Chocolate Hazelnut Hummus

Hazelnut butter is the only nut butter that I’ve tried that might give peanut butter a run for it’s money. It’s just so good. So it was almost inevitable that my hummus experimentation would end with Nutella inspired hazelnut hummus. It was way better than the peanut butter hummus. I ended up leaving it a little chunkier than I usually do with hummus which gave it a really nutty feel. I ate the whole batch with apples for dipping (over a few days of course!) And I didn’t even share. Yes, it is that good.

Hazelnut butter is not as easy to find as peanut butter or even almond butter. In the superstore by my house you can find it in the aisle with the organic food, soy, and gluten free products. Not in the peanut butter and jam aisle.

Chocolate Hazelnut Hummus Recipe
1 can (16 oz) Chickpeas ; rinsed and drained
4 Tbsp Hazelnut butter or 2 TBSP hazelnut butter and 2 Tbsp peanut butter (I just used a big spoon – more if desired)
1/2 teaspoon Sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup cocoa powder
4 Tbsp maple syrup (you can adjust this to taste (2-8 Tbsp)
1/2- 3/4 cup Water (depending on the texture desired)

Cooking with the Kids
The kids can:

• Measure and pour the ingredients
• Rinse the chickpeas and put them in the food processor
• Run the food processor (with supervision)

Directions 1. Drain and rinse the chickpeas. 2. Add all the ingredients to the food processor (you can use a blender, but it’s not really  not as effective. I have tried and don’t recommend it. I ended up buying a food processor so I could make hummus). 3. Run the food processor until the hummus starts to appear to bounce up and down (this won’t take a really long time) . Alternatively just check it every 10 seconds or so. You’ll want to scrape off the sides of the food processor because I find some chickpeas tend to stick to the sides and then give it another quick blend. If you are finding it’s not as well mixed or creamy as you would like just add another 1/4 cup of water.

Serving Ideas With apple slices, as a sandwich spread, sauce on a dessert pizza, on crackers, with pita

Making Muffins– Whole Wheat Pumpkin Ginger Nut Muffins

I don’t bake very often. I like baking. In fact it used to be one of my favorite things to do when I was stressed. But I found that stress eating and stress baking were going hand in hand. So I decided that perhaps I should try different ways to manage my stress and bake a little less. It didn’t hurt that around the same time the oven at our rental unit was broken (I could use the stove and broil things, but not bake) so I couldn’t bake even if I wanted to.

Baking can be so great to do with kids though. You don’t tend to need much in the way of sharp implements and the heat is all at the end. I love ginger and I had some left over canned pumpkin from the holidays so when I found this recipe from the food blog Simply Recipes, I was sure I had found a winner.

Gordie loved them! I made them into mini-muffins because they are easier for little hands to hold.  The pumpkin provides some good nutrients, but I wanted to see if they’d still be good if I used whole wheat flour. They weren’t quite as light as the white flour ones (or as pretty) but they were good and Gordie loved them just as much.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Ginger Nut Mini-muffin Recipe

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup pumpkin pure
1/3 cup melted butter
2 eggs beaten
1/3 cup water
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup chopped candied ginger (I like them roughly chopped but most kids will probably like them better if they’re pretty finely chopped).

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Mix dry ingredients (flour, salt, sugar, baking soda, spices) in a large bowl.
3. Beat eggs in a bowl and then add the wet ingredients (pumpkin, melted butter, water).
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix with a fork. (I love how recipes say “do not over-mix” without over explaining what that means. I try to stop right after there isn’t any visible dry flour).
5. Spoon into the mini-muffin cups (using my non-stick muffin tray I find it’s actually better not to grease the pan) and bake for 17-22 minutes. Test a muffin with a toothpick. If it does not come out clean, bake for a couple more minutes and retest.
6. Makes about 24 mini-muffins.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Hummus

After making peanut butter hummus I started to wonder if you could make a sweet hummus dish instead of the traditional savory hummus. A peek around the internet proved that this was indeed possible so I decided to give it a try. Now some of the sites I visited suggested that this could be an actual dessert. I’m still not sold on that. What I made would not really be good as an ice cream topping for instance, and if I were to add enough sugar and fat to make it that way, I’d rather just go for broke and use caramel sauce.

Instead I would suggest using it as a Nutella alternative. Or as a way to try to get your kids to try beans. Sort of a gate way food for beans.  Overall, it wasn’t bad, people who tried it generally liked it, but I don’t think I’m going to have to make a new batch every week.

I’ve give a wide range for the maple syrup because it’s so easy to adjust to taste as you can just add more in and pulse the food processor for a few more seconds. We found that the cocoa came out more with less maple syrup, but it is definitely sweeter with more.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Hummus Recipe
1 can (16 oz) Chickpeas ; rinsed and drained
4 Tbsp Peanut Butter (I just used a big spoon – more if desired)
1/2 teaspoon Sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2-8 Tbsp maple syrup
1/4 cup Water (more if needed)


Cooking with the Kids
The kids can:

• Measure and pour the ingredients
• Rinse the chickpeas and put them in the food processor
• Run the food processor (with supervision)
  

Directions 1. Drain and rinse the chickpeas. 2. Add all the ingredients to the food processor (you can use a blender, but it’s not really  not as effective. I have tried and don’t recommend it. I ended up buying a food processor so I could make hummus). 3. Run the food processor until the hummus starts to appear to bounce up and down (this won’t take a really long time) . Alternatively just check it every 10 seconds or so. You’ll want to scrape off the sides of the food processor because I find some chickpeas tend to stick to the sides and then give it another quick blend. If you are finding it’s not as well mixed or creamy as you would like just add another 1/4 cup of water.

Serving Ideas With apple slices, as a sandwich spread, sauce on a dessert pizza, on crackers, with pita

Usborne First Cookbook - Review

I’ve now tested out 4 recipes from The Usborne First Cookbook: Cheese Souffle, Baked Egg Tomato Cups, Tasty Rice and Welsh Rarebit. Overall I had a good experience with the cookbook – everything turned out pretty well. I didn’t try out any of the dessert recipes (of which there are quite a few) but I think I still got a pretty good feel for the book.
This cookbook is aimed at kids old enough to use knives and heat. One of the things I really like is even though it’s aimed at kids, these are real recipes. There is nothing condescending or cutesy about them. These are recipes that anyone could be proud to make at any point in their lives.
They’re recipes inside are chosen more for their appeal to kids than their health benefits, but getting kids excited about cooking is definitely a start in the right direction regardless.
The recipes each have drawings that illustrate different steps. The drawings include tiny chefs that may be off putting to older chefs but otherwise do a good job of guiding you through the recipe.
I found the recipes to be pretty straight forward and easy to follow. My one complaint in this regard was with the cheese soufflé recipe when you make the white sauce it is a component of another recipe which could lead to potential problems. I don’t like it when cookbooks aimed at grown-ups do this so I was surprised to see it in a kids cookbook.
Bottom Line? I think it’s worth picking up for 8-12 year old to help them get interested in cooking and develop some cooking skills. This cookbook will teach them recipes that they could use for years, but do expect to be on hand to supervise your novice chef.

Peanut Butter Hummus

It’s funny how much how something is presented can change your attitude towards it. I’ve seen recipes for hummus that suggested you could substitute tahini with peanut butter on multiple occasions and I always thought that was kind of lame. Okay if you lived somewhere that you really couldn’t find any tahini, fine but otherwise?
Then one day my mom sent me a recipe for peanut butter hummus. Peanut butter hummus? Brilliant! Now I realize that this is actually the same thing that I previously thought was lame, but somehow now it sounds interesting and different instead of a cop out.
It’s pretty good too. The peanut butter taste isn’t overpowering but if your kid is a little adverse to hummus, this may be enough to win them over.

Peanut Butter Hummus Recipe
1/4 teaspoon Garlic powder
1/4 cup Lemon juice
1/4 cup Water (more if needed)
1 can (16 oz) Chickpeas ; rinsed and drained
4 Tbsp Peanut Butter (I just used a big spoon)
1 teaspoon Sea salt

Cooking with the Kids
The kids can:

• Measure and pour the ingredients
  
• Rinse the chickpeas and put them in the food processor
  
• Run the food processor (with supervision)

Directions
1. Drain and rinse the chickpeas. 2. Add all the ingredients to the food processor (you can use a blender, but it’s not really  not as effective. I have tried and don’t recommend it. I ended up buying a food processor so I could make hummus). 3. Run the food processor until the hummus starts to appear to bounce up and down (this won’t take a really long time) . Alternatively just check it every 10 seconds or so. You’ll want to scrape off the sides of the food processor because I find some chickpeas tend to stick to the sides and then give it another quick blend. If you are finding it’s not as well mixed or creamy as you would like just add another 1/4 cup of water.

