If They Make It They Will Eat It

I am a firm believer that when cooking for kids "if they make it, they'll eat it" and also "if you make it fun, they'll eat it". I am fortunate enough that my daughter is willing to try just about everything and the fancier the better. My son on the other hand can be picky, especially when introducing new foods or ingredients. As much as he'll tell me "whatever you can eat Mommy" it does not always ring true. This is the reason I find a way to get him involved in the kitchen. My daughter will cook for the learning and independence, my son is for pride in knowing he helped make it.
Last night I posed a picture on Instagram of his little hands helping make dinner with the caption "What could we be up to tonight?" The answer was Dinner Cupcakes.
Dinner cupcakes are traditionally not Gluten Free and this time my daughter was on a mission to make it that way from reading labels in the grocery store to helping determine substitutions. Here is our version of Gluten Free Dinner Cupcakes 80% made by my children:

1 Twelve tin cupcake tray
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Large Mixing Bowl
Vinyl gloves (optional)
1 lb Organic ground turkey
1 cup Zucchini, grated
2/3 cup Onions, finely chopped
1/2 cup Tortilla bread crumbs
2 Egg whites
1 tbsp. Salt
1/2 tsp Garlic powder
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 cup Mashed potatoes (my son wanted an instant garlic mashed)
1/2 cup Carrots and peas (optional)


1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Have your child combine the turkey, zucchini, onions, breadcrumbs, egg whites, salt, garlic powder and Worcestershire sauce in the large mixing bowl and mix with hands until mixed into the form of a meatloaf mixture. (This is where I recommend those gloves)
3. Lightly grease the cupcake pan with olive oil.
4. Spoon the turkey mixture into the cupcake tins so that each one is filled but not overflowing. Then using a spoon, smooth the tops until flat.
5. Place the filled cup cake tray in the oven and bake about 20-25 minutes (internal temp 165)
6. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and let cool for a few minutes (now is a good time to make that instant mashed), and then remove them gently from the tray using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula to loosen them.
7. Once plated, have your child "frost" them using the mashed potatoes and sprinkle with peas and carrots if they chose.

My children did not chose to have peas and carrots this time however this was their final product. They even asked to take the left overs to school for lunch!