Kids in the Kitchen: Everyday Math

Want to give your kids an edge in math class... for free?? Spend some time this summer working on everyday math in the kitchen! Any kid of any age can benefit from some hands on, practical math and learn a valuable life skill (cooking!) to boot. All you have to do is narrate what you're doing and ask questions. Don't tell your kids you're doing "math."

Here are some ideas for different concepts/ages:

1. Toddlers/Preschoolers at the most basic: Pull up a stool, put your child on top, and start narrating: "See the orange carrot? I have ONE orange carrot. (add one) Now I have two orange carrots. One. Two." (make sure you point to the items you're counting off) You can do this with anything: plates, fruit, cups, meatballs, noodles, grains of rice,.....


2. Toddlers/Preschoolers, level 2: "How many grapes are on your plate? Let's count them together..." While you are baking or doing any kind of cooking that requires more than one measuring unit, say something like this, "I need 2 cups of sugar. Count with me. One. Two." 


3. Preschoolers/Kindergartners ready for basic addition/subtraction: "Let's see.... You had 5 grapes and you ate 1. How many do you have left?" Or, "I need two cups of sugar. There's one. How many more do I need?" (just add 1-2 items at a time)


4. Kindergartners/Early Elementary, basic addition/subtraction: "I need five cups of sugar. I just put in two. How many more do I need?" (basically, you start adding/subtracting more than 1 unit)


5. Kindergartners/Early Elementary, counting by multiples: "How many blueberries are on your plate? Two, four, six,..." 


6. Early Elementary, ready for basic multiplication/division: "We have five people in our family, and we have 10 muffins. How many muffins does each person get?" (Kids have a vested interest in this kind of math--they want to make sure everyone gets the same number because fairness is BIG.) Or, "we have five people in our family. If everyone wants two tacos, how many tacos should we make?" As with adding/subtracting, start with small numbers (like times two) and move up.


7. Elementary (and even middle school), practical application: Wow--when you get to multiplying and dividing fractions, if your child has spent some time with you cooking, he or she is ready to halve or double recipes! Talk about practical application, folks. Tell little Johnny that you want to make a double recipe of chocolate chip cookies, but he has to help you figure out how many chocolate chips, sugar, etc. you will need....


8. Elementary/middle school, conversions: Some ratio action here! Try handing out only a 1 teaspoon measuring spoon (b/c doesn't that seem to be the way it goes when you're in a hurry and everything else is dirty?). Then, make an entire recipe, converting all the partial teaspoons and tablespoons into rough units based on your one teaspoon. If you're baking, pick a small measure so you won't have to worry about fractions of the one utensil. If you're cooking, you can eyeball a "half teaspoon" of some spice sufficiently.

What are some of YOUR ideas for everyday math in the kitchen?

Hide-and-Seek Muffins

Another gem from Pretend Soup that my kids have thoroughly enjoyed (and making). Perfect for summer berry picking time, try these the next time you have an abundance of berries. We tried them with strawberries, but big blueberries, raspberries, or medium-sized blackberries would work, too!

~From Pretend Soup

•  1 1/2 c. flour (I used 1 cup whole wheat, 1/2 cup white)
• 2 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. baking soda
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/4 c. sugar + extra 
• 1/4 c. (4 T.) butter, melted
• 1 c. milk
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 t. vanilla
• 12 small-medium strawberries (or other berries of similar size)
•  muffin cups or spray for muffin tin

1.  Mix dry ingredients (flour through 1/4 c. sugar) together and set aside.
2. Mix wet ingredients (melted butter through vanilla) together. Add all at once to dry ingredients and mix.
3. Pour batter into muffin cups, filling them about half full.
4. Roll berries in sugar and push one berry down into each muffin spot. You will be able to see the tops of the berries, but as the muffins bake, the batter will rise up and cover each berry!
5.  Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes before eating; you can take them out of the pan at about 5 minutes, but the berries are quite hot, so wait the full 10 before eating them.

