This is a “quick but real” soup – it’s simple for the older kids to help make, perfect start-to-finish time of 20 minutes for a busy weeknight, and contains just a few simple ingredients found in your pantry.

Quick Tomato Soup with Crunchy Garlic Croutons

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 6 to 8 slices of leftover garlic bread*
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 cup onions, minced
• 1 28-ounce can whole, peeled tomatoes
• 1 cup milk
• Salt and black pepper
• Fresh basil, optional
• Fresh dill, optional

*sourdough bread works wonderfully too – just cut into cubes, drizzle with a little bit of olive oil and bake in oven until desired crunchiness.

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place the bread on a cutting board. Next, cut into cubes (kids ages eight and up can do this). Place the cubes on a baking sheet and bake.  The desired crunchiness is a matter of taste: keep an eye on the croutons and let your child determine when ready (5 to 10 minutes).
3. Add 2 Tablespoons olive oil in a medium-size saucepan. Add the minced onion, the two garlic cloves, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook and stir over medium-low heat for approximately 10 minutes, or until the onions become very soft and your kitchen smells really good.
4. Open the can of tomatoes and place the tomatoes and their juice into a food processor or blender. Add the cooked onions and garlic. Puree until smooth.
5. Pour the pureed mixture into a saucepan. Heat it slowly, stirring occasionally. When it’s warm, slowly drizzle in the milk. stir until combined.
6. Ladle the soup into serving bowls. If desired, a a few shakes of salt and pepper to taste. If you have fresh basil or fresh dill, snip tiny bits into the soup with kitchen scissors.
7. Put the croutons into a big bowl in the middle of the table and let everyone float a handful in their bowls of soup.

Cooking Tips:

• Parents should be in charge of putting the baking sheet into the oven and taking it out.
• Blades on a food processor and blenders are extremely sharp, so parents should remove the food from either type of kitchen appliance.
• In the summer, when you have an abundance of tomatoes in your garden, substitute 3 pounds of fresh tomatoes. Core them, cut into chunks, cook in a covered saucepan over medium heat for 15 minutes, and proceed with the recipe.
• Croutons are always popular with kids, so my recommendation is to make extra and keep them around for salads, and of course snaking.

Teaching young children how to cook,  I think, is one of the greatest accomplishments; not just for your children but for you the parent as well. Children may often look awkward or clumsy stirring or chopping, but that’s okay. It’s a proud site to see as a parent the pleasure and pride they show in their accomplishments.

Today’s guest post is from Kristen Swope. Kristen is sharing the joys of cooking with children and how you can get your kids in the kitchen.

Enjoy today’s post!

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In most households, dinners are approached with great haste—popping mac and cheese into the microwave or ordering pizza. The scenario is common in households where parents have their hands full and can’t bear the time spent chopping onions.

Parents aren’t to be blamed, though. Managing the household is a difficult task—a job that often falls on the shoulders of mothers. With the economy we have today, most families need both parents to work, and there is no one to focus on the house. Because of “home fast food”, we are slowly and inadvertently creating a house full of picky eaters.

To reverse this trend, home managers (that’s you, Mom!) should get their kids involved in preparing meals. Sounds like a daunting task, right? It is, if you think about the mess that’s about to happen, but if you approach this activity with the mindset of helping your kids learn life skills, then things are about to get different.

The Road to Healthy Living

Learning how to cook and appreciating the processes that bring good food to the table pave the way to a healthier lifestyle. In a country where fast food rules, the ability to cook changes the way children see diet. Obesity in children is growing simply because there is easy access to junk food. By cooking with their parents at home, children will discover that nutritious food is not boring, and that with a little bit of creativity, they can make a dish that delights both the eyes and the palate.

When children learn the process of cooking, they will value the way food is transformed from something so basic into something scrumptious. In addition, they learn about food safety by constantly needing to keep hands, food, knives, and utensils clean. If you teach them the importance of hygiene in everyday living, having to be so cleanly in a kitchen will show them how cooking is a part of life.

An Opportunity to Bond as a Family

With all the daily activities that keep us busy, it’s essential for families to wind down and just enjoy each other’s company. Spending time together in the kitchen is a great way to foster healthy family relationships. It’s also a great opportunity to talk to kids and discover more who they are.

Create new dishes together or revive an heirloom recipe. By cooking alongside each other, family members nurture and preserve family traditions that they can pass to the next generation. This is also a great time to indirectly teach values that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to talk to your children about.

