Easy Kids' Recipes

Kids' Cooking Safety

Safety is very important. The littlest kids should prepare foods that require no cooking. If slightly older kids are allowed to stir hot liquids or put items in the oven, they should do so with adult help and supervision. Slightly older school-aged kids can cook foods on the stove top, in the microwave, or in a conventional oven with close supervision and help from adults.

Here are some easy kid’s recipes by age group:

Easy Kids’ Recipes: Preschoolers

Cinnamon Toast

Buy or make a mixture of granulated sugar and ground cinnamon and place it in a container with a shaker top. Make toast with sliced bread. (Whole grain bread makes excellent cinnamon toast.) Spread butter or margarine on the toast while it is hot. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Cut in halves, squares, or triangles and serve as a snack or with breakfast.

Open-Faced Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwiches

As a healthier alternative to peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches, use banana slices (or raisins) to add a sweet fruit flavor to your peanut butter sandwich. These sandwiches should be served and eaten shortly after preparation so that bananas do not turn brown.

Mud-Pie Pudding with Worms

Make instant chocolate pudding according to package directions and pour into custard cups or other individual-sized containers. Or, use pre-packaged individual containers of chocolate pudding from the supermarket. Cover each individual serving of pudding with ¼ inch or so of graham cracker crumbs. Make your own crumbs by crushing graham crackers inside a heavy zip-lock bag or buy prepared crumbs. Sink the lower half of a gummy worm into each serving.

Filled Graham Cracker Treats

Break graham crackers into individual squares. Use leftover homemade icing or purchased icing and frost one of the graham crackers. Place the second graham cracker on top of the icing to make a graham-cracker “sandwich.”

Homemade Lemonade

Place 2 quarts of cold water in a pitcher. Add the juice of three lemons. Add ½ to 1 cup of sugar, depending on how sour the lemons are and your taste; stir with each addition until the sugar is dissolved. You can add the sugar gradually, tasting as you go, until the desired sweetness is obtained.

Peanut Butter and Apples

Slice and core an apple, then let your little one smear peanut butter or Nutella on it. Makes for a nutritious snack.

Banana Pops

Peel and cut or break a banana in half. Slip the banana on a popsicle stick, wrap in foil or plastic wrap and freeze. For a special treat, you can also melt Hershey bars, then let your children roll the popsicle-sticked banana in the chocolate, before rolling in either nuts or granola before freezing.

Easy Kids’ Recipes: School-Age

Scrambled Eggs with Cheese

In a bowl, beat 2 eggs with 1 tablespoon of milk for each serving of scrambled eggs. (Do no use more than six eggs for a 10-12 inch skillet.) Melt butter or margarine in a skillet over medium heat. When butter is hot, but not browning, add eggs and stir. When almost set, add coarsely grated cheddar or other firm cheese.

Blueberry Pancakes

Use your favorite pancake mix or baking mix (like Bisquick®), mix up a batch of pancake batter. To the batch, add ½ to 1 cup of fresh blueberries, washed and well-drained. Bake as usual on a heated griddle or skillet. Serve with more blueberries or with maple syrup.

Spaghetti with Sauce

Use packaged spaghetti sauce seasoning or prepared spaghetti sauce. In a large sauce pan, heat water to boiling and add spaghetti. Cook until done (spaghetti should be cooked through but not be mushy). Heat the sauce and serve over the cooked spaghetti. Or, mix the sauce and spaghetti before serving. Top with grated Parmesan or Romano cheese.

Macaroni and Cheese

Start with a simple, medium white sauce by cooking 2 tablespoons of butter with two tablespoons of all-purpose flour over low heat in a medium saucepan. When the butter and flour have cooked to a thickened paste, gradually add 1 cup of milk and beat with a wire whisk until smooth. Continue cooking over low heat, stirring constantly with the whisk until the white sauce thickens. Gradually add 1 cup grated cheddar or other flavorful hard cheese. Beat with the whisk until the cheese is melted. Cook macaroni until tender. Pour cheese sauce over the macaroni and blend well. You can serve the macaroni at this stage, or if you prefer you can bake it topped with butter breadcrumbs for approximately 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Chicken and Dumplings

Brown chicken pieces in a small amount of oil in a Dutch oven until golden brown. Add chunks of onion, carrot, and celery to the Dutch oven. Add enough canned chicken broth to cover the chicken and vegetables. Season with salt, pepper, and sage (or poultry seasoning). For a stronger-flavored both, dissolve a chicken bouillon cube in the liquid. Cook covered until chicken is tender. Follow package instructions on baking mix like Bisquick® for dumplings. Bring chicken liquid to boiling. Carefully drop tablespoonfuls of dumpling mixture onto chicken. Cook uncovered for ten minutes. Then, cook covered for another ten minutes. Serve chicken and dumplings together in shallow pasta bowls.

Chocolate Cream Pie

Fill a prepared graham-cracker crust with instant or cooked chocolate pudding from a mix. Let chill in the refrigerator until pudding is set. Top with whipped cream or with Cool Whip or other dessert topping. Add chocolate sprinkles if desired.

Summary

Your library and bookstore have lots of cookbooks with easy kids’ recipes. These recipes are tasty and prepared from common ingredients. Also, Internet sites from various food manufacturers, as well as recipe sites, have easy kids’ recipes as well.