Valentine’s Day Cooking Ideas

When working with children in the kitchen, get them involved with the things they can do, like mixing ingredients, placing the dough on the cookie sheets, frosting cookies, setting the timer, putting the berries in the mixer, helping to clean up, and of course, assisting with the all-important task of taste-tester. Make sure to emphasize safety and be clear about which tasks are adult-only tasks, like using knives or using the stove and oven. Here are some quick and easy recipe ideas to get your kids involved in making something sweet or special this Valentine’s Day.

Sugar Cookies:

To go the easy route, buy pre-made sugar cookies and frosting and let decorating the cookies be the activity. If you want to give your child the baking experience, here is the recipe to make your own. For older children, teach them measurement by having them measure the ingredients. For younger children, you may want to place each pre-measured ingredient in its own cup or bowl and let the child add the ingredients as the recipe asks for each. Serving size yields 4 dozen:

Ingredients:

2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp baking powder

1 cup butter, softened

1 ½ cups white sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

Fruit Smoothie: 

Ingredients:

Depending on the consistency you like, the other ingredients you could add to the smoothie are low-fat milk, frozen yogurt, or ice. Ice will make the smoothie more like a slushy.

Add equal portions (1 cup or two) of low-fat strawberry or raspberry yogurt and (1 cup or two) of mixed berries (frozen or fresh).

Serve with a straw or spoon, depending on how thick you’ve made the smoothie.

Heart-Shaped Pizzas: 

Most grocery stores will sell frozen pizza dough in the frozen food section. If using this, make sure to give the dough ample time to thaw and rise by removing it from the freezer approximately 8 hours before baking. Feel free to use any type of pizza dough. For a healthy choice, use whole wheat pizza dough. Some people choose to make their own pizza sauce, but store-bought sauce is a good shortcut, also. Let the kids get involved in as many steps of this process as are safe.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Pre-cut toppings. Some ideas include: onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach, olives, pineapple, ham, strawberries, asparagus.

Shred cheese. Any cheese can be used, but heart-healthy choices are always great for kids (low-fat).

Spread dough on cookie sheet in the shape of a heart. If making mini-pizzas, cut dough ball into how many pizzas you’ll need, then make each a heart shape.

Spread pizza or pasta sauce on top of dough.

Add toppings and cheese.

Place in oven. For smaller pizzas, set timer for 10-12 minutes, for larger pizzas, set timer for 15-18 minutes.

Let cool, slice, and enjoy!

You’ll need a blender, some yogurt, and berries.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a small bowl, stir flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix butter and sugar until smooth. Crack open egg in separate bowl (to make sure you don’t have any eggshells), then mix in egg and vanilla.

Add dry ingredients into the large bowl and mix wet and dry ingredients together.

Use a spoon to roll 1-2 inch diameter dough balls, then indent one end of ball and pinch other end (making a heart-shaped dough ball), place onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 8-10 minutes, let cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes prior to removing them to cool on cookie racks.

Let cool for an hour or two, then decorate with frosting and red hots or red sprinkles.