How To Cook Meals Kids Will Love

Hey there .

I'm Claire .

I'm a tasty producer .

And today I'm going to show you some of my favorite recipes to make for the kids in my life .

Personally , I don't actually have kids .

But my mom and I are the caregivers for my six year old niece and my three year old nephew .

Basically , I get to be this really cool anti mom hybrid superhero .

And it's hard , but it's also really , really rewarding when they suddenly came into my care .

I had to quickly learn how to cook for kids and let me tell you it was no easy feat .

And I was lucky enough to be able to channel it into my work by making tasty videos and tasty junior videos .

My coworker Hannah , she the six year old son , his name is Jackson and he's my best friend and he's usually my sous chef in all tasty junior videos .

We have been cooking together since he was four and I've gotten to see him blossom into such a kindhearted and goofy boy .

We have a blast together in the kitchen and he brings so much joy to the office whenever he comes in .

So as all parents know , you don't always have time to cook everything in the morning during the week .

And it was my nephew's birthday .

I wanted to make something super innovative and special for his they breakfast and he loves cinnamon rolls and who doesn't love birthday cake ?

So I made a cinnamon roll out of birthday cake and they were such a hit at home that I had to make them into a tasty junior video .

Now , I know what you all are thinking , who gives their kids so much sugar for breakfast ?

But just to see the joy of his face when he woke up to a cinnamon roll birthday cake , he was ecstatic and it made the experience of making it just that much better .

So in order to fuse cinnamon rolls and birthday cake together , I had to figure out a way to get that cake flavor without adding extra sugar .

I ended up just using a box of premade cake mix and adding flour to the cake mixture to make it more of a dough consistency rather than a cake batter consistency and it worked like a charm .

They're fluffy , they're sweet , they're cakey , they're everything you would want in a birthday cake , cinnamon roll hybrid .

Having to all of a sudden pack lunches for two kids was super intimidating .

At first when I was a kid , I remember getting made fun of for having certain things in my lunch and I really didn't want that for them , but I still wanted them to have nutritious lunches , which I know can be time consuming .

My time is already so limited in the mornings and I needed a quick solution .

So I thought of how adults meal prep for their week all the time .

And so I just adapted it for the kids , teaches kids the responsibility of packing their own lunch .

My niece loved that responsibility and she was so proud to walk up to her friends and show them that she had made it for herself .

And I could see the confidence growing inside of her and it was great for me too because doing just a little bit of preparation can save you 10 minutes of time in the morning .

That extra 10 minutes allowed me to be able to brush my hair or have a cup of coffee or spend those extra few minutes with the kids .

And it also sometimes will give me that extra 10 minutes of sleep , which is so valuable .

This is not the only thing that you can make for your kids lunches , have it fit your needs .

It's all going to be catered to your family and what your family likes .

But it's just designed to save you some time .

And as much as it saves time for me , it also teaches my niece to pack her own lunch is such a big deal because she feels like she is serving a role .

It gives her an opportunity to participate in our morning routine and she feels like she's a part of it and that's really special for our family .

We want to include them and raise them to be independent human beings .

And this is just one of the ways in which she is learning to be an independent person .

Everybody has their go to favorites when they're cooking for their kids in my house .

Tacos .

Hands down are the winner , but they're always such a mess , especially with a toddler .

So I was trying to figure out a way to work around it .

And then the taco breadsticks were born .

Kids love tacos .

Kids love breadsticks .

So why not combine them ?

I know it's not traditional in any way , shape or form , but I really enjoy being able to use inspiration from other classic dishes around the world to make them fit my family's needs .

My nephew can pulled it with his hand and not make a mess all over the table or himself getting a kid to try a new thing can be really difficult .

So if you play with their personal flavors that you know that they like , it will be much easier for them to eat it if they know it's taco flavored or pizza flavored or something familiar to them .

But in a new form at my house , I serve them to my niece and nephew as an appetizer or a snack or even a side at dinner .

They're just a special treat the kids love and it blows their minds just about every time they eat them dinner is probably the number one most frustrating thing for parents .

