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Category: Kid-friendly Recipes

It is so important to cook homemade, healthy food. But it’s not always easy to find kid-friendly recipes.

That’s where I come in. I’ve got hundreds of kid-tested and approved recipes that won’t keep you in the kitchen for hours or stretch your budget too thin.

I focus on allergy-friendly, whole foods. But I always cook with kids in mind. I take all sorts of feeding challenges into account too.

We’ve dealt with every allergy possible, so I’ve created recipes that are gluten free, nut free, dairy free, egg free, soy free, corn free, coconut free and more!

Kid-friendly recipes don’t have to be boring. And they are certainly not limited to chicken nuggets and pizza every night.

A nourished child will enjoy a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, proteins, carbohydrates and fats. Get your kids in the kitchen with you and start cooking! Have fun with food and your kids will learn to love eating.

Buckwheat Pancakes

Last night I tried a recipe for buckwheat pancakes. I saw the recipe on Two Peas and Their Pod. It is based on an Ellie Creager recipe…which I actually have in my EC cookbook (I need to look through that soon). I bought buckwheat a while ago when I wanted to try new grains. And I never got around to trying it out. So last night was the first time I’ve used buckwheat. It’s a healthy, hearty, nutty grain. And very yummy!!! The pancakes turned out great!!! We all loved them. Especially Rebecca 🙂 She kept saying “bite” because she wanted more. These were mildly sweet. Hearty and yet light. And they paired well with the fruit. It was also nice that this made a big batch (I got about 14 pancakes out of it). So I froze a bunch in packages of 2. Now Justin will have something healthier for Saturday morning breakfast than the junky frozen waffles and toaster strudles he eats right now (I’m working on cutting those out of his diet :P). I didn’t put blueberries in my pancakes this time. We had a fruit topping made with homemade blueberry syrup, strawberries, cherries, blueberries and a little powdered sugar. I also served them with fresh blueberries (well, frozen, thawed…but local blueberries…same thing for all the fruit in the topping), chopped walnuts and readi-whip (Justin likes this, I don’t. In the future I want to make fresh whipped cream for stuff like this. I just didn’t have time yesterday). This is definitely a keeper recipe. And a great way to get a variety of grains into our diet. The batter was a little thinner than the pancakes I usually make. These really spread out when I put them on the griddle. Part way through I added a touch more whole wheat flour to the batter. I think I’ll do a full cup of whole wheat flour next time to make it a little thicker.

Buckwheat Pancakes (or blueberry pancakes)

1 cup buckwheat flour
3/4 whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup milk
1 Tbsp. raw honey
2 eggs
2 Tbsp. organic cane sugar or sucanat
1 Tbsp. coconut oil or melted butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup of fresh blueberries
Extra blueberries and fruit for serving (optional)
Maple Syrup

In a large bowl whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. In another bowl, beat together the buttermilk, milk, honey, eggs, sugar, oil, and vanilla.

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, mixing only enough to combine them. Stir in berries.

Preheat a large nonstick griddle. You can use a skillet if you don’t have a griddle. Ladle the batter onto the hot griddle or skillet , use about a 1/4 cup batter (I used about a 1/3 cup). Flip the pancake when it is golden brown on the bottom and there are lots of bubbles. Don’t flip them too soon. Cook the other side until golden brown. Serve hot with syrup and extra fruit, if you wish!

Double Chocolate Cookies

At one of my bridal showers my friend Mandy gave me a cookie cookbook called “The Cook’s Encyclopedia of Cookies.” I browse through it once in a while to find something new to bake. This morning I made a batch of double chocolate cookies from it. They were super easy to make. And I’m pretty sure they taste great…but none of us has actually tasted them yet 😛 No cookies for breakfast here. So I’ll have to update with the true verdict later. As usual the cookies on the bottom rack got pretty dark on the bottom. But Justin actually likes a little burn to his cookies. So he’ll love them 🙂 I eyeballed about 1/3 of a bag of each kind of chocolate chips instead of using chocolate chunks.

 

There are quite a few more recipes that I want to try from this cookbook. I know it’s not baking season now that the weather is getting warmer. But hopefully I can try a few here and there. I’m hoping to make shortcakes next week for strawberry shortcake. I’ve never cared for it, but Justin will love it.

