Feed Your Kids – Page 46 – The leading authority on basketball cupcakes and Basil-Lime martinis…

Cheese and fruit (with wine!)

We had a big lunch today, so just came home and had some chunks of Tuscan melon, Kaltbach cave-aged Gruyere Swiss cheese and some Archetype Australian Shiraz for a light, “snacky” dinner. The melon was perfectly ripe, the cheese was delectably salty, with those little “crystals” that crunch when you eat aged cheese (like in … Continue reading “Cheese and fruit (with wine!)”

We had a big lunch today, so just came home and had some chunks of Tuscan melon, Kaltbach cave-aged Gruyere Swiss cheese and some Archetype Australian Shiraz for a light, “snacky” dinner. The melon was perfectly ripe, the cheese was delectably salty, with those little “crystals” that crunch when you eat aged cheese (like in Parmigiano Reggiano), and the wine was perfectly fruity. Simple, easy and delightful.

Coconut-Crusted Chicken Tenders

Coconut-Crusted Chicken Tenders adapted from Cooking Light magazine (April 2008) 1 package chicken tenders (I don’t remember how many pounds – maybe a little over 1 pound? – my package was, but it had about 16 tenders in it) 1 1/2 cups fat-free buttermilk all-purpose flour (about 1 1/2 or 2 cups) 3 large eggs, … Continue reading “Coconut-Crusted Chicken Tenders”

Coconut-Crusted Chicken Tenders

adapted from Cooking Light magazine (April 2008)

1 package chicken tenders
(I don’t remember how many pounds – maybe a little over 1 pound? – my package was, but it had about 16 tenders in it)
1 1/2 cups fat-free buttermilk
all-purpose flour (about 1 1/2 or 2 cups)
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups crushed cornflakes
1 1/2 cups flaked sweetened coconut
2 tsp. garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
Cooking spray

Put chicken in a lidded resealable plastic container or plastic bag. Pour buttermilk over the chicken and refrigerate for 1 hour. After 1 hour, pour off the buttermilk and discard it.

Place the flour in a shallow bowl. Place the eggs in another shallow bowl. Combine coconut, cornflakes, garlic powder, salt, curry powder and cayenne and place in another shallow bowl.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a large cookie sheet with cooking spray (olive or canola) and place it in the oven.

Roll all of the chicken tenders in the flour, one at a time, and set them aside on a large plate, platter (or use a second cookie sheet).

One at a time, dip each flour-coated chicken tender into the egg and then into the cornflake/coconut mixture, turning to coat well. As you finish each tender, set it aside on the platter or baking sheet until they are all coated.

Remove the preheated baking sheet from the oven and carefully place the chicken tenders on it. Spray the tenders lightly with cooking spray. Bake for about 20 minutes, turning over halfway through the cooking time.

These were DELICIOUS and a big hit with all of us. Girl said that they were a little bit spicy, but they’re really aren’t hot so much as flavorful. If you are concerned about the amount of spice for your family, just cut back the cayenne and curry a tiny bit. I am going to try to come up with some sort of dipping sauce for them the next time that I make them. This recipe would be GREAT made with butterflied shrimp, instead of chicken, but shellfish doesn’t fly with Hubby. Maybe sometime when Hubby and Girl are both out of the house…

Ace, giving Jack a “bath”

Top Chef Chicago – It’s a GIRL!

I was exhausted last night and fell asleep before I could finish watching the Top Chef finale, so I’ve just finished and I’m SO pleased. I never quite got “into” this season as much as I have the others, but by the end, I thought that the finalists were all really qualified to be there. … Continue reading “Top Chef Chicago – It’s a GIRL!”

I was exhausted last night and fell asleep before I could finish watching the Top Chef finale, so I’ve just finished and I’m SO pleased. I never quite got “into” this season as much as I have the others, but by the end, I thought that the finalists were all really qualified to be there. I’m going to do some searching later for the recipe for Lisa’s Tom Kha soup recipe. It sounded fabulous.

Can’t wait to see what they do next season!

