recipes

TitleAuthorNotes
Fourth of July fruit cupsWestCoastMomThis dessert took very little time to make and looked great. It was perfect for our 4th of July celebration and I look forward to making it again soon. It's also easy to alter the presentation for those who don't eat some of the ingredients. I used soy yogurt and soy whipped cream instead of the dairy items. I don't recommend the soy whipped cream - organic maltodextrin and organic hydrogenated palm oil made me miss Cool Whip. Graham crackers and animal crackers also work well for the base.
Monkey MilkEastCoastMom
Four-minute plantain in the microwaveWestCoastMom
Zucchini pancakesWestCoastMomI really wanted to make zucchini pancakes so I doubled the recipe and hoped everyone would try them. My whole family loved them. The kids dipped theirs in maple syrup and I ate mine with Trader Joes artichoke and red pepper spread. I'm very excited to have another fun recipe we all enjoy.
Baked Apples and other fruitWestCoastMomEveryone in my family loves this recipe. You can also add other fruits. Plums and peaches are very yummy, as are berries (we like to throw in a bag of frozen berries sometimes) and tropical fruits. Other extra ingredients include raisins, nuts, and chocolate chips. If you want more of a cobbler experience, you can add crushed graham crackers or cookies and you can serve with yogurt or ice cream.
Bran applesauce muffinsbeantownmom
Penne with Tomatoes and HavartibeantownmomThis is an amazing pasta dish and while it does take some time to prep (break out the kids favorite video), it is well worth it. I make the whole serving size and freeze it.
Buckwheat pancakesHighMaintenanceMomI prefer less sugar in my food so I only use 1 T. I also added bananas, which made the pancakes sweeter. My kids like maple syrup and jam so I figure they are already getting enough extra sugar. After the first plain pancake with jam, the kids ate the banana ones without anything on them. The pancakes are also great for snacks and in lunches. I made a double batch, which the four of us almost finished in one meal. N and I finished the final 6 for snack.
Easy fancy dinner with hubby- scallops on saladendmomThis is a super easy romantic dinner. We made this saturday might after baby went to bed- it costs about $5-6 per person (I sprung for the fresh large scallops- totally worth the extra money), but still cheaper than eating out, and it is yummy and very fast. Great for a special treat. You can get the original recipe from America's test kitchen. I modified it from the parts that I saw on TV.
Frog Commissary Classic chicken salad with horseradish-juniper berry mayonnaiseHighMaintenanceMomI loved the Frog Commissary in Philadelphia and was very surprised to see their cookbook, The Frog Commissary Cookbook, at Amazon.com. The original recipe has you make the mayonnaise yourself with egg yolks, which was really good, but since we're now supposed to be careful about eating raw eggs, I recommend using a store bought mayonnaise.
Spinach pie (for passover but good enough for other times too)HighMaintenanceMomThis is my favorite passover dish and now that I use matzo meal as bread crumbs in other dishes (it's the easiest way to find bread crumbs without added sugar/preservatives/etc.), I'm planning to make it at other times. It comes from The Passover Table: New and Traditional Recipes for Your Seders and the Entire Passover Week.
Jacques' chunky lentil soupHighMaintenanceMomI love this soup because it's so easy to make. We've made it for friends who are vegetarian by using a veggie stock and they loved it too. There are lots of other recipes in Jacques Pepin's Simple and Healthy Cooking book we like too.
Brad's Root SoupHighMaintenanceMomI had this soup at my husband's advisor's house the year I spent Thanksgiving at Brown finishing my PhD while the Pocket Physicist drove six hours to visit my cousins. I love how the soup always tastes a little different and how it reminds me of a happy time in my life. Tonight I made it with olive oil, one potato, two parsnips, a turnip, and celery root (no blue cheese). It was really good and both kids liked it (they didn't have big bowls but it was still exciting).
Cranberry Jello (version 1.2)HighMaintenanceMomI love cooking with real cranberries but I didn't want to have lots of leftovers that no one would eat. So this year I experimented with making jello out of the cranberries. It was thicker than jello without fruit but yummy. I also tried to halve the sugar and my kids ate it, but it was tart.
Moroccan Pumpkin SoupHighMaintenanceMomThis is one of my favorite soups and perfect for Thanksgiving.
Pumpkin bread with datesHighMaintenanceMomThis is a sweet pumpkin bread that we enjoy for the holidays. Now that the Trader Joe pumpkin bread mix has changed, I am going back to making this bread and the cranberry bread on the cranberry bags.
Spinach, fruit, and nut saladdoraThe original recipe called for more spinach and apples plus it suggested pumpkin seeds. I made it with the pumpkin seeds twice and didn't like it as much as the sunflower seeds. This is the first salad my kids have tried. I think they were excited by the apples and raisins.
Trader Joe's Yellow Curry with Chicken and MushroomsHighMaintenanceMomI tried this at Trader Joe's today and it was good. I plan to make it this week and will update the recipe with more defined amounts and times.
Cooked Carrots with Butter and ParsleytldThe carrots will cook more evenly if they are close in size. The first few times I made these the carrots were not that close in size and so some were soft, but others were still firm. So it's better if you can get them close in size.
Steamed Baby Potatoes with Sage Buttertld