4 Healthy Recipes For Little Cooks

One of the places in the house where children can learn the most is cooking. Children are naturally curious and creative, and letting them experiment with cooking can provide many benefits.

Children in the kitchen: an opportunity to learn and have fun

In addition to having fun and having fun, thinking of easy recipes for children to make and letting them try to make them themselves teaches them many things. It helps them understand what it means to eat healthy, create balanced dishes, and dare to try new flavors and textures, discover foods, and learn where they come from.

In addition, when cooking with children, we can accompany them in learning many skills, such as teamwork, reading, following instructions, counting, measuring and weighing, improving self-confidence, developing fine motor skills, concentration and coordination. and cultivate your patience.

Cooking also stimulates their creativity and is a good way to socialize in the family.

Children can help in the kitchen from a very young age. It is very important to give them their time to do things, to be patient and not try to do things perfectly. For example, if we are making vegetable burgers and the children help us, it is most likely that they will end up having a different size and the dough will be all over the surface.

We have to relax and let them do things their own way and mess up the kitchen, because that’s how they learn.

What recipes to make with children

To start we have to choose well the recipes that we are going to prepare. It is typical to choose easy recipes for children to make that are also very popular with them, such as cookies, muffins or pastry dishes.

However, it is equally important to teach them to prepare everyday dishes such as salads, vegetable protein such as tofu or tempeh, legumes, whole grains or vegetables … It is a nice way for them to understand good eating habits.

We also have to keep in mind that the dishes should not take long to be done, because the children do not have patience and they want the results now.

Before starting it is important to explain the safety rules. They need to understand the danger of fire and sharp utensils and, in addition, the importance of good hygiene in the kitchen, such as washing fruits and vegetables and washing hands. Then you just need to put on your apron and get to work.

Depending on the age, it will be more appropriate to propose one type of activities or others. Let’s see some ideas or recipes to make with children depending on whether they are younger or older:

With the little ones

Very young children generally love to mix things up. They can help to knead dough, make macerates, add spices, measure ingredients, turn on the mixer with the help of an adult …

It is best to start by preparing cold dishes that do not need an oven and that have only a couple of steps.

As they learn and gain confidence, they can start with more complicated dishes. At first they will always need adult supervision but as they will learn later they will be able to start doing things themselves.

Between 5 and 8 years

Children from 5 years old can already prepare the dishes themselves, such as toast, salads, dips and spreads, smoothies or night porridge. They can also help with tasks such as:

• Peel and cut all kinds of vegetables.
• Make vegetable burgers or meatloaf.
• Make energy balls.
• Decorate pizzas.
• Cut cookies.

Between 8 and 12 years

From the age of eight they can be more independent and can even do things in the fire. They can prepare simple pasta dishes, muffins or cakes, hummus or oatmeal pancakes or original colorful pancakes.

From 12 years old

From twelve years old they can already make complete dishes such as baked vegetables, legume dishes, tacos, stir-fries, stews …

The best thing is to let them continue at their own pace, so that they can let their imagination run wild and become familiar with the world of cooking by discovering the little chef inside them.

4 recipes to make with children

Here I propose these four recipes for children to make, with or without supervision depending on age and experience. They are easy and healthy recipes that they will enjoy cooking or helping to prepare and that they will also enjoy eating later.

Peanut and chocolate energy balls

Prep: 10 minutes Cook: 5 minutes

We can make energy balls even with the little ones. The kids can do the whole process: mix the dough, taste it and make the balls.

The only thing we help them with is turning on the mixer to crush the rolled oats.

Ingredients:

• 100 g of rolled oats
• 100 g of grated almond or coconut flour
• 4 tablespoons peanut butter
• 4 tablespoons maple syrup or rice
• 1 tablespoon of coconut oil
• a pinch of salt
• 100g chocolate chips

preparation:

1. In a blender, blend the oat flakes until you get flour.
2. In a small saucepan, heat the peanut butter with the syrup until it melts.
3. In a bowl, mix the oatmeal with the almond or coconut flour and a pinch of salt. Add the liquid mixture, the coconut oil and mix well.
4. If the dough is too sticky (depends on the peanut butter), add some rolled oats. If it’s too dry, add a little syrup. Taste the flavor.
5. Finally add the chocolate chips.
6. Roll into balls and store in the fridge.

To make it more fun, you can put a short stick in each ball and make a type of lollipop.

Tofu skewers with teriyaki sauce

Preparation: 20 minutes Maceration: 30 minutes Cooking: 35 minutes

Presentation is everything. Children eat with their eyes and they love everything fun and colorful.

