easy holiday appetizer: red and green antipasto tartlets

What's that? You have guests coming over and you want an easy app to have on hand? Or... you've been asked to bring a little something to the neighbor's holiday soiree? Well, between the cheesy broccoli puffs I shared earlier this week, and now this simple festive app, I've got you covered! Originally shared with the shoppers at Walter Stewart's, our fabulous local market market, this one's a keeper b/c it's so easy, and everyone LOVES it. Plus, so festive, right?

Another bonus: this is a great cooking project that the kids can help make.

Red and Green Antipasto Tartlets

• chive cream cheese
• mini phyllo cups (which are in the frozen section of your market)
• dry salami
• small fresh mozzarella balls
• red and/or green pesto

While you are preheating the oven to 350, pop a little dollop of chive cream cheese in the bottom of each phyllo cup. Then place a thin slice of dry salami on that (the cream cheese will help hold it in place), and gently press a small fresh mozzarella ball into the center. Bake the cups on the middle rack, for about 8-10 minutes, until the phyllo shell is crisp and the cheese is melted. Then place a small dollop of red and/or green pesto on each piece. These may be served warm or room temp. 

The search function here on the blog is still not working well, so here's a link to all of the appetizer posts, and as always, don't hesitate to reach out if there's a recipe you need help locating. I can probably quickly dig up the link for you!!  Hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday season! - Eila

s'mores on a stick {and ideas for a wilderness survival birthday party!}

This past week, we threw a children's "Wilderness Survival" birthday party. With a birthday in December, planning is always a little tricky. We have no idea if we'll have snow or sunshine, temps in the teens or 50's. But our local nature center promised an outdoor adventure no matter the weather, with just the planning of treats and favors up to us. 

My son has classmates with both nut and egg allergies, and I wanted to come up with a birthday treat or two, that all of the children could enjoy. A little poking around online, and I assembled some ideas.  My younger son saw the s'mores-themed cupcakes and was sure I could make them {me? not so sure}, or, he eagerly suggested that once the kids learned to build a fire they could make s'mores. Not sure if fire-building was really part of the gig, I decided to surprise him with a happy compromise of s'mores on a stick. I'm not usually one to get so cute-sy with my food, but these were cool, and the kids loved them. Here's how you make them:

First, melt chocolate chips in a double-boiler. Or, if you don't have a double boiler, just nest a mixing bowl in a pot filled with a few inches of simmering water {it's the steam that will melt the chocolate without scorching it}. If allergies are a concern, be sure to check to make sure the chocolate chips you are using are safe.

Stir the chocolate so it melts evenly. Then turn the burner off when the chocolate is melted and smooth.

Next, dip lollipop sticks {which I found at our local Party City store} in chocolate, then push about 3/4 of the way into each marshmallow. {The chocolate will harden, and this is is to hold the marshmallows onto the stick. I ran the kids to tae kwon do and tennis lessons, and the chocolate was hard when we came back.} 

Third, pulse graham crackers in a food processor, until just crumbs. Place them on a plate or bowl.

When I got home, I just reheated the melted chocolate, then rolled each marshmallow stick in the melted chocolate, rolled it in the graham crack crumbs, and placed it on a parchment paper lined baking sheet {so they wouldn't stick}.

Super easy, and the kids thought they were really neat.

The other treats at the party included a crunchy wildlife-themed {nut and egg-free} "trail mix" made with Kix cereal (rocks) + Teddy Grahams (bears) + goldfish (fish) + Annie's whole wheat bunnies (bunnies).

And, we served "mud, dirt and centipedes" {chocolate pudding (mud) topped with Oreos run through the food processor until crumbs (dirt) and a gummy centipede}. All of the treats were hits, and were simple to assemble. Healthy? Absolutely not. But fun? Yes.

On to favors! I wanted to give the children something "wilderness survival"-themed. These child-sized snow shovels are one of my children's favorite things in the winter. They make paths around the yard, igloos, snow forts...

So, we bagged a little compass, instructions for making a snow shelter, and some more centipedes up and tied each goodie bag to a snow shovel. It ended up being 50 degrees, making this snow shovel favor a little random, but the snow will arrive soon enough.

At the party, the kids hiked

teamed up to build stick shelters

and learned how to build a fire, creating sparks using steel wool and batteries... and, how to safely put out a fire

Then the tired survivalists headed back for treats.

make-your-own pizza

The night before school started, I offered to let my kids choose their favorite dinner. What did they choose? "Pizza!" {Visions of take-out menus dance in my head...} "Make our own pizza!" {Insert the sound of squealing brakes.} Actually, that simplifies the conversation. Here's what really transpired between the front seat and backseat, which I relayed (in frustration) on Facebook:

driving to the supermarket this afternoon:
me: "ok, you two, you can choose what we're having for dinner tonight, breakfast tomorrow, and dinner tomorrow night"
them: "do we have to?"
me: "what do you mean?"
them: "i mean, do we HAVE to eat? {insert moan and dramatic pause between each word} why do we always...have...to...eat?"
seriously??

Lest any of you think it's all broccoli rabe and rainbows around here, let me assure you that meals take a lot of effort to get down little hatches here too.

Still, I believe in good food. So, I keep making it a priority to give my kids nourishing meals even if no one seems to care what I make for dinner-- or if we even have dinner-- these days!!

