all you want about all the essential vitamins and minerals and complex carbohydrates, etc, etc that a food contains, but when a child is looking at a mixed bowl of fruit, all they see is 'yuck'.

The key to getting children to try healthy foods is to present it in a fun and imaginative way. You are the only one who needs to know that what they're eating is healthy and nutritious. For the kids, it is simply a fun, interesting and imaginative way to eat food. For example, is a child more likely to eat a bowl filled with banana, red grapes, kiwi, star fruit, cantaloupe and strawberry, or a "Happy Snack Face" (bunch of red grapes for hair, kiwi slices for eyes, strawberry for nose, cantaloupe slices for ears, banana for mouth and star fruit for cheeks - all served on a brightly colored round plate).

All you need to do is take the healthy foods you want to introduce and present them so that:

It has a cool name kids can relate to, like Happy Snack Face. So before your child even sees what it is, they are curious to find out.
It is colorful - red grapes & strawberry, green kiwi, yellow star fruit & banana, orange cantaloupe.
It is arranged in a shape or pattern that kids can identify with - Happy Face.
It has kid friendly textures (in this case juicy fruits, but just as easily made from crisp or crunchy vegetables).

By arranging the foods into patterns that kids can recognize, you also have the opportunity to get them involved in the preparation. After you child devours the Happy Snack Face, you might suggest that for snack tomorrow, he prepare a Scary Snack Face. You cut up the fruits and he can arrange them on the plate. The more involved a child is in the selection and preparation of their meals, the more likely they will eat it, enjoy it, and want to have it again. Not only does this start to get them interested in what they are eating, but it also lays the foundation for healthy eating habits that will benefit them for the rest of their lives.

In order for a healthy recipe to be a hit with kids, it needs to be appealing, so give them what they want. Use recipes that combine imaginative names, bright colors, and kid friendly shapes for a sure fire hit. So like I said before, it's all about presentation.

I'm Mark and I love my kids (twins) and want them to grow up healthy and strong which is why knowing how to prepare healthy meals is important to me. If you liked this article and want more information go to Healthy Recipes for Kids. In addition, I've got lots of other information on ingredients, recipes, kitchen appliances, nutrition, and more on my blog at Home Chef Cooking Tips.

Entertaining Cooking Classes For Kids

noreply@blogger.com (T Lynch) — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 21:53:00 +0000

By Jennie Gandhi
Cooking is an art, a daily routine transferred to a passion. In the ancient times, women of India were known to be masters in cooking and since years they have undertaken this routine activity. Over the period of time women started taking this activity as lucrative career option and have achieved great success in the same over past several years. Tarla Dalal and Neeta Mehta are live examples of the incredible success achieved in the cooking field.

In the present times, men have also started taking interest in cooking. There are men like Sanjeev Kapoor and Hari Nayak who are widely acclaimed for their art in cooking. It has become a huge industry with different styles of cooking and varieties of recipes.

The most interesting aspect is that this simple everyday activity has beautifully transformed from a routine to career to profession and then to a fun activity. For women it was a routine and then a career and men made it a profession with few undertaking it as a passion. When it comes to a level of fun filled activity then children are the ones who enjoy it to the fullest.

Obviously children cannot cook as Sanjeev Kapoor and Tarla Dalal but there are some who really love to cook. Some love helping their mothers in the kitchen and some children just love colorful salad dressing. There are children who pursuit this as a hobby and enjoy whole heartedly in making cakes, chocolates, and biscuits. For such children there are many hobby classes where they can master the art of cooking.

Cooking classes for kids has to be fun-filled and entertaining. Children won't prefer joining any kind of hobby classes where they feel bore. It should be such that it provokes their desire of learning cooking. There should be different batches for children of different age groups depending on which the type of recipes should be selected. For example, a group of 5-10 years will be keener in learning cakes and chocolates but a teenage group will have a better focus on learning and may go for salad dressing or basic breakfast recipes.

These classes can be more exciting with funny chef hats and aprons. Hats and aprons should have designs and pictures like cartoons, cookies, cakes, fruits, colorful salad dish, and ice-creams that children will love wearing. Trust children will love coming to the class without fail and will learn all that is taught with extra energy and excitement.

Furthermore, there are various other options to make the kid's cooking classes more exciting. It also depends on the ambience, the type of utensils, and obviously the kind of teacher. A gentle, friendly, and soft-spoken teacher holds the power to make any type of class more intoxicating. When it comes to children, the kind of teacher plays a vital role in making children learn and also promote their skills and abilities.

To read some interesting stuff, visit Cooking Classes.

Cooking With Kids - Let's Do it Together!

noreply@blogger.com (T Lynch) — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 15:54:00 +0000

If you are searching for an activity that can get your kids involved, then cooking with kids is a fantastic option.

