Archive | Recipes RSS feed for this section

National Blueberry Pancake Day!

28 Jan

Today is National Blueberry Pancake Day!  Cooking activities are an excellent way to keep kids busy on cold, rainy or snowy days like today.  Whip up some blueberry pancake (a few recipes below) with your child and eat them for lunch, snack, dinner, dessert or save them for breakfast tomorrow.

Blueberry Pancake Fun!

Blueberry Pancake Fun!

A few recipes:

1. Keep it Simple Blueberry Pancakes:  Perfect for when you are in a rush or need a simple activity for young children.  For 5 pancakes: Use  1 cup Aunt Jemima’s Original Complete Mix, 3/4 cup water, 1/4- 1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla extract.  Mix together in a bowl or we mixed in a measuring cup to make pouring the batter on the pan easier.  While pancakes are cooking, place blueberries in batter. Use as many or as little as your child would like.  My older daughter added chocolate chips for an extra sweet treat!

20130128-141454.jpg

2.  Driscoll’s Lemon Ricotta Blueberry Pancakes

Image from Driscoll's

Image from Driscoll’s

3. Whole Wheat Blueberry Pancakes: Add blueberries to this Whole Wheat Pancake recipe from Skinnytaste

Image from Skinnytaste

Image from Skinnytaste

4. Blueberry Pancake Cupcakes by Your Cup of Cake

Image from Your Cup Of Cake

Image from Your Cup Of Cake

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

The Naked Pancake

11 Jan

DSC_0295The mornings can be chaotic.  My daughter has to be at school at 8:45 and most days the girls aren’t up until 8 which makes getting them dressed and fed rushed.  I usually have to make something quick.  My girls love pancakes but with the rushed mornings it’s impossible for me to get all the ingredients together for homemade ones. I always have a box of  Aunt Jemima Original Complete on hand so all I have to add is water.  It’s easy to whip together and my girls love getting creative with what they add to it.  One day it’s all the fresh berries we have, the next day it’s chocolate chips, bananas and sprinkles.  Sometimes I even blend up zucchini or spinach to add with a fruit.  We have tried  mixing in their favorite fruit/ veggie pouches too.  The other day my daughter thought it would be fun to make “Naked Pancakes”.  She got a kick out of the name and couldn’t stop laughing every time she said it.  I didn’t know what she was talking about.  I thought she wanted a plain pancake until she said “no mom, a smoothie pancake”.  My girls LOVE the Naked Juice Smoothies.  They tried a sample once and were hooked.  Instead of adding water to the pancake mix, I added the Berry Naked juice.  It was a little thick so I added a little water to make it the consistency I wanted.  I served the pancakes with blueberries and a little side of  strawberry fig syrup for dipping.

To Make Naked Pancakes you need:

1 cup Aunt Jemima Original Complete Mix

3/4 cup your favorite Naked Juice Smoothie

Mix and add a few sprinkles for fun while they are cooking.

DSC_0297 DSC_0300

Hope you enjoy them as much as my girls did!

Tags: , , , , ,

A Freshmade NYC Thanksgiving {Recipes & Review}

13 Nov

A few weeks ago my friend, her son, my oldest daughter and I attended a farm-to-table class at Freshmade NYC. I was excited to try the class because all the ingredients are fresh, seasonal vegetables and herbs they receive from the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) group that week. During the class the kids made Sweet Potato- Apple Stuffing Muffins and Quick Pan Gravy (recipes below). As Thanksgiving nears I have been thinking about what to bring for our family potluck. The recipes we made at Freshmade NYC were delicious and great for kids to make with you to bring to Thanksgiving lunch or dinner. Cara was nice enough to share the recipes below.

What I loved about Freshmade NYC:

  • Cara and Thomas, founders, were amazing with the kids. They found positive ways to redirect the kids when situations got a little hairy.
  • Cara and Thomas encouraged all the kids to touch, taste, and smell the ingredients as they were using them.
  • My daughter tried vegetables she would never have tried at home and discovered she liked them.
  • While the stuffing muffins were cooking, they read stories on the floor.

What my daughter learned at Freshmade NYC:

  • “The Claw”: Since attending Freshmade NYC, my daughter has been helping cut vegetables with her Curious Chef knife. While at the Freshmade NYC farm-to-table class Cara taught her about using the “claw” method when cutting so she won’t cut herself.
  • How to crack an egg on the table. Thomas helped my daughter crack an egg on the the flat surface of the table. Since she has been helping crack eggs and gets excited to do so.
  • Peeling fruit and vegetables. The kids took turns learning to peel apples and sweet potatoes.

