A kids meal in festive Christmas colors
Our Christmastime kids meal is a cute dish to make for your little ones over the holiday season. With bright red grape tomatoes, green onions and bowtie pasta, it has all the classic colors of Christmas in a dish. Finger food friendly for those that would rather throw the spoon on the floor.
Christmastime kids meal is made with simple whole foods you can feel good about serving to the kids.
Here’s what YOU WILL NEED:
| 1 pint grape tomatoes |
| 1 bunch green onions (also known as scallions) |
| bowtie pasta |
| olive oil for the skillet |
| Serve with some shredded Italian mixed cheese to sprinkle over the top. Italian cheeses are pizza cheese, so kids usually like that added flavor. |
This is WHAT TO DO:
Prepare the tomatoes and scallions
Rinse the vegetables off. Cut the tomatoes in half across the middle, not lengthwise. Chop the “hairy” ends off the scallions and start chopping the whole bunch from the bottom up. Scallions have a very mild onion taste. The white has more flavor than the stems. If you want the color, but not a lot of added flavor from the scallions, cut back on using the lighter parts of the stems and use the darker ones further up.
Chop the tomatoes in half through the middle. Chop off the root ends of the scallions (green onions) and start chopping the whole bunch from the bottom up. You probably won’t need the whole bunch. Add as much as you want. There is no set amount. The more green onion, the more flavor and color.
Boil the pasta
You might not need a whole box of bowtie pasta when you use one pint of tomatoes. Mix in what you think your kids will eat.
Prepare the pasta as instructed on the package. The bowties will take longer to cook than the tomatoes and scallions. That’s how quick this is.
When the pasta is done, drain and add to the cooked tomato and scallion mixture.
Add olive oil and tomatoes to the skillet
Put enough olive oil in a skillet to cover the bottom and add the tomatoes. On medium high heat, start moving the tomatoes around in the skillet.
Sauté until tomatoes are tender
Cook the tomatoes until they are a shiny bright red, and just getting tender. You can see that the tomato has broken down just a bit which will add a little taste to the sauce.
Add scallions to the skillet
Add the chopped scallion to the tomatoes. We are just warming them up to give the sauce more color and flavor. Continue to stir.
Cook scallions till tender
When the scallions have gotten a dark green and are getting just a little soft, take the mixture off the heat. You don’t want the tomatoes to get mushy.
Time to add the cooked pasta to the skillet
Add as much of the cooked and drained bowtie pasta as you think your kids will like, and mix together gently. If the bowtie pasta is dry and sticking, just splash a little more olive oil in the skillet.
Serve Christmastime kids meal in a bowl or festive plate
Christmas Time Kids Meal
Ingredients
- 1 pint grape tomatoes
- 1 bunch green onion also called scallions
- 1 box bowtie pasta
- olive oil for skillet
Instructions
Prepare Ingredients
- Prepare bowtie pasta as directed on package
- Cut tomatoes in half through the middle, not lengthwise
- Chop the root end off the green onion and chop the whole bunch from the white bulb up.
Cooking Instructions
- Add enough olive oil to a skillet to cover the bottom and add the tomatoes. Cook on medium high heat until they are just getting tender.
- Add the chopped green onion to the skillet. Add only as much as you want. You won't need the whole bunch. Warm them up until they are bright green and just getting soft.
- Mix cooked pasta in with the tomato mixture and serve.