Dairy-free French Toast

Ideas for Cooking with Kids for

Mothers Day

April 2014

Moms, you don’t really want a marshmallow-fluff sandwich on a doughnut with chocolate sauce for breakfast on Mother’s Day do you? Much as your kids may think this concoction sounds really swell, you know the routine. You’ll tell them it’s too special to be eaten just now, in bed especially, and early in the morning, and must be saved for later. Then you’ll dump it when they’re not looking.

So why not have a conversation with your mate beforehand about reasonable alternatives that the children can prepare for you? That way the kids can actually prepare something decent, that won’t make you cringe or tell tall tales or do intolerable damage to your diet.

Children are capable. What they are capable of cooking depends on their age of course, but any child who can dream up marshmallow fluff sandwich on a doughnut with chocolate sauce is up to the task of some food prep. No special talents are needed to make the treats suggested here, just adult help and supervision.

The result? A creative dish they can be proud of, and while they’re preparing that special treat they’ll be getting other benefits, such as considering food safety and the need to wash hands, conversing and interacting positively with another parent or caregiver, thinking productively about what Mom might really want to eat, learning about colors, selecting ingredients, understanding how to measure, planning the how-tos (such as preheating an oven), making healthy choices.

Among the easiest dishes that children can help to prepare are:

Fruit kebabs: use a dazzling display of color, with cut up strawberries, fresh cantaloupe, banana and kiwi fruit, and fancy toothpicks as skewers. As an extra special treat, serve the kebabs with sauce made by mixing plain yogurt with honey, maple syrup or vanilla extract.

Fruit and granola parfaits: layer yogurt, cut up fruit and granola in a deep glass, dessert dish or coffee mug.

Smoked salmon on pumpernickel: spread a dab of snow white cream cheese on a slice of dark brown bread and top with glistening, bright orange fish. This colorful display needs no more, although a garnish of fresh dill or parsley would make a lovelier presentation.

Cinnamon Toast: preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix 1-1/2 tablespoons softened butter with one-tablespoon sugar and 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon. Spread this mixture on two slices of homestyle white bread or multigrain bread. Place on a baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes or until golden brown. If desired, crisp it up under the broiler or toaster oven broiler for about one minute.

Mango Smoothie: place one cup plain yogurt, 1 cut up small mango, 3 tablespoons milk, 1 tablespoon honey, 2 ice cubes in a blender and process until smooth.

Funny Face Egg: melt one-tablespoon butter in a sauté pan over medium heat, pour in 2 beaten large eggs, cook until the mixture is dry and lightly browned, flipping once. Top with blackberries or banana slices for eyes and nose, raspberries for mouth.

Your child might prefer a breakfast or treat that the entire family can share. In that case, make more of any of the above, or, these might do:

Muffins: make them unusual, for example, combining corn muffin and blueberry muffin batters (recipe follows) using fresh, in-season berries.

Baked Apples: pare the fruit halfway down, scoop the seeds and core and fill the hollowed out part with chopped dried fruits and nuts (recipe follows). This could be breakfast or dessert.

French Toast: make it dairy-free for a change, using nut milk, soy milk or coconut milk and coconut oil in place of butter.