We had a great experience and are looking forward to attending more classes. Check out Freshmade NYC classes and events by clicking the links!

Sweet Potato-Apple Stuffing Muffins

Ingredients:

  • 3 medium to large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
  • 3 medium sized apples, peeled and diced
  • 2 ribs of celery, thinly sliced
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 2 scallions, green and white parts, diced
  • 4 cups bread, diced (we love a whole grain baguette or roasted garlic ciabatta bread in this recipe)
  • 1/2 cup dried organic cranberries (look for cranberries that are sweetened with apple juice rather than sugar and ones that are preservative free)
  • 3 eggs, lightly beaten
  • Combination of your favorite herbs (we loved fresh thyme, parsley, and rosemary for this recipe. About 1-2 tablespoons of each, or to taste)
  • 2 tablespoons of butter
  • Sea salt and fresh pepper, to taste
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions: In a large skillet, add butter and sauté onions, celery, sweet potatoes and apples until tender, set aside to cool. In a large bowl, add diced bread, herbs, scallions, nutmeg, cranberries, and sweet potato-apple mixture. Add eggs and season with salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Spoon into a lightly greased muffin pan and bake at 375 for about 15-20 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Cool slightly and remove from muffin pan. Serve warm with gravy.

Quick Pan Gravy

Ingredients:

  • 2 pats of butter
  • 1 tablespoon of flour
  • 1 cup of chicken or vegetable stock
  • Fresh herbs
  • Sea salt and fresh pepper

Directions: In a small sauce pan, melt butter and add flour, cook over low to medium heat for about 2 minutes. Add stock and simmer for about 15 minutes until sauce begins to thicken. Season with fresh herbs and salt and pepper to taste.

From the Kitchen of Freshmade NYC
www.freshmadenyc.com

Disclaimer: I received a free trial class for attending the Freshmade NYC open house event whic I used for the purpose of this post. All opinions expressed are my own. The recipes received are from the kitchen of Freshmade NYC.  Thank you to my friend, Tori, for sharing some of her photos for this post.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

A Spooky Meal

25 Oct

Halloween is a week away!  My girls are so excited they have asked for “spooky” snacks and meals. Here are a few ideas to “spook” up your meal!

Naked Franken’ Halloween Drink

  • 10 oz Naked Green Machine Drink
  • 2 google eyes
  • Glue
  • Black permanent marker
  • Red permanent marker
  • 1 straw (green preferably) cut into two small pieces
  • 1 straw (green) for drinking

Tear the wrapping off the Naked Bottle. Dry bottle with paper if it has condensation on it. Draw hair and mouth with black permanent marker. Draw blood or “cut” just below hair. Glue on eyes using a tacky glue or glue gun.

Jack-O-Lantern Pizza

  • 1 slice of pizza
  • 1 slice american cheese
  • Pumpkin shaped cookie cutter
  • Knife to cut eyes and face on pumpkin

Use cookie cutter to cut slice of american cheese into pumpkin shape.  Cut out a jack-o-lantern face on pumpkin shaped cheese.  Place on slice of pizza.

The Spooky Eyed Forest

Steam broccoli, heat Turkey Meatballs and place on plate.  Use a butter knife to spread ketchup so that it looks like the eyes are blood-shot.  Tear off a small piece of white american cheese to make pupil.

I served these all at different times.  Serve them all together and you have one “Spooky Meal”.

Tags: , , , , ,

Try It, You’ll Like It (Pumpkin Lentil Soup)

17 Oct

If you have a toddler, I’m sure you’ve seen Yo Gabba Gabba. My girls became OBSESSED a little over a year ago when my parents took them to a show. I never thought that Yo Gabba Gabba would encourage them to eat. Our favorite song, which gets sung at almost every meal because my daughter is so quick to say “I don’t like that”, is “try it, you’ll like it…”. Any time we try something new we sing it.  Another great song for getting my girls to eat is “Party in my Tummy”.

Last week I made Pumpkin Lentil Soup.  When I put it in front of my four-year old I received the typical response “I’m not eating that, its gross, I don’t like pumpkin”. My response: “have you tried pumpkin? Did you try the soup? Haven’t you liked all the other new foods you have tried?”. We then reverted back to Yo Gabba Gabba and started singing the Yo Gabba Gabba’s “Try It, you’ll like it”. Of course she ate the entire bowl and asked for it again a few days later.

