With all the traveling people are doing in the next several weeks, I thought I’d share a recipe for muffins that I’m making to bring to holiday meals, as well as a list of the handheld snacks and foods that I have found to travel well, whether it is across the country, across town or across the neighborhood: -Cheese sticks -Our version of “Cheerios” –Beet pancakes from weelicious.com (I make them with whole-wheat flour and golden beets) -Whole-Wheat Apple Muffins (See recipe below) -Carrots chopped into little sticks (Bonus use: They make a great cold teething toy, too) -Mini Frittatas
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When I had been planning for our pre-Halloween parade party, I thought about playing around with a recipe I had made previously using butternut squash, but I decided to make this dish muffin-sized for a few reasons. First, a handheld snack would be easier for people to eat. Second, all foods are more appealing when they are small and cute. And, third, I figured muffin-sized was a good size for the toddlers. I would call them Mini Baked Pastas with Butternut Squash or “Minis” for short. Well, as you know, our pre-parade party became a Halloween Play Date so the menu
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Disclaimer: This post is filled with random ranting about airline travel as well as some of my current “survival tactics” when flying with Eliana. WARNING! This post contains overly processed food, BPA and PVC-filled plastics and a shudder-worthy amount of germs. Consider yourself warned. Before I travel I have to write down my “packing list.” I’m famous for making packing lists that include silly things like “this note pad” and presumably obvious things like “shoes.” (Really? Would I actually forget to pack shoes??) My list hasn’t changed so much over the years so you’d think I’d be logical about it
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We’re visiting my parents this week and, apparently because I’m me, I still couldn’t resist cooking up a feast. Here’s what I made us all for dinner last night: Penne a la Vodka- SUPER SIZED I made this in bulk quantity for 4 adults plus a hungry toddler and there were still leftovers. I’d cut the portion in half if it were just for Eliana, Matt and myself. – 4 28-ounce cans San Marzano tomatoes (I look for the crushed tomatoes but if I can’t find them, I get the whole tomatoes and just blend the sauce after I’ve
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Usually, our neighborhood has a pretty spectacular kids Halloween parade. This year, Matt, Eliana and I had been planning to host a pre-parade party for Eliana’s friends and their families. But, the parade was cancelled this year due to clean up from Hurricane Sandy. So, instead of a pre-parade party, we hosted a Halloween play date! The guests were toddlers ranging in age from 1 year to 17-months old (in adorable costumes!) along with their parents. The menu was orange-themed in keeping with the Halloween tradition, but since it was going to be between the kids’ lunch and dinner,
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I think we can all agree that this whole parenting thing is beautiful, amazing and hard as sh!t. Personally, I feel like any time I “figure something out” such as a nap schedule, what a certain gesture or grunt means, or how to deal with a tantrum, everything changes and my “go to” moves no longer work. I usually get about ten days to two weeks of feeling like “I got this” before it all implodes in my face. Sigh. But, this is not a Mommy Venting about How Hard Parenting Is type o’ blog. So, I will change the
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Over the summer, Matt and I had a few date nights at home when we cooked pizza together. Previously, I’d always used pre-cooked pizza dough, but this summer we began using fresh pizza dough instead that we bought from the refrigerated section of the grocery store. We prefer to use whole-wheat dough like this one. Below are some tips and tricks we learned these last few months about cooking pizza using fresh dough, cooking it on the grill and baking it in the oven. Recipes are at the bottom of the post. General pizza-making tips and lessons learned when
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Lately when I’ve made muffins, I’ve used this recipe I found on the blog 100 Days of Real Food. But today, I wanted to try something new. So, I used this recipe I found on weelicious.com. Here are the changes I made to the recipe: · Instead of 1½ cups of all-purpose flour, I used 1 cup of whole-wheat flour and ½ cup of all-purpose flour. · I only had 1 banana so instead of 2 bananas and 1 medium apple, I used 1 banana and 1 large Crispin apple. The apple was really juicy so I added the juice to the wet ingredients
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Eliana is a pasta loving fool just like her Mommy. If I allowed it, she’d blissfully eat pasta for three meals plus one snack each and every day. (And really, so would I!) Obviously, I don’t serve her pasta all day every day. But I know that when pasta is served, it will be gobbled up with no questions asked. What I didn’t expect was to feed her a third serving of pasta for dinner tonight! Now that fall is setting in and the weather is cooler, I decided I should use the remaining basil from our garden sooner rather
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On Tuesday afternoons, Eliana and I have a standing play date with our friends Meghan and Miles. This Tuesday, Meghan and I were swapping food stories and she told me that Miles currently loves mashed potatoes. That night I was thinking about new recipes and foods for Eliana. I got to thinking: Has Eliana eaten mashed potatoes? She has certainly had potatoes over the last 16 months. I made her a kale and potato puree when she was newly eating solids and she’s had my potato leek soup, too. At restaurants she’s had roasted potatoes and tried french fries, but she hasn’t necessarily
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Here’s a recipe I make for myself and Eliana as a quick and yummy snack. I think it could also be a tasty breakfast, or, you can even substitute vanilla ice cream for the yogurt and call it dessert! Greek Yogurt with Cinnamon and Warm Apples · ¼-½ cup of Greek yogurt (I like the full-fat Fage brand for Eliana) · 1 small apple, peeled and chopped · Cinnamon to taste Put the apple chunks into a small bowl, sprinkle with cinnamon and stir. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and microwave for around 15-20 seconds until the apples are
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Since Eliana began eating solids, 9-10 months ago, I’ve been cooking all of her food. At this point, I cook almost every day and many days I cook multiple times a day. To make life easier, Eliana and I often eat the same thing for lunch. Hel-lo? Who has time to make a different meal for each of us? And, more importantly, who wants to? Not me, that’s for sure! Many days, I prepare a lunch for us to share together before she goes down for a nap. Even though it sometimes takes a little longer for us to eat, I like
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