Category Archives: kids

Cooking with kiddos

baking, kids 2 Comments

Some of my very favorite kids came over to play yesterday — a nine year old boy and five year old twin girls. The girls’ favorite game at my house is, “Hey can we make… (pause while scanning inventory of my pantry… mini cupcake liners spotted) CUPCAKES??”

I love having kids in the kitchen! I say the earlier they learn a love of cooking the better. And kids are more likely to eat food that they helped prepare; any tools you can use to increase kids’ food variety are great. So we baked! Alas, not a lot of pictures, because there were actually four kids (2, 5, 5, and 9) in my kitchen at the time and I didn’t have a second to stop and take pictures.  I did have time, however, to think of a few tips for cooking with kids:

First, of course, safety. Use common sense. If it might be dangerous, do it yourself. No knives, ovens, burners or food processors for kids, and use extreme caution with any electrics, like the stand mixer.

Second, and the kids would say this is the most important, you have to be FAIR! Nothing like the whine of, “No faaaaiiiiirrrrrr!” to put a damper on things. We needed to sift two cups of flour yesterday, so A sifted while L dumped in the first cup of flour, then they switched. And in switching, of course, about 1/2 cup flour ended up on the floor, but no biggie.

No job is too little to be entertaining. I filled up the measuring cups with ingredients and handed them off, and the kids dumped from the cup into the mixing bowl. They felt this was a terribly important job, and I loved it.

The kitchen is a great place to work in a little math, too. While they were putting liners in the mini muffin tins we talked about how many they had filled, and how many they’d need to finish the pan.

Kids are surprisingly willing to help clean up during cooking. Picking up toys? Lame. Sweeping up sugar? No problem! Put ’em to work! It’s a good lesson to learn that it’s part of the deal to clean up after yourself.

And the best part for last: when you need them occupied long enough to know you can safely open the oven? Time to lick the bowl!

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We like to move it move it….

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A word of warning before you proceed: if you do not parent/nanny/otherwise interact on a TMI level with a toddler and have never dealt with the, um, ickier sides of toddlerhood, stop here. Seriously. Do not read any further.

If you DO, however, find yourself acquainted with the ickier parts of toddlerdom, you may need this recipe. It is with that in mind that I even publish such a thing — I couldn’t find something fitting, so I made it up.

So if you’re still reading, consider yourself warned.

This is one of my solutions for The Kiddo Who Needs Fiber But Who Will Not Knowingly Ingest Fruits or Vegetables. I’m building an arsenal of solutions.

I’ve spent the last twenty minutes trying to think of a cuter title for this recipe:

Constipation Cookies

Bulk Biscuits

Move It Muffins

Sadly for all of you, I’m kind of at a loss.

Sadder still: sometimes toddler digestive issues are just not cute. We’ll leave it at that.  Without further ado: one of my secret weapons.

In a mixing bowl:

  • 1 cup whole wheat flour (I use only King Arthur flour)
  • 1/2 cup flax meal
  • 1 Tbsp. baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp instant yeast
  • pinch of salt

Cut in with a pastry blender:

  • about 3 Tbsp of butter till the mix looks like cornmeal.

Add to this:

  • a big squeeze of dark Karo syrup (maybe a couple Tbsp.)
  • enough milk to make it look like biscuit dough.

If your toddler is willing to eat such a thing, raisins would be a great addition to these. Mine is not.

Pat out the dough on a floured surface (I use a floursack) and cut biscuits. Place closely together on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. To make them even more treat-like, sprinkle lightly with cinnamon sugar. Now bake them at 350* for about 20 minutes or until they’re a nice golden brown.

* I normally bake biscuits at more like 400 or 450 but whole wheat flour is denser and takes longer to cook through, so I like a lower temperature for these; that way the outside doesn’t get too crispy before the inside is done.

I have tried these, and they’re actually kinda tasty! The butter and the sweetness of the Karo make them more likely to actually be consumed by a toddler. With a smear of Nutella on top they’re downright tasty (but so is practically anything with Nutella). With some Sunbutter on them, they’re a meal for The Kiddo in and of themselves! Also (confession alert) I told my kid they’re cookies. So far he’s buying it.

Healthy chicken nuggets

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The Kiddo loves him some chicken nuggets. Don’t most kids? Although he would prefer they always be from Chick Fil A, I thought we’d branch out and try them at home.

I started out with just one chicken breast, boneless and skinless. I cut it into bite-sized nuggets, and got myself all set up:img_4516

That’s melted butter on the left, cornmeal and wheat germ in the middle (trying to sneak in some healthy stuff). I dipped the chicken in the butter, then dredged in the wheat germ/cornmeal mix, and let it sit while I warmed up oil in the pan. I used half olive oil, half canola oil (was worried the flavor of olive oil alone would be “different” enough that it would throw off The Kiddo).

Next, fry ’em up!

img_4518I cut them so small that the frying itself was very quick. By the time they were browned on all sides, they were cooked through.

Draining and cooling:

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I used chopsticks for frying because I didn’t have any non-metal tongs and didn’t want to scratch up the pan.

Verdict: success! The Kiddo liked them. And I thought they were pretty tasty too!