Basic Cooking for Kids

Basic cooking for kids begins with the kids in the kitchen. Kids love to have hands-on experiences creating their favorite foods. Use this time to teach basic health safety like washing hands before cooking and how to properly use a sharp kitchen tool.

Family Salad Bar

• Start with five or six small containers with plastic lids. Working with your child, fill each container with a different salad fixing. One container might have shredded carrots. Teach your child cooking skills by showing him how to use the shredder. Another container might have cherry tomatoes. Sliced olives, kidney beans, celery, beets, chopped broccoli and hard-boiled eggs are just a few of the foods you might put in the containers. Then have your child tear the lettuce and spinach leaves for the evening salad. Shredded chicken, seasoned hamburger or sliced ham might be available to make this salad a main dish. At the table, have all the family members put their personal salad together from the wide selection of salad fixings. By serving the salad fixings in containers with lids, you can easily store any leftover salad fixings for the next meal.

Butterfly Sandwiches

• Create beautiful butterfly sandwiches with your children to inspire their interest in eating healthful foods. Start with one piece of bread (whole grain is preferred) and spread the bread with peanut butter or cream cheese. A strawberry whipped cream cheese makes a beautiful pink butterfly. Cut the bread into four triangles for the wings. Then cut a piece of celery for the body. Fill the celery with cream cheese or peanut butter. Place the celery piece in the center of the plate for the butterfly body. The four open face sandwich pieces become the wings with the points of two triangles pointed toward each side of the celery. Decorate the wings with a choice of blueberries, raisins, nuts or shredded coconut.

Individual Pizza

• Pizza is a great food choice for basic cooking with kids. Start making the pizza by having the child put the slices of English muffin in the toaster. Your child can top her toasted English muffin slices with a tablespoon of pre-heated spaghetti sauce. Then your child can add pre-cooked meat such as Canadian bacon, hamburger or chicken. Next, add pineapple, olives, peppers and finely chopped broccoli to the pizza. Top off the pizza with shredded mozzarella cheese. Broil the individual pizzas long enough to melt the cheese. Your kids will enjoy cooking and eating their own pizzas.

  Kids also like to cook grilled tuna on English muffins. Toast the muffin before topping it with tuna mixed with mayonnaise to taste. Add shredded cheddar cheese and broil until the cheese is melted. This is another easy to cook meal that kids enjoy eating.