Kids and a Cook™

Teaching kids to eat healthy & bringing families together!

Kids and a Cook™
Recipes 

Harvest Casserole

Michelle Day , , , , , ,

A nourishing blending fruits, spices and root vegetables under an oatmeal topping

A family favorite of mine for the entire Autumn and Winter. This nourishing meal evokes memories not only of the holidays, but cold autumn days, football and active kids running around and kicking the leaf piles.  It is a sweet dish, not cloying, full of fruits and root vegetables, but very much desert-like.

And you won’t need to put marshmallows on top of the sweet potatoes to get kids to eat this.

Ingredients:

  • 5 Cups (1/4inch) diced Sweet Potatoes (approx 2)
  • 5 Cups chopped Granny Smith Apples  (approx 3)
  • 1 Cup Sweetened, dried Cranberries
  • 1 ½ Cups firmly packed Brown Sugar
  • 2 Tsp Cinnamon
  • ¼ Tsp. Sea Salt
  • ¼ cup Butter, cut into tsp sized pats
  • 1-Cup Quick Cooking Oatmeal
  • ¼ cup Flour
  • ½ cup Melted Butter

Preheat oven to 400 F degrees.

For the Casserole: Combine the Sweet Potatoes, Apples and Dried Cranberries in a bowl big enough to accommodate them and allow room for mixing.  In a separate, smaller bowl, combine    a ½ cup of the Brown Sugar, 1 tsp Cinnamon and Salt. Add this to the Sweet Potato/Apple bowl and toss well.  Then spoon the mixture into a 13x9x2 baking dish and dot with the butter pats.

For the Topping: using another small bowl, pour in the Oatmeal, 1 cup Brown Sugar, the Flour, and 1tsp.   Cinnamon and then combine. Then stir in the melted butter and spoon evenly over the top of the Sweet Potatoes and Apples.

Bake covered for 45 minutes and then another 30 minutes –uncovered to give you the crispy topping.

Michelle Day

Michelle Day has been cooking and baking since she was old enough to hold a whisk. Michelle is an expert cook and her passion for cooking and entertaining has never wavered. At the age of 10 Michelle’s Family started a bakery in Simsbury CT, where Michelle got her first taste of running a food service business. In 1994 Michelle moved to New York City, where, she found her true passion in baking. In 2001 she started “The Catering Divas” Catering business. Serving the Upper East Side, she catered numerous small dinner and cocktail parties. Her passion and attention to detail won her the attention of some of New York’s Elite. Back at home in Connecticut, Michelle is a well known culinary instructor and her cake decorating skills jump-started a side business — Devine Cake Designs — where clients clamor for her inspired and beautifully artistic designs. After 15 years in the culinary industry, Michelle’s love of cooking, baking and children, has lead to her to her newest career, offering personalized family cooking classes and creating a TV show, digital broadcasts and Cook Books like no other. Kids and a Cook is all about healthy, fun, and easy meals for kids and their families. Michelle credits her parents with her success and her love of food, helping to create so many memories being in the kitchen with them as a child. Her goal is to have a show to help viewers create the same memories with their families. A show for the kids, and by the kids, with the “cook” there as guidance. Michelle’s featured co-host is an energetic, precocious 9-year-old named Elisabeth. Although a finicky eater, Elisabeth still loves to cook in the kitchen and learn about ingredients and how to mix them to make tasty dishes. Come join us — as you and Elisabeth learn easy recipes and explore culinary adventures. Michelle Day is available for lectures and cooking demonstrations. Please contact us through this website.