Cat Toilet-training final update

The cats are now toilet trained. Halle-freakin-lujah. Completely trained. No more liners, no more bowls, no more litter. They are using JUST the toilet. We have an automatic flushing device installed that even takes care of the flushing for them. And they’re not scared of it….anymore. I am SO proud and pleased, both of myself and of them. I figure, if I can train three cats, with very different habits, personalities and intelligence levels, to use the toilet…AT THE SAME TIME, I can do ANYTHING. It did take about 7 months, in all, due mostly to inconsistent technique on my part. It definitely went slower with 3 cats than it would have with just one, because we had to wait until ALL of them were ready before we could proceed into another “stage.” If it had been up to Jack, the training would have been done 6 months ago, but Queenie, on the other hand, probably would not have been trainable at all if it hadn’t been for the example that her brothers set. Anyway, we’re DONE.

Also, be aware that you should not be afraid to use the toilet at our house: they are only using the toilet in the master bathroom. They may, someday, figure out that all toilets are the same and start using the others, too, but they definitely associate their toileting behavior with our bathroom, so it hasn’t happened yet. In any case, the toilet seat stays absolutely clean, anyway, because they are completely indoor cats that no longer scratch around in litter, so their feet are at least as clean as my floors (since that’s all they walk on). Disclaimer: some days, my floors are in better shape than others. 🙂 In any case, they are not using any bathroom that guests are likely to use, ever. I will take some new videos and post them soon, for anyone that is interested.

High-fives and back-slaps all around!

S’mores Bars

Mmmm…. I have a Williams Sonoma Kids Baking cookbook that I’ve had set aside for a while now, thinking it would be fun to do some baking with the kids over the summer. Well, now that summer is here, I thought that I would make these for dessert with Boy and Girl last night. Of … Continue reading “S’mores Bars”

Mmmm….

I have a Williams Sonoma Kids Baking cookbook that I’ve had set aside for a while now, thinking it would be fun to do some baking with the kids over the summer. Well, now that summer is here, I thought that I would make these for dessert with Boy and Girl last night. Of course, we had them all prepared (no baking!) and ready to go and then saw in the recipe: “Let chill at least 4 hours before serving.”. Boo! Hiss!

So, anyway, we didn’t get to enjoy them until lunchtime today, but they were scrumptious. I can’t find a link to the recipe online and, for legal reasons, don’t want to copy/retype the recipe from the cookbook, but the basic gist is:
1) Graham cracker crust (similar to a cheesecake crust, with melted butter mixed in, but no baking). Line the pan with buttered foil.
2) Melt some chocolate chips with a can of Eagle Brand (about a half-and-half ratio, with a little vanilla and a pinch of salt) and spread that over the crust.
3) Sprinkle mini marshmallows and large chunks of graham crackers. Chill for 4 hours. Use the foil to lift the entire (8 X 8) pan of bars out and cut with a sharp knife into 16 pieces.

I would highly recommend this cookbook, for anyone with kids that are burgeoning “foodies”. It has lots of fun-looking recipes for things like Chocolate Crinkle Cookies, Homemade Pretzels, Ice Cream Cake and Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake. Keep an eye out for us to try more of these soon.

Stuff-Your-Own-Pita Night

Occasionally, when I’ve been cooking a lot and we have a large variety of leftovers around the house, I’ll pull everything out of the fridge and set it on our kitchen island, put out plates and let everyone choose what things they want. This is always a big hit, especially with Boy and Girl. Tonight, I did a variation of leftover night: “Stuff-Your-Own-Pita Night”. I made some meatballs (spiced with cumin, cinnamon and a bit of cayenne, with some garlic, finely chopped red onion and cottage cheese mixed in) and tzatziki and grilled some halloumi and then pulled out everything else that we had around and let the family dig in.

The options were (from top left, going clockwise):
Israeli Couscous salad, diced zucchini and yellow squash (leftover from making the salad), baby carrots, Parisian carrots, fresh romaine, pitas, diced bell pepper (also leftover from making the salad), leftover grilled romaine, grilled halloumi, leftover grilled chicken, leftover Buttermilk-Chive dressing, “Cherub” tomatoes, tzatziki, leftover grilled onion, spiced beef meatballs.

