Easy Apple Pie

Jul 13th, 2010 // Desserts, Easy Cheats, Recipes

A few weeks ago, my brother met a Trader Joe’s executive at a BBQ. He promptly told the exec about my blog and my love of TJ’s. I dreamed of that guy getting in touch with me and giving me a big fat gift card to Trader Joe’s so that I could continue to pimp their food on my blog. Nothing of the sort happened (he probably didn’t even remember the name of the blog) but here I go again, yammering on about how easy Trader Joe’s makes my life.

This pie crust is so good that sometimes I feel like it’s not really worth making my own. My kid liked stretching it out into the pie plate and also enjoyed continually eating the apples we had prepared for the pie — right up until the moment it was closed up and crimped. Now for the recipe…

Read more after the jump…

Crunchy Asian Slaw

Jul 12th, 2010 // Healthy, Sides, Veggie Friendly

My friend Andrea (who throws the world’s best dinner parties) introduced me to this new, amazing cookbook The Family Chef: Make Your Kitchen the Heart of Your Family. It is written by a pair of sisters and is filled with easy to follow, fresh recipes. The best part about the book is that several of the recipes have two variations – one from each sister. Two recipes with the same basic set of ingredients is brilliant because you can use up what you’ve purchased 2x in one week. This particular recipe is inspired by the book; although I did change it up quite a bit.

Here’s the the real reason I decided to make it with my kid: it says to put all the ingredients in a jar and “shake it up!” I knew my kid would go crazy for that no matter what we were making. I just had to make sure the lid was on VERY TIGHT before handing it over. I served this slaw over grilled salmon and it was quite tasty. Now for the recipe… Read more after the jump…

Gooey Marshmallow Brownies

Jul 11th, 2010 // Desserts, Easy Cheats, Recipes

We had some folks over for a BBQ this weekend and I planned to make old-school boxed brownies but my kid loves marshmallows so much that he asked to make something with them. (Truth be told, I think he just wanted to be able to eat the marshmallows while we were cooking.)

These brownies are super easy to make but they are really difficult to cut. The marshmallows stick to the knife – so be sure to use a liberal amount of cooking spray on your knife before cutting into squares. Be patient. It’s worth it. Now for the recipe… Read more after the jump…

Baked Banana Nut Oatmeal

Jul 10th, 2010 // Breakfast, Healthy

This morning we woke up to some overly ripe bananas and since we’ve already made banana bread (2x) and banana muffins, I suggested we mash them up in some oatmeal. My kid responded with “how about baked oatmeal?” and a new breakfast recipe was born!

My kid loves it when we bake a really big batch of oatmeal so that he can have it for several mornings in a row. He really liked the Peaches & Cream Oatmeal we made, but now it has some competition! The last thing he mentioned before drifting off to sleep tonight was having more baked banana oatmeal in the morning. This kind of oatmeal lasts for several days in the fridge and gets more and more casserole-like as the days progress. Now for the recipe… Read more after the jump…

Polenta Pizza Stackers

Jul 9th, 2010 // Appetizers, Sides, Veggie Friendly

This was my first week back to work since I had the baby. Today I came home to a hungry baby and an even hungrier little boy. It was hard to resist the urge to make chicken nuggets but we managed to pull together something just as kid friendly! My kid actually named this recipe himself. As soon as he saw what we were doing he said “these look like mini pizza stacks!” Cute.

Pre-made polenta is great food for practicing young knife skills. It’s also very versatile and has a very long shelf life so it’s the perfect thing to keep in the house. It also tastes pretty darn good – especially smothered in sauce and cheese. My kid agreed. Now for the recipe… Read more after the jump…