Cooking With Children - How to Make an Easy Three-Course Meal

Cooking With Children - How to Make an Easy Three-Course Meal

Require more children's cooking ideas? If your kids are already getting confident with cooking single meals and desserts, then it may be a fun challenge to put it all together and get them to cook their first three-course meal for the family. Cooking a complete meal can give kids confidence and a sense of accomplishment.Eating Clean And if you're concerned about an enormous mess caused by cooking three courses with children, then don't. And to prepare food in advance so that kids aren't cooking for three hours straight before meal time, the trick to cooking with children is to keep it simple.



Kids can prepare a simple dessert, main and appetizer well beforehand. They can also set the table well ahead of time, too ? show them how you can smooth out a table cloth, lay out cutlery for the courses, decorate the table using a vase of flowers, and even prepare a menu. Cooking a 3-course meal teaches kids important life skills in scheduling, preparation, planning and timing and organization. Here's how to accomplish it.



1. Appetizer ? healthy, Simple and pretty is vital in terms of children's cooking appetizers. Stuffed celery is nourishing, plus it looks gourmet. Get your kids to mix together a packet of cream cheese, 1/4 cup sour cream, and a large number of pimento green olives (chopped). Then, spoon the mixture into bite-size items of celery. Encourage kids to lay out the celery sticks in a fan shape or some other attractive way in the serving plate. Suggest to them just how a sprig of mint or basil on the top of the platter makes it look like it offers come directly from your kitchen of the restaurant.Eating Clean



2. Main ? Pizza, obviously. Pizza is one of the easiest main courses you could make, so it's ideal for cooking with children. The great thing about pizza is that your kids can get their protein, carbohydrates, and vegetables all in one easy recipe. For any healthy twist, use whole wheat grains pita bread for your base, and top it with a generous smear of tomato paste, grated cheese, along with your kids' favorite toppings: If you can manage to sneak it in, think pepperoni slices, mushrooms, pineapple, ham and olives or broccoli. Show your kids how it's vital that you keep close track of the pizzas to prevent them from browning too much ? cooking is all about intuition as well as science, after all!



3. Dessert ? Since your kids are preparing a three-course meal, it's nice to make something a bit special, although there are countless easy desserts to choose from which are perfect for cooking with children. Cannoli is a Sicilian pastry consisting of a light, fried tube of dough filled with a sweet, ricotta cheese-based filling. To simplify it for cooking with children, get the kids to mix 15 oz ricotta cheese, 2/3 cup confectioners' sugar, 1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, and blend until smooth. Then, add two tablespoons of chocolate chips. Refrigerate the mixture for 30 minutes, then pipe the mix into ice cream cones and serve.