When we began first grade homeschool, I decided it was time for MacGyver to learn how to cook and sort his laundry. Now if you’ve never met my Man of Steel, let me just say he is a wonderful husband and father. However, domestic he is not! When he went off to college he didn’t know how to wash his own laundry or make his own sandwiches. Well, the sandwich thing might be an exaggeration, but maybe not much. Consequently, I am determined to raise a son who knows how to take care of himself when he flies away from the nest.
So welcome to our homeschool cooking 101. These recipes will not win any cooking contests. Let me repeat, these recipes will not win any prizes. However, they are simple and kid tested. I specifically set-out to make picture recipe cards that MacGyver could read independently and follow the directions. Now MacGyver has both breakfast and lunch recipes to pick from each day. And hopefully, when he leaves the nest he’ll be able to sort his laundry and make his own sandwiches. You can find the FREE printable recipe guide at the end of this post.
Recipe: Personal Pizzas
Ingredients: Multi-grain whole wheat tortillas, Pizza sauce, Shredded cheese, Olive oil, Pizza toppings
Tools: Cookie sheet, Pastry brush, Spoon
*preheat oven to 400 degrees
Step 1: Brush each side of tortilla with olive oil.
Step 2: Spread tortilla with pizza sauce.
Step 3: Sprinkle pizza sauce with shredded cheese. Add your favorite toppings.
Step 4: Bake in oven for10 minutes and serve with a side of fruit.
Okay, while Miss Enigma waits for her pizza to bake, a few notes to the Mommies and Teachers out there:
1. When I first introduce a recipe to the children, I go through the steps with them. The younger the children are, or the less experience cooking they have, the more times you’ll have to assist them.
2. I assist the children with shredding the cheese and cutting the toppings. Of course you can buy the pre-shredded cheese also. As the children learn cutting safety, I give them more freedom to cut the toppings themselves.
3. I like the multi-grain whole wheat tortillas. They crisp-up nicely and make a great crust. You can also use flour tortillas. The whole wheat tortillas are my attempt to teach the children healthy eating habits.
4. We don’t use an entire jar of pizza / spaghetti sauce during one meal. So I freeze the sauce in ice cube trays.
When we’re ready to make pizzas, we defrost one cube per personal pizza. My children don’t like a lot of sauce. You might want to try two cubes per personal pizza. It depends how “saucy” you are.
*Take a look at the ingredients in the pizza / spaghetti sauces the next time you’re at the grocery store. You might be surprised to find corn syrup in many of the sauces. Two brands I’ve found without sugar are Cento and Francesco Rinaldi.
5. These personal pizzas also make healthy after school snacks and an easy quick dinner night for Mom. Serve with a “salad in a bag” and you’ve got a meal!
Bon Appetit kid’s style!
Print this recipe: Personal Pizzas
More recipes and tips:
Turkey Sandwiches (and homeschool recipe book)
Life with Jeannine
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Sharing this week at:
Adventurez in Child’Rearing (11/08/12)
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We make mini pizzas like this, too! Your idea of freezing the sauce in ice-cube portions is brilliant. When I don’t have sauce on hand, I puree a small tomato (cherry tomatoes work even better) and add a pinch of garlic and salt, works surprisingly well!
Have you seen the book “Pretend Soup”? My daughter loves cooking the recipes from it, which are illustrated step-by-step so that even a non-reader can follow along.
I’ve just ordered five ice trays so I can do this exact thing with sauces and broths. Sometimes I just need a tad and a big zip top bag full of frozen stuff doesn’t work. Since I’m still waiting for them to be delivered, I had to get creative last night. I roasted some rather wimpy peppers (not crisp enough for salads), peeled, and pureed them. Then I put spoonfuls onto a baking sheet, and put that into the freezer for about 45 minutes. Once they were hard, I put them all into a zip top bag. Now I have another way to sneak more anti-oxidants into our food, and I didn’t have to dispose of the peppers.
Thanks for your meaningful comment over at The Heart of the Matter (the narration post).
sounds like a great 1st day of school lunch. I never would have thought about the individual pizza cubes. smart!
Thanks for linking up –
Stef
The Homeschool Village
Our family loves to make our own pizza~Fridays are often pizza & movie nights around here. The kids love making their own individual pizzas, too. I love the idea of freezing the sauce in ice tray cubes (reminds me of when I made my own baby food:). I think I’ll have to borrow that idea! Thanks!