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Monday, January 12, 2015

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






This post was featured on


Real Food Friday
Real Food Fridays

This is being shared at
The Art of Homemaking Mondays
What'd You Do This Weekend?
Menu Plan Monday
Motivation Monday 
Homemade Monday
Anti-Procrastination Tuesday
Healthy, Happy, Green & Natural
Try a New Recipe Tuesday
The Thrifty Home Penny Pinching Party
Mom's Library 
Virtual Vegan Linky Potluck 
Home Acre Hop 
Real Food Fridays 
Simple Saturdays 
Mom 2 Mom 
Traffic Jam Weekend

5 comments:

  1. Hi Anna,
    Getting children involved with cooking is key to so many wonderful future memories and a great learning activity. I cooked with my mother too! Thank you so much for sharing 'Ten Family Meals a Kindergartner Can Make' with us at the Healthy, Happy, Green and Natural Party Blog Hop. I am pinning and sharing this!

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a great list to share. Our daughter was cooking at a young age because she absolutely was and still is drawn to the kitchen :) However, she wasn't wielding a large chef's knife!! :) I am going to check out your lentil soup recipe. I still haven't found one I love.

    Thanks for sharing with us on the Art of Home-Making Mondays Anna!

    ReplyDelete
  3. HI Anna,
    I think it is very important that children learn to cook. What they learn as a child they will usually carry through life and the best way to healthy eating is making it yourself. These recipes all look great and easy. Thanks for sharing on Real Food Fridays. Pinned & twitted.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Looks delicious. I love cooking with kiddos, messy... but they are so excited about it! Thanks for submitting it to the HomeAcre Blog Hop. Feel free to stop by again this week at www.PintSizeFarm.com or one of the other hosts and submit another :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Anna,
    Just a note to let you know that I chose your post as one my features this week for Real Food Fridays blog hop that goes live tonight @ 7pm EST. Thanks for being part of Real Food Fridays and sharing your wonderful recipes and information.

    ReplyDelete

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