Sugar Cookies for Easter!

After all this hard work of making healthy meals for your family, every once in a while you need a treat (or rather, your kids won't leave you alone until you hand-feed them sugar).

For Easter, one of my favorite traditions is Sugar Cookies.

Why?

1. Your kids have fun making a disaster in the kitchen
2. They get to spread frosting on the cookies
3. Sprinkles. Everywhere.

It sounds like a disaster because it is. But I love it because sometimes you need to let them make messes.

Cookie Dough Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup shortening
• 1 cup butter
• 3/4 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 egg
• 4 & 1/3 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Cookie Dough Directions

• Before you even think of making cookies (aka, the night before), put the butter on the counter to soften. WARNING: If you have dogs, put the butter high enough up that they won't touch it. I had a dog eat through 2 sticks of butter before a birthday party. Butter vomit is a nightmare to get out of carpet. Avoid at all costs!
• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
• Once the butter is softened, cream together the butter, shortening and sugars.
















• Then add in the vanilla and egg, and mix together until there are no lumps.
• Add in all the dry ingredients (everything else) and stir together.
• If the cookie dough is too dry, add in 1 TSP of water at a time until it's well mixed.
• For rolling out the cookie dough, I like to put flour down on the table and then use flour on my rolling pin so the dough doesn't stick.
• Here's a cool trick if you don't have cutesy cookie cutters (or any cookie cutters), grab a cup and flip it over, it typically makes the right shape for a cookie!
• Once your cookies are ready to go in the oven, place cookies an inch apart on a greased cookie sheet (you can use cooking spray or just spread butter on sheet with a little bit of flour sprinkled over it)
• Cook for 9-10 minutes (don't cook longer)
• Note: if it's a dark cookie sheet, watch the cookies very carefully. I take out after 8-9 minutes (same procedure if you have 2 cookie sheets in oven at one time)

Frosting Ingredients:

Note - I use the Betty Crocker recipe for frosting :)

3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 TSP vanilla
1-2 TBSP milk

Frosting Directions

• Mix powdered sugar and butter with spoon or electric mixer on low speed. 
• Stir in vanilla and 1 tablespoon of the milk.
• Gradually beat in just enough remaining milk to make frosting smooth and spreadable. 
• If frosting is too thick, beat in more milk, a few drops at a time. 
• If frosting becomes too thin, beat in a small amount of powdered sugar. 

Top 5 Kid Friendly Dinner Recipes

Some kids are picky eaters. That's like saying it's a really long drive from California to Florida. Or that the lines at Disney World are packed. It's a no brainer.

We've all experienced those finicky eaters out there. And trying to get them to eat dinner (and not snack on something they really want to eat) is a pain in the... well, let's just say it's a pain.

So I've compiled a list of the Top 4 Kid Friendly Dinner Recipes.

These are recipes my kids like, but ones that I've also run past the children of friends who are sick and tired of trying to cook for their picky offspring.

1) Pizza Hot Dogs

I got this recipe from Delish and decided to test it out.

INGREDIENTS

• 6 hot dog buns
• 1/4 c. butter, melted
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 6 hot dogs, boiled
• 1/2 c. pizza sauce
• 1 1/2 c. shredded mozzarella
• 1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning
• 1/2 c. mini pepperoni

DIRECTIONS

• Preheat oven to 350°. 
• Open hot dog buns and brush the inside with melted butter. 
• Sprinkle with garlic powder. 
• Place on baking sheet and bake until lightly golden, about 5 minutes.
• Preheat broiler. 
• Spoon a little sauce onto each hot dog bun then place boiled hot dog on top. 
• Top each hot dog with mozzarella, sprinkle with Italian seasoning, then place mini pepperoni on top. 
• Broil until the cheese is melty, about 2 minutes.

2) Baked Chicken Quesadillas

I got this recipe from The Modern Proper and have loved it!

