Cooking Category
Cheese Pizza Recipe for Kids
Cheese Pizza is a coveted food by most kids, whether it’s because of its gooey cheese, or crispy crust, kids are always asking for pizza! And today, would be the day to grant your kid cheese pizza! They can help you create mini Cheese Pizza Faces, using fresh tomato sauce and English muffins take cheese pizza to a whole different level!
For these lovely faces we are going to use English Muffins, but you can do this with any pizza recipe you might have at home as well!
What you need:
- English Muffins
- Tomato Sauce
- Any type of cheese that you and your family enjoy on a pizza
- Toppings that will create a face – pepperoni, olives, broccoli, and peppers.
What to do:
- Cut the English muffins in half
- Put tomato sauce and cheese on top
- Apply the face you want
- Pop it in the oven
- Take out when the cheese looks thoroughly melted
- Enjoy!
For the adults, you can try adding basil and using fresh mozzarella for a more sophisticated taste.
National Trail Mix Day Tasty Easy Recipe
Today is National Trail Mix Day. Fun fact – Kolcraft’s President, Tom Koltun, is a triathlete and knows the importance of grab and go energy snacks. The following is his favorite trail mix that is easy to make and super tasty!
What you need:
- Cup of peanuts
- Cup of cashews
- Half a cup of almonds
- Cup of raisins
- Cup of m&ms
- Plastic bag or even better – reusable container
What to do:
Mix all the ingredients in container and enjoy!
Fun Summer Frankenstein Craft and Recipe for Kids
Frankenstein Pops in the summer?
It may surprise you, but we get to celebrate Frankenstein more than just at Halloween. Tomorrow, August 30, is National Frankenstein Day. The author of Frankenstein, Mary Wollenstone Shelley, was born on this day in 1797. While celebrating Frankenstein, may not spark the interest of all generations, we know these Frankenstein pops surely will get the attention of your kids’ taste buds.
What You’ll Need:
Frankenstein Pops In the Making
- Large Marshmallows
- Candy eyes (we purchased candy eyes at the store, but chocolate chips will do!)
- Green food dye, or frosting (we bought edible green spray)
- Popsicle sticks (we used candy sticks)
- Optional: You could also make Frankenstein’s hair out of dark sprinkles
What to do:
- Dye the marshmallows green
- After they dry, attach them to your stick
- Add the eyes
- Add the hair
- Ready, set, go…. ENJOY!
Frankenstein Pops In the Making
While you are enjoying the tasty Frankenstein treat, enjoy a few of these Frankenstein facts:
- Frankenstein is a German name meaning “stone of the Franks”
- Television character Herman Munster’s appearance is based on Frankenstein
- Frankenstein the movie is the first film to use the famous Castle Thunder sound effect
Ladybugs Your Kids Can Eat & Other Fun Summer Activities
School may have started, but summer isn’t over yet! We love ladybugs and had fun learning about ladybugs with our kids through these fun activities.
- Go on a ladybug hunt in your backyard, garden or in a forest preserve. Look under leaves, shrubs, branches, flowers, fields, tree stumps, cracks in wood, under a fallen tree, etc. Be sure to teach your children to be gentle and observe the ladybugs & not disturb them by trying to pick them up. They can use a magnifying glass to see their spots and other marks without picking them up.
- Have this yummy strawberry ladybug snack from our friends at NWF. You can talk about your ladybug adventure while you make this easy snack.
- Sit outside and read a ladybug book together. There are many ladybug themed books you can buy or check out at the library. If you want to be really creative, make ladybug antennae with a headband and construction paper or make wings with poster-board or fabric. Dress up like ladybugs while you read!
Have fun on your ladybug adventure!
National Tooth Fairy Day Activity and Craft for Kids
It’s National Tooth Fairy Day! It’s a great day to celebrate your child’s healthy smile with these fun activities!
- Happy Food for Healthy Teeth – Talk to your child about healthy eating and the special foods that the Tooth Fairy eats – vegetables, fruit, milk, etc. Sugar takes a bit of sparkle away from the tooth fairy! Make the Tooth Fairy sparkle by eating only happy food for healthy teeth today!
- Color a Happy Smile – Print out these Tooth Fairy coloring pages and talk about healthy smiles while you color the Tooth Fairy!
- Sing and Brush – Sing a brushing song while your child brushes his teeth. We like these easy-to-sing brushing songs.
- Keep Yourself in the Know – Most toothpaste brands have tips on their sites about caring for your child’s teeth. Be sure you are in the know!
- Think Outside the Bank – Some people think the Tooth Fairy needs to leave behind a small dowry. The excitement is not in the amount of money left in the pillow, but in the celebration of hitting another milestone. Other ideas besides leaving money are: leave a congratulatory certificate, a letter from the Tooth Fairy, a shiny penny from the year your child was born, a gift certificate to do one of your child’s favorite activities with her or a scavenger hunt to find the gift left from the Tooth Fairy.
