Chewy Coconut Cranberry Granola Bars {Kids Cook Monday}

Chewy Coconut Cranberry Oatmeal Bars combine healthy oats, dried cranberries and coconut to create a chewy treat that the kids will love and be able to help you make in the kitchen.

Today I am excited to be teaming up with Kids Cook Monday initiative.

The Kids Cook Monday initiative encourages families to set aside the first night of every week for cooking and eating together as a family. Getting kids involved in the kitchen not only is a great bonding experience for everyone involved but teaches children valuable lessons about teamwork, food, eating, health, math (don’t forget all of that measuring you do), and cooking. Kids don’t have to be older to help you in the kitchen (Will is only 2).  You can find even the smallest things that they can help with and they will be excited.  When Will gets to push a button on a food processor or put a piece of toast into the toaster it is a great day in his book! I make him my “kitchen assistant” and he really enjoys helping me (within limits of course).

Once you cook the meal with your children you can then sit down as a family to enjoy the fruit of your labor! I love the following statistics that Kids Cook Monday includes on their website.  I think it helps show that the evidence links family dinners to healthier life choices:

• Kids who eat family dinners get better grades in school, develop communication schools and are less likely to try drugs.
• Women who cook regularly consume a more nutritious diet than those who ate out often.
• Kids who eat dinner with their family regularly were less likely to be obese.

While today’s recipe for Chewy Coconut Cranberry Oatmeal Bars isn’t for dinner it is a great recipe to get your kids involved in. Will is two years old so he can’t do things like chopping, or measuring but he can help put things into the bowl, mix, and observe me measuring and chopping.  As children get older their roles can change and they can begin to become more involved in the cooking process.

As a child I always helped my Mom cook—whether it was waffles, pancakes, meatballs, chicken noodle soup, muffins, cookies, I was there to lend a helping hand.  I believe that part of my love for cooking and healthy food came from these experiences with my Mom.

Ways your child can help with this recipe (these are just suggestions and depend on your child’s development and capability of helping):

Young children (under 5 years old)

• Help measure ingredients like dried cranberries
• Stirring or whisking ingredients
• Sprinkling coconut on top of granola bars.
• Help with clean up: using a rag to wash the counter, help rinse utensils.

 Older children (older children can do most of the recipe with adult supervision):

• Read the recipe and then ask the child to repeat what step comes first to challenge their listening and memory skills
• Cracking and separating eggs
• Measure ingredients
• Using the electric mixer (with adult supervision)

[tasty-recipe id=”27955″]

Recipe slightly adapted from the Cooking Light Kid-Approved Cookbook {See below}

There are affiliate links in this post.  Any money made from my partnership with Amazon goes back into A Cedar Spoon.  Thanks for your support!