• Choosing the Healthiest Foods for Your Family

    Welcome! I am a mom of a busy 7 year old and an adventurous 5 year old. I also happen to work for a great new company called NuVal. NuVal is a nutritional scoring system that rates foods on a scale of 1-100, based on how nutritious they are. We are implementing NuVal in grocery stores around the country.

    NuVal may not be in your area yet. But I see the scores while they are "hot off the press" and because of that I am able to make better decisions about what to feed my family.

  • Sign up for email updates here!

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

  • Contact Me

    I'd love to hear from you. Feel free to email me.

    You can also follow me on Twitter @MelisaNutrition and my RSS feed.

  • Disclaimer

    I am not a registered dietitian. I am just a mom who happens to work for NuVal. I am also an AFAA-certified Group Exercise Instructor. NuVal is a system designed to lead customers to the most nutritious food choices. It is not a diet or weight-loss plan. Before starting a diet, you should always consult your personal physician. The opinions expressed in this blog are the opinions of the writer and not the opinions of NuVal LLC.

Cooking with Kids: English Muffin Pizzas

Thursday, February 18, 2010 at 07:42 AM

Welcome to Cooking with Kids, a new feature here on A Better Bag of Groceries.  I once heard a story on National Public Radio about getting your children involved in the kitchen.  The reporter said that one of the reasons that SpongeBob SquarePants is so popular is because it airs at 5 pm.  And that is when parents need to cook.  So the easiest thing to do is put your kids in front of the TV while you cook.  And I am guilty of using that strategy!  Fortunately, I’ve been able to turn my kids on to The Electric Company and Fetch with Ruff Ruffman instead of SpongeBob.

The NPR reporter went on to give tips on how to get your kids more involved in cooking.  She suggested giving them fresh green beans and teaching them how to cut off the ends.  I tried that.  I gave my kids a colander full of freshly washed green beans and taught them how to snip off the ends with their little kids scissors.  They lasted for about 2 minutes!

But you can teach your kids to love cooking.  And some kids will love it more than others.  That is probably why you see more pictures of my daughter than my son on this blog.  She really loves to cook.  My son is not as smitten.

But the real reason to teach your kids to cook is not to get them away from the TV or away from the Wii.  It is because, as they begin to get good at it, it will save you time.  As I’ve blogged before, I’m a big believer in Child Labor!  Start small, with something fun, and they will learn the steps of a particular dish.  Soon, you will have your own little sous chef at your side!  Yes, it may take more time at first, but eventually your kids will be a help to you in the kitchen.  Seriously, even when making a cupcake mix these days, I find it to goes more quickly because my daughter does the measuring (with help), adding and stirring while I start clean-up. 

Probably one of the easiest dishes to teach your kids to cook is English Muffin Pizzas.  When my daughter turned 4, we had a Cooking Party at our local YMCA and that is what we made.  Easy for all ages!

English Muffin Pizzas can be fairly nutritious.

Check out the NuVal scores for English Muffins:

  • Thomas’ Light MultiGrain English Muffins: 38
  • Western Bagel Alternative English Muffins: 37
  • Thomas’ Original English Muffins: 30
  • Vermont Bread Six Original Spelt Bread Organic English Miffins: 29
  • Wonder English Muffins: 21
  • Pepperidge Farms English Muffins: 20

As for the mozzarella cheese, we used Sorrento’s Reduced Fat 4 Cheese Italian with a NuVal score of 23.  Ragu Pizza Quick Sauce comes in at a very respectable 53.  Although, tomato sauce works just fine, so I went with my favorite these days, Pastene’s “The Chateau” Marinara Sauce, which gets a NuVal score of 66.

The key is to put this simple meal together by assembling some nutritious ingredients.  Don’t get caught in the trap of buying a Pizza Kit.  The Chef Boy Ardee Pepperoni Pizza Kit (Pizza Sauce with Pepperoni, Crust Mix and Grated Cheese) gets a NuVal score of 4.  Ouch!

Another key to cooking with kids is to let them do as much as possible, unless it’s unsafe.  Go ahead, teach your 4 year old how to crack eggs, even if it is a little messy.  Obviously, putting things into hot ovens should be done by people above 5 feet tall only. 

Let your kids spread the sauce and sprinkle the cheese.  Then, pop them the oven or toaster oven at 450 degrees until the cheese starts to bubble.

Round this out with some cucumbers (NuVal score of 93) and a glass of skim milk (NuVal score of 91) and you have a nutritious lunch that your kids will be proud and happy to eat.

Now you’ve made a meal and a memory. Yum!

Calling All Moms (and Dads)

I want to hear from you!  Tell me about your experiences in teaching your kids to cook.  Channel your inner blogger, take some pictures if you’d like and share your story with me.  You could be featured on A Better Bag of Groceries.  If you have a story, recipe or even just a little tip you’d like to share, email me at abetterbagofgroceries@gmail.com.

Question of the Day

What is one of the first meals you remember learning to cook?

Posted by: Melissa 11 comments

Posted in: Cooking with Kids, English Muffin Pizzas, English Muffins

Tags: , ,