Turkey Meatball and Kale Calzones

These easy calzones made for a quick and yummy alternative to Saturday night pizza (and they have kale - don't tell the kids!).

Ingredients: 

13 frozen fully cooked turkey meatballs 

1 package of chopped frozen Kale 

1/2 package of frozen peppers and onions

2 refrigerated pizza crust dough 

1 jar marinara sauce

1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese 

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 425
• Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray.
• Microwave the turkey meatballs  (times vary - follow guidelines on the bag)
• Combine frozen kale with peppers and onions and microwave for 3 minutes
• Cut up the meatballs into smaller pieces.
• Add meatballs, marinara sauce and cheese to the kale, peppers and onions. 
• Mix together and set aside. 
• Unroll the refrigerated dough onto a cookie sheet and divide it into quarters. 
• Add the filling to eat quarter and fold over. 
• Press edges with a fork to seal. 
• Cook in the oven for 15 minutes or until the dough is golden brown.

When I cooked these the first time, I only made 4 calzones so I had extra filling. I added my extra filling to cheese tortellini for a quick meal later in the week! It was also delicious!!

The BEST Goulash Recipe - EVER!

"Dad, you're the BEST cooker, ever!!!!"

This is what my kids say when they have my husband's goulash. Any recipe that kids willingly devour every time it is served is worth sharing!! This is also a great make ahead recipe (it is what we make for the Grandparents when they are watching the kids for the weekend!!)

Doug's Best Ever Goulash: 

Ingredients:
1lb Ground Turkey
1 can corn (drained)
1 can chili beans (**this is the secret ingredient!!)
1 can kidney beans (drained)
1 can diced tomatoes with chilies or salsa if you want some spice
Pasta - we use elbows but you can pick your favorite kind of pasta
Parmesan or Cheddar Cheese

Directions:
Brown the ground turkey in a large skillet.
Add remaining ingredients to skillet and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes or until the pasta is tender.
Top with your choice of cheese

Easy One Skillet Chicken Stir Fry

This dinner is one of my kids FAVORITE meals and it is sooooo easy!! You can add more veggies, try out different stir fry sauces....lots of opportunities to change this up!!

Easy One Skillet Chicken Stir Fry 

Ingredients:

1 lb boneless chicken breasts 

2 bags frozen stir fry vegetables (or one stir fry veggies and one broccoli)

1 can water chestnuts (my kids love these, so I put in extra!)

1/2 cup stir fry sauce (my favorite is the Wegman's brand)

Optional - garlic powder 

2 cups brown rice 

1 1/2 cups water

Directions: 

• Cut the chicken breasts into bite sized pieces and cook in the skillet until no longer pink.
• Add frozen vegetables, water chestnuts, stir fry sauce and water and bring to a boil. 
• Stir in rice, reduce heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes.
• Stir and remove from heat for another 5 minutes

Fun Food Ideas: Angry Bird Waffle

 

 

My daughter was on a special trip this week which left two sad and envious brothers at home with us. I thought that a breakfast in one of their favorite themes might just cheer them up!!

 

This is a pretty easy creation and you have some options on the fruits and toppings to make the Angry Bird itself, but I'll show you how I put mine together:

 

Ingredients:

1 Large Frozen Waffle

2 Mini Frozen Waffles

Strawberries, Watermelon or Raspberries (for red body)

Mango, Peach, Nectarine or Orange slice (for beak)

Blueberries or Chocolate Chips (for eyes and eyebrow)

Vanilla Yogurt or Whipped Cream (for eyes)

 

Directions:  

1) Slice up your red fruit (I used strawberries and watermelon) and place them on the plate in an arch, leaving a wedge at the bottom.

2) Cut a wedge out of the large round waffle (after it has been toasted, of course!)

3) Place the waffle wedge onto the plate in the space you left for it.

4) Add yogurt or whipped cream to the 2 mini waffles and add blueberries for the eyes

 

5) Add the mango, peach or orange foe the beak

 

 

 

 

6) Add blueberries for eyebrows

Cocoa Chia Strawberry Parfait

 "Everybody loves parfaits...Parfaits are delicious!" - Donkey in Shrek 

A favorite breakfast item in my house is the parfait. I like them because they are easy and healthy. The kids love them because they can put them together all by themselves. Win-win!! 

This week, I discovered Cocoa & Chia granola at Wegmans. In case you haven't heard of chia seeds, they are very good for you. They contain calcium, fiber, protein, omega-3 and more. In fact, here is a great article that discusses reasons to add chia seeds to your diet 10 Health Benefits of Chia Seeds. 

I made this morning's parfait with the Cocoa & Chia Granola mixed with Wegmans Strawberry Super Yogurt and fresh strawberries. Layer them however you wish and dive right in!!!

