Homemade Whole Wheat Pasta Kids Can Make

Homemade Whole Wheat Pasta Kids Can Make | Mama Papa Bubba

There’s no doubt we have a thing for play doughs in this house.  I absolutely love coming up with fun new dough recipes, and Miss G absolutely loves exploring and creating with them.  I’m not sure where this crazy idea came from exactly, but one day I found myself wondering why we had yet to play with basic cooking doughs {like the ones used to make breads and pastas}.  Miss G’s well out of the putting things in her mouth stage, so ingredients like raw eggs are not a concern, and how fun would it be to ‘play’ with the dough by shaping and cutting, and then cook it up into something delicious?  Sounded like a plan to me {as long as very clean hands and a clean playing surface were involved, that is!}

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We started by gathering the ingredients for the super simple pasta dough recipe I’ve used for years…  Whole wheat flour, eggs, olive oil, water (not pictured), and sea salt.

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Making the dough could actually not be easier.  You basically whisk the flour and sea salt together, then whisk in the olive oil until evenly distributed, then add the eggs and water.

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Miss G did all of the mixing and then we both got in there with clean hands to bring the dough together in a mass.  While you can do this step with a wooden spoon, I find it so much faster and easier with my hands. The result is a slightly gritty and tough looking dough, which is much different than the soft and stretchy doughs we normally play with.

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Gracen was anxious to play.  Knowing that it wouldn’t shape and sculpt like soft, stretchy doughs do, she opted to begin making ‘cookies’ and ‘pancakes’ and got straight to flattening.

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At this point, I quietly added a collection of tools to the table…  Rolling pins, a butter knife, a pizza cutter, and a few miniature cookie cutters.

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When the dough was pressed out fairly well by hand, she took her rolling pin to it.

Now truthfully, I’ve found that the key to really delicious homemade pasta is rolling the dough out super thin, and though Miss G did a wonderful job, she wasn’t really interested in rolling the dough any thinner than she had it in this photo.  While I could have jumped in and helped her for the sake of extra yummy noodles, that wasn’t our focus.  I simply wanted her to enjoy the process and explore the dough as she pleased.

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Next, she got started with the cookie cutters I’d put out for her {and retrieved a few extras of her own from the kitchen} while I got a couple of pans lined with parchment ready for her.

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These were the first pasta pieces she pronounced ready to cook…

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And before long, her collection looked like this.

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At the end things got a little crazy and our cookie cutter collection grew once again.

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Carrot shaped pasta, anyone?

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Before long, she had finished making all of her pasta and it was time to get cooking.  While waiting for a big pot of water to boil, I threw together a quick tomato sauce.  Since we rarely eat meat, one of my go-to tricks is adding chickpeas to sauces.  Not only do they pack a punch of protein, but they also thicken and add a creaminess to the texture, which is a win in my books.  Add some veggies in there too, and you’ve got the basic food groups covered – yay!

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With our sauce simmering, I added our pasta to the boiling water.  One thing to note is that fresh pasta cooks extremely quickly {even when thick like ours} and I find that the noodles tend to float up to the top of the pot when they’re ready.  When ours were done, I drained them and drizzled a little olive oil on top.

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Before long, we had a yummy homemade lunch on the table.  {Can you tell that Grae loves fresh parmesan by chance?}

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Here’s my serving.  She wanted me to make sure I had plenty of hearts because she loves me so much {heart melting}.  So how did it taste?  Truthfully, thick noodles have a bit of a dumpling texture on the inside.  Not a bad thing {because I do like me some dumplings}, but just not what you’d expect from a regular noodle.  The flavour on the other hand?  Great!  And the sauce?  Sooo good.

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What did Gracen think?

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Well, she absolutely gobbled up both the pasta and sauce and kept telling me how yummy it was in her adorable super excited voice.

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Will we be doing this again?  Yes – absolutely.  Probably tomorrow if Miss G has her way.  ☺

 

Homemade Whole Wheat Pasta

  • 3 cups of wholewheat flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 tablespoons of water {or more if needed}

Whisk flour and sea salt together.  Slowly pour in olive oil while continuing to whisk.

Create a well in the middle of the flour mixture and add in eggs and water.  Whisk quickly to break up the eggs.

When eggs are distributed, use your hands to bring the dough together in a mass.

Roll flat and cut into pasta shapes.  Cook in boiling water for 3 – 5 minutes or until noodles float.

 

Simple Chickpea Carrot Pasta Sauce

  • 1 teaspoon of your favourite oil
  • 1/2 of a large onion, diced
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 small carrots, diced
  • 1/2 can of low sodium chickpeas
  • 1 can of low sodium tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup of water
  • 1/2 teaspoon of basil
  • 1/4 teaspoon of thyme
  • salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil on medium.  Add onion and garlic and cook for a minute or two, stirring often.  Add carrot and cover the pot.  Allow veggies to cook until soft, stirring every minute or so.

Add in remaining ingredients, save the salt and pepper.  Allow to simmer for 5 or 10 minutes.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Transfer sauce to a blender (or use an immersion blender) and mix until smooth.

Serve over your homemade pasta and top with freshly-grated parmesan cheese.

 

Enjoy!

 

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6 thoughts on “Homemade Whole Wheat Pasta Kids Can Make

  1. Thanks for this, Jen! I have been thinking about homemade pasta, but never realized it could be this easy!

    By chance, do you know if you can make this ahead of time? Like make the pasta and then refridgerate to be made in a day or few? Or frozen before cooked or something? I’d love to make some, and make some ahead for the busy nights, if it would work out… Thanks!

    1. Hey Stacy! It absolutely CAN be made in advance. I’d make it, let it dry on the counter until it’s not at all sticky anymore, then put it in a bag in the fridge. :)

  2. I bet she’d love using a pasta machine too! Then you’d get your thin noodles. Love that she gave you lots of heart noodles.

    1. Oh, I bet she would, Deborah!! I actually just saw an old-fashioned apple peeling machine here in Kuwait the other day and thought that would be fun too! :)

  3. I discovered your blog (and thus your FB and IG accounts) very recently. I can’t express how much I love all the ideas on your blog! My 4,5yo son is very interested in cooking and this is such a simple recipe to make together, thank you for sharing! Also, your daughter is incredibly adorable!

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