Double Chocolate Cookies

makes 18-20 (I got 24 out of it)

 

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 cups self-rising flour
3/4 cups rolled oats
4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
4 oz. white chocolate, coarsely chopped

 

Heat oven to 375. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets. Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla. Beat well. Sift the flour over the mixture and fold in lightly with a metal spoon. Add the oats and chocolate. Stir until evenly mixed.

 

Place small spoonfulls of the mixture in 18-20 rocky mounds on baking sheets. Leave space for spreading. Bake 15-20 minutes, until beginning to turn pale golden. Cool for 2-3 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Pesto Pea Salad

I made a Barefoot Contessa recipe last night that I’ve had marked in my cookbook for a while. This salad is meant to be a side dish. But I added a few things to make it a main dish. I’ll post the original recipe (and picture with just those ingredients) and then what I added (and another picture). This was very good!!! And super easy. I never thought of using pesto as a salad dressing. But it works well. I didn’t make her recipe for the pesto. I just used some homemade spinach pesto I had in the freezer.Pesto Pea Salad

2 cups of frozen peas, thawed
2 Tbsp. pignolis (pine nuts), toasted
2 1/2 cups baby spinach leaves (I used a mix of garden spinach and boughten organic baby romaine)
grated parmesan (I used asiago since that’s what I had on hand)
4 Tbsp. pesto, recipe follows

My additional toppings:
cooked chicken chunks
avocado
beans (a mix of garbanzo, pinto and northern)
corn
croutons (gluten free w/o these)
roasted brussel sprouts and cauliflower

To assemble, place the spinach leaves in a salad bowl. Sprinkle the peas and pignolis over the spinach. Add the pesto and toss. Top with cheese. (We each assembled our own salad in individual bowls.)

Pesto:
1/4 cup walnuts
1/4 cup pignolis
3 Tbsp. diced garlic (9 cloves)
5 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 cups good olive oil
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Place the walnuts, pignolis, and garlic in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Process for 30 seconds. Add the basil leaves, salt, and pepper. With the processor running, slowly pour the olive oil into the bowl through the feed tube and process until the pesto is finely pureed. Add the Parmesan and puree for a minute. Serve, or store the pesto in the refrigerator or freezer with a thin film of olive oil on top.

White Bean and Sausage Soup

For lunch today I made another Year of Crockpotting recipe. It was very easy to throw together and it tasted great! Even Rebecca gobbled it right up. Definitely a keeper. For veggies I just threw in some frozen veggies. No time to cut veggies this morning (barely had time to get frozen veggies in with a little girl that kept waking up crying :\). I used lean sweet italian turkey sausage. When I tried to slice it the casing came off. So they were more like sausage chunks. Oh well. I wasn’t thrilled about eating pork casing anyway :p And i just threw in a handful of uncooked brown rice…maybe 1/4 cup. This made enough for our lunch today, 2 lunches for Justin this week and a little extra to feed Rebecca. You could easily make a larger or smaller pot of this. My comments are in italics.

Crockpot White Bean and Sausage Soup

1 can white kidney beans
1 can pinto beans (I guess these aren’t really white)
1 can garbanzo beans
1 tsp. thyme (oops forgot this since I had to stop in the middle of prep to deal with Rebecca…didn’t miss it. There was plenty of flavor w/o adding any seasoing besides the better than bouillon)
2-4 spicy chicken or turkey sausage (I used 2 sweet sausages…we aren’t big on spicy food)
1/2 chopped yellow onion
1/2 cup leftover rice pilaf (if you want to use raw rice, you should have enough liquid to add 1/4 to 1/3 cup without losing soupiness)
2 cups chopped fresh vegetables (I had broccoli, carrots, asparagus) (I used organic frozen mixed veggies and some frozen broccoli)
1 quart chicken or vegetable broth (I used organic better than bouillon mixed with water)

Drain your beans and throw them into your crock. Chop up whatever vegetables you are going to use in tiny pieces. I used my Pampered Chef handy dandy chopper. Slice the sausage that you are going to use. I chose to use two spicy turkey sausage—if you would like your soup to have a kick, use more than two. Two just kind of gives flavor without spice. Cook on low for 6-9 hours, or on high for 4-5. The soup is done when it’s heated through and the vegetables are tender, but it’s not going to hurt anything to cook it longer and give the flavors more time to meld.

