Silver Turtles, Kids in the Kitchen and a Lesson in Patience

These silver turtles may not be the most beautiful meal but since they were made by my kids, I loved eating them for dinner tonight! Silver turtles are usually made over the campfire, however, you can also make oven-baked silver turtles if you don’t like camping.  If you love making these tin foil meals while camping, don’t forget to bring some sort of tongs to pick them out with. Then, check out my post on uses for wood ash after the campfire is done.

Silver Turtles Get Kids Cooking!

My children are in their early teens and as part of their ‘summer chores’, I decided that they needed to learn how to cook. My daughter is very good in the kitchen, although she definitely prefers to make sweets and not actual dinner.

Unless she is going to live on homemade pound cake for the rest of her life, that needs to change.

My son would happily live on ‘ready to eat’ food. That may include bagels (raw…because toasting is too much work), cheese sticks (because slicing actual cheese is too much work), and fruit that does not require cutting or peeling.

It will be unwashed. Because running it underwater is too much work. Yes, I think I have the world’s laziest teenager!

Getting my kids in the kitchen is an attempt to help them survive until adulthood after they leave my house. As long as I don’t strangle them before that!

Like this post about silver turtles? Here are more ways for kids to get excited about cooking:

• Teaching kids to eat healthy without losing your mind
• Healthy Lunch Box Tips for Kids and Parents
• Families Eating Dinner Together: Tips to Make it Fun and Stress-Free!

I originally wanted my children to work TOGETHER on a recipe every week.

I had visions of my son and daughter working side by side in the kitchen preparing dinner for the family. HA HA HA! I must have been smoking something!

Like my children will ever work together without constant arguing? I think not! So, last week my son made homemade macaroni and cheese for dinner and tonight was my daughter’s turn to cook.

She chose an easy recipe from her Girl Scout troop called Silver Turtles.

 

What are silver turtles?

Basically, a silver turtle is a packet of foil that has been filled with different ingredients such as:

• meat
• veggies
• potatoes, etc.

The original ‘turtle’ shape was too hard to make with the volume of food we put in each packet but if you make your packets smaller you can twist the corners to look like little ‘legs’.

 

Silver turtles are not going to WOW your friends at your next picnic. Nor are they considered gourmet food. But, your kid WILL be able to say ‘I made dinner by myself’ which is a huge accomplishment.

Whether you call them silver turtles, turtles, hobo packs, or foil dinners, they are an easy meal that kids can make themselves. 

Of course, staying OUT of the kitchen would make this kid in the kitchen project a lot easier! I am finding that I am slightly neurotic about my kitchen.

Did you wash the potatoes? I think you need more foil. Don’t touch that with raw chicken hands! Don’t forget to preheat the oven….and the list of reminders goes on and on!

So, I will share my daughter’s silver turtles recipe with you. Not because I was in awe of how delicious it tasted but because maybe YOU can get your own kids into the kitchen this summer.

Teaching our kids how to prepare food will help set them up for a lifetime of good eating! And maybe learning to share my kitchen space with another human being is a lesson that *I* need to learn!

Please note:  Depending on your child’s age you may want to supervise them with knives, stoves,  and/or raw chicken.  This is actually a ‘campfire’ recipe. If you are camping, just put them over the coals for an hour instead of in the oven!

Silver Turtle Recipe

Yield: 4

Silver Turtles

Print

Silver turtles are an easy meal to get kids cooking. Can be made in the oven or over the campfire. Teach your kids how to make silver turtles and dinner is ready with almost no cleanup!

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces
• 4 potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces
• 3 cups frozen veggies of your choice
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Lay 4 pieces of foil on a flat surface
2. Layer onto each piece of foil: Potatoes, veggies, then chicken on top.
3. Divide cream of mushroom soup between the 4 packets
4. Salt and pepper a bit
5. Close up foil tightly and place on cookie sheet (covered in foil in case of leakage)
6. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees or until potatoes are tender and chicken is cooked through.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

4

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 173Total Fat: 5gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 7mgSodium: 656mgCarbohydrates: 25gFiber: 7gSugar: 5gProtein: 8g

Nutrition information not always accurate