Easy School Holiday Recipes to Make with Kids
We all need Easy School Holiday Recipes to Make with Kids. School holidays are a lovely opportunity to spend time in the kitchen. Whether you have little ones who love mixing and decorating, teenagers who are ready to cook a meal themselves, or young adults getting ready to head off to uni, being in the kitchen is what I call productive fun. Cooking can turn an ordinary holiday day into something a little more memorable and leave the person you are with a lifelong memory and recipe that will always draw them back to the day they learnt to make it.
Here are some of my favourite recipes to make with children, from easy snacks and summery meals to cosy winter meals. I have recipes for you whether you are in the Northern Hemisphere or Southern Hemisphere.
Homemade Lahmacun – Turkish Pizza
Pizza is always a great recipe to make with kids, but a Lahmacun is a fun alternative to traditional pizza. Children can help roll out the dough and spread the topping before it goes into the oven.Once cooked, salad added and it is rolled. It’s a hands-on meal that feels a little different from the usual holiday lunch.
These are a lovely way to introduce children to different flavours and vegetables. The mixture can be shaped into little falafels and served with pitta bread, salad and the accompanying dressing.
They also make a useful lunch-box or picnic option.
Quiche is another good recipe for children to help with. They can measure the ingredients, whisk the filling and help arrange the ingredients before the quiche goes into the oven.
It is equally good warm or cold, making it ideal for a family lunch or picnic.
Savoury muffins are brilliant holiday snacks because they are easy to make and easy to eat. These olive muffins are a useful alternative to sweet baking and are perfect for lunch boxes, picnics or a quick snack. It is also a good way to introduce children to olives.
Cretan Savoury Biscotti
If your children enjoy baking, why not try something a little different? These savoury biscotti make an interesting snack and are lovely with cheese, dips or a bowl of soup.
Quesadillas
Quesadillas are one of my favourite holiday lunches because children can help put them together themselves.
Use wraps with cheese and whatever leftovers you have in the fridge. Chicken, roasted vegetables, beans, sweetcorn and salsa all work well.
Cut them into triangles once cooked and serve with avocado, salsa or a simple salad.
These sugar-and-spice chicken wings are useful for more than just summer barbecues. They can be cooked in the oven during winter and make a fun family lunch, movie-night snack or casual dinner.
They also keep well for the next day’s lunch box.
Winter Holiday Cooking
For those of us in the Southern Hemisphere, school holidays often arrive with cold mornings and chilly afternoons. This is when I turn to big pots of soup, comforting lunches and food that can be prepared ahead.
🥣 Spiced Parsnip Soup
This is a wonderful winter soup. The parsnips give it a naturally creamy texture and the cumin, coriander and chilli add warmth.
It can be served as a starter, light lunch or even in small cups as a warming snack.
Microwave Cream of Butternut Soup
A bowl of butternut soup and some crusty bread is hard to beat on a cold winter’s day.
This recipe is particularly useful during the holidays because it can be made ahead and reheated when everyone is hungry.
This quick soup is a lovely winter lunch and can easily be adapted by using chicken instead of crab.
Serve it with some crusty bread and you have a warming meal ready in no time.
🐟 Easy Fish Soup
This is another quick winter meal using a packet of fish pie mix. Potatoes, soup, milk and cream make a comforting base, while the fish is added towards the end.
It’s just the sort of recipe that is useful to have when you need dinner without spending all afternoon in the kitchen.
🥔 Italian Slopes Pearl Barley Soup
Italian Slopes Pearl Barley Soup
This is a particularly cosy winter recipe. It was inspired by the snow-covered slopes of Italy and is packed with vegetables, potatoes and pearl barley.
Make a big pot and enjoy it for lunch, or let the leftovers turn into a pearl barley risotto the following day.
My Yiayia’s Tiropita – Greek Cypriot Filo Cheese Pie
This filo cheese pie is another wonderful holiday cooking project. It combines ricotta, feta and halloumi with dried mint and is delicious served warm with a simple salad.
It is also lovely cold, so leftovers can become an easy lunch the following day.
Afternoon Tea at Home
This is a fun and easy way to break up a long day. You’ve been out, you’ve got home and you have three or four hours before the bath and bedtime routine begins. This is when having afternoon tea can help break up that long stretch of the day.
Keeli’s Ginger Cake is particularly good for both Hemispheres. It’s quick to mix together, economical and freezes well. Serve it warm with custard for a cosy winter pudding or enjoy it outdoors with a tall cold drink or cup of tea.
And if you fancy baking something with the children, there are plenty of easy treats to choose from, including:
- My Mom’s Favourite Rich Shortbread
- Crunchies
- Three-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies
- Coconut Crispy Crunch Cookies
- Rocky Road
Let Them Do the Cooking
The best thing about cooking with children isn’t necessarily the finished dish. It’s letting them measure, mix, knead, taste and make decisions along the way.
You don’t have to make something complicated. A pizza, a bowl of soup or a batch of muffins can be enough to keep everyone occupied and give children the confidence to make something for themselves.
Top tip for fussy eaters: With their consent, encourage them to add an ingredient they don’t ordinarily enjoy. If they have helped cook or bake with it, they are often more inclined to try it — and you may find they actually like it.
Enjoy trying these new recipes and, most importantly, enjoy spending time together. Cooking and baking together is a wonderful way to make memories that will last a lifetime.
