New spin on an old classic

I absolutely love the green rice recipe I've been making for quite some time now. But tonight I made these enchiladas (HIGHLY recommend them...and everything else I've tried from this site!), and I didn't have any green enchilada sauce. I made a few changes, and I think I may even prefer this way now. I made the rice in the exact same way. I also made the same sauce base just without the enchilada sauce. Instead I put the cilantro, spinach, and some lime juice in the food processor with 1/4 chopped onion, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp salt, and 1 garlic clove. I pulsed it until it all came together, then dumped it into the rice after it was done cooking. We haven't sat down to dinner yet, but I can't keep myself from grabbing a spoonful from the bowl every time I walk past the kitchen. Yum!

Cut Spaghetti

via

Both of my kids love pasta. I'm always looking for new and interesting shapes and styles. Tom Thumb has a line of organic whole wheat pasta in TONS of fun shapes that they'll gobble up. And there are a lot of really small options - ones that require no cutting for my 1-year-old. The last time I was searching Tom Thumb's pasta aisle, I saw that Barilla makes cut spaghetti. Spaghetti is a staple in our house - it's my go-to recipe when I have nothing else planned. And I always scoop a portion out to chop up for the kids. But Barilla sells it already cut.

Not one to pay for someone else to do work that I am perfectly capable of, I decided to just use the idea and to break regular spaghetti myself. Then, on the way home, I had an even better idea. I'd have my 3-year-old do the grunt work for me. And she LOVED it! So we now have a canister of broken spaghetti courtesy of my 3-year-old daughter. When I'm making pasta dishes using spaghetti noodles, I just boil a small pot of water for the kids and throw in a handful of the broken noodles. Then there's no cutting at all. I just mix it with the sauce, and it's ready to serve.
If you're looking for a way to keep your child busy for awhile, sit them at a table with a handful of uncooked spaghetti noodles and an empty canister for storage.

Fun for a rainy day

We have this set of mini Caterpillar construction equipment that both of my kids adore. We put it to good use a few days ago when it was raining outside. I filled a cookie sheet with 1-inch sides with dry rice, added the front loaders, steamrollers, dump trucks, etc. and my 3-year-old daughter went crazy. She played for over an hour dumping and digging. In fact, we left it on the table, and she's played with it every day since. Quick, easy, inexpensive, and hours of entertainment? Yes, please!

*By the way, I've gotten lots of comments recently about the amount of mess that things like this create. Yes, they absolutely can be a disaster. And I think some kids handle these types of things way more calmly than others. But we include clean-up as part of our process (my 3-year-old has a set of brooms, dust pans, etc.), and we go over the rules beforehand. We don't ever intentionally spill the rice/sand/beans, etc., and we always clean up our messes. If anything is ever thrown, dumped intentionally, or mistreated in any way, it is put away immediately, no questions asked. And, if there is resistance during clean-up, it goes in time-out, and we don't get it back out that day at all. But, just a little note, I make sure it's put in an area out of reach but not out of sight. I want the action to pack a punch. So, definitely use your judgment with your little ones. You may need to wait until they're older to tackle this. But I definitely wanted to dispell any assumption that I don't have a giant mess to clean up after these types of things. I've just accepted that as part of the fun. Proceed at your own risk! =)

Mother's Day 2011

I hosted my 5th annual Mother's Day at our house on Sunday. This is something I look forward to all year, and I'm always dog-earing recipes to try. I normally do a brunch, but it just didn't work out schedule-wise, so we decided on an after-dinner dessert bar instead. Yum! My stipulations for this sort of thing are to not have to do anything on the day of (since it is Mother's Day, after all - who wants to be cooking and cleaning on Mother's Day?). I did almost everything Saturday including setting out all of the dishes, so just before our family came, I had very little prep to finish. Here are the specifics:

On the Menu:

Fruit Pizzas

Nutella and Sea Salt fudge

Mini Strawberry Shortcakes

Mini Chocolate Chip Cookie Pies

Decaf Coffee

Fruit Pizzas
Cookie:
2 sticks of softened butter
1 cup of sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp baking powder
3 cups flour

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg and vanilla. Then add the baking powder and one cup of flour at a time mixing well between each addition. The dough will be very, very dry and stiff. If it doesn't come together in the bowl, knead it with your hands until it does. Split it into 2 balls, and do not chill. Roll the dough out to approx. 1/8 inch, and use cookie cutters in your desired shape. Arrange on an ungreased baking sheet, and bake for 5-10 minutes until the edges begin to brown lightly.

