Smoothies

You can’t mess up a smoothie. You can’t. It’s a fact. So much so that I let my son choose many of the ingredients AND how much to put in. All you need is vanilla yogurt, a little sugar, a few ice cubes and some fruit. While I place a few dollops of yogurt in the blender I let Seth pick out three frozen fruits. He’s allowed one scoop of sugar with a tablespoon and however many ice cubes and pieces of fruit he wants. Granted I did once have to convince him that frozen corn doesn’t work well in a smoothie. Which I suppose goes against my first statement, but you knew I was exaggerating. Here’s a couple more tips:

1. If your doing this with a child, have everything ready prior to inviting the kiddo to join you. I turned around to get a spoon and when I turned back Seth had his finger in the yogurt container. I told him I would take the smoothie away if he stuck his finger in there again. The next time I turned around to grab something he stuck his tongue in there.
2. When fruit such as berries, bananas and peaches are starting to go bad freeze them for smoothies later. Clean and chop them the size you would want for the blender. If you have more than a couple consider freezing them in a single layer prior to bagging to avoid them freezing to each other. Something like a banana could simply be peeled, broken in half and frozen separately. Then you could toss one half in your next smoothie.
3. If you have a side by side or bottom freezer keep all the containers of fruit in one easily accessible spot for the budding chef to choose from.

Oops! Forgot to take a picture before we drank it all. Boy was that yummy!

Veggie pizza

We like our pizza in this household, be it delivered sneakily after the kids go to bed or our own homemade version. Once a week Steve and I take it easy by feeding the kids and putting them to bed a little early. Then we order some type of delivery and hunker down to watch a movie. It’s like a mini date night and I love it. Other nights we make our own for the whole family. Here’s the recipe for a no sauce veggie pizza we like to indulge in. It’s based off a pizza our friend Rebecca used to make.

Ingredients:

• Purchased or homemade crust - here we’re using Pillsbury’s pizza crust in a tube, but we’ve made our own and used a number of purchased premade varieties.
• 1 small tomato, chopped (de-seed 1st if your so inclined)
• 1/2 a small zucchini, chopped
• 1/2 a sweet bell pepper, chopped - here I used an orange one, but any color will do
• goat cheese
• mozzarella
• 1 tbsp oregano
• 2 tbsp pine nuts

1. Prepare/make crust
2. Scatter veggies across crust
3. Dollop goat cheese here and there
4. Sprinkle mozzarella across - not too much, just enough to hold the veggies on
5. Sprinkle with oregano and pine nuts
6. Bake according to crust directions - usually about 10 to 15 minutes
7. Enjoy!

While I’m not an advocate of making children a different meal than the adults on a normal basis. This is one case were it’s not too big of a deal. It’s next to impossible to convince Seth to eat large chunks of vegetables interspersed with dollops of goat cheese so we cut a little crust off and made him a more traditional pepperoni pizza.

What did Eleanor eat? Pureed fresh avocado. Yum! If there had been any tortilla chips on hand I’m not sure it would have gotten to her highchair.

My Favorite Stir-fry

My husband makes a great stir fry. Here’s the recipe he’s developed over the years:

1. Stir fry ½ lb chicken in olive oil until cooked mostly through.
2. Add 2 to 3 cups of chopped veggies; such as a combination of red pepper, green pepper & zucchini. Cook until veggies are soft.
   
3. Add 1/2 cup unsalted, roasted cashew pieces.
4. Pour peanut sauce over. How much is up to you, I like it rather saucy. Our preferred brand is San-J’s Mildly Spicy Thai Peanut Stir-fry & Dipping Sauce.

Veggie version? Substitute one of the following for the chicken:

• Tofu
• Chick peas
• A sturdy vegetable such as broccoli

Serve over good rice.

Fish stick hot dish!

Here you go - the fish stick hot dish recipe as requested:

Mix together:

• 1 small container of sour cream (your call on fat content)
• Mashed potatoes made from flakes with a little less liquid than the box states (I’m guessing here - but make about 4 servings)
• 1 box of frozen spinach, thawed

Spread mixture across bottom of a lasagna pan. Top with fish sticks in a single layer and bake according to fish stick package directions.

Note: The reason you use less liquid in the potatoes is that you get some from the thawed spinach. It would get too runny if you used the regular amount of water.

Suggestion: Why not gourmatize it? (Yes, I realize that’s not a word but you get my drift) Make the mashed potatoes from scratch and top with lightly breaded cod or other white fish. Let me know if you do this, I would be interested in the result.

This recipe has kind of traveled around the family so I’m not sure whom to give credit. Could be a magazine, family member or cookbook. If anyone knows please leave a comment.