Cooking with Kids: How to be More Creative in the Kitchen

We love cooking as a family and getting creative through cooking with kids provides endless benefits. Since we’re preparing meals at least three times a day, creativity with cooking keeps it fun and also a constant learning experience, which is also good for your brain!   Here are some tips to be more creative with cooking with kids at home.

Try Different Cuisines

Different cuisines are important to widen your knowledge of what’s out there. We love to experiment and try new cuisines from Mexico, the Far East, Morocco and Scandinavia, just to name a few. Often, we become so used to a certain/single type of food that we forget that it’s just a drop in the ocean compared to what’s out there to cook and taste. Try to encourage yourself and your family to try something new on a regular basis. Also, consider ways you can incorporate new cultural cuisines into your own meals and not just when you are dining out. Trying new cuisines can challenge you to try new ingredients, recipes and techniques. 

Consider challenging yourself and your family to incorporate a new cuisine each week or each month when cooking with kids. This small change will prevent you from getting bored in the kitchen. Also, by trying out a different cuisine, you’re opening up your tastebuds and minds to some new flavors and this helps when you travel too.

Meal Plan With Your Family

Planning your meals is an important part of creativity in cooking too, especially for families. With busy schedules and late night practices or events, the thought of having to cook from scratch is frustrating. Meal prep is always helpful, whether that’s planning what you’re going to have for that week or batch cooking all your food for the week and then freezing anything that you don’t eat to enjoy later in the month or year. I typically plan out our meals on Sunday morning before hitting the grocery store. I like to look at our schedule for the week and also talk to my family about what they want or crave that week and where they can help out in the kitchen. When we are successful with meal planning, we save a bunch of money too.

Curate A Recipe Folder

A recipe folder is something you can curate and always lean back on when you’re struggling with ideas on what to cook. From this vegan ramen recipe to a classic chocolate chip cookie recipe, it can be handy to have it all in one place and in the kitchen where it’s easily accessible. You can really get creative with how you design the folder. You can also curate a recipe board on Pinterest or an online folder for easy electronic access to your favorite recipes.

Experiment With Herbs And Spices

Herbs and spices are a fun way to “spice” up your cooking at home — and a great way to get the kids involved! From growing your own herbs like basil, mint or sage to trying new jars of herbs like curry, cumin and cinnamon. My husband recently brought us some herbs home from his trip to India which we used to roast chicken that was delicious. Also, my friend and the executive chef of Edible Nashville, Skylar Bush recently shared his creole seasoning that is fabulous on shrimp, in Gumbo on chicken and more (see the recipe below)! Again, get your kids involved by letting them mix and taste; measure and stir. As you try new herbs and spices, you can build up a collection and find tons of new recipes and combinations.

Get Your Kids Involved

In addition to getting the kids involved in meal planning, make sure they are helping in the kitchen too. Here some of our favorite ways to do that:

• Teach them to chop vegetables, stir a pot of soup or knead bread. This will give them confidence in the kitchen and allow you to focus on other cooking tasks.
• Get your kids involved in local cooking groups and organizations. Here in Nashville, we love working with Taste Quest, a local nonprofit empowering kids to nourish their bodies, their families, and their communities through play-based food education.
• Talk to your kids about what kind of foods other kids have in their lunch and maybe incorporate them into your meal planning (we’ve done this with dried seaweed, fresh figs and homemade applesauce when my girls saw other kids eating these things at lunch).
• Check out cookbooks from the library or let them peruse your curated recipes to pick out things they like or would like to try.
• Gift kids their own cookbook and document/comment on things they make from the book. This becomes a wonderful keepsake as well. We’ve done this with several cookbooks in our collection and we love reading through the comments over the years.

Getting creative in the kitchen can be easy and is important for you and your family. Cooking with kids and creativity in the kitchen can create confidence, open your world view and provide wonderful family bonding and memories.

Creole Seasoning, W. Skylar Bush 

Yields: about one cup

• Zest one lemon
• 2.5 tablespoons garlic powder
• 2.5 tablespoons onion powder
• 4 tablespoons sweet paprika 
• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 2 tablespoons dried thyme
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 1 whole dried bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• 3 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons ground white pepper

Mix all ingredients together until completely incorporated. Store in a Mason jar or plastic container with a lid. Can be used on virtually anything. This version is a bit spicy in the Creole tradition, if you wish to have it less spicy then just cut the cayenne pepper amount in half. Enjoy!!!  

This post is sponsored by FatJoe Publishing. I only publish sponsored content that I believe my readers will benefit from in some way and fit my brand. The content was edited and partially written by me. All images are by me.