After School Snacks

I'm on a quest to find a HEALTHY after school snack that my kids will like and want to eat. My son has eating "issues" that I've talked about quite a bit - his food repertoire is VERY limited, although it grows every day. He would just as soon NOT eat than eat something he doesn't really like. We try to stay to a pretty strict time schedule when it comes to eating so that no one gets ravenously hungry or misses dinner because of snacking all day long. My daughter can have a glass of milk at 4:00 and not be hungry for dinner. She also gets VERY cranky when she is hungry, and hasn't quite made the connection yet. Although she did comment, when Carlotta from the Phantom of the Opera is throwing a fit, "SHE must not have had BREAKFAST today! SHE is GRUMPY!"
They eat crackers and cheese or a little fruit every single day. I need something new!! I made the recipe for Peanut Butter Granola Balls from Everyday Food, but I'm surprised at how much honey is in them! They are VERY sweet. My daughter didn't like them because she didn't like the oatmeal, although she LOVES oatmeal and granola, and my son wouldn't even try them.
I would like to be able to make a batch Sunday afternoon or Monday morning, and have them all week. They need to be at least SORT of healthy - would be great if I could sneak in something they don't usually eat, and need to be NOT sugar with sugar on top. I mean, I could just buy a bag of cookies if they are going to eat rice crispy treats or something.
This is a page from Martha. Most of them are either things the kids won't eat, or too dessert-y for what I'm looking for.
I think something like this would be a great thing to bring to a friend with a new baby, too. I'm still grabbing anything just to stop the hunger when I'm running out the door, or swamped with things to do here. It would be nice to have something healthy on hand.
I'm going to keep digging and see if I can find something. Any ideas?

VODKA sauce!

I made the Baked Pasta with Chicken Sausage I wrote about earlier - FANTASTIC!!! And it is pasta, sausage, and VODKA SAUCE!! Creamy, lovely, yumminess. The fontina cheese cost about $9 - a little spendy, but stretched out over 4-6 meals, not THAT bad. You could probably substitute mozzarella as a cheaper alternative, but it wouldn't have the amazing smoothness. The amount of sausage is perfect for the needed texture, and you can't even taste the spinach (I'm not a fan). I'm dying to read the book Are You There Vodka? It's Me Chelsea Hell, I'm dying to drink VODKA again - this is cooked down, but I got to smell it as it did.

I doubled the recipe so I could stock our freezer a little, too. For some reason, I am ALWAYS using the wrong size pans. This time I used the biggest ones I had, and I was still overflowing. I ended up having to combine all of the ingredients in one giant bowl and the pasta pot in two sessions. The spinach has some trouble distributing, it kept clumping into big green balls, but cooking it in the pasta water is pretty genius, I think. I took one dish to my new parent friends, we had one for dinner, and I have 3 more in my freezer for non cooking nights!

My kids even gobbled it up. Well, Miss Mae gobbled it up, Henry wasn't quite as excited, but he did eat the noodles, and FINALLY tried a piece of sausage after which he screamed "that was a HOT DOG!!!! Why didn't you tell my they were HOT DOGS!?!?!?" I guess I didn't make the connection. Then he filled himself up with fruit and cheese....

A good crusty bread would go great with this one, too. A great dinner to take to someone would be a dish of this, a loaf of bread, and a salad.

So, my summation:

• Great dinner - yummy, creamy, goodness


• Kid friendly


• Good iron and roughage with spinach


• Can make with little effort


• Great freezing dish


• Used quite a few dishes, so cleanup wasn't GREAT (and what is it with washing melty cheese?? sheesh, it was EVERYWHERE in my sink)


• Lots of cheese if giving to a brand new mom - better for a "couple of weeks down the road" dish


• Most likely quite high in fat and calories with all of the cream, cheese, and sausage.

Another attempt at dinner for new parents

I'm sitting here downing glass after glass of water with lemon in it in preparation for my latest doc appt. After last week's "woooow, big jump this month!?" comment about my weight, I'm trying anything I can. I know it doesn't negate the giant box of Good and Plenty's I inhaled last night, but a girl can hope. I'm also going to change into the LIGHTEST clothes I own. It is sad. I know.

So I'm attempting another recipe for dear friends of ours who have just recently had a baby boy. This one has a bit of cheese in it, but he is almost a month old, so it should be okay for mom. The recipe says it is enough to make one, freeze one, so I'm going to double it and have it for dinner for us, and put a couple in the freezer as well. I'll bring it to them in a freezer container, so they can do the same or bake it now - whichever is more convenient.

I found this one on Martha, I still adore her. The recipe is for Baked Pasta with Chicken Sausage and has spinach - healthy and impossible for me to eat if not completely incorporated into something else, sausage - makes Mr. friend happy, pasta - kids happy, and cream and cheese - ME happy.

I'm not going to post the whole recipe, but it is on Martha along with all of the great comments people write in. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow!

Chicken Thighs

No, this is not a reference to the state of my preggo thighs, although I could go OFF on that as well... It is instead a review of the recipe I posted below. WOW is this GOOD!! Great flavor, great texture, great smell. It is kind of cold here in Portland today, and my house smells like Thanksgiving. ALMOST makes me crave the change in season. Wait. NO IT DOESN'T!

