Parmesan Bread Sticks

Jun 19th, 2010 // Easy Cheats, Recipes, Sides

We had some whole wheat pizza dough in the fridge that really needed to be used up so we decided to make our own breadsticks. (I figured if Pizza Hut can do it, so can I!) It’s really so simple it probably shouldn’t even count as one of our 365 recipes.

My kid got a little over zealous with the Parmesan, but it turned out to be a good thing because the bottom of the bread sticks got a nice Parmesan crust. Mmmm. They tasted great on their own and even better dipped in marinara. Now for the recipe… Read more after the jump…

Hide & Seek Hamburgers

Jun 18th, 2010 // Dinner, Picky Busters, Recipes

Believe it or not, I have never been able to get my kid to eat hamburgers… until now. We accomplished this culinary feat by using our favorite new pickiness buster – kid sizing it! First, we bought mini hamburger buns and then I upped the anti by rolling the ground beef into mini meat balls and inviting my kid to “hide” a cube of cheese in the middle. I covered up the evidence, shaped it like a patty and fired up the grill. Of course, the cheese in the middle melted and my kid just loved biting into the mini burger looking for the hidden cheese. He ate two burgers and had so much fun doing it!

It should be noted that I used organic, grass fed ground beef for this recipe. I really prefer the taste and peace of mind, but I do find that this kind of meat cooks faster and it needs to be watched closely. Also, I should probably admit that I liked this meal as much as my kid did. Mini burgers are so awesome! Now for the recipe… Read more after the jump…

Rainbow Broccoli Parmesan

Jun 17th, 2010 // Healthy, Picky Busters, Recipes, Sides

O.M.G. How have I not noticed these beautiful kid-tastic veggies before today? Discovering this broccoli cauliflower mix in the produce section of Trader Joe’s was like a dream come true. My kid immediately started referring to it as “Rainbow Broccoli” and he simply could not wait to make it for dinner.

The medley contains traditional green broccoli and white cauliflower but mixes things up by including orange, purple and light green varieties. The mix comes in a ready-to-steam package. While that sounds very convenient, we wanted to do something a bit more interesting with it.  After making it, we decided to toss our Rainbow Broccoli Parmesan with whole wheat pasta and made an entire meal out of it. Now for the recipe… Read more after the jump…

Grilled Artisanal Pizza

Jun 16th, 2010 // Dinner, Recipes, Veggie Friendly

Living in Brooklyn (walking distance from Grimaldi’s no less) made us pizza snobs. We crave that that thin crunchy crust that stands up when you hold it. You really can’t find that in LA except maybe at Mozza. But truth be told, the restaurant is not very kid-friendly and you need a reservation just to eat pizza! The take out simply does not hold up well. ! We had practically given up on having good thin crust NY style pizza until a friend suggested we try grilling our own. I’ll admit it took a few tries to get it right, but once we did it blew our socks off. Especially my kid who thought that grilling a pizza was just about the coolest thing ever!

The key to making this pizza taste great is getting the dough as thin as possible. This the perfect activity for my kid because likes to roll and roll and roll. We also found that punching the rolled out dough just before grilling comes in handy. The punching is what takes it from round to “artisanal”! That’s my way of saying, that the pizza doesn’t look perfect. But, alas, it’s the taste that matters most. I must warn  you that this is just the beginning of what is going to be a long summer of pizza parties! Get ready for some fun twists on the traditional pizza toppings! Now for the recipe… Read more after the jump…

Fresh Strawberry Lemonade

Jun 15th, 2010 // Drinks, Holiday, Kid-tastic, Picky Busters, Recipes

It seems that strawberry lemonade is popping up everywhere this season. First we saw it at the pier, then at a party and just yesterday Trader Joe’s had a huge display of it. With July 4th right around the corner, I thought we’d see if we could make our own version. I looked for recipes online, but they all seemed to have tons of sugar. We decided to do a little recipe experimentation of our own instead.

My kid is crazy for anything strawberry and you already know he loves the blender so he was fired up for some mixology. We decided to use agave nectar as our sweetener of choice. It is better for you than sugar and is also much more cooperative about blending into liquid. Turns out agave was a good choice. The lemonade was sweet and tart and delicious. We’ll be making a pitcher of this for our independence day celebration. It’s the perfect festive Fourth of July recipe! Now for the recipe…

Read more after the jump…