Gooey Butter Cake

I found this recipe on cooks.com and its perfect for cooking with children. This cake is somewhere between a coffee cake and a bar cookie. It's fast, easy, and has lots of steps children can do to help out through the whole process. Older children could probably handle this recipe on their own. Best of all? Kids love to eat these yummy cookies!

Prep: 10 minutes
Yield: 24 servings

1 pkg. yellow cake mix
1/2 c. butter
1 egg

GOOEY BUTTER:

1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
1 lb. box confectioners' sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix together cake mix (just the mix, not the other ingredients called for on the box) with butter and 1 egg. Pat into an ungreased 9 x 13 inch cake pan. Cream together cream cheese, 2 eggs, powdered sugar and vanilla. Pour over cake mixture. Spreading to the edges. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

How Kids Can Help:
Kids can unwrap butter & cream cheese, crack eggs, blend crust ingredients, and press dough into cake pan.

Tips & Tricks:
This recipe works equally well with softened as with melted butter.

Chicken Athena

Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 4 hours
Yield: 6 servings

6 boneless skinless chicken breasts (6 ounces each)
1/3 cup chopped sundried tomatoes, not packed in oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup Greek olives, chopped
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
salt to taste

Place all ingredients in a crockpot. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or until chicken is cooked through.

Tips and Tricks
I used scallions in place of the regular onion. This recipe can also be adapted for an oven.
Make It Healthier
Use organic chicken. Omit salt.
How Kids Can Help
Chop onion with food chopper, measure liquid ingredients.
Recipe Source
adapted from Healthy Cooking Magazine