Per 1/8 of the hummus: Calories – 81, Carbs – 7g, Fat – 5g, Protein 4, Fibre – 2

Meatless Monday–Curry Gnocchi

Gordie was helping me pick out ingredients from the pantry and figured we should have Gnocchi. And then decided that he wanted chickpeas too. I was a little thrown. I usually just serve Gnocchi with a tomato pasta sauce. So I poked around the internet and that that some people combined these two ingredients with canned tomatoes. That was definitely something I could work with. When I run out of canned tomatoes I sometimes feel like I’ve lost the ability to cook. I decided to add some chopped spinach I had in the freezer which reminded me of an Indian dish so I added some currry spices. Gordie is a little iffy on the spinach (and green food in general at the moment) but loved everything else. The dish I made was a pretty mild curry without too much heat but you could always add more if you were so inclined.
Curry Gnocchi Recipe
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large can diced tomatoes
1 can chickpeas (rinsed and drained)
1 block of chopped frozen spinach
1 package of Gnocchi
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 tablespoon Garam Masala (an indian spice mix, you can get it here in Calgary in Superstore in the Indian spice section – not the baking aisle)
If you can’t find or don’t want to buy Garam Masala just use twice the curry powder.

Directions
1. Heat some oil in a pan. Mix in the spices, tomatoes and chickpeas. You can basically cook this for as long as you want on a low simmer. I’d recommend at least 10-15 minutes.
2. When you are about 10 minutes from serving, put a pot of water on to boil. Add the Gnocchi to the boiling water. After a few minutes the gnocchi will float to the top. Use a slotted spoon to scoop the floating gnocchi into a bowl (it would also be fine to put them directly into the pan with the tomatoes and chickpeas).
2. Defrost the spinach in the microwave. As soon as it has thawed, squeeze the water out of it. The spinach will look the best if you add it to the pan close to when you plan on serving it but it will still taste fine if it cooks for a while.
3. Cook the spinach, tomatoes and chickpeas until the spinach is heated.

Cooking with the Kids
The kids can:

• Pour the cans into the pan
  
• Measure and pour the spices
  
• Stir the vegetables under close supervision

Per 1/4 of the Curry Gnocchi: Calories – 316, Carbs – 56g, Fat – 6g, Protein 12, Fibre – 7.

Loving Leftovers: Pasta Frittata

One of the things that I’m trying to focus on lately is throwing out less leftovers. Often I find that I just can’t handle eating the same meal that I may have already had for supper and lunch again for the following supper. So I’m trying to find ways of mixing it up to make something that feels fresh but doesn’t involve a lot of additional work. One of my favourites is making a leftover pasta frittata. It works with any type of pasta and with or without meat. It’s best if you have a sauce with a bit of substance, but if all you have is plain pasta or a weak sauce like olive oil and parmesan you can still make it work. If this is the case, I’d recommend starting the frittata by sautéing an onion and some garlic to bump up the flavour or just add a few additional fresh items like fresh herbs (basil is nice), more tomatoes, or peppers and it’ll be great.

Leftover Pasta Frittata Recipe
About 1 cup of leftover pasta plus sauce
7-8 eggs
3/4 cup grape tomatoes halved
1 cup shredded cheese
salt and pepper
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Cooking with the Kids
The kids can:

• Beat the eggs
  
• Measure, pour and mix

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350F. 2. Beat the eggs and mix in the tomatoes, cheese, salt and pepper. 3. In a large oven proof skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the pasta and sauce and heat for 1 minute. 4. Evenly distribute the pasta in the pan. 5. Pour the eggs over the pasta and coat as well as you can. 6. Sprinkle the eggs with salt and pepper. 7. Cook over medium heat for 4-6 minutes. The frittata should be mostly set but the top will still be runny. 8. Place the pan in the oven for 4-6 minutes until the eggs are set.
If you don't have an oven proof skillet, you can use a lid to set the top of the eggs or you can slide the frittata onto a plate and then flip back into the pan to cook the other side but you’ll have to cook it longer on the first side.

The nutritional information will vary widely depending on what kind of pasta and sauce you use.
I seem to always have more than a cup of leftover pasta and have trouble resisting adding the extra. This will still work, but it won’t be as ‘eggy’ and it may alter the cooking time.

