“THEY LOOK LIKE LOLLIPOPS!” That’s what 2-year-old Estelle said when we made these, and you’d think that would be enough encouragement for the preschoolers at Phoebe’s school to dig in. It wasn’t. Despite our best efforts (though they weren’t actually very hard), these snacks crashed and BURNED when we brought them for the class to…
spooky spider eggs
THIS IS MY SECOND FAVORITE PINTEREST IDEA, from our Healthy-ish Halloween Ideas for Kids board. Like the string cheese witches’ brooms, they’re absolutely adorable but also…shockingly easy. My girls are egg people. They love eggs. Hard boiled eggs. Egg salad sandwiches. Scrambled eggs. So I knew this would be a hit. And it was. For…
Michael Pollan’s vinegar chicken made easier and ALMOST kid-friendly
PROJECT “CLEAN OUT THE PANTRY” is officially underway! That’s right. We are finally, finally, at long last and just in time, moving into our new house. Which is good because I was going to pack up anyway, headed straight for the loony bin. Six months of temporary living among too many moving boxes and too…
diy dark chocolate truffles
THESE WERE A DISASTER. A delicious disaster, but nonetheless. I decided to update Heidi Swanson’s No-Bake Chocolate Cake to give it a kid-friendly spin. It turns out that a recipe basically made of pure chocolate doesn’t actually need a spin. Except for the part where the debilitating sugar crash ends the activity in tears. See: disaster…
Chicken and peach kabobs
SO MANY FAILURES, SO LITTLE TIME. Since our pork and pineapple version was so tasty, I thought this was a natural spin-off. And it might have been, but I’d need to do things differently. Estelle actually ate quite a bit but Phoebe was having none of it and I couldn’t blame her. The chicken needed…
Slow Cooker Shredded Chicken Tex-Mex
WHEN IT’S HOT, HOT, HOT outside, the last thing I want is to be inside cooking dinner beside an even hotter stove. Enter the slow cooker. I used to hate this thing, mostly because I could never find a recipe that worked without a package of onion soup mix. But this chicken recipe turned out to…
Sausage rolls…pigs in a blanket all grown up
I MAKE THESE EVERY TIME I HAVE A PARTY. Everyone loves them. So, when I saw Jamie Oliver make something similar for his family, I broke out one of my favorite Barefoot Contessa recipes. Trying to make it a little healthier, this is sausage with puff pastry after all, I added protein-rich white beans that…
Stovetop broccoli & chicken with rice
THIS WAS DOOMED FROM THE START. Prominently featuring rice, as seen in the current What Doesn’t Work Now list, it never stood a chance. But be that as it may, I’m a glutton for punishment committed to presenting a variety of food, including things they don’t like. Or think they don’t like. (Ironic that “Green…
Sauteed carrots with citrus butter
I’M NOT GOING TO LIE. The kids don’t like carrots and these are no exception. But because I’m crazy determined to keep offering healthy foods in various ways, over and over until their tastes come around, this is another idea. The good news is, Paul and I think they’re delicious.
Heart-shaped carrots and zucchini
CUTE, RIGHT? Didn’t matter. I could whittle these carrots into the shape of Phoebe’s smiling face and it wouldn’t make a difference. She doesn’t like carrots. Or zucchini. And the only thing that coaxed her into eating one of each (as is our family rule at dinner time) was the promise of “cake” afterward.
Healthier chocolate chip cookies
IT WASN’T THE COOKIES’ FAULT. After whipping up a batch of The Sneaky Chef’s “Unbelievable Chocolate Chip Cookies” (pictured above) and another batch of “Chocolate Chip Cookies” from Weelicious, the whole family came down with the flu. Before things took a turn for the worse, we had just enough time to come up with this…
Chinese BBQ pork with noodles, carrots and broccoli
WELL, I REALLY MESSED THIS ONE UP. Let’s just say feeding the toddler two pieces of peanut butter toast 90 minutes before dinner wasn’t a recipe for success. Even when said dinner involved pasta and barbecue sauce, two things she holds dear. It’s a shame though because this was so good! We’ll try again another…
Broccoli & cheese pasta cups
WE TRIED IT AGAIN. The pasta cups are back and this time, just as I threatenedpromised, I added broccoli and ricotta cheese, trying for a bit of a quiche flavor. Speaking of flavor, I also added herbs, fresh parsley and basil. I thought they’d look festive and pack a bit of punch too. Also, the…
Chocolate scones with peanut butter
TOAST. TOAST WITH JAM. TOAST with peanut butter. This is how most mornings begin at our house, with a request for the same thing. Every day. Toast. In the past it’s been oatmeal which I admit is a gooier task to prepare and certainly to clean up. But really, how much can a piece of…
Slow food lunch: Chickpeas like I’ve never seen (or tasted)
THESE WERE, WELL delicious. On a tip from our trusty Italian guidebook Gambero Rosso, we stopped for lunch at Taverna 58 on our way to Mattinata. The restaurant is associated with the Slow Food movement, which supports restaurants fitting three criteria, as per the website:
Grilling: The long, slow road to dinner
I DIDN’T THINK I LIKED GRILLING going into tonight’s dinner and now it’s confirmed. I hate it. What’s appealing about spending two hours in front of a smokey mess, poking, coaxing, begging the coals to just light already? Wondering when/if the whole thing will ever, ever be hot enough to cook meat without giving everyone…
Ina Garten’s Lentil soup with sausage
WE LOVED IT, PHOEBE DIDN’T. Such is life, especially when you’ve got a toddler. This lentil soup, originally inspired by the Barefoot Contessa, is a favorite for Paul and me but this time I added a couple of special ingredients: lentils that Paul got from the Salone Del Gusto food festival plus fresh turkey sausage….
Scrambled eggs with spinach, cheese and tomatoes
I BLAME INCISORS. Phoebe hasn’t eaten dinner two nights in a row now. She’s also been a whiny mess all day, cute but whiny. So it came as no surprise when she declined dinner tonight, save for picking out a few diced tomatoes. She actually likes eggs and she likes cheese; she’s also a fan…
Carrot and raisin cookies
THESE DIDN’T WORK OUT. Not really anyway and it’s my fault. I made them for a friend who’s just had a new baby plus the playgroup. I know from experience that when you’ve recently given birth, you’re a. tired b. hungry and c. usually packing a few extra lbs, which calls for smart eating. That’s…
Anatomy of a failed dinner
NINE. THIS IS THE NUMBER of items I prepared for Phoebe’s dinner tonight. Nine. This includes entrees, side dishes, snacks and even desserts. What it shouldn’t be however, is confused with the number of things that she actually ate–and let’s not even talk about what she finished. I used to be curious about why parents…