9 | Kids Cooking in the Kitchen

1 |   Main Dish

Big Whoop Tomato Soup

A can of tomato soup doesn’t take long to open. This only takes a little bit longer and tastes a thousand times better. It’s so easy you can get your kids to take on this part of the meal all by themselves. If your family likes to spice it up, add a little bit more of the secret ingredient.

3 |   Side

The Bee's Knees Grilled Cheese

Grilled cheese is a brilliant complement to tomato soup. What makes this recipe even better is the combination of cheeses to make it melt just right. The fun part for the kids is making the sandwiches into shapes perfect for dipping. They can cut them any way they like from hearts to flowers. And lets be honest, you’ll love making them too.

2 |   Salad

Dunk-able Baby Trees

One of my sisters used to call broccoli “baby trees” when she was very young. She loved them because of it. When food is fun, kids won’t mind trying even the weirdest vegetables. Some children may not like vegetables, but with this tasty yogurt dipping sauce not even the pickiest eater can resist. They will want to dip one after another.

4 |   Dessert

Monster Cookies

Your kids will love getting their hands dirty when they make these monster cookies. Using their hands to mix and shape the dough is written right into the recipe. With peanut butter, oatmeal, m&ms and chocolate chips, this cookie is one that the Cookie Monster would approve of and share with all his friends— and probably eat twice as many.

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium sweet onion like Vidalia

3 cloves of garlic

2 large cans of whole tomatoes (28 oz cans)

1 cup water

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 cup cream

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes(Does your family like to spice things up? Add 1/4 teaspoon instead.)

1/8 teaspoon celery seed

2 teaspoons salt

Want to make this dairy or gluten-free? This soup is already gluten-free. To make it dairy-free too use coconut cream in place of the cream and use olive oil in place of the butter.

Make ahead option– This soup will last for a week in the refrigerator. Simply reheat a serving when you have a craving.

The Simple Steps...

1. Place a large pot on medium heat. Add the butter and oil.

2. Roughly chop the onion. Sauté it with the garlic in the butter and oil for about 5 minutes.

3. Open the canned tomatoes. Dump the whole tomatoes and all the juices into the pot with onions and garlic.

4. Stir in the water, sugar, and cream. Bring this to a boil.

5. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Add the oregano, red pepper flakes, and celery seed.

6. Cover the pot and cook for 15 minutes.

7. Using a hand blender, puree the soup right in the pot. Blend it for a short time if you like slightly chunky soup or puree for longer if you enjoy super smooth soup. If you don’t have a hand blender, pour the soup into the container of your regular blender. You may have to do this in batches so that you don’t overfill the blender.

8. Taste the soup. Stir in the salt. Taste again. Can you taste the difference? Enjoy the best tomato soup ever with grilled cheese sandwiches shapes.

1/2 a small head of cauliflower

2 small bunches of broccoli

2 medium zucchini 

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Want to make this dairy or gluten-free? This is a gluten-free recipe. To make this a dairy-free recipe, leave out the parmesan cheese. For the dipping sauce, use your favorite dairy-free yogurt or sour cream like Tofutti Sour Supreme.

Want to make this dairy or gluten-free? This is a gluten-free recipe. To make this a dairy-free recipe, leave out the parmesan cheese. For the dipping sauce, use your favorite dairy-free yogurt or sour cream like Tofutti Sour Supreme.

The Simple Steps...

1. Preheat oven to 450˚F.

2. Line a large baking tray with parchment paper.

3. Wash all the vegetables. Cut or break the cauliflower and broccoli into florets or bite-sized pieces. Cut the zucchini into 3” long strips that are about 1/2” thick.

4. Place all the vegetables into a large mixing bowl. Toss the vegetables with the 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon oregano, 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 cup parmesan cheese. It’s fun to use your hands to toss the vegetables. Always remember to wash your hands first.

5. Roast for 10 minutes. Shake the vegetables up a bit and roast another 3 minutes until almost tender. Dip into the dunk-able yogurt sauce.

Yogurt dipping sauce:

1. Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and mix well. If you use dried oregano, make the sauce before you roast the vegetables so that the herbs have a chance to flavor the yogurt.

8 slices of sour dough bread

8 oz muenster cheese

4 oz parmesan cheese

butter for spreading

Other Sandwich Options– In this recipe, I used muenster cheese, but use your favorite soft mild cheese like Monterey Jack, Fontina, havarti. or muenster. Combine that with a hard salty cheese like, Gruyere or parmesan. Experiment and let me know of your favorite combination of cheeses. Adding herbs like basil to the cheese makes for a more flavorful sandwich too.

The Simple Steps...

1. Place a large pan on medium to medium-high heat.

2. Spread one side of each slice of bread with a little butter. Sour dough bread is great for grilled sandwiches because it crisps up and holds it’s shape well. It doesn’t get soggy with too much filling.

3. Shred the cheeses into a large bowl so they can be mixed together easily.

4. Place four slices of buttered bread butter side down into the hot pan. Divide the cheese evenly amount the bread slices and top with the last four slices of bread. Allow the bread to brown and the cheese to melt then flip the sandwich and brown that side of the bread.

5. Now for the most fun part, cutting the shapes for dipping! Use a cookie cutter to make different shapes or use a serrated knife to cut the sandwich into one inch strips. Small triangles are another great shape that are perfect for dipping into the soup. Use your imagination to cut the shapes you want.

1 egg

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 tablespoon agave nectar

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

1/4 cup mini m&m™

2 1/4 cups old-fashioned oats

2 tablespoons flour

Want to make this dairy or gluten-free? For a gluten-free option, use your favorite gluten-free flour and old-fashioned rolled oats like Bob's Red Mill.

Make ahead option– These freeze wonderfully and can be stored in a sealed container in the freezer for a month. OR follow the Simple Steps 1-4 and store the dough in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to a week. You can also freeze the dough for up to a month!

The Simple Steps...

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚.

2. In large mixing bowl, beat the egg.

3. Use a sturdy wooden or bamboo spoon to combine all the other ingredients together in the bowl.

4. Scoop out 1/4 cup of dough. Use your hands and roll the dough into a ball about the size of a golf ball. Drop each ball onto a cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Add a little more dough for monster sized cookies!

5. Bake for 12 minutes. Leave on the baking sheet for a two minutes. Then transfer them to a cooling rack.

6. Depending on how much tasting  happened during the process, this recipe makes 20-22 cookies