You might be surprised to know that kids love trying out easy recipes in the kitchen and poking around with the cookery. If you can teach your kids to cook healthy dishes then this good habit would stay with them even when they grow up. Let us have a look at the benefits of cooking with kids and the importance of telling them- "Let's do it together!"

1. Instilling good habits - Kids are very impressionable and anything which is taught at this age remains ingrained in their lifestyle for the rest of their lives. Hence it is imperative that you teach your kid to cook nutritious and healthy food at an early age, because afterwards they would be subject to temptations of junk and fast foods. If you want to instill sound habits in your kids, this stage is ideal.

2. Boosting of self-esteem - When a child finds that he/she is accomplishing a task successfully, his/her self-esteem gets boosted. Kids want to contribute in their own small way to their families and in this way they feel that they are doing something worthwhile.

3. Passing of family values and tradition - When you spend quality time with your kids, the family bonding becomes stronger. These priceless moments would remain etched in their minds forever. Later when they grow up or become old, they would pass on the things learnt to the next generation.

4. Teaching practical lessons in math, science, language and creativity - A kid would learn to count, measure, sort and work with fractional quantities, which would strengthen their fundamentals in math. The initial experience of experimenting with various combinations and proportions of ingredients is an integral part of learning science. When the kid is taught to read a certain recipe or to categorically write down a list of ingredients that need to be bought, he/she is imparted language training. Improvising and fine-tuning require imagination and creativity and those are also brought into play when a kid learns to cook.

5. Making them self-reliant - It is observed that many grown-up individuals find it hard to live outside their homes, as they do not know how to prepare even the basic recipes. Cooking with kids would easily address this issue and your kids would face no hassles when they grow up.

6. Teaching teamwork - If you teach your kids how to cook, participate actively with them and bring some of their close friends along, they would learn teamwork very easily. They would learn the tasks of assigning and taking work. Sharing the workload and co-operating with others are extremely important in successful teamwork. When your kids interact freely with their friends, their communication skills also improve and initial shyness which is present in many kids also gets dissipated.

Hence, whenever you find some quality time to spend with your kids, ask them to come to the kitchen and notice the elation on their faces when you shout- - "Let's do it together!"

Hamburger Barley Soup Recipes are good!

noreply@blogger.com (T Lynch) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 20:46:00 +0000

This soup is one of our family favourites. I couldn't beleive I had not posted it before! It is fairly quick to throw together, then let is sit for about an hour to cook. One picky kid asks for us to not give her the whole tomatoes, put she still ate the onions, and cooked carrots without complaint.

This is a huge pot, so don't double the recipe, unless you plan to use a second pot!

1 1/2 lbs ground beef
10 cups water - sometimes I add more
3 tbsp beef bouillon soup base
3 cups sliced carrots
2 large onions, chopped
2 cups sliced celery
1/2 cup pearl barley
1 tsp salt
pepper to taste
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup ketchup
28 oz can tomatoes, undrained
10 oz tomato sauce

1 cup elbow pasta

Brown ground beef in a LARGE pot. Add to the pot all the remain ingedients, except pasta.
Bring to a boil. Lower the temperature, cover and simmer for about 1 hour. Add pasta and cook until tender, adding more water if it is needed.
Serve.

If you think this is great, the second day is even better. I always need to add more water (Pasta soaks it up) before reheating.

Healthy Breakfast Ideas

noreply@blogger.com (T Lynch) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 19:15:00 +0000

Finding something healthy and different to eat for breakfast can sometimes be a hard. In our house we do not have boxed cold cereal, so we are always looking for other great breakfast ideas.

Here's the links to the recipes I have currently posted on this blog that make a great breakfast.

American Pancakes - Refrigerator

Homemade Granola Cereal

Veget able Egg Ba ke Recipe

Eggless Muffin with Berries

Pancake Receipe - Berry Good

Fish Batter

noreply@blogger.com (T Lynch) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 01:31:00 +0000

I LOVE THIS PICTURE!

This meal was so easy and we all loved it! It tasted great, had a wonderful texture, and was easy to whip together and cook.

It was exactly like the batter in a fish and chip restaurant, but only fraction of the cost. For our meal we used one package of frozen fillets ($6), homemade fries (5 lbs potatoes $5), and a small amount of a 2L ginger-ale bottle ($1 on Sale). Total Cost of Entire FAMILY MEAL - $12.

Batter
2 cups flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups ginger-ale
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

2 lb package of frozen fish fillets, partially thawed (we used Basa because it was the cheapest)

Heat up deep fryer to 320F. Remove the wire basket.

With a whisk, mix all the batter ingredients together in a bowl.

Using tongs, dip the partially thawed fish into the batter bowl, then slowly place into the heated deep fryer. The fish will sink to the bottom, then slowly rise back to the surface. Allow it to cook until the batter is brown around the edges. Carefully turn over the fillet. Cook until the entire fish is a beautiful golden brown colour. (approx 10 minutes).

