Crescent Dogs with Fruit Skewers - Kids in the Kitchen

Spring Break is here and that leaves more time for playing in the kitchen with the kids!  I love the days the kids are home and we're not rushing off to school, hurrying to get homework done, dinner eaten, scriptures read and kids in bed by 8pm.  We're going to take advantage of the time off this week to play.   One of the fun things about cooking is, that even though we're on break from school, we get to practice a fair bit of math while we're having fun!  If we have 3 people that want Crescent Dogs, and 2 people want 2 Dogs each.... how many do we need to fix?  Our strawberries were huge!  We cut them in 4 pieces.... how many will each person get when we divide those evenly?  If I were working with younger children I'd work more on colors when we strung our skewers.  :)  So much learning just HAPPENS in life!

Crescent Dogs are super easy because we use a package of the refrigerated crescent roll dough.  This time we used Pillsbury Crescent Roll Dough because with the coupon available they were less expensive AND I could get the reduced fat kind.  

Fruit Skewers don't need a recipe - just wash & cut your favorite fruits and let each child thread their own. (assuming they're old enough to not worry about the pointy skewer)  If you're out of skewers and you plan on eating your fruit right away, you can try using a strand of uncooked spaghetti to thread soft fruit on.  Toothpicks work as well.  I don't know why food is more fun to eat off of a skewer, but watch the kids devour these!

Crescent Dogs

1 tube refrigerated crescent roll dough (makes 8)

1 pkg. hot dogs (8 count)

cheese if desired

Heat oven to 375.  Open crescent rolls and unroll dough.  Take 1 triangle of dough and lay a hot dog on the wide end.  Roll up and set point side down, on a cookie sheet.  Repeat this until all hot dogs are rolled.  Bake Crescent Dogs for 13 minutes or until roll is golden brown.  Eat right away!   IF you like cheese with this (my kids don't love it so we don't add it)....   make a lengthwise cut in your hot dog before rolling.... insert a slender slice of cheese.  Roll and be sure you place the cheese side UP on the cookie sheet.  Bake the same as above.

Joy's Notes:  If your hot dogs are very damp, pat them dry with a paper towel before rolling or the inside of the roll stays doughy. Ick!

While you're supervising the kids making this fun lunch, take the opportunity to help them see how many of the food groups you're covering.  Granted, it isn't the best sources of protein and grains, but it IS protein and grains, plus 2 servings of fruit.   You could add carrot sticks to this meal to get another vegetable squeezed in.  We don't talk nutrition all the time, but we do it often enough that they start noticing if we need to add a vegetable or fruit to our meal to balance things.  

Most of all - while we're playing in the kitchen we should have FUN!  Enjoy!