So as a recipe for new parents/families, this doesn't really work at all, unless you live quite close, or have some sort of way to keep something warm. I like to be able to drop of a COLD meal, and let the family pop it in the oven at their convenience. This IS a one pot meal, but it is on the stove, and when it is done, it is done. I imagine it would freeze alright, but I don't think it would be as good as the night it is made. However, as a new addition to my repertoire (yes, I’ve adopted it) it is SO great! The soft texture of the beans with the chewy kielbasa and the tender chicken is perfect. And the bread crumb topping gives it a little crunch while soaking up some of the liquid and making it even thicker. YUM. I made it in my Le Cruset, though, I can't imagine a skillet that could handle this much food, and I am always having trouble keeping everything in a skillet anyway. We had it with market fresh green beans and asparagus (and peaches and carrots for the kids) I also recommend a nice chewy loaf of bread along side.

My husband liked it even though he has a 'thing' about "stew-type-meals", my daughter ate quite a bit, and I loved it. Henry wouldn't even try it. Not even for an extra X on his meal chart. (I’ve talked about his eating 'issues' on here a little. He DID however eat an entire piece of asparagus!! So that was a bonus. He said he loved it, however, one piece was quite enough thank you, and he still got his X for the night.

SO, my summation is:

• GREAT dinner,
• Not too expensive,
• Goes quite far,
• Lovely smell,
• Not too many dishes to clean (even with all of the "make this and set aside" parts)
• NOT GREAT as a meal to take to a new family unless you live close or they are sitting at the table waiting for it.

Recipes For Families With New Babies at Home??

SO many people I know are having babies right now! (Including me in a couple of months…) It is such a giant help to have people bring food when you are home those first few weeks by yourself with this new little person, and I love to bring food to my friends. The problem? My cooking skills have seriously taken a nose dive since starting our family almost 6 years ago. The woman who used to make fresh pasta for FUN, now hardly takes the time to boil the spiderman shaped ones for my kids. I used to be a serious foodie – loved finding new recipes and trying them out on my husband and friends, loved hitting the newest restaurants in town, and took pride in how well I knew them and who the chefs were, where they used to work, etc. etc.

Now?? Now I can name the top 5 restaurants in town that have playrooms and train tables. The food is generally not great, and usually overpriced, but in them we can actually finish a meal in some kind of normalcy. Okay, we are wolfing down the not so great food between taking turns dashing to the play area to make sure no trains are being thrown or some other unsupervised kid isn’t bashing my kid’s head with the previously thrown train. BUT, I digress.

The point is, I’m trying desperately to find great meals to deliver to new parents, and I think there are certain criteria to follow:

1. It must be easy to prepare, and easier for the new parents to prepare. One dish meals are the best I think – they can pop them in the oven and eat whenever the new kiddo decides to bless them with sleep.


2. Having been through different kinds of births, and all of the lovely AFTER birth joys they bring, the food should be HEALTHY. HIGH FIBER. HIGH nutritional bang for its buck.


3. As most moms are breast feeding these days (and even if they aren’t, see #2 above) they should be low in GAS producing ingredients.


4. Freezable would be nice. How great to be able to just throw it in the freezer if 3 friends decide to drop by on the same night with dinner.


5. Family friendly – for those families who already have kiddos, it is much better to offer something they will be interested in, as well – maybe not your famous burn-your-tongue-off crock pot chili.


6. Something DIFFERENT. I mean, how many baked pasta and tuna casseroles can a family eat no matter how convenient??


7. Finally, the very best recipes are ones I can double or even triple so I can feed my own family without having to make another dinner, and even throw one in the freezer for when our new little one comes.

Sound easy to find these recipes? I’m having a heck of a time! Most things I find online are loaded with cheese (again, see #2 above), or one can of this and one can of that with some rice – not so palatable to me… I thought I’d do some good research, and if any of you can write in and help, we’ll get a great list going.

I’ll try them out and deliver to my new family friends and try them out here, and report back to you. YOU try them out and report back to me!

Here’s the first one from Food Network’s website:

Cassoulet-Style Chicken Thighs
Classic cassoulet recipes can take days to make and of course contain rashers of duck, smoked meats and the like. This version keeps it simple and not quite so rich with one skillet, healthier ingredients like low-fat kielbasa, and just 45 minutes to prepare.

2 15-ounce cans white beans, rinsed
3/4 cup fresh whole-wheat breadcrumbs (see Tip)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of fat and cut into thirds
1 large onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup water
1/2 pound low-fat turkey kielbasa, sliced into 1/2-inch pieces
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

Put 1/2 cup beans in a small bowl and mash with a fork. Add the remaining beans and set aside.
Toss breadcrumbs with 1 tablespoon oil in a small bowl. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the breadcrumbs and cook, stirring often, until golden and crisp, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil in the skillet over medium heat. Add chicken in a single layer and cook until browned, turning once, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate.
Add onion and garlic to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Add rosemary, thyme and pepper and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add wine, increase heat to high and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits, until the wine has reduced by about half, 1 to 2 minutes. Add broth, water, kielbasa, the reserved beans and chicken; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until the chicken is cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes. Top with the toasted breadcrumbs and parsley.
To make fresh breadcrumbs: Trim crusts from firm sandwich bread. Tear bread into pieces and process in a food processor into coarse crumbs. One slice of bread makes about 1/3 cup crumbs.

Nutrition Information
Nutritional Analysis Per serving
Calories 370
Carbohydrate Servings 1
Carbohydrates 40 g
Protein 29 g
Fat 13 g
Saturated Fat 3 g
Cholesterol 68 g
Monounsaturated Fat 6 g
Dietary Fiber 10 g
Sodium 749 mg
Potassium 631 mg
Exchanges 2 starch, 1 vegetable, 4 lean meat
Nutrition Bonus Fiber (41% daily value), Folate (37% dv), Iron (20% dv).

I’m going to go shopping tomorrow, and i'll make it on Tuesday – I’ll let you know how it turns out! (white beans aren’t as "musical" as other beans, right??)