Artichoke Hummus

I made this dip to bring to a playgroup yesterday, thinking that only the mommies would really go for it. After all, as I made it, Abby watched me and said "Oh yuck! I don't like artichokes! They are the yuckiest!" Even when I pointed out that she had never had an artichoke, or at least not in a long time, she maintained that they were the yuckiest, end of story.

As it turned out, the kids at the playgroup flocked to the veggies and dip, even bringing it down to their own kiddie table to share. And when my girls needed an afternoon snack, they requested the leftovers! So while I didn't take a picture of the dip per se, I do have a picture of the girls going at the dip and - even better! - scarfing down a bunch of veggies in the process!

Artichoke Hummus

1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 can/jar of artichoke hearts, drained (I used a 12 oz jar, but I think the cans come in 14 oz sizes)
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
2 Tbsp olive oil
kosher salt (add to taste)

In a food processor, blend beans, artichoke hearts, lemon juice, rosemary, and olive oil together until smooth. Add kosher salt to taste, blending well after each addition of salt. Garnish with sweet paprika, if desired, and serve with lots of fresh-cut veggies!

Creamy Asparagus Soup

I bought one of those 2-lb bags of asparagus from Costco (indeed, I adore Costco and it's mountains of produce!) for roasting up alongside out Easter lamb - but when the time came, I was just not in the mood for asparagus. So I needed to use it up, and I was in the mood for a creamy soup. I used potato to help thicken the base, so I could use just two cups of 1% milk instead of cream, butter, etc. - and I achieved an incredibly creamy soup.

As with all soups, my kids were a little iffy on this. Abby ended up eating about half of her bowl, though not without some prodding. Lizzy tried a bite... which is, well, something at least!

Creamy Asparagus Soup

2 lbs of asparagus, washed and chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp dried dill
1/4 tsp dried lemon peel
salt
1 large potato, peeled and chopped
2 cups of stock (vegetable or chicken)
2 cups of milk (I used 1%)

In a large pot, stir together asparagus, onion, celery, olive oil, dill, lemon peel, and salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until vegetables have begun to soften.

Add potato and stock. Cover and cook over medium-low heat until potato is soft enough to fall apart easily. Stir in milk.

Use an immersion blender to puree soup (or, puree in a blender, working in batches. Be careful when blending piping hot soup!!). Continue to keep warm over low heat until ready to serve.

Zucchini Nuggets, Take Two

Waaaaay back when we started this blog, I posted zucchini nuggets. I made those all the time that fall, and then they kind of fell by the wayside. I found myself once again with some lonely, unused zucchini in my veggie drawer the other night, so I thought of those nuggets. I revamped the recipe this time around, largely because I had run out of Panko bread crumbs, also because I had more zucchini to use up. These were just as big a hit with the girls as the originals - served alongside some home-baked sweet potato fries, these made a great "fries and nuggets" dinner!

I used homemade bread crumbs for these. No one in our family really loves the crusty ends of loaves of breads (or "bread bums", as we call them), so I collect them in a bag in the freezer. When I need bread crumbs, I whirl up a few "bums" in our food processor - and voila, I have coarse, whole wheat bread crumbs!

Zucchini Nuggets, Take Two

3 small zucchini, grated
2 cups coarse bread crumbs
2 Tbsp flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup cheese (cheddar, jack, whatever you like)
canola oil for frying

In a large bowl, combine zucchini, crumbs, flour, eggs, and cheese. You want the mixture to have a meatball-like quality to it.

Heat up a small amount of canola oil in a frying pan over medium-low heat. Gather up scoops of the zucchini mixture, slightly smaller than a golf ball. Mush the ball in your hands a few times until the mixture is really holding together, and then flatten into a nugget shape. After all the nuggets are formed, cook them in batches.

I cooked them "low and slow" - about 4 to 5 minutes per side, over medium-low heat - to let them get nice and golden. This made about 24 nuggets.

Spinach Tart Crust

This week, I have a challenge on my hands. I bought a 2.5 lb bag of spinach at Costco last weekend, as I needed a little bit of spinach for a dinner party menu. I am bound and determined not to let this spinach go to waste, but I'm also not much in the mood for spinach salads all week. So I'm finding ways to use it up! First up, a double spinach tart - spinach in the tart filling, and the crust. This crust was so good, and it was an easy way to pack more spinach into my kiddos. I got the idea from my friend Ana, who has long made a tart crust with basil mixed in. I can see myself trying out cilantro and parsley in the future, too!

