Momathon Blog

Cooking with Kids: Mediterranean Pizzas

The best part of making your own pizza at home is you can personalize each pizza. Get your kids involved in the menu planning and the grocery shopping. Things to consider: select veggies they love on pizza, decide if they want pre-made red pizza sauce or just a drizzle of oil, and select a combo of their favorite cheeses. Recipe below.

Kiss the cook

 

Hope you had a lovely long holiday weekend. Having the kids cook with me in the kitchen always makes the holidays a fun family time. My daughter loves to bake and she surprised me with a delicious Sunday breakfast. So sweet!

If you want to check out my cooking with kids recipes, click on this Momathon recipe link that includes Buttery Holiday Spritz, Mini German Pancakes, Easy Raspberry Tiramisu, Kids' Choice Citrus Cranberry Chicken, and many more kid-friendly recipes.

Bon appetit!

Photo: by me, Chris Olson

 

Cooking with Kids: Buttery Holiday Spritz Cookies

The holiday season is starting early at my house this year. I have been craving these buttery cookies for days. This recipe is a perfect cookie to make with kids. Mixing the 5-ingredient dough is a snap. Plus your kids will love using the cookie press to make the cookies.

Buttery Spritz

• 1 cup butter or margarine
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 tsp flavoring (almond or vanilla)
• 2 1/2 cups flour

Heat oven to 400. Mix butter, sugar, egg yolks, and flavoring. Add flour to mixture. Select the cookie press shape you want to use. (Each time you fill the press you can change the cookie press shape.) Using about 1/4 of the dough at a time, force the dough through the cookie press (see the photo below) onto an ungreased baking sheet.

Bake 7-10 minutes--be careful not to overbake. Makes about 6 dozen cookies. 

Photo by me, Chris Olson

Cooking with Kids: Mini German Pancakes Recipe

Here's a quick recipe that multi-tasks! My mini german pancakes are perfect for breakfast, lunch or dinner. My mom is a home economist and when I was a kid she made a similar recipe in a 13x9x2-inch pan. I modified the recipe and reduced the amount of butter (and calories) and also bake my "eggies" in a cupcake pan. This is an easy recipe--only four ingredients, plus the toppings. It's one you can make with your kids.

Click my blog link below to get recipe. You can find more of my easy recipes on Facebook too.

Cooking with Kids: Easy Raspberry Tiramisu

 

 

 

Tiramsu–sometimes called "heaven in your mouth"–is a refreshing Italian dessert that's as much fun to make as it is to say: tih-ruh-mee-SOO. The raspberry version in this recipe is easy enough to make with the kids. I modified the original recipe by Dorie Greenspan and added family-friendly cooking tips so the kids can help you make this layered treat recipe. (Note: This is a no-fuss recipe, don't worry if you can't find fresh raspberries for the top layer–just use slightly thawed frozen berries.)

Kid-friendly directions below.

Summer in the kitchen with Giada De Laurentiis

The book Giada's Kitchen by Food Network star Giada De Laurentiis is my favorite cookbook this summer. (I also like her cookbook Giada at Home.)

 

 

Giada's Kitchen is California cooking with an Italian twist. Amazon.com explains:

Italy meets California in Giada De Laurentiis’s collection of 100 new recipes. She focuses on fresh ingredients, simple preparation, and bright flavors. Anyone who wants to indulge in the pleasures of Italian food without feeling weighed down will find inspiration for delicious, hearty yet healthy weekday meals. Giada’s recipes satisfy both our desire to eat with gusto and to feel good about what we eat.

And why not love this cookbook--I think Giada wrote Giada's Kitchen with busy moms in mind. According to Barnes & Noble:

She even made us fall in love with pasta again by opening us up to lighter, healthier versions that don’t weigh us down... Yes, you will still find those fabulous recipes she remembers so fondly from family meals, but you’ll also find updated twists on classic trattoria favorites—California-inflected, hearty but not overwhelming, and with the perfect balance of healthfulness and terrific flavor. 

The recipes by Giada are delicious and family-pleasing. And the photos are what makes this cookbook easy to use.

Here are a few of Giada's recipes on the Food Network and in her cookbook:

• Whole-Wheat Linguine with Green Beans, Ricotta, and Lemon Recipe
• Italian Ice Recipe
• Apple and Thyme Martini Recipe

 

Cookbook review by me, Chris Olson, writer and illustrator.

