Cooking with Kids ~ Banana Bread

We had some Banana’s that were really ripe so that meant BANANA BREAD!!

      Juliette is getting really good at stirring and mixing when we cook together.  The best part is mashing the bananas in Ziploc baggies.

Then squeezing it out into the bowl, I snip the bottom corner so they can easily squish it all out.

Dumping in chocolate chips makes them very happy too :)

Our Banana Bread

• 1 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 cup whole wheat flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/4 cup butter

• 1/4 cup applesauce

• 3/4 cup brown sugar

• 2 eggs, beaten

• 3 mashed overripe bananas

• 1 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs, applesauce and mashed bananas until well blended.

3. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Add chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

For more great ideas for cooking with kids check out Watcha Making Wednesdays at The Ramblings and Adventures of a S.A.H.M.

Watcha Making Wednesday ~ Funfetti Pancakes

Emily and Juliette LOVE to help me cook.  They are always helping me bake and love mixing and pouring and scooping the ingredients, but this week they were super excited to actually help cook the pancakes on the stove with me!

First of course they helped mix all of the ingredients together:

I love the look of concentration on their faces as they are working.

Then to make them extra special we added… …Fall Sprinkles to the batter!!!

Time to get cooking

I added the batter to a squeeze bottle so they could squirt the batter right onto the griddle.  Juliette did this too, but safety was my first concern so I was not able to take a picture, just imagine the huge grin on her face as she is actually at the stove helping make the pancakes!!

  I made the E and J for them, pancake batter in a squirt bottle is a lot of fun!

Emily getting to flip her pancakes.

Juliette listened so well, I trusted her to flip them while I took a picture.  She did a great job!!

The girls with their Initial Pancakes.

I happened to have some whipped cream in the fridge so we added that to the pancakes too!

Our Pancake Recipe

Ingredients

• 1  cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons canola oil

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and oil; mix until smooth.
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour, scoop or squeeze the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

To make them extra fun add in a few shakes of colored sprinkles it will look just like Funfetti cake mix!!

 

For more great recipes check out Watcha Making Wednesdays on The Ramblings and Adventures of a S.A.H.M

Muffin Tin Monday and the Mini Apple Pies

This week for Muffin Tin Monday, the girls were very excited to have some Mini Apple Pies in their Muffin Tin Lunch.  We made them in our muffin tin from the apples we picked when we went apple picking.  

Emily and Juliette's Muffin Tin Monday Lunch

  Homemade Mini Apple Pie, Vanilla Yogurt with Carvel Crunchies (if you get a carvel cake ask for extra crunchies, they are great in yogurt), Pretzels and Turkey and Cheese Kabobs

Both Emily and Juliette had fun helping me make the Mini Apple Pies.  We made our own crust so first the girls took turn adding the flour and sugar.

They both thought the pastry blender was a lot of fun and used it to cut the butter into the flour and salt.  Once the dough was rolled out I cut it into circles and the girls pushed them into our muffin tin.

Emily and Juliette each scooped some of the apple mixture into the crust.  The girls enjoyed taste testing the apples as I cut them to make the filling.

Our Mini Apple Pies out of the oven and ready for a taste test!

Can you tell that Juliette was excited to dig in!!

Our Recipe for Apple Pie

Double Pie Crust

• 2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 to 5 tablespoons cold water

Cut butter into flour and salt until the size of small peas.  Sprinkle in water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with a fork until the flour is moistened and pastry cleans side of bowl.

Gather Pastry into a ball, divide in half to make top and bottom crust.   Flatten and roll out on lightly floured surface.  Place in pie pan.

Filling

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I probably use a lot more, I just shake it in until I like the color)
• Dash of salt
• 6 cups thinly sliced pared apples
• 2 tablespoons butter

Heat oven to 425 degrees.  Mix sugar, flour , cinnamon and salt.  Stir in apples.  Fill lined pie pan, then dot with butter.

I usually do a lattice top to for my pie with other half of the pastry.   Then cover the edge with a aluminum foil and bake for 40 to 50 minutes, removing the aluminum foil during the last 15 minutes.  The crust should be browned and the filling with begin to bubble.

For more great recipes check out Watcha Making Wednesdays on The Ramblings and Adventures of a S.A.H.M