4 simple recipes to make with your kids
Cooking is cool! Most kids think so, but they are rarely allowed to help. Hassle, complicated, dangerous... Shame, what it can do! Hence four really delicious (tried and tested!), simple recipes and fun recipes to make with your kids. Even little ones from the age of two can help! And we secretly put some extra vegetables in there, but they don't notice.
image via @thedailymeal
Everyone LOVES spaghetti! At least, ours does. Even more fun if they can join in the cooking themselves. Easy does it, but you can secretly add some extra vegetables in there too...
For the balls: 300 g good quality pork sausage (about 4 large or 8 chipolatas), 500 g lean minced beef (you can of course also replace this with vegetarian minced meat, for example from Garden Gourmet, and skip the sausages), 1 small onion, 1 tbsp dried oregano, 50 g parmesan cheese, 1 medium egg, 1 tbsp olive oil
For the tomato sauce: 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 zucchini, 1 tbsp tomato puree, pinch of caster sugar, 2x 400g cans of chopped tomatoes
And cooked spaghetti. That too yes.
Children: Squeeze all the sausage meat from the sausage casings (super fun to do!) into a large bowl and add the minced meat. Add the rest of the meatball ingredients, except the olive oil, to the bowl and season with pepper. Squeeze everything together through your hands until completely mixed. Keep an eye on younger children to make sure they don't taste any of the raw mix!
Children: Roll the meatball mix into walnut-sized balls and place them on a plate – this is a job that children aged 2 and up can help with!
Adults: While the kids are rolling, heat the oil in a large pan. Add the zucchini and garlic and cook for 5 minutes until soft and mushy. Stir in the tomato paste, sugar and vinegar (about 1 minute), then add the tomatoes and simmer for 5 minutes. If your kids like zucchini, you can leave the sauce chunky. But if, like mine, they hate everything green, blend the sauce with an immersion blender (you can even use one extra jar with peas and broccoli or replace the zucchini for this jar).
Adults: Heat the oil in a large frying pan and gradually brown all the meatballs on all sides and add them to the sauce. Simmer the sauce for 15 minutes, stirring very gently, until the meatballs are cooked. Serve with cooked spaghetti, extra grated Parmesan cheese and a few torn basil leaves (that your child has picked and torn). Bon appetit!
I have no idea how you guys are doing, but ours snacks better than he eats. So we turn that snack moment into something nutritious! These rice paper wraps look cozy, are fun to make, are healthy and filled with proteins and vegetables.
What you need: 50g rice noodles, 1 peeled carrot, 1 peeled and seedless avocado, ¼ cucumber, 8 rice paper wraps, 8 large shrimps, peeled and boiled, 8 mint leaves, ½ cooked chicken breast (shredded) and sweet chili sauce to serve the wraps with .
And then?
Place the noodles in a pan with water and bring to the boil, simmer for 3 minutes and cool under running water. Drain them well.
Cut the carrot strips like matchsticks. Also cut the avocado and cucumber into thin strips. Soak 2 of the rice paper wraps in cold water for 1-2 minutes until soft.
Lift 1 sheet of rice paper from the water, shake gently and place it also carefully on a plate. Place 2 shrimp in the middle with a mint leaf in between. Add a strip of avocado, place some noodles on top and add a layer of carrot and cucumber. Fold over the bottom half of the rice paper, fold in the sides and roll it up tightly. Repeat with the second wrap and leave for another 2 weeks to make 2 more rolls.
Finish the rest of the roll with the remaining 4 wraps and the shredded chicken instead of shrimp. Serve the rolls with the sweet chili sauce for dipping.
Easy, tasty and above all super fast, that simply makes us happy. Pizza Quesadillas, for example, make a healthy dinner in no time that is ready in just 15 minutes. You can of course style the pizzadillas however you like – keep them vegetarian, load them with pepperoni or make them simple (and cheap) with just 3 basic ingredients:
Cheese (mozzeralla), tortillas and pizza sauce. And then you can add as many pizza toppings as you want. Pepperoni or fried mushrooms and onions… First spread the sauce over half of a tortilla. Sprinkle with mozzarella and voadd additional toppings of your choice. Finish with another layer of mozzarella (to seal the quesadilla), and fold the tortilla over. Fry it for about 2-3 minutes per side on a baking sheet or in a large frying pan until brown and crispy. Let cool briefly and serve.
We regularly use the same trick here as with spinach: a meal jar from NaturNes Bio with peas and broccoli is already covered in pizza sauce before they even notice it 😉
We love our offspring, we really do, but we do everything we can to fool them by adding some extra fruit and vegetables to their daily diet, and secretly enjoy it even more when they prepare those treats themselves.
One of the best things to do is make your own pancakes. That dough that sizzles in the pan, slowly spreads through the pan, becomes firm and, if mom or dad has the courage, can also be thrown into the air. And it's tasty too. We secretly just mix in some spinach with a hand blender, you know, from the freezer. And then simply add the icing sugar, jam and honey. Don't tell anyone.
