8 dishes you can cook with kids – recipes with photos

In the process of preparing dinner, mothers usually kick the children out into the room or try to keep them occupied with something useful in order to avoid an extra hour of cleaning and absolute chaos in the kitchen. Although joint culinary creativity can be useful and enjoyable for mom and child. Children’s habit – to imitate parents – will help to attract the child to the “secrets” of cooking, teach how to cook simple dishes, distract from fashionable gadgets and give impetus to creative development.

COLADY will tell you about the dishes you can cook with your children. Take note of our recipes!

See also: Quick recipes.

Sandwiches

This “dish” can be done even by a baby 4-5 years old. Of course, provided that mom chops all the ingredients in advance. The cooking process can be turned into an exciting competition for the “most fabulous sandwich”.

What should be done?

• Wash (if necessary) and cut bread, sausage, cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, herbs, lettuce, olives, etc. Mayonnaise with ketchup (for decoration) will not interfere.
• Create funny fairy tales, animal faces, etc. on sandwiches. Let the child show imagination and arrange the ingredients the way he wants. And mom will tell you how you can make mustaches and Christmas trees from dill, eyes from olives or mouths from ketchup.

Canapes

These tiny sandwiches on skewers can be mastered by any kid 4-5 years old. The scheme is the same – to cut the food and allow the child to independently build a culinary masterpiece for a tired dad after work or just for a small family holiday. As for the skewers, you can buy them especially for the child – funny and colorful.

• Fruit canapes. We use in the bulk of soft and tender fruits – grapes, strawberries, kiwi, watermelon and melon, bananas, peaches. Wash fruits, cut and chop on skewers. You can garnish with fruit syrup or chocolate chips. By the way, bananas, strawberries, peaches and ice cream make an amazing salad, which can also be made with a crumb.
• Meat canapes. We use everything we find in the refrigerator – cheese, ham, sausage, olives, herbs and lettuce, bell peppers, etc.
• Vegetable canapes. A kind of salad on skewers of cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, carrots, herbs, etc.

Funny snacks

It is extremely important for children that the dish has not only an unforgettable taste, but also an attractive (in their understanding) appearance. And mothers can help their babies create a real miracle from simple products.

For instance…

• Amanita. Boil hard-boiled eggs, clean, cut off the lower part for stability (these will be mushroom legs) and put on washed lettuce leaves (meadow). Cut the small tomatoes washed by the baby in half. Then the child puts these “hats” on the “legs” and decorates them with drops of mayonnaise / sour cream. Don’t forget to decorate the clearing with dill herb.

You can plant in the same clearing …

• Spider (body made of olive, legs – shavings from crab sticks).
• Ladybug (body – tomato, legs, head, specks – olives).
• Tree (trunk – boiled carrots, foliage – cauliflower).
• Mouse (melted cheese triangle – body, tail – greens, ears – sausage, nose, eyes – from olives).
• Snowman (body – three tiny potatoes on a skewer, hat / nose – carrots, eyes – peas).
• Herringbone (cheese slices on a skewer, with a sweet pepper star on top).

Bouquet of tulips for grandmother or mother

This dish can be prepared with dad – for mom, or together with mom – for grandmother.

• Together with my child, we wash cucumbers, herbs, sorrel leaves, tomatoes (“finger”).
• Making the filling for the buds. We grate 150-200 g of cheese and an egg on a fine grater (if the child is already allowed to use the grater, let him do it himself). The child can also mix grated foods with mayonnaise himself (as well as peeling eggs for the filling).
• Mom cuts the cores out of the tomato to the shape of the buds. The kid carefully fills the buds with filling.
• Next, together with the child, we lay on an elongated dish the stems (greens), leaves (sorrel leaves or thinly and lengthwise sliced ​​cucumbers), the buds themselves.
• We decorate with a beautiful mini postcard with wishes.

Lollipops

Not a single child will refuse from lollipops and from participation in their preparation.

We need: sugar (about 6 tablespoons / l) and 4 tablespoons / l of water.

• The child pours sugar into a stainless steel container and pours 4 tablespoons of water there.
• Mom puts the saucepan on the fire and waits for it to boil. At this time (while the syrup is boiling), the child greases the prepared forms with butter (if you don’t find the usual “Soviet” ones, you can buy special forms for lollipops or silicone baking dishes). “Lubrication” is needed so that the lollipops do not stick to the molds (the taste of butter will not be felt afterwards).
• Mom lowers the heat under the simmering syrup. No stirring of the syrup is required.
• As soon as the syrup turns brown, turn off the heat and pour future candies into molds.
• The child inserts wooden (or plastic) sticks into the solidifying syrup.
• We wait 15-20 minutes, take out and feast on.

Before pouring the syrup, you can add berries, candied fruits or pieces of fruit to the molds. Colored lollipops can be made if desired.by adding food coloring to the water before heating it and stirring well.

Cottage cheese gnocchi

We need: a pack of cottage cheese, an egg, zest from half a lemon, sugar (1 tbsp / l with a slide), flour (25 g), semolina (25 g).For the sauce: powdered sugar, lemon juice (a few drops), strawberries.

• Wipe the cottage cheese through a sieve (a child can do this).
• Add the egg, sugar and zest. We mix everything thoroughly.
• Next, add semolina mixed in advance with flour. Of course, we involve the child in every action.
• Stir again, cover with foil and hide in the refrigerator (overnight).
• In the morning we take out the dough and, having moistened our hands with water, roll the balls.
• Form gnocchi from balls with a fork and boil in slightly salted water until floating.
• We make the sauce using a blender, mixing the necessary ingredients. Put the gnocchi on a dish and pour over the sauce.

Pizza

One of the most favorite dishes for children.

• We prepare the dough ourselves or buy ready-made so that later we do not wash the kitchen of flour.
• We take out from the refrigerator everything that can be useful for pizza – sausages, ham and sausage, cheese, chicken / beef fillet, tomatoes and olives, mayonnaise with ketchup, herbs, bell peppers, etc. Cut and grate the ingredients.
• Let the child choose the pizza toppings on his own., will spread it fantastically on the dough and decorate it to your liking.

Instead of one large pizza, you can create several small ones.

DIY ice cream

For milk ice cream, we need: Eggs (4 pcs), a glass of sugar, vanillin, milk (2.5 glasses).

• Sift the sand, pour in the yolks and rub thoroughly.
• Add vanillin (to taste) and pour the mixture into a saucepan.
• Dilute with hot milk, heat, stirring occasionally.
• As soon as the mixture thickens and the foam disappears, remove the container from the stove and filter the mixture through cheesecloth (sieve).
• Cool, pour the mass into an ice cream maker, hide it in the freezer.

And so that joint culinary creativity with children is a pleasure, we remember some useful tips:

• We prepare all the products in advance in the right proportions and wide dishes.
• Letting children feel, pour, stir, taste (they love it).
• We do not scold if something does not work out for the child., shatters or crumbles.
• Eliminating complex recipes, for which it takes more than half an hour (children simply do not have enough patience), and we take into account the tastes of the baby when choosing a recipe.
• We teach the child to weigh, measure, set the table, concentrate on one lesson, use complex kitchen items (mixer, rolling pin, pastry syringe, etc.).

Do you cook with children? Share with us on comments!