4 recipe ideas for 12 3-6 year olds

[loritalie]

Hi, I am hoping someone could help me out with some meal ideas!

In one month's time, I will be responsible for cooking lunch for 12 children (ages 3-6) and their 2 teachers over the course of 4 days at my daughter's kindergarten. Parents share the job of lunch preparation, and soon it will be my turn. We live in Germany, and particularly as a foreigner, I hope to show up with some meals that are both interesting (not so typically German) and tasty for all the kids.

The kindergarten is a forest kindergarten, which means the children spend their days outside, but that there is a trailer available for meeting and having lunch. Cooking facilities are a electric stove top outside and inside a wood burning stove with the option to warm something on top.

I will need to bring the food there already that morning or shortly before lunch. I would like to cook 2 of the meals the night before.

My thoughts were:
vegetable chili with corn bread
beef lasanga
vegetable risotto
some sort of soup with sausages

I thought about cooking the lasagna and the soup the night before.

Do you think these would appeal to most kids tastes? Any other ideas or better suggestions?

Thanks so much!

[JennySmith]

My daughter is 2.5 years and eats everything under the sun....but she does not like tomatoes or tomato based sauces. She's also not a big fan of pasta....

What about a quiche? Super easy, super quick, healthy and yummy? And, can be made the night before (and just set on the wood stove to warm.

[Ruthla]

I was thinking macaroni and cheese with some sort of bright green cooked veggie (cooked with butter) served on the side. IME, little kids often will eat simple foods but not mixed ones- mac n cheese on a plate with broccoli on the other side may all get eaten, but mix the broccili into the pasta dish and it might not get touched at all.

Something like lasagna was NOT typically eaten by my kids when they were very small. Add in that these foods are unfamilair to these kids and there's even a higher chance of rejection.

[loritalie]

Thanks for your replies. My daughter is almost 4 and eats everything... forgot that this likely isn't the norm! I probably won't be able to please everyone. JennySmith, I made a quiche for a friend of my daughter's who was over for lunch and he didn't eat one bite! But my daughter loves quiche. Perhaps he will be the exception in the group.

Ruthla... you are right about unfamiliar foods. Probably not a good idea to deviate from the norm too much. Generally speaking, Italian food is very popular where I live. Funny enough, they call this area the northern most province of Italy. I was just hoping to add a few new ideas to the typical spaghetti bolognese that is so popular here. Perhaps mac and cheese would be that!

Thanks for your suggestions! I will keep planning.

[CallMeKelly]

Cut up pieces of fruit, cheese, veggies and round slices of meat (cut with a cookie cutter to size) with crackers... almost all kids love fruit and cheese to my knowledge... not really a lunch though... processing... add in some http://wondertime.go.com/life-at-hom...o-recipes.html and / or diff. breads?

Quesadillas both chicken and plain cheese maybe with spinach... The form may be unfamiliar but most kids have had and like both chicken and cheese... cut into triangles and provide a salsa dip.

Wraps, cut into pinwheels... fresh spinach and greens with thin cut chicken or turkey and cheese
(no cooking prep, makes it really easy)

Nachos.. another that may be unfamiliar in form but most kids adore... just cook up either ground beef or shredded chicken with taco seasoning on the burner and then top chips with the meat, cheese, lettuce, various veggies/peppers

Sounds like a challenge whatever you end up making, I hope it goes well!