We are going to be sharing with you our A-Z of cooking with kids over the next year and we are starting today with A is for….. Apple Muffins. These easy apple muffins are simple to make with kids and are perfect for freezing and use in lunch boxes. How to make Easy Apple Muffins
I hope that my previous post about crafting with your kids this Christmas inspired you to get creative with your kids. Now for part two! So what else I am inspired by at this time of year, well if you are a regular reader then it will come as no surprise to you that it is getting kids in to the kitchen and creating with them, baking making and having fun. Creativity is part of my make up. It runs through my veins and has since I had the boys. One of the biggest things I want my kids to remember is having fun making things. I also want to to have more »
We are big fans of winter cooking and one of the best things about the cold weather is the change to come home to a fab home cooked meal and one of our family favorites is Beef and ale with crispy dumplings. It is something that both MadDad and I remember fondly from our childhood and thankfully the boys both love it too. How to make Beef and ale with crispy Dumplings
I am passionate about teaching my boys life skills and for me a big part of that is cooking. I aim to give them the skills in the kitchen to read recipes, prepare food and cook and bake meals from scratch. At eight and nine, they are pretty handy already and vegetable stuffed omelette is a great recipe for kids as they are do it all themselves.
We have a rule in The Mad House, which is that we do not partake in the ice cream van, this means that I have a freezer drawer full of ice lollies and we love making homemade ice lollies or popsicles. I never throw away nearly out of date juice or smoothies as they make fab lollies, Just like Kate at Crafts on Sea.
Ever since MadDad put raised beds in our garden after my Mastectomy six years ago we have always grown a small amount of vegetables, salads and fruits at home. I know from experience that kids are more likely to try to eat things that they have grown and nurtured. It worked for me in my Granddads allotment and for MadDad as a farmers son.
We were challenged by Philadelphia to create something that could be had at lunchtime, took little preparation and less than five minutes to make. So Mini and I put our heads together and decided to have a go at making a healthy ish chocolate pot.
I am blessed to have kids that eat pretty much everything I put in front of them most of the time. However, we still have times when they are under the whether or just being kids when they refuse food. I find that a great way of getting them and me out of a funk it to bring them in to the kitchen and make things together. However, when that fails this is a failsafe way to encourage picky eaters!
I love cooking with my boys and this is a recipe from my childhood and one that Mini loves to make and loves to eat! Yorkshire Parkin was my Aunty Chris signature bake. Hers was always perfectly sticky and delicious and tasting it takes me right back to her home filled with cousins fitting in front of the coal fire under one of her crochet blankets.
I say boys, but really these tips are great for baking with any child. My children have been helping me in the kitchen from when they could sit in a high chair. I tried to involve them from a young age, even if it was just giving them some pastry to play with. I wanted them to feel comfortable in the kitchen and be involved in preparing their food. Baking is a great exercise for children, it involves lots of different skills such as reading recipes, measuring and weighing ingredients, following instructions, motor skills (mixing), measuring time and also is a great way to connect them with the food that they more »
This weeks afterschool fun activity I would like to share with you is our go to cup cake and fairy cake recipe. It is the perfect cooking with kids activity as they have to weight the eggs to get the weight of the other ingredients as everything is equal to the weight of the eggs.
Today is apple day and we are celebrating it in the mad house, by apple printing and eating delicious apple pie and the last two apples from our tree. When we moved in to our new build home 7 years ago one of the first things we did was plant an apple tree and a pear in the garden. We have watched over the years as those trees have grown and developed just like our children and watched the joy on the boys faces when the apple bears fruit (the pear never has, yet………).
Inspired by the Hairy Bikers, Mini has decided that he wants to make sourdough bread, which means that we need to make a starter. So We have started the process and at the moment we are on day two and MAria (as Mini named her) is currently sat in the airing cupboard.
Mini never does things by half so we received sourdough starters on line and he decided to use one from the BBC (as they often use this site for recipes at school).
He also decided he need to keep on top of what day it was so used our new A4 flexible magnetic chalkboard from First 4 Magnets, which was only £3.49 (they send it to us free) and stuck it on the fridge so he could see it and tick off after he had done what needed to be done each day.
We would love for you to join us in learning how to make sourdough bread, like Helen at The Crazy Kitchen has. If you do, please let us know by leaving a comment and you can follow our progress over on The Mad House facebook page or Instagram.
