Keeping the kids entertained in the kitchen during the summer holidays

Entertaining the kids for six weeks can be exhausting, not to mention expensive. Also, with all those holidays and days out, it’s hard to ensure they are getting a nutritious diet. Try entertaining the kids at home, whilst developing their cooking skills and giving their diet a healthy boost with these summer holiday recipes.

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Easy Peasy Pizza

If you want to get the kids involved with cooking dinner but can’t face a kitchen full of flour, try out this easy peasy ciabatta pizza recipe. Start by frying some onion and garlic until soft, then add a tin of chopped tomatoes and simmer for ten minutes. Halve your ciabattas, drizzle with oil and bake for five minutes. Give a part-cooked, half ciabatta to each child and allow them to get creative with the tomato sauce, cheeses and toppings such as ham, sweetcorn, peppers and mushrooms.

Fajita Fiesta

This is another easy way to give the kids a balanced meal, without making too much mess. Get the children to prepare the fillings. This can include grating cheese, chopping peppers and even making a simple salsa or guacamole.

Pancake Party

Everyone loves pancakes and they are incredibly easy to make, but what a lot of people forget is that the milk and eggs in the batter are a great source of protein. Use fillings such as cheese, onion, ham and even tuna to create pancakes with a difference.

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Iced Biscuits

Bake some basic biscuits with this easy recipe. You’ll need 275g plain flour, 100g butter (unsalted), 100g caster sugar, 1 medium egg, and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Cream the sugar and butter, then add the egg and vanilla and finally sift the flour in. Roll out and cut into shapes to bake. Once cooled, make an icing using food colouring, icing sugar and water and finish off with hundreds and thousands.

Let the kids do the research

Another option is to facilitate a truly child-led kitchen. Encourage your kids to research what to cook by either leafing through your recipe books or heading online and looking through food recipes, such as those on http://food-tales.com/. See if THEY can find a nutritious meal that the whole family will eat!

Hopefully, these ideas will help keep the whole house busy and well-fed this summer.