Spinach Tart Crust

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 big handful of baby spinach
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup butter, cut up into pieces
1/4 cup chilled water

In a food processor, blend together the flours, spinach, and salt until well-combined. Pulse in the butter until mixture resembles pea-sized crumbs. Pour in the water, and blend until dough just starts to come together.

Remove the dough from the food processor and knead it lightly until it comes together. Form it into a disk and wrap it in plastic wrap. Chill for about an hour.

Preheat oven to 350F. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured board and press it into a removable-bottom tart pan.

Fill as desired (I sauteed some sliced mushrooms and a few handfuls of baby spinach in some oregano olive oil and laid that mix across the bottom, then topped it with four beaten eggs, a splash of milk, and some shredded cheddar cheese). Bake for 35-45 minutes.

* * * * * * *

My kids absolutely adored this, and each had seconds. They rarely ask for seconds, particularly of something involving spinach, but they thought the green crust was a lot of fun. If I can incorporate beets and create a pink crust, I think I would blow their minds!

Avocado Goddess Dip

For some wonderful, miraculous reason, my girls have been all about trying new vegetables lately. In the last week, they have had grape tomatoes, broccoli, cucumber, romaine lettuce (new to Lizzy), and asparagus. They have done this without complaint and without me having to nudge them into trying them. What on earth?! Either all of my attempts to get them to try more things is finally paying off, or it's some fluke never to be repeated again. We will see!

Last night, Abby held up her broccoli and said "Look, Mommy, it's like a tree!"

Remembering Jenna's recent post about having her boys "eat like dinosaurs", I said "You can eat that tree like a dinosaur!"

"But Mommy," she said, "I'm not a dinosaur. I'm a little girl."

"I know, Abby, but the broccoli is like a tree, so -"

"But Mommy, it's not really a tree. It's just a broccoli."

"I know, Abby, but -"

"And I'm just a little girl, eating broccoli. Okay?"

"Okay, Abby."

So, the dinosaur thing is not quite working for my little girl - but hey, she's eating the broccoli, so woo!

I've been trying more dips and dressings as the girls have been willing to eat more vegetables. One of my first tries was a green goddess dressing, but based with avocado instead of mayo. It was delicious and had a lot more nutrients and good fats than our usual dips!

Avocado Goddess Dip

2 ripe avocados
1 bunch tarragon, chopped
1-2 Tbsp chopped chives (depends on how much you like chives!)
1 handful chopped parsley
salt & pepper
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1-2 cups milk (start with 1 cup, add more as needed to get to desired consistency)

De-seed and scoop out the avocado. Add everything to a blender or food processor and puree. Add more milk as needed, depending on how thick or thin you want your dip to be (I added more milk after I served the girls, to make a dressing for my salad).

I've submitted this post to the Big Words, Little Foodies recipe swap over at Food with Kid Appeal. See what other little foodies have to say about their dinners!

Oktoberfest Dinner Date

October is here, and I knew I just had to do an Oktoberfest dinner date! My husband and I went to Germany a few years ago, and on our last night in the Bavarian Alps we had the most amazing dinner. Just thinking of it now can send us both into fits of drool. My Oktoberfest dinner date was an attempt to recreate that dinner (though on a slightly smaller and less sausage-intensive scale!). The wienerschnitzel nuggets and savory green beans were a huge hit with the kids!

Wienerschnitzel Nuggets

1 pork tenderloin (1-1.25 lbs)
4 cups fresh bread crumbs (not dried, and white bread works fantastically)
salt & pepper
3 eggs
olive oil for pan frying

Slice the pork tenderloin into 1/2 inch thick pieces. Toss the bread crumbs with some salt and pepper in a shallow bowl. Beat the eggs with a fork in a separate shallow bowl. Dip the pork tenderloin slices into the egg and coat with the bread crumbs.

In a large pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Fry breaded pork slices for 3-5 minutes per side, until a golden crust has formed and the nugget is cooked through.

Savory Green Beans

1 lb fresh green beans, trimmed
3 slices bacon, chopped small
1 shallot, minced
1/4 cup water
2 Tbsp white vinegar
1 Tbsp canola oil
salt & pepper

In a large pan, fry bacon and shallot together over medium heat, until bacon is starting to crisp and shallot is translucent and tender. Add 1/4 cup water and the green beans. Cook, stirring, until water is evaporated and beans are crisp-tender.

