Make it Together: Playtime Pasta!

Cricket Azima and The Creative Kitchen’s playful Playtime Pasta recipe is a colorful celebration of produce that is bound to get kids of all ages excited about fresh vegetables! Make this plant-based, protein-packed meal with your kids this Meatless Monday or any day of the week.

Ingredients:

1 pound whole wheat pasta, cooked

1 pound fresh low-fat mozzarella

5 small tomatoes

1 green bell pepper

1 orange, yellow or red bell pepper

1 15.5-ounce can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 bunch fresh basil

2 lemons

olive oil, to taste

balsamic vinegar, to taste

salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions:

Together: Cook pasta according to package directions.

Together: In a large mixing bowl, add cooked pasta and set aside.

Kid: With a plastic knife, dice mozzarella, tomatoes, and bell peppers and add them to bowl of pasta. (Dice the ingredients small, so you can challenge your children to fit as many colors as they can into one bite!)

Kid: Remove basil leaves from stem. Tear leaves into small pieces and add to bowl.

Together: Add beans and juice lemons into the bowl. Add olive oil and balsamic vinegar to pasta salad, a little at a time. Mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste and eat!

Tips & Tricks:

Give your kids options in the kitchen. Instead of the vegetables included in the recipe, ask them to suggest other favorites. Vote on a bean variety instead of cannellini beans. Have the kids choose between broccoli and spinach. When you give your kids a choice in what they eat, they are more likely to eat it! The key is to select two choices that, as a parent, you’d be happy for them to eat either way.

Article:

To read the full article on The Kids Cook Monday, click here! For more delicious and healthful recipes for kids of all ages and abilities, check out The Creative Kitchen’s new adaptable cooking curricula, Everybody Can Cook.