These skewers are very simple. Children can prepare the mash, cut the vegetables and tofu, and make the skewers. They will only need help to put them in the oven or make them on the barbecue.

In addition, the skewers are very versatile. If you do not like the sauce, we can marinate the skewers only with tamari or even with oil and a little salt and, instead of tofu, use seitan, vegetable sausages or vegetable burger trunks and use the vegetable that you like the most, such as broccoli, pieces of corn on the cob, cherry tomatoes, or even fruit like peaches, nectarines, or pineapple.

Ingredients (8 skewers):

For the macerate:

• 1 teaspoon of olive oil
• 1 clove garlic
• 8 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup or rice
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• a small piece of grated fresh ginger
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 120 ml of water

For the skewers:

• 400 g firm tofu
• 1 red bell pepper
• 6 mushrooms
• 1 small zucchini
• 2 tablespoons oil
• Salt

preparation:

1. Open the tofu, remove the water, wrap in a kitchen paper, put a weight on top and let it drain.
2. If you are going to make the skewers on the barbecue and you have wooden chopsticks, put them in a bowl and cover with water so that they do not burn later.
3. Meanwhile, make the teriyaki sauce. In a bowl, mix all the ingredients well except the oil and garlic. Take care that the cornstarch is well dissolved and there are no lumps. In a small saucepan, heat the oil and sauté the garlic for about 30 seconds. Pour in the liquid mixture and cook the sauce for 2 minutes, mixing until it thickens. Taste the flavor and, if necessary, add more sweetener or vinegar.
4. Dice the tofu. In a bowl, mix the tofu with half of the sauce and marinate for at least half an hour.
5. Prepare the vegetables. Remove the seeds from the pepper. Cut the zucchini into slices, the bell pepper into pieces, and the mushrooms in half. In a bowl mix the vegetables with salt and oil.
6. Prepare the skewers by altering the vegetables and tofu.
7. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and cook 30 minutes. Or cook on the barbecue for 3 minutes on each side.

Serve the skewers with the rest of the sauce.

Chocolate rocks and corn flakes

Preparation: 5 minutes – Cooking: 5 minutes

A dessert that children can make on their own in just 5 minutes and also with just 1 bowl. They will only need the help of an adult to melt the chocolate.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of toasted corn flakes
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 3/4 cups dark chocolate
• 4 tablespoons of nuts such as almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios, cashews, walnuts, blueberries, raisins …

preparation:

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a saucepan combine the oil, syrup and chocolate and melt at low temperature. Add the cornflakes and nuts and mix well.
3. With the help of a tablespoon, place rocks of the mixture on the greaseproof paper. Let it cool.

Burritos with sweet potato, broccoli and chickpeas

Preparation: 30 minutes – Cooking: 40 minutes

Children love to eat with their hands and all kinds of snacks are always welcome. These burritos are filled with sweet potato, crispy broccoli and chickpeas and a guacamole sauce. They are easy to prepare and easy to eat.

Ingredients (4 people):

• 400 g of cooked chickpeas
• 1 sweet potato
• 1 broccoli
• 4 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 teaspoon coriander
• 1 teaspoon of cumin
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• Salt

For the guacamole:

• 2 ripe avocados
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• Salt

For 6-8 whole grain or cereal wraps:

• Lettuce leaves
• tomato slices
• 6 slices of vegetable cheese (optional)

preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
2. Drain the chickpeas well.
3. Wash the sweet potato well and carefully dice it with the skin. Cut the broccoli into florets. Peel the garlic.
4. In a large bowl, mix the olive oil with salt, paprika, cumin, coriander and garlic.
5. Add the sweet potatoes and chickpeas and mix well. Pour into a baking tray greased with a little oil and bake for 15 minutes.
6. In the same bowl mix the broccoli with a teaspoon of salt and olive oil and after 15 minutes add to the tray with the vegetables and bake 25 more minutes until the vegetables are done.
7. Make the guacamole. Remove the pit from the avocados and scoop out the pulp with a spoon. In a small bowl, mix the avocado pulp with a little salt, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, 1 crushed garlic clove and nutritional yeast. Taste the flavor and add more salt or lemon juice if you prefer.
8. Prepare the tomato slices and lettuce leaves for serving.
9. When the vegetables are done, serve the tray on the table along with the guacamole and raw vegetables.
10. Heat the wraps in the oven with the remaining heat. You can put a slice of cheese on top of each wrap. Serve the wraps with the vegetables.