^Hey there,
^I'm Claire
^and I'm a tasty producer
^and today I'm going to show you
some of my favorite recipes
to make for the kids in my life.
(energetic music)
Personally,
I don't actually have kids,
but my mom and I are the caregivers for
my six year old niece
and my three year old nephew.
Basically,
I get to be this really cool
Auntie-Mom hybrid superhero
and it's hard,
but it's also really,
really rewarding.
When they suddenly came into my care
I had to quickly learn how to cook for kids
and let me tell you,
it was no easy feat.
I was lucky enough to be able to channel it into my work
by making Tasty videos
and Tasty Junior videos.
My co-worker Hannah,
she has this six year old son,
his name is Jackson
and he's my best friend
and he's usually my sous chef
in all Tasty Junior videos.
We have been cooking together since he was four
and I've gotten to see him blossom
into such a kind-hearted
and goofy boy.
We have a blast together in the kitchen
and he brings so much joy to the office
whenever he comes in.
So as all parents know,
you don't always have time to cook everything
in the morning during the week
and it was my nephew's birthday.
I wanted to make something super innovative
and special for his birthday breakfast.
And he loves cinnamon rolls
and who doesn't love birthday cake?
So I made a cinnamon roll out of birthday cake
and they were such a hit at home
that I had to make them into a Tasty Junior video.
Now,
I know what you all are thinking:
who gives their kid so much sugar for breakfast?
But just to see the joy of his face
when he woke up to a cinnamon roll birthday cake,
he was ecstatic
and it made the experience of making it
just that much better.
So,
in order to fuse cinnamon rolls
and birthday cake together,
I had to figure out a way to get that cake flavor
without adding extra sugar.
I ended up just using a box of pre-made cake mix
and adding flour to the cake mixture
to make it more of a dough consistency
rather than a cake batter consistency
and it worked like a charm.
They're fluffy,
they're sweet,
they're cake-y.
They're everything you would want in a birthday cake
cinnamon roll hybrid.
Having to all of a sudden pack lunches for two kids
was super intimidating at first.
When I was a kid,
I remember getting made fun of
for having certain things in my lunch
and I really didn't want that for them,
but I still wanted them to have nutritious lunches,
which I know can be time consuming.
My time is already so limited in the mornings,
and I needed a quick solution,
so I thought of how adults meal-prep for their week
all the time
and so,
I just adapted it for the kids.
It teaches kids the responsibility
of packing their own lunch.
My niece loved that responsibility
and she was so proud to walk up to her friends
and show them that she had made it for herself
and I could see the confidence growing inside of her
and it was great for me too
because doing just a little bit of preparation
can save you ten minutes of time in the morning.
That extra ten minutes allowed me to
be able to brush my hair
or have a cup of coffee
or spend those extra few minutes with the kids.
And it also sometimes will give me
that extra ten minutes of sleep
which is so valuable.
This is not the only thing that you can make
for your kids' lunches.
Have it fit your needs.
It's all going to be catered to your family
and what your family likes,
but it's just designed to save you some time
and as much as it saves time for me,
it also teaches my niece some responsibility
to pack her own lunch is such a big deal
because she feels like she is serving a role.
It gives her an opportunity to participate
in our morning routine
and she feels like she's a part of it
and that's really special for our family.
We want to include them
and raise them to be independent human beings
and this is just one of the ways in which she is learning
to be an independent person.
Everybody has their go-to favorites
when they're cooking for their kids.
In my house,
tacos hands-down are the winner,
but they're always such a mess
especially with a toddler.
So,
I was trying to figure out a way to work around it
and then the taco breadsticks were born.
Kids love tacos.
Kids love breadsticks,
so why not combine them?
I know it's not traditional in any way,
shape,
or form,
but I really enjoy being able to
use inspiration from other classic dishes
around the world to make them fit my family's needs.
My nephew can hold it in his hand
and not make a mess all over the table
or himself.
Getting a kid to try a new thing
can be really difficult
so if you play with their personal flavors
that you know that they like,
it will be much easier for them to eat it
if they know it's taco-flavored
or pizza-flavored
or something familiar to them,
but in a new form.
At my house,
I serve them to my niece and nephew as an appetizer
or a snack
or even a side at dinner.
They're just a special treat the kids love
and it blows their minds
just about every time they eat them.
Dinner is probably the number one,
most frustrating thing for parents
when cooking for kids.