My Favorite Basic Hummus Recipe

I’m going to try out a few different hummus variations in the next couple of weeks, so I thought I’d first share my go-to hummus recipe. There’s about a million different hummus recipes out there but I do really love this one. I prefer the powdered garlic to fresh garlic as it gives it a more mellow flavor. I also strongly recommend making it a day ahead. The flavors have a chance to mix and the bitterness of the tahini (which I am a little sensitive to) is gone after a night in the fridge.     

Hummus Recipe
1/4 teaspoon Garlic powder
1/4 cup Lemon juice
1/4 cup Water (more if needed)
1 can (16 oz) Chickpeas ; rinsed and drained
1/2 cup Tahini
1 teaspoon Sea salt

Cooking with the Kids
Gordie really enjoyed making this and I enjoyed making it with him. Because there’s no heat required he’s able to be there through the whole process. Your child wouldn’t have to be much older than Gordie (nearly 2) to be able to do this with a lot of independence. 
The kids can:

• Measure and pour the ingredients
• Rinse the chickpeas and put them in the food processor
• Run the food processor (with supervision)

Directions

1. Drain and rinse the chickpeas.
2. Add all the ingredients to the food processor (you can use a blender, but it’s not really  not as effective. I have tried and don’t recommend it. I ended up buying a food processor so I could make hummus).
3. Run the food processor until the hummus starts to appear to bounce up and down (this won’t take a really long time) . Alternatively just check it every 10 seconds or so. You’ll want to scrape off the sides of the food processor because I find some chickpeas tend to stick to the sides and then give it another quick blend. If you are finding it’s not as well mixed or creamy as you would like just add another 1/4 cup of water.

I find this makes quite a lot of hummus so I usually freeze half. It freezes really well.

Per 1/8 of the hummus: Calories – 103, Carbs – 10g, Fat – 6g, Protein 4, Fibre – 3.

Welsh Rarebit (Usbourne First Cookbook)

Welsh rarebit, is a dish made with a savoury sauce of melted cheese and various other ingredients and served hot over toast. It’s also the last recipe that I’ll be testing for my review of The Usborne First Cookbook. (Overall review to come). This is another one that I figured Gordie would love, it combines two of his favorite things eggs and tomatoes, how could we go wrong?

I also tried Baked Egg Tomato Cups, Cheese Soufflé  and Tasty Rice make sure it check them out too.

Welsh Rarebit Recipe
3/4 cup grated cheese (I’d use a an sharp cheddar next time)
1 tsp mustard
1 egg, beaten
3 or 4 drop Worcestershire sauce
salt and black pepper
4 slices of bread
2 tomatoes sliced

Direction
1. Stir the cheese, mustard, egg, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper together in a bowl.
2. Put the slices of bread in the broiler (the toaster oven was great for this). Toast on on side.
3. Remove the toast from the broiler and spread the cheese mixture over the untoasted side of the bread. Lay a couple of slices of tomatoes on top depending on the size of tomato.
4. Put the toast back in the broiler until the cheese is bubbling and light brown.

So, Did They Eat It?
Gordie liked this, but not as much as I had expected. I made it for lunch so only the two of us were there to try it but that was probably for the best. At first I thought it was a little bit bland (it kind of is) but I kept going back for more! It was actually pretty yummy. I tried out two kids of bread a sourdough-like kind and a regular whole wheat. The Whole wheat actually turned out a lot better. I think the softer crust helped a lot. I’m not sure I’d bother making it again, but it would be a great recipe for young chefs. There is a lot they could do independently.

Per Welsh Rarebit: Calories – 183, Carbs – 17g, Fat – 9g, Protein 10, Fibre – 3.

Wordless Wednesday

   

 

    

Avocado, Grapefruit and Spinach Salad

I threw this salad together from things I happened to have in the fridge. It turned out so well and looks so pretty I now pull it out when I want an impressive looking salad that’s quick to put together when I’m entertaining. Although most of the time I make it just for myself.

Avocado, Grapefruit and Spinach Salad Recipe
1 bag of baby spinach leaves
1 grapefruit segmented (or a grapefruit fruit cup which are awesome)
1 avocado
almonds (sliced for sprinkling)
1/8 cup grapefruit juice
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper (freshly ground is nice)

Cooking with the Kids
The kids can:

• Scoop out the avocado
• Put the ingredients in the salad bowl
• Measure, mix and pour the dressing
• Toss the spinach with the dressing (this is fun with your fingers)

Directions

1. Whisk together the dressing ingredients: grapefruit juice, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.
2. Cube the avocado (and slice the grapefruit if necessary).
3. Put the spinach in a large salad bowl and toss with the dressing. You will probably have made more than you need so go easy.
4. Top with the avocado, grapefruit and almonds and serve.