 

 

Kids' Choice Citrus Cranberry Chicken

Cooking is quickly becoming a favorite hobby of kids of all ages. Your kids can cook up some fun with this easy make-ahead citrus and cranberry chicken recipe.

Kids' Choice Citrus Cranberry Chicken

Prep: 20-30 minutes.
Make this dish ahead, 8 hours or overnight in fridge, then bake as directed.
Bake: 45 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink.

Ingredients 

• non stick cooking spray
• approximately 10 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves 
• 1 14oz - 16 oz can of whole cranberry sauce
• 1 cup French (or Catalina) salad dressing
• 1/2 cup orange jouice
• 1 envelope (1 oz. package) onion soup mix
• side dish: approximate 5 cups cooked brown or white rice

 

1) Coat a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking dish (approx. 3 quart dish) with nonstick cooking spray.

2) Have an adult cut the chicken breast halves into smaller pieces to make the dish easier to serve.

3) Arrange chicken pieces in the baking dish.

4) Combine in a bowl:

• cranberry sauce
• salad dressing
• orange juice
• onion soup mix (dry)

5) Evenly pour sauce above over the chicken in baking dish.

6) Cover baking dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.

7) Remove plastic wrap and bake in oven at 350 degrees for about 45 - 50 minutes.

Have an adult slice into a piece of cooked chicken to make sure the chicken is no longer pink inside or you can use a meat thermometer. Cooked chicken should reach 170 degrees F.

8) Serve with brown rice.

Approximately 8 - 10 servings

(Photo by me, Chris Olson)

Too tired to cook recipes: Gingery peanut noodles with chicken + chicken and gruyere turnovers

We've all been there, it's nearly 5 pm, you wander aimlessly through the grocery store, your kids are hip to your frazzled state and they dump enough bags of chips and cookies into the grocery cart to last a month. You are too tired to care what they are up to at this point, all you want is something healthy and simple to make for dinner tonight.

You spot the rotisserie chicken over in the deli section--it's a great convenience food that is not overly processed--but you are not interested in serving the same old chicken and sides.

Thanks to Allie Lewis Clapp, food director of Real Simple magazine, you don't have to do the same old thing. You can make a varitety of yummy meals with the grocery store rotisserie chicken. I like all three of her ideas:

• Gingery Peanut Noodles With Chicken--all you have to cook is the noodles, add some shredded rotisserie chicken, bell peppers, and prepare the easy peanut dressing.
• Chicken and Gruyère Turnovers--a fancy (and healthier) version of a Hot Pocket meal that uses puff pastry, shredded rotisserie chicken, grated Gruyere cheese (Swiss cheese), Dijon mustard, and frozen pees.
• Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches--a quick meal using Buffalo wing sauce from the grocery store, shredded rotisserie chicken, melted butter, and your favorite melted cheese.

Watch the demo video featuring
Allie Lewis Clap on the TODAY Show here.

• • •

Recipe: Gingery Peanut Noodles with Chicken 

Allie Lewis Clapp, Real Simple Recipes

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger
• 8 oz. spaghetti (cooked)
• 1 1/2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
• 1 red bell pepper, sliced
• 1/2 English cucumber, cut into strips
• 2 scallions
• Chopped peanuts

For the complete recipe, check out the delicious recipes posted by Allie Lewis Clapp at this link: Real Simple Recipes.

Photo: a scene from the great recipe demo video on  TODAYshow.com.

Cook lasagna in your dishwasher!?

I love my dishwasher's geeky control panel with lots of cool wash options. However, I guess Whirlpool forgot one: the cook dinner setting.

Evidently my loyal dishwasher is also a mighty multi-tasker because it can double as an oven too! I'm not sure I'm going to cook my dinner in the dishwasher tonight, but the recipe does seem easy.

Is dishwasher lasagna just another crazy cooking concoction or will it turn into the next culinary trend? The dishwasher dinner recipes may have originated around the campfire. According to CityPages.com,  

The foil-wrapped meal is placed on the washer's lower rack and left to cook through the wash cycle--the method is a little like a water-based version of a campfire hobo pack. 

Next time you have a dinner party, consider putting your dishwasher to work in the prep! This lasagna in the dishwasher recipe is guaranteed to leave your guests speechless, but happy with the clever meal. Seeing is believing--check out the Dishwasher Lasagna demo video featured on PartSelect.com.

