My youngest Daughter used to be one of the pickiest eaters you have ever seen. Then a couple years ago I started having her help me cook and things changed...a little at a time, but they changed. Now not only does she eat a much wider range of foods, but she has more cooking skills then so many kids going off to college.
There are so many reason to get your kids involved with cooking the food they eat. To me my favorite reason is more time to spend with my baby girl working side by side with me.
Today we are going to cover something ANY kid can help with. This is one of the first meals we started with at 5-6 years old and one she can literally do from start to finish on her own with just a little help putting things into and out of hot pans. A little reminder here and there of what is next and she is good to go.
This meal is really just putting together premade items, but it's a great way to get kids started in the kitchen. Plus this meal can be completed in under 20 minutes even with having a kid helper.
The only part of this meal that takes any amount of cooking time is the Chicken. You want to cook it first and many times when I grill I will add 1 breast with Italian seasoning on to use later in the week. Also tend to cook up a breast with Mexican seasoning for the kids lunches as they love taking tacos to school for lunch. Tonight we just cooked this on the stovetop as it was raining.
Ingredients:
1 Pound Boneless Chicken Breast
Jar of Alfredo Sauce
Package of Fettuccine
2 cups of Spinach sliced
Salt
Italian Seasoning
Prep: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 Minutes
- Get started with the Chicken. Based on the size of the breasts slice them in half so they aren't as thick. This speeds up cooking and allows the center to cook faster without overcooking the outside. Season it with the Italian seasoning.
So many ways to cook a chicken breast, just do it the way you prefer.
While the Chicken is cooking Slice about 2-3 cups of spinach.
Remove the chicken and let rest for 2 minutes before cutting.
Now that your chicken is done cooking get your water boiling for the pasta. Make sure to add salt to the water.
Get a small pan warming on Low-Medium heat for the Spinach. Add a small amount, (approx 1 Tablespoon) of Olive Oil (We use a Tuscan Herb Oil).
5b) Cook the spinach until soft. This will only take about 90 seconds.Once your spinach is set to the side use the same pan and start warming your sauce on Low-Medium Heat.
While the sauce is starting to warm up cut the chicken.
Add the noodles to the boiling water once the sauce is warm (2 minute cook time noodles were used, adjust the noodle start time based on how long your noodles need to cook)
While boiling the noodles add the spinach to the sauce. (you can also add the chicken)
Drain your noodles and add to your saucepan. You are ready to serve.
Below are some photos of my Daughter in action. She did everything except cut the Chicken once cooked as she was stirring the Noodles, Spinach, and Sauce. Plus she doesn't like cutting hot meat...sensitive little fingers. Meal was great and my Daughter is so proud of her cooking skills. You should see how happy a kid is when they "make dinner".
All Photos are taken by thedarkhorse and all rights are reserved. Photos are taken with a Samsung S8+
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Really a very good idé to cook together with yiur daughter and spend time together! I think parents sometimes sprnd too little time with their children!
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I agree far to often parents don't spend enough time with the kids. They miss simple opportunities to spend time with them like cooking. Sure it adds a few minutes to each meal I cook, but it's hours a week spent with the kids that otherwise I'd be missing out on.
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This looks so good. And I think it's great that you teach your kids to take some responsibility in the kitchen.
I really dislike cooking, but I hadn't thought about the fact that a kid or two might be able to contribute in this department!
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I never learned to cook as a kid, but now love it. Think the biggest reason is the kids do it with me and they help pick out what we are going to eat.
Will be posting in a few days crepes we made. Picked my youngest up from Church and asked her what she wanted for dinner. She suggested crepes so we went to the store and I sat in the parking lot with her looking up ideas online to find the one she wanted to make. Also made her agree to eat a healthy lunch since we were going to have desert for dinner...lol.
It's fun and they share in the work a little.
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What a blast! Fun for all of you and teaching them they can have some agency in the world as well.
Much better than the school of parental cooking that says: "You've got two choices: you can eat it or not!"
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That was always what happened in our house. We either eat what was in front of us or nothing at all. My Wife always had the option of making a PB&J sandwich if she didn't like the meal when she was a kid and she said she ate a lot of PB&J.
Now there are plenty of things I won't budge on, like they have to eat veggies. But if they try the veggie on the table and hate it I'm fine with them grabbing carrot sticks from the fridge. It's just about eating the veggie, not about having world war 3 over it and making them hate veggies as a whole.
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Sounds like you've got a well-balanced approach to kids' nutrition!
It's funny - when I went to visit my west-coast grandparents for the first time, at age 12, my grandmother asked me if I wanted a sandwich for lunch. She said, "Ham or roast beef? What kind of cheese? Do you want mayo on it? What kind of bread to you like?"
I literally had no idea what to say. I had no idea sandwiches came with so many options!
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@thedarkhorse your daughter is an expert in the kitchen, recently I wrote a post about the importance of sharing quality time with our children and how difficult it was to manage our schedule. It looks delicious, we add to that recipe bacon and mushrooms ...cheers
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Yeah making time work juggling schedules can be difficult sometimes. We need to take every opportunity possible.
Mushrooms are great with this recipe, sadly the wife doesn't like them. No idea why I've never thought to add bacon...bacon makes everything better.
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This post has received a 9.21 % upvote from @chronocrypto thanks to: @thedarkhorse.
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This post has received a 16.00 % upvote from @sleeplesswhale thanks to: @thedarkhorse.
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This post has received gratitude of 2.67 % from @appreciator thanks to: @thedarkhorse.
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Love that your meals are SO simple and easy to prepare. Great to see your daughter expanding her kitchen skills.
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