 ~Makes 1 dozen medium-sized muffins

Homemade Lemon-Lime Soda Pop

Now, I'm from the South, and I just can't say "pop." Or even "soda" for that matter. It's all Coke to me. Still, this recipe is delicious--refreshing and, while sweet, doesn't have any high fructose corn syrup! Let the kids make it with you--that's part of the experience! (Incidentally, this is a terrific recipe since it's the quantities for only one cup at a time; one of my twins does NOT like carbonation, so I make his with plain water and he's thrilled.)

~From Pretend Soup

• 2 T. fresh lemon juice
• 1 T. fresh lime juice
• 1/4 c. + 2 T. apple juice concentrate (thawed)
• 3 ice cubes
• 1 c. soda water

 Squeeze juice from a lemon and measure 2 tablespoons into a glass. Squeeze juice from a lime and add 1 tablespoon to the glass.

Add everything else and stir. Drink with a straw or slurp from a spoon.

Makes 1 serving (can make more easily!!)

Life Party Mix

This is a terrific snack to offer at a kids' party. It's sweet, easy to make, and keeps well (so you can make it ahead of time). It reminds me of classic trail mix--and I added peanuts to the original to make it more trail-mix-like! (For another sweet party mix, see Cinnamon-Apple Chex Mix; for the original savory goodness, see Chex Winter Party Mix).

Note: I used chocolate chips and butterscotch chips in mine because I didn't have any M&M's. I think seasonally colored M&M's would make this is a great holiday snack for any holiday (Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.).

~From back of Life cereal box

• 4 c. Life cereal, any flavor (1 regular--smallish box is enough for 2 batches)
• 1 c. small pretzel sticks
• 1 c. peanuts, optional
• 1/4 c. butter
• 3 T. brown sugar
• 1 c. raisins
• 1 c. M&M's, any color (or sub in chocolate chips)

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. 
2. Mix cereal, pretzels, and peanuts, if using, in large pan (I used the bottom drip pan of my broiler pan for a double batch; a large roasting pan would also work).
3. In a small saucepan, bring to a boil the butter and sugar. Drizzle over cereal mix. Toss lightly to mix thoroughly.
4. Bake at 250 degrees for about an hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
5. Add raisins and let cereal mix cool.
6. When completely cool, add chocolate pieces--whatever you happen to be using.

~Yields approximately 7-8 cups

Crunchy Fruity Granola

When you already have the Platonic form granola, why make a different recipe? Well, this one is from one of our favorite kids' cookbooks: Salad People. It's got pictures so pre-readers can learn to follow the directions! And, it tastes just like an oatmeal cookie (read: lots of oil and sweetener).

• 3 c. rolled oats
• 2 c. combined seeds and chopped nuts*
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/3 c. brown sugar
• 3/4 c. canola oil
• 1/2 c. honey
• 1 T. vanilla extract (I think I left this out...)
• 1 c. assorted dried fruit (we used raisins and Craisins)

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a 13x18-inch baking tray with nonstick spray (I didn't worry about spraying anything--not with that much oil in the recipe! I also used my broiler drip pan for this.)
2. Combine the oats, seeds and chopped nuts, salt, and brown sugar in a large bowl.
3. Combine the oil, honey, and vanilla extract in a 2-cup liquid measuring cup, and pour this into the dry ingredients. Mix thoroughly and spread on the prepared tray (GREAT fun for kids to mix this with their hands).
4. Bake for 30 minutes, or until golden, stirring every 10 minutes or so.
5. Cool on tray. When it has cooled down and become crunchy, add the dried fruit.
6. Eat plain or with milk.

*The combined nuts and seeds can be any combo of the following: pecans, walnuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, etc. We use walnuts, pecans, almonds, and sunflower seeds.

~Yields 6-8 cups

Cinnamon-Apple Chex Mix

While not as ubiquitous as the original Chex Winter Party Mix, alternate versions like this sweet one are showing up premade in grocery stores and gas stations all the time. Now you can make some at home!

