Kid-Friendly Food Monday: Sour Cream Banana Cake

We don't usually have leftover bananas at our house.  In fact, if I let him, one of my twins would eat 4 or 5 bananas in a day.

But on occasion, a banana or two slips by them and ends up too "dirty", as my boys say, to eat.  Usually I will make the standard banana bread, or banana muffins, but sometimes I am not in the mood for those.  That's when I make this sour cream banana cake.

I've used this recipe for years.  I found it in an old cookbook I bought at a thrift store before I was even married.  It is especially good if I only have one lone banana that needs to be used, because it is the perfect amount if I half the recipe. 

I frost this cake with a variety of frostings - usually an old-fashioned, cooked, flour-based frosting that I have seen a revival of on food blogs lately, sometimes chocolate, and sometimes cream cheese.  And sometimes I skip the frosting all together and serve it as a plain snack cake, or maybe dusted with powdered sugar.   

Today I topped it with a whipped cream cheese frosting recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe.

Sour Cream Banana Cake

1/4 c. butter or shortening                                  

1 1/3 c. sugar                                                      

2 eggs                                                                 

1 t. vanilla                                                           

2 c. flour                                                             

1 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

3/4 t. salt

1 c. sour cream

1 c. mashed bananas

1/2 c. chopped pecans (optional)

350° Grease and flour a 9x13 pan.  Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add vanilla.  Combine flour, baking powder, soda and salt in a bowl.  Add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream.  Blend in bananas and nuts.  Pour into prepared pan.  Bake 40-45 min. Allow to cool, then frost as desired, or dust with powdered sugar.

Note: I halve this recipe all the time and bake it in an 8x8 baking dish, checking for done-ness at 30 minutes.

Kid-Friendly Food Monday - Easy Spanish Rice

One of my sons just loves rice, so I am always on the lookout for easy, tasty, versatile rice recipes to fill him up.  

This one is a favorite because you can control the amount of spiciness your kids prefer simply by changing the heat intensity of the salsa used.  I use mild to medium salsa, depending on what I have on hand.  But my kids are ok with a little heat.  Feel free to use whichever heat your kids will eat.

I usually serve this with Tacos or Bean & Cheese Burritos, and a side of fruit.

Easy Spanish Rice

2 T. oil

¼ c. chopped onion (can used 1 T. dehydrated)

1 ½ c. uncooked white rice

2 c. chicken broth

1 c. chunky salsa

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Stir in onion, and cook until tender, about 5 minutes.  Mix rice into skillet, stirring often. When rice begins to brown, stir in chicken broth and salsa. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 20 minutes, until liquid has been absorbed.  Fluff with a fork, season with salt and pepper as desired.  Serve.  6-8 servings.

Optional additional preparation:  Once it is prepared in the skillet, I often transfer it to a greased 2 qt. baking dish, top it with about 1/2 c. cheddar cheese and place it in a 350 degree oven until the cheese is melted, about 10 minutes.

Adapted from Allrecipes

Kid Friendly Food Monday: Ham and Cheese Loaf

One of my sons asks for a ham sandwich every single day.  Unfortunately for him, I don't have ham available every. single. day.

 

Those days he just has to suffer through a PB&J.  Which is his twin brother's favorite. lunch. ever!

 

Twins.  Go figure.

 

Anyway, I know if I want to make Mister-Ham-Lover happy, all I have to do is tell him that ham is on the menu.  (And if I want to make Mr. Pie happy, I just have to serve him anything wrapped in bread.  Seriously, he loves anything wrapped in bread.)

 

Enter Ham and Cheese Loaf.

 

Next time, I think I will try to bridge the gap between my twins preferences and add some cooked, finely chopped broccoli in with the cheese mix. (Mister PB&J also loves broccoli. True story.)  That should make both them and Mom happy, since I am always happy to sneak veggies in somewhere.

 

 

Ham and Cheese Loaf 

1 lb. bread dough (enough for one loaf)
1 pkg. (9 oz.) deli ham
1 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 egg, beaten
1 Tbsp.  Grated Parmesan Cheese

Preheat oven to 350.  On a floured surface, roll dough out into a rectangle, roughly 12x8.  Don't roll the dough too thin.  Place deli ham slices over the entire surface, overlapping if necessary, leaving about 1/2 inch around the edges clear. 

In a small bowl, stir together the shredded cheese and mayonnaise.  Spread over the surface of the ham.  Take one of the long sides of the dough and fold it 1/3 over the filling .  Repeat with the other long side of the dough.  You now have a log shape of dough with the filling enclosed in the center.

