Cooking with MY kid.

A friend of mine recently brought the blog, Cooking With My Kid, to my attention.  The woman is basically teaching herself  (and her kid) how to cook by preparing 365 recipes in 365 days.  While I am no where near as ambitious as her, all of her recipes were made with the assistance of her child, so I thought I would try a few with mine.  She recently celebrated Pumpkin Week by including pumpkin in all of her recipes. I had been lurking on the site for awhile, but all the pumpkin goodies pushed me over the edge.  

First up were her pumpkin muffins. Yum!  I have always been a fan of this sort of thing, but it was nice to see Amelia on board as well.  She wasn't as die hard as me, but she certainly enjoyed making them.  She started out with a picture of me trying to figure it all out--certainly not as glamorous as the Cooking With My Kid blog pictures, but real nonetheless.

  

She was totally into mixing and measuring.  I tried to let her do each step that she was capable of doing.  This is a big step for me and one I need to continue to work on!

  

Delicious!  They were excellent with my morning coffee and were the perfect breakfast treat to have laying around all week.

 

  

And after the pumpkin muffins were a hit, we decided to give the Pumpkin Spice Smoothie a try next.  I followed her recipe almost exactly, only adding pumpkin pie spice. I thought it was pretty good, but Amelia LOVED it.  She devoured her first glass and asked for more!!  Talk about an easy way to get some pumpkin in her!

  

As of right now, I have tons of additional recipes from the blog tagged that I would like to try soon.  She makes cooking with a little one look so easy and delicious!

Pudding Pops

I got some fancy new popsicle molds during my last Ikea trip and have been eager to try them out. Up until this point, I've been pretty boring with what I've put in them. Mostly just lemonade or Kool-Aid. Yawn.

I had some chocolate pudding in the pantry and since I had no plans for it, I thought I might give it a try in the molds. Turns out they are yummy! And as an added bonus, there is no dripping! (Of course, that doesn't mean it still doesn't get ALL over faces and things).

Regardless, they were good and we all enjoyed a few! We will definitely be making these again!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse Pie

You may have noticed that I am not one to post many recipes on the ol' blog. That is due, in part, to laziness and also just a blah feeling about cooking in general. It is certainly NOT my favorite thing to do--not even in the top 25.

And for the record, I didn't actually make this recipe either--Jason did (I know, big surprise). But, I felt so strongly about it that I couldn't keep it a secret! I didn't actually take a picture of the end product (it was destroyed too fast!), but as you can see from the look of pure joy on Amelia's face, this thing was GOOD!

Without further ado:

Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse Pie

1-14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk, divided

2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1-9 inch graham cracker crust

1-8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened

1 cup creamy peanut butter

2 cups frozen whipped cream, thawed

Combine 1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk and chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high for 30 seconds. Stir until smooth. Place 2 tablespoons of the chocolate mixture in a resealable plastic bag for drizzle, set aside. Spread remaining chocolate evenly over bottom of pie crust. Chill for 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, beat remaining condensed milk, cream cheese, and peanut butter with a mixer until smooth. Fold in whipped cream. Spoon over chocolate layer.

Cut corner off bag with reserved chocolate and drizzle over pie.

Freeze for 1 hour or until firm. Makes 8-10 servings.

What's great about this recipe is that even though we shared the pie with 2 other people, it was still too much. I stuck it back in the freezer and it kept great....for a few days...until it was GONE!

Saving Some Dough

In these hard economic times, it seems more important than ever to take steps to save some dough.  Luckily, I came across this play "dough" recipe in the "TODDLER BUSY BOOK" and this dough saves for 6 whole months--can't ask for much more saving than that!

I especially like this recipe because the stirring doesn't need to be done while the mixture is still on the stove like the recipe we've used in the past.  This is good because Amelia can be a more active participant in the process.  The BOOK has numerous recipes using peanut butter, oatmeal, kool-aid, and a variety of other ingredients that I hope to try in the near future.

We originally planned to whip up a batch for a friend of Amelia's as part of a little Valentine's Day gift and we decided to throw in a little glitter to give it some added bling.  After making her friend's pink batch, Amelia decided she wanted a sparkly blue batch for herself.  It REALLY doesn't get much easier than this!  (Well, unless you buy it at the store of course).

Colored Playdough:

1 cup water

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1/2 cup salt

1 tablespoon cream of tartar

food coloring

saucepan

1 cup flour

glitter (optional)

Combine water, oil, salt, cream of tartar, and food coloring in a saucepan and heat until warm.  Remove from heat and add flour.  Stir, then knead until smooth.  Add glitter if desired.  The cream of tartar makes this dough last 6 months or longer, so resist the temptation to omit this ingredient if you don't have it on hand.  Store this dough in an airtight container or Ziploc freezer bag.

And with a new batch of play doh in our hands, we decided to put it to good use.  Amelia especially loves playing with the play-doh ice cream shoppe--a Christmas gift from her cousins!

