Category Archives: kid friendly snacks

Cauliflower Pizza Crust–How to make Cauliflower Pizza Crust

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Cauliflower Pizza Crust

 

I’m trying to find different ways to serve vegetables to Page.  She has a new found love for pizza–before she wasn’t at all impressed.  Recently, I’ve started to get her involved in helping me to make the meals we’re eating.  I saw a food documentary about food, and kids.  In it the narrator said that the best way to get kids to eat vegetables is to have them take part in cooking. Page is at that age where she’s very eager to help, so I thought why not take advantage of that.   I’ve also really wanted to try out a cauliflower pizza crust on our new baking steel.  I have to say that I was more than impressed with the results–so was Page.   Now for those of you wondering if this will taste anything like that delicious yeasty bread that you’re used to with pizza–the short answer is no.  Bread is bread–this is an alternative to bread.  Although it’s not bread–it mimics bread in form, and it is so delicious that it stands on it’s own.  The reason cauliflower is most often used by people as a substitution for grains is because it has such a mild flavor.  It also has great texture. This recipe requires that you add cheese.  I used parmesan, but you could use mozzarella, or pecorino, or a combination of your favorite Italian cheeses.  I also used fresh basil, but you can use rosemary, or another herb of your choosing, dried or fresh–totally up to you.

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Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1 small head of cauliflower

1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon of truffle salt

1 tablespoon of finely chopped fresh basil

1 cup of freshly grated parmesan–or cheese of your choice

1 egg

Directions: Pre-heat your oven and pizza stone or baking steel  to 450F for 45 minutes. Steam the cauliflower for 5-7 minutes–or until fork tender.

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Transfer cauliflower to a processor and process until cauliflower looks like grains of rice.

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Transfer processed cauliflower to a clean kitchen towel, or a nut milk bag, and squeeze until the cauliflower becomes dry.  You want to squeeze out as much water as you can.

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Transfer the cauliflower to a medium size bowl, and add garlic powder, salt, basil, and cheese–mix together into a ball.

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Spray a sheet of parchment paper with oil.  Add the cauliflower mixture to the center of the parchment paper, and with your hands begin to flatten and form it into the shape of a pizza.

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Once you have the shape you want, place it in the oven for 10-12 minutes.

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Once it’s golden brown and bubbly like this:  remove it from the oven.

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Now you can top it with your favorite tomato sauce, cheese and toppings.

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Once you have it topped, place it in the oven to cook until the cheese and topping melt.  Remove from oven, cut serve and enjoy!

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This made a 10-12 inch pizza, not a crumb was left over.  Everyone enjoyed it–my husband didn’t even know that the crust was made from cauliflower until Page told him! If you like this try my recipe for Tortilla Pizza!

Pear Fruit Roll-Ups-How to make fruit roll-ups at home

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Pear Fruit Roll-Ups

Pear Fruit Roll-Ups

One of my favorite ways to use ripe fruit is by making fruit roll-ups.  In my opinion it’s the best way to use fully ripe fruit, because the fruit is ripe, it’s very sweet, and that means that you don’t have to add sugar to make these fruit roll-ups great.  Additionally fruit roll-ups are so super easy to make and a great way to reinvent a fruit that you have an abundance of.  I have dehydrator, but these can be done in an oven.  Just set your oven to 150 or the lowest possible setting. If you don’t own a dehydrator yet, I suggest that you get one, they are really inexpensive around $40-$50 on the lower end–these work fine, and $299 on the higher end.  But they are so useful! At the least you’ll be able to make some of my favorite fruit roll-up recipes like: Tropical punch fruit roll-ups, pineapple fruit roll-up, Strawberry-apple fruit roll-ups or strawberry fruit roll-ups.

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Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 4-6 hours

Ingredients:

5 ripe pears

Directions:  Quarter the pairs and remove the core.  Add cored pears to a blender,

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Blend until smooth.

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Pour the pear puree out onto a piece of parchment paper or a silpat, and smooth out into a thin layer.

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Place in a dehydrator on 134F for 4-6 hours.

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Alternatively you can place the parchment paper or silpat on a cookie sheet and place in the oven on the lowest setting for 4-6 hours.

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Tahini Salad Dressing — Tahini Vegetable Dip

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Mother's Market Inspired-Tahini Salad Dressing

Mother’s Market Inspired-Tahini Salad Dressing

I love a great salad. One of my favorite salads to eat when I eat out is a simple garden salad that I get at a local health food market that I frequent.  The salad is simple in every way,  fresh mixed greens, topped with fresh mushrooms, carrots, and beets.  What makes this salad better than other salads?  That’s simple, the tahini dressing that accompanies it. The dressing is one of the best salad dressings that I have ever tasted.  The only problem is that the restaurant doesn’t sell it in a bottle, so I can’t take it home to use at a later time, and the restaurant is very secretive about what exactly is in the dressing.  I’ve asked a thousand and one times, but they won’t give me the recipe. Sort of like they wouldn’t give me the recipe for their gingered greens, which I also love.  So as usual, I had to experiment, and come up with my own version, and it is amazingly close to their tahini dressing– exact actually.  It is so good!  You can use it to dress a salad, but it’s equally good as a dip for cucumber, carrot, and celery sticks. My daughter loves it, with a capital L, and the best part is that nothing in it is bad for you.  It’s high in protein, because it contains both sesame and cashew butters.