Boost Your Child’s Confidence

Contrary to what most people think, young children love to help around the home. Even if it takes them ages to do a task, the mere idea of completing a job is a great boost to children’s confidence. When children cook, they learn about every little step involved. Measuring, sequencing, and cause and effect are just some of the practical skills that children learn when they help in the kitchen. The life skills they learn from you are things that will help them through when they become adults. In addition, when children help in the kitchen, they feel like they are an important part of a team.

Get Them Involved Today

It’s never too early to teach kids the joy of cooking. You can teach the basics to a child as young as four or five years old, like washing fruits and vegetables. As they grow older, you can teach them the more complicated tasks of slicing, measuring, and heating.

Cooking at home is healthier and less expensive than eating artificial foods or getting take out. Cultivate good family relationships and preserve your traditions by letting your kids help in the kitchen. Things might be a bit messy at first, but the extra hand in the kitchen will someday be feeding you.

Kristen works as a freelance writer for Backyard Ocean, an online store for above ground swimming pools, inflatable pool toys, and accessories. A work-at-home mom, she loves to cook and spend time with her daughter in the kitchen.

I’m excited later this week to introduce another chapter to my Back To School Cooking Series.  I feel strongly that cooking and eating together is a great satisfaction that often disappears with the busy schedules of families. Working outside of the home has always been a necessity for most adults these days and enjoying the food we create together is a way of connecting with one another.

Time-Saving Techniques in the Kitchen

My hope for my blog has always been to share with other busy families many mealtime solutions, teaching how simple recipes and timesaving tools and tips make mealtime preparation fun. It adds up to spending more time with your loved ones around the dinner table.

Kids In The Kitchen

Why should children learn to cook? Cooking can bring so many wonderful experiences into their life!

I thought it might be fun to introduce a weekly Cooking Lessons For Kids post. My assumption is that you as an adult will be around for supervision and can use these cooking lessons as a guide to get in the kitchen with your kids and have some fun together. In each post, I’ll share new techniques for kids which are used again and again as they move on in further lessons. I’ve decided to keep the ingredients as simple as possible and to a minimum. We won’t be using any electrical equipment, because touching, smelling, and seeing the ingredients and the ways they change as they’re prepared and cooked teach far more than you might realize-and for young children, preparing food this way is safer. 

We’ll make foods from a simple vegetable soup, to salads, hamburgers, macaroni and cheese, even scrumptious cupcakes and brownies. All the yummy foods kids love to eat. Keep it simple. Keep it fun!

 The Rewards of Cooking

There is a mystery in cooking; no matter how many times you make the same dish, it will never be exactly the same. Think how remarkable it is that you can take flour, butter, sugar, and an egg and turn these into scrumptious cookies; or that you can simply stir two eggs together and gently cook them into creamy scrambled eggs.

Teaching young children how to cook,  I think, is one of the greatest accomplishments; not just for your children but for you the parent as well. Children may often look awkward or clumsy stirring or chopping, but that’s okay. It’s a proud site to see as a parent the pleasure and pride they show in their accomplishments.

Here are some previous posts in the Back To School Cooking Series:

Create a Cooking Plan

Kids Snack Recipes

Today’s post is from Stephen Pazyra, CEO of an online bakery that delivers premium logo cookies. Today he’s sharing how you can spend quality time in the kitchen with your kids making fun and simple recipes that are kid-friendly. What a great way to spend a day with your kids!

Enjoy today’s post!

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Baking with children is a great way to spend quality time together and provide them with a fun (and sometimes messy!) experience. Whether or not the kids are your own, you’ll have a great time supervising their cooking endeavors, and these five simple, kid-friendly recipes are perfect for involving little hands in the kitchen.

·         Crazy Kids Personal Pizza
Practically every child likes pizza, so why not teach the kids in your life how to make one? This Food Network recipe is nice because it’s for a personal pizza. That means if you’re cooking with several children, each one can add the toppings he or she desires.
To make this recipe, you need a pizza stone, store-bought pizza dough, tomato sauce, mozzarella, Romano cheese, olive oil, flour and several toppings. Pizza is fun because there are so many ways to make it. You may also want to try this homemade pizza recipe!

·         Peanut Butter Cookies with Hershey Kisses
Your children will be the envy of their friends if they make these mouth-watering cookies from the Cooks.com website. Perfect with a glass of milk, they’ll satisfy even the pickiest of eaters after a long day of school.
Once you’ve mixed the dough, you roll it into small balls, which kids love because they get to dig in with their hands. You bake the dough until it is golden brown, and place a Hershey’s Kiss in the center of each cookie. This recipe makes 48 cookies, ensuring they last a few days.

