Need Some Ideas Cooking Theme Lesson Week Meals

[daycare]

So we are learning about math and cooking this week... We are having a great time! We have set up a fake restaurant and its soo cute!

Today the kids asked if they could make something for their parents to eat. So I was thinking that maybe the parents can pop in on Thursday at pick up for a little bite to eat. But I don't know what the kids could make that would be easy for them to do and it would be edible...

Anyone have some ideas that they could share?? I would like for it to be dinner food...Maybe I can have them take it home instead of eat it here.....I don't know yet!!

[SilverSabre25]

muffin tin quiches

They will feel like they are "really" cooking, but it is simple (and healthy!).

[daycare]

lamo ok call me stupid but what is that??

[SilverSabre25]

Nah, not stupid. Quiche is French--it's kind of like egg pie. Eggs, milk, and cheese form the base of the filling, and you add in pretty much whatever else you want: cheddar cheese and bacon, ham and swiss, spinach and swiss, etc. It can be eaten warm or cold, and can be breakfast, dinner, or whatever. It's a very versatile (and TASTY!!!!) dish.

Usually you make it in like a pie plate, but for this I think individual ones in muffin tins would be best. Here is an example recipe; if you search "quiche recipes" you will find lots and lots of them. Instead of a 9-inch pie shell, I would use refrigerated pie crust and line each muffin tin with it. You can use milk in place of the cream. Muffin-sized ones will bake slightly faster than the time says here so keep an eye on them if you try this.

(Now I'm hungry...)

Quiche Lorraine Recipe

* 1 pre-made pie pastry for a 9 inch single crust pie
* 12 slices bacon
* 1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
* 1/3 cup chopped green onion
* 4 eggs, beaten
* 2 cups light cream
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
* 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Place bacon in a large skillet, and fry over medium heat until crisp. Drain on paper towels, then chop coarsely. Sprinkle bacon, cheese and onion into pastry shell.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, cream, salt, and cayenne pepper. Pour mixture into pastry shell.
4. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce heat to 300 degrees F, and bake an additional 30 minutes, or until a knife inserted 1 inch from edge comes out clean. Allow quiche to sit 10 minutes before cutting into wedges.

[jen2651]

piggie backing on silversabre's idea...my dad always used to let us make our own meatloaf in muffin tins. We got to mix the meat and we would always put our initial on the top in ketchup so we could tell whose was whose (of course they were all the same!).

[SilverSabre25]

If you want it to be take-home-able, you could have each child make a pizza to take home. I think you can get pretty cheap disposable aluminum pizza pans or even rectangular cookie sheets (Maybe?). Make the dough, let it rise, roll it out, (or, buy the refrigerated stuff and let them spread it out), bake the crust, then top it--wrap it in cling wrap and send it home for dinner. If you wanted to get fancy you could have them make a big bowl of salad to go home with the pizza too, and a simple Italian dressing for the salad.

[Rachel]

Also I really recommend Molly Katzen's books, Salad People and Pretend Soup. Might not help for tomorrow (I think the meatloaf is a great idea), but her books are great and the kids really can do the cooking.

[Pammie]

I had the kids do taco salads one time to take home to share with the parents - it was a HUGE hit all around!

I precooked and chilled the taco meat, so basically the kids just had to layer the lettuce, tomatoes, black beans, corn, cheese, and meat into their casserole dishes. The kids cut flour tortillas with scissors into strips that I baked to make crunchy and sent those home along with the salads.

Everyone loved them as the parents had a ready made dinner to take home, and I didn't want to deal with feeding parents in my home

[wdmmom]

English muffin pizzas! Put all the different fixings in bowls and let them pick out what they want to customize their own mini pizza.

All kids love cookies! Why not let them make cookies or brownies or some kind of dessert.

[daycare]

thanks so much for all of your wonderful ideas. I am sitting here laughing at myself, becuase I don't know what a lot of this food is and had to look it up.

I think the meatloaf thing sounds easy for the kids or maybe the taco salad. Something that the kids can add things to no problem.

We are making real pizzas today. My friend is allowing us to go to his pizza restaurant and use his actual pizza oven. We are gonna have pizza for am snack today.....

I will look into all the other foods that you guys listed. Thanks so much..

NOt growing up here in the US and being a vegan my whole life, I don't really know too much about other foods. so thank you so much!!

[Rachel]

Just so you know, the 2 books I posted above are vegetarian, and lots of stuff is easily veganable, so they might be a good addition to your program.

[PeanutsGalore]

thanks so much for all of your wonderful ideas. I am sitting here laughing at myself, becuase I don't know what a lot of this food is and had to look it up.

I think the meatloaf thing sounds easy for the kids or maybe the taco salad. Something that the kids can add things to no problem.

We are making real pizzas today. My friend is allowing us to go to his pizza restaurant and use his actual pizza oven. We are gonna have pizza for am snack today.....

I will look into all the other foods that you guys listed. Thanks so much..

NOt growing up here in the US and being a vegan my whole life, I don't really know too much about other foods. so thank you so much!!

I love the meatloaf idea but would be very cautious about using raw meat with little ones. It's too hard to keep them from touching the meat and then touching another surface or their own body. Fajitas or quesadillas are easy, tasty and healthy meals, and you can cook the meat beforehand so the kids don't have to deal with the raw stuff. Or marinate tofu overnight and do vegetarian style. Great idea setting up the fake kitchen; I'm putting it in my folder for future reference!