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Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: none

Total time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of tahini paste

2 teaspoons of cashew butter (about 20-30 whole cashews)

4 medium sized cherry tomatoes (about 2 tablespoons chopped)

1 large clove of garlic

1 teaspoon of Tamari soy sauce

3 tablespoons of a neutral oil like safflower

2 teaspoons of lemon juice

Directions:  Place all of the ingredients in a blender or processor and blend until smooth.  Pour into a serving container and enjoy! This would be awesome on grilled veggies as well!!

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Flourless Peanut Butter and Chocolate Meringue Cookies

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Flourless Peanut Butter Meringue Cookies

Flourless Peanut Butter Meringue Cookies

If there was ever a food match that was made in heaven, it is peanut butter and chocolate! One of my favorite lazy treats is to dip a dark chocolate bar into peanut butter.  So the other day when I was craving a sweet, I thought what a great idea it would be to make a delicious peanut butter cookie that was both moist and light.  Sort of like my Starbucks Inspired Flourless Chocolate Cookie ,or, (cue the light bulb over my head), how about exactly like my Flourless Chocolate Cookie! But instead of adding melted chocolate to the meringue, I’d add melted/warmed peanut butter—and so this cookie was born! It’s light, moist, gooey, and crisp in all of the right places! A miracle really, considering the fact that we all know that I am not the most proficient baker. I was fully expecting that this would turn out to be another disastrous baking episode for me. I’m so glad that I was wrong, and that this turned out to be all that I wanted and more!

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Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 10-12 minutes

Total time: 20 minutes

Makes 8 cookies

Ingredients:

2 egg whites
6 Tablespoons of creamy peanut butter warmed
1/8 teaspoon of cream of tartar
3/4  cup of powdered sugar (I used maple sugar,see how to powder any type of sugar here)
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/2 cup of chocolate chips (optional)

1/8 teaspoon of sea salt

Directions:  Pre-heat the oven to 375F. Over low heat warm the peanut butter, until it begins to thin a bit, and takes on a glossy shine—about 5 minutes, set aside.

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Add the two egg whites to a bowl and beat on low until bubbles form, add the cream of tartar and beat on high, add in the sugar one tablespoon at a time and beat until peaks are stiff and fluffy—you can turn the bowl upside down with out the mixture running.

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Pour in the melted peanut butter and fold it into the egg white fluff–be gentle– fold until the white streaks disappear.

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Fold in the chocolate chips,

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then spoon the cookie mixture onto a parchment/silpat lined cookie sheet.

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Let them cool for 10 minutes, then move them to a cookie rack to continue cooling 5-7 minutes. Serve and enjoy!

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Homemade Granola Bars with Cranberries & Walnuts

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Homemade Granola Fruit and Nut Bars

I don’t know about you, but around this time of the year, I start to scale back on my weekday cooking in order to prepare my refrigerator for all of the things I am making for Thanksgiving. This year my self imposed scale back has nothing to do with needing room for my thanksgiving dishes, instead I’m scaling back in preparation for not being home. We are joining millions of travelers this year, we are going to visit my in-laws in Nevada for Thanksgiving. Since we’ll be in the car for more than 3 hours, I decided to prepare some healthy snacks for us to munch on during the drive. This granola bar fits the bill perfectly. It has nuts, 3 kinds of fruit, and no refined sugar!

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Total time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:
3/4 cup of maple syrup
2 tablespoons coconut oil or butter plus more for oiling the baking dish
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 1/3 cups chopped nuts I used walnuts
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup of dried fruit, I used a mixture of sour cherries, cranberries, and raisins
1/3 cup creamy almond or peanut butter
1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup of Coconut flakes unsweetened  for topping (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small saucepan, heat 1/4 cup of the maple syrup and the 2 tablespoons of coconut oil over low. Cook, stirring, until the oil melts. In a large bowl, combine oats, nuts, and pinch of salt. Drizzle maple mixture over oat mixture and stir to combine. Spread mixture evenly on a large rimmed baking sheet. Bake until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Place the oats in large bowl, add dried fruit and mix well. 

Lightly butter an 8-inch square baking dish. 

In saucepan, combine remaining 1/2 cup of maple syrup, almond butter, and honey over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture comes to a boil. Drizzle over oat mixture and stir until combined; transfer  mixture to buttered baking dish. With a spatula, firmly press granola into dish. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour, then cut into bars or squares.





What are your plans for Thanksgiving?

Since I’ll be visiting family next week, I am not sure I will have time to post. My daughter is turning 2 on Thanksgiving day, so when we return I’ll be focused on celebrating this major milestone with her. Happy cooking, and a very Happy Thanksgiving to you all!