Lemonade Pasta

A summery and light dish that is very good served hot and fresh and sometimes even better served cold (with a little extra oil). This is a recipe for 4-6 people. Add or subtract as you are inspired:

INGREDIENTS

• 8 oz pasta (this works best with thin pasta like capellini, angel hair, spaghetti and fettucini--but I have made it even with gemelli and ditalini).
• 2 lemons
• 10 fresh basil leaves (If you don't have fresh basil, look for another recipe, sorry.)
• 1.5 TBSP olive oil
• 1 small handful of parsley, finely chopt
• Large pinch of brown sugar (just find a fingertip sized clump in your brown sugar and throw it in. No measuring, please)
• Parmigiano to garnish (please know that Kraft parmesan is not parmigiano -- but grano is the closest bargain buy)
• salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Cook the pasta.
2. In a large serving bowl add zest from both lemons, juice from both lemons, oil, brown sugar, chopped parsley, salt (1tsp?) and lots of freshly ground pepper.
3. Chop the basil finely and wait to add it to the lemon mixture until the last minute. I noticed that mine turned brown and looked rather unappetizing when added too early. Add it just before you...
4. Drain the pasta.
5. Add the hot pasta to the large serving bowl
6. Mix very well, it will not do if the bottom half of the bowl is very lemony and the top is quite bland.
7. Add parmigiano (also keep a bowl of shaved or grated fresh parmigiano on the table -- for the bottom half of the bowl might not get enough in the first go)

Serve with seedy, crusty, bread and lemony asparagus or garlicky kale. If you're out of parmigiano and you're a feta kind of person, try it with that. Although, I must warn you that babies only like super fresh feta -- not ΑΤΗΕΝΟΣ or anything you buy in a cute package. If you're in Waco, try D's Mediterranean Chicken for good feta! Apparently the guy who runs that place drives to Houston every week just to buy feta! Stella loves it there but will not eat any grocery store feta.

Check out my other recipes too!

Chamomile Ice Lollies

2 cups medicinal chamomile (steeped 15-20 minutes)
1 tbs honey (for the over-ones)
1 cup apple juice (or whatever juice you have on hand)


Expect one of your children to insist on holding the icey part and suck on the handle. Insisting is to ruffle. Leave it. That rogue child may also try to convert your other children. Just a warning.

Check out my other recipes too.

Milkcoffee

My new thing is cold milk coffee with splenda.

I used old glass baby bottles and baby food jar lids to make it more portable than a traditional cup.

I must admit that even 4 ounces of coffee made me just a bit uncomfortable. I think I will do half-caff next time.




4 oz cold coffee
4 oz vanilla soymilk
1 packet of splenda.

I made four at a time and stored them in the fridge.




And what's a post about milkcoffee without a confession?
I must confess that the thought of having children in matching clothing has suddenly taken me by storm. Strange. I used to think this was a bit much. It's not that I despised it, I just couldn't really see wanting to do it. But wow, I surely do now. Got some matching skirts for the girls this morning at Walmart for cheap! I went in to buy green onions seeds and came out with ... let just say I came out with a bit more than green onion seeds. Now to find out how to get a picture of both of them wearing their skirts.

Deception Can Taste Really Good

Dear Margot,

Those chicken tenders you ate for lunch ... ummmmm ... those we actually vegetarian "Chik'n" tenders by Morning Star Farms. Oh, and that ketchup you were slurping up right and left? That was a special concoction.

I have an idea that you'll thank me when you're forty.
Love,
Mama

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Homemade Ketchup

6 oz tomato paste

1/2 cup pureed carrots

1/4 cup water

2 Tbsp Apple Cider vinegar

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp dry mustard

1/4 tsp ground allspice

1/4 tsp chili powder

Recipe adapted from Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food

this was Stella's face when I told her about all my sneaky tricks

Toddler Friendly Sushi Bowl

Though I am not a real cook, I will share yet another go-to recipe for me. It's so easy and adaptable to toddlers.




photo by shutterbean

Sushi Bowl

1 cup uncooked brown rice
1-2 avocados, cubed
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 firm tofu brick, browned in a dry nonstick skillet (I usually skip simply because it actually takes a bit of time and precision)
1 tbsp Soy Sauce
1 tsp brown rice vinegar
1 huge mound of sesame seeds, roasted

Cook rice (you can make this ahead of time)
Chop onions and avocados

Divide rice into bowls. Add the remaining ingredients to each person's bowl based on preference. Garnish with a generous amount of the seeds.
Start slowly with your toddler. Plain brown rice (with butter, perhaps?). Add seeds next time with the avocado chunks on the side. And on until you work up to the full sushi bowl.

Recipe adapted from Super Natural Cooking, a wonderful resource and highly recommended by me!

Green Lunch

Even though Margot is a veggie loving Queen, I still stress a bit about getting enough green stuff into her. Stella will probably be our problem child in terms of veggies consumed. Our fool proof way to get greens into Margot at lunch time is through quesadillas.