Pumpkin Lentil Soup Recipe (adapted from Slow Cooker Pumpkin,Chickpea and Lentil Stew)

*It is a stew but my girls like calling it soup.

  • 1 pound pie pumpkin or winter squash,
  • 1 15-ounce can chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
  • 3 medium carrots ( I used baby carrots since we had them)
  • 1 cup chopped onion (1 large)
  • 1 cup red lentils, rinsed and drained
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1/4 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 tablespoon lime juice
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 3 1/2  cups vegetable broth
  • 1/2 cup pumpkin beer (I used Dogfish Punk Beer)

Directions:

  1. Peel, seed, and cut the pumpkin into 1 inch cubes.
  2. Rinse and drain the beans.
  3. Cut the carrots into 1/2 in thick slices.
  4. In a 3 1/2 to 4 quart slow cooker combine pumpkin, chickpeas, carrots, onion, lentils, tomato paste, ginger, lime juice, cumin, salt, and pepper.
  5. Pour vegetable broth and beer all over ingredients in slow cooker.
  6. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 8-10 hours or on high-heat setting for 4-5 hours.

I did not do this but it would be cute to use a pumpkin shaped cookie cutter and cut a pumpkin shape on a slice of cheddar or yellow american cheese to place on top of the stew when served.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

The Day I Discovered My 2 Year Old LOVES Salad

8 Aug

I usually don’t eat at the same time as my girls because I am helping them eat, getting the bath ready, or cleaning up from cooking.  I also LOVE having my time to eat while the girls have a little TV time before bed.  Last week, I had made a taco salad with a homemade avocado dressing I made in my Beaba.  I finally sat down to eat when I saw my younger daughter climb off the couch and walk towards me saying “salad…I want salad mommy”.  She ended up eating half the salad.  I usually struggle finding a vegetable to go with meals but when I discovered she liked salad, I now put a side salad together for lunch and dinner.  Last night she only wanted salad for dinner.  Now I just have to work on my 4-year-old. :)

Avocado Salad Dressing:

1/4 cup low-fat sour cream

3/4 of avocado

1 lime, juiced

Cilantro, I didn’t measure, just kept adding as I tasted the dressing

1/4- 1/2 cup water, you can add more depending on what consistency you like

Salt,Pepper, & garlic powder to taste

Put all the ingredients in the Beaba and blend, adding more water and seasoning as needed.

 

Tags: , , , ,

Memorial Day (or July 4th) Breakfast

25 May

Ships passing by.

A few days ago we were watching the parade of ships go by to kick off Fleet Week.  Maddie, 3 1/2, turned to me and started screaming “look mommy…it’s a pirate ship”.  I didn’t really think to correct her or explain to her why there were so many ships.  This morning the girls got up early so in honor of Memorial Day weekend I decided to get creative and make the girls a special breakfast and while they were eating we talked about the why we celebrate Memorial Day and why the ships were passing by the other day.  Here is what I came up with, also a fun breakfast to celebrate the fourth of July:

I wanted to add blueberries and/or strawberries to the pancakes or underneath the sailboat but the girls ate all the fruit before I was able to start cooking.

Blue Star Sailboat Funbites Pancake with Strawberry Syrup:

Added the star sprinkles while the pancakes were cooking.

Used Funbites CubeIt and LuvIt pieces of pancake to create a “sailboat”. Added the little hearts to the top of the plate at the end.

Egg Flag: Used a hard-boiled egg and cut it in half. See under pictures for how I made the “stars and stripes”.

Used a tiny drop of blue food coloring in a little bit of low-fat mayo, mixed it in and used a tooth pick to make blue dots.

I used sliced red pepper for the stripes. I would have used tomato if I had it because the girls picked off the red pepper. To get the stripes to stay, I had to slice the egg and push the pepper down.

All done!

Fun and Yum!

someone got a hold of the sprinkles when mommy was cleaning!

Maddie’s plate rarely looks like this. I think I need to start making every meal fun.

Happy Eating this Memorial Day weekend!

Disclaimer: All ideas and images expressed are my own.  

We Eat Asparagus

2 May

I am always trying to get the girls to try new vegetables without having to purée them and mix them into smoothies or sauces.  A while back I decided to try asparagus with them.  It is a hard vegetable to get a child to eat because it smells and looks like a tree.  I thought there was no way they would eat it on its own and I was right.  Initially I cut it up into smaller pieces after steaming it and they wouldn’t touch it.  I went back to the kitchen to see what I could mix it into.  I came up with rice and goat cheese (both of my girls are cheese addicts).  As soon as I put it in front of them, the pieces of asparagus the same size as before, it was devoured with nothing left.  Now Maddie will try asparagus alone and will ask for this rice dish for dinner.  It is very easy to make and you can add chicken or fish and serve it all together in a bowl.