It can take a lot of time
and effort
and by the time you're done cooking,
they're probably just going to turn their nose up at it
and say it's not what they wanted.
There was this one time I went to dinner with
my boyfriend
and his family at this really nice,
expensive,
Japanese teppanyaki restaurant.
There was this child across the table from us
whose parents had ordered him this really nice steak dinner
that was cooked right in front of him
and it was really exciting for him
but all he would eat was his fried rice.
That's like 30 dollars worth of dinner
and all he ate was fried rice
and I was like dude,
you have such a great dinner in front of you,
why are you only eating fried rice?
And then it dawned on me.
Kids love fried rice, duh.
So that experience inspired me to create fried rice
and to play with the flavors of fried rice
because yes,
it's not traditional again,
but it is an opportunity for me to show
my creativity through the food that I make for the kids.
I don't know about you,
but I never met a kid who doesn't like fried rice.
So if you can play with the flavors
and customize it to your child's preference,
you've got a solid hit for dinner that night.
As much as we would like to be,
we can't always be model parents
and our kids can't always be model children.
Luckily,
my niece and nephew are perfect
and they usually eat their vegetables,
but sometimes I do have to get creative.
With this dish,
I really wanted to take the classic,
childhood favorite of a cheeseburger
and bring it to life with a little bit of healthiness to it.
I added some broccoli
and carrots.
Honestly,
I don't even think the kids noticed
that there was anything in there.
They're not little investigators
like I know some kids can be,
but I know these kids
and I know that if there was a plate with broccoli
and carrots
and a cheeseburger on it,
those broccoli
and carrots probably will get ignored.
Believe it or not,
I do read the comments.
I've noticed a lot of parents shaming other parents
for having to hide their vegetables in their kids' food
and if that's what works for their family,
great.
If it doesn't work for yours,
try something else.
And if you have a perfect child who eats every vegetable
that crosses their path,
you my friend,
are a lucky parent.
If you're still finding it hard
to get the kids to eat something that has green in it,
try involving them in the cooking process.
They're more likely to eat what they made
because they have a sense of pride in it
and you get a good bonding experience cooking together.
I am a mean baker,
but I am not the best cake decorator
so I was looking for something pretty full-proof
that even I could make for my niece's birthday.
When we were planning her fifth birthday party,
I'd ask her what theme she wanted
and all she would say was unicorn,
that was it.
It was going to be unicorns
and she would accept nothing else.
The kids had recently started living with me
and she didn't know that many kids
and she was new to the area
and I really wanted to give her
the most amazing birthday possible.
She's such a great kid
and she's been through so much,
that she really does deserve the best.
I went from being a free-spirit,
easy-going 24-year-old woman
living with my best friend in Los Angeles
to a parent.
Basically overnight
and I'm not going to lie,
it was terrifying
and it still is terrifying
because I have these two amazing little people
who rely on me for everything in their lives.
We've had a lot of opportunities
to learn from one another
and they have made just as much of an impact on my life
as I feel like I have made on theirs.
I don't know if I personally will ever have kids,
but,
I will say that I am more than happy to give all my love
to these two kids for the rest of our days.
I'm not gonna lie
and say any of this has been easy,
it's been the most difficult time in my life so far,
but I wouldn't trade a second of it for the world.
Even though I'm not their biological parent,
I still have to face the day to day activities
that parents do with their kids.
I made this amazing cake
and I brought it out to all the kids at the party
and they were all so excited,
the cake got devoured in about ten minutes.
On the way home from her party,
she had said thank you so many times,
but she says auntie,
you know I loved my unicorn cake,
but I just want you to know
that it did kind of look like cow too.
And when the video got posted on the internet,
the commenters also thought it looked like a cow,
which it was not as cute coming from them,
but it was adorable coming from her.
So yes,
It does look like a cow,
but it's a unicorn cow
and it's unique.
These two little kids are the most creative
and quirky
and funny people I've ever met.
If I can foster that
and channel it into being inventive
and cooking
and being creative with me,
that's the best activity we could ever do together.
Food is my love language
and it's how I show the people in my life
that I care about them.
Cooking for these kids has been such a journey
of trial and error
and it's made me a better cook
and a better aunt because of it
and I just have adored every second of this journey.
That's not true,
I've complained a lot,
but it's fine.
(offscreen) Oh, yes.
(laughter)
(gentle guitar music)