Move the dough and place seam-side down on a greased baking sheet.  Brush top of loaf with beaten egg and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  Cut  1-inch slits down the length of the top of the loaf (I just snipped them with my kitchen shears).  Bake for 35-40 minutes.  Cut into slices to serve.

recipe from kraftrecipes

***

NOTES: Use all the ham as called for, or less, depending on your family's preference.  For the loaf in the photo, I used about half of the 9 oz. package of deli ham because my other sons don't like a ton of ham on it.

Also, I used my favorite bread dough recipe for this (which I usually make with whole wheat flour, but happened to be out of when I made this), but you could easily use a frozen bread dough, like Rhodes brand, or even this Pizza Dough recipe!



 

Kid Friendly Food: Veggie Ground Beef

For this week's kid-friendly food post, I have not so much a recipe, as a tip that I use to get my kids to consume a bit more vegetables.

 

Out of my three boys, only one is a veggie lover.  If he had a choice, I think he would eat a plate full of his favorite veggies over anything else.  Unfortunately, his two brothers avoid veggies whenever possible.

 

So, I try to sneak in veggies where I can.  This tip is one of the ways I do it. 

 

 

 

When I cook up ground beef for a recipe (in this case it was for Spaghetti Sauce), I grate a whole zucchini straight into the beef.  I do this when the beef is about half-way done (as you can see in the photo above, my beef was still pink in areas when I added the zucchini).  That way the zucchini can cook for a shorter time without the beef getting overcooked, and they finish at the same time.

 

 

 

 

After it has been stirred together and cooked down with the ground beef, I drain the grease and add the rest of the ingredients for whatever it is I am cooking.  By the time the dish is ready to eat, no one can tell that the zucchini is even in there.

 

Here is what the sauce looked like after all was said and done:

 

 

 

 See?  No visible veggies to dissuade kids from eating it!

 

This works great for a lot of ground beef recipes, especially ones with a tomato base.  I have done it for Spaghetti Sauce, Sloppy Joes, Tacos, and even my recipe for Cheesy Tomato Beef and Noodles.

 

If you have a hard time getting veggies into some (or all) of your kids, give this tip a try.  It works in our family, and every bit of veggie consumed (whether hidden or not) counts to this mom! 

 

 

 

Kid-Friendly Food: Easy Bread Machine Pizza Dough

I love having this great recipe in my "Kid-Friendly" recipe arsenal.  And I love that I can literally just throw all the ingredients in my bread machine and let it do the work for me. 

 

It is so simple that I pinky-promise all of the ingredients are sitting right now on the pantry shelves of 99.9% of American homes. 

 

Okay, except maybe the yeast if bread-making isn't a common occurrence in your home. But yeast packets are available at any grocery store, and are fairly cheap for a strip of three.  I even see coupons for it surprisingly often.

 

(However, if you do make bread on a regular basis, I would recommend getting yeast in bulk at Costco.  It literally ends up costing pennies per batch of bread, and lasts forever if you store it in your freezer.  Just sayin.)

 

This is a dairy and egg-free dough, which provides it with a slightly chewier texture than a regular bread or roll dough.  I use it for homemade pizza, as well as for breadsticks or Pizza Rolls. 

 

This recipe makes one large (thick) pizza crust, or two smaller (thinner) crusts.  A lot of times I will make one medium-sized pizza for Mr. Pie and I, and divide the rest of the dough between my three boys to make their own individual pizzas.  They love choosing their own toppings - and being involved makes them more likely to eat their creations.  Mommy Win!

 

Note: This is just the recipe for the dough itself.  I have only made this recipe in my bread machine, so I don't have specific directions for the hand method of making it.  I will give basic baking directions for making a pizza, but if you are using this recipe for Pizza Rolls, refer to the baking instructions in that recipe, instead.

 

 

  

(Easy!) Bread Machine Pizza Dough

 1 envelope (or 2 1/4 t.) granulated yeast

3 c. flour (I use a mix of white and wheat)
1 t. salt
2 t. sugar
2 T. oil (olive oil is preferred, but vegetable oil works just fine) 
1 c. + 2 T. water

Place ingredients in bread machine according to manufacturers directions.

Note: The rule of thumb for bread machines is wet ingredients on the bottom, flour on top of wet ingredients, then yeast on top of the flour, but please refer to your own bread machine's instruction booklet if you have any questions about how to place your ingredients. 

Run the bread machine on the dough cycle. 

My bread machine's dough cycle includes the rising time, running for about an hour and a half from start to finish.  I let the dough stay in the machine the entire time.  However, if your machine's dough cycle runs shorter or differently, or you just don't want to let it rise in the machine pan, you can always take the dough out after the initial mixing and kneading, place it in a greased bowl, cover with greased plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place until doubled.

