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Video: Paula Deen cooks with kids

TODAY recipes
updated 9/22/2009 9:24:21 AM ET 2009-09-22T13:24:21

The school year has started, and bake sales and slumber parties are already popping up on the kids’ calendars. Never fear, Food Network star and cookbook author Paula Deen can help! The celebrity chef shares kid-friendly recipes and ways to get children involved in the process of cooking with her latest book, “Paula Deen’s Cookbook for the Lunch-Box Set.”

Recipe: Cheeseburger casserole (on this page) Recipe: Chocolate chip cake (on this page) Recipe: Popovers (on this page)


Recipe: Cheeseburger casserole

Ingredients
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 1 green pepper, chopped
  • One 28-ounce can chopped tomatoes, with juice
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 8 ounces wide egg noodles
  • Cooking spray
  • 2 cups grated sharp Cheddar cheese
Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet, cook the ground beef over medium heat, stirring to break up the lumps, until all of the pink is gone from the meat. Get an adult to help you drain off the fat.

Add the onion and green pepper, and cook until the vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, with juice, and the Worcestershire sauce, oregano, 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to low. Simmer the mixture for about 15 minutes.

Fill the medium pot halfway full of water. Add 1 teaspoon salt. Bring the water to a boil. Stir in the noodles and boil for about 8 minutes, until tender. Get an adult to help you drain the noodles. Return the noodles to the pot. Pour the tomato mixture over the noodles, and stir until blended.

Put the noodle mixture in the baking dish that you have sprayed with cooking spray. Top with cheese. Bake for about 15 minutes, until the cheese is melted.

Serving

Enjoy it as a family meal, then refrigerate the leftovers.

Recipe: Chocolate chip cake

Ingredients
  • Cooking spray
  • Flour for dusting pan
  • One 18 1/4 ounce yellow cake mix
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • One 3 ounce package instant pudding mix
  • One 12 ounce package semisweet chocolate chips
  • Confectioners' sugar for dusting top of cake
Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a bundt pan with cooking spray then put about 2 tablespoons of flour in the bottom of the pan. Tap the pan and turn it all around until the flour coats all surface of the pan. Dump out any excess flour into the trash can.

In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, sour cream, eggs, oil and pudding mix. Combine with an electric mixer until very smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Place the batter evenly in the bundt pan and smooth the top. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes until the top appears set and the cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan. Have an adult help you remove the pan from the oven.

Allow the cake to cool in the pan for about 15 minutes, then take a butter knife and run it around the sides of the pan. Invert the cake onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Dust the top by placing confectioners' sugar into a strainer, holding it above the cake, and tapping the sides of the strainer. Move the strainer from place to place until the cake is dusted.

Recipe: Popovers

Ingredients
  • Cooking spray
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup milk
  • 3 tablespoons canola oil
  • 1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
Preparation

Position oven rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray 8 custard cups with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, place the eggs, milk and oil. Beat with an electric mixer until combined. In a small bowl, sift together the flour and salt. Add it to the eggs, and mix with the electric mixer until it is smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and mix again.

Pour the batter into the custard cups, about half full. Place the cups on a cookie sheet, and get an adult to help you transfer the cookie sheet to the oven. Bake the popovers for 45 minutes, until they are puffed up and brown. Your adult helper can remove them from the oven.

You will have to get an adult to help you take the popovers out of the hot custard cups. Running a butter knife around the edge of the cups will help loosen the popovers.

Serving

Serve immediately, as they will deflate as they sit. Serve with soft butter and jelly.

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