In a small bowl, whisk together the oil and vinegar. Add salt & pepper to taste. Pour over the green beans, tossing to mix.

Black Forest Cupcakes

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
1 ounce semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups water
1 cup dried cherries

1 pint heavy cream

fresh or frozen cherries, pitted, for decorating the tops

Prepare enough muffin tins for about 24 cupcakes (either grease or line with cupcake liners). Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, sift together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixer for one minute. Add sugar; beat well till combined. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each (scraping the bowl if necessary). Beat in the chocolate and the vanilla. Alternate adding the dry flour mixture and the water, beating after each addition. Stir in the dried cherries.

Fill each muffin cup 1/2-2/3 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool.

When the cupcakes are cool, beat the heavy cream with an electric mixer until peaks form. Top each cupcake with a dollop of whipped cream and a cherry.

* * * * * *

Now of course, we all know what Oktoberfest means....

But, if you're pregnant like Celeste, or under 21 like the girls, or just generally not a drinker, I cannot recommend this Virgil's root beer highly enough! I found it at Trader Joe's, so it doesn't have all the icky artificial stuff. And it was GOOD.

The girls hated it, but Celeste and I don't allow them to have carbonated drinks as a rule, so they were appalled by the fizz. But Celeste and I thought it was tasty!

Cheesy Cauliflower Pie

Well hello there! I'm all moved in to my house, the days are getting cool and crisp, and I have a fabulous new kitchen to work in - time to get cooking!

So now you're thinking "you come back from a ridiculous hiatus with cauliflower? Blech." I am not a fan of cauliflower (and I seriously doubt Abby or Lizzy would touch the stuff normally) but I am a huge fan of this pie. For one thing... it has a hash brown crust. Drool.

I had had this at my friend Ana's house before, but never tried it for myself. So I finally dusted off my Moosewood Cookbook and gave it a whirl - with a few changes to make it a tad easier and more like something my kids would eat. We all wolfed it down! It basically tastes like cheesy hashbrowns, so how can you go wrong?

Cheesy Cauliflower Pie

Crust:

4 packed cups of grated raw potato
1/4 packed cup grated raw onion
1 egg white (keep yolk for the filling)
1/2 tsp salt
cooking spray

Filling:

2 Tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1 medium cauliflower, diced small
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
1/4 cup skim milk

Preheat oven to 400F. Generously coat a deep 9-inch pie plate with cooking spray.

Mix together all crust ingredients. Pat into the bottom of the pie plate and around the edges to make a crust. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove the crust from the oven, spray with cooking spray, and return to the oven for 10 more minutes.

While the crust is cooking, prepare the filling - heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan. Saute the garlic, salt, and herbs for 1 minute. Add the cauliflower and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes, until cauliflower is tender. Remove from heat.

Whisk together the egg, egg yolk, and milk.

When crust comes out of the oven, lower heat to 375F. Spread 3/4 cup of cheese across the bottom of the crust. Top with vegetables, and spread the other 3/4 cup of cheese over the veggies. Pour the egg/milk mixture over the top.

Bake for about 30-35 minutes, until set.

"Catching a Rainbow" Dinner Date

Back when the 5-a-Day program was still in vogue, one of its themes was to "Catch a Rainbow Every Day". So cute! A few weeks ago, I bought an erasable whiteboard and a rainbow of dry erase markers, and now every day Abby and I draw our fruits and vegetables as we eat them. I tell Abby that we want to try to eat a rainbow every day to help us be big and strong. The motivation to draw works really well, and Abby has eaten a rainbow most days since!

Now, I'm not too picky about having both a blue and a purple, and I'll let yellow slide if we have plenty of orange, but we always aim for a red, an orange, a green, a blue or purple, and a white. Here's how the board looks at the end of a typical day (clearly, I let Abby draw her own foods on this!) (and if you're laughing at my random red-green blob... it's supposed to be a mango.)

I found some other cute ideas on encouraging children to "eat a rainbow" at Preschoolrock.com. They have a lot of other fun stuff in their nutrition section, so poke around! And of course, the 5-a-Day program is outdated now, but the Fruits and Veggies Matter site has some useful information and tips, too.