Banana Bread

I had some really ripe bananas to use up so I made a batch of banana bread yesterday. I can’t believe I haven’t posted this recipe yet…or made it in so long! This is my mom’s recipe. It’s the only banana bread I’ve ever made. So yummy. And very easy.

Banana Bread

3/4 cup organic cane sugar or sucanat
1/2 cup butter, room temp
2 eggs
2 cups whole wheat or all purpose flour
5 Tbsp. sour milk (4 Tbsp. milk + 1 Tbsp. vinegar) or buttermilk
1 cup mashed banana (the riper the better)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
 
Cream sugar, butter and eggs. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Put in two 9″ buttered loaf pans. Bake @ 350 degress for 35-45 min.
 
*I used one medium loaf pan and two small pans. The small pans took 25-30 min. The medium pan took about 40 min. Depends how done you like your bread. I like it on the less done side…lighter is better 🙂 Although these did end up fairly done/dark. Justin likes it that way better I think.

Frittata

Justin is home…which means back to cooking 🙂 I made another new egg dish last night. I think this month’s food has been my favorite so far 🙂 I just love eggs! I made a frittata. I’ve never made one before. Wow, they are easy and good. A cross between an omelet and a quiche. I didn’t use a recipe. I just did a little looking online to figure out the method. Then I came up with my own. I’ll try to post approximate quantities. It was very good!!! Justin and I both liked it a lot. I used an 8″ skillet. Justin and I ate half of it. If you want a larger frittata you can use a larger skillet and use more eggs. I served it with salad (fresh spinach and lettuce from our garden:) topped with avocado, walnuts, cucumber (me) and shredded cheddar (Justin). A very satisfying, healthy meal using the first produce from our garden.Spinach, Aspargus and Goat Cheese Frittata

6 eggs
1/4 cup chopped onion (I used organic red onion)
1/2 cup chopped spinach (I used a little fresh from our garden, chopped and some thawed frozen organic)
1/4 cup chopped asparagus (from our garden)
1 slice thick cut bacon, cooked and crumbled (optional…meatless dish w/o it)
2 oz. goat cheese, crumbled
fontina for topping (or any cheese you like)
salt and pepper

Preheat broiler. In 8″ oven proof skillet saute onion, spinach and asparagus in small amount of EVOO over medium heat. Meanwhile whisk eggs and salt and pepper. Stir in goat cheese. When veggies are tender add bacon and poor in egg mixture. Stir to distribute filling evenly. Cook until mostly set (center will still be a little loose. Grate fontina over top. Place under broiler until center is set and slightly browned – 2-4 min. Let set for a minute or two. Transfer to plate and slice into wedges.

Tilapia with Roasted Corn

I tried a new recipe last night. I got it from my SIL. It’s a RR recipe. Super simple and super yummy!!! I finally made one meal with seafood for the month. And was able to use up some frozen Tilapia that had been in the freezer for a while. The roasted corn really makes the dish…really sweet, lots of flavor. All 3 of us liked it. It’s definitely on my keeper list, especially since it’s gluten free. I didn’t serve it with limes.

Tilapia with Roasted Corn

1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. salt
4 tilapia fillets (1 pound total)
1 1/2 cups frozen corn, thawed
1 lime, cut into 4 wedges

Preheat the broiler. In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, chili powder and salt. Grease a 9-inch square baking dish with 1 teaspoon of the mayonnaise mixture. Place the tilapia fillets in the baking dish and coat with the remaining mayonnaise mixture. Top with the corn. Broil until the corn is lightly browned and the fish is cooked through, about 10 minutes. Serve with the lime wedges.

Corn Dogs…Take 3

So, I tried corn dogs again last night in my ongoing quest to make a decent baked corn dog. I think I got it this time. I used the tinfoil “boats” again. I put toothpicks in each end of the hotdog to kind of suspend it in the “boat.” Then I poured the batter over top. So the hot dog was totally covered by cornbread. And I used 1 pkg. corn muffin mix, 1 egg and 1/2 cup milk. That made the cornbread moist enough to stick decently to the hot dogs. A yummy, fun meal 🙂 Next time maybe I’ll use skewers instead of toothpicks. Then they will be “real” corn dogs. And I could use a little less batter per dog. I just divided it for 4 hot dogs. They each had plenty of corn bread 🙂 Not necessary to have that much, but yummy.

