I wouldn’t say my kids are picky, but they just aren’t the most well-rounded eaters. They could eat fruit and most veggies all the time – but to get them to eat meat is another matter all together. They eat breads and most pastas, and definitely baked goods, but anything outside of chicken nuggets (and those even occasionally) or maybe a cheeseburger (if they eat half of one) is harder to get them to eat.
What’s a Mom to do?
Look to other moms and try things that might or might not work, and hope they work. My friend Jeni that I interviewed a few weeks ago has a great blog full of tasty and healthy recipes and she cooks for her 4 kids a lot. So, this week when I have sworn off fast food I needed some quick go-to meals for them.
She recommended some crescent ham and cheese rolls that she makes for her daughter. My kids will eat anything they can dip: broccoli in ranch dressing, fruit in just about anything including CFA sauce, and these they ate right up when I gave them some honey mustard to dip these rolls into. Never underestimate the power of dipping sauce.
Kid-Friendly Ham & Cheese Rolls
Recipe Type: Lunch
Cuisine: Kid Lunch
Author: kd316
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Serves: 8
Easy quick ham and cheese roll ups
Ingredients
1 roll refrigerated crescent rolls
about 4 slices honey ham
1/4 cup shredded cheese
salt and pepper
Instructions
Preheat oven according to rolls pkg directions.
Pull apart ham slices and put a little ham and cheese in each crescent roll.
Roll up and place on ungreased baking pan.
Top with a little salt and pepper for extra savory seasonings.
Bake according to directions.
Let cool. The inside filling will be too hot for most kids right out of the oven.
Serve with their favorite fruits and vegetables and of course dipping sauce.
I grew up in the South. Some folks don’t consider Florida to be the South, but when you live in the middle of the state all your life surrounded by orange groves and muscadine vines, take vacations to state parks and the Suwanee River, and live on Publix fried chicken and church potlucks, you are definitely from the South.
For me, summer in the south meant swimming in our pool (my Mom opened the pool season April 1), playing baseball in our yard with my cousins, listening for our “school bell” to ring to tell us it was time to come home, and heading to the Circle K for ice cream (31 flavors never got old) and watching Mets baseball via WWOR.
For me now, summer is summer. Its hotter. And I love to pick fruit. Strawberries, blueberries, peaches, you name it. If it is available to me, I want to pick it. And I love to bake with it. From peach cobblers to strawberry pizza, and these strawberries and cream biscuits.
Strawberries and Cream Biscuits
Recipe Type: bread
Cuisine: southern
Author: kd316
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Serves: 6-8
A mildly sweet strawberry biscuit waiting for some honey and peanut butter.
Ingredients
1 3/4 – 2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/5 tsp kosher salt
6 T cold, unsalted butter
6-7 strawberries (tops removed), mashed
2 T turbinado sugar
3/4 cup full fat buttermilk
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400. A cast iron pan grill pan will be a great cooking sheet!
Mix dry ingredients in a food processor.
Slice butter and put in food processor.
Pulse until small pebbles form in dry ingredients.
Mash strawberries and pour in the sugar. Let sit for 5-10 minutes.
Add in buttermilk.
Pour slowly into the food processor and let it mix well with the dry ingredients.
Turn out onto a floured cutting board and kneed for 1-2 minutes, adding flour if necessary.
Form into a 3/4 inch high circle and cut into biscuits.
Put in cast iron pan and bake for about 20 minutes.
Take out and let cool on cooling rack.
Serve with butter, honey, strawberry jam, or peanut butter – or some of all.
Almost inevitably, when you mention food in the south you hear talk of fried chicken, okra, and apple pie.
And when you talk about spirits in the South, you here bourbon and moonshine.
I minored in history in college, wanting to be a history teacher, but that didn’t last long (when I had to do so many lesson plans), but I still loved history. And that is one of the reasons I chose this book, Southern Spirits, to read. I also liked new recipes but more importantly it was so I could learn the history and culture of different forms of alcohol in the culture that made them what they are.