Frosting: I used the cream cheese frosting from this recipe. Refrigerate if you're not going to use it right away.

You can make everything a day ahead of time, but you should wait until just before serving to assemble the pizzas. Make sure to set the frosting out for 10-20 minutes or so to soften to make it spreadable. Frost the cookies, then arrange your favorite fruit on top.

Simple Mini Strawberry Shortcakes
This is a great way to put to use all of your empty babyfood jars!
I used a store-bought strawberry angel food cake. I sliced it with a bread knife, then cut circles out with a small biscuit cutter. You'll need 2 circles per jar. Slice a pint or so of strawberries, and sprinkle them with sugar. I did this the day before and let sit in the refrigerator overnight. They become juicy and more like a sauce than sliced fruit. Just before everyone arrived, I layered the angel food cake and strawberries and topped with whipped cream. You could also tie ribbon or tulle around each jar to match a party theme.

Mom's Fudge (with a Nutella and Sea Salt spin)
2 sticks of butter
4 1/2 cups of sugar
1 can evaporated milk
1 bag of mini marshmallows
1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 9.5 oz milk chocolate bar, chopped
2 squares of unsweetened baking chocolates, grated
1/4 cup of Nutella
1 Tbsp vanilla
2 cups chopped nuts
coarse sea salt

In a large pot, melt the butter. Add sugar and evaporated milk, and stir until the sugar dissolves. Bring the mixture to a boil, and boil continuously for 6 minutes. Remove from the heat, and add the marshmallows stirring until they all melt. Add the chocolate chips, chocolate bar, baking chocolage, Nutella, and vanilla, and stir until all of the chocolate is melted. Stir in the chopped nuts. Pour into a well-buttered 9x13 pan, and sprinkle with sea salt. Let it sit at room temperature until it is set, and store in the refrigerator.

Mini Chocolate Chip Cookie Pies
I followed this recipe with only a few changes. Roll out the refrigerated pie crust, and cut into circles that fit your muffin tin. I have a set of biscuit cutters, and I used the biggest one (3 inches) for this recipe. Press each circle into a well-greased muffin tin, and fill with 2 tablespoons of the pie filling mix. Bake for 25 minutes or until a knife inserted into the middle of the pie comes out clean.

Kale Chips

We LOVE leafy greens around here and have no problem getting them into our diet. So when I saw kale chips on a show a month or two ago, I knew we had to try them. They were a huge hit. But, even if you're not a fan of greens, these are VERY tasty. My 3-year-old and I finished the entire batch in two sittings. In fact, she ate 3/4 of the batch herself and was sorely disappointed when they were gone. I'm thinking we're going to be making these often.

Kale Chips

1 bunch of kale, rinsed and dried

1 tsp or less of canola or olive oil

seasoned salt

Tear the kale off the hard stems, and roughly chop them into small, bite-sized pieces. Toss them in a big bowl with the oil. At the suggestion of my sister, I put the oil in the bottom of the bowl, then added the kale to toss. It would work perfectly if you had one of those oil spritzers since the kale should be coated, but VERY lightly with oil. Sprinkle the kale with seasoned salt, and spread on a baking sheet coated with Pam. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes. You want the edges to be barely browning, and the chips to be crispy. The timing really is the hardest part of this recipe. You'll want to check them often starting at 10 minutes, and they may be done then. I had a handful of chips ready at 10 minutes, but I had to bake the rest for at least 5 minutes more. They are delicious!