by Macki on Feb 2nd, 2012 // Dinner, Healthy, Sides

Artichokes are my daughter’s favorite veggie of all. Think about it from a kid’s perspective: it’s a giant, green flower that you can eat with your hands. And you get to dip those lovely, curvy ‘petals’ into something tasty like butter or lemon or a combination of both. And don’t worry about those sharp, prickly parts. Head on over to the Family Kitchen for the perfectly cooked and kid safe artichoke that anyone can prepare…
by Macki on Jan 29th, 2012 // Swell Suppers
Tonight’s supper brings a little Asian flair to the table with Cold Sesame Soba (aka Peanut Butter Noodles) that I’m adding chicken to and serving along side Roasted Baby Bok Choy. We are going to fuse that with a European Ginger Molasses cookie. I think the ginger in the cookie will complement the dinner nicely and will lead to great satisfaction by all.

To get started with this meal, make the ginger molasses cookies. Since they are cookies you can make then with your kids earlier in the day and serve them (after midday sampling) for dessert. The dinner portion of tonight’s supper is going to be quick and easy. Love. We are going to add some chicken to these noodles, so go ahead and get a couple of boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut up, season with salt and pepper and cooking in a pan. Now prepare the sauce and continue following the recipe.

Preheat the oven (or if it takes longer preheat prior to making the sauce). Prep the bok choy and while the noodles are cooking place the bok choy in the oven. Finish the cold sesame soba recipe and mix in the chicken. The bok choy should be ready and your dinner served. Don’t forget the ginger molasses cookies for dessert. Like anyone would forget those!
by Macki on Jan 26th, 2012 // Desserts

After all those nachos and chicken wings and dips you might as well reduce a teeny bit of guilt with these brownies. They’re still a crowd pleaser; we just reduced some fat and sugar. And they’re so easy to make my two year old can do it. And so he did! I helped measured. He poured, stirred and licked. Check out my 2 year old baker over at the Family Kitchen.
by Macki on Jan 22nd, 2012 // Swell Suppers
This photo is making me drool, so much that tonight we are making this dish of Balsamic Tomato and Chicken and serving it with Broccoli and Bow Ties, with one of my favorite Cooking With My Kid Desserts, Chocolate Waffle Sundae. The kids are going to have a blast cooking with the huge pieces of eggplant and and pretty bow pasta and everyone will devour it!
I start this meal at breakfast time. As a treat we make a big batch of the chocolate waffles and each have a square along with some eggs and fruit. There’s always leftover so we pop those into a container in the fridge and wait until dessert -yippee!

Skip to evening when you begin with cooking the balsamic tomato chicken. Follow the recipe and place in the oven. While the chicken is cooking make the broccoli bow ties. The chicken and pasta should be finished at the same time. Viola! Remove the waffles from the fridge and wrap in foil, place in the hot oven, turning the temperature to 250 degrees. After dinner, whip up some whipping cream, melt the chocolate and everyone build a sundae. Now doesn’t that sound swell?
by Macki on Jan 19th, 2012 // Appetizers, Dinner

Recently my friend and a bunch of us celebrated her birthday at Spork Foods, which offers cooking classes and then you get to enjoy the meal – yay! The first course was fresh spring rolls with peanut sauce. (Years ago I cooked fried spring rolls and totally forgot about how greasy they were so I was bit skeptical.) But these were a whole new experience and so easy to make and customize that I knew I had to get the kids involved. Get the full scoop over at the Family Kitchen.