INGREDIENTS

• 8-10 (10" flour tortillas) (depending on how many people/kids you're feeding
• 4 cups shredded chicken
• 1 TBSP (1 or 2) chipotle peppers in adobe sauce (depending on the heat)
• 2 cups sour cream
• 2 cups shredded pepper jack cheese

DIRECTIONS

• Preheat oven to 425°F.
• In a large bowl stir together the shredded chicken, 1 1/2 cups sour cream, chipotle pepper, shredded cheese and salt to taste.
• Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Grease the parchment with cooking spray or apply olive oil with a brush.
• Working with one tortilla at a time, add 1/3 - 1/2 cup filling on one side of the tortilla and fold in half.
• Arrange prepared quesadillas on a baking sheet and brush or spray with oil.
• Bake on center rack for 15 minutes until golden brown and crispy.

3) Cheesy Tuna Noodle Casserole

I got this recipe from All Recipes, and to be honest, I'm a huge fan of their site. When in doubt, put cheese on it and kids will eat it.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 (12 ounce) package egg noodles
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 1/4 cup red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 (11 ounce) can condensed cream of Cheddar cheese soup

DIRECTIONS

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Bring a large pot of salted water to boil; place noodles in water and bring to boil again. Cook until al dente; drain well.
• While noodles are cooking saute in a medium size saucepan vegetable oil, onion, green and red bell peppers. Saute until tender.
• Pour soup, tuna, milk, salt and black pepper into the saucepan. Mix well over medium-low heat.
• Fold the noodles into the saucepan.
• Pour entire mixture into a 2 quart casserole. Sprinkle bread crumbs over the mixture. Bake 20 to 30 minutes or until the top is crisp and golden brown.

4) Breaded Chicken Breasts

I got this recipe from Martha Stewart. I don't like using bread crumbs on too many foods, but chicken tenders are a staple, every kid will eat it. You can't go wrong.

INGREDIENTS

• 3 large eggs
• 1 TSP salt
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 1/2 cups fresh breadcrumbs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 8 thin chicken cutlets (about 1 1/2 pounds total)
• Lemon wedges, for serving (optional)

DIRECTIONS

• In a shallow dish, whisk eggs with teaspoon salt; let stand 5 minutes. In another shallow dish, season flour with 1/4 teaspoon salt. In a third shallow dish, season breadcrumbs with 1 teaspoon salt.
• In a large cast-iron skillet or other heavy deep skillet, heat oil over medium. Meanwhile, pat chicken dry with paper towels. Coat in flour, shaking off excess, then dip in egg (letting excess drip off). Dredge in breadcrumbs, turning twice and patting to adhere.
• Increase heat to medium-high. Working in batches, add chicken to skillet; cook, gently shaking skillet occasionally, until chicken is browned, about 4 minutes. Turn with tongs; cook until browned and opaque throughout, 2 to 3 minutes more (if browning too quickly, lower heat). Between batches, skim off brown crumbs from oil with a slotted spoon. Drain chicken on paper towels; season with salt.

5) Macaroni & Cheese 

Sometimes you don't want to just buy the Kraft version but make your own. Here's an Option from Real Simple that I've tried and like!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound elbow macaroni
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 jalapeño, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon coarse-grain mustard
• 1/2 pound extra-sharp Cheddar, grated (2 cups)
• 1/4 cup Parmesan, grated

DIRECTIONS

• Cook the macaroni according to the package directions. Drain well, return to pot, and set aside.
• In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Sauté the jalapeño for 1 minute, then add the flour. Cook for 2 minutes more, stirring constantly.
• Whisk in the milk and heat to boiling.
• Add the mustard and cheeses and stir until smooth.
• Pour the cheese sauce over the macaroni and toss. Heat to warm through.

Honey Garlic Salmon with Veggies & Rice

Salmon is amazing, but for some reason, I'm not very good at baking it. The major problem is seasoning. So my husband went searching online trying to find something he thought would taste good. 

He found this recipe online and replicated it (with only a small amount of help from me) and it turned out amazing for the adults! The kids didn't like the honey taste as much, but it's definitely worth trying for adults.