Almost looks good enough to eat, does it not??

This is Amelia's worm family!  It is difficult to tell at this angle, but they are gathering under the Christmas tree she is holding.  All her doing, of course!

Amelia's version of spaghetti and meatballs--yum!

Gobble, Gobble!

Grandma came over for a little bit on Saturday to play with Amelia, so we thought it might be fun to make some cookies together.  I found them HERE and was pretty proud of myself for choosing a recipe where I actually had to bake something, as opposed to just assembling the pieces.

For this recipe you need:

Sugar cookie dough (homemade or pre-made from the store)

white frosting

black decorating frosting

orange decorating frosting

mini M&Ms

candy corn

Amelia enjoyed decorating her cookies and making a couple of abstract turkeys.

She also liked organizing all of the M&Ms.  It seemed like a lot were put directly into her mouth.

I love these little cookies, but have you noticed a theme with our holiday celebrating?  I may need to start exploring activities outside of the food realm or we are going to all end up overweight and diabetic!

Hats Off!

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been scouting out some Thanksgiving activities to do with Amelia this year.  It is not all that easy to find something fun to do, as many of the sights I check seemed to have skipped over Thanksgiving and are moving on to Christmas already.

Thanks to FAMILY FUN, though for coming to the rescue with this Pilgrim Hat cookie idea.  I had some leftover chocolate almond bark from dipping pretzels a few weekends ago which worked out perfectly.  This was a great "recipe" because Amelia could do just about every step!

You need:

24 chocolate striped cookies

12 oz of chocolate chips

24 marshmallows

yellow decorating icing (we just dyed plain vanilla icing and piped it through a ziploc bag)

First, set the cookies stripes down on a cookie sheet.  Melt the chocolate chips (or in my case almond bark) on the microwave.

One at a time, stick a wooden toothpick into each marshmallow and dip it into the melted chocolate.  Immediately place the dipped marshmallow in the center of the cookie.  Use a second toothpick to help in getting the marshmallow off of the first toothpick.

Chill the hats until the chocolate sets and then pipe a yellow buckle on the front of each hat.

  

Fun and easy and when Amelia lost interest, she just helped herself to a chocolate dipped marshmallow!  And then when they were all finished, she wanted to try one on..which is, of course, where I drew the line.

Finger Lickin' Good

Another Halloween favorite of mine! These fingers are fun and actually taste good too! Of course, they are certainly not good for you. I guess two out of three ain't bad.

Here's the recipe:

1 cup softened butter

1 cup confectioner's sugar

1 egg

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 3/4 cups flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

green food coloring

red decorating gel

1/4 cup slivered almonds

Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease baking sheet.

Beat together butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla extract. Slowly beat in flour, baking powder and salt. Add green food coloring to dough until deep green.

Divide dough into 4 equal parts. Cover and refrigerate 30 mins. Remove from the refrigerator and work with only one portion of dough at a time.

Break off one heading teaspoonful and roll into finger shape. Squeeze in around the middle of the finger to create knuckle shape. Then, using butter knife, make indents in several places to resemble a finger. Repeat with rest of dough.

Place cookies on prepared baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven 20-25 mins. Loosen and let cool on baking sheet.

Squeeze red decorating gel onto tip of each finger and gently press almond sliver on top so gel oozes out from underneath. Let set.

Someone's Watching Me!

I swear I do more "baking" at Halloween time than at Christmas time. I use the word baking quite loosely, since two of the three cookies I made for Halloween this year are more assembling and less baking (actually, no baking at all).

I love these eyeball cookies! I've made them every Halloween since Amelia was born (that makes 3!). They are always a hit around here and it's tradition to take a picture with the cookies covering her eyes (which I will have to post later since I haven't actually let her have any of the cookies yet).

I realize it is probably a little late to make for this year, but I am going to post the recipe anyway. If nothing else, it will keep me from having to search through all of my recipes next year to find the one I need to make these (a task that takes a minimum of 20 minutes), I can just click on the ol' blog instead.

Scary Eyeball Cookies:

about 3 oz. of vanilla almond bark

50 Nilla wafers

50 chocolate chips

blue food coloring

red food coloring

toothpick

Melt 2 oz. of the almond bark in microwave for 90 seconds followed by 15 second intervals until it is completely melted and free of lumps. Dip each wafer into almond bark (I just covered the top) and set aside on waxed paper or a plate.

Melt remaining ounce of almond bark following above directions. When fully melted, tint with blue food coloring. Put into ziploc bag and snip off a tiny corner. Put a small blue dot in the center of the wafer (pupil). After the blue has cooled, but before it has hardened completely, place one chocolate chip into the center of the blue dot.

Lastly, put a few drops of red food coloring into a bowl. Dip a toothpick into the food coloring and draw "veins" onto the eyeballs. You will have to re-dip the toothpick several times.