For Pizza: punch down dough, roll or stretch out and place on greased pizza pan (or lightly dust pan with cornmeal).  Top with sauce and toppings of choice and bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

(Recipe adapted from Food.com)

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Kid-Friendly Food: Strawberry Lemonade Smoothie

My boys love getting slushies at Sonic.

 

See the italic emphasis up there?  Yeah, that's how much they LOVE getting slushies at Sonic.

 

And at 50 cents a slush during Happy Hour, it's a pretty cheap indulgence.  But, as a mom trying to get some amount of healthy food into her kids during the course of a day, I just can't bring myself to give in to their pleas very often. 

 

It's pretty easy to deny my boys, too.  All I have to do is picture them in my mind, pouring a cup of sugar down their throats, and I hit the gas and zoom on by.  Because that is essentially what they are doing when they drink a Sonic slush.

 

So  what is a mom to do?  Find a healthier alternative, of course!

 

I love finding recipes that I can adapt to suit the needs of my family, and this one does just that.  

 

Personally, I try to avoid a lot of extra sugar for myself, so I make this with Diet 7-Up to slash the sugar calories. I also substitute Splenda for the sugar to cut the carbs and calories even more.

 

However, I am not the biggest fan of my kids ingesting a ton of artificial sweeteners, so for them I might do 7-Up Ten, and real sugar, or Splenda/Sugar blend.

 

But even if I make the recipe as written, they are still getting the fiber and nutrition of the strawberries, no High Fructose Corn Syrup, and no artificial colorings like they would with a Sonic slush. 

 

If you try it, I totally encourage you to make this smoothie to suit the needs and desires of your family.  It is fail proof.  And really yummy.

 

 

Strawberry Lemonade Smoothies

1 (16 oz.) bag of frozen strawberries (no sugar added), or about 4 cups

36 oz. 7-Up, diet or regular (3 cans)
1 T. lemon juice
½ c. sugar (or sugar substitute of your choice)

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.  Pour into glasses and enjoy! 
About 4 servings.

 

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Kid-Friendly Food: Cheesy Tomato Beef and Noodles

This recipe is old.  I don't know how old, but one day I found it in a box, in a drawer, written on the back of a receipt. From my pre-marriage days. 

 

It looked easy.  Yessssss.

 

It looked kid-friendly.  Possibly.  But, you never know with my kids. 

 

 I decided to give it a try.

 

And I am glad I did, because it was an instant hit with all my boys - the little ones and the big one.

 

I am always looking for things that are easy and kid-friendly, like say, Hamburger Helper, but that aren't actually Hamburger Helper.  Because I'll be honest, Hamburger Helper is kindof gross to me. 

 

This one fit the bill.  And it gets gobbled up every. single. time.



Cheesy Tomato Beef Casserole

1 c. dry elbow macaroni, cooked

1 lb. ground beef

1 T. oil

1 small onion, diced

½ green pepper, diced

1 t. salt

¼ t. pepper

1 t. basil

1 T. parsley

1 can condensed tomato soup

1 c. shredded cheese, plus some for topping

Up to ½ c. milk (I use evaporated)

Cook macaroni in a large saucepan.  While macaroni is cooking, sauté the onion and green peppers in oil.  Add ground beef and brown.  Add cooked, drained macaroni and remaining ingredients, except milk, and simmer 10 minutes.  Add milk to desired creaminess.  Top with additional shredded cheese to serve.

 

*NOTE: For those avoiding condensed soups, I have made this successfully by substituting an 8 oz. can of tomato sauce mixed with 1/4 c. cream (to equal 10 oz.), and a packet of Splenda (or about 2 t. sugar).

 

 

Linking Up here:

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 Look What I Made @ Creations by Kara
 

 

 

Kid Friendly Food (AND Holiday Tradition!): Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Mr. Pie didn't bring a lot of Christmas traditions to our family when we got married, which was hard for me, because I come from a big family full of tradition.  Games and movies and outings and recipes...there was so much I wanted to bring from my Christmas experience to our family!

 

But in the beginning, I felt like I really needed to scale back because: 

 

A) Mr. Pie didn't seem to really get into Christmas, and

 

B) I felt like I would be steam-rolling right over him if I bombarded him with all the things I wanted to bring over from my family. 

 

So really, until we had kids, our Christmases were rather quiet.

 

However, there was one tradition he did bring... Chocolate Crinkle Cookies.

Every year, the one thing that did seem to make him happy during the holiday season was the package of Chocolate Crinkle Cookies that usually arrived either from his mom or his sister.

 

According to my husband, they were his grandfather's favorite cookie, and his grandmother would make them every Christmas.

 

Eventually, the packages stopped being sent from his mother, and the responsibility of carrying on this one tradition for my husband fell to me.