Hidden Rainbow Pizza

(this is probably the worst "food" picture I've ever taken. It tasted way better than this looks)

Super-Easy Pizza Dough (I made a double batch and then froze half of the pizzas for future yum!)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 zucchini, chopped
1 yellow squash, chopped
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 cup baby carrots, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
oregano, salt, and pepper
1-2 handfuls of baby spinach
1 jar of your favorite marinara (or 2-3 cups of homemade marinara)
Cheddar cheese

Prepare the pizza dough. Prepare the sauce during the second rise (when the dough balls are resting for 30 minutes):

In a large saute pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add all vegetables and garlic to the pan. Season with dried oregano, salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes - until the carrots and onions are tender, but before the zucchini and yellow squash get too squishy. Remove from heat and stir in the baby spinach.


Dump vegetables into a blender. Add about 2 cups of marinara sauce and blend until smooth, adding more marinara as needed to achieve a smooth texture.

Preheat oven to 450F. Form the dough balls into pizza rounds. Top each round with some sauce and ample cheddar cheese. Bake for about 10 minutes, until the pizza crust is golden and the cheese is melted.


This pizza is all about the hidden vegetables - I am a fan of hiding vegetables for a picky eater, but alongside the pizza, we also served some cut-up, colorful, raw veggies. Abby only ate the carrots, and Neko stuck to just the carrots and tomatoes, but at least the veggies were offered!

Fruity Brownie Pizza

I could eat this entire thing by myself. And I almost did.

1/2 cup unsalted butter
4 oz white chocolate
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 banana
1/2 packet of acai pulp (available in the freezer section - leave it out if you can't find it, but I wanted a purple!)
a rainbow of chopped up fruit (we used cherries, strawberries, mango, and blueberries - I wish I had bought some kiwi or green grapes!)

Preheat the oven to 350F. Generously coat a 9-inch round cake pan with non-stick spray.

In a small bowl, combine butter and white chocolate. Microwave in 30 second intervals, whisking well in between, until melted. Set aside to cool.

In a small bowl, whisk together wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar. Whisk in the vanilla extract and the melted chocolate-butter mixture. With a spoon, stir in the flour until just combined.

Smooth the batter into the cake pan. Bake for about 25 minutes, until set in the center. Let cool.

When cool, mash the banana well with a fork. Stir in the acai pulp (only as much as you need to make it smooth and not too runny). Spread the banana-acai mixture on as the "sauce". Top with chopped fruit. If you're feeling nice, serve it to your family. Otherwise, go hide in a closet with a fork and the brownie cake!

Here's the board for the girls' dinners - a whole rainbow, tucked in their tummies!


... and I have no idea what an acai berry looks like.

Toddler Gourmet Dinner Date!!

After my MomDonalds flop my ego needed a dinner that was CERTAIN to produce "Mmmms" and "Yummy!'s" I decided to take some classic toddler favorites-mac and cheese, peas and jello and fancy them up a bit. Everything DID go over well but honestly I got the same sort of "Mmmms" and "Yummy!'s" than mac and cheese normally produce so...whatever... ;o)

4 Cheese Macaroni and Cheese Cupcakes
(serves many...honestly maybe 10...great leftovers though!)

Ingredients:
1 package whole wheat elbow macaroni
4 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp flour
2c. milk
1c. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2c. mozzarella, shredded
1/2c. gruyere, shredded
1c. italian bread crumbs
3/4 c. parmesan cheese, shredded
cupcake liners (I only had Halloween ones)

Instructions:
1. Prepare macaroni according to package directions. Rinse and drain.
2. In a large saute pan melt the butter over med. heat.
3. When melted, add flour, stirring constantly for about 1 minute creating a roux.
4. Whisk in milk, cook for 3 minutes (stirring constantly).
5. Add the cheeses and stir until smooth.
6. Add the macaroni and gently stir until the pasta is well coated with the cheese.
7. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
8. Line a muffin pan with the cupcake liners. Spray the liners with a non-stick cooking spray.
9. Fill each liner 3/4 full with macaroni and cheese.
10. In a small bowl combine the bread crumbs and pamesan cheese.
11. Top each "cupcake" with the bread crumb/cheese mixture.
12. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the topping is golden brown. Serve!

Prosciutto Peas
(serves 4)

Ingredients:
1 package frozen peas
2 slices prosciutto

Instructions:
1. Prepare peas according to package directions.
2. In a med. saute pan cook the prosciutto over med-high heat until crispy.
3. Remove the prosciutto from the pan and cut into small pieces.
4. Return the prosciutto to the pan (leave the drippings in) and add the peas. Gently toss to get the prosciutto goodness all over the peas. Serve! Mmmm.

