Kids in the Kitchen
All little chefs and scientists I have ever met, love to experiment in the kitchen. I have found that kids enjoy making "grown up" recipes as well as they like "children's" recipes. I have put here recipes out of my own collection that my kids love to make.
Spiced Apple Muffins
1 box yellow cake mix with pudding1/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour1/4 cup oil1/2 cup applesauce3 eggs1 14.5 oz jar red spiced apple rings, diced, and juice1 cup chopped nuts (We prefer walnuts or pecans)Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Fill paper muffin cups 3/4 full (we use an icecream scoop). Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean. Makes 32-36 muffins.
Homemade Applesauce
I found bags of apples on sale. There were 10 apples per bag and they were only $.99 each. So, I bought 4 bags. Included were Granny Smith, Red Delicous, Golden Delicous and Gala apples.
Peel, core, and thinly slice apples.
Place in sauce pan.
Cover just to top of apples with water or apple juice.
Boil until soft.
Mush with potato masher
Add sugar and cinnamon to taste.
This will make a chunky applesauce.
If you like a smooth applesauce, just puree in blender.
Simple to make and YUMMY!!!!
Stone Soup
Wash a large smooth rock in anti-bacterial dish soap and rinse well. Then cover with water in a sauce pan and boil in for 10 minutes on high heat.
Place rock in soup pot. Add enough soup base, boullion and water, or broth for each person to have 1 cup. I like to make extra for those unexpected guests.
Add 2 large handfulls of any meat, grain, or vegetable per person. We like to add onions, potatoes, celery, carrots, tomatoes, roast, bacon, chicken, beans, barley, & mushrooms.
(I always cook meat prior to adding to soup)
Cook on medium until everything is cooked through. The trick to a good soup is to have a good base. As long as your broth is yummy... you can add almost anything to it and it will still be good.
Don't forget to save your soup stone for next time!
Check out the Stories & Poems page for the Tale about Stone Soup.
Fairy Wands
100 Pretzel Rods1 pound meltable chocolate candy coatingSprinkles (LOTS and LOTS of sprinkles) about 1 lbMelt chocolate.
Roll pretzel rods 1/2 way in chocolate (scraping off excess).
Roll chocolate covered pretzel rods in sprinkles.
Let pretzels set up on wax paper before packaging.
Dipping wands in colored sugar looks ok when you use white chocolate, but I don't recommend it for dark or milk chocolate.
Cereal Necklace Kit
1 mega bag honey nut flavored cereal in circle shapes1 mega bag colorful fruit flavored cereal in circle shapes20 or so 3 foot long lengths of ribbon20 or so cone shaped baggiesMix cereals together in a large bowl.
Pour about 1 cup cereal in each baggie.
Tie top closed with ribbon in simple bow (do not double knot).
These sell well at bake sale type fund raisers.
Can also be a fun craft at a childs party.
CHILDREN: Untie ribbon, String cereal into ribbon. Tie ends together. Wear your handmade jewelry proudly while eating it!!! Makes a great necklace, or try as a bracelet!
Gelatin Fruit Bowls
1 large box gelatin1 large can fruit 6 one cup serving size bowlsPlace equal amounts of fruit in the bottom of individual cups. Pour your choice of gelatin over fruit. Cover with plastic wrap and chill until set.
When I was little, my grandmother always served grapefruit segments in lime gelatin. I still love it today, but my kids aren't so crazy about grapefruit. We make our gelatin with pear segments or fruit cocktail.