If you like history and your drinks – then pick this one up. Thank you Blogging for Books.
About a month ago, I was so concerned with what I was going to do since summer was coming. See, my older little boy is in preschool and it was letting out for 2 months. It is hard to take two preschoolers with me anywhere, and I had grown accustomed to getting things done in the morning with just one of them.
And here, almost July, and we have one more month. A month filled with fruit picking, zoo trips, play dates, and vacation to North Carolina. It hasn’t been as tough as I thought, but my husband has been gracious with his time off, too.
At the beginning of the week I wanted to bake something and get my older preschooler in the kitchen. He really loves being in the kitchen with me and I love it. So, we opened a cookbook, made a few tweaks with what we had, and put them in the oven.
The next day we got to head to Roswell and go hiking and playing in the water at Vickery Creek Falls. So fun. My boys are definitely water lovers and they love any time they get to spend with their daddy. These bars were delicious and portable and had some good energy boosting carbs in them to refuel them after the hike.
Easy Peanut Butter Bars
Recipe Type: Bar
Cuisine: Dessert
Author: kd316
Prep time:
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Serves: 20
Easy, portable, not-to-sweet peanut butter bar
Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg (room temp)
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup roasted peanuts (halved)
3/4 cup chocolate chunks (I used dark)
1/2 cup 10x sugar
1 1/2 T creamy peanut butter
2 T milk (or until desired glaze consistency)
Instructions
Cream first ingredients (through vanilla).
While you let the mixer do its work, get a 9×13 pan, line with foil, spray with cooking spray, and set oven to 350.
Combine dry ingredients and mix with sugar mixture.
Fold in chips and nuts.
Press into pan and bake for 20-25 minutes.
When done, let cool in pan for 5-10 minutes.
Take the bars out (made easier with the help of the foil) and put on cooling rack.
Mix glaze and drizzle over the bars.
Let cool completely then cut into squares.
3.5.3208
These were easy to assemble and tasted great and have lasted well throughout the week.
Here we are, another holiday come and gone. Easter is such a special one because the Resurrection of Christ is really all that life hinges on! And spring is usually close by so the weather is somewhat good – depending on the year and when Easter falls. I love being around my misters. And we always cook. I usually cook a lot more than what I did – but I wanted to share with you some recipes from around the internet that will help you know what to do with those Easter dinner leftovers – or you might just want to cook them anyway because they are super yummy!
Leftover Lamb:
Here is a slow cooker stew that you can use – and then spend all your time in the outdoors soaking up the spring air.
Tuna salad can be a go-to lunch any day of the week!
One of the pieces of marital advice I give every newly engaged girl I know is simply this: Love God, Love your mister, and study both.
When you love God first, loving others becomes easier (not easy, just easier).
Love your mister – I’m assuming if you are going to marry him you already do.
Study both. The more you get to know God’s character and dwelling on the Gospel, the more you will actively live our the gospel. Which every marriage needs. And then when you study your mister – not memorizing every book and trying to make your mister into that person in the marriage book – you are well on your way to success in marriage.
Now, how does that marriage advice apply to tuna salad?
Well, my mister loves tuna melts and getting his tuna salad perfect has taken me almost 5 years. So, when he tasted this the other day – I got a two thumbs up and don’t change a thing look – and he ate it all!
This tuna salad is also vertatile. You can have a low carb lunch by putting it into a avocado half. This is a delicious combination. You can toast some bread, melt some cheese on top, and have a traditional tuna melt. You can put it atop some greens for a salad. You can eat it with whole grain crackers for a lighter lunch. Or just eat it with a spoon.
The Perfect Tuna Salad
Recipe Type: Seafood
Cuisine: Southern
Author: kd316
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Serves: 4-6
A perfect tuna salad is great for parties, light lunches, or salads.
Ingredients
2 cans whole chunk white albacore tuna in water (the quality of tuna is so important)
1/4 cup Duke’s mayo and 1 T
1 tsp dijon mustard
3 hardboiled eggs (the cooking time for the recipe is all in the boiling of the eggs)
