Five Great Cooking with Kids Ideas

One of the most important Gnarly Roots philosophies is “no lonely kitchens”!  In our minds, making food is about being and sharing with others. Whether it is a holiday meal or just a Saturday morning at home, cook together. Instilling this in our kids is important to carry on this family tradition. Also, finding the just right recipes for all ages of children is critical to making it a fun experience for all.  Here are some cooking ideas that we have found engaging and fun for kids of all ages.  You can find links to the recipes throughout.

Pickle’s Party Mix:

Cooking from the Pantry 

I like to also refer to this one as the “pantry cereal clean out recipe” as well.  My daughter loves to help with cooking and it has been an awesome way to practice measurements as well as fine motor and bilateral skills (using two hands in a coordinated way).  So not only are we together doing something fun, she is able to practice some developmental skills as well. Essentially, we pick out 2-3 cereals from the pantry, one type of pretzel, nut, and sweet (like chocolate chips or m&ms).

This recipe idea is great for toddlers through elementary school, as there is a lot of measuring and pouring of non-liquid and for the most part non- messy ingredients. Also, a lot of intermittent stirring! Along the same lines would be making Rice Krispie treats or other simple recipes with pouring and stirring.

If you are wondering if there are pickles included, in Pickle’s Party Mix, that is up to you. We titled this recipe after my daughter’s nickname.  We make our party mix without the pickles.

See this link for the full recipe:

Pickle’s Party Mix

Simple French Toast:

Easy Stovetop Cooking

There are so many delicious and decadent French toast recipes out there.  If your kids are like mine, however, the simpler the better.  Adding nuts and new sauces to French Toast deters them quickly.

This recipe is fun to explore in origin.  It is a little bit of a history lesson!  Our family assumed French Toast was “invented” in France.  Until my son asked me one day, “why is it called French toast?” and we did some investigating, I had no idea!

In summation, a version of French toast dates back to the Roman Empire.  Soaking old bread in milk, eggs, and a variety of other ingredients to be able to use stale bread for some purpose without wasting it.  In America in 1724, an innkeeper in New York named Joseph French began to make this with aging bread to avoid waste.   He called it French’s toast on his menu, but because of a printing error, the apostrophe and s were missing.  Therefore, this grammatical error resulted in the name, French Toast.

My eleven year old son loves cooking this recipe for French Toast, and he is learning how to manage the stove in the process.

Simple French Toast 

Build Your Own Pizza or Nachos:

Great for Playdates and Expanding Palates

If picky eating is a theme in your family life, I love the build your own recipes.  You can explore and experiment with a variety of ingredients through sight and touch. This is the perfect sensory prep for getting comfortable trying new foods. (True for kids and adults!) Meanwhile getting to “invent” your own is exciting as well.  My kids love to make their own dinners when we set up options of toppings.  It is also a fun idea for parties and playdates with kids, to build their own.

There is no link for these recipe ideas, as you likely get the gist.

For a build your own personal pizza scenario, we like personal sized Boboli or using small flat bread or naan as the base.  Purchase your favorite pizza sauce and shredded mozzarella cheese.  Then prep/ slice options of pepperoni, mushrooms, olives, bell pepper, etc. in bowls as options.  You can also get creative with fig spread, prosciutto (I would put prosciutto on everything if I could!), and goat cheese to really expand everyone’s palates!

Similarly for nachos, use your favorite tortilla chips as a base.  Set out bowls of shredded Mexican cheese, prep ground beef or shredded chicken, onions, peppers, etc. for topping options.

Recipes for Baking with Kids

Banana Bread

Most kids can get into baking; cooking cookies, cupcakes, cinnamon rolls, breads, etc.  A lot of opportunity for midday sugar and sensory experiences of getting messy, stirring and using hands to mix or knead dough.

Banana bread is always a hit, and a way to use the “dirty” bananas as our kids have termed them.  The top chef job is of course the peeling and pulverizing of the squishy, over ripe bananas.  Check out our favorite recipe for banana bread here:

Banana bread

Butt Bun Potato Rolls

And in our family, grandmas are the best at engaging the grandkids in the traditional and manageable recipes. One particularly special event is the baking of butt bun potato rolls.  These have been a hit since our kids were able to stand at the counter and roll out small dough balls, like they are play doh.  These were originally intended to be three leaved clover rolls- affectionately and infamously named “butt buns” in our house. The story goes….once a few rolls had only two clover leaves, which as you can imagine ended up looking less like a clover and more like a…. well you get the picture. Let’s just say the name has stuck! Making these potato buns is a wonderful bonding experience, evoking a lot of persistence and humor- oh and they are yummy as well.

Butt Bun Potato Rolls

Super-Sized Cinnamon Roll

We also cannot deny the fun of making the super-sized cinnamon roll for holiday breakfasts throughout the year.  In terms of accessibility and cooking with kids, it is a simple dough, but the recipe calls for phases of waiting and watching, which is a nice way to practice delayed gratification with your kids. They will think it is worth it!  Not to mention the construction of the giant roll is a fun engineering project for all.  Attempting to make even strips of dough for a symmetric outcome is quite the experience!

Super-sized Cinnamon Roll

French Crêpes:

A Cooking with Kids Family Tradition

What do you get when your sister marries a Frenchman? Homemade crêpes with every visit!  Without him there, it is not quite the same. But making crêpes is a family tradition we are so grateful to be adopted into.  Beth’s kids get the honor of making crêpes on a regular basis with their dad as well as grandmother when she visits from France.  It is a cherished routine bringing family together through generations and extended family.

Making these delicate creations is an art and there is no possible way to make a perfect one without practice and training from one of the master chefs of Chez Rello. I feel what makes them the most special is how it is always an event.  Making of crêpes is planned and there is full participation of kids in the making and eating of them.

My son began his crêpe “training” with his uncle when in the first grade.  Shortly after this special time with family, he was asked to write a recipe for school.  Guess what he wanted to write about?  Yes, crêpes (although in his first-grade phonetic spelling, he wrote on his paper “how to make craps”.   Of course, he will likely never live this down!) But his experience and then his desire to record it for all adds to the richness of this tradition. Could crêpes be a cooking with kids tradition in your house too?

The recipe for Mamie Martine’s Crêpes is linked here:

Mamie Martine French Crêpes

Cooking with Kids…

A growth, bonding, and tradition building experience all in one!

Our advice is when you have the time, cook with your kids! At the least, you can foster developmental skills and have some laughs together.  At best, you can cultivate the no lonely kitchen mentality in your home. Making food together with your youngest generations and looking to your family mentors to find those special recipes to build appreciation of carrying on valued traditions.  We hope you can use some of these great cooking with kids ideas to grow connection and joy in your kitchen.