Per 1/4 salad with all of the dressing: Calories – 174, Carbs – 15g, Fat – 12g, Protein 3, Fibre – 4.

Meatless Monday: Mexican Lasagna

This recipe was inspired by a joke cookbook that my husband and I got for our wedding called Mini Mart a la Carte. The cookbook’s premise is recipes that you can make while shopping only at a convenience store. In general, the recipes are things that I (or most anyone else) would even dream of making, but the one for “Lowrider Lasagna” actually looked pretty good. I tweaked it a little and the result is below. It’s a big hit at my house and it’s something I can whip up even if I don’t have a lot of time to cook or badly need groceries.
Mexican Lasagna Recipe
1 can refried beans (I like the ones with green chiles you could also use pinto beans)
1 large can diced tomatoes drained
1 cup frozen corn (or a can of corn)
1 cup shredded cheese
6 whole wheat tortillas

Cooking with the Kids
The kids can:

• Spread the refried beans on the tortillas
  
• Sprinkle the cheese, tomatoes and corn

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350F. 2. Rip half the tortillas into pieces so they cover the bottom of the baking dish. Any size is fine. I usually do 2 whole tortillas and then rip a third into a few pieces to fill the gaps. Spread half of the refried beans on half of the tortillas and arrange half in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking dish to cover the bottom. Top evenly with half each of the corn, tomatoes and cheese. 3. Cover the rest of the tortillas with the remaining refried beans and layer  on top and cover with the rest of the corn, tomatoes and cheese 4. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and continue to bake until the cheese begins to brown, about 15 minutes longer.

Per 1/4 lasagna: Calories – 387, Carbs – 57g, Fat – 12g, Protein 18, Fibre – 12.

Baked Egg Tomato Cups Recipe (Usborne First Cookbook)

 

Gordie got The Usborne First Cookbook this year for Christmas so I thought I’d test out a few recipes. The first such recipe is “Baked Tomatoes”. It looked fairly simple and I was pretty sure that it would be a hit for Gordie since he loves tomatoes and begs me every day to “cook eggs”. I made them for breakfast on a Monday morning and served them with toast.

Baked Tomatoes Recipe

4 Large tomatoes (the biggest you can find)
salt and pepper
4 eggs
1 Tablespoon chopped parsley

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Grease a shallow baking dish.
3. Slice off the top of each tomato and put the tops aside. Scoop out the insides with a spoon. Seriously, use a spoon, don't try to use a knife like I did.
4. Put the eggs into the baking dish. Sprinkle the tomatoes with salt and pepper. Crack an egg into each tomato and then sprinkle the eggs with salt, pepper and parsley.
5. Put the tops back on the tomatoes and bake for 20-30 minutes, until the yolks are set. I found my yolks weren't even close to set after 10 minutes and in the end I might have over cooked them a little. I recommend poking one of the yolks to test. It can be hard to eyeball because of the extra moisture from the tomato.

So, Did They Eat It?

Predictably Gordie enjoyed it, but he did find it necessary to eat the tomatoes and the eggs separately. My husband who is not the biggest fan of tomatoes thought it managed to make two bland foods better, but suggested maybe cooking it with some lemon pepper next time to perk it up. My SN brother seemed to like them but he didn’t eat a ton. I thought they were good, but they seemed to be begging for some bacon.

Per Tomato Cup: Calories – 103, Carbs – 8g, Fat – 5g, Protein 8, Fibre – 0.

Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus

This is a super easy, delicious appetizer with a surprisingly low calorie count considering how decadent they taste. It’s still probably a good idea to go easy as their salt content is fairly high. This is best with thick asparagus stalks because the prosciutto can cook longer without turning the asparagus to mush, but still delicious with thin asparagus.

Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus Recipe
1 bunch of asparagus
1 or 2 packages of prosciutto (I used 1 but only wrapped half of the asparagus)

Cooking with the Kids

The kids can:

• snap the asparagus ends off (this is kind of fun)
• wrap the prosciutto  

Directions
1. Heat up your indoor grill to it's highest setting.
2. Wash the asparagus and snap off the woody portion of the stalk. If you try to bend it, it should naturally snap in two pieces. Discard the base.
2. Wrap each stalk with half of a slice of prosciutto if you have thick asparagus and less if it's thin. I used half a slice for thin asparagus and it was a little bit too much.
3. Place a few of the wrapped asparagus on the grill and cook for about 5 minutes for thin asparagus and 7 minutes for thick asparagus. The asparagus should be bright green but still crunchy and the prosciutto should be crispy.

I expect these could be made on a BBQ but I’ve never tried it.

Per Asparagus Spear with half a slice of prosciutto: Calories – 23, Carbs – 1g, Fat – 1g, Protein 2, Fibre – 0. (5.5% recommended daily intake of sodium)

Tomato and Ground Beef Slumgullion

Slumgullion is a name for a cheap stew made by boiling. In this recipe, only the pasta is boiled, but cheap (and easy!) it is. I’m almost embarrassed to call this a recipe because it’s so simple. But it is one of my go to dishes when I need something fast and healthy that everyone will enjoy. I’d be lost without it, so I thought I’d pass it along. My mom made almost this exact dish while I was growing up so it’s a comfort food for me too. One of the best things about it, is that if you cook and freeze some ground beef (I like grabbing a giant pack of lean ground beef from Costco) you can have all the ingredients on hand. Then, when you don’t really have time to cook, or haven’t managed to get to the grocery store, you don’t have to get take out. And it’s a lot less messy than spaghetti!

Quick and Easy Slumgullion Recipe
200g lean ground beef cooked (more or less is fine)
1 package whole wheat macaroni (I’ve tried other pasta, macaroni is best)
1 large can of diced tomatoes
salt and pepper

Cooking with the Kids

The kids can:

• Pour the macaroni in the pot 
• Pour in the ground beef 
• Pour in the tomatoes
• Stir the slumgullion
• Sprinkle the salt and pepper

Directions
1. Cook the macaroni according to the package directions.
2. It's best if the ground beef is warm when you add it to the pot so, cook, defrost or warm the ground beef as necessary.
3. Drain the macaroni in a strainer and put it back in the pot. Add the warm ground beef and the can of tomatoes (with the juice).
4. Mix well and sprinkle with salt and pepper. You can also just add the salt and pepper to the individual servings instead.

This recipe makes about 6 servings, so you could halve the recipe if you don’t need that much. We usually keep the leftovers for lunches. I prefer it fresh, but Gordie and my special needs brother are quite happy to have it the day after. I often fill up some ziplock containers and stick them in the freezer so Geoff has lunches ready for the whole week.

Per serving (1/6 of the slumgullion): Calories – 313, Carbs – 46g, Fat – 7g, Protein 16, Fibre – 7.

Baby Smashed Potatoes

I’m starting to think that just about every vegetable should be roasted at 400F for 30-60 minutes with a little bit of olive oil and salt and pepper. This is now my third recipe in a row that follows this logic. You’d have to really hate potatoes to not like these. I liked these so much I made them for Christmas dinner last year – there wasn’t a single one left over!. They also provide a lot more nutrients than a lot of potato dishes because you leave the skins on. They take a little bit more time than some methods, because they are boiled and then baked but the result is amazing. If you want, you can boil and smash the potatoes ahead of time just refrigerate until you are ready to use them.

Baby Smashed Potatoes Recipe
2-2.5 lbs baby potatoes
2 TBSP oilve oil
salt, pepper and rosemary (I use dried but I’m sure fresh would be lovely)
2 garlic cloves minced (shortcut – buy pre-minced, look in the refrigerated section by the salads as they are much better than the shelf stable variety you get by the spices)

Cooking with the Kids

Like most oven recipes, this is a great recipe for the kids to help with because all of the work is done before it hits the heat. Squishing the potatoes is also pretty fun.
The kids can:

• put the potatoes in the pot 
• squash the cooled potatoes 
• .paint the potatoes with olive oil
• flip the potatoes
• sprinkle the salt, pepper and rosemary

Directions
1. Put the potatoes in a pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
2. When the potatoes are tender, drain the pot and let the potatoes cool (if you are in a hurry you can grab the potatoes with a tea towel and smash them while they are still hot).
3.Preheat the oven to 400F
4.Get a (clean!) tea towel and put it on the counter. Place the potato on top. Fold the tea towel over and press down on the potato with your palm.
5. Place the smashed potatoes on a baking tray.
6. Brush each potato with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
7. Flip the potatoes and repeat on the other side.
8. Add a couple pieces of minced garlic to each potato and sprinkle with rosemary.
9. Put the tray in the over and flip the potatoes after 15 minutes. Continue to bake for 15-20 minutes more. When they are done the skins of the potatoes will be brown and crispy but the centre will be soft.

