These recipes are my best friends concoction…which she often makes while I am putting the kids to bed.  The secret is, open a bottle of wine, pour her a glass and let her start the chopping and mixing.  Get the kids bath, ready for bed, read them a bedtime story and tuck them in for the night.  Join your girlfriend in the kitchen, pour yourself a glass of wine and presto!  Instant delicious evening snack over wine with a best friend!

All the left overs, if any, become the next days, kids’ dips for lunch.  I suggest making a little cheese quasadilla with pita bread or shells so they can dip away.  But the salsa and guacamole has been a hit with most lunches and dinners – ie. chicken fingers, pasta, veggie sticks, cheese toast, grilled cheese sandwiches etc.

You can control the ‘heat’ of the salsa to make it tolerable for toddlers.

Salsa

• approx 8 tomatoes, finely chopped
• 1-2 jalapenos, finely chopped (control amount to control heat)
• 1/2 white onion, finely chopped
• 1 red or green pepper, finely chopped
• 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• chopped Cilantro to taste
• 1/2 to 1 whole lime – squeezed

Guacamole

• 4 avocados – mashed with fork
• 2 tomatoes – finely diced (can omit if wish)
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• salt & pepper to taste (kosher salt or sea salt is awesome)
• 1/2 lime – squeezed
• chopped cilantro to taste

Thanks to Elana’s Pantry, a wonderful Gluten-free healthy recipe site that I follow regularly.  Please check out her site as her recipes are wonderful.  I have recently become very conscious of having a variety of Gluten-free meals for my increasing number of friends that are either diagnosed with Celiac or generally gluten-intolerant.  I have found the recipes very healthy.

The kids like ‘DIPS’ as it is a novelty to spoon special toppings on their food (whatever I make them).  Dips like pesto, salsa, sour cream, salad dressing just make eating fun!

Here is one that is great for this time of year as Basil is in season.  Take advantage of the markets and buy handfuls.  Enjoy it on chicken, fish, pasta and make it your summer-spice.

I am directly copying Elana’s Pantry recipe:

• 1 cup basil, well packed
• ¼ cup pine nuts, toasted
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper

Chop the basil into fine strips until it’s practically minced
Place the basil in a bowl
Chop the pine nuts fairly fine, though not to a powder, leave a little crunch
Place pine nuts in bowl with basil, then toss in olive oil, salt and pepper

Elana’s Pantry suggest to just go ahead and serve on crackers…

This is a recipe that I have made since I was 13 years old.  It does take some elbow-grease unless you use a fancy grater but I have always just pulled out an old-fashion grater and made sure I was careful of my fingertips and knuckles.

This is super for breakfast (make ahead and cook in AM).  Great for lunch, snacks (hot or cold) and of course can be very European and service for dinner.

• 1 large onion, peeled and finely grated
• 6 large potatoes, washed, peeled and grated
• 3 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper

Combine the ingredients, mix and drop into a hot buttered/oiled skillet.  Make sure heat is not too hot, medium to medium-low is great as you would like these pancakes to cook slowly and steady.  They will take longer to cook then regular pancakes.

Great with applesauce, sourcream, cottage cheese or yogurt.  For breakfast, add some apples and cinnamon or a fruit conserve. For lunch, add boiled hotdogs, sausages.  For dinner, these are great additions to pork chops, pulled pork roast, spareribs and dinner sausages.

The classic smoothie is a staple here on those days when the kids are picky-eaters.  I also make smoothies for road-trips and the days when the calendar is jam packed with being here and there.  Loss of routine always disturbs the eating habits.

Magic Bullet blender is excellent for this.  Easy clean-up!

• Milk
• Yogurt
• Frozen blueberries
• Banana
• Vitamin E drop

Serving recommendations:

Babies

• Freeze smoothie in ice cube tray.
• Pull out cube when needing a snack or an addition to a feeding.
• Can add rice cereal to get the desired thickness that your baby likes.