Fun Food Ideas: Baseball Breakfast Burrito

My kids told me that they were getting tired of waffles for my food art, so I've been brainstorming some new creative breakfast ideas with ingredients other than waffles...

I was inspired by our recent trip to Yankee Stadium and created this Baseball Breakfast Burrito and it was a hit (get it?!) with the kids! The only daunting part was the baseball stitches, which I used a toothpick to "paint" ketchup on. I thought afterward that you could probably also use a red pepper, by cutting up little pepper pieces (I would do this the night before). 

Baseball Breakfast Burrito

Ingredients (per serving): 

• 2 Egg Whites
• 1 Cheese Slice
• 1 Spinach Tortilla
• Ketchup

Directions: 

• Cut the round tortilla into the shape of a baseball field

• Cook the egg whites (I had a baking device that keeps the eggs in a round shape while it cooks, but you could also cook the egg whites and then use a small bowl or a cookie cutter if you have one big enough to make the round shape)

• While the eggs are cooking, cut the cheese into 4 squares and place them on the tortilla as bases. 

•  Place the round egg white in the middle and then with a toothpick, "paint" your red stitching with ketchup or use the red peppers. 

Fun Food Ideas: Flag Waffle

Here is my sister's patriotic waffle for our 4th of July breakfast! Everyone is getting into the waffle art trend!!! :o)

Fun Food Ideas: Sailboat

This was my last day of school breakfast for the kids...celebrating them "sailing through" yet another year!

Fun Food Ideas: DIY Animal Pop Tarts

Last week, I intended to make a chicken pot pie so I took out a pre-made pie crust from my freezer. It was so warm last week that we ended up grilling the chicken instead, leaving me with a pie crust...




Then I came across some Wilton animal cookie cutters and I thought of the pie crust and decided I could make something fun for the kids for the last week of school. My kids have NO idea what a Pop Tart actually is, but I found a few posts from people who had made them and used some ingredients that were healthier that the boxed version.

So, here we are!!!

The filling

 (Note: Although easy, this part takes some time!! I failed to realize this when I started this food adventure at 9:45pm!!!!)

Growing up, my Mom always made her own strawberry jam and I remember how much sugar she added (which as a kid is awesome....as a parent, not so much!). This recipe only uses honey and I have to tell you (don't tell my Mom!) that I prefer it to my Mom's sugar heavy recipe!

Ingredients:
3 Cups frozen berries
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp lemon juice

Directions:

• Put all ingredients into a pot
• Simmer on medium heat until it starts to bubble
• Reduce heat and simmer for about 40 minutes (stir it often)
• The jam is done when it is smooth (although I like to have a few chunks of berries left!)

The Pop Tart

Since I used pre-made crust, I didn't have to roll out the dough until I used the scraps. Just like Noah's Ark, cut the animal shapes out two by two!!








Put a small amount of the berry filling onto the first cut out, spread it around and then place the matching animal cut out on top. With a fork, seal the edges.

I finished off the Pop Tart with an egg wash (one egg and some water whisked together and then painted each animal for a brown finish).

Set the oven to 350, bake the pop tarts on a baking sheet (use parchment paper). Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve them warm or you can heat them in the microwave or toaster oven before serving!!

Since I did the egg wash, I didn't top them with an icing glaze - you can do this if you wish by mixing 1 cup powdered sugar and milk (add milk 1 teaspoon at a time until you get the desired consistency).

Fun Food Ideas: Dump Truck Waffle

Here is a fun one I made for my twin boys (we read Good Night Construction Site at bedtime which inspired me to make this fun breakfast for them!)

What you need: 

2 Frozen Belgian Waffles
2 Frozen Mini Waffles
Blueberries
Whip Cream (or yogurt)

Directions: 

Cut one row off of one of the square waffles to use as the truck bed. Cut the other square waffle at a diagonal to make the truck cab. I used a tip of a strawberry for a headlight, but you can use a blueberry!

I had this great place-mat for the boys which made for the perfect plate and construction background!! This waffle design was big enough for both my boys to share!!  I just had them dip the waffles into a little dish of syrup instead of pouring it right on top. 

Fun Food Ideas: Pig Waffles

This week's waffle creation was inspired by some really cute pig cupcakes that my sister-in-law made. When I saw them, I thought that pigs would make a really great waffle idea too!!

My boys are going on a field trip to the zoo with their class, so I thought an animal themed waffle breakfast was in order, so here is my pig waffle!!!

I really love that the kids like the yogurt on the waffle with the fresh fruit instead of sugary syrup - it is a win-win! 