Leftovers can be eaten cold straight from the fridge or reheated in the oven or toaster oven.

Per serving (3 potatoes): Calories – 78, Carbs – 11g, Fat – 4g, Protein 1, Fibre – 2.

Roasted Butternut Squash

I took another crack at the butternut squash today. It turned out quite a bit better than the last time. I think the problem before was that the squash wasn’t as fresh as it needed to be. Not that it was bad, it just didn’t have the right consistency anymore – it was a little too mushy around the edges. So if you (like I usually do) buy pre-cut cubes (Costco’s are great) make sure you get the furthest away best before date and check to make sure they are nice and firm when you go to cook them. If they’re not, maybe make soup instead.
This isn’t the lowest calorie vegetable dish you can make but it’s a crowd pleaser and makes a nice side dish for special occasion dinners (or just for snacking!) Unless your kids are going through a really picky stage, they’ll like this dish. And you will like making it! The prep work is minimal and once it’s in the oven you don’t have to do a thing.
Roasted Garlic Butternut Squash Recipe (based on this recipe)
2 lbs butternut squash cubes (shortcut – buy pre-cubed)
2 TBSP oilve oil
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan Cheese (or white cheese blend)
1 tsp salt
0.5 tsp pepper
2 garlic cloves minced and 2 Tbsp parsley chopped (both optional)

Cooking with the Kids

This is a great recipe for the kids to help with because all of the work is done before it hits the heat.
The kids can:

• put the squash cubes in the bag
• measure and pour
• mix the ingredients in the bag (even the littlest kids can do this).

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Put all ingredients into a large resealable plastic bag and combine (you can also mix in a bowl).
3. Spread evenly on a single layer on a shallow baking dish. I've found that lining a cookie tray with parchment paper works really well. The cubes pop right off. Whatever you do, don't put them directly on the cookie tray – trust me it will never be the same. 
4. Cook for 40-50 minutes. The edges should be carmelized and golden. You can flip one of the cubes over to check the bottom, but otherwise leave them alone.

I completely forgot the garlic, but they were still great. Adding the parsley makes for a nicer presentation, but I was all out.

If you have leftovers, you can mash up the cooked squash with some pasta water to thin it out and use it as a pasta sauce.
Per serving (1/8 of the recipe): Calories – 94, Carbs – 13g, Fat – 5g, Protein 2, Fibre – 2.

Lemon Pepper Mushrooms

If you had told me a couple years ago that I would be sharing my favorite mushroom recipe, I would have said you were crazy. Mushrooms have not historically been my favorite food. And most of the time, I’d still happily do without. But one day my husband whipped up these lemon pepper mushrooms and much to my surprise, I really liked them! I like using Cremini mushrooms over white button mushrooms because they are higher in nutrients but they’ll both turn out just fine.

Lemon Pepper Mushroom Recipe

Ingredients

1-2 cups of sliced mushrooms (whatever fits nicely into your pan)
Lemon Juice
Lemon Pepper
oil or cooking spray (optional)

Cooking with the Kids

This is not the best recipe for cooking with kids because all the work is done in a hot frying pan.
Older kids can:

• slice the mushrooms 
• help sprinkle on lemon pepper
• squirt in the lemon juice

Directions

1. Heat your pan over medium-high heat. You can add oil or pam if desired but if you have a nonstick pan, it's not necessary.
2. Add your mushrooms and the juice from a lemon (or a couple squirts of your bottle of lemon juice).
3. Sprinkle with the lemon pepper. You should be able to see the pepper specks throughout, but it shouldn't coat the mushrooms. Go gently at first and try as they are cooking you can always add more.
4. Saute until mushrooms have browned on the outside and are cooked through but still firm.

A quick and easy healthy snack or side dish.

Per half cup mushrooms (assuming you don’t use any oil): Calories – 12, Carbs – 2g, Fat – 0g, Protein 1, Fibre – 1.