Dinner: Tilapia- they ate it all when I added “sprinkles” or colored sea salt and asparagus with rice and goat cheese.

Tags: , ,

“When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade”

13 Apr

When ever we go out to eat Maddie always asks for lemonade.  While I was visiting my parents a few weeks ago, it was about 80 degrees one day and there were a few girls with a lemonade stand at the end of the street.  It got me excited for warm weather and made me want to move to the suburbs so the girls could set up  their own lemonade stand on hot summer days.    I was looking through a Chasing Fireflies catalog I got in the mail and came across the cutest lemonade stand supplies.  I started thinking about how the girls could set up their stand and found recipes for snacks they could make to sell.  I’m not sure who is more excited about the idea of having a stand, me or the girls. Here is the stand I have in mind for US for the day we move to the suburbs or maybe we’ll just take a trip to my parents and set one up there:

Cardboard lemonade stand $78 (Image from chasing-fireflies.com)

Personalized decals for lemonade stand...I wish I could put two names on there. $28 (Image from chasing-fireflies.com)

Lemonade dispenser $128 (Image from chasing-fireflies.com)

What we would have:

Lemonade (flavors would change)  Maddie loves strawberry lemonade.  Here is a recipe I found from Emeril on foodnetwork.com.  We are going to try this weekend because the forecast says 80 on Sunday and Monday.

Image from foodnetwork.com

SkinnyTaste’s Pink Lemonade Confetti Cupcakes:  The girls saw the picture of these cupcakes and wanted to go out and get one.  I am definitely going to make these for them soon and would be perfect if they have a lemonade stand.

Image from SkinnyTaste.com

Taste of Home’s Soft Lemonade Cookies:

Image from tasteofhome.com

Lemon Square Bars from AllRecipes.com:

Image from allrecipes.com

All this recipe searching is making want to start baking all these delicious treats.  The girls and I better get to the store to get the ingredients. :)

Tags: , , , , ,

Banana Double Chocolate Crunch Granola Bar “Cake” Recipe {Allergy- Friendly}

29 Feb

Last week I posted about Enjoy Life Allergy-Friendly Double Chocolate Crunch Granola (see post) and promised to share the recipe this week.  I don’t like having too many sweet things lying around because I tend to eat it all myself so I made a smaller portion using our new oogaa bowl.  The following recipe serves about 4-6 depending on how much you would like.  It was so delicious, I definitely will make it again.  It would be a perfect dessert or snack for a small play group.  It is best to eat that day because the bananas will go bad.  Try adding dried fruit too to the granola/ marshmallow mixture.

*Used Kellogg’s Rice Krispe Treat Recipe as a base for this recipe.

** Keep checking back for an oogaa mealtime set GIVEAWAY!

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups or 1 oogaa bowl of Enjoy Life Double Chocolate Chip Granola
  • 2 cups mini marshmallows (we used Elyon Natural Vanilla Mini Marshmallows: fat-free, gluten-free, and kosher)
  • 1 1/2 TBSP butter
  • 1/2 banana
  • 1/2 cup Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mega Chunks
  • Milk* as needed (*can sub with soy milk or rice milk depending on needs)

Directions:

  1.  In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat. (Step from Kellogg’s)
  2. Mix in Enjoy Life Double Chocolate Chip Granola until coated well.
  3. Put mixture in one oogaa bowl.  Cool in refrigerator  for about 10 20 minutes or until ready to serve.
  4. Once cool, press granola treat out of oogaa bowl and on to a plate to serve.  The bowl is flexible, so pushing it out is easy to do.
  5. Slice bananas on top of granola “cake”
  6. A few minutes before serving add Mega Chunks to a microwave safe dish, or you can use your microwave safe oogaa bowl. Keep adding milk as needed until you get a semi-thick sauce to drizzle (with spoon) over “cake”.
  7. Cut and serve.

Disclaimer:  I did not receive compensation for this post.  I received the Enjoy Life Products for the purpose of my review.  I also received oogaa mealtime sets for the girls for posting about their product. I came up with this recipe because the girls would not eat granola on its own and  I thought why not make something like a rice krispie treat. Always check labels when using ingredients because I cannot say for certain which allergens this recipe is completely free of.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

← Older Entries

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 131 other followers