ChopChop Magazine

ChopChop: The Fun Cooking Magazine for Families is an award-winning quarterly magazine, published in English and Spanish for over 10 years. Each 48-page issue of the magazine contains delicious, nutritious, culturally diverse, affordable, and easy-to-follow recipes, along with essential kitchen skills, STEAM learning, and loads of fun games, and activities.

OUR MISSION • ChopChop Family is a national nonprofit organization that uses food and cooking to help children and their adults build fundamental life skills.

ChopChop Magazine

QUICK BITES

Dear Grownups,

STOP! • Read This Before You Start Cooking!

Mini Rice Cakes with Mashed Avocado • RECIPES JUST RIGHT FOR THE LITTLEST COOKS

Cottage Cheese Parfait • Parfait (which means “perfect” in French)is a traditional custard-like dessert that is layered with fruit. We’ve used cottage cheese instead of custard (and sometimes we use yogurt), and we recommend using whipped cottage cheese, cottage cheese that is stirred quickly to incorporate more air. The result is a smoother, lighter texture, but if you can’t find whipped cottage cheese, regular is just fine!

Lazy-Daisy Breakfast Cake • Inspired by and adapted from a recipe that’s over 100 years old, this cake is, as one Kid Recipe Tester noted, “neither too heavy nor too sweet,” which is what we love about it. Oats are a super healthy breakfast food, and as much as we love the nutty, sweet flavor of oatmeal, we’re not always in the mood for a bowl. But in this cake, we still get all the goodness of oats!

Hummus Sandwich with Vegetables • We eat most of our hummus with cut-up vegetables, and if you’re also a fan, you’ll love it in this sandwich. We especially like cucumbers and tomatoes, but feel free to change the vegetables: thinly sliced cauliflower, lettuce or spinach leaves, and bell pepper strips are also good.

Fresh Pea Soup with Mint • This velvety, refreshing soup was adapted from the cookbook Keepers by Kathy Brennan and Caroline Campion. Their recipe suggests eating it chilled, and while we love it chilled, we also love it hot. Be sure not to overcook the peas, so they will stay sweet and bright green.

WHAT’S DIFFERENT

Snacks for Sports • Now that it’s spring, you’re likely either playing a sport or watching a sport. In both cases, it’s important to keep up your energy. In addition to the recipes below, here are a few quick snack ideas: apple slices or crackers made into sandwiches filled with nut butter, mini yogurt parfaits, and cut-up vegetables with dip or hummus.

Focus on the Main

Cornmeal-Crusted Catfish • Catfish is so named because it has whiskers that resemble those of a cat, which is a pretty surprising trait for a fish! It’s very mild and slightly sweet, so it’s especially good for people who are new to eating fish, and even a little hesitant. But if you like, you can use cod or tilapia instead of catfish.

Triple Green Pasta

Peas please

Chicken Stew with Spring VegetaBles • Somewhere between a stew and a soup, this hearty dish is filled with mostly green spring vegetables, all of which can be substituted for other vegetables. We love the addition of lettuce, which adds an unusual lightness to the stew. Serve with steamed rice or barley on the side or in the stew.

Black Bean Burritos • Burritos aren’t hard to make, but they do take a little practice. If this is your first time, we suggest trying to fold them without any filling first. If you’re like us, you might struggle a little bit and end up making a quesadilla instead! But once you’ve got it down, you’ll find yourself making burritos all the time. After all, they’re fun to eat and absolutely delicious.

4 Side dishes

Applesauce Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing • These gently spiced cupcakes go perfectly with their...