Kids In The Kitchen Recipes

One Bowl French Bread

Children love to knead and shape dough. Allow plenty of time for the children to do as many tasks as possible.

• 3 to 3 1/2 cups un-sifted flour
• 1 package dry yeast
• 4 teaspoons sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 tablespoons soft margarine
• 1 1/2 cups very hot water (105°F - 115°F)

Combine 1 cup flour, sugar, salt, and un-dissolved dry yeast in a large bowl. Mix thoroughly. Add margarine. Add very hot water gradually to dry ingredients. Beat 2 minutes. Add 1 cup of flour or enough to make a thick batter. Beat 2 or 3 minutes. Stir in enough additional flour to make a soft dough. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap.

Let rise in a warm place for 45 to 60 minutes. Stir dough down and turn out onto heavily floured surface. After washing children's hands, flour them and have them knead dough until it is smooth. Shape dough into one large oblong or let the children experiment with different shapes and sizes. Try pretzels, animals, letters, numbers, or holiday shapes.

Place on a greased baking sheet and let rise (40 to 50 minutes for a large loaf, less time for small shapes). Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit (40 minutes for a large loaf, 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown for small shapes).

Tasty Tortillas

• Flour tortillas
• Cooked ground beef, cheese,refried beans and other vegetables for tortilla filling

Give a tortilla to each child. Fill with cooked ground beef, cheese, and/or vegetables.

Waldorf Salad

• 1 stalk celery
• 1 apple
• 1 cup seedless grapes, cut in half
• 1 banana
• 1 orange
• 1 cup low-fat lemon yogurt

Have children wash the celery, apple, and grapes. Children can peel the banana and orange. An adult should cut the fruit and celery into bite-size pieces. Have children place fruit and celery in a large bowl. Add yogurt and mix well.

Funny, Fruity Pizzas

• low-fat mozzarella cheese slices (1 slice per child)
• English muffins, sliced in half (1 half per child)
• fruit (an apple, banana, orange, or halved seedless grapes)

Have the children wash the fruit. Children can peel bananas and oranges or pluck grapes from their stems. An adult should cut the fruit into small pieces.

Split the English muffins. Give each child one half. Have the children place a slice of cheese on each muffin. Toast the English muffins until the cheese melts. Have each child top his or her muffin with fruit.

Reprinted with permission from the National Network for Child Care - NNCC. Van Horn, J. E. (Ed.) and L. Horning (Ed.) (1995). Cooking with children: kids in the kitchen. In Todd, C.M. (Ed.). *Family child care connections* 4(6). Urbana, IL: National Network for Child Care at the University of Illinois Cooperative Extension Service.

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