Yields approximately 50 cookies.

Scary Spider Cookies

Looking for a way to fill what I thought was going to be a rainy day, I turned to THIS WEBSITE for some inspiration. Halloweeny, easy, inexpensive, and yummy made this idea hard to beat.

We braved the drizzle and ran to the grocery store to pick up the essentials: sandwich cookies and black shoestring licorice (we already had gel icing and red hots). Amelia was pumped, she told the cashier she was making spider cookies.

At home, we disassembled the cookies and Amelia decided to take a huge bite of the licorice (which she immediately spit out and then requested a napkin to wipe her tongue off with).

After opening the cookies, we gave each spider eight legs. We put the cookie back together and I went to the lazy susan to grab the supplies for the eyes.

When I turned back around, Amelia was gnawing off a licorice leg--apparently this time no napkin was needed.

We added the red hot eyes...

and when we were all finished, Amelia decided the poor spiders were missing something--a nose, of course! So, she added marshmallows noses to each spider to finish off the project!

Feeling Ballsy

After the success of the Energy Balls last Friday morning, I decided to give some Toddler Meatballs a try in the afternoon.  These were a favorite of Amelia's long ago, but like most foods she likes that are actually nutritious, a gave them to her too much.  So much, that she started to reject them.  But, after a 9 month hiatus, she's back on the meatball bandwagon again!

In case you have a toddler that may be interested:

Toddler Meatballs:

1 lb. ground turkey or ground beef

1 cup bread crumbs

1/4 cup wheat germ

1 egg

1/3 cup finely grated carrots (I added these because I had some leftover from the energy balls, its not a part of the original recipe).

spices such as garlic, pepper, basil, thyme, and/or oregano

Mix meat with bread crumbs, wheat germ, egg, and spices you've chosen.  (Recipe may call for more/less bread crumbs.  Vary measurements as needed).  Roll into balls, bake at 375 F until golden brown or for about 25-30 minutes.  Do not allow these to burn.  Cover the pan with tin foil to help prevent burning if needed.  Use a small baking pan so you can shake and roll meatballs around to help meatballs to cook evenly.  I serve them with spaghetti sauce or ketchup.  These freeze well!

Energy Balls

Not sure why a toddler would need more energy, but these little treats are quite a delight!  I've made them many times since I introduced peanut butter to Amelia and they are always a hit with her!  However, the best part about these little guys is easy carrots in the belly.

Here's the recipe:

1/4 cup finely grated carrots

1/4 cup rolled oats or Granola

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup wheat germ

1/4 cup sunflower seeds (I left these out because I didn't have any)

1 T. honey

3 T. peanut butter

Mix and roll into balls.  Granola makes these balls more tasty and add a nice crunch.

Pizza--Mediterranean Style

I am not much of a cook, but I think I'm getting better.  Although I've done it a time or twenty, it hardly seems fair that I stay home all day long and then ask Jason, "What's for dinner?" when he comes in the door at 5:30.  Slowly, I am building an arsenal of recipes that I can pull off for weeknight dinners (thankfully, Jason is still the sole chef during the weekend).

Without further ado, here is a recent addition to my "collection":

Mediterranean Patio Pizza

Pampered Chef

Crust:

1 package refrigerated breadsticks (11 oz.)

olive oil

1 garlic clove, pressed

Cheese Spread:

1 can artichoke hearts in water, drained and divided (14 oz)

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

4 oz. feta cheese, crumbled, divided

1/2 tsp. dried oregano leaves

Toppers:

2 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped

1/3 cup pitted ripe olives, sliced

1/3 cup cucumber slices, quartered

1/4 small red onion, sliced into thin wedges

2 tbsp. pine nuts, toasted (optional)

1/4 cup red wine vinegar and oil salad dressing

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 375 F.  For crust, unroll bread stick dough; separate into strips.  In center of round cookie sheet, coil 1 strip of dough around itself in a spiral pattern.  Add second strip to end of first strip and pinch ends; continue coiling dough.  Repeat with remaining dough.  Roll dough to edge with rolling pin to within 1/2 inch of edge of sheet, pressing seams to seal.

2. Lightly coat dough with olive oil and press garlic clove over dough using garlic press, spread evenly.  Bake 14-16 minutes or until golden brown, cool completely.

3. For cheese spread, chop artichokes to make 1/4 cup.  Combine with cream cheese, half of the feta cheese, and oregano; mix well.  Spread mixture evenly over crust.

4.  For toppers, quarter remaining artichoke hearts.  Seed and chop plum tomatoes.  Slice olives and cucumber.  Slide red onion.

5.  Arrange vegetables over cream cheese mixture.  Sprinkle with remaining feta cheese and pine nuts, if desired.  Cut pizza into wedges and drizzle with salad dressing just before serving.

Tonight, I just served it with a simple cracker, fruit, cheese plate and it was perfect!