Kids in the Kitchen

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My little guy loves working with me in the kitchen and I (most of the time) love him helping me too! There are so many benefits to children helping prepare and cook food. Along with gardening, it can be great way to get your child to try foods she might not otherwise eat. Measuring out ingredients allows your child to practice math skills.

The kitchen can also be a great place for your child to gain self-confidence by mastering skills (as long as you're guiding them to age appropriate kitchen tasks that he's capable of carrying out.) Finally, if you need to get a meal on the table and you have young children, involving them may be the only way you can actually get it done (even if it slows you down some during the preparation.)

To celebrate the re-release of Barefoot Book's recipe card deck Kids' Kitchen, I decided it was time for my son and I to make one of the recipes. While the card deck is suggested for children ages 8+ who are making things on their own, there are many recipes that younger children can make with their parents.

Kids Kitchen is filled with simple healthy vegetarian recipes that kids can master 

We decided to make Breakfast Friends, a variation on French toast. You can find the recipe here.
Little Chef enjoyed picking out which animal cookie cutters we would use to cut the bread. Normally I would have used some of my homemade whole wheat bread, which is nice and sturdy. We were out, so we used store bought wheat sandwich bread. It was a bit harder to cut with the cookie cutters, as you can see in the pictures.

Little Chef's favorite part was getting to crack the eggs and mix them in the bowl, while chanting "Mix-a, mix-a, mix-a." In the past he's been known to crush eggs while cracking them, so I just have him tap the egg until we hear it crack, and then I break it open.

After beating in the eggs, he added in yogurt and mixed, and then added in honey and cinnamon and mixed.

Next it was time to dip the cut out animal shapes into the egg mixture. Little Chef was a bit over-zealous with this part. All but one of our animal friends survived their swim. I stood next to him the whole time to make sure he didn't decide to reach out towards the hot pan.

Since Little Chef is only three, I did the cooking of the breakfast friends in the hot pan. When they were finished, he meticulously put raisins where all of their eyes would be.

Not only did this give us an activity to do together on a rainy afternoon, he also ate four of them for dinner (I would suggest doubling the original recipe!)

What recipes do you like to make with your children?

Do your kids love to help you in the kitchen? If you're in the Memphis area, ask me about how you can to earn free books when you host a Kids in the Kitchen Barefoot Books party. We'll whip up some simple food together and I'll share some of our food-related storybooks with the kids.