Use your imagination, celebrate your child’s healthy smile and enjoy National Tooth Fairy Day!
National Creamsicle Day
Usually our Tuesday posts are dedicated to a Tip Tuesday but since today is National Creamsicle Day, our tip is to enjoy this last bit of summer making a tasty treat with your kids!
What you need:
- 2 cups orange juice
- Up to 1/3 cup honey
- 4 egg yolks
- 2 cups fresh cream
- 2 cups fresh whole milk
- 4 to 6 drops organic sweet orange essential oil (or 1/4 tsp orange extract)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Stir 1/3 cup honey into 2 cups orange juice.
- Pour the mixture of juice and honey into a heavy-bottomed sauce pan and heat it over a medium flame until reduced by half.
- Once the mixture of honey and orange juice has been reduced by half to viscous syrup, remove it from the heat and allow it to cool to room temperature.
- Whisk four egg yolks, two cups fresh cream and two cups fresh whole milk with organic sweet orange essential oil or orange extract and one teaspoon vanilla extract. Continue whisking until all the ingredients are very well combined.
- Whisk the mixture of honey and orange juice into the mixture of eggs, cream and milk.
- Pour the Creamsicle mixture into your Popsicle molds and freeze until solid, at least twelve hours.
- Enjoy!
Recipe submitted by A. Koltun, daughter of Kolcraft’s President, Tom Koltun 
*If you are concerned about using raw eggs, you can also try the recipe without them, but there will be a bit of a different texture.
Easy Summer Fruit Recipe for Kids
Summer is the perfect time to have fun with fruit! Your kids will love making their own fruit palm trees with this easy recipe!
What you need:
- Banana
- Grapes
- Tangerines
- Knife (adult use only)
What to do:
- Wash grapes.
- Cut banana in half. Put halves on plate “curving” away from each other.
- Peel tangerine and pull apart sections. (Kiwis are also great for this). Arrange at top of banana like palm leaves.
- Cut grapes in half and arrange at base of “palm tree”.
- Enjoy!
Fourth of July Food Favorites for the Whole Family
Fourth of July is fast approaching. Why wait until Wednesday to kick off the festivities? Start your celebration with some of these tasty patriotic treats:
- Everyone loves the Flag Cake at each 4th of July barbeque. Kolcraft has developed our own take on the family favorite. Instead, we recommend creating a strawberry shortcake display of the American flag. Using mini shortcakes, your favorite whipped cream, and either blueberries or and strawberries, display the short cakes in the shape of an American Flag.
- Every mom knows she will be making quite a few sandwiches per week. Try using your star cookie cutter to give a patriotic spin to your child’s PB&J.
- We loved the idea of a 4th of July fruit kabobs from Events to a T. Use strawberries, blueberries, and marshmallows to create a great tasty treat. Check out these other fruit kabobs for your next barbeque.
- Our blog has some great festive recipes as well. Enjoy Nut Butter-flys, grilled corn with chipotle lime butter, and more from our archives.
Refreshing Easy To Make Raspberry and Banana Torte Recipe
Farmers markets abound with fresh fruit. You can have a fun day going to your local farmer’s market with your kids and teaching them about growing fruit and vegetables. Ask questions of the local farmers, they are more than happy to explain things to your children. Once home you can make this yummy torte together.
What you need:
- Angel food cake
- Fresh raspberries
- Banana sliced round
- Cool Whip (or make your own whip cream. It’s as easy as freezing your mixing beaters & beating heavy cream on high setting)
- Banana flavored instant pudding (we also like it with vanilla!)
- Milk
What to do:
- Cut angel food cake into 3 or 4 small layers (horizontally)
- Mix pudding with some milk so it has constancy of gravy
- Fold in Cool Whip
- Lay down angel food cake
- Add layer of pudding/Cool Whip mix
- Add raspberries and bananas (this is fun for kids to do)
- Repeat until finished with top layer.
- Top with remaining pudding/Cool Whip mix
- Garnish with raspberries and bananas
- Chill
- Enjoy!
What is your favorite summertime dessert?
Easy Recipe for Refreshing Banana Nutella Pops
Fun Friday calls for an easy, fun, yummy recipe you can make with your kids!
What you need:
- 3 Bananas
- 1/2 cup Nutella
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp of cocoa powder
- Few dollops of cool whip (optional)
- Paper cups
- Plastic spoon handles (break off the spoon handle but be careful of jagged edges) or popsicle sticks
What to do:
- Blend the 3 bananas in a food processor or blender until creamy. It’s ok to have a few lumps though.
- Add the vanilla, cocoa powder, nutella and blend well
- Add cool whip and blend again
- Pour into paper cups. This will make 4 larger pops or 8 smaller ones
- Insert plastic spoon or popsicle stick
- Freeze
- Peel the paper and enjoy!