Not in the mood for lasagna, check out this list of dishwasher dinners:

 

• Salmon with Piquant Dill Sauce. Recipe on Food Network.
• Shrimp A La Dishwasher. Recipe on Cooking-With-Us
• Salmon Steaks with Dill and Lemon. Recipe on Urban Bushcraft.
• Poached Salmon. Recipe on Wine X Magazine.
• Salmon with Cilantro. Recipe on Salon: Surreal Gourmet.
• Beef Cooked in Dishwasher. Recipe on Cooking-With-Us.
• Perfectly Poached Salmon. Recipe on ModernMom.com.

 

NOTE: I am not a professional chef and I have not tried any of the dishwasher dinner recipes, so I can't personally endorse cooking in the dishwasher.

Photo above is from the PartSelect.com video on Vimeo. Doodle text above is by me. (You can see more of my doodles at Momathon doodles.)

 

Back for seconds: Easy Raspberry Tiramisu

Only 7 delicious ingredients and 3 steps to make Raspberry Tiramsu! Sometimes called "heaven in your mouth," this refreshing Italian dessert is as much fun to eat as it is to say: tih-ruh-mee-SOO. The raspberry version in this post is easy enough to make with the kids. Dorie Greenspan has the complete recipe for this layered treat at Parade.com. 

Ingredients:

12 oz. frozen raspberries, thawed

1/4 cup sugar

2 oz. (2-inch-thick slice) pound cake

1/4 cup mascarpone (an Italian triple cream cheese)

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup heavy cream, lightly whipped

1/2 pint fresh raspberries

Now all I need to do is decide what to serve the desert in... Wine glasses? Martini glasses? Or just some pretty glass bowls?

 

(Tiramisu image by Bloggyboulga)

Back for seconds... I posted this recipe last year. For more recipes and cooking ideas, check out Momathon cooking and recipes

 

 

Roasted pumpkin seed recipe

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups raw whole pumpkin seeds
2 teaspoons butter, melted
1 pinch salt

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
• Toss seeds in a bowl with the melted butter and salt. 
• Spread the seeds in a single layer on a baking sheet with edges so seeds do not fall off.
• Bake seeds for about 45 minutes or until golden brown.
• Stir occasionally.

Recipe makes about 1 1/2 cups

Photo: Jenib320

Busy mom cookbook by Ina Garten: How Easy Is That?

I have a new cookbook on my wish list. I don't think I can wait until Christmas to buy the book. I need these recipes for Thanksgiving. See Ina's fool-proof turkey recipe below (via Amazon.com.)

Ina Garten shares three super simple recipes on The TODAY Show from her new book How Easy Is That?

Turkey recipe from Ina's new cookbook:

Ingredients

1 whole bone-in turkey breast (6½ to 7 pounds)
2 tablespoons good olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage leaves
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¾ cup dry white wine

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Place the turkey breast on a rack in a roasting pan, skin side up.

In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, mustard, rosemary, sage, thyme, salt, and pepper. Rub the mixture evenly all over the skin of the turkey breast. (You can also loosen the skin and smear half of the paste underneath, directly on the meat.) Pour the wine into the bottom of the roasting pan.

Roast the turkey for 1½ to 1 ¾ hours, until the skin is golden brown and an instant-read meat thermometer registers 165 degrees when inserted into the thickest and meatiest area of the breast. Check the breast after an hour or so; if the skin is overbrowning, cover it loosely with aluminum foil.

When the turkey is done, remove from the oven, cover the pan with aluminum foil, and allow the turkey to rest at room temperature for 15 minutes. Slice and serve warm with the pan juices.

Cooking with Kids: Pizza Lollipops

Is it possible to combine two of my favoriet things--lollipops and pizza?

Meaghan Montford, The decorated cookie blogger, loves tiny versions of things. And she can almost always think of a clever way to add a lollipop stick to an edible craft. (She also writes the Edible Crafts blog.)

Recipe:
In her pizza pops post Meaghan tells you exactly how to make your own Pizza Lollipops at home. And if you are really adventurous you can make a lollipop calzone too! Too cool.

I think making a half a dozen of the cute pops would make a clever gift idea.

(Photo: the decorated cookie blog.)