~from back of Wheat Chex box

• 5 c. multi-bran Chex or wheat Chex cereal
• 1 c. lightly salted whole almonds
• 1/4 c. butter or margarine
• 1/3 c. packed brown sugar
• 2 T. light corn syrup
• 1 t. cinnamon
• 1 c. chopped dried apples
• 1/2 c. vanilla yogurt-covered raisins

1. In large microwavable bowl, mix cereal and almonds; set aside.
2. In 2-cup microwavable measuring cup, microwave butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and cinnamon uncovered on High about 2 minutes, stirring after 1 minute, until mixture is boiling; stir. Pour over cereal mixture, stirring until evenly coated.
3. Microwave uncovered on High 3 minutes, stirring and scraping bowl after every minute. Stir in apples; microwave uncovered on High about 2 minutes or until apples just begin to brown on edges.
4. Spread on waxed paper or foil to cool, about 5 minutes. Place in serving bowl; stir in raisins. Store in airtight container.

~Makes 16 (1/2-cup) servings

Autumn's Special Yogurt

A young friend of mine (named Autumn) concocted this super simple, super yummy yogurt dish. It's perfect for right after holidays and other occasions when you might have leftover whipped cream (whether the real deal, Redi-Whip, or Cool Whip).

• yogurt of choice
• whipped cream of choice
• fruit, if desired

We used vanilla yogurt with a nice spoonful of Cool Whip swirled in this morning. Mmmm... My kids all dipped their fruit into it (one had a pear, one had a clementine, and one had a banana).

Enjoy!

Mini (Zucchini) Pizzas

The basic pizzas here are not rocket science, but thanks to the Colvin Family, we got another cool 8-ball zucchini. We were told to try mini pizzas with zucchini slices as the "crust" earlier this summer (see here for the video). Guess what: when the kids saw that we got an 8-ball zucchini this week, they requested "zucchini pizzas"!! Pretty neat! I'm sure you could do this with regular zucchini--the pizzas would just be oblong. I've also done with this English muffins. Kids love to decorate their own.   (I keep a resealable bag of the mini pepperonis, small tupperwares of spaghetti sauce, and preshredded cheese in the freezer--makes whipping these up on a whim super easy.)

1/4-inch slices zucchini or English muffins
spaghetti sauce that your family likes
shredded cheese (cheddar, mozzarella, the usuals)
mini pepperonis (these really make the pizza for the kids--the minis are so fun)

If using zucchini slices, lay them on a cookie sheet, spread with olive oil, and bake at 400 degrees for about 10 or 15 minutes or so--until they're mostly cooked/not raw.

Spread sauce on top.

Sprinkle with cheese (I'm pretty liberal with the cheese when I'm using zukes)

Top with pepperonis.

Pop back in oven until cheese melts!

MMMMMMMMM

Peanut Butter-Banana Roll-Ups

Yum! A new breakfast, lunch, or snack recipe that's adaptable, healthy, and delicious! What more do you need? Oh--bonus: it's VERY kid-friendly. I have adapted the recipe slightly.... This is also a good recipe for kids to help make.

~From Cooking Light

• 1/2 c. peanut butter (creamy or chunky, reduced fat or full fat, natural or not)
• 1/3 c. vanilla or plain yogurt
• 1 T. orange juice (can be from concentrate)
• 2 ripe bananas, sliced
• 4 (8-inch) flour tortillas (white or whole wheat/whole grain)
  
• 2 T. wheat germ, original or honey-crunch
• 1/4 t. cinnamon
• extra honey, esp if using plain yogurt, natural peanut butter, and/or plain wheat germ

1. Mix peanut butter and yogurt together. I found that creamy spread better, but we like the crunch of chunky.
2. Toss bananas with juice (gently!).
3. Mix wheat germ and cinnamon together.
   
4. Assemble: Spread about 3 tablespoons of peanut butter/yogurt mixture over each tortilla, leaving about 1/2-inch of space at edges. Spread 1/3 cup of bananas (or 1/4 of the amount you have sliced) on top, making sure they're in one layer. Sprinkle with wheat germ. If desired, drizzle with extra honey. (I don't think you'll need extra honey if you use regular peanut butter, vanilla yogurt, and honey-crunch wheat germ, but if you use the plain/unsweetened versions of those ingredients, you may want a little.)
5. Roll up, flattening slightly. Slice in half or thirds.