When cooking for kids , it can take a lot of time and effort .

And by the time you're done cooking , they're probably just going to turn their nose up at it and say it's not what they wanted .

There was this one time I went to dinner with my boyfriend and his family at this really nice expensive Japanese Taya restaurant .

There was this child across the table from us whose parents had ordered him this really nice steak dinner that was cooked right in front of him .

And it was really exciting for him .

But all he would eat was his fried rice that's like $30 worth of dinner .

And all he ate was fried rice .

And I was like , dude , you have such a great dinner in front of you .

Why are you only eating fried rice ?

And then it dawned on me , kids love fried rice .

Duh .

So that experience inspired me to create fried rice and to play with the flavors of fried rice because yes , it's not traditional again , but it is an opportunity for me to show creativity through the food that I make for the kids .

I don't know about you , but I've never met a kid who doesn't like fried rice .

So if you can play with the flavors and customize it to your child's preference .

You've got a solid hit for dinner that night .

As much as we would like to be .

We can't always be model parents and our kids can't always be model Children .

Luckily , my niece and nephew are perfect and they usually eat their vegetables .

But sometimes I do have to get creative with this dish .

I really wanted to take the class , childhood favorite of a cheeseburger and bring it to life with a little bit of healthiness to it .

I added some broccoli and carrots .

Honestly , I don't even think the kids noticed that there was anything in there .

They're not little investigators .

Like I know some kids can be , but I know these kids and I know that if there was a plate with broccoli and carrots and a cheeseburger on it , those broccoli and carrots probably will get ignored , believe it or not .

I do read the comments .

I've noticed a lot of parents blaming other parents for having to hide their vegetables in their kids' food and if that's what works for their family , great .

If it doesn't work for yours , try something else .

And if you have a perfect child who eats every vegetable that crosses their path , you , my friend are a lucky parent .

If you're still finding it hard to get the kids to eat something that has green in it , try involving them in the cooking process , they're more likely to eat what they made because they have a sense of pride in it and you get a good bonding experience cooking together .

I am a mean baker but I am not the best cake decorator .

So I was looking for something pretty foolproof that even I could make for my niece's birthday .

When we were planning her fifth birthday party .

I'd ask her what theme she wanted and all she would say was unicorn .

That was it , it was going to be unicorns and she would accept nothing else .

The kids had recently started living with me and she didn't know that many kids and she was new to the area and I really wanted to give her the most amazing birthday possible .

She's such a great kid .

She's been through so much that she really does deserve the best .

I went from being a free spirited easy going 24 year old woman living with my best friend in Los Angeles to a parent basically overnight .

And I'm not going to lie .

It was terrifying and it still is terrifying because I have these two amazing little people who rely on me for everything in their lives .

We've had a lot of opportunities to learn from one another and they have made just as much of an impact on my life as I feel like have made on theirs .

I don't know if I personally will ever have kids , but I will say that I am more than happy to give all my love to these two kids .

For the rest of our days .

I'm not gonna lie and say any of this has been easy .

It's been the most difficult time in my life so far .

But I wouldn't trade a second of it for the world .

Even though I'm not their biological parent , I still have to face the day to day activities that parents do with their kids .

I made this amazing cake and I brought it out to all the kids at the party and they were all so excited .

The cake got devoured in about 10 minutes on the way home from her party .

She had said thank you so many times .

But she says , auntie , you know , I loved my unicorn cake , but I just want you to know that it did kind of look like a cow too .

And when the video got posted on the internet , the commenters also thought it looked like a cow , which it was not as cute coming from them , but it was adorable coming from her .

So yes , it does look like a cow , but it's a unicorn cow and it's unique .

These two little kids are the most creative and quirky and funny people I've ever met if I can foster that and channel it into being inventive and cooking and being creative with me .

That's the best activity we could ever do together .

Food is my love language and it's how I show the people in my life that I care about them .

Cooking for these kids has been such a journey of trial and error and it's made me a better cook and a better aunt because of it .

And I just have adored every second of this journey .

That's not true .

I've complained a lot but it's fine .

Oh , yes .

Yeah .