cooking for kids - looking for ideas

[Annikate]

Do any of you with younger kids (3,4,5 or so) let them *cook*? DD1 is just starting to LOVE cooking.

We are a wheat-free household and don't eat junk. I googled kids' recipes and all I found was a bunch of sugary snacky type things. I want to let dd help prepare a *real* meal - a nutritious one that she'll actually eat.

So far all I can come up with are rice balls. Actually, I think she'll like them.

Anybody have any good ideas?

ETA: DD is only 3 and can't use the stove. So, I need ideas for cooking without *actual* cooking.

I'm going to cross post this in nutrition too.

[Thalia the Muse]

There's a lot of easier stuff. Scrambled eggs, hamburger patties or meatballs, lentil soup.

[Annikate]

Should've said, *cooking* without a stove.

[Thalia the Muse]

Oh! Well that cuts the options down a bit (I do let my five-year-old cook on the stove, with INTENSE adult supervision). Fruit kabobs. Salad greens. You can make a primitive kind of apple crisp in the microwave, but it's not as good as one you really bake. Hmmm. Couscous salad, with you preparing the couscous? Oh wait -- no wheat. Rice salad?

[meemee]

are you saying where dd cooks from start to finish all by herself? that is a tough one. i can think of tacos, fruit salad or other salad.

my dd helps me with the process. she loves helping and being a part of it rather than the whole thing from scratch to finish.

i read off teh ingredients and she gets them for me. she does the measuring and hte mixing. she loves digging her hands in so we do a lot of kneading.

but she mostly helps me with food preparation all the time.

[nicole lisa]

Can your DD not stand on a stool with you by her side and stir stuff on the stove top? That's what we did with DS at her age.

Also, at 3 he was in a pre-schoolers cooking class and they had all the kids dicing up tomatoes etc for salsa using one of those chopping tools with a handle. Like this: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...n-20/ref=nosim

We bought one for DS and he loves it. The blades don't cut hands.

Have you checked out Mollie Katzen's cookbook for pre-schoolers? http://www.amazon.com/Pretend-Soup-O...e=UTF8&s=books

You could adjust the recipes to exclude wheat. The cool part of the cookbook, and an idea I used for my own fave recipes, is Katzen prints the recipes twice - once in written form and another using pictures so kids can follow the recipes step by step on their own. Another cool thing is she walks you through what part of the recipe is pre-schooler friendly and which part a child might need a hand with.

I'd see if your library has a copy.

Another fave for us is Cooking Time is Family Time http://www.amazon.com/Cooking-Time-F...e=UTF8&s=books

The woman who wrote it used to be involved in schools in lower income areas of New York. She developed a program which honoured the diverse make-up of the schools and incorporated children in the kitchen. Each recipe has guidelines for what different aged kids could do in making it. Lots of really hearty and yummy dishes. The African Chicken/Peanut stew is awesome. She has a ton of legume dishes.

[Annikate]

Originally Posted by nicole lisa

Can your DD not stand on a stool with you by her side and stir stuff on the stove top? That's what we did with DS at her age.

Also, at 3 he was in a pre-schoolers cooking class and they had all the kids dicing up tomatoes etc for salsa using one of those chopping tools with a handle. Like this: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...n-20/ref=nosim

We bought one for DS and he loves it. The blades don't cut hands.

Have you checked out Mollie Katzen's cookbook for pre-schoolers? http://www.amazon.com/Pretend-Soup-O...e=UTF8&s=books

You could adjust the recipes to exclude wheat. The cool part of the cookbook, and an idea I used for my own fave recipes, is Katzen prints the recipes twice - once in written form and another using pictures so kids can follow the recipes step by step on their own. Another cool thing is she walks you through what part of the recipe is pre-schooler friendly and which part a child might need a hand with.

I'd see if your library has a copy.

Another fave for us is Cooking Time is Family Time http://www.amazon.com/Cooking-Time-F...e=UTF8&s=books

The woman who wrote it used to be involved in schools in lower income areas of New York. She developed a program which honoured the diverse make-up of the schools and incorporated children in the kitchen. Each recipe has guidelines for what different aged kids could do in making it. Lots of really hearty and yummy dishes. The African Chicken/Peanut stew is awesome. She has a ton of legume dishes.

Thanks for the links!

Of course, she could do the stove thing but I'm thinking more of something for her to do *while* I'm at the stove yk?

[Annikate]

Originally Posted by Thalia the Muse

Oh! Well that cuts the options down a bit (I do let my five-year-old cook on the stove, with INTENSE adult supervision). Fruit kabobs. Salad greens. You can make a primitive kind of apple crisp in the microwave, but it's not as good as one you really bake. Hmmm. Couscous salad, with you preparing the couscous? Oh wait -- no wheat. Rice salad?

Fruit kabobs! That's a great idea. Thanks.

[Peony]

DD helps me cook practicially everything we eat, and has since she could stand up. She's 3, she stirs on the stove with me right there. She really likes to help me cut up veggies and etc... I'll give her a butter knife and she "helps" for a while, and then she likes to put the veggies and stuff in seperate bowls. Mixing is always great fine, she loves to add all the ingredients by herself after I measure them out. She loves to roll out dough, and kabobs are great fine, she likes to thread all the ingredients on.

[Dakota's Mom]

I second "Pretend Soup" Also, "Someone's in the Kitchen with Mama" I think there's another one out there too. Anyway, one of them, I think it's "Pretend Soup" has the recipes in pictures so the child can follow along even if they can't read.

Kathi

[4Marmalade]

Originally Posted by Dakota's Mom

I second "Pretend Soup" Also, "Someone's in the Kitchen with Mama" I think there's another one out there too. Anyway, one of them, I think it's "Pretend Soup" has the recipes in pictures so the child can follow along even if they can't read.

Kathi

I third "Pretend Soup". My ds (almost 4) just pulled the book our today and bookmarked the next recipe we're going to try.

[annethcz]

Jumping on the Mollie Katzen bandwagon. My kids LOVE those cookbooks!

[ewe+lamb]

DD is 4 and has 'helped' me forever with the cooking, peeling potatoes and carrots are a really big hit, I just go over and finish them for her, chopping softer veg and fruits with a butter knife is also a possibility, dd LOVES avocados so I do a avocado and crab/prawn salad with her. Also LLL has a book called 'Whole Foods for the Whole Family' - it's a great book, also the book 'Healing Foods' is great giving the values of the finished meal and which recipes can be used for different allergies - both books are great and could help you and dd with your cooking. The other thing I've started doing is just reducing the amount of sugar in cookie and cake recipes there's really no need for so much sugar so just reducing the recipe by a couple of ozs works really well.

Good luck and enjoy!

[mommy68]

Here's a book we have in our house called "Silly Snacks"
Here's a link at amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Favorite-Brand...e=UTF8&s=books

The silly snacks book includes recipes such as: apple oatmeal snack bars, bagelroonies, easy nachos, grilled cheese/turkey shapes sandwiches, leapin lizards, zucchini sticks, tic tac toe pizza, wormy apples, and more! It's a great little book with loads of homemade, nutritous recipes. My kids love it. I even bought an apron and hat for my youngest child to wear.

Here's an online cookbook that you can buy and then download pages:
http://www.princesscrafts.com/kidcoo...idcookbook.htm

When we aren't cooking from a cookbook the children still love to help me out, even my oldest two.