Juice Box Jello
(serves 4)

I only called this "juice box" jello because I didn't but enough juice to make it and had to use juice box juice instead!

Ingredients:
2 envelopes of unflavored gelatin
1/2c. room temperature fruit juice

3c. hot fruit juice (I used Acai berry and apple/pear)
1c. diced fruit (I used bananas, strawberries and blueberries)
1/2c. mini marshmallows (Whole Foods sells a non-HFC variety and they are GOOD)

Instructions:
1. In a medium sized mixing bowl sprinkle the gelatin over the room temperature juice. Let rest for 10 minutes.
2. Add the hot fruit juice and stir until the gelatin crystals are well dissolved.
3. Refridgerate for 45 minutes and then add the fruit and marshmallows.
4. Refridgerate for an additional hour and a half. Serve!

Indian Dinner Date!

I turned to the local library to find some inspiration for dinner date this week, and the first cookbooks my hand landed on were for Indian food! The very first time I tried Indian, I got terrible food poisoning. So it's been a cuisine that's taken me a while to love to learn, needless to say.

I thought this dinner turned out well, but the girls had little interest in eating it. Lately, dinner dates have been working against us, and the girls are having trouble transitioning from playtime to dinner time. Abby had a little fish and some rice, but ignored the vegetables (that whole Month of Veggies thing didn't really do its job!). I think Neko ate pretty well, but I wasn't paying much attention (too distracted by trying to get Abby to stay seated at the table!). Lizzy devoured her plate of food and ate half of Abby's fish, as well!

Fish Baked in Tomato Sauce with Coconut Vegetables

Fish Baked in Tomato Sauce

4-6 Tilapia filets
14 oz can diced tomatoes
8 oz plain non-fat yogurt
12 oz water
4 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp ground coriander
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp ground ginger
salt & pepper

In a large pot, combine the tomatoes, yogurt, water, and all spices (with salt & pepper to taste). Bring to a boil and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the sauce has reduced by almost half. Puree the sauce (either in a blender or with an immersion blender).

Preheat oven to 400F. Lay Tilapia filets in a 9x13 baking pan. Pour the sauce over the filets and bake until fish is cooked through and flaky (I was using frozen filets, and it was about 35-40 minutes baking time).

Coconut Vegetables
(This dish is like baby steps towards getting your child to like spicy curries!)

6 cups chopped mixed vegetables (we used sweet peppers, zucchini, carrots, and onion)
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 13.5 oz can light coconut milk
1/2 tsp curry powder (add more depending on your child's heat tolerance)

Heat the olive oil and garlic over medium heat. Add the vegetables and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add the coconut milk and curry powder. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 20-30 minutes, until veggies are tender.

Saffron Yogurt

This "dessert" was a complete fail with the big girls, though Lizzy devoured hers. Celeste and I really liked it, so maybe this is more of an adult treat! The cardamom and saffron flavors were intense and different. Celeste thought it should be sweeter, so I will give the amounts I used - but sweeten it to taste!

1 1/2 cups plain non-fat yogurt
1/4 tsp saffron threads
1/2 Tbsp milk, warmed
2 Tbsp agave nectar or honey (no honey for kids under one!)
1/8 tsp ground cardamom

Line a fine mesh strainer with a coffee filter and set it up over a cup. Put the yogurt in the filter; let drain in the refrigerator for a few hours, until a lot of the water has come out and the yogurt is firmer. One of those gold coffee filter things works well for this, as you can see!:

Soak the saffron threads in the warm milk while the yogurt is straining. When the yogurt is ready, simply stir together the yogurt, saffron-milk mixture, agave or honey, and cardamom. Sweeten as desired. This is a great make-ahead snack, as the flavors are even more intense with time!

Roasted Apricots and Potatoes

This week, Celeste and I are playing with apricots! Apricots are, theoretically, in season from May to August. I had no luck getting any fresh apricots, so I'll be playing with dried apricots this week. Maybe Celeste will have better luck! I made a side dish last night of roasted apricots and potatoes topped off with goat cheese. It was tasty, but the dried apricots were too sweet - this would be much better with fresh apricots.

