In my son’s class this year his fantastic teacher Mrs. Lesser had the children make pickles to hands-on experience how a chemical change works. The kids loved making the pickled vegetables, had trouble waiting for them to pickle and gobbled them up after the science fair where they displayed them and explained their project.

Mrs. Lesser generously shared the recipe with GKC. Try it with your kids.

First Grade Pickles
Select small cucumbers (or other vegetables) that are 4-5 inches long.
Buy enough to fill 5 quart size jars.
For 5 jars you will need:
2 cups vinegar
1/2 cup pickling spice
10 cups water
¼ cup salt
Fresh dill (optional)
Garlic cloves (optional)
Prick cucumbers at the ends with a fork and soak overnight in cold water.

Drain and dry thoroughly.
Scald jars and put a bunch of dill in the bottom (if using).
Pack cucumbers (or vegetables) in tightly.
Add a garlic clove or more depending on personal preference.
Put more dill on top.
Combine vinegar, pickling spice, salt and water (you may heat this to a boil if you want a more subtle flavor and pour over cucumbers while hot).
Pour over cucumbers.
Seal immediately.
Let stand in a cool place for 6 weeks before using.

Enjoy!

Summertime provides lots of opportunities for cooking with kids. It can be a fun activity – where you decorate cookies or cupcakes. It can be for the sake of a refreshing treat, like last week’s popsicles or it can even be dinner (killing two birds with one stone!). This fudge recipe is the perfect for kids. It’s very simple although it does require the stove and a mother’s supervision. This is the peppermint version but you can replace the peppermint extract with vanilla extract and choose pretty much any topping or add-in of your choice. I like walnuts; your kids probably want to add m & m’s!

Peppermint Fudge

4 cups sugar
1 (10 ounce) can evaporated milk
1 cup butter
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 (7 ounce) jar marshmallow fluff
½ teaspoon peppermint extract
2/3 cup peppermint candies, coarsely broken

Combine sugar, milk and butter in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer, still stirring for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and quickly whisk in chocolate chips, marshmallow fluff and peppermint extract. Stir until smooth. Pour into greased 13 x 9-inch pan. Sprinkle with candies, cover and refrigerate until set. Cut into squares.

By Martha Stewart

Makes 10 ice pops.
3 to 4 ripe bananas (1 pound)
1 1/2 cups yogurt
3 tablespoons sugar
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 cup fresh blueberries

In the bowl of a food processor, puree bananas until smooth. Add yogurt, sugar, and lemon juice; pulse to combine. Remove half of the yogurt mixture; set aside.
Add blueberries to processor, and pulse until just combined. Layer blueberry and reserved yogurt mixtures into ten 1/3 cup ice-pop molds. Using a wooden skewer, swirl the two flavors together. Insert ice-pop sticks. Transfer to freezer until frozen, about 8 hours
Dip molds quickly in hot water to unmold.

Other popsicles recipes:
Triple Berry Popsicles
Watermelon Popsicles
Coconut Popsicles

Any berry combination of your choice can be used

Ingredients
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup blueberries
1 cup strawberries, hulled and sliced
1 cup raspberries
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

Preparation
1. Put sugar and 1/3 cup water in a small saucepan and bring to boil over high heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Set aside.
2. Combine blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and lemon juice in a blender and purée until smooth, about 30 seconds. Add 1/3 cup simple syrup and blend just until combined. (Save remaining syrup for another use, such as sweetening iced tea.)
3. Transfer purée to popsicle molds and freeze 4 hours. Insert popsicle sticks and freeze an additional 4 to 6 hours, or until frozen solid.

Makes about 8 1/4-cup popsicles

2 1/2 cups seeded diced watermelon
1/2 cup fresh raspberries or frozen unsweetened, thawed
6 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon light corn syrup

Combine all ingredients in blender; puree until smooth. Strain into 2-cup glass measuring cup, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Pour puree into popsicle molds, dividing equally. Freeze overnight. (Can be prepared 1 week ahead. Keep frozen.)

1 can (14 ounces) coconut milk
zest of 1 lime
2 limes, juiced
¼ cup confectioners’ sugar
¼ cup shredded coconut

Puree all ingredients together. Pour into small popsicle molds or 3-ounce paper cups; insert wooden popsicle sticks. Freeze several hours, or until firm.

This is so easy it almost doesn’t count as a recipe; it certainly doesn’t count as cooking! But it’s a lot of fun for the kids and surprisingly, actually tastes good too.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Snacks

¼ cup creamy peanut butter
2 cups Bugles (you need extra because a number of them will break)
6 ounces semisweet chocolate (either 1 cup chocolate chips or semisweet squares)

You can either use a plastic spoon and try to delicately spoon the peanut butter into the Bugles, accepting that broken ones are part of the fun – and an opportunity to eat them along the way – or you can spoon peanut butter into a Ziploc bag, snip off the end and squeeze some into each Bugle. Melt chocolate in microwave and stir until smooth. Dip each bugle into chocolate and place on wax paper or parchment paper to set. Store in airtight container.

1½ cups crushed Ritz crackers (about 35 crackers)
2 cups grated Cheddar cheese, divided (you can use a mixture of mozzarella and cheddar or any cheese combination that you like)
4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, melted, plus 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
4 cups cooked elbow macaroni (about 8 ounces uncooked), drained and kept hot
2 large eggs, beaten
½ cup milk
¼ cup sour cream
¼ teaspoon salt

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease 8 cups of a 12-cup muffin pan.
In a bowl, combine the crackers, 1 cup of the Cheddar and the melted butter. Divide the mixture among the prepared muffin cups and press firmly into the bottom and up the sides.
In a large bowl, mix the macaroni with ½ cup of the Cheddar. In a small bowl, combine the eggs, milk, sour cream, cold butter pieces, and salt. Stir the milk mixture into the macaroni.
Spoon 2 tablespoons of the macaroni mixture into each cracker crust and top with the remaining Cheddar. Bake until the cheese is browned and slightly crispy, about 25 minutes. Allow the pies to cool slightly before unmolding and serving warm.

4 cups corn flakes cereal (crushed) or 1 cup corn flake crumbs
1 teaspoon garlic salt
½ teaspoon oregano
¼ cup flour
2 egg whites
2 tablespoons water
1 package (8 ounces) mozzarella cheese

Combine corn flakes crumbs, garlic salt and oregano in pie plate. Place flour in second pie plate or bowl. In another bowl, beat egg whites and water with fork until thoroughly combined.

Cut cheese into 12 sticks approximately 2 ¾ inches long. Dip cheese in flour, then in egg mixture, then cereal mixture. Carefully repeat dipping in egg mixture and cereal mixture to double coat completely. Place on foil-lined shallow baking pan coated with cooking spray. Coat remaining cheese using same method. Lightly spray coated cheese sticks with cooking spray. Let stand about 30 minutes.

Bake at 400 degrees for 8 minutes or until cheese is soft and sticks are lightly browned. Serve hot with pizza sauce or ranch dip.