Penne with Basil, Spinach, and Ricotta Pesto

These days, we often plan our dinners in a kid-friendly fashion in hopes that our son will eat a nutritious meal.  I refuse to make a completely different dinner for my son because I don't want to instill bad habits, but I also think that in order to do this, you have to make something appropriate for kids.  For example, something super spicy or full of alcohol probably isn't wise!

Because I work during the week and my husband stays home with the boy, he makes dinner during the week, and I get the weekends to be creative.  Usually by the weekend, we've run out of everything, and we haven't planned anything specific.  I'm too tired to go shopping, and this gets done during my hubby during the week anyway.  So, we usually have some sort of clean-out-the-fridge dinner.

This night, we had penne with a unique (I think) and good pesto.

Penne with Basil, Spinach, and Ricotta Pesto

1 pound dried penne pasta

2 cups basil leaves

1/4 pound baby spinach

2 cloves garlic, minced

4 ounces ricotta cheese

olive oil

Bring large pot of water to boil and cook penne according to package directions.

Heat medium skillet over medium heat and drizzle with olive oil.  When hot, add garlic and cook until fragrant.  Add spinach and cook until wilted.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.  There is no need to drain the spinach.

Place spinach mixture and basil leaves in a food processor with enough oil to thoroughly chop and puree the greens.  Place the puree in a bowl with ricotta cheese.  Add hot pasta.  Toss and enjoy!!

Banana Bran Molasses Muffins

Here's another healthy recipe that our son enjoyed this past weekend and which also came from a "box." We had Bob's Red Mill Wheat Bran in our cupboard, which is technically not in a box but a bag. The original recipe was for Moist Molasses Bran Muffins. I replaced the applesauce with mashed bananas, and the result was yummy! There isn't a grain of sugar in this besides what is contained in the fruit and molasses.

Other adaptations of ours for our kid include putting in walnuts, finely chopped, and cooking the muffins in a mini muffin tin.

I also experimented with two different kinds of paper muffin cups, and I highly recommend If You Care Baking Cups. They are unbleached, greaseproof, and they don't stick to your muffins. Amazing!

Original Recipe

1 cup Wheat Bran

1 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 cup Raisins (Unsulfured)

1 tsp. Baking Powder

1 tsp. Baking Soda

1 cup Milk

1/2 cup Blackstrap Molasses

3/4 cup Mashed Bananas

1/4 cup finely chopped Walnuts

2 Tbsp. Oil

2 Eggs, beaten

Preheat oven to 400F. Combine wheat bran, flour, baking soda and baking powder. Stir in nuts and raisins. In a separate bowl, blend bananas, milk, molasses, oil and egg. Add to dry ingredients and stir just until moistened. Spoon into greased muffin tin (or paper muffin cups) and bake for 15-20 minutes. Makes 12 marvelous muffins.

Success! Creamy Tomato Soup with Alphabet Pasta

Do you moms or dads out there ever feel like you slave away in the kitchen to make something special for your little one just to find out that they hate what you made? I try not to get mad, sad, or as my husband says, "butt hurt," but it's very difficult! It would be easy if we just made cakes, sweets, and processed foods full of sugar and salt, but I can't bring myself to feed him unhealthy food every day.

So, I've been searching for good recipes that are easy enough that I won't get "butt hurt" if he doesn't like them. The Cooking Light Mac & Cheese using butternut squash instead of butter was a failure (I liked it, but it didn't pass the texture test for our 2 year old, and he loves mac and cheese). But, here's one recipe that my son liked so much that he ate 3 toddler-sized bowlfuls, and he still wanted more!!

Yes, this recipe is from a box. This is something I try not to do because I guess I associate these kinds of recipes with convenience and processed food. But, this recipe comes from a box of organic vegetable alphabet pasta from Eden Organics, and reading the recipe, there really isn't a processed component to it other than canned tomatoes and pasta. My husband dislikes soup, and he also really liked it!

Here is the original recipe, and the following is our adaptation. Try it. Do your toddlers like it, too?

Creamy Tomato Soup with Alphabet Pasta

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 cup onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup carrots, diced
1/3 cup celery, diced
1 1/2 cup homemade chicken stock
28 ounce can organic crushed tomatoes
1 tablespoon fresh basil (the original calls for 1 teaspoon dried, but we have so much fresh basil right now that we used fresh)
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup Eden Organic Vegetable Alphabets (our son really likes the letter and numbers, so having more than 1/2 cup was good for us)
1 cup 2% milk (the original called for soy milk. We are not vegan, and I am allergic to soy, so milk worked better for us)

Boil water in a medium pot, and cook the pasta for 9-11 minutes. Rinse, drain and set aside, covered.Heat the oil in a medium soup pot. Sauté the onions and garlic for 2 minutes. Add the celery and carrots. Sauté for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the basil, oregano, black pepper, sea salt and tomatoes. Mix, cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the flame and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Puree the soup in the pot with a hand blender. Mix in the milk, and bring almost to a boil, but do not boil. Reduce the flame to low and simmer 1 to 2 minutes. Spoon over pasta in a bowl and serve warm.
If feeding to a toddler, tell them which letters or numