Cook it Fresh

At 2 years old, my daughter is just starting to become interested in helping me in the kitchen.  Although her “help” is often more of a hindrance, I want to encourage her assistance whenever possible because I think involving kids in food preparation is one way to get them interested in a variety of foods. If kids can help you create a meal and see it come together, it gets them more excited about trying foods that they might not normally like. A lot of the meals I prepare do not lend themselves to the help of a 2 year old, but I recently remembered that my sister and I used to make little pizzas out of crackers for lunch and these are perfect for kids to make.  Basically, they consisted of pizza sauce, cheese and pepperoni slices layered on a saltine cracker and then broiled in the oven for a few seconds to melt the cheese.  Older kids can pretty much prepare these all by themselves, with some added help during the broiling, of course, and smaller children can help with sprinkling cheese and toppings on the crackers.

The only drawback to this snack is that our original version was full of fat and sodium so I decided to see if I could create a healthier version of cracker pizzas that still taste good.  I started by swapping out whole-wheat crackers for the saltines and making my own pizza sauce that was low in sodium and free of artificial colorings or preservatives.  To cut down on the amount of fat, I used low-sodium deli turkey in place of pepperoni and bought mozzarella cheese made with 2% milk.  I thought that I would really miss the spicy pepperoni, but the  new, healthier version was actually very tasty and the homemade sauce really added some great flavor.

The recipe below is the one I used for the pictures in this post, but you could easily customize these crackers to the preferences of each child you are feeding.  You can use less sauce (or none at all), make them without the turkey, or add some diced bell pepper and olives on top. Let me know what other variations you think of! I used the oven broiler to cook these, but this would be a great recipe to make in a toaster oven and a toaster oven might be a safer way for older kids to make these themselves.

These updated cracker pizzas have calcium, whole grains, fiber and plenty of protein. Serve them with some carrot sticks and grapes for a complete, healthy meal.

Whole-Wheat Cracker Pizzas

Makes 10 crackers

Ingredients:

Homemade Pizza Sauce

1 cup canned crushed tomatoes

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon dried basil

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

10 whole-wheat crackers (I used Kashi Heart-to-heart whole grain crackers)

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella made with 2% milk

4 slices low-sodium deli turkey, torn or cut into small pieces

1.  To make the pizza sauce:  Combine the crushed tomatoes, garlic, and spices in a small saucepan and simmer on low heat for about 30 minutes, or until thickened, stirring occasionally.

2.  Place an oven rack about 6 inches from the heating element and then preheat the broiler. Assemble the pizzas:  Lay the crackers out in rows on a baking sheet.  Spread about 2 teaspoons tomato sauce on each cracker, sprinkle a little cheese on top of the sauce and then top each cracker with a small piece of turkey.

3.  Broil the “pizzas” for about 30 seconds, or just until the cheese is melted.  Watch carefully because the crackers burn very quickly!  Let cool about 5 minutes before serving to small children.

Other ideas for getting small children involved in meal preparation:

– Sprinkle some cinnamon, brown sugar, or raisins on top of their oatmeal in the morning and let them stir these additions in themselves.

– Give them a small cocktail knife to spread their own peanut butter or jelly on toast.

– Have them peel cloves of garlic for you.  My daughter loves doing this and has actually gotten pretty good at it!

– Measure things out in small bowls while you are baking then let add these small bowls to the mixer at the appropriate time (remembering to stop the mixer before they add!).

– Let them play with a small piece of dough when you are making pizza, bread or biscuits.

– Let them smell and/or taste ingredients you are using as you cook.  I let my daughter take a whiff of cinnamon, vanilla extract, garlic, parsley and freshly grated lemon peel, just to name a few.

Also, remember that some children may just enjoy watching you cook.  I often put an apron on my daughter and stand her on a step stool next to me at the counter while I make dinner.  She likes to watch as I describe each step of the process to her and let her feel and smell the ingredients.