Mealtime Solutions: A Quick Dinner Kids Can Cook!

I love getting my kids in the kitchen. Kids love to cook, and helping with dinner prep is a wonderful way for kids to learn about chemistry and nutrition. A lot of our favorite dishes (like orange-infused black beans) require quite a bit of advance prep, so I always keep a few quick and easy dinners on hand for hectic days. My kids really enjoy helping out with these instant gratification meals, since they can easily be involved with the entire process. Companies like Horizon (the sponsor of this post) put together high quality ingredients for quick and easy meals that kids can learn to cook entirely on their own!

A Quick Dinner Kids Can Cook!

Five-year-old Lily and seven-year-old Johnny have been learning to make Horizon’s boxed organic macaroni and cheese. We recently moved our entire family over to a gluten-free diet, so we were thrilled to find Horizon’s new gluten-free boxed organic macaroni and cheese.

I am teaching my kids to gather their ingredients together before they start cooking, to make the process easier. Since my kids have been taught about kitchen safety, once the ingredients are there they are able to make this meal almost entirely on their own, with my supervision. They do all of the stirring and adding ingredients; I am there to ensure safety and to strain the pasta through our colander and then pour the hot cheese sauce over the noodles while they stir.

Johnny, Lily, and I made a little video to show how easy it is to get kids cooking in the kitchen! Even two-year-old Anna often helps me cook dinner, although she requires very close supervision, so that it would be difficult for me to film while cooking with her.

The kids get to choose fruits and veggies to pair with their pasta. We often use frozen peas, but on this particular day they picked sliced apple pears and carrots. Carrots are delicious paired with a cheesy dish! My kids always eat particularly well when they cooked the meal. There is something particularly satisfying in watching others enjoy a meal you cooked – and in enjoying it yourself!

What meals do your kids enjoy cooking?

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Horizon Organics. The opinions and text are all mine.