Honey Garlic Salmon with Veggies & Rice

Ingredients:

• 4 wild caught salmon fillets about 1/2 pound or 250 grams each, skin off or on
• Salt and pepper, to season
• 1 TSP smoked paprika
• 2 TBSP butter
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped or minced
• 4 TBSP honey
• 1 TBSP water
• 2 TSP soy sauce
• 1 TBSP fresh squeezed lemon juice, (plus extra to serve)

We found this recipe on CafeDelites, and it was really delicious! I'm reposting the recipe here, but we added a couple extra seasonings.

Season salmon steaks

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

2) Start by seasoning the salmon with salt, pepper and smoked paprika and set aside for now.

3) Heat butter in a non-stick frying pan until melted, and then add garlic and saute until cooked (be very careful with this, you don't want the garlic to burn).

Saute garlic in pan

4) Pour in the honey, water, and soy sauce (but again, be very careful not to burn it). Add the lemon juice and combine everything together.

5) Add the salmon to the sauce in the pan and cook each fillet (skin-side down) for 3-4 minutes or until golden and then add more juice to the top of the salmon.

Cook the salmon steaks in the honey-garlic mixture

6) Add extra salt, pepper, and smoked paprika to the salmon (just a little for flavor)

7) Add more of the honey-garlic mixture to the top of the salmon and put salmon on a cooking tray and grill for 5-10 minutes, or until the tops of the salmon are charred.

8) Drizzle a little extra sauce and lemon juice on the salmon.

***Here's an extra: You should serve the salmon with other food - like rice and veggies. I'm a lazy person though, and used instant chicken-flavored rice and microwavable broccoli & cauliflower.

That's how we ended up with an amazing dinner that took less than 30 minutes to cook!

Serve & Enjoy!!

Brinner: Pancakes & Scrambled Eggs

My kids are big fans of 'brinner', aka, breakfast for dinner. I'm a big fan of it too. First of all, who doesn't love breakfast? There's a reason it's the best meal of the day. Also, it doesn't take that much work to put together at dinnertime.

So for this round of 'brinner', I decided to forgo the hashbrowns, sausage and/or bacon that I would normally slave over on a Sunday morning. This time, 'brinner' consisted of what my kids chose: pancakes and scrambled eggs.

Now some of you might be wishing you had bought instant pancake mix, but honestly, I prefer a homemade version. It tastes better and it really doesn't take that much longer to mix together (and my kids get to 'help', aka, screen distraction)

Ingredients:

Scrambled eggs:

7-10 eggs (depending on how many people you're cooking for)
1/4 cup milk (I like using almond milk, that's fine too)
1/2 TBSP butter
Salt
Pepper

Mickey Mouse Pancakes (makes 5 small to medium sized pancakes, or 4 medium to large sized pancakes):

1 1/4 cup flour
1 TBSP baking powder
2 TBSP sugar
1 TBSP vegetable oil
1 egg
1 cup milk
Dab of butter

Side note - You can make regular pancakes, but you'll make a big splash with the Mickey Mouse version.

Extra note - I would start with the scrambled eggs. I'm a big fan of really soft scrambled eggs and to make them perfect, you need to cook them longer at a lower heat.

Directions - Scrambled Eggs:

1) First off, I would start melting the butter in a nonstick pan (this is absolutely essential. If you don't use nonstick, good luck cleaning it up after)

2) Next, scramble the milk and eggs together in a bowl, this will make the eggs extra fluffy.

3) Sprinkle a dash of salt and pepper (or more for taste) onto the egg mixture.

4) Cook on nonstick pan on medium heat and continuously scrape around egg mixture from the bottom - don't let it stick. You'll want to stir it around every few minutes.

5) Serve with pancakes when done, and Enjoy!

Directions - Mickey Mouse Pancakes:

1) Mix together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and sugar

2) Add in the liquid ingredients next: egg, milk and vegetable oil and stir together until it's not lumpy anymore.

