Now that children are engaging in distance learning, there’s never been a better time to cook together. Eating healthy and delicious foods can help with cognitive development while affording you and your child quality time!

When you learn about fun recipes for kids to make, you’ll be able to get your child excited about cooking, health, and nutrition. Continue reading and we’ll walk you through two easy, kid-approved recipes!

Sloppy Joe Sliders

Sliders are great for those with little hands but this recipe has enough flavor that people of any age and size are sure to enjoy it. Let your younger kiddos measure out the veggies while the older kids can help assemble the sliders and stir the meat.

Ingredients

The ingredients for this recipe are simple and healthy. They include:

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 3/4 cup ketchup
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup frozen baby corn
• 1 cup thinly shredded red cabbage
• 1 pound ground beef
• Kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup frozen crinkle-cut baby carrots
• 8 potato slider buns or 12 mini potato dinner rolls
• 1/4 cup dill pickle chips

Cooking Directions

First, you want to heat the vegetable oil in a large, nonstick skillet over medium heat. Then, you’ll add the ground beef.

Cook, stirring frequently until the beef starts to brown. This should take approximately five minutes.

Stir in the salt and chili powder. Continue to cook until the meat is cooked through. This will take about another three minutes.

When the meat is cooked through, drain any excess liquids, leaving two tablespoons of liquid in the container.

Bring the heat to low and stir in the sugar, a half cup of water, ketchup, and vinegar. Let it simmer, while stirring occasionally. After around nine minutes, the sauce should have thickened slightly.

Finally, stir in the corn and carrots. Cook your meal, partially covered. Wait for the vegetables to be heated through and tender, around five minutes. Plate and serve!

Pizza Skewers

In this fun cooking experiment, kebab deliciously meets pizza. Have your little ones dump the ingredients into the bow, tear the basil leaves, and stir everything up. Your older children can measure everything you, thread the skewers and roll the dough.

Ingredients

Everybody loves pizza. So why not try making one that’s hands-on and easy to customize. For this recipe, you’ll need:

• 1 cup of your favorite marinara sauce, warmed, for dipping
• Crushed red pepper flakes, optional
• 2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
• All-purpose flour, for dusting
• 1 pint grape tomatoes (24 to 30)
• 1 pound fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced
• Grated Parmesan, optional
• 1/3 cup olive oil, plus more for oiling the grill grates
• Kosher salt
• 1/2 pound pizza dough, cool to the touch
• 12 ounces cooked sweet Italian chicken sausage links (about 4 links), sliced 1/2 inch thick
• 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves

Directions

First, you want to soak eight wooden skewers for thirty minutes in water while preparing your grill for medium heat. Then cut a footlong square of tin foil.

Now, stir together the Italian seasoning, oil, and one teaspoon of salt in a big bowl. Dust your work surface with flour. Then, roll your pizza dough into a rectangle that will fit half of your tin foil.

Get a knife or pizza wheel and cut the dough into one-inch strips. Cut the strips into squares. Add your squares of dough, sausage, and tomatoes to the seasoned oil.

Toss the food gently to coat.

During this part, you want to work quickly so that the dough doesn’t get too warm. Thread the skewers and alternate the dough squares, tomatoes, and sausage pieces.

You want to skewer through the sausage casings. With the dough squares, make sure that they remain as flat as possible so that they cook all the way through.

You should leave half an inch of space at either end of the skewer. This allows each skewer to have three tomatoes and four pieces of dough and sausage on it.

Now, grill the skewers, covered. The tomatoes should have dark grill lines on them and the dough should start to puff. This will take around three minutes.

Then, put your squares of foil on the grill. Move the skewers to the foil. Top them with mozzarella and grill, covered.

Grill until the tomatoes become soft, the cheese has melted, and the dough has doubled in size.

Plate and pass the red pepper flakes and parmesan!

The Important of Teaching Kids to Cook

As you can see, cooking is easy and fun when you have the right recipes to use with your children. Unfortunately, it’s not always so easy to find the right recipes!

For parents who have busy schedules, but still want to ensure their children get nutritious lunches, there’s The Lunch Mob.

Are you looking to feed your child fresh and delicious pre-made lunches? If so, contact us today!