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Easy Nutritious Nachos

While most fast food places sell fatty goopy cheese and greasy chips for nachos, we prefer a lighter more nutritious version that kids can help prepare.

You'll need:

1 large package low fat, baked tortilla chips
1 or 2 cans low fat refried beans
1 or 2 packages shredded 2% Mexican style cheese

Preheat oven to  350° F.   Spread the chips in a thin layer on nonstick baking sheets.  Drop small spoonfuls of beans over chips -- lots of tiny dollops will give you better coverage.   Then sprinkle cheese evenly over the beans and chips.  Bake in the oven until cheese has melted and begun to brown slightly.  Takes about 10 to 15 minutes.  Remove from oven carefully and allow to cool slightly before serving. 

Serve with your favorite salsa or taco sauce.  Some low fat sour cream and spicy jalapenos makes it extra yummy for grown up taste buds.

(If you like, you could also brown some ground beef and season with taco seasoning, and then sprinkle this over the chips when you add the beans and cheese.)

CAUTION:  We do not recommend allowing children under 12 years old to use a conventional oven.   Toaster ovens may be a safe alternative for children 9 years old and up.  Close supervision required.

Cinnamon Crisps

This is a tasty treat that kids and adults love, a sort of Mexican cinnamon toast.  To make a fancier dessert, serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.   But we think it's great alongside a fruit salad and some yogurt.

You'll need:

1 package of large size flour tortillas
1/2 cup sugar
1 or 2 teaspoons cinnamon
vegetable oil (for frying)

Mix the cinnamon and sugar (if you can put the mix in a shaker, this is best).  Cut the tortillas into small wedges or strips.

Heat some oil in a deep frying pan (fill about 1 inch deep with oil).  Fry strips until golden brown.  Carefully remove from oil and drain on paper towels.  (Please let an adult do the frying!)

Immediately sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mix.  Serve!   If you like, you can drizzle a tiny bit of honey on the chips as well.

For a low fat version, bake tortillas in the oven at about 375° F until golden brown (about 10 minutes).   Then drizzle with melted butter mixed with the cinnamon sugar mixture.

CAUTION:  We do not recommend allowing children under 12 years old to use a conventional oven.   Toaster ovens may be a safe alternative for children 9 years old and up.  Close supervision required.

Vegetarian Tacos

taco shells
 ground beef substitute (see Morningstar crumbles below)
shredded cheese
chopped or shredded lettuce
1 package taco seasoning
salsa or taco sauce
optional:  chopped onion, chopped tomato, sour cream

For tacos, we recommend buying the ready made shells from the store.  It's much simpler and eliminates the mess of frying them yourself.  Plus, deep frying the shells creates spattering oil which is not safe when children are in the kitchen. 

We also recommend using vegetarian beef crumbles (check your store's freezer section for Morningstar Farms vegetarian "meat" products).  Not only are these high in protein and low in fat, but they make taco making a breeze!   No greasy spattering ground beef to brown.  (Making it safer for kids to use.)  Instead you just drop the crumbles in a nonstick frying pan on low to medium heat and cover with a lid.  Wait about five minutes then add the packet of taco seasoning and a few tablespoons of water.  If you like your taco meat mild, only use half a package of seasoning. 

When the "beef" filling is done you're ready to assemble the tacos.  Spoon a couple tablespoons of "beef" into the taco then some cheese and lettuce.  If you like add taco sauce, sour cream, and chopped onions and tomatoes.  Time to eat!  We always like to have some fresh fruit or a fruit salad on the side.  A very kid friendly meal that kids love to help make.

CAUTION:  We do not recommend allowing children under 12 years old to cook on the stove top.  Kids should NEVER use the stove without the permission and supervision of a grown-up.

Morningstar Farms Burger Crumbles

Microwave Quesadillas

The classic quesadilla is a flour tortilla, folded in half, filled with cheese and cooked up in the frying pan until each side is golden brown.   To prepare it this way you'll just need a nonstick frying pan, maybe a little cooking oil spray, and a little salt to sprinkle on the finished product.

But to make this project super kid friendly, provide shredded cheese, tortillas, paper plates, and a microwave.   Kids place the tortilla on a paper plate, sprinkle on plenty of cheese, place another tortilla on top and voila -- it's ready to pop in the microwave.  With preschoolers an adult should handle the cooking.  But at home we let the little ones help out by pushing the buttons as directed and watching it melt.   Always explain to young children that microwaved food  must cool for a short while before being removed, and that they should never try to removed cooked food from a microwave oven without an adult's permission and supervision.

Note that older children may wish to fold their tortillas over the old fashioned way.  But we find that with young kids it's easier to do it "sandwich" style.   When the cheese is cool, an adult can slice the tortilla into wedges.  For some reason very young children love the idea of getting several small quesadilla pieces, instead of one large piece.   It's just part of their developmental stage to feel they are getting "more" this way.

To provide variety, try making the quesadillas with corn tortillas.   A bit of salsa on the side and it's delicious.

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