·         Banana Bread
Children will enjoy smashing bananas for this Williams-Sonoma recipe. Just make sure the bananas you give them are very ripe. The recipe really is quite easy to prepare. The hardest part is the 45 minute wait while it’s baking.
During this time, you can have your little bakers help wash the dishes and clean the counters. To motivate them, tell them their reward will be a fresh slice of banana bread!

·         Soft Pretzels
Soft pretzels are another fun recipe for children to make. Between mixing, rolling, and shaping the dough into a pretzel shape, kids will want to make this snack again and again. This Allrecipes recipe requires you to dissolve yeast in warm water, add a bunch of ingredients (sugar, salt butter and egg), and stir in flour.
You refrigerate the dough for a while, cut it in half, and separate each half into 16 equal pieces. After rolling each piece into a 20-inch rope, shaping the pieces into pretzels, and brushing egg over the pretzels (you can also add salt), you bake them in the oven.

·         Crunchy, Oven Baked Chicken Toes
Children will probably laugh at the funny name of this Rachael Ray recipe. But their laughter will change to pleasure when they sample the tasty treat. The first steps involve crushing corn flakes and mixing them with breadcrumbs, sugar, salt, pepper, and allspice.
Next, some vegetable oil is mixed in with the breading. After a grownup has cut chicken breast tenders into 2-inch pieces, the child can turn the chicken in flour, eggs, and the breading. The last step is baking the chicken for about 15 minutes.

Do you have any fun, child-friendly recipes that you like to make with your little ones?

Author Bio: Stephen Pazyra is founder and CEO of 1-800-Bakery, an online bakery that delivers premium logo cookies with a commitment to quality and freshness.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cristic/322430933

Today’s post is brought to you by Sarah Morris. Sarah shares another great way for families to learn to engage with one another not just at the dinner table but having fun working together to create a wonderful family meal.

Enjoy today’s post!

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Enjoying a meal with your family is often the best part of anyone’s day, but engaging family members in the cooking process is often overlooked as a great chance for gaining more time bonding and working together. Even getting younger children involved is possible, so that no one feels left out.

 Dr. Mary Zurn, vice president of education for Primrose Child Care Facilities, says:

“The kitchen is often the most popular place in the house for families to gather. It’s a place for learning and sharing, where the family can enjoy quality time. Children can also develop a sense of responsibility by participating in daily tasks,”

 Parents can keep the kitchen safe and fun for children by following this simple recipe:

1.  Engage your child meaningfully. Think about what tasks your child can do independently. Completing simple jobs like mixing batter, rolling dough and measuring water can boost a child’s sense of pride and accomplishment. Tearing lettuce, adding sprinkles to sweets and shaking parmesan onto pasta are other safe, satisfying tasks children can easily accomplish. Even very young children can get involved – give them some pots, pans and wooden spoons so they can pretend to cook with you or use them for music-making. The tuneful accompaniment will let you know they’re safely engaged and give them a way to feel like they’re helping too.
2. Set some ground rules. Children need supervision when they’re in the kitchen, so establish a list of basic safety rules and make sure children are always within sight. Teach children to wash their hands before and after handling food to avoid spreading germs. Discuss on a regular basis what’s safe to touch and what’s not. Make sure the handles of pots and pans are turned inward on the stovetop so you and older children don’t accidentally bump them and spill hot liquids or food.
3. Build up skills step-by-step. Children can develop many essential skills in the kitchen, such as following recipes or counting slices of bread. For more advanced skills, start slowly and have your child master easy tasks before attempting harder ones. Teach older children to use a knife by starting them off with cutting soft items like cheese and cooked noodles with a dull spreader. As your child’s coordination develops, they can move on to slicing or sawing vegetables and fruit with a plastic knife.
4. Keep it fun. Cooking can be messy even without children, so don’t stress over the “oops” moments. If the cookie batter ends up on the floor instead of the baking sheet, offer some guidance and let your child try again. You can make cleaning it up fun too!

When your meal is complete, be sure to compliment your sous chef on a job well done. Offer them the first taste of whatever you cooked together and ask them what you should make next time. Bon appétit!

-Submitted by Sarah Morris on behalf of Primrose Schools.  Sarah has written a few articles connecting cooking and mealtime with parenting. You can join in on the conversation about parenting, education, nutrition, healthy families, and much more at www.drzandfriends.com

http://www.primroseschools.com/

Coming Up Next: Doof-A-Palooza Unique Family Food Fest