Sunday, January 25, 2009

Cookbook Recommendation

Last Chanukah, Juliana got the Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Meals for Kids cookbook. We've used it quite a few times with success. (Juliana is particularly fond of the shrimp and angel hair recipe.) She went through it again the other day and picked two new things to try: mini quiches and orange-pineapple smoothies.

Seeing as I was on the couch with my tissue box all day, my mom offered to pick up what I needed at the store. The quiches called for mini phyllo cups but the store only had the long sheets of phyllo dough. I did some research on how to turn those into cups and decided to brave it. I've never worked with phyllo dough before, but that's why I like cooking with Juliana; it wouldn't occur to her not to try something because she'd never done it before. Together, we managed to get four layers of phyllo laid out and brushed with melted butter. I cut them into twelve rectangles and we formed them into little cups in the muffin tin. She filled them with bacon and shredded cheese and spoonfuls of beaten egg. While they were baking up golden, we worked on the smoothies.

Here's what you need to know. David eats apples. That is the extent of the fruits and vegetables in his diet. (Although this winter he did start eating clementines (the citrus fruit, not the toddler) on a semi-regular basis) He will claim that eating potatoes counts. Also, pumpkin pie. Now, I've tried making him smoothies before, but he couldn't deal with the texture. Here's what went into these ones: frozen orange juice concentrate, frozen strawberries, light coconut milk, pineapple chunks, light vanilla yogurt. We whirred it all up and he drank the whole thing! Did I mention strawberries? Pineapple? The words "I never thought I'd live to see the day" actually escaped my lips. (I fully expect him to be 4 inches taller in the morning.)

God knows Rachael Ray drives me nuts. She's a needy talker and I can't get past her lack of neck, but David has tried and liked nearly everything Juliana has made out of this cookbook-- including the four mini-quiches he had for dinner.