Can they top this?
Give the kids a chance to be proud of their creations; let them squeeze, sprinkle, and spread toppings on their favorite dishes. You do the basics; they do their best. Here's how to make it happen:
For sauces, squeeze bottles are surefire pleasers — part squirt gun and part food enhancer. Squeeze bottles, In sizes kids can handle, become their favorite table toys. Fill those bottles with ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, soy sauce, olive oil, vinegar, salad dressing, chocolate syrup, butterscotch sauce, sweetened sour cream, and more.
For spreadable edibles, set out hummus, pesto, cream cheese, cottage cheese, jelly, jam, butter, preserves, sweet relish, peanut butter, chili, tuna salad, chicken salad, egg salad, and other spreads the kids like.
For sprinkling on savory dishes, serve shredded lettuce, chopped fresh basil, dried oregano, sweet paprika, grated cheese, chives, crisp crumbled bacon, sprouts, crushed potato chips, pine nuts, and croutons.
For sprinkling on sweet treats, put spoons into bowls of chocolate sprinkles, chocolate chips, shredded coconut, bits of dried and fresh fruit, chopped nuts, confectioners' sugar, and cinnamon.
Baked or mashed potatoes
• Pass around any or all of the following: hummus, grated cheese, crisp crumbled bacon, pesto, butter, sour cream, cottage cheese, olive oil, pepperoni rounds, chives, chili, scallions, salt, pepper, fresh basil, and ketchup.
Pasta
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When you're fixing their favorite pasta, get them to
know their noodles. Top the pasta with the sauce of their choice and let the kids go for shredded basil, oregano, grated cheese, crumbled bacon, pesto, pepperoni, and yes, chili. Or skip the sauce and let the kids simply use their imagination.
Rice
• The kids can enjoy it as a side dish or as a main if you add some steamed broccoli and cooked, diced chicken breast. They can dress either dish with savory toppings, sprinkling on grated cheese, squeezing on ketchup, spreading on cottage cheese or chili, or adding a squeeze of soy sauce and a sprinkle of chives.
• They can sweeten it for a dessert sprinkled with confectioners' sugar, chocolate chips, and a hint of cinnamon; or with a bit of butterscotch sauce and shredded coconut. Or with a squirt of sweetened sour cream and fresh berries.
Pizza
• Top individual store-bought crusts or toasted, halved English muffins, with a spoonful of tomato sauce and let them go to town.
Sweet pizza
• Have kids spread halved English mufins or rounds of pound cake, toasted, with butter, then sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar and diced pineapple. Your job is to broil the muffins until bubbly.
• Pass the cream cheese and jelly for them to spread, and let them sprinkle on dried fruit and chopped nuts.
• The kids can cover the slices with peanut butter, jam, or Nutella, and sprinkle with coconut, chocolate sprinkles, chopped nuts, or confectioners' sugar.
• They can spread with cream cheese, add a dollop of red jam, and a squeeze of butterscotch sauce; it looks like an authentic pizza.
• Both the muffin halves and the pound cake rounds take well to the kids' sprinkling berries and adding a squirt of sweetened sour cream.
Sandwiches
• You provide the bread of their choice and see how many variations they can create with peanut butter, raisins, and diced apples; peanut butter with bacon bits; peanut butter and jelly; peanut butter with diced dried fruit sprinkled with coconut or chocolate chips.
• They can shower Nutella with a sprinkle of coconut, dried fruit, and a squeeze of sour cream.
• The kids can't resist spreading cream cheese and decorating with flowers of jam, dried fruit, and chocolate sprinkles.
• Swiss or American cheese, grilled or not, finds them topping it with pepperoni, crumbled bacon, pesto, ketchup, mustard, or chili.
• Gently grill mozzarella and sliced tomato; have the kids top with shredded lettuce, basil, oregano, or chili, and drizzle with olive oil.
• Bologna or sliced turkey, they might top with grated cheese and broil; or enjoy it cold sprinkled with shredded lettuce, a dollop of relish, or a squeeze of mustard or ketchup.
• For their sandwich of chicken salad, tuna salad, or egg salad, they could spread on a bit of sweet relish, sprinkle with sweet paprika, toss on a handful of sprouts or pea shoots, or top with crushed potato chips.
Soups
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They'll enjoy hearty pea soup once they sprinkle it with their favorite croutons and any or all of the following: crushed potato chips, toasted pine nuts, crisp crumbled bacon, and of course, pea shoots.
• Pass the chopped basil, grated cheese, chives, crispy croutons galore, or suggest a squeeze of soy sauce to doll up chicken soup.
• To spark a rich bean soup, they might try crisp crumbled bacon, olive oil, basil, grated cheese, and the ever-popular croutons.
Salads
• You slice Romaine crosswise; they toss it with a shower of olive oil, vinegar, pea shoots, basil, and oregano.
• They love to dress any type of lettuce with sweet relish, mayonnaise, and ketchup, and sprinkle with bacon bits, maybe even a few raisins. Croutons, why not?
• Show them how to roll individual lettuce leaves that they've spread with hummus, chicken salad, tuna salad, or egg salad, a sprinkle of sweet paprika, and sprouts to make a suitable "sushi."
• You slice tomatoes; they top the slices with spreads of their choice: hummus, pesto, tuna salad, chicken salad, or egg salad, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with pine nuts.
• They can master a carrot-raisin slaw in minutes. You grate the carrots; the kids go to town with raisins, diced bits of pineapple, olive oil, and a smidgeon of vinegar, or a squeeze of mayonnaise.
• Tell them how to make a salad with a crunch. The kids can start with thinly sliced apples and butter lettuce, sprinkle with chives and a bit of sweet pickle relish, add a squeeze of ketchup, and a dollop of mayonnaise.
• Here's a fancy-enough-for-a-party salad that they can decorate till their hearts' content. You dice the chicken and the pears; they sprinkle on raisins, chives, diced pineapple, a squeeze of vinegar, a drizzle of olive oil, and a sprinkle of pine nuts.
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