Cooking for Kids
It’s 5pm and your family wants dinner… again. Who knew how much of parenting would be meal planning? If you’re wondering what to cook for your family tonight, or struggling with picky eaters, these are some of my favorite resources.
Smitten Kitchen
This was one of the first websites I started cooking from, and I still turn to it for recipes on a regular basis over a decade later. I love this site for everything from desserts to dinner. Of everywhere I look for recipes, this is my never-fail, go-to resource. Don’t skip straight to the recipe! Deb Perelman’s warm and funny narratives will make it feel like you have a friend in the kitchen with you.
Note: Smitten Kitchen is also a great place to find recipes for a lot of traditional Jewish foods, including rugelach, challah, brisket, and more. It is not, however, a kosher cooking site, and some of her recipes do not work for a kosher kitchen.
Pinch of Yum
This is my new favorite site for delicious, healthy recipes that the adults in my family will love but that can also easily been broken down into component parts for the kids. My favorites here are the bowls (there’s a whole section on them), which often use simple ingredients that come together with an easy but incredibly yummy sauce that transforms the dish. Selective eaters can eat plain rice, meatballs, and veggies, while you can drizzle something delectable over the whole thing to spice it up (think chimuchurri sauce, green tahini, mojo sauce - so many choices). It’s also easy to make substitutions/swaps, so you can personalize the recipes to your family preferences.
Feeding Littles
Looking for recipes that everyone in your family will enjoy, and that can be easily adapted to different tastes and dietary needs? The Feeding Littles and Beyond cookbook is for you. I have been amazed by how well some of these recipes have worked for my family and how easy they were to pull off (there is even a section for “I Can’t Even” meals, which, to be honest, is what convinced me to buy this book in the first place). Includes modifications for lots of dietary needs, which makes it extra easy to adapt if you keep kosher, and tips for how to serve meals to a baby (if you are doing baby-led weaning).
Yummy Toddler Food
I must have made a million muffins from this site. I love to bake, but I don’t always want to serve my kids cake (or something that feels like cake) for breakfast. This is a great resource for healthy, satisfying, easy snacks that still feel like a treat. Don’t skip her avocado-yogurt fudgesicles. My daughter would eat one every day if she could.