Cooking with Kids {Pizza & Popsicles}

Last week we did our first cooking with kids class!! I went over to my sister’s house and cooked with my niece, nephew & two of their new friends. We made homemade pizza & popsicles from scratch. It was a blast and a hit with the kiddos!

*Meet the Chefs*

I tried to prepare as much as I could before the kids got started {make the dough, sauce and prepare all the toppings}, because I knew I would only have their attention for a short time. The dough takes a few hours to rise so I made it that morning. I used the delicious recipe from a previous L+J post {you can find it here}.

And y’all the sauce…was amazing!! It is from food network and is so easy to make too!

Ingredients: 2Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, 4 garlic cloves {thinly sliced}, 1 Tbsp thyme, 1 Tbsp oregano, 1 {28-ounce} can whole peeled tomatoes-drained and hand crushed {I used San Marzano}, salt & pepper

Directions: In a large saute pan over medium heat, add 2 Tbsp of olive oil, garlic, thyme & oregano. Cook until just fragrant then add the crushed tomatoes and season with salt & pepper, to taste. Lower the heat & simmer for 7 to 8 minutes to reduce. Remove from heat and set aside until ready to use. And that’s it!!

Next, we all got out hands dirty. We started with the dough, added the sauce and then the toppings. Here is a look at the fun! P.S. I got these individual pizza pans from WalMart for 88 cents each and they worked perfectly!

With the oven preheated to around 500° F, we cooked the pizza for about 10-15 minutes.

They were a big hit!! It was so easy & fun {& a great way to entertain the kids for the afternoon!}

The Dietitian in me couldn’t leave the kids with just pizza {even though we used several veggies as toppings}, so I made homemade fruit popsicles!

All you need is two ingredients: cantaloupe and strawberries. Just puree the cantaloupe in a blender and slice the strawberries, place in popsicle molds and freeze for about 4 hours. SO easy, fresh and a good way to sneak in fruits on a hot summer day!

Cooking with kids was a success!!