3) Melt butter on nonstick pan (not as important, but I'm a big fan of nonstick pans)

4) Pour about 1 cup of batter onto pan and pour a small amount as 'ears' at the top. Practice will help you keep it symmetrical.

5) Cook until the batter starts to bubble, and then flip over to the other side (be careful to support the ears with your spatula or they will get destroyed)

6) Once flipped, let the other side cook for another couple minutes. Check the bottom to be sure it's evenly cooked before removing it from the pan.

7) Cook remaining batter into pancakes.

8) Serve and Enjoy!

I'm a big fan of letting my kids help mix and stir, although then they want to help flip the pancakes too. But it's still really worthwhile to let them (and they look really cute in baking aprons)

Cheesy Potato & Hamburger Casserole

So, I'll admit, this casserole isn't the best time-saving recipe I've ever come across. But I was encouraged by my colleagues to make (and bring) a yummy casserole with comfort food.

I thought about an eggs, sausage & hashbrown (with cheese of course) casserole, which I adore. But I wanted something more lunch/dinner related and my mother-in-law suggested something like this:

Cheesy Potato & Hamburger Casserole

Ingredients:

4-6 large baking potatoes

1 lb hamburger

1/2 onion (chopped)

4 cloves of garlic (minced)

1 stick salted butter

1/2 cup flour

4 cups milk

2 cups grated cheddar cheese

Directions:

Brown hamburger with onion and garlic

First off, I wouldn't make this if you're getting home from work and need a quick recipe. The only way I found the time (and energy) to cook this casserole is I did it the night before and enlisted the help of my children. This was beneficial because it got them off screens and got them to wear baking aprons instead.

1) Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

2) Start browning the hamburger in a non-stick skillet (best cooking invention ever) and cook with onion and garlic.

3) Season the hamburger with salt and pepper and cook thoroughly until completely browned, and then set aside.

Peel & slice potatoes

4) While the hamburger is cooking, start peeling and slicing the potatoes. I suggest getting any kids (or extra cooks) to help with this because it will take as long as it takes to cook the hamburger. I let my oldest help peel the potatoes, and I sliced them up. And then my toddler (who I forced to wash her hands) would take the sliced potatoes and transfer them into a 9 by 13 casserole dish.

5) In the meantime, get another pot and melt the butter.

6) Once the butter is melted, add the flour and cook 3-4 minutes until bubbly.

Cheesy sauce!

7) Then stir in the milk and cook until thickened. DON'T make the same mistake I did and try to add more flour (it made it way too thick and I had to add extra milk to even it out).

8) Add cheese into the butter/milk/flour mixture and stir together until all is smooth

9) Layer the potatoes and hamburger in the casserole dish and pour cheese sauce over it. You'll want to make sure the cheese sauce reaches as much as possible.

Don't forget to mix it in well!

10) Cover with foil and bake in the oven  for 2 hours (check after 1 1/2 hours) or until potatoes are tender.  

11) Remove foil and cover with extra cheese, and bake another 15 to 30 minutes

**You can do 2 lbs of hamburger to get more meat into the dish. 

The nice thing about this casserole is that it heats up again really quickly, so you can make it the night before and dinner is all ready the next day (which is what I did).

Serve & enjoy!

Slow Cooker Pork Stew

Crockpot recipes are my favorite meals to prepare for dinner because it's something I can get ready in the morning or the night before, and then when I get home and I'm tired, dinner is ready to go.

This pork stew recipe is a mixture of different recipes I've tried over the years and tweaked to make my own. It's fairly easy. The only thing is, while you can eat it on its own, it's far far far superior on a bed of white rice (which will take some extra time when you get home, but not too much). Thankfully, rice is easy.

