Celeb Chef Stephanie Goldfarb Shares Grill Recipes Kids Will Love

Memorial Day reigned in the official start of BBQ season and though mom and dad are usually open to grilling all sorts of meats and vegetables, most kids are strictly all about the hot dogs and hamburgers. How can you get them to experiment? We asked celebrity chef Stephanie Goldfarb who has cooked for celeb parents like Halle Berry, Ben Stiller, and Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith for healthier ideas that kids will love. She shared three great ideas for kids’ favorites that you can put on the grill.

Kabobs
“Kabobs are always a big hit with kids,” Stephanie says, because “kids love food on a stick.” (Who doesn’t?) Get creative: teriyaki chicken kabob for dinner, a fruit kabob for dessert.

Click for two more recipes!

Grilled Pizza
Stephanie told us, “We do a lot of grilled pizza for kids because it’s fun and they get to partake.  As an important note on this: the adult does the grilling.”

Buy store-bought dough (Stephanie recommends the one from Trader Joe’s but any will work). Then set up a station for the kids with sauce, cheese, and their favorite toppings like pepperoni, veggies, olives, etc.

• Roll the dough out into individual sized pizzas.
• Spray the grill with some olive oil so the pizza doughs won’t stick.
• Grill the bottoms of the pizza doughs.
• Remove the pizza doughs from the grill and have the kids top them with whatever they like.
• Spray a cookie sheet with olive oil, put the pizzas on it, place the sheet on the grill and close the lid.
• Cook the pizzas until the cheese is melted and the crust is crisp.

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Bring this childhood favorite outside!

• Spread butter on two pieces of the kids’ favorite bread.
• Take two slices of mild cheese and place them in the middle.
• Spray a cookie sheet with olive oil.
• Put the sandwiches on the cookie sheet.
• Place the cookie sheet on the grill and close the lid.
• After a minute or two, flip the sandwich.

Note: When using a nonstick pot or pan, ALWAYS have some fat (oil or butter) on the surface before the pot gets hot.  Otherwise the Teflon will release a toxin.

– Danielle

What are your kids’ favorite BBQ foods?

Comments

I realize she has cooked for the rich and famous but I think most parents know how to make a grilled cheese sandwich.

- Andrea_momof2 on May 29th, 2009

The English word for a kebab is kabob? ROLF!

- Sanja on May 29th, 2009

i didn’t know that tip about teflon! just this morning i forgot to put butter on the pan before it was heated up. I won’t do that again.
But I wonder why the toxin doesn’t release if there is already oil on the pan before it heats… wouldn’t it go into the oil then? now i’m off to google this subject. thanks!

- fuzibuni on May 29th, 2009

I think the first comment is off base. I would of never thought to use olive oil and a cookie sheet to bbq grilled cheese. These are great hints! I’m going to try the pizza this weekend! Thanks Stephanie!

- MarieB on May 29th, 2009

Off topic here–but I LOVE LOVE LOVE her shirt! Anyone know what label it is??

By the way, Andrea, um no, probably not many people have used the grill for a grilled cheese sandwich.

Cool post.

- Jennifer on May 29th, 2009

The act of barbequing seems pretty simple to me. We always cook things with foil on the BBQ in my family. Didn’t realize most people don’t own BBQ’s or maybe don’t BBQ in general.

- Andrea_momof2 on May 30th, 2009

the fact is, we have a huge child obesity problem in america, and most people don’t cook like they used to about 50 years ago. any education that helps parents feed their kids better is a good thing for kids.

- idaho beef on May 30th, 2009

Too bad people can’t be open to new ideas. I know any child I cook for would be thrilled to join in this yummy fun. Thanks Stephanie!

- marissa mitchell on June 1st, 2009