Cooking With Kids - Easy Cupcake Recipes For Kids

By Audrey Okaneko 
Both of my girls have been helping in the kitchen since they were quite young. I believe by making kid friendly recipes, your kids really do get to see that cooking can be both fun but also delicious.

Most kids I know love cupcakes. We have always used normal sized cupcake tins when the kids are helping. The small muffin tins make cupcakes that are just too small for young hands to handle.

The easiest way to make cupcakes for younger kids is to start with a boxed cake mix. This first recipe starts with one box of Devil's Food Cake mix. Make the batter according to the box directions. This recipe has a yummy filling and is easy for kids to make:

Combine eight ounces of softened cream cheese, one-third cup of sugar and one egg. Mix until blended. Then mix in six ounces of chocolate chips.

Line your muffin tin with papers and fill each one about one third full. Now put one heaping spoonful of the cream cheese mixture on top of the batter. Then fill up the muffin the rest of the way, allowing some room for rising. Bake at 350 degrees for about twenty-five minutes. If you want to add frosting, I always bought the already mixed frosting that the kids could just spread on.

Another really fun cupcake idea for kids is to use ice cream cones. Buy the ice cream cones that are flat on the bottom.

Use a cake mix and prepare the cupcakes according to package directions. Place paper liners in muffin tin. Fill each muffin tin about two-thirds full and then turn the cone upside down and place on top of the batter. Bake 18-20 minutes at 350 degrees. Test with a toothpick to make sure the cupcakes are done. After the cupcakes are cooled, remove the paper lining and frost. Add decorations to the frosting such as M&M's, Skittles and either rainbow sprinkles or chocolate sprinkles.

I've also seen recipes that reverse this a bit. These recipes say to fill an ice cream cone about 2/3 of the way with batter, stand upright on a baking sheet and bake. I've never done it this way, but I see it on many websites and blogs.

If you buy white frosting, you can mix a few drops of food coloring into the frosting so that kids can have almost any color frosting they'd like. You can add almost anything on top of the frosting. My kids have always liked gummy worms. Add a few of those to a green frosting and the kids just love it. You can also add jellied candies on top.

We once had a birthday party where I put tons of decorations in various bowls and let the kids come up with their own combinations of colored frostings and decorations. Some kids are so creative with their designs. You can cut licorice strips into smaller pieces so kids can create bugs and butterflies. Truly, the possibilities are endless on how to use other candies to decorate cupcakes.

Try making cupcakes with your kids. It's a great way to get them into the kitchen and cooking.

Audrey's mom always entertained when she was growing up. Audrey learned to prepare for large groups and has often entertained 15-30 people in her home at a time. You can find more great recipes at http://www.recipe-barn.com

Simple and Easy Cooking Recipes Children Will Find Irresistible

By Joe L Golson 
Children love the full approach to cooking. They love exactly how big pieces of ingredients are chopped, sliced, or grated and mixed together to create a excellent dish. Maybe to them it's really a big jigsaw puzzle which when you get it right you'll have one whole piece of dish that you can enjoy and eat.
How often have you scolded your children for playing around the kitchen? Well this really is simple given the potential dangers around the kitchen, knives, hot surfaces, boiling water, hot oils, etc. But by including them with the cooking method you will be able to show them the right and safe conducts in and around the kitchen.

Remain calm if you find yourself working with kids. Expect to have a good mess of things. Your work table will most probably be overrun by various ingredients, drops of seasonings, scattered utensils, measuring instruments, and other cookware. This is fun to them, and who knows you might enjoy a taste of chaos once in a while. It might sometimes be liberating. Except for the kids, the experience is comical and when they made good with their food, the feeling would be rewarding.

There are several simple recipes that kids can create. Some easy and simple dishes consist of omelet recipes as well as other breakfast dishes. Making French toasts isn't very difficult as well. Salads and sandwiches are also not hard to produce plus they are very healthy. Your children can also carry these sandwiches for lunch breaks.

One easy recipe is building a banana crepe, or make a chocolate banana crepe. What you will need is some crepe flour, milk, eggs, melted chocolate, butter and of course sliced bananas. Mix together everything in the bowl except for the chocolate, bananas and butter. Let your child do the blending process. Make use of the butter to grease a crepe pan and then pour the crepe mixture on it. Make sure to spread out the mixture over the pan. Remember to flip it to cook the opposite side. When cooked, spread the melted chocolate, line up the banana slices, and then fold it. You can actually add some more chocolate around the outside. Savor this with all your kid.

Helping to make pancakes is also one more easy one. You are able to either opt for the quick cooked pancakes on hand in the market or make your own from flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Whatever you select, your children can manage the mixing of the pancake mix, the greasing of the pan, the flipping of the pancakes along with presentation and extra touches like topping with chocolate or strawberry syrup.

Permit your kids to experiment and be imaginative. You are likely to enjoy fast and simple recipes if you cook them with your youngster. Sure expect a soiled kitchen later, however, you have so much to gain if you involve all your family members with the things you decide to do.

About The Author
If you know you need to lose weight - but you are not going to eat right. Weight Loss Supplements or a Glycemic Index Based Diet Plan along with exercise may be right for you to reap the health benefits of weight loss.

How to Make Healthy Recipes For Kids

By Mark Rocco

If selling real estate is all about location, location, location, then when making healthy recipes for kids, it's all about presentation, presentation, presentation. You can talk all you want about all the essential vitamins and minerals and complex carbohydrates, etc, etc that a food contains, but when a child is looking at a mixed bowl of fruit, all they see is 'yuck'.
 
 The key to getting children to try healthy foods is to present it in a fun and imaginative way. You are the only one who needs to know that what they're eating is healthy and nutritious. For the kids, it is simply a fun, interesting and imaginative way to eat food. For example, is a child more likely to eat a bowl filled with banana, red grapes, kiwi, star fruit, cantaloupe and strawberry, or a "Happy Snack Face" (bunch of red grapes for hair, kiwi slices for eyes, strawberry for nose, cantaloupe slices for ears, banana for mouth and star fruit for cheeks - all served on a brightly colored round plate).
 
All you need to do is take the healthy foods you want to introduce and present them so that:

1. It has a cool name kids can relate to, like Happy Snack Face. So before your child even sees what it is, they are curious to find out.
2. It is colorful - red grapes & strawberry, green kiwi, yellow star fruit & banana, orange cantaloupe.
3. It is arranged in a shape or pattern that kids can identify with - Happy Face.
4. It has kid friendly textures (in this case juicy fruits, but just as easily made from crisp or crunchy vegetables).

By arranging the foods into patterns that kids can recognize, you also have the opportunity to get them involved in the preparation. After you child devours the Happy Snack Face, you might suggest that for snack tomorrow, he prepare a Scary Snack Face. You cut up the fruits and he can arrange them on the plate.  The more involved a child is in the selection and preparation of their meals, the more likely they will eat it, enjoy it, and want to have it again. Not only does this start to get them interested in what they are eating, but it also lays the foundation for healthy eating habits that will benefit them for the rest of their lives.
 
In order for a healthy recipe to be a hit with kids, it needs to be appealing, so give them what they want. Use recipes that combine imaginative names, bright colors, and kid friendly shapes for a sure fire hit. So like I said before, it's all about presentation.

I'm Mark and I love my kids (twins) and want them to grow up healthy and strong which is why knowing how to prepare healthy meals is important to me. If you liked this article and want more information go to Healthy Recipes for Kids. In addition, I've got lots of other information on ingredients, recipes, kitchen appliances, nutrition, and more on my blog at Home Chef Cooking Tips.