Slow Cooker Pork Stew

Stew Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds pork stew meat (cut into 1-inch cubes - I buy it pre-cut at the store)
1 packet of dry onion soup mix
1 1/2 TSP beef bullion
1 cup water
3 carrots (sliced)
1/2 onion (chopped)
1 stalk celery (sliced)
1 can whole tomatoes (keep the juice, don't drain)
2 cloves garlic (crushed) or 2 TSP garlic powder
2 TBSP cornstarch
1 TBSP smoked paprika
1 TSP rosemary
1 can of green beans
1 can of yellow corn
Salt & Pepper to taste

Brown pork stew meat in non stick skillet

Rice Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked white rice
2 cups water
1/4 TBSP butter

Directions:

1) First start by browning the pork stew meat over the stovetop in a large skillet (I prefer a non stick pan that is easier to wash...)

2) While the meat is browning, get all the other ingredients ready and start chopping up the carrots, celery, onion, and garlic.

3) You'll also want to open up the cans of green beans, corn, and tomatoes.

Chop your veggies

4) Cook the water in the microwave until bubbling (a few minutes) and add in the beef bullion. You can also use beef broth if you have it on hand, but I use bullion to save money (and because I can never remember to buy cans of broth).

5) Put the beef in your slow cooker with the dry onion soup mix, the beef broth, carrots, celery, chopped onion, green beans, corn ,and tomatoes.

6) Pour in the seasonings (smoked paprika, salt & pepper, and rosemary) and mix into the pork stew.


7) Cover and cook on LOW for 8-10 hours

8) Once home, heat the water in a pot and add in the butter until the water is boiling.

9) Add rice and stir into pot. Cook for about 30 minutes until rice is tender.

10) While rice is cooking, add the cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup cold water, and then turn the heat to high and stir until the stew is thickened.

11) When rice is done, pour stew over bed of rice and serve!

Chicken & Sausage Spaghetti Alfredo

This recipe is something I developed on my own. This recipe is for my fellow moms out there who love Fettuccine Alfredo but either 1) forget to buy fettuccine, or 2) want to add a little spice to the normal recipe.

This one is a combination, adding in peas, sausage and chicken to the normal recipe. The other big change is fettuccine. The reason I don't use fettuccine is because it takes so much longer to cook fettuccine, and when you're in a rush (because kids don't always let you cook leisurely), spaghetti is a faster noodle to cook. And my kids will actually eat it.

Chicken & Sausage Spaghetti Alfredo

Ingredients:

1 12oz pkg of spaghetti noodles
1 8oz pkg of pork sausage
2 chicken breasts (thawed)
1 cup of frozen peas
1 15oz creamy Alfredo pasta sauce (Bertolli, Ragu, Classico, etc.)
Parmeson cheese
1 Tsp Olive or Vegetable Oil
Dash of salt
1 1/2 Tsp smoked paprika
1 1/2 Tsp garlic powder
1 Tsp onion powder

(Don't you love how few ingredients there are for this recipe? Me too)

1) First, start off my thawing out the chicken breasts in the microwave and cutting them up into cubes (or buy them pre-sliced or pre-cubed from the grocery store). If you freeze your sausage after buying it - I do this - start thawing it out in the microwave too.

2) While your chicken and sausage are thawing out, start boiling water. I always add a dash of salt and oil into the pot of boiling water.

Cook peas with spaghetti noodles

3) When the water is boiling, add your noodles. I break the spaghetti noodles in half before cooking them because I've found it's easier for little kids to eat. Not to mention the noodles (drenched in sauce) don't end up leaving as many stains.

4) Add frozen peas into the boiling pot to cook with the noodles.








5) Cook the cubed chicken breasts and sausage in a frying pan and add in the seasonings. Ground up the sausage and mix together with the chicken.

Cook chicken with sausage meat

6) Once the noodles are soft and peas are cooked, drain water and set said.

7) Once the chicken and sausage are thoroughly cooked, add into the noodles and peas mixture.

8) Add in the Alfredo sauce and cook for 5 minutes on the stovetop.

9) Serve in bowls and sprinkle parmeson on each serving.

10) Enjoy!

Why do I love this recipe?

It's easy, it's fairly healthy. Alright, the sausage and Alfredo sauce aren't that healthy, but at least it has a vegetable, meat, and carbs combined in a meal that kids will eat.