Here’s a great way to use some of those mini candy bars – with both the real kitchen and your child’s play kitchen!
Chocolate Waffles
Makes 2
Waffles(child uses play food)
Bananas (child uses play fruit)
Chocolate bar (child uses play candy)
Ingredients
2 waffles toasted, whole grain
1 chocolate candy bar, broken in half
Sprinkles, optional
Let’s Make Dessert!
1.Place ½ of candy bar on top of each hot toasted waffle. Cover with foil for 1 minute.
2.Remove foil and spread melted chocolate bar on each waffle with a small spatula. Top with sliced bananas and optional sprinkles.
Kid-friendly Kitchen Tip
Double the recipe and try stacking 3-4 waffles with melted chocolate bars and bananas in between each layer. Top with whipped cream and sprinkles. Slice into pie shapes and serve. Great for a toddler’s birthday cake!
For more tasty dinner recipes to make before this yummy dessert please visit Barbara Beery's recipe page on the Creative Kids in the Kitchen website.
Want some more tips for how to get your kids helping in the kitchen? Check out Barbara Beery’srecent interview with the Associated Press, where she talks about how to encourage age-appropriate help and excitement in the kitchen.
Step2® encourages contest entrants to put their best foot forward…we are reading the entries and checking them twice. As a reminder, we want your most creative stories. You know - be sure to tell us all about your picky eaters, kitchen traditions, fun times and food fights. We want to hear it all. Bonus – the better your story, the more likely you are to win a play kitchen from Step2® for the kids and a real kitchen from Frigidaire® for you.
Recognizing innovation, creative play and safety, The Step2 Company® has received an unprecedented number of awards from The Oppenheim Toy Portfolio, the toy industry’s leading independent consumer reviewer of children’s toys and media. The prestigious Oppenheim Awards recently awarded The Step2 Company, the nation’s largest preschool and toddler toy maker, with Platinum and Gold Awards for 14 new Step2® and Infantino® products. Here are a few highlights from our play kitchens line. The lucky contest winners can rest assured that their play kitchen will be tested for mom and kids’ approvals.
Here’s a great recipe from Barbara Beery – gives kids lots to do and also gets them to eat their veggies!
Ravioli Stir Fry Makes enough to serve 4 Uses play veggies- Red bell pepper, broccoli, and asparagus Uses play food - Ravioli Ingredients 2 tablespoons extra virgin oil 1 head broccoli, cut into florets 1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips 1 bunch asparagus, bottoms trimmed 1 package fresh ravioli, cheese-filled Salt and pepper to taste ¼ cup vegetable broth ½ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
The following post was previously included on our sister blog, Creative Play Plus, which was created in partnership with the Shubert Center for Child Studies. We think a trip to the grocery store is a great way to encourage creative participation and get kids excited about cooking and eating healthy!
Learning Opportunities Easily Achieved in Play with your Toddler
Loads of learning opportunities can be achieved through sociodramatic play and building scripts for daily activities.
Before going to the grocery store, talk about your routine. This is a wonderful chance to teach the value of lists.
·Why do we make a list?
·Discuss how easy it is to forget things, even for the all knowing parent.
·Encourage your child’s active participation, by soliciting suggestions about favorite foods to include on the list.
·Point out how organized the grocery store is and how this structures helps us to efficiently complete our shopping.
Teach the importance of checking off items on the list, to insure all items have been obtained.
·If your child becomes impatient during the trip to the store, you can give them a special task and redirect their attention to your list.
·You could ask them to help you cross off items on a grocery list by naming items already in the cart. This helps them practice their developing language skills and also gather a sense of what is left on the grocery trip list.
·Non-readers can be asked to decorate the list with pictures corresponding to items on the list. This provides a nice opportunity to advance literacy.
Recent commentary in New York Times talks honestly about the difficulty of raising healthy eaters without making them paranoid or overly analytical at the same time. Some good food for thought…pun intended!
As you probably already know, there are studies that demonstrate the health benefits of whole grain consumption and the critical importance to your child’s health, including a reduction in cholesterol, a decrease in the risk for type 2 diabetes and a regulation of body weight. Creative play with Step2 toys along with a healthy diet will have your kids active for years and years to come.
The battle of wills often comes from kids wanting the “fun” foods like pizza and cookies – but parents not knowing how to make those favorites into healthy options. Here is a recipe from Barbara Beery that does just that, plus gets those little hands helping too:
Brown Rice Veggie Pizza
Makes 4 servings
Ingredients
1 cup Instant Brown Rice
1 red, green, yellow or orange bell pepper chopped
½ cup onions chopped
1 cup carrot shredded
½ tsp. oregano
1 cup sliced mushrooms
2 cups fresh baby spinach
1 cup celery diced
½ cup part-skim mozzarella cheese shredded (topping)
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
6 green olives sliced
2 egg whites beaten
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. garlic powder
1/3 cup part-skim mozzarella cheese shredded
1 cup prepared pizza or tomato sauce low sodium
1 tsp. ground black pepper
Instructions
Let’s Get Baking!
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Pizza Crust: Cook Instant Brown Rice according to package directions.
In a mixing bowl, combine 3 cups cooked rice with mozzarella cheese and egg whites. Divide mixture evenly between four 4-6 inch pie pans that have been liberally sprayed with cooking spray.
Press mixture down into pie pans to form a crust with your fingers or a small spatula.
Place filled pie pans on a cookie sheet and bake for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.
Sauce & Assorted Toppings: In a small mixing bowl combine pizza sauce, black pepper, salt, garlic powder and oregano. Spoon the sauce equally over each partially baked rice crust.
Top with assorted toppings and sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese. Place pizzas back into the oven and bake 5-8 minutes longer. Remove from oven, cool for 2-3 minutes. Remove pizzas from pans with an offset metal spatula or small rubber spatula and serve immediately.
Kid-friendly Kitchen Tips
Take the kids to the grocery store and let them pick-out the veggies they want to use on their individual pizzas. Let the older kids chop or slice the bell peppers, onions and celery with a small paring knife. Have the younger kids break- apart the mushrooms and olives into various sized pieces with their fingers. Everyone can take turns shredding the carrots! Add pepperoni or soy pepperoni slices if desired.
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