Roasted Apricots and Potatoes

1 1/2 lbs small potatoes, halved or quartered (depending on size)
1/2 lb apricots, halved
1/4 cup apricot preserves
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp dried rosemary
3-4 oz goat cheese, crumbled

Preheat oven to 400F. Whisk together the preserves and vinegar; toss with the potatoes and apricots. Put coated potatoes and apricots in a small casserole dish. Sprinkle with dried rosemary, salt, and pepper. Bake for about 45 minutes, until potatoes are tender. Serve topped with crumbled goat cheese.

MoV Day 20: Greek Stuffed Mushrooms

Woohoo! My family finally finished the Month of Veggies plan! The plan was great for inspiring me to be more creative with my vegetables - both which ones I serve and how I prepare them. Unfortunately, I don't think it did a darned thing to "Get [my] picky kid to start trying (and yes, loving!) vegetables in just one month" as claimed in the article. Oh well.

These stuffed mushrooms went over like a lead balloon with Abby. Is it just her? I can't really imagine any 3-year-old going for them. My husband and I ended up eating almost all of them by ourselves, and we quite liked them. I baked up the leftover stuffing (the recipe makes way more stuffing than I could jam into the mushroom caps) and Lizzy gobbled it down. But trying to get Abby to pick up the mushroom cap and take a bite was a no-go. I'll keep these on my list for appetizers to serve to adults!

Greek Stuffed Mushrooms

12 mushrooms, cleaned, stems removed and chopped
1/2 Tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 cup chopped tomato
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

Preheat oven to 425F. Bake mushrooms caps, smooth side up, for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add mushroom stem pieces and garlic. Cook, stirring, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the bread crumbs, tomato, and feta.

Scoop the filling into the mushroom caps. Return to oven and bake for 8 minutes longer. Enjoy!

Citrusy Edamame

I am almost done with this darned Month of Veggies! This thing has taken two months, thanks to sickness and travel. I feel like the recipes this last week have been kind of random (the theme being "try something totally new", but how "totally new" is acorn squash to any kid? Squash is such a ubiquitous baby food). Last night's was Citrus Edamame. On the one hand - yum! I love edamame! On the other hand - is it a vegetable? Really? I mean, I guess it is, but I think of it as more of a bean/protein kind of food. So serving it on the side of Celeste's Mega Omega Fish Nuggets kind of felt like serving two proteins.

But - they were delicious! I love edamame, but have only had it in the pod and coated with salt. These edamame were light and tasty, and a great way to introduce them to Abby. She loved them! So did Lizzy! I cut the oil out of the recipe because SERIOUSLY, Parents Magazine, enough with the oil all over all of the vegetables!!

Citrus Edamame

2 cups frozen shelled edamame
1 tsp finely chopped orange peel
1 Tbsp orange juice
salt

Cook the edamame according to package directions (for me, this was microwaving them for about 2 minutes. Easy!). Toss with the peel and juice and salt to taste. So fast and easy!

Baby Dinner Date!

Dinner date was a little different this week - it was created with Lizzy in mind! When Abby was a baby, I lovingly made all sorts of meals with just her in mind. Lizzy, on the other hand, is always just fed whatever bits and pieces she can manage of what I've made for the rest of us. So this week, I created a dinner for Lizzy (and for all the babies out there who are mastering table foods but don't quite have the teeth for a lot of chewing yet). I also used the Day 18 of the Month of Veggies recipe! Multi-tasking!

Multi-Grain Bean Patties with Curried Acorn Squash

Multi-Grain Bean Patties

1 cup cooked grains (I used a mix of amaranth, quinoa, and barley)
1 can of white beans (or 1 2/3 cup prepared beans), rinsed and drained
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried basil
1 clove garlic
salt & pepper

Mash all ingredients together in a bowl until a paste forms. (You may want to add some breadcrumbs if you think the mixture is too wet). Drop by small blobs onto either a skillet or an electric grill - these worked surprisingly well on my Foreman grill. Cook for about 5 minutes in the grill, or about 5 minutes per side on the skillet. Crumble up to serve to baby, or serve on a bun for big kids!

(we pretended they were burgers for the big girls!)

Curried Acorn Squash

1 acorn squash, sliced into wedges
1/4 cup apricot preserves
1/2 tsp curry powder
salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 375F. Place squash wedges with 1 Tbsp of water into a covered dish. Bake for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, stir together the apricot preserves and the curry powder. Brush the apricot mixture over the wedges and season with salt and pepper. Return wedges (uncovered) to the oven for 10 minutes more.

