I’ve mentioned allowing children to help in the kitchen before, and I want you to know that I practice what I preach.

Earlier this week, Grace and I made chicken salad for lunch.

Chicken salad is the perfect meal for her to help with. There are no sharp tools. The measurements are totally unimportant. You can taste as you go along. It’s basically a matter of tossing things into a big bowl, mixing it up, and serving.

Here’s what we did:

Easy Chicken Salad

This first bit is the most important. Gather all of the ingredients below, and have them sitting out on the counter. If you need to grate the cheese, grate it and, have it in a prep bowl. If you need to cook and chop a couple of chicken breasts, do it ahead of time.  Toddlers don’t have patience to wait while you chop an onion. They’re cooking, after all.

The second very important note is that you should talk to your toddler while you’re cooking. Tell her everything you’re doing, in whatever detail you think she’s ready for.

• One large can of chicken, drained, or a couple of chicken breasts, cooked and very coarsely chopped
• Miracle Whip or mayonnaise
• Sour cream
• Spicy horseradish mustard
• Crumbled bacon*
• Shredded cheddar cheese
• Any add-ins you like in your salad – I like chopped hard boiled egg and sliced green olives, but you might prefer diced onions and celery or dill pickle relish or even nothing at all.

1. If I had been thinking ahead, I would have asked Joe to cook some chicken breasts last night, but I wasn’t. In the interest of time and my hungry toddler, I opened a can of chicken, drained it in the sink, and dumped it into a 2 quart mixing bowl.
2. I gave Grace a large wooden spoon and asked her to help me shred the chicken. I used two forks to pull the chicken pieces apart while she whacked it with her spoon.
   I’m shreddin’ Momma! I’m shreddin’ cheeken!
3. I turned my back to grab the Miracle Whip, and Grace deposited her wooden spoon in the garbage disposal. Yuck. I got a metal serving spoon from the drawer, used it to add two hefty spoonfuls of Miracle Whip to the bowl, and then gave it to Grace and asked her to stir. She stirred.
4. Using a silicon spatula, I put one spoonful of sour cream into the bowl, then scraped the whole mess down into the bottom of the bowl.
5. While Grace continued to stir (which looked a lot like the whacking that was shredding), I squirted a dollop of mustard into the bowl. Then I added a small handful of bacon, a large handful of shredded cheddar, and my pre-chopped egg and olives.
6. Again, I scraped the mess down into the bowl, took over the stirring for a few minutes, and made sure everything was well mixed. I complimented Grace on her stirring prowess and grabbed a small serving bowl from the cupboard.
   I cook cheeken salad! Eat cheeken salad?
7. I grabbed the two forks we’d used to shred the chicken earlier, a sleeve of Club crackers, and our dish of chicken salad. We took turns making little piles of chicken salad on our crackers and popping them into our mouths. Grace made a big mess and ended up with cheeken salad all down the front of her, but she loved every bite.

*We keep a jar of crumbled bacon in the refrigerator because we use it in a lot of different recipes. Cook up a pound of turkey or regular bacon, pat it dry, and crumble or dice it. Put it in an airtight jar in the fridge. You’ll have bacon “bits” ready to go when you need them.

This is a perfect recipe to make with a toddler. It’s quick, and she didn’t get bored. No cooking was required, so we made it and ate it. She saw immediate results.

What are you and your kids making these days?

Grace’s Kitchen Friends

Please join in Grace’s Kitchen Friends! To play along, all you have to do is fill out Mr. Linky below. (If Mr. Linky isn’t there, leave your link in the comments.) You can link up any post that talks about kids and food:

• feeding kids
• cooking with kids
• play with food or play kitchens
• crafts with or about food
• and probably a lot of other kids and food things I’ve never considered (like growing food with kids!)

I’m easy like that, Dear Reader. The only thing I ask is that you link back here to Grace’s Kitchen Friends in your post. I can’t wait to see what your kids are doing!

Click the image below to add your link.

Happily submitted to Eat More Fruits and Veggies, Tasty Thursday, Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap, Friday Feasts, Foodie Friday, Family Recipe Friday, Favorite Ingredient Friday, and Food on Friday