My mom was great at altering recipes so we would eat them as children. Sometimes you just need to make food a little more fun to get the little ones to try it. I am including a few quick and easy kid-fun recipes here to get your small ones eating their vittles. Some I’m sure you know already (didn’t we all have ants on a log as kids?).
Ants on a Log
Celery sticks
Peanut butter
Golden and regular raisins
Spread the celery with peanut butter and top with raisins.
Squeeze-em Potatoes
4 Russet potatoes (cleaned and scrubbed)
¼ cup milk
½ stick of butter
Salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Pierce potatoes with a fork in several places and microwave on high for about 10 minutes, until the potato is tender. Cut off about 1 inch of the tip of the narrow end of the potato so the potato makes a narrow cup.
Scoop out the potato flesh carefully into a medium bowl and mix together with the milk, butter, salt and pepper until creamy. On a cookie sheet, set the four potato cups up right so the open end is facing upwards.
Fill the potato cups with the mashed potato mixture and bake on the center rack about 20-30 minutes until the top of the potatoes are crisp and the filling is heated through. The kids can actually slowly squeeze the bottom of the potato to push up the mashed potato filling!
Eggs in a Frame (aka Alex’s Special Eggs)
1 egg per child
1 piece of bread per child
1 1/2 teaspoons butter per child
Salt and pepper to taste
In a frying pan over medium heat, melt the butter so it covers the bottom of the pan.
Take a small cup and press the mouth of the cup down in the center of a slice of bread to make a hole at least 2 inches in diameter. Place the bread into the pan for 2-3 minutes until it browns slightly. Crack an egg directly into the hole in the toast. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook until the egg white starts to set. Using a spatula, flip the whole piece of bread over so the egg can finish cooking, about 1 minute. Serve.
Amy L. Schubert is a 15-year veteran of the hospitality industry and has worked in every aspect of bar and restaurant operations. A graduate of Marquette University (B.A.-Writing Intensive English, 1997) and UW-Milwaukee (M.A.-Rhetoric, Composition, and Professional Writing, 2001), Amy still occasionally moonlights as a guest bartender and she mixes a mean martini.
The restaurant business seems to be in Amy’s blood, and she prides herself in researching and experimenting with culinary combinations and cooking techniques in her own kitchen as well as in friends’ restaurants. Both she and her husband, Scott, are avid cooks and “wine heads,” and love to entertain friends, family and neighbors as frequently as possible.
Amy and Scott live with their boys, Alex and Nick, in Bay View, where they are all very active in the community. Amy finds great pleasure in sharing her knowledge and passions for food and writing in her contributions to OnMilwaukee.com.