~Makes 4 roll-ups: 1 roll-up is an ample breakfast (was a little too much for one of my kids); half or thirds would make great snack options or a part of a meal

Pretend Soup

This makes a delicious snack or lunch offering--especially in the winter when so many fresh fruits are not in season and expensive. The "soup" is cold, though, so save it for a warmer winter day! We used frozen berries with their juice in our soups in the picture; hence the swirly colors.

From Pretend Soup (see the cookbook itself for kid-friendly pictures/directions; this is an easy recipe for preschoolers to make for themselves)

• 2 c. orange juice
• 1/2 c. plain yogurt
• 1 T. honey
• 2 t. lemon juice
• 1 c. berries (any kind, fresh or frozen; thaw frozen ones first and include the juices)
• 1 banana, sliced

1. Place the orange juice in a bowl. Add yogurt, honey, and lemon juice.
2. Whisk "until it is all one color."
3. Place 5 banana slices and 2 tablespoons berries in each bowl (~4 bowls).
4. Ladle soup over berries and bananas and eat!

~about 4 servings

Rolled Oatmeal Cookies

I'm going to rename these as "Oatmeal Tea Cookies" because they aren't very sweet and make a PERFECT accompaniment to a cup of tea (and a good snack for kids). They're also a perfect cookie to let your little "helpers" help cut out. With no eggs, the texture of these cookies is similar to shortbread without being as "short," if that makes sense. They do not spread much at all while baking, so feel free to cram that baking sheet full!

From More-With-Less cookbook

• 1 c. butter
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 2 c. rolled oats
• 1 c. dry milk solids (aka powdered milk)
• 1/2 c. water
• 2 1/4-2 1/2 c. flour
• 3 t. baking powder
• 1 t. salt

Cream butter and sugar together. Add oats, dry milk, and water; beat well. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together and add to creamed mixture. Fold in and mix well.

Divide into small portions and chill well.

When ready to roll out, clean off a nice stretch of counter top, flour well, put aprons on your kiddos, have cookie cutters ready, and get ready to roll! I roll out the dough about 1/4-inch thick and make sure it's not sticking before we cut out the shapes. Bake at 325 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Edges will brown slightly; baking time depends on size of cookies.

Makes 5-6 dozen

Kids in the Kitchen

When those rainy, cold days hit and you need to occupy your children indoors, try cooking with them! Most kids love to help Mom or Dad bake up something yummy. My daughter has been helping me bake since she was not quite 2. "Help" is a bit of a misnomer, but she is now able to thoroughly stir together a muffin batter without my assistance once I've measured the ingredients. I hope I can turn the muffin production over to the kids completely in a year or two. Wouldn't that be nice?! Spending time in the kitchen together has many benefits: time together, increased familiarity with the inner workings of the kitchen, realization of the time involved, pride in a great final product, and something yummy to eat or drink!

The go to recipe for most people who want to cook with their children is chocolate chip cookies (or cookies of any kind). Why not try something a bit healthier and easier? Cookie dough often involves a mixer and the dough can be quite stiff (too stiff for little hands). In addition, if you're making cookies that you plan to roll out and decorate, you have to chill the dough--definitely DELAYED gratification. Instead of, or in addition to, the ubiquitous chocolate chip cookies, try one of the following recipes:

"Spiced Tea": sometimes this is called Russian tea. It's mostly Tang and sugar; no wonder kids love it! It's easy enough for a young child to stir together and fairly instant gratification if you already have some hot water on hand. Mmmm.... Perfect for a cold, rainy day.

When first starting out with actual cooking/baking, particularly if your "helper" is a very young child (2 or 3), try the Whole Wheat Applesauce Muffins. There are no eggs, so if your young helper licks the spoon frequently, it won't matter (personally, I don't have much issue with licking the spoon even when there ARE eggs present, but I suppose I can't advocate that). This batter is exceptionally easy to whip up, easy to measure, easy to stir, and, unlike most muffin batters, can't really be overmixed. And they are YUMMY!!!

