Easy Cooking With Your Kids: Recipe Ideas
When you first get started with the idea of cooking with your children it might seem slightly overwhelming, especially if you’re in a household with kids who have small attention spans. Not to mention having them around knives and other small appliances might be a little too much for you to handle. Luckily, there are plenty of easy dishes that your kids will not only love to cook with you but will also love to eat.
If you’re interested in figuring out easy ways to cook with your kids, consider these phenomenal recipes to use to your advantage.
1. Homemade Pizzas
The first thing to ask yourself is, how many kids don’t like pizza? It’s pretty easy to say that any child who doesn’t love the combination of meat, cheese, and bread would definitely be an anomaly.
One of the best things about multicolored pizzas is your kids can take part in more than one part of the entire cooking process, and they will have the ability to customize their very own dinner!
All you’ll need is premade pizza dough, pizza sauce, an assortment of toppings (based on what your family typically eats on their pizza), cheese, and a rolling pin. You can start by putting all of the ingredients into separate bowls and placing them on your kitchen island or counter. Then, give each child their own roll of dough and teach them how to roll it out on the counter so it can be prepared for the toppings.
At this point, your children can take over the rest of the process, as all they will have to do is add pizza sauce, their perfect toppings, and cheese. You can then pop it into the oven for them and take it out when it’s cooked. Kids love the ability to see how what they made transformed once it was cooked.
2. Fajitas
You might be thinking, there’s nothing more dangerous than putting a child in front of the stove as you cook chicken and you’re right. However, with fajitas, kids will love the idea of filling them with bright and colorful vegetables more than anything else!
Once you have cooked all of the chicken and it’s ready to be placed in the wraps, give your children the ability to choose from an assortment of toppings that would typically be put inside of a fajita. You can choose things such as guacamole, sour cream, cheese, tomatoes, salsa, basil, and more.
Depending on the age of your children, you can even have them cut the vegetables themselves, such as peppers and mushrooms, and add them into the wraps.
3. Frozen Banana and Strawberry Treats
There’s nothing your kids will love more than being able to come home to great treats after school – especially in the summer. These frozen banana and strawberry treats are easy for them to make, slightly mess-free, and equally as delicious.
All you’re going to need is popsicle sticks, fresh strawberries, fresh bananas, melted chocolate, and sprinkles. Ideally, you’ll want to melt the chocolate for the kids to ensure it doesn’t burn and is at the ideal consistency.
Have your children use a butter knife to cut 1” thick slices of banana and the tops off the strawberries. They can then create their own fruit shishkabobs by using the popsicle sticks. We’ve found the best pattern is a strawberry, banana, and then strawberry.
Once all of the skewers have been assembled, it will be time for you to start melting the chocolate and as it is finished, dip the top fruit of the skewer into the chocolate and place it on a sheet of parchment paper. Your children can then dip each of the chocolate covered tips into their favorite sprinkles for a little more color.
Now that all of the skewers have been sprinkled, place them into the freezer for about an hour and they should now be ready to eat!
4. Homemade Meatballs
Whether you want to make spaghetti or if your kids just love meatballs on their own, they’re incredibly simple to make with kids of all ages. All you need to do is focus on a little bit of preparation and then allow them to be as creative as they desire.
With homemade meatballs, you’re going to need ground meat of your choice, seasonings and finely chopped onions and peppers. As the adult, it’s your responsibility to chop up all of the vegetables and place them into a bowl that your kids can easily access. You’ll also want to put the recommended amount of seasoning into a bowl so your kids can add it on their own.
Once their meatball station is set up and ready to use, allow the kids to add all of the ingredients and get to the fun part – making the meatballs. They’ll love being able to mix everything together with their hands and create small balls out of the meat to be put either in the oven or cooked on the stovetop.
We’ve found this recipe is perfect for kids that love to get their hands dirty and really want to take an involved role in making dinner. The best part is all of the ingredients have been premeasured by you, and so there’s no need to worry about over or under seasoning.
When it comes to cooking with your children there might be a couple of things that force you to consider whether it’s a good idea or not. First, are your kids even going to be interested in cooking? Second, is it safe? With the help of these great everyday home cooked meal recipes, you’ll begin to see that cooking with children is much different than what you watch on cooking shows on television. There are plenty of things you make every day that your kids would be perfect at and you’d be surprised to learn they’d be more than happy to take part in whatever you’re doing.
Teaching your children how to cook helps them to build a strong foundation for the skills they’ll use to their advantage in the future, and it’s best if you start creating meals with them sooner rather than later!
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