Cooking With Kids

Pancake Clown:

1 large pancake
3 orange slices (take out any pits)
2 poached or fried eggs
1/2 of a cherry tomato

Assemble the face by placing the pancakes on a plate, use the eggs for eyes, the orange slices for ears and a mouth, and a tomato half for the nose. It's really cute!

Apple Daisy:

2 tbs. of raisins
2 tbs. of crunchy or creamy peanut butter
1 mcintosh apple
peanut halves

Set aside a few raisins for face and stir the remaining raisins into the peanut butter. With apple corer or paring knife, remove the core and seeds from apple. Using a small knife, push the peanut butter mixture into the center of the apple. Make a happy face on top of peanut butter using rest of the raisins. Arrange the peanut halves around edge of peanut butter forming a circle. Chill before serving.

Dirt:

2 cups of milk
1 package of instant chocolate pudding
3 1/2 cups cool whip
16 oz Oreos
8 Gummy Worms (opt)
8 Plastic flowers (opt)

Pour milk into medium bowl, add pudding mix. Beat until well blended, 1 -2 minutes. Crush Oreos and set aside. Let stand 5 minutes. Stir in cool whip and half of cookies. To assemble: place 1 Tb crushed cookies in bottom of 8 oz cup. Fill cups about 3/4 full with pudding mixture. Top with remaining crumbs. Optional garnish: place flower in middle and put gummy worm halfway out o "dirt".

Eating small healthy snacks throughout the day is great way to prevent overeating fatty or high calorie foods. They work well between breakfast and lunch for small children and they are great for after school or after work. Having a healthy snack before dinner will keep energy high and also make sure that your family isn't grumpy while dinner is being cooked.

Fruits and Vegetables
Fruits and vegetables are easy for kids to get themselves. and you can cut up fruits and vegetables before hand. For extra spice you can have a wide range of healthy dips. Here are just a few ideas to turn fruits and vegetables into great healthy kids snacks!

1. Use yogurt to make a yummy dip. You can add seasoning or fruit to plain yogurt.
2. Use low fat cream cheese the same way. Adding a bit of yogurt will thin it down so it isn't so thick. Add things like preserves or jams to make a sweet dip or garlic and herbs for a savory dip.
3. You can also try new fruits and vegetables. Have the kids pick out a fruit or vegetable they have never tried or don't remember trying. Then learn about it together and serve it for a new snack.

Quick Breads with Fruits and Vegetables
Everyone loves baked goods and by adding fruits and vegetables you're making a tasty snack healty. They can also be made up ahead of time and frozen. By having it readily available, it's an easy, healthy kids snack that your children can help themselves to. Think banana bread, zucchini muffins, carrot cake, pumpkin muffins, and so on. These tasty treats offer a lot of nutrition that kids don't even think about and make perfect healthy kids snacks!

Wraps
Using wheat tortillas or flavored wraps you can make a lot of different snacks. Taking the tortilla or wrap you can add all sorts of filling to please your kids. These make great healthy kids snacks and can be a lot of fun for them to help with. Slice the wraps up and give each child a tooth pick to snatch up the rolls with and have lots of fun eating.

1. Low fat, low sodium lunch meats can be laid over the tortilla and rolled into it. Make it healthier by adding shredded carrots, spinach leaves (if you use a low fat dressing then they aren't likely to notice these much), cucumbers or thinly sliced tomatoes.
2. Spread a little bit of your favorite salsa over the tortilla and top with slices of cheese or shredded cheese.
3. Make peanut butter and jelly or peanut butter and banana wraps.

These quick and easy healthy kids snacks are ones that your children can help you with and will be able to enjoy. These snacks offer a lot of options for getting fruits and vegetables in and for getting your kids to eat them. It is always good to try new things and to offer new things so that your kids will get used to expanding their diets as well.

Scroll down to shop for children's aprons and cook books. they make wonderful gifts for any young chef in your life.