Carefully remove from the deep fryer, and serve.

Strawberry Green Tomato Jam

I loved the close up picture the most, but this one shows the full meal together.

Strawberry Green Tomato Jam

noreply@blogger.com (T Lynch) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:10:00 +0000

This is a great recipe for using your green tomatoes. All you need is to add some pectin, sugar and strawberry jello, and you now have your own homemade strawberry jam (with NO STRAWBERRIES). I was a little hesitant, but this was amazing. It looks good, tastes good, and fairly inexpensive.

I think that raspberry jello would also work, and might look better (tomato seeds). But my husband loves strawberry, so that what we made.

6 cups of green tomatoes, cut into small chunks
1 box pectin
4 cups sugar
2 boxes of strawberry jello (3 oz each) OR 1 cup of Strawberry Jello powder (I buy in bulk!)

Throughout the entire process, stir continually to keep the tomatoes from burning to the bottom. Cook the tomatoes in a large pot for a 5-10 minutes. Add pectin and sugar. Bring to a boil, turn down the temperature keeping it boiling, for 10 minutes. Add jello, boil for 1 minute. (OPTIONAL: I scooped out some of the larger chunks of tomato at this point, and used my blender to chop them up a bit)

Now it is ready to put into your clean jars, seal with a lid, and let sit on the counter till they pop on there own.

Happy eating!

Lemon Baked Fish Recipe

Lemon Baked Fish Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (T Lynch) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 03:59:00 +0000

Dinner tonight was a great success. The fish was the first thing to disappear off of the kids plates, followed by the rice and veggies. We even had everyone ask for seconds. (One of the girls did put ketchup on her fish, but she had thirds!)

frozen fish fillets (we used Basa Fish)
fresh lemons
Italian seasoning

Place frozen fish fillets on a baking sheet. Slice lemons into four thick slices. Place lemons onto the fish fillets. (2-3 slices of lemon per fillet.)

Bake frozen fillets for 30 minutes at 350 or until cooked. Sprinkle with Italian seasoning.

Serve.

American Pancakes - Refrigerator

americian pancakes - refrigerator

noreply@blogger.com (T Lynch) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 01:55:00 +0000

We love pancakes. We eat them with maple syrup, fruit syrup, yogurt, berries, canned fruit, or cream cheese.

The only trouble with pancakes, is it takes a few minutes to make the batter, then a few minutes to cook the pancakes.

This recipe allows us make a huge bowl of batter, and put it aside in the fridge. Whenever we want to serve pancakes for breakfast, lunch or dinner, or even as a snack, it takes only a few minutes to cook them. Quick, fast, and delicious.

1/4 cup warm water
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp yeast
4 cups flour (we use whole wheat)
2 tbsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
6 eggs
4 cups water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp salt

In a small mix the water and the sugar. Sprinkle with yeast. Let yeast stand for about 5 minutes.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, and soda. Add in the yeast, eggs, water, and vegetable oil. Mix well. Add the salt in last.

Mix until well blended. Store in a covered container in the fridge up to one week. Before using, mix the layers back together.

Scoop up 1/4 cup at a time, into hot pans. (with a pat of butter/margarine first few times). Cook until bubbles form and edges are brown. Flip, and cook on other side until it reaches the desired color.

Serve with anything!

Layered Zucchini Casserole

layered zucchini casserole

noreply@blogger.com (T Lynch) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 21:28:00 +0000

Dinner time was approaching, and we were all getting hungry. I wanted to use up some the zucchini we had in the kitchen.

So, I layered it with beef, mushrooms, spaghetti sauce, and cheese. I wasn't so sure if this would be a meal our family would eat, but this dinner turned out so good that we decided it was a keeper.

Two of the kids picked out the zucchini, but ate the rest and asked for seconds. It wasn't really that hard to put together, and tasted good.

2 lbs lean ground beef
3 small zucchini. thinly sliced
2 cans spaghetti sauce
minced garlic
1 can mushrooms
4 cups grated cheese

Brown the beef. Add in garlic.
Preheat oven to 400
In a 9X13 pan, create layers of the following ingredients in this order.
small about of spaghetti sauce (to prevent burning)

1/3 of thinly sliced zucchini
1/2 can of speggetti sauce
1/2 cooked ground beef
1/2 can of mushrooms
1/3 grated cheese

1/2 remaining zucchini
1/2 can sauce,
all beef
all mushrooms
1/2 remaining cheese
all zucchini
pour 1 whole can of sauce over the zucchini.
Sprinkle with all cheese.
Bake for 30 minutes.

Serve.

