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Explore nutrition tips, kids’ meal plans, kids’ activities, recipes and more from pediatric nutritionist, Melissa Halas, MA, RDN, CDE.

Cooking with Kids: Healthy Recipes to Make with Your Little Chef

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Cooking with Kids: Healthy Recipes to Make with Your Little Chef

It’s time to put your kids to work – in the kitchen! When kids have a hand in cooking, it makes trying new foods more fun and interesting (and less intimidating).

Make cooking a regular activity and you’ll get to spend more time together too! Check out these simple recipes and suggested kid-friendly tasks.

Tomato & Cucumber Salad

(serves: 4)

Ingredients:

  • 4 medium ripe tomatoes
  • 1 medium cucumber
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon rice or red wine vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
  • Dash of salt and pepper

Directions:

Dice tomatoes and cucumber and place in large bowl. Add olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper; toss to combine. Sprinkle with chopped basil.

Kid-friendly Tasks:

  • Gathering ingredients
  • Washing the tomatoes and cucumber
  • Placing each ingredient into the bowl
  • Stirring
  • Sprinkling basil

Yogurt Berry Parfait

(serves: 2)

Ingredients:

  • 1 ½ cups plain fat-free yogurt
  • ½ cup blueberries
  • ½ cup sliced strawberries
  • ½ cup crunchy whole grain cereal (suggested: Kashi Good Friends or Post Grape-Nuts)

Directions:

In two tall glasses, alternate layers of yogurt, berries, and cereal.

Kid-friendly Tasks:

  • Gathering ingredients
  • Washing berries
  • Measuring berries and cereal
  • Layering the ingredients

Veggie Pizza

(serves 4)

Ingredients:

  • 1 (12-inch) 100% whole wheat pizza crust or dough rolled out to 12-inch circle
  • ¾ cup tomato sauce
  • 1 ¼ cup shredded low-fat mozzarella cheese
  • Toppings of your choice: chopped bell pepper, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, mushrooms, shredded carrots
  • Cooking spray

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Place pizza crust on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Spread tomato sauce onto crust, top with cheese and veggies. Bake for approximately 12-14 minutes, until cheese, is melted and crust is golden.

Kid-friendly Tasks:

  • Gathering ingredients
  • Washing vegetables
  • Slicing veggies (for older kids)
  • Sprinkling cheese and toppings on the pizza.

Fruit Salsa

(serves: 8)

Ingredients:

  • 1 medium pear, diced
  • 1 mango, diced
  • 1-pint strawberries, diced
  • 2 plums, diced
  • 1 teaspoon honey

Directions:

Place fruit in a large bowl. Drizzle with honey and toss to combine. Serve with 100% whole wheat pita chips. Alternatively, use as a topping for a green salad, chicken breast or fish.

Kid-friendly Tasks:

  • Gathering ingredients
  • Dicing fruit (for older kids)
  • Placing chopped fruit into a bowl
  • Drizzling honey
  • Mixing
  • Placing pita chips and salsa on a serving platter

Baked Sweet Potato Chips

(serves: 4)

Ingredients:

  • 2 – 3 sweet potatoes or yams
  • Cooking spray
  • Dash of salt and pepper, if desired

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Thinly slice sweet potatoes into rounds and place on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Sprinkle with a dash of salt and pepper, if desired. Bake for 20 minutes, turn over and continue baking for an additional 10 minutes or until crispy.

Kid-friendly Tasks:

  • Gathering ingredients
  • Washing the sweet potatoes
  • Placing potato slices on the baking sheet

Now put these new skills into action, by having your kids help pack their lunch!

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About the Author

Picture of Toby Amidor, MS, RD, CDN

Toby Amidor, MS, RD, CDN

Toby is a registered dietitian and a Certified Dietitian Nutritionist with over 15 years of experience in the food and nutrition industry. Toby is the founder of Toby Amidor Nutrition where she provides nutrition and food safety consulting services for various entities. She is a nutrition expert for FoodNetwork.com where she writes for their Healthy Eating Blog and helps develop content and analyze the nutrition information for recipes. Toby is also the nutrition advisor for Sears’ FitStudio where she oversees the nutrition content and contributes nutrition articles to the FitStudio community. Toby has also written extensively, appeared on a variety of media oulets, counseled both in person and online, and has a great deal of teaching experience. Toby has written extensively and her publications list includes The All New Joy of Cooking (under Know Your Ingredients), where she helped compile information on over 300 foods. She was also a reviewer of the Jewish cultural food section of the web-based Nutrition Care Manual, which is compiled by The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics to help guide practitioners and Cultural Food Practices also published by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Other writing samples can be viewed here. She has appeared in a variety of media outlets including The Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Woman’s World Magazine, Today’s Dietitian Magazine, CNN.com, Good Morning America Health, Good Day New York (WNYW Fox5 NY), Self Magazine, Us Weekly Magazine, WebMD, Pregnancy & Newborn Magazine, Working Mother Magazine, The New York Daily News, Fitness Magazine, and several articles published on Scripps Howard Foundation Wire. - See more at: https://tobyamidornutrition.com/about/#sthash.A9Ob831H.dpuf

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