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Deviled Egg Sailboats

These are very often requested! They really capture the kids' imaginations and we may have to create some sort of food "lake" (blue hummus?) on which to float them.
30 min.
4, with two deviled eggs each

Catalan Tomato Toasts

I recently had the wonderful opportunity to visit Barcelona to see my cousins, and then to tour Portugal with a group of food-oriented travelers! I brought back a few recipes for my kids' class. This simple Catalan Tomato Toast recipe comes from a cooking class I took in Spain, and a similar recipe also appears in the book Catalan Food by Daniel Olivella. Try this, it may become a new favorite, and be added to your rotation! The kids loved to rub and squash the tomato pulp onto the rough bread.
35 min
approx. 4

Those Crazy Unicorn Noodles!

These delicious "glass" noodles actually change color when you add certain ingredients. They're great for a weekend project with your kids, or to make for a party! I've made them with my after-school class and for small groups. You've gotta try them.
30 min
2 servings

Salad Compositions… with Lemon Yogurt Dressing

I LOVE to see what the kids do with an idea. The concept of "making a picture with salad ingredients" - or a Composed Salad - was really fun. The photo at top is supposed to be me, but with red hair, walking on the beach. (I am pleased to look so skinny.) Here is the way we did this - basically, just setting out a whole lot of colorful healthy items and going for broke. We found that plastic knives worked very well on the components. Feel free to get creative and change it  up.  We did a Lemon Yogurt salad dressing with herbs, which follows.
30 min
varies

Simple Sesame Noodles

Here's the answer to what to make for nearly any occasion: cold sesame noodles. Breakfast? Sure. Potluck? Yes! Dinner? Yes please. The kids were beyond enthusiastic for this dish, which comes courtesy of the website of Ree Drummond. the Pioneer Woman. Most of the ingredients can be found at Trader Joe's or in the ethnic food aisle of other stores.

Pizza Mummies

I have NEVER had such a large group of kids turn out to make a recipe - we had two groups of 12, plus 6 more added in.  The word "pizza" is magical. Add the mummy component, and you have a real winner. Plus these are easy and take only about 20 minutes to make. The idea was to make a little rectangular French-bread pizza, laying strips of white cheese over the sauce to look like mummy bandages. The eyes are two sliced black olives at the top. What resulted, however, were some very cute face shapes, some geometric compositions,  one barn design, and a few mummies. The kids loved the final product. To get a nice oblong shape, I used Ciabatta rolls sliced in half (one half for each mummy.)

Fresh-Picked Basil Pesto

Green is good. Your kids never fail to amaze me. Some of them are quite familiar with basil and pesto. They know the names of their favorite pasta shapes and are pretty comfortable with ingredients such as pine nuts and good olive oil. Ah, back in the day, I was pretty comfortable with spaghetti and red sauce.  But hooray for savvy young consumers who already know a bit about healthy choices. This recipe was especially fun due to a small problem: Trader Joe's didn't have any fresh basil the day I shopped, so instead I bought two big basil plants in pots. The kids loved harvesting the fresh leaves! We washed and patted them dry, and then the sauce came together very quickly. This recipe is made in a blender or food processor. Pine nuts are pretty darn expensive, so a lot of recipes like this can use walnuts interchangeably (if you're not allergic). Here is a classic version that worked very well.

Mollie Katzen’s Tuna Salad

The author of the Enchanted Broccoli Forest and many other cookbooks, Mollie Katzen, has a recipe for Tuna Salad that is fresh and fantastic. The kids made it disappear quickly. This was an attempt to get them familiar with something they could make  at home - and though it has a couple of extra ingredients like apple and fresh parsley, it didn't seem too hard to recreate! We served it on Wheat Thins crackers but it could make great sandwiches, or be the main feature on a salad. It would be perfect in an open-faced sandwich on toasted English Muffins. See if you like it at home.

Quinoa Salad with Tomato, Cucumber, Mozzarella and Fresh Basil

Every time I make this, I like it better.  Quinoa is a powerhouse grain, full of protein, fiber, essential amino acids, calcium  and iron. It's even being considered as a possible crop onboard NASA space flights! This salad is a bit like Tabbouleh, but with the addition of fresh, creamy mozzarella cheese and basil. At CATS, we stuck to the original recipe (from Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman) but I found a couple of additions and shortcuts that work well! Here is the version I recommend now.

Nancy’s Delicious Indian Veggie Stew

My friend Nancy was working on a vegetarian stew recipe, and wanted to use up some squash. She had some secret ingredients on hand  (Indian Fare packets from Trader Joe's) and put a few other good things into her slow cooker. What came out was amazing! I adapted it for our class, and... still amazing. The kids loved it and a few had seconds, and thirds.

Veggie Sloppy Joes with Lentils

Nobody seemed to miss the meat in these Sloppy Joes. And most kids wanted seconds.  I had NO idea this would be such a hit.  We served them on  potato hamburger buns, which were really good though whole grain buns or English Muffins would be even healthier.  It's great that the recipe makes a large amount,  because it will all disappear. This is based on an idea from the popular blog "Chocolate Covered Katie" where you can find some wonderful kid-friendly recipes.

Grilled Chicken and Strawberry Salad

"More chicken and more strawberries next time."  That's what I heard. Mixing fruit with vegetables is sometimes confusing to kids and adults, but with a bright, slightly sweet dressing, this simple, flavorful salad came together beautifully. Then it disappeared.It is really good for young chefs and their families, with lean protein, some cheese, and lots of veggies and fruit bursting with vitamins. It has gone into the dinner rotation at my house!