Behold, a baby willingly eating spinach:



Here's what you need

• 1 baby/toddler (or as many as you have running around, preferably with teeth, but I have an extra toothless baby who has been known to eat these too.)
• 2 tortillas per baby (if you're in Texas, the whole wheat ones that HEB makes daily are amazing)
• 2 small handfuls of grated Monterrey jack favorite cheese (or cheddar)
• 1 small handful of spinach
• stove
• 10'' skillet (I use one for every quesadilla, if you have a griddle that would work better for multiples)

DIRECTIONS

1. Lay one tortilla in the skillet
2. Sprinkle with one handful of cheese
3. Lay out the spinach on top of the cheese (careful not to double up the leaves too much at first or he might get suspicious)
4. Sprinkle the other handful of cheese on top
5. Place the other tortilla on top of the cheese
6. Heat skillet to medium high (if you have an electric stove perhaps you should heat the burner and then start the assembly. I'm not sure. You be the judge then leave a comment for the rest of the electric stove users.
7. Set timer for 2.5 minutes
8. Go read my blog
9. Go back and flip
10. Set timer again
11. Go tell all your friends about my blog and get them to read it too.
12. Remove from heat
13. Let stand for 2 minutes.
14. Cut into 8 pieces and ask your toddler if he wants 8 quesadillas. Count "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8!" with great excitement.
15. Serve
16. Stop worrying about greens for the day.

A few variations to add when you have more than 6 minutes flat

-sautéed onions and peppers

-refried beans

-cooked black beans

-small cubed, cooked sweet potato

----If you have more variation ideas leave them in the comments.

I can highly recommend Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food, which was a lovely Christmas gift from my darling sister in law. Thanks, Acadia!

Do you have some tricky veggie-sneaking recipes that you use often? Leave those in the comments, too!

Pasta or Brussels Sprouts

Margot has been the champion of many vegetables since she started eating solid food at 6 months old. She loves broccoli most of all. Tonight I served pasta with a sweet potato sauce and Brussels sprouts on the side. She flatly refused to eat one bite of the pasta and continued eating the sprouts as longs as I kept providing them.

I'm so sorry that the video doesn't show her disgusted face when she tries the pasta. I'm no videographer.

I should report that Jeff ate all the pasta and refused to eat Brussels sprouts until I questioned his masculinity (in jest). Only then would he eat one (tiny tiny tiny) sprout, gagging and calling out "foul!!" all the way down. Stella had crawled into the entry hall and was chewing on the bottoms of our shoes during all of this. The very loud and obnoxious noise during the video is Jeff opening up a box full of spinach to augment my nice healthy dinner with something more suited to his taste buds.

As a side note, here's the recipe for the pasta dish. I simply steamed the Brussels sprouts for 8 minutes.

8 oz pasta (we used whole wheat pipe rigate)
1/2 cup of sweet potatoes, pureed to a creamy texture (do this ahead of time)
1/4 milk
2 Tbsp Butter
Heaps of grated parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp salt

Cook pasta according to package directions.

In a small bowl whisk together the creamy sweet potato puree, milk, butter, cheese, and salt.

Drain pasta and return to the pot. Simply mix in the sauce.
Drain and return to the pot and stir in the puree.

Green Sweet Potato Pasta

I can't believe that I actually came up with a dish on my own, but I did! We'll see how it looks here on "paper". This is my first recipe to write, so let me know if I need to make any improvements.


Green Sweet Potato Pasta:
10 oz. of spinach fettucini or whole wheat gemelli
7 small sweet potatos or 3 large sweet potatos, scrubbed, peeled, and chopped into half inch cubes
4 heaping handfuls of fresh baby spinach, washed (obviously!)
1 red onion, chopped
1/2 cup of TOASTED walnuts, chopped
2-3 tbsp olive oil
2 teaspoons of salt
2 shakes of garlic salt (or you could just mince a clove and throw it in near the end of the potato cooking process).
1-4 tbsps of water
Pamesan

Cook pasta according to the package directions.

Meanwhile, heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the salt and chopped onion. Cook for 3-5 minutes. Add the chopped sweet potato and the water, cover, and cook for 10 minutes or until the water has evaporated and the potatoes are easily pierced, stirring every 2-3 minutes to make sure each piece of sweet potato has his turn over the flame. Add the mounds of spinach and stir it in. Cover for 2 minutes and then stir again. Repeat this process until the spinach is wilted.

Put the cooked pasta in the bottom of a pretty serving bowl (must be pretty). Transfer the sweet potato mixture to the bowl and garnish with the toasted walnuts and parmesan. Serve and enjoy.

My two year old eats this with gusto. She will eat the "green" all day long. It is not uncommon for her to leave the table with a bowl full of pasta without any veggies in site (since she's eating those first and leaving the pasta for the dogs (metaphorically speaking, we have no dogs)).

And a photo, because what's a photoblog post without a photo?