My nine month old did manage to figure out how to suck on an infant straw sippy.  I would fill the sippy (ie. Rubbermaid straw juice box) with smoothie and offer throughout day as a snack.

Toddlers

• Offer in straw sippy for snacks or a nutritional addition to a meal.
• Freeze into popsicles.

Here is an easy prep for parents, fun for kids!  A paint that dries with a high-gloss finish.  Looks beautiful and gives a different look for your budding-artists.

• Condensed milk
• drops of food colour

THAT IS IT!

Just have a few small plastic kids bowls and divide condensed milk in them.  Drop some food colouring in each bowl to make a variety of colours.  Include your children in the decisions of what colours to put in which bowl.

Can use fingers, sponges, brushes to paint.

If you use drops of liquid tempera paint in place of food colouring, you will create brighter glossy colours.

This is seriously the easiest fingerpaint to make and exposes your child to new textures – smooth & sticky.  It dries in a nice glossy look.  This is one of the great recipes in The Ultimate Book of Kid Concoctions by John E. Thomas & Danita Pagel.
This is easy to make when away from home on vacation or at the lake cabin or overnight at grandma’s house.  Don’t have to pack kids’ paints/tempera etc.

• 2 Tablespoons light corn syrup
• 4-6 drops of food colouring

Mix corn syrup with food colouring in small bowls.
Can make a few different colours and let the children enjoy the mixing of colours.

TIP:  Have then do this fingerpaint in a bibagogo or  shirtless…messy and sticky but easy to clean up and fun.

• 2 cups (500 mL) all-purpose flour
• 2 cups (500mL) sugar
• 1/2 cup (125mL) cocoa powder
• 2 tsp (10mL) baking soda
• 1 tsp (5mL) baking powder
• 1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt
• 1 cup (250 mL) vegetable oil
• 2 x eggs plus enough buttermilk to measure 2 cups (500mL) – (Can make buttermilk by adding a tbsp of vinegar to regular milk)
• 2 tsp (10 mL) vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (180 degrees Celsius).
2. Mix together dry ingredients – flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder & soda and salt.
3. Mix together oil, eggs, buttermilk and vanilla.
4. Add wet mixture to dry mixture.
5. Can use electric mixer but we like to do this by hand as then it is more ‘child-friendly’ and a cooperative cooking event.
6. Spoon into 20 paper-lined muffin cups, filling halfway.
7. Bake for about 25 minutes or until tops are firm and tester comes out clean. Transfer to rack and cool completely.

Easy and fast dinner that can be served to all hungry family members.  Can serve with rice/pasta/vegetables. Flake the salmon for your little one to pick at and taste, flake for your toddlers to enjoy.  This will feed the entire family!

This is a super little recipe that introduces a new flavour – lemon plus is versatile to add your child’s favourites like cottage cheese, ricotta, chopped eggs, left over chicken pieces, cooked peas etc. I use any kind of pasta I have on hand – rottini is always a the gem pasta here!

Serves 4

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (I prefer using dark meat as it is softer and more tender to serve to little ones who are just ‘mumming’ their solids) Can use white chicken breast as well or mixture of both.
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• A garlic cloves, minced
• 1 can (14.5 ounces) stewed tomatoes
• Spices of your choice (oregano, dill, thyme, rosemary)
• Season chicken with salt and pepper. In a large (5-quart) saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, heat oil over medium-high heat; swirl to coat bottom of pan. Cook chicken, turning when it easily releases from the pan, until golden, 4 to 6 minutes.
• Add garlic, tomatoes, and spices. Reduce heat to medium-low; cook, covered, until tomatoes have broken down, 10 to 15 minutes.
• Cover, and cook until chicken is opaque throughout, 4 to 6 minutes. Turn chicken to coat with sauce, and serve.
• I serve this with cooked pasta or with soft, cooked rice.  The tried and true side green veggie in our house has always been cooked peas, but try the Okra or boiled broccoli florets.