Ten Family Meals a Kindergartner Can Make

Family Favorite Lentil Soup over Pasta

As a rule, Kindergartners are not accomplished cooks. Usually, a Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich is a great accomplishment.

Granted, there are a few little kids out there whose parents let them cook with loose sleeves, unsupervised, over a high gas flame, and wield a French chef's knife to boot. (I've seen actual pictures of these families on the internet!) We're not one of those families.

Nor is my daughter a cooking prodigy - she's just a normal little kid, working with beginner-level recipes.

But, my daughter could make several family meals when she was in kindergarten. This helped her learn basic little kid kitchen skills like rinsing and sorting beans, measuring, opening packages, using a can opener, converting simple fractions, tidying up after her work, oiling pans, kitchen safety, stirring, judging texture and doneness, etc. It also gave her the joy of accomplishment, and a better appreciation for healthy food. Home Economics was (and is)  a routine part of our homeschool day - roughly once every two or three weeks during kindergarten, my daughter would make the family dinner. Occasionally, on other nights, she helped me prepare more difficult dishes for the family.

These recipes are the sort that I could stand by and direct my daughter what to do next, while she did the work. I took care of any handling of heat, sharp objects, or heavy lifting, but there's not much of that in these recipes. If the recipe involved a Slow Cooker, I put the crock by the sink, let her fill it, then I carried it to the cooker and insert it & plug it in. Then she put on the lid and turned it on.

Perhaps you have a young child in your house, and you'd like to teach them to cook. Or, maybe you'd like some ultra-simple recipes to make yourself, either because you're strapped for time, or don't enjoy cooking, or aren't yet an accomplished cook. Or, maybe, like me, you love to cook but still love an easy recipe!

These are tasty recipes that can be turned out by anyone with minimal skills, time or cooking experience. 

Chili or Chili Cornbread Casserole
(this one requires a little adult help in spreading the cornbread batter over the chili)

Baked Potatoes in Slow Cooker

Greek Black-Eyed Peas

Greek Giant Beans

Greek Green Beans
(This uses the homemade sauce that I had previously made and had on hand in the freezer)

Indian Chickpeas in Ginger Sauce over Rice
(This uses the homemade sauce that I had previously made and had on hand in the freezer)

Greek Peas & Artichokes Yachni

Pizza
(for this one, my daughter only made her own pizza, not the big one that the whole family eats - she could not yet handle the large disc of dough. She did, however, make the dough from scratch with my help. She puts cheese on her own, by the way.)

Yeast Bread 
(This one requires a little adult help in stirring the dough as it becomes very thick, and in shaping the dough. Of course, the oven stuff is all done by Mommy : )

Corn Bread

Black Bean Soup 

Family Favorite Lentil Soup

Split Pea Soup

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