Alphabet Breadsticks

I was in Target last Sunday and one area of the store was particularly popular, noisy, and a bit frantic: the Back-To-School department. Pencils, erasers, scissors, glue, glue sticks, markers, binders, notebooks, notepads, crayons, rulers, tissues, water colors (does anyone ever use those?), and backpacks are being hurled into carts … often someone else’s cart … and parents are pulling their hair because they just realized that they will have to make yet another trip to another store to cross that last item off the list.

Two words pop into my head and I smile: Empty Nest!

KIDS IN THE KITCHEN

This scene has me thinking about those last summer days before my boys returned to school and a more structured schedule. I can smile about the “empty nest” phase of life because I draw on lots of great memories with my boys. In the summer, I loved the days that they could help me make lunch. One of their favorite things to make were these Alphabet Breadsticks, a recipe from a Pampered Chef cookbook called “Kids in the Kitchen”. Making these breadsticks for lunch was a lesson in measuring, letters and numbers, creativity, and a little bit of science.

When my now 20-year-old son was home for a day last week, I told him I was going to make Alphabet Breadsticks for my blog, he wasn’t about to be left out (of the making OR the eating). It is so much fun to see what designs kids (and adults) will make. I made a tic-tac-toe board and he thought making a “hashtag” was a clever idea. Can you say generational gap?

OTHER KID-FRIENDLY RECIPES

If you are looking for more recipes to make with your kids and advance their cooking/baking skills, here are a few of my favorites:

Cocoa Banana Muffins
Italian Meatballs
Pizza-wiches
Peanut Butter Brownies
Deviled Eggs

LET’S MAKE ALPHABET BREADSTICKS