Homemade Granola Cereal

No Bake Cookies Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (T Lynch) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:20:00 +0000

Watch the video as we make these really easy no bake cookies together.

2 cups sugar
1 tbsp cocoa
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup margarine
4 cups oatmeal

In a large pot, have kids measure sugar, cocoa and milk. Mix. Turn on heat and bring to a boil. Boil for one minute. Remove from heat. Have kids stir in vanilla, margarine, and oatmeal. Give the kids a large cookie scoop, and have them scoop the mixture onto a saran wrap covered tray. Place cookie filled tray into the refrigerator till cooled.

Eat together, and enjoy!

Homemade Granola Cereal

Homemade Granola Cereal

noreply@blogger.com (T Lynch) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 02:37:00 +0000

Fresh warm granola with frozen berries, is a great way to start our day.

We like to double the recipe, and put half away.

6 cups rolled oats
1/2 brown sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 tsp vanilla
1/3 tsp honey
1 cup raisins
1 cup dehydrated apples (or other fruit)

Mix oats, sugar, oil, vanilla and honey in a large bowl. Spread onto a cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes at 350.

Add raisins, and dehydrated apples.

Serve with milk.

Beef Fiesta Mexican Dish

Easy Steak Rub

noreply@blogger.com (T Lynch) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 22:18:00 +0000

Adding spices and herbs to your meat adds variety and really easy.

Use a spoon to apply the garlic, then sprinkling the meat with a mixture of other spices, takes only a few minutes, but add tons of flavor.

To make this simple meal child appealing , we cut our steak into a triangle (cone) shape. Carrots, peas, and corn were mixed into the mash potatoes, and scooped with a cookie scoop. Garnish with long green beans. Our picky eaters eat more vegetables then normal, when they are made into "Veggie Ice Cream" (See Picture)

3 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp onion salt
1 tsp seasoning salt
1 tbsp fresh ground pepper
2 tbsp paprika
pinch celery seed
Steak

Spread garlic on the top of each piece of steak. Mix salts, pepper, paprika and celery seed in a small bowl. Sprinkle this mixture on top of meat.

Cook steak for desired time depending on how well done you want them.

Vegetable Egg Bake Recipe

Vegetable Egg Bake Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (T Lynch) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 02:54:00 +0000

Watch this video to see how easy this recipe is. It has tons of steps that the kids can help with. My seven year old did most of this recipe on her own. (I checked for egg shells, and chopped the vegetables)

12 Eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 head broccoli, chopped
1 1/2 cup cauliflower, chopped
1/2 zucchini, sliced
oregano, salt and pepper to taste
2 cups cheese, grated

Combine eggs and milk in a bowl. Set aside. Chop vegetables, and spread into bottom of 9X13 pan. Pour egg mixture over vegetables. Sprinkle with spices, and grated cheese.

Bake at 350, for 30 minutes or until eggs are completely set.

Serve

Beef Fiesta Mexican Dish

noreply@blogger.com (T Lynch) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 01:43:00 +0000

Serving dinner with corn chips instead of spoons and forks, gives a new twist to dinner time. Quick, colorful, and delicious, makes this Mexican dish a family favorite.

2 lbs ground beef
1 large onion (chunky, to be picked out by picky kids)
2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp pepper
2 cans tomatoes (19oz each)
2 can corn
20 oz water with 2 oxo cube
1 green pepper, chopped
3 cups instant rice

Cook the ground beef until brown in a large pot. Add onion, and cook a few minutes. (Usually long enough open all the cans.) Add all remaining ingredients EXCEPT RICE. Bring to a boil. Cook for 5 -10 minutes. Add rice, cover , and remove from heat. Let stand for 5 minutes, then stir together.

Serve with Tortilla Corn chips.

We love to add a bottle of hot sauce to the table, add to our own tastes. Some kids like it spicy and some do not.

Apple Dutch Pie Recipe

Apple Dutch Pie Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (T Lynch) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 06:28:00 +0000

I had a craving for apple pie! With shopping day just around the corner, and no apples in the house, I knew apple pie was not going to happen. I looked through the cupboards, hoping for an alternative to satisfy my craving. To my surprise, and delight, I found a can of dried apple slices. YES! I could make apple pie after all!

This recipe was very good. The apples were great, and didn't taste or have the texture of a dehydrated apple. One craving satisfied and served with chocolate ice cream!

Dough for bottom and top of pie
3 cups dehydrated apples (firmly packed)
3 cups boiling water
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp flour (we used whole wheat)

Place apples, and boiling water into a saucepan and let sit for about 5 minutes.
Mix into the pot, the sugar, cinnamon and flour. Cook until water thickens.

Pour into bottom of pie pan, and cover with more rolled pie pastry.

Cook for 10 minutes at 400, then bring temperature down to 350, and cook for another 45 minutes.

Well worth the wait!

eggless muffin with berries