4 Healthy Recipes Your Kids Will Love To Help Out With

4 Healthy Recipes Your Kids Will Love To Help Out With

Getting your child involved in cooking at an early age has a huge amount of benefits, and not all of them are immediately apparent. You’ll teach them responsibility, time management, and how to have fun with daily activities. On top of that, you’ll soon have an extra helper around the place, and they’ll be thanking you out later in life – it’s a lot cheaper to cook well and eat healthily than to survive on takeaway food.

According to a recent survey, two-thirds of Australian parents agree that it’s important to favour organic food for the family. Concentrating on healthy, wholesome and simple meals is a great way to give children something fun to do (while staying away from too many sharp objects). Try these 4 healthy recipes your kids will love to help out with.

1. Healthy Fish Fingers with Guacamole

Why it’s great for kids

Delegate the Guacamole to the kids, sit back, and let the fun fly. As long as you’re clear about not getting it everywhere, the kids will love to get their hands dirty smashing up the avocado and squeezing out the citrus.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup wholemeal breadcrumbs
• zest of one lemon
• a pinch of salt
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2 salmon fillets (about 200g each)
• canola oil spray
• 1 ripe avocado
• 1/2 cup cooked corn kernels
• 1/2 red capsicum, roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• juice of one lemon
• 2 tsp olive oil

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C conventional (180°C fan-forced) and line a biscuit tray with baking paper.
2. To make the crumb mix, combine the breadcrumbs with the lemon zest and salt and place in a shallow bowl. Slice the salmon fillets into ‘fingers’ and dip these first in the beaten egg and then in the crumb mixture, turning so each side is well coated.
3. Place on the prepared baking tray and once all the fish is crumbed, lightly spray with canola oil and place in the oven for about 10 minutes.
4. Meanwhile to make the guacamole, crush the avocado into a bowl and mix with remaining ingredients.
5. Season to taste.

2. Baked Spaghetti Squash

Why it’s great for kids

This recipe is an adventure! Your child can have an absolute ball scraping the semi-cooked squash and seeing it turn into spaghetti-like strands before their very eyes!

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound ground turkey or chicken (optional)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large spaghetti squash
• 1 egg
• 2 cups good sauce (we use Roa’s)
• 1 cup part skim ricotta cheese
• 1 1/2 cups part skim shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 teaspoon fresh oregano
• 5 fresh basil leaves, torn
• Salt & fresh ground pepper
• 4 10 oz ramekins

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Poke the spaghetti squash 10 times and microwave for 10 to 12 minutes stopping every 3 to 4 minutes to turn. You’ll know it’s done when the skin starts to buckle.
3. Remove and split open.
4. While it’s cooling off, heat a nonstick pan over medium high heat for 3 or 4 minutes.
5. Add oil to the pan and blot the turkey meat dry before adding to the pan.
6. Space the meat out in the pan and cook until it is just brown on both sides. As long as it is browned, it can be a little under cooked. It will cook the rest of the way in the oven.
7. Set aside and begin scraping out your squash with a fork. Transfer scraped squash into a colander and let drain while you are prepping the rest of the ingredients.
8. In a large bowl, mix together sauce, ricotta, egg, 1 cup of cheese, oregano, basil and salt & pepper to taste.
9. Mix in the drained spaghetti squash until it’s all well combined.
10. Place one scoop of squash mixture in each ramekin covering the bottom.
11. Layer browned meat on top of squash mixture and then place another scoop of squash on top of the meat. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top of each and place on a cookie sheet.
12. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly and squash looks set. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

3. Healthy Oat Bites

Why it’s great for kids

This recipe is simple, so simple in fact that it’s showcased for toddlers. Kids can get creative, making sure the oats and cranberries are just the perfect amount clumped (but not too clumped).

Ingredients

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup sultanas
• 1/3 cup cranberries
• 1 tsp marmalade or orange peel (optional)
• 1/2 cup apple sauce

Method

1. Throw it all into a bowl and mix well.
2. Roll into small balls.
3. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown (180C).

4. Simple Pumpkin Soup

Why it’s great for kids

This is a good way to introduce slightly older kids into more advanced meal making. Butternut pumpkin, carrot, potato, and onion individually are all quite easy to prepare.

Ingredients

• 1 butternut pumpkin, peeled de-seeded and cubed
• 1 large potato, peeled and cubed
• 1 large carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 4 tbsp Massel chicken flavoured stock powder

Method

1. Heat oil in a pan and fry all vegetables until golden.
2. Add 2L boiling water to the pan and stir in stock powder.
3. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes until all vegetables are soft.
4. Using a stick mixer liquefy all the soup until it’s nice and smooth.
5. Taste and season with salt and pepper accordingly.