"Jiffy" Cornbread Muffins are another good place to start. Fairly straight forward and your child will be immensely pleased to have helped make part of dinner. This batter, made as cornbread, is easy enough for an elementary school-aged child to do by him- or herself, if he or she is familiar with the kitchen. Unlike other cornbread recipes, it does not require buttermilk, nor does it require a hot pan already greased with hot butter/grease (making it safer for a child to handle).

Stir and Drop Sugar Cookies are an easy cookie recipe to try. They don't require chilling or a mixer. They can be decorated easily with sprinkled (always a hit with kids!).

Easy Stir-and-Drop Sugar Cookies

These ordinary little sugar cookies have so much going for them: super easy to make, kid-friendly activity (stirring dough and decorating cookies), ordinary ingredients (no hydrogenated oils or corn syrup), and very tasty fresh from the oven.... Today is my daughter's birthday, so this little recipe is in her honor! (She'll be three and moving out of the "toddler" category into the "preschool category"!)

Recipe from Betty Crocker's Quick and Easy Cookbook

• 3/4 c. sugar
• 2/3 c. vegetable oil
• 2 t. baking powder
• 2 t. vanilla
• 1/2 t. salt
• 2 eggs
• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• additional sugar or sprinkles

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix sugar, oil, baking powder, vanilla, salt, and eggs in large bowl with spoon. Stir in flour.
2. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Press bottom of glass onto dough to grease, then dip into additional sugar; press on balls of dough to make 1/4 inch thick (we didn't press them down with a glass--just used our fingers to sprinkle on colored sprinkles and it worked fine!).
3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes until light brown. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

Makes 2-4 dozen cookies, depending on size of cookie!

Easy Granola Bars

 

These are EASY, inexpensive, pretty healthy (no corn syrup/hydrogenated oil...just plain old sugar and milk), can be adapted to anyone's preference, and are rather addictive. What more could you want in a snack recipe? I used a general ratio of dry stuff to liquid; it worked pretty well (oats, nuts, craisins, raisins, and, of course, dark chocolate!!). The coconut isn't very noticeable in the final product, but it does add a nice layer of subtle, tropical sweetness. You can bake them in a 13x9-inch pan for thicker bars or (my preference) a jelly roll pan (rimmed cookie sheet) for thinner bars; if using the jelly roll pan, start checking after 15 minutes for doneness--pale brown on top.

From Allrecipes.com; see the original plus reviews here.

INGREDIENTS

* 3 cups quick-cooking oats
* 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
* 2 tablespoons butter, melted
* 1 cup flaked coconut
* 1 cup sliced almonds
* 1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
* 1/2 cup sweetened dried cranberries

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, sweetened condensed milk, butter, coconut, almonds, chocolate chips and cranberries with your hands until well blended. Press flat into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, depending on how crunchy you want them. Lightly browned just around the edges will give you moist, chewy bars. Let cool for 5 minutes, cut into squares then let cool completely before serving.

Makes 24 bars; more if you bake in a jelly roll pan (but they'll be thinner).

Peanut Butter Bread

We all love peanut butter and bread...now you can combine the two! This is also out of a children's cookbook, so throw an apron on those younger ones! (And see variations at end)

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tsps baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 cups milk

Heat oven to 350 Degrees. Grease Loaf Pan

Sift flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar into large bowl (a fork works like sifting for younger ones.) Add peanut butter and mix with fork until batter is crumbly. Add milk and mix thoroughly with spoon. Note: this method makes the batter quite lumpy, but it seems to bake fine. Pour batter into pan. (Note: you can also make them into muffins, cut baking time down to about 15 min. and check.) Bake for 50-60 minutes. Let bread cool in pan then remove to wire rack.

Variations:
1. You can choose to cut down on sugar if desired. Made with normal peanut butter and sugar, it is not too sweet, but on the sweeter side.
2. You can also use 1 cup reg. flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour for added goodness.
3. Use chunky peanut butter for a little added crunch.
4. Add pecans or other nuts for added crunch (maybe 1/2 cup).
5. Add chocolate chips for an extra treat.
6. Substitute mashed banana for some of the peanut butter, or double the recipe and still use 1/2 cup peanut butter and about 1 banana (or 1/2 cup mashed banana). You will need to use 2 loaf pans if doubling.