 

Well, this is definitely a Christmas Tradition I can get behind!

 

But what's even better is that I now have three little boys who like to help/watch me make "Daddy's Special Christmas Cookies", as they are otherwise known at our house.

And I have a feeling these cookies will become a strong Christmas tradition for them in the years to come.  And that makes me happy.

 

 

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
(recipe taken from the Betty Crocker Cooky Book)

1/2 c. vegetable oil
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
2 c. sugar
1 T. vanilla
4 eggs
2 c. flour
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
powdered sugar

In large bowl, mix oil, chocolate, granulated sugar and vanilla. Stir in eggs, one at a time. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt. Cover; refrigerate at least 3 hours. 

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease cookie sheet with shortening or cooking spray. 

Drop dough by teaspoonfuls into powdered sugar; roll around to coat and shape into balls. Place about 2 inches apart on cookie sheets.

Bake 10 minutes. You want them to still be slightly soft in the center. Immediately remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks.

Tips:

 

Although it says to just drop the dough into the powdered sugar, I actually roll the dough into a ball before rolling in the sugar.

 

I also bake these only for 10 minutes.  I have found if they are baked longer they will dry out more quickly. 

 

Enjoy!

Kid-Friendly Food - Bean & Cheese Burritos

Here is another one of my kids favorite meals - plain ol' Bean and Cheese Burritos.

The thing I like about this recipe, is that you can make it as healthy as you would like.  It is so simple, just rice, beans, salsa, cheese and tortillas. 

You want to do brown rice?  Go for it!  Whole wheat tortillas?  Sure!

You can even throw in some shredded chicken, if you want more protein.  And I sometimes use homemade refried beans.

It's a very flexible recipe.

And they freeze awesomely.  I always end up with about a half dozen that I freeze in a freezer bag, so I can pull them out later for lunch, or another quick dinner when it's just the kids and I.

And the fact that all my kids gobble these up?  Well, that's the thing I love about these burritos the most.

Bean and Cheese Burritos

1 (16 oz.) can refried beans (or 2 c. homemade)

1 c. cooked rice

1 c. salsa

2 ½ c. shredded cheddar cheese

12 flour tortillas

Toppings (lettuce, chopped tomato, sour cream, salsa, olives, etc.)

375° Combine the beans, rice, salsa and 1 ½ c. cheese in a bowl.  Scoop about 1/3 c. of bean mixture onto on half of a tortilla (I sprinkle a little extra cheese on top of the filling mixture at this point), fold in the ends and roll up.  Place seam side down in a large baking dish.  Repeat with remaining filling and tortillas.  Sprinkle remaining cheese on top of burritos.  Cover and bake for 20 minutes.  Serve with desired toppings.

(recipe adapted from Blog Chef)

Note: The kind of salsa you use will affect the flavor and heat of your burritos.  Use a salsa you really like.  Even though I serve these to my kids, I have found that I like a medium heat salsa the best.  With all the other ingredients to help absorb the heat, it is just the right amount of spiciness for us.  So experiment a little with salsas until you find the right brand/heat for your family!

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Kid-Friendly Food - Pizza Rolls

I have two of the pickiest eaters on the planet. 

And unfortunately, they happen to be twins, which means they like to feed off each other.  What one does, the other likes to follow.  And with no older siblings to use as examples of how to eat their dinner, sometimes it is practically a wrestling match to get either of them to eat anything!

So when I find a recipe that all my kids eat (my youngest eats almost everything, so he doesn't really count in the equation) I make it.  A lot.

This is one of those recipes. 

I pinned this recipe awhile ago and have, of course, made my own changes until it is now how I like it.  I usually make mine with finely chopped pepperoni, green pepper, onion and olives.  But not too much or the filling will spill out once you cut the rolls.

I usually serve this with a variety of fruit and carrot sticks.

Pizza Rolls

pizza dough - enough for two pizzas (I usually use this one)

1 t. garlic powder, divided

2 t. basil, divided

1 c. sliced pepperoni, chopped
2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
1/3 c. shredded Parmesan cheese

optional toppings: finely chopped olives,

green pepper, onion, mushrooms, etc. (about 1/2 c. each)

marinara or pizza sauce, warmed, for dipping

425°  Divide pizza dough in half. Roll each half into a rectangle, about 1/4 inch thick and 12 inches long.  Sprinkle each half with equal amounts of garlic salt, basil, cheeses, pepperoni and any optional toppings. Starting at a short end, roll dough up tightly to form a log. Slice into 1-inch pieces. Place rolls on lightly greased baking sheets. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until browned on top. Serve with warm marinara sauce for dipping.

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