Roasted Berry "Sundaes"

2-3 cups fruit (as appropriate for your baby), diced. We had blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, and kiwi.
1 Tbsp butter
nutmeg and cinnamon
plain Greek yogurt
agave nectar

Preheat oven to 350F. Spread the fruit in a baking dish. Dice the butter and scatter over the berries. Sprinkle the fruit with cinnamon and nutmeg. Bake for 15 minutes; stir and let cool.

Scoop a little Greek yogurt into bowls; top with some roasted fruit and drizzle with agave nectar. Roasting the fruit should ensure that it is soft enough for a toothless baby - but beware, this will make a big mess!

* * * * *

This dinner was a big hit with Lizzy - she cleaned her plate! Since Lizzy is a little older, I like to add herbs and spices to what she eats to help her develop a palate for all sorts of foods - hence the basil, oregano, garlic, curry, cinnamon, and nutmeg. The big girls liked the dinner okay, but they were awfully busy playing to settle down and eat. Luckily, they both wolfed down dessert - and since they had just the merest drizzle of agave, their "sundaes" were a safe way to let them feel like they were having a treat!

MoV Day 17: Brussel Sprouts with Bacon

My husband hates two vegetables: cauliflower and brussel sprouts. So this has been a great two days for him! Last night was Day 17 of the Month of Veggies: Brussel Sprouts with Bacon. I was kind of bemoaning having to make these, not being a huge fan myself, when my friend Sharon mentioned that Ina Garten roasts brussel sprouts and they are fabulous. So I ditched Parents Magazine's suggestion of boiling them (but kept their suggestion of bacon!). I thought these were fabulous. And indeed, I ate almost all of them. Lizzy ate some chopped-up hearts of the brussel sprouts with gusto. Abby studiously ignored them while she ate the rest of the dinner, and not one single trick worked to get her to try a bite. Geesh. (and my husband had to mysteriously work late and grab dinner at his firm rather than at home - I guess he really wanted to avoid those brussel sprouts!)

The roasting gives the outside leaves this awesome crunch, and the bacon and kosher salt give them serious yum.

Brussel Sprouts with Bacon

1/2 lb brussel sprouts, rinsed and trimmed
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp kosher salt
ground pepper
2 slices turkey bacon, chopped

Preheat oven to 400F. Toss the brussel sprouts in olive oil. Spread on a rimmed baking sheet and sprinkle with kosher salt and ground pepper. Roast for 25 minutes. Sprinkle the chopped bacon over the sprouts. Continue to roast for about 10 minutes, until the hearts of the sprouts are tender and the bacon is crunchy. Serve.

(and yes, this made a small portion, so adjust as needed for your crowd. But I suspected that these would not go over well, and I didn't want to be swimming in leftover brussel sprouts!)

MoV, Day 16: Roasted Cauliflower

What? Day 16? Yes, I'm totally skipping Day 15 of the Month of Veggies, Cheesy Spaghetti Squash. I checked two grocery stores and came up with zero spaghetti squash, and I'm thinking it's really the wrong season for it. See you in the fall, spaghetti squash!

Last night we moved on to Day 16, Cauliflower "Popcorn". Cute title, but it's just roasted cauliflower. I thought maybe it would come out all crunchy like popcorn, but no. False advertising! I had low hopes, as my husband (who will eat anything) hates cauliflower, so what are the odds that my kids would like it? But in fact, Abby ate about half of her serving without me having to say anything. And you know who loved it? Lizzy! I couldn't shovel it on her plate fast enough! And that is why it's great to expose babies to all sorts of tastes - they're such willing little taste-testers!

Roasted Cauliflower

1 head of cauliflower, rinsed and chopped into florets
2 Tbsp olive oil
ground pepper
Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 450F. Toss the cauliflower florets in the olive oil and spread on a rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle with ground pepper. Roast for 20 minutes, stirring halfway through. (Roasting cauliflower will make your house stink to the high heavens. Just a warning.) Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese before serving.

(see? she loved it!)

MoV Day 14: Honey Glazed Carrots

We're back from vacation, which means it's time to get chomping down our vegetables again! I'm not sure Abby ate a single vegetable while we were gone. Maybe a carrot or two. We were so busy being spoiled by family!

