Healthy Quick & Easy Recipes: Making Pasta with Kids

3/7/09 - By Anna Fader

One of my kids' favorite things to do is make homemade pasta. It's so easy and fun and kids love eating noodles. We picked up a pasta maker somewhere, the kind that you crank the dough through, but the March issue of Cookie Magazine has three easy pasta recipes that you can make with nothing more than your hands, a knife and a colander. I actually think that hand-made noodles have a lighter texture that I love even more.

Making pasta might sound like a pain, but it's really easy and since you can get your kids involved it kills two birds with one stone. Check out these healthy, quick and easy recipes for making noodles that your kids will love making as much as they will eating the results:

 

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Homemade Orecchiette Recipe

You can use garbanzo flour for extra protein (sold at whole foods) or whole wheat or other whole grain flour. Used 50/50 with regular flour, it will be healthy, but not "too healthy" that your kids won't like the texture.

   * 1 cup all-purpose flour

   * 1 cup garbanzo flour (or whole-grain flour)

   * 1/2 teaspoon salt

   * 2 eggs, plus 4 egg yolks, beaten together

   1. Boil a large pot of salted water

   2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, mix the flours and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the eggs.

   3. Whisk them, gradually pulling in flour from the rim, until the mixture comes together into a firm ball of dough.

   4. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and work it until smooth.

   5. With a well-floured hand, pinch off small fingerfuls of dough, roll them between your thumb and forefinger into balls, and press each in the middle to form an indentation. (Toddler fingers are especially well-suited to this task.)

6. Cook the orecchiette in the boiling water. When they rise to the top, cook for one more minute and they are done. Drain and serve.

Because these noodles are so fresh, just a bit of butter or olive oil and some grated parmesan will be enough for these to taste great.

See two more easy pasta recipes from Cookie.
Do you have a Healthy, Quick and Easy Kid recipe? Share it with us.