Fresh Grape Salad

Here's a winner! Adapted from Eating Well, this easy fruit salad is healthy, low in fat and calories, and will delight all ages (though for toddlers, cut up the grapes.) It's creamy, smooth, and sweet, and a little reminiscent of ambrosia or a Waldorf salad, but those can be packed with calories - and mayo!  Give this a try - nice for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Add toasted almonds on top if you like for crunch.
20 min
4

Butterfly and Squiggle Pasta Salad

There are loads of good pasta salad recipes out there, and we made up our own a bit. This has almost no dressing - just a light coating of olive oil, plus I add a splash of balsamic vinegar, which the kids really like.  You could use lemon juice, or get fancy and try a fruit-flavored vinegar (I have used pineapple balsamic, and blackberry balsamic, with wonderful results.) Go for broke and grate a bit of lemon zest over the top! Nomm. 
6 servings

Kale and Mandarin Rainbow Salad

The star of this super-healthy salad was clearly the mandarin orange segments.  Good thing I brought extras, cuz we put them all in!  After this session, I modified the recipe to increase the orange part of the "rainbow"  - so try it at home and see what your kidlets say! If you check this blog frequently, you already know that your children are happily eating kale. It comes in SO many varieties. Try to get two and mix 'em up as the recipe directs.
2-3 servings

Layered Enchilada Casserole

Ooh, the kids loved this, despite a little heat in the sauce! This was a highly requested recipe, and it couldn't be simpler. Part of the fun was tearing up the corn enchiladas to layer in between the  sauce, cheese, meat, etc.  We made two versions, one meatless and one with chicken, and used the microwave which was really efficient. We don't have a photo this time because the casseroles disappeared too fast.

Potato Latkes

There are lots of ways to make potato latkes, a traditional Hanukkah dish that fills the kitchen with the scent of crisp-fried potatoes and onions.  The most healthful ones are baked, on cookie sheets sprayed with oil, and then flipped halfway through.  They are delicious, but they don't get the mahogany-colored highlights and the crisp texture of the oil-fried ones, unfortunately! We did make the fried ones as healthy as possible, using canola oil for frying and draining the pancakes on layers of paper towels. Here is a traditional recipe:
12-14 latkes

Veggie Wraps

These couldn't be simpler - and the reviews from the participants were excellent.  A rolled sandwich is a great after-school snack that the kids can make themselves -- or it's the centerpiece of a nice packed lunch. Whole-wheat flatbread or a tortilla makes the base for these healthy sandwiches. Hummus or cream cheese serves as the glue to hold the veggies on!
1 sandwich

Mini Pizzas on Eggplant Slices

Fast! Healthy! Delicious! These little pizza circles are veggie-rich and totally fun to make and eat. They are packed with fiber and offer dividends of Vitamin K, Vitamin B6, folate, and potassium, along with other riches. OK, and sometimes the kids don't notice that their pizza crust is missing. Talk about dividends. We were curious to see if the CATS kids would like eggplant, and most did. A few of the younger chefs tasted it and then just ate the toppings. But these were still a hit. They can be customized - we put chopped, cooked veggie sausage (quite yummy!) on ours, but you could use pepperoni, regular sausage, mushrooms, olives, roasted veggies or any other favorite pizza add-ons.
4 servings

Crayon-Box Salad

The gorgeous primary colors in a box of school crayons are in this salad.  None of the waxy taste, however.  We layered the ingredients in a glass bowl and then mixed them all together in a giant bowl that was bigger than most of the kids.

Soup Experiment #1

We started out with good soup in a carton - Organic Tomato & Roasted Red Pepper. But then, we souped it up.  It was wonderful!  Zero leftovers. And the kitchen at CATS smelled great. Here’s how it went -- you could add other things to make it your own creation.  Some ideas from class were to add onions, garlic, beans or several more packages of mushrooms (one young cook's favorite veggie.)

Lettuce Boats

Have you ever had lettuce-wrapped chicken at an Asian restaurant? Or stuffed a big lettuce leaf with sandwich fixings instead of using bread?  Lettuce wrappers are crisp, fresh, and delicious, not to mention super healthy.  One of our kids said these Lettuce Boats are like lettuce-leaf tacos! This recipe, based on one from WebMD  (great website - WebMD.com) was really fun to assemble.  As with some of our other dishes, the colorful ingredients really encourage creating edible artwork!  Feel free to change it up and use different veggies, such as shredded red cabbage or jicama. Or add tuna, a rolled-up slice of turkey, or other items.  One of our young chefs insists the recipe should include mushrooms.

Antipasto and Tortellini Skewers

This is a fun, simple craft project, perfect for a healthy after-school snack, or a party appetizer.  I based it on a Super Bowl recipe in USA Weekend by Ellie Krieger, host of Healthy Appetite on the Cooking Channel.  We added cheese tortellini for fun and a bit of protein!  We also added cherry tomatoes, and made a simple and gorgeous purple cabbage serving base into which we stuck the skewers.  The kids said it looked like something delicious from outer space.  They even ate some of the fresh cabbage!  I am always surprised at their reactions to the veggies - they can't get enough.  And they munch on basil leaves.  Go figure. Feel free to skip the skewers if you have very young children.  We made a point (sorry for pun) about not putting the sharp end of the skewers into one's mouth. The veggies can be neatly unloaded from the skewer by pushing them off with a fork onto a plate. This also makes an outstanding salad.
10 servings

Chinese New Year Vegetable Stir-Fry

We made a traditional Chinese dish, a beautiful stir-fry, to start off the Year of the Dragon.  This recipe emphasizes lots of fresh, chopped veggies.  We put each color   into separate bowls and they were gorgeous: red onion, green broccoli, yellow squash, orange peppers, green & white Bok Choy - very appetizing. You could also include or substitute chopped eggplant, carrot, celery, and other veggies if you prefer. We marinated some tofu to add protein, and the kids ate it all up!
6-8 servings
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