Cooking with Kids

Cooking with kids requires lots and lots of patience. You have to get yourself mentally prepared:

• all will not go according to plan
• there will be a big mess that you yourself will be cleaning up
• the final product will not look great, but it still may taste okay
• your “helpers” may quit on you part of the way through

All of this does improve as you cook with your kids more and also find out if they like it. If you don’t think you will have the patience to cook with your kids, hold off until you do. This way you will both enjoy the experience. However, if the kids are still pestering you to do something, let them play with play-dough or keep a tube of pop and bake biscuits, crescent rolls or cookie dough handy and let them be in charge of that. I use to keep some leftover pastry or bread dough in the freezer and bring it out whenever I was baking and let the kids roll it out, cut it and put it on a sheet.

If you are looking for some ideas of what to do with your kids here are some of the ones we have done around here. I have put the rough age level on each one, but you know your kids better than me so please use your best judgment. Have fun.

Recipes to do with kids:

• Bread
• Frozen Yogurt
• Macaroni & Cheese
• Easy Peasy Pasta Salad
• Dips and Spreads
  • Nut Butters
  • Hummus
  • Dill Dip
  • Yogurt Peanut Butter Dip
• Salsas and Sauces
  • Apple Sauce
  • Tomato Sauce
  • Pineapple and Blackberry Salsa
  • Ketchup
• Simple Raviolis
• Marshmallow (adults have to do the making, but kids can do the dusting)
• Pastry and Pies
• Baked Apples
• Deviled Ham
• Popcorn Balls
• Thin Mint Rocky Road Crunch