Project Life 365: Week Eleven

3/10 – Doodle
3/11 – Smash
3/12 – Roam
3/13 – Message
3/14 – Charmed
3/15 – Beware
3/16 – In The Middle

Project Life 365: Week Ten

3/3 – Troublemaker
3/4 – Big Personality
3/5 – Private
3/6 – Daily Commute
3/7 – Over There
3/8 – Dreamy
3/9 – Contained

Kids’ Kitchen: Cheesy Spinach Quinoa Bites

Holy health nuts, batman! This is one of the recipes I’ve made recently for River that he has absolutely scarfed down. Probably because it seems to him like a mini muffin (aka: carbs) and as I’ve previously mentioned about my little guy, he’s a carb king. These little bites are teeny flavorful and pack a punch of super nutritious spinach and quinoa. Enjoy!

CHEESY SPINACH QUINOA BITES
*makes about 36 bites

Ingredients:

• 3 cups cooked quinoa
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 cups chopped frozen spinach, thawed and dried
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 2 cloves garlic, finely diced
• 1 shallot, finely diced
• 3 tbsp all purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl mix together quinoa, eggs, spinach, cheese, garlic, shallot, flour, salt and pepper until very well combined
   
3. Spoon mixture into the cups of a mini muffin tin, pressing down with the back of the spoon or your fingers. Bake 20 minutes. Cool completely on wire rack.
   

Veggie Burgers

Hello all! Today I’m continuing my contributions to your healthy kitchen by sharing my Veggie Burger recipe. It’s made primarily with chick peas and packs a lot of veggies in each bite so give it a whirl for either your dinner or your little ones!

VEGGIE BURGERS
*makes about 8 large burgers

Ingredients:

• 1 15 oz. can chick peas, drained and rinsed
• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped
• 1 garlic clove, peeled
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 5 stems flat leaf parsley leaves
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup bread crumbs
• vegetable or olive oil
  

Directions:

1. In a food processor blend the chickpeas, carrot, garlic, onion, parsley and eggs until smooth.
2. Add chickpea mixture to large bowl and mix with bread crumbs and salt.
   
3. In a large pan over medium heat, heat oil.
4. Place a 1/4 cup of the mixture in your hands and roll into a ball. Place in pan and flatten slightly with your fingers of the back of a spoon.
   
5. Cook patties for about 5 minutes, then flip, reduce heat to low and cook for an additional 5 minutes.  Remove patties from pan and serve.
   

These burgers are great served open faced on a whole wheat roll with some shredded lettuce, garlic aioli and mild cheese. Enjoy!

Kids’ Kitchen: Green Veggie Pancakes

Happy Sunday, everyone! Today I’m sharing a recipe for Green Veggie Pancakes for the mini people in your lives. Full disclosure, this particular recipe did not meet with overwhelming approval from my little guy, but he’s a toddler so I’m not taking it personally or as anything wrong with the recipe, necessarily. I think they’re pretty delicious, and even River came around when I served them to him the third or forth time (with marinara sauce for dipping.) They’re super healthy and quick to pull together, let me know how it goes for you and your minis!

GREEN VEGGIE PANCAKES
*makes about 6 pancakes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup broccoli, very finely diced
• 1/2 cup zucchini, grated and finely diced
• 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 whole egg
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 2 tbsp water
• vegetable or olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp grated Parmesan
  

Directions:

1. In a large bowl mix broccoli, zucchini, flour, egg, garlic, basil, parsley, water and salt and pepper. Mix well.
   
2. Heat oil in a pan over medium heat. When oil is hot spoon 2 tablespoons of the batter per pancake into the pan, top each pancake with a pinch of the grated Parmesan.
   
3. Cook pancakes about 2 minutes, then flip and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Remove from pan and place onto a towel lined plate to drain oil.
   

Serve either plain or with a dipping sauce like yogurt sauce or marinara. Enjoy!

Project Life 365: Week Nine

2/24 – Good Night
2/25 – Good Morning
2/26 – Blue
2/27 – Nook
2/28 – Handmade
3/1 – You Today
3/2 – Process

Project Life 365: Photo Project Week Eight

2/17 – Shared Space
2/18 – Best Dressed
2/19 – More
2/20 – In My Bag
2/21 – Freestyle
2/22 – TGIF
2/23 – When I Grow Up

Kids’ Kitchen: Mini Turkey Meatloaves

Happy Saturday! Last week I went on a marathon food making session for my increasingly picky little angel, which was much needed. To tell the truth, my success came in varying degrees from ice cold (Veggie Burgers) to luke warm (Green Veggie Pancakes) to hotsy-totsy-making-a-batch-every-week (these MIni Turkey Meatloaves.) I’ll share all these recipes here next week, but I thought today I’d give you what the goods were in this house, these delightful little meatloaves. They’re made in a muffin tin and packed full of lean protein and veggies so they’re perfect for your little one’s lunch or dinner. I served River’s with some red sauce, since lately he will eat basically anything as long as (and ONLY) if it’s totally doused in the stuff. Enjoy them!

MINI TURKEY MEATLOAF
*makes 12 mini meatloaves

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground turkey breast
• 1/2 zucchini, shredded
• 1/2 large onion, finely diced
• 1 small carrot, peeled and finely diced
• 1 garlic clove, finely diced
• 1/2 cup flat leaf parsley, finely diced
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp worcestershire
• 1/2 tbsp oregano
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Spray muffin tin with cooking spray.
3. In a large bowl add all ingredients except for the parmesan. With your hands mix ingredients very well until thoroughly combined.
4. Fill each muffin cup about 3/4 of the way full with the meatloaf mixture, packing it down with a spoon or your fingers. Sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top of each muffin cup.
   
5. Bake on center rack for about 20 minutes or until cooked through to an internal temperature of 165 degrees.
6. Cool and serve.
   

Project Life 365: Week Seven

2/10 – Lucky
2/11 – Tasty
2/12 – Good Times
2/13 – Steps
2/14 – Romance
2/15 – Reward
2/16 – Heavenly

Kids’ Kitchen: Sweet Potato Apple Pancakes

Happy hump day! I’ve been feeling so stuck in a rut lately with poor River and his dinners. This morning I was feeling inspired to remedy this rut situation so I made a whole bunch of stuff that I can pop in the freezer and take out every day. These Sweet Potato Apple Pancakes I made first and while I was making everything else, I gave River one for his morning snack. It was a hit, so I thought I’d share this recipe with you first. Of course, as with pretty much everything I make for River, these are delicious for anyone, including adults and would be a lovely addition to a dinner or brunch as a side dish. Hope your little ones (and you) enjoy them as much as mine (and I) did!

SWEET POTATO APPLE PANCAKES
(makes about 9 patties)

Ingredients:

• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and grated
• 1 apple, peeled, cored and grated
• 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup self rising flour
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• vegetable or olive oil

Directions:

1. In a large bowl add sweet potato, apple, flours, eggs, garlic powder and salt. Mix well to combine.
   
2. Add oil to a large pan and heat over medium heat.
3. Place about 3 tablespoons of batter per pancake in the pan and press flat with the back of spoon. Cook for about 5 minutes then flip and cook about 5 additional minutes on the other side.
   
4. Remove patties from heat and place on a paper towel lined plate to drain excess oil and cool.