Here’s how I chose, for my dinner:

Yummy!

Disney World June 2008

We (just Boy, Girl and I because Hubby had to stay behind and work) recently went on a trip to Orlando with my mother, her brother and his 3 1/2 year old grandson (who is my 2nd cousin). It was a quick trip, but was a lot of fun. Boy and Girl really enjoyed spending time with Cousin M, since they don’t get to see him very often. He is a real charmer and is a beautiful little boy (although he spent much of the trip pretending to be a hippopotamus). It’s no wonder that he’s cute, though – his dad (my first cousin) used to be a model and his mom is beautiful, too.

Grilled Romaine Salad with Buttermilk-Chive Dressing

I saw this recipe in Southern Living magazine last year and thought that it looked good. We added some Baby Bam croutons and it was pretty yummy, although the photo on Southern Living’s site is better than mine. We also sliced up the onions after grilling them, because the kids aren’t into big chunks of … Continue reading “Grilled Romaine Salad with Buttermilk-Chive Dressing”

I saw this recipe in Southern Living magazine last year and thought that it looked good. We added some Baby Bam croutons and it was pretty yummy, although the photo on Southern Living’s site is better than mine. We also sliced up the onions after grilling them, because the kids aren’t into big chunks of onion (although cutting them was difficult, because the olive oil made them slippery!).

My brother was the first person to tell me about grilling romaine. He saw Alton Brown make this recipe on his show and said it looked good, so I’m going to give that one a try soon. All in all, this salad was good (the grilled onions were deliciously sweet) and the dressing was yummy, but it would have been equally good with plain, ungrilled romaine. The grilling is just kind of a novelty. The Alton Brown recipe, however, adds a crunchy, grilled parmesan crustiness that might make the grilling worthwhile (and that whole “frozen vinegar crystals” thing sounds really cool).

We served this salad with Sweet and Sour BBQ chicken tenders and some “Parisian” carrots. The carrots are odd and have a long (and a bit embarrassing) explanation. Every year, I make a big lunch for Boy and Girl’s teachers. One of the dishes that I make is a green bean and yellow wax bean salad. Fresh green beans and especially the yellow wax beans are hard to come by, so I buy a frozen yellow and green bean blend (HEB’s “Prince Edward Medley), which also happens to contain the little, round “Parisian” carrots. So…in order to make the bean dish, I have to sort out the carrots (Girl helped this year) and I save them for future use, like tonight, when I micro-steamed them in some chicken stock and sprinkled them with….you guessed it….Baby Bam.

Israeli Couscous Salad with Summer Vegetables and Lime Vinaigrette

Israeli Couscous Salad with Summer Vegetables and Lime Vinaigrette This recipe is from Family Fun magazine. I tore it out a looooooong time ago and have been meaning to try it. We usually do Israeli couscous a little simpler, like this, but this recipe came together really quickly and is pretty tasty. I did make … Continue reading “Israeli Couscous Salad with Summer Vegetables and Lime Vinaigrette”

Israeli Couscous Salad with Summer Vegetables and Lime Vinaigrette

This recipe is from Family Fun magazine. I tore it out a looooooong time ago and have been meaning to try it. We usually do Israeli couscous a little simpler, like this, but this recipe came together really quickly and is pretty tasty. I did make a few modifications:

I toasted the couscous in a pan with a miniscule amount of olive oil before boiling it. Also, I sauteed the squash and zucchini (in the same pan, with a bit of olive oil, just after toasting the couscous), instead of boiling it, because, boiling? Ewww.

Tasty, easy and a hit with all four of us, but it needs something. I will be making it again and I think I’ll again some lightly sauteed (with the squashes) garlic and/or onion and maybe some frozen (thawed) baby peas and grated carrot. It would make a really nice main dish (great for a potluck!) with some grilled and chilled, chopped chicken. Maybe a little chopped cucumber and/or tomato (halved grape tomatoes?), too?

Yum….