Cooking With Kids

16 years ago

Some of you know about my weekly Family Dinner Night with the DGBs, DD, and DSIL--and the challenges this has presented.

Next week I'm going to have Beau & Lily (5 & 3 years old) help make the dinner for MommyDaddy. They love to help and I want them to have a lot of hands on so it's going to be more about the task than the taste.

So far I have:
Salmon-they can mix the sauce and brush on the fish

Asparagus-they can snap and place on the roasting sheet; brush with EVOO, sprinkle salt

Dump Cake-dump fruit and mix; dot with butter

You get the gist-no knives or complications.

QUESTION: What suggestions can you give me for additional menu items? Maybe another vegetable or even something to replace my menu items thus far.

Thank you,

Grammy

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Comments (15)

lindac
16 years ago
Crazy cake is always a kid pleaser...
And my little ones likes stuffing the slit (made by me) in a hot dog with cheese slices....also sliced by me.
Getting to choose and place on the toppings for a pizza is fun....as are pop biscuits....bang them on the counter and put them on a baking sheet! LOL!
As for veggies....removing the silk from corn was as far as I got...
Don't forget arranging tater tots on top of a tater tot casserole, or dipping strips of chicken in egg wash and then in crumbs and placing them on a cookie sheet.
Have fun....I hope you have a good clean up crew!
Linda C
trixietx
16 years ago
Cathy, uh I mean Grammy, my two DGS's love to cook or help in the kitchen also. They love fruit, I cut the rind off of a small watermelon and they slice it, same with pineapple. I have some plastic toddler knives and that is what they use for a knife for chopping or frosting.

Their favorite dessert is cupcakes. The oldest loves to use the mixer, but they both like to put the frosting on and of course you must have sprinkles.

I also let them chop lettuce for salad with a salad knife. Sounds like you have a good meal planned. Have fun!

aka KK
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triciae
16 years ago
Mine love the salad spinner! They also like to grease muffin tins, wash fruits/veggies, count out how many potatoes we need, wash them, & put in a pile for peeling (by me), run back/forth to the pantry on a scavenger hunt for ingredients, & anything to do with flour.

Have fun.

/tricia
lakeguy35
16 years ago
I'd add a salad to next weeks dinner and let the kids rinse the greens in a sink of water and run them through the salad spinner. I'm sure you have one Ms. Gadget. : ) They could help measure the dressing stuff in the bowl and toss it before serving.

My group love those garlic cheddar biscuits(red lobster copycat recipe) they are super easy. Just bisquick, buttermilk, and grated cheese. They are drop biscuits so they could do the scooping and dropping. After baking they could brush on the garlic butter too.

Have fun with the kiddos....I know you will Grandma!!

David
grainlady_ks
16 years ago
You will find a lot of kid-friendly recipes at the link below. -Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: Kids a Cookin'
mustangs81
Original Author
16 years ago
Wow, I knew would get the best ideas from you all! You have given me some great ideas.

removing the silk from corn
chop lettuce for salad with a lettuce knife
salad spinner
Red Lobster biscuits or smack tube biscuits (I needed a bread)
sprinkles (Lily has to have sprinkles on everything)
scavenger hunt for ingredients
Great website that I had not found I'll report back
THANKS!
dgkritch
16 years ago
Baked potatoes too! They can scrub them clean and wrap in foil. Not tons of fun, but they gotta learn ALL the prep stuff too ya know!

Have fun and take lots of pics!

Deanna
lindac
16 years ago
Gramma Cathy....don't forget that there are all kinds of sprinkles...parsley is sprinkles as are crumbled bacon bits and green box cheese. Grated cheese can be sprinkled as can bread crumbs and even things like raisins....
Has Lily discovered the fine world of glitter??? Not for food....but Grandmas are for glittering...as most moms think it's too messy!
Linda C
pkramer60
16 years ago
No other thoughts here, but I want to see photos of this and no holding back on messy photos either.
Islay_Corbel
16 years ago
Home-made pasta and shape cutters.
jimster
16 years ago
Cathy,

I bought a book called "Kids Fun and Healthy Cookbook" for my GD and GS, ages 8 and 5. When I visited them, I noticed they already had the book and were using it. If you Email me your mailing address I will send you the one I bought.

It has 100 recipes with a good range from from very appealing looking entrees to snacks and desserts. If your grandchildren are still a bit young for this book they will soon grow into it.

Jim
Tracey_OH
16 years ago
Cathy, I LOVE that you do this with your grandkids. What wondeful memories you are making with them! I hope to be the same kind of grandmother one day. You and Annie are such inspirations :) I looked through my pics and here are a few random kid friendly items I've made in the past. I included the Easter cupcakes since Easter is coming up soon. Please post some pics!

Tracey
annie1992
16 years ago
Tracey, I LOVE those cupcakes, The Princess and Bruvver would love those.

Giada is cooking with kids right now on her show and one of the things she's making is "macaroni and cheese cupcakes", she made the mac and cheese, then let the kids add the veggies of their choice, spoon into a muffin tin, sprinkle with more cheese and bake. I'm going to do that with the grandkids soon.

Mine like to make their own pizzas, smearing the sauce and sprinkling the cheese, and they like cracking eggs into anything, measuring ingredients into the bread machine or food processor and Bruvver loves to push the "start" buttons for some reason.

He also likes to help put the dishes in the dishwasher and then push the "start" button on that too. If you have a bread machine you could easily direct Beau and Lily to add ingredients and they could make their own bread.

Most of all, have fun!

Annie
lindac
16 years ago
And Tracy's pictures reminded me of bunny buns! LOL! Just make a basic roll dough and let them roll balls for the tummy and a smaller ball for the head and little skinny strips for ears....
mustangs81
Original Author
16 years ago
Tracey, Those are great pictures. It gave me an idea--I used clipart to make the menu. I put it on the refrigerator to keep us on task during the day tomorrow.

Jimster, Thanks for the generous offer! Expect an email.

Annie, Beau already has his assigned duties for our weekly Family Dinner Night. I will be adding some for Lily but she is a challenge as she crosses her arms and pouts and says "you do it". Unfortunately, Pa, Beau, or Daddy jump when she says that...Talk about wrapped!

Linda, I agree about bunny buns. I think that's an idea for next time once we work out all the kinks.

Thanks for all of the ideas and encouragement. I'm checking the camera now and hope it cooperates.

Cathy/Grammy

Cooking With Kids

Comments (15)

lindac

trixietx

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mustangs81
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