Who said Easter treats had to be all jelly beans and chocolate? Actually, that my have been my kids. But anyway… You can imagine my surprise at how willing they were to eat inhale this 100% vegetable snack the other day. It’s amazingly easy, took 2 minutes to make…and about the same to devour. Which was fine…
Sausage, Sweet Potatoes & Apples: A Sheet Pan Dinner Your Kids Will Love
I’ve been trying to write this post for 2 years. Roasted sausage, sweet potatoes and apples on a sheet pan is an easy, delicious meal that everyone loves every time. That’s the problem. It’s one of my Hail Mary meals when I need dinner done fast–throwing whatever veggies I can find on a sheet pan, along with…
Healthy Party Food for Kids: DIY Raw Veggie Cups
Party food for kids needs to be festive. Fun! Colorful! Fresh! And with any shred of hope, simple. Nothing says “Happy Birthday” like getting so stressed out about entertaining a group of kids that I’m shrieking at my own offspring all morning long. Enter veggie cups. We discovered kid-friendly raw veggies served in cups with a dollop of Ranch dressing…
How to Roast Baby Carrots: Prep these Maple-Glazed Baby Carrots in 2 Minutes!
Wondering what else you can do with that bag of baby carrots besides dunking in a bowl of Ranch dressing? One of my four kids’ favorite side dish starts with a bag of baby carrots and ends with tender, perfectly cooked roasted carrots. If you’ve got a few simple ingredients plus about two minutes, you…
Grilled Chicken, Peanut Ginger Stir-Fry
GOT LEFTOVER CHICKEN? Looking for ways to make cooking dinner easier (an endless pursuit around here)? We grilled up half a batch of chicken earlier in the week and saved this part for another dinner tonight as part of our 2-in-1 Dinners series. We’re cooking once, eating twice. I always eat leftovers for lunch but otherwise my…
want kids to eat more veggies? try a 3-dip taste test
SOME KIDS LOVE EATING VEGETABLES. And, this may totally surprise you, some don’t. But almost all kids love condiments. Sweet, salty, gooey? Check, check and check! For a fast vegetable dish or a nutritious snack, I set out a bunch of organic baby carrots plus three “dipping sauces”. These can be anything. From hummus (homemade or from…
lettuce wraps with steak & carrots
THERE ARE TIMES WHEN I JUST WANT TO TRY SOMETHING NEW. Despite how the kids might react. When I made lettuce wraps with steak and carrots, I knew there would be resistance from the knee-high critics but sometimes, every once in a while, I don’t care. If we agree that a win is when everyone tries a bit,…
baby carrots in pots, a step-by-step tutorial
COMBINING CUTE IDEAS WITH FRESH VEGETABLES is just about the best. These carrots are one more super simple way to get kids eating more veggies. Here’s just how you do it. 1. Gather your materials. Baby carrots, preferably the thick kind (some are whittled extra thin) Curly parsley Toothpick Terra cotta pots (mine are actually a…
mini mac & cheese cups (with carrots too)
LAST WEEK WE HAD A BIRTHDAY PARTY LUNCH for 6 preschoolers to celebrate Estelle’s 3rd birthday–and at the birthday girl’s request, these mac & cheese mini cups were the main course. Like our broccoli & cheese pasta cups, they’re essentially macaroni and cheese (with a built-in veggie) to go. And like our broccoli & cheese pasta…
super simple turkey pot pie (and yes, I cheated)
WHEN YOU HAVE A FRIDGE FULL OF TURKEY and a house full of guests, the best way to handle both is a big casserole of turkey pot pie, just like this one. It’s a new riff on the Barefoot Contessa’s chicken pot pie recipe we made over once (and still the number one recipe of…
chicken soup with noodles
I HAD TO PHONE A FRIEND FOR THIS ONE. Last night was a much needed ladies’ night for myself and the first friend I made in North Carolina, an outsider like me, only Therese came to Durham from Switzerland. She’s also the mother of three, two girls and one boy, but hers are older and…
making mac & cheese even kid-friendlier, definitely healthier
MY GOAL IS REAL FOOD. Less boxes, more produce. But all of this only matters if someone’s willing to eat it. And before all the “mmms” and “Thanks Mom”-ing can begin, some brave soul must be willing to make it. This is where I (try to) come in. With the mind of a mad scientist…
Roasted whole carrots with maple glaze
JUST IN TIME FOR EASTER BUNNIES EVERYWHERE, we’ve got a fun take on carrots. The good news is, it’s super simple. The great news is, the kids like ’em too.
kid-friendly spinach salad with carrots and cucumber (a 101 cookbooks makeover)
NO, IT’S NOT A MISTAKE. This is indeed a spinach salad that I served it to our kids, ages 3 1/2 and 2 years. Did they try it? Yes. Did they devour it, no. Did the stars and flowers help? Absolutely. And we just might be onto something.
Grated carrot salad, a recipe inspired by “French Kids Eat Everything”
I don’t know about you but my kids aren’t usually into salad. There was a time when my preschooler, Phoebe, would spot a great leaf of anything on her plate, be it basil, parsley or actual lettuce, immediately pick it off and deposit onto MY plate while explaining “I don’t yike salad.” Sigh.
Simple beef, broccoli and carrot stir-fry
THEY DON’T REALLY DO TAKE-OUT IN ITALY. They definitely don’t do a lot of ethnic food either. And even if they did, stir-fry is one of those dishes that’s so easy to make at home, plus a million times healthier, why not just whip it up? The preparation becomes easier when an air fryer is…
Oven roasted carrots
WE’RE ON A CARROT KICK these days and since it seems you can never go wrong with roasting veggies, I thought I’d try it out. And…it’s true. Roasted [fill in the blank] is always good. Carrots included.
carrot cake pancakes
LAST NIGHT I PANICKED. It was nearly time to pick up the girls from nursery school, George was set on nursing until the cows came home (almost literally in this case) and no dinner was made. The 90 something degree heat didn’t help. But Pinterest did. I’d become obsessed with seen a recipe for Carrot…
homemade deep dish pizza with pepperoni (with a surprisingly healthy ingredient)
THERE ARE TWO IMPORTANT THINGS to say about this pizza: First, it’s (pretty) good for you. Second, it’s only moderately popular at our place. {Wah, wah.} Estelle and I seem to like it best…which makes Paul and Phoebe something of pizza purists. This is after all, Italy…