So for Day 14 of the Month of Veggies, we had Honey Glazed Carrots. This was a relatively easy sell, as Abby loves raw carrots and Lizzy loves baked soft carrots. Abby's not usually big on cooked carrots, and I must admit I don't force it - since she loves raw carrots, why try to force her to eat carrots that are glazed with honey and butter? But if you have a kid who needs convincing to eat their carrots, this would be a great way. I love cooked carrots, and these were right up my alley.

Honey Glazed Carrots

1 lb baby carrots
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp honey
1/8 tsp ground ginger
dash salt

Boil the baby carrots to desired softness (I did mine pretty soft for Lizzy to be able to manage). Drain. In pot, melt butter and honey together. Add ginger and salt and stir for 2-3 minutes. Toss in carrots; serve.

Celeste has done something very similar to this dish in the past: Honey and Ginger Glazed Carrots (scroll down; they are part of the dinner date).

MoV Day 13: Fruity Salad

Last night was an easy victory - it was Day 13 of the Month of Veggies: Butterfly Salad. Abby adores romaine lettuce, grapes, and toast - and the "white dip" I made on the side was just the icing on her salad cake!

The only hard part? My homemade wheat bread kept falling apart when I tried to cut it into "butterfly" shapes. So we just broke it into croutons instead and scrapped the whole "butterfly" motif.

In other news - I received my brand-new crinkle cutter in the mail yesterday!! After all the comments about other people loving theirs, you know I just had to order one. So watch out, world, I'm going to be a crinkle-cutting fiend now!

Fruity Salad

Washed and torn romaine lettuce (Abby likes the rinds the best for their crunchy texture)
Red and green grapes, washed and cut into half or quarters
Whole wheat bread, toasted
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 tsp ground ginger
dash curry powder
dash cinnamon

Arrange a salad of lettuce and grapes. Cut the toasted bread into croutons and arrange on top.

In a small bowl, whisk together the yogurt, orange juice, ginger, curry, and cinnamon. Drizzle over the top of the salad, or serve on the side for dipping.

MoV Day 12: Teriyaki Green Beans

Last night we tried Day 12 of the Month of Veggies: Teriyaki Green Beans. Abby has always been kind of "meh" on green beans, but last night she cleaned her plate! Score!

The original recipe called for bottled teriyaki sauce, but we have recently eradicated all high-fructose corn syrup and artificial dyes from Abby's diet. So I made one up from scratch. The sauce made a lot more than I needed for the recipe, but I'll be brushing the rest of it over some baked chicken breast tonight. The sauce came together really fast, in the 5 minutes it took to microwave the green beans!

Teriyaki Green Beans

24 oz frozen green beans
1 cup + 1/4 cup water, divided
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbsp molasses
2 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp cornstarch

Prepare green beans according to package directions.

Combine 1 cup water, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, molasses, and honey in a small sauce pan. Begin heating over medium. Dissolve cornstarch in remaining 1/4 cup water. Stir the cornstarch into the sauce. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly.

Toss cooked green beans with about 1/4 cup of the teriyaki sauce. Serve.

MoV Day 11: Breaded Asparagus

I wanted to serve asparagus with our Easter dinner last night, so it was a great time to try out Month of Veggies Day 11: Breaded Asparagus!

This is also the start of week 3 of the Month of Veggies plan: serve up a tasty sauce or dip. This should be a good week for us, as Abby looooves to dip stuff. She wants "dip dip" served alongside pretty much everything she eats. She had one and a half bites of asparagus, but then refused to eat anymore. Oh well. To look at the silver lining - she tried a bite!

Were I just making asparagus for adults who already like asparagus, I wouldn't bother with breading it. But I think this is a great way to make it look a little more fun and appealing for the younger set.

Breaded Asparagus

1 bunch asparagus, washed, trimmed, and patted dry
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
2 eggs, well beaten
1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
2 Tbsp grated Parmesan

Preheat oven to 450F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and coat it with non-stick spray. Shake the asparagus and flour together in a zipper bag to coat. Make an assembly line of the asparagus, the eggs in one bowl, and the Panko and Parmesan combined in another bowl:

Dredge each stalk of asparagus in the egg, and then lightly coat with breadcrumbs. Bake on the foil-lined tray for about 15 minutes (more time for thicker spears, but the really thin asparagus would probably take more like 10 minutes).

I made a simple honey mustard to serve with this (2 Tbsp Dijon mustard to 1 tsp honey), but Abby didn't care for that and used ketchup instead. For her one and a half bites. Yup.