Cooking with kids can be a lot of work, at least at first. But the payoff for having a child, and eventually a teenager, who is comfortable in the kitchen can be SO worth it! Has your child started to develop an interest in cooking? And are you ready to start encouraging that budding interest? Then I’ve got the perfect cookbook!

I was recently sent a copy of ChopChop: The Kids’ Guide to Cooking Real Food with Your Family. It is a beautifully photographed book filled with over 100 recipes that new little chefs will enjoy. It also has great tips and tricks and teachable moments , such as how to operate a salad spinner, or answers to questions that kids might be asking while cooking that will help them better understand why the recipe needs to be followed as written (such as why tomatoes get added so late in the process of cooking lentil soup).

Perhaps my very favorite thing about the book, though, is the fact that the photos inside show kids doing the cooking. How empowering it must be to a child to see example after example of someone their age creating something in the kitchen!

Here’s an example recipe from the book. Check it out and give it a try with your child in the near future!

Little Lasagnas

from ChopChop: The Kids’ Guide to Cooking Real Food with Your Family.

It’s fun to get your own cute little lasagna! And this is an easier, quicker recipe than the  big-pan lasagna. Plus, this recipe will give you some good math practice, too.

Adult Needed: Yes

Hands-On Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Makes: 12 little lasagnas

Kitchen gear: 12-cup muffin tin, measuring cup, measuring spoons, box grater (adult needed), pot holders, butter knife

Ingredients:

• 1⁄2 cup hot tap water
• 2 1⁄2 cups tomato sauce
• 1⁄2 pound (1⁄2 box) spaghetti (any kind is fine)
• 3⁄4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 1⁄2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

Instructions
1. Turn the oven on and set it to 350 degrees.
2. Put 2 teaspoons hot tap water in each of 12 muffin cups inside the tin.
3. Add 1 tablespoon tomato sauce to each muffin cup.
4. Count out 48 spaghetti strands. Break up 4 spaghetti strands and add them to the first
muffin cup, then continue, adding 4 broken spaghetti strands to each muffin cup.
5. Top each with 1 teaspoon grated Parmesan cheese.
6 Top each with 2 teaspoons shredded mozzarella cheese.
7. Top each with 2 teaspoons tomato sauce.
8. Repeat, starting with step 4 (the spaghetti strands).
9. Repeat again.
10. Carefully put the muffin tin in the oven and bake until the top is golden and the
tomato sauce is bubbling, about 45 minutes. Set aside for 10 minutes. Slide the butter
knife into the inner edge of each muffin cup and gently go around it, loosening up the
sides. Carefully remove the lasagnas from the tin and serve right away.

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a copy of ChopChop: The Kids’ Guide to Cooking Real Food With Your Family!

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