So, back to the pizza. Usually I make one meal, and that's what we have for dinner. But on occasion, I'll go through the extra effort and lay out some sort of "make-your-own" meal. Whatever the meal may be (pizza, baked potatoes, tacos...), I'll put out a bunch of topping choices, but then I truly let the kids make their own. Sometimes I have to bite my tongue... and remind myself that it's "make-your-own", not "let-your-mama-micromanage-your-meal" night.

I told them the kids they could pick whatever they wanted out of the produce aisle, then if anything else caught their eye as I did the rest of the marketing, they had carte blanche to add it to the cart. We ended up with:

• multi-grain pizza dough (in the refrigerated section)
• tomato sauce
• two kinds of shredded cheese (whole milk mozzarella and a Romano-Parmesan blend)
• multi-colored cherry tomatoes
• broccoli
• organic peppers (red & yellow)
• pineapple
• onion
• olives
• peperoni
• ham
• and a package of cupcakes. "You said if anything else catches our eye...."

A crust for each kid: avoids "that's not what I want on my pizza!!" and ensures leftovers for another meal.

And-- voila-- two pizzas... as different as they are.

strawberry cream cheese

Easiest Valentine's-themed recipe ever? Strawberry Cream Cheese! In a Cuisinart, pulse cream cheese and (thawed) frozen or fresh strawberries until desired consistency and flavor.

Look for this (wildly exciting) bright pink spread to appear in upcoming lunchboxes!

more red foods

Van's frozen whole grain waffle + organic strawberry yogurt + strawberry "syrup" (simply thawed organic berries pulsed in the blender until smooth)

I'm not going to lie... I was so busy today that I was a little bummed I'd taken on my younger son's challenge of serving something red at every meal until Valentine's Day. It would have been way easier to mindlessly pull something out of the fridge/freezer/pantry... But, I'm not giving up after 4 meals. (Or maybe I will, but I am not giving up today.) Lunch was cream cheese and raspberry jam sandwiches, red apples and red grapes... and I forgot to photograph it. But, dinner was awesome because both kids excitedly shopped for the red ingredients and helped me to make red veggie pizza:

toppings were: cherry tomatoes + garlic-roasted tomatoes (from Whole Foods' olive bar) + roasted peppers + fresh red peppers

it took about 45 minutes to make the pizza... because every. veggie. was. placed. on. the. pizza. one. by. one.

that's ok though. i enjoyed a glass of wine and heard all about school while they worked their sous chef magic, and we ended up with this. perfection.

red veggie pizza + roasted beet salad (from Whole Foods' salad bar) + green salad with red wine vinaigrette + red apples

baby it's cold outside.... a perfect chance to cozy up and learn to cook something new

Wow, it is cold in CT!! A perfect time to cozy up and do something special inside. For my readers in CT/NY/NJ, I came across a couple of special chances to gather with friends and cook up a storm these next few weeks:

• elm restaurant in New Canaan is offering seasonal cooking lessons for both adults and children which sound wonderful
• Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture is hosting Dinner: A Love Story's Jenny Rosenstratch, who will be speaking about simple strategies for making family meals easy and enjoyable
• Freshmade NYC's winter line-up is absolutely fabulous... all of my NYC readers should definitely check out their amazing new space and classes for both children and adults
• And, looking ahead (when it will hopefully be sunny and warm again!), mark your calendars for The Family Dinner Conference on April 18. I am one of the featured presenters (pinch me!), alongside Dinner: A Love Story's Jenny,  Six O'Clock Scramble's Aviva, Pam from Kids Cook Monday and several other busy parents committed to making family dinners doable, delicious and enjoyable. 

after school snack: apple nut butter sandwiches

simple after school snack (that has quickly become a favorite): cored organic apple smothered with creamy peanut butter...

and another hit: slices of apple smothered with almond butter and topped with unsweetened coconut and cinnamon. mmm. enjoy!

from seeds to.... wow! our first "real" garden

Wow. Wow. Wow. Check us out! Remember the little seeds we finally got around to planting over Mother's Day weekend? To say the kids are excited would be an understatement. We just have herbs to harvest so far.... but this weekend I am going to make these squash blossoms from the NYT video.  I'm putting my kids on bug duty. They'll think that is wildly funny.

afternoon treat for the 4th of July: watermelon spritzers

When we roll in from the swimming pool this afternoon I know everyone is going to be hot and in need of some downtime. So, this morning I prepped some watermelon puree for an afternoon treat that's cooling, healthy, hydrating and fun. My girlfriend, Jeannie, mentioned that she was having this the other day. I tried it shortly thereafter to rave reviews around here, so it's one worth passing along. It's the easiest "soda", "spritzer", and parent/kid-pleasing drink treat ever + it's perfect for the 4th with it's red hue!

Watermelon Spritzers

(or Watermelon Soda if you want to call it that)

chunks of watermelon
juice of 1 lime (optional)
selzter (any flavor is great, pick your favorite)


Pulse the watermelon chunks in your blender until pureed. Combine with seltzer until desired level of sweetness and fizziness. Voila!


I pulsed my watermelon earlier, and set it aside for this afternoon. You'll see that the pulp separates from the juice if you do the same, so simply give it a stir or a quick whiz of the blender again right before serving. 

Hope you all have a wonderful 4th with family + friends!! - Eila