Caramel Sauce & Sundaes

I made another Barefoot Contessa recipe this morning…caramel sauce. YUM! I tried it this morning…it was 6 am, but I HAD to try it…just a little lick. It’s another recipe from my BC at Home cookbook. I’ve been wanting to try it for a while.

I’ve never made caramel before. It was actually pretty easy. But it took longer than her recipe says…at least it did for me. I’ll post the original recipe and my timing. Her recipe is actually for caramel pecan sundaes. I want to try them…but with my sugar coated pecans instead of just plain pecans. Mmmm. Sounds good already.

It makes just enough to fill a pint jar. Perfect.
Caramel Sauce and Pecan Sundaes

serves 6
 
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
 
butter pecan ice cream
vanilla ice cream
toasted pecans (I used sugar coated pecans)

 

Mix 1/3 cup water and the sugar in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. Cook, without stirring, over low heat for 5 to 10 minutes, until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat to medium and boil uncovered until the sugar turns a warm chestnut brown (about 350 degrees F on a candy thermometer), 5 to 7 minutes (it took about 20 min. for me), gently swirling the pan to stir the mixture. Be careful; the mixture is extremely hot! Watch the mixture constantly at the end, as it will go from caramel to burnt very quickly. Turn off the heat. Stand back to avoid splattering and slowly add the cream and vanilla. The cream will bubble violently and the caramel will solidify; don’t worry. Simmer over low heat, stirring constantly, until the caramel dissolves and the sauce is smooth, about 2 minutes (took at least 5 min. for me and there were still a few solid sugar chunks that I just took out). Allow to cool to room temperature, at least 4 hours. It will thicken as it sits.

To assemble the sundaes, place 1 scoop of vanilla ice cream and 1 scoop of butter pecan ice cream in each dish and sprinkle with toasted pecans. Drizzle with caramel sauce and serve extra sauce on the side.

California BLTs

We had yummy sandwiches for dinner last night. This is another recipe from my Barefoot Contessa cookbook. It’s hard to call it much of a recipe…basically a BLT with avocado. But I’ll post her recipe anyway. I didn’t add the lemon juice, salt and pepper. I just didn’t have time and didn’t think it was necessary (maybe I’ll try it some other time). These were soooo good. I’ve always loved BLTs. But with avocado…even better! I used sliced grape tomatoes since that’s what we had on hand. A little harder to eat, but still good. And I even got Justin to try a little tomato…and he admitted that he kind of liked it! He’s slowly changing his mind about tomatoes 🙂 I served our sandwiches with a small salad. This was a perfect meal for a warm, sunny spring day.California BLTs

6 thick-cut slices smoked bacon
4 slices good white bread, cut 1/2-inch thick
4 Tbsp. good mayonnaise (recommended: Hellman’s)
4 to 8 tender green lettuce leaves, washed and spun very dry
1 ripe Hass avocado
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 large ripe tomato, sliced 1/2-inch thick
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Place a baking wire rack on a sheet pan and arrange the bacon on the rack in a single layer. Bake for 15 to 25 minutes, until the bacon is browned and crisp. Drain on paper towels and set aside.

Place the bread slices on a sheet pan and toast them for 5 minutes. Turn the slices and toast for 1 more minute, until all the bread is evenly browned.

Place 2 slices on a cutting board. Spread each slice with about 1 Tbsp. of mayonnaise. Cover the slices with a layer of lettuce. Place 3 slices of bacon on top. Peel the avocado and slice it 1/2-inch thick. Toss the avocado slices gently with the lemon juice, and arrange on top of the bacon. Add a layer of tomato slices on top. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Spread each of the remaining 2 slices of toasted bread with 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise and place, mayonnaise side down, on the sandwiches. Cut in half and serve.

*I cooked my bacon in a pan on the stove…I don’t have an oven proof wire rack.
*I toasted my bread under the broiler.
*I made a full sandwich for Justin and a half for myself. We use Meijer organic whole wheat bread…and the slices are quite large.