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Home > Archive > Feb 14, 2008

Kid-Friendly Recipes
Some of the best times spent with my children when they were growing up were spent in the kitchen.  They helped me with everything and today, each of them is a great cook in their own right.  All my children make home made bread, rolls and pies.  My daughter, Amelia, who lives in Castle Rock, Washington, has taught bread making classes since my departure from the Pacific Northwest.  I have another daughter who makes ethnic food that is almost “to die for”.
My youngest daughter makes the tastiest fat free, low cal dishes and grows her own garden so she can feed her family only the best.  My son, the paramedic-firefighter, has a knack with cooking sea food and wild game, that is unreal.  He hunts and fishes a good deal of his time when off work and they eat what he brings home.  Their little daughter would rather have salmon, sturgeon or venison jerky than a candy bar!  I remember when my oldest daughter was in 5th grade, they had to do a project showing how to save time and she had learned while in the kitchen that if you peel a carrot from top to bottom if takes much longer than if you peel both directions keeping the peeler knife on the carrot at all times rather than removing it and then bringing it up to the top of the carrot again.  She demonstrated this for her project and got an A+.
From the time your children are small, they can help with the preparation of meals and cleanup.  You can adapt your own recipes to become kid-friendly so the kids can literally get their hands right in the ingredients.  It’s a good idea to start children in the kitchen learning how to mix ingredients with their hands, crumble bread for meatloaf, cut out cookie shapes, etc.
The following is one such example of a good kid-friendly recipe.  I can’t think of anything more fun than to set your children up to the bar and make these fun and tasty cookies in any shape they want.  The greatest thing about this recipe, is they can do most of it all by their self with little help from you.  Because the cake mixes have such great flavors, using strawberry or cherry chip flavors for Valentine Day treats is awesome and really colorful.

Cake Mix Cut Out Cookies
1 cake mix, any flavor
1 cup flour
2 eggs, beaten
water
Mix cake mix, flour, beaten eggs and enough water to form a dough that is firm and will roll out without sticking to rolling pin or board.  I like to add a little water at a time until the dough is just right for rolling.  (This is the part that you may have to help the kids with).  Knead dough for several minutes.  Roll out on floured board to 1/2 inch thickness.  Cut with cookie cutter.  Bake on a greased cookie sheet for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove from baking sheet and cool until lukewarm.  Immediately dip in confectioners’ coating.  Place on waxed paper.  Add sprinkles, nuts, crushed candies or whatever. Cool until coating is dry.  If you want to hurry up the drying process, place tray in refrigerator. 

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