Cooking with children is always a complicated adventure, but one in which everyone wins: prepare a meal and entertain them at the same time! Here you have dinner recipes to prepare with children!
Cooking with children
My two children have always liked to help in the kitchen. Birch comes in dragging her stool and says, “I want to help!” Mazen has also shown a lot of interest in cooking this year. brought home this cookbook from her school library and masters the recipe for cinnamon toast. We also tried the garlic parmesan popcorn.
Benefits of having children in the kitchen
Having kids in the kitchen has many benefits: it keeps their hands busy, creates bonding time, teaches them basic cooking skills, connects them with food, and helps them be more responsible as they become young adults.
How my children help
While Mazen can now make her own quesadillas and sandwiches, Birch is still in the simple task zone. She usually assigns him simple tasks even if it is something “not necessary” to do, like “please count these peas and move them from this bowl to that one.”
When cutting potatoes or vegetables, I will ask him to be the one to move them from the end of the cutting board to the bowl or baking sheet. And he LOVES pouring out the little containers of blue apron and stir the sauces. That is definitely his favorite task!
While baking cookies is definitely my kids’ favorite task, here’s a roundup of easy dinner ideas and kid-friendly recipes they’ll love to try.
Dinner recipes to make with children
All noodles
Raise your hand if your kids love noodles! Ours love noodles of all shapes. Simply mix and combine the sauce. While boiling pasta should probably be an adult activity, making sauces or mixing noodles is a fun way to help out.
Ideas include pesto noodles, spaghetti night, taco pasta, noodles with peanut butter sauce, and any type of macaroni and cheese variation.
Recipes:
Quesadillas or Burritos
Quesadillas are the best dinner for children. My kids have them on the registry and Mazen is old enough to make his own in a skillet on the stove! We’ve also been adding spinach leaves to her quesadillas for a while now to give it a little more nutrition. He is used to! And our latest invention is the “pizza-dilla” which is a quesadilla with tomato sauce, cheese and pepperoni inside.
Filling ideas:
- beans and cheese
- shredded chicken
- pizza style
- Ham and cheese
- natural cheese
- add spinach
Easy Baked Chicken
One of the simplest meals in the world: baked chicken. While adults can handle raw meat (nothing scares me more than a kid with raw meat hands!), once the chicken is cooked, you can get help cutting it (older kids) or with sauces (older kids). little ones). Cut the chicken breasts into small pieces and bread them before baking for all you chicken nugget lovers out there!
Recipes:
Breakfast for dinner
If you’re looking for dinner ideas for kids who only eat fruits and carbs (hello, Birch!), making breakfast for dinner together is always a good option. Once a week can be a fun family dinner that strays from the path of regular dinners.
Ideas:
homemade pizza
Another obvious dinner recipe: kids LOVE making pizzas! Homemade Pizza Night is another dinner in our bi-weekly rotation.
Change it up by making pizzas with pitas, English muffins, or even zucchini.
Little Mazey!
burger night
There is a common theme in recipes for children and that is “make your own.” When you have a variety of ingredients on the table, children feel empowered to choose which ingredients you would like to add. This reflects the division of power that is the gold standard for feeling children: parents decide that and when and the children decide which and how much.
Recipes out of the way:
taco bar
As one of our all-time favorite kid-friendly family recipes, we make a taco bar at least every other week. As with all kids’ favorites, this one lets the adults cook the meat and beans, but the rest of the ingredients are easy to prepare and place in bowls so everyone can prepare and “cook” their own taco.
Ingredient ideas
- Traditional ground beef
- shredded chicken
- seasoned fish
- Black or pinto beans
- Cheddar cheese
- Lettuce or cabbage
- Sour cream or plain yogurt
- Guacamole or cubed avocado
- Chopped tomatoes
- mild jalapenos
- Grated carrots (my mom’s favorite ingredient!)
- bell pepper strips
- mild sauce
- tortilla chips
Recipes:
Slow Cooker Recipes
Also known as “throw everything in and stir.” Older children can use the can opener, measure spices, and rinse the cans. Younger ones can be in charge of adding all the newly added ingredients. The best part is that there is no flame, so the kids can participate in the cooking part too.
Recipes:
Prepare your own sandwiches
And last but not least, a sandwich bar! When I was a kid, we ate quite a few homemade sandwiches for dinner. Like taco night, we had a buffet of ingredients and everyone customized their sandwiches to their liking. For me, that was more mustard and pickles, plus some fries!
From time to time we had Sloppy Joes They are not my favorites, but some kids love them!!
Mazen has really enjoyed making her own gourmet sandwiches this year. The secret ingredient is always really good Italian bread! We made these pork sandwiches with a side of Italian chicken soup.
kitchen tools for kids
