Cooking with Kids

Deer antlers: Make toast, cut diagonally, spread the “triangles” with peanut butter and use raisins for eyes, nose, and smile. Use broken pretzels to add deer antlers! Easy enough for older infants; be cautious of allergies.

Swirly brownies: Follow directions on your favorite brownie mix or create scratch brownies using an easy brownie recipe from foodie.com. Once the brownie mix is in the pan, let your children swirl berries, pudding, chocolate chips, or a favorite “flavor” (even powdered Jell-O works for an added flavor) in the brownie pan. Bake and enjoy. You can even swirl some frosting on top when they’re done! All ages enjoy baking and swirling.

Corn dogs: This is the easiest way to enjoy the Erie County Fair in the middle of winter! A family favorite. It’s simple: open a container of crescent rolls and separate. Spread cornmeal on a flat surface and lay crescent rolls on the corn meal. Place your favorite hot dog or sausage on the crescent triangle and roll it up! Put a skewer in the hot dog and bake as directed. Variation: cut crescent rolls in half diagonally and use a package of cocktail franks for smaller versions without cornmeal. Instead of pre-packaged crescent rolls, follow any yeast roll recipe you like. Easy for toddlers. Older children like to add a layer of cheese, chopped onions, peppers, etc.

Cookie Beth’s Grilled Cheese: This is my grandson Colin’s “best lunch.” Whole wheat tortilla shells in any size and a package of shredded cheese in any variation. Open shells and add cheese to half of the shell. If your child wants, he can add tomatoes, cooked chicken, slices of ham, pieces of pepperoni, a little pizza sauce, even cooked bacon…anything that he likes. Fold the shell over the “filled” half, crimp edges, and bake. All ages enjoy making these sandwiches. Really quick and easy!

Nana’s Applesauce: Don’t forget how easy this is and how wonderful it smells! Peel, core, and make big slices of any kind of apple your children like. Pass out pieces of apples, a plastic plate and a plastic knife to children (even older toddlers can do this with adult supervision). Chunk up the apple pieces, put in a crockpot, and add 2 shakes of cinnamon, a few teaspoons of sugar, and a shake of nutmeg to the apples and stir it up. Cover the crockpot and put on slow cook for the afternoon. Delicious for everyone!

Always wonderful and easy ways to warm up your kitchen and children: make a blueberry pancake breakfast with warm syrup and hot chocolate, nothing beats soup and sandwiches for a winter lunch, and a dinner that includes any kind of casserole warms the heart and the tummy! Just remember that ovens need high adult supervision from beginning to end.

Let’s enjoy the winter, I think it’s here to stay for a while!