What you need:

1 regular waffle
1 mini waffle
2 blueberries
1 strawberry
2 chocolate chips or Mini M&M's
strawberry yogurt

Pinterest Review: Lego Cookies

We went to an outdoor movie night this past weekend to see The Lego Movie so I thought I would try out a version of the Lego cookies I've seen all over Pinterest with the goal of making the cookies in the simplest way possible.


Step One:  Ingredients - very simple!

 Step Two: Sort the M&Ms and color the frosting

 Step Three: Roll out the dough on wax paper with a rolling pin and some flour. Then I used a pizza cutter to cut out the different sized lego cookies.

Step Four: Place the lego cookies on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes because they are so small. Let them cool on a cookie rack for about 10 minutes.

Step Five: It's all fun and games until you have to frost them!!! These are tiny cookies and tiny M&M's...it took over an hour to frost and place the M&M's on the cookies. (Make sure you place the M&M pieces with the "M" face down - just an aesthetic thing!).

Step 6: Once frosted, I put the cookies into two Lego bin lids - I thought it was a cute way to present them!

My overall review of Lego Cookies: 

These are really cute and the perfect size for kids because they are small cookies. It was just the frosting process that was the real time consumer (although if you made your dough and your own frosting then you are definitely making a real project for yourself!!!).  My kids like helping me sort the M&M's and they were really excited to bring these to the movie!

Fun Food Ideas: Owl Waffles

WHOOOOO wouldn't love this for breakfast?! 

Here is another easy and fun way to start someone's days with frozen waffles and a little creativity!

What you need: 

• 2 Round regular waffles
• 2 Mini Waffles
• Plain Yogurt (or vanilla)
• 2 blueberries
• 1 Strawberry

Directions: 
1) Toast the waffles


2) Take one of the regular round waffles and cut out "wings" from each side.

 

3) Take the middle section from that first waffle and cut in half








4) Place the other round waffle on a plate and put your wings and head/ear in place.










5) Put the mini waffles on the top of the regular round waffle and at the base of the head/ears.









6) Put a teaspoon of the yogurt onto each mini waffle and spread evenly. Add the blueberries for the eyes and the tip of the strawberry for the nose.



7) Serve and enjoy!!

Fun Food Ideas: Cupcake Shaped Waffle

Have I mentioned how much I love using frozen waffles for fun kids breakfasts???

It was my daughter's birthday and she LOVES cupcakes so I thought I would start her day out with a cupcake shaped breakfast treat using what else....Frozen Waffles!!

Making your waffle cupcake:

• Toast the waffle (unless you are a really ambitious parent using a waffle iron!!)
• Cut the waffle in half
• Angle the half that will be the base of the cupcake
• "Frost" the top of the cupcake with cool whip
• Add some fun sprinkles (it is a birthday breakfast!!!) and put cherry on top!!!

Healthy Kid Friendly Dinners To Go!

Every night this week, we've had a sporting event which means running home from work and running back out the door with a dinner on the go for the kids. I didn't want a week of Happy Meals for the kids, endless PBJs, etc but didn't have time to cook dinner each night either. So, I brainstormed a few dinner on the go ideas that could be made the night before, don't require utensils, can be packaged in a container and are healthier than drive thru options.

 Here are the 3 dinners that I came up with (and they turned out to be kid approved!!). 

Turkey/Cheese Stick/Cherry Tomato Kabob

You could really do any kind of kabob and the kids thought this was a fun way to eat dinner!! The yogurts in tubes are great for on the go eating. I threw in some crackers and fruit to complete it out. I have also switched recently from juice boxes to fruit water - the kids love strawberry water and orange water!

Chicken and Cheese Pita

I love pita bread for on the go dinners because unlike sandwiches, everything stays IN the pita (anyone who has to clean out a car after kids eating can relate!!). I baked some chicken earlier in the week and just sliced it up and put it in the pita with some cheese - we actually had a few minutes before leaving so I warmed them in the microwave for a few seconds, but I think they would be good cold as well.

 

 

Homemade Chicken Nuggets with Homemade Potato Chips

Again, I used the chicken that I baked earlier in the week for the chicken nuggets. I cut the chicken into bite sized pieces, put some olive oil on them and tossed them in a bowl with flavored breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese. I baked them at 400 for about 10 minutes since chicken was already cooked.

The homemade baked potato chips are my new favorite lunch item for the kids:

• Thinly slice 2 potatoes
• Toss in a bowl with 1 tablespoon olive oil and kosher salt (to taste). I also added some Tuscan seasoning for a little "zip"! 
• Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.
• Put potato slices on baking sheet in single layer
• Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes
• Flip the slices that are starting to brown and then watch carefully - they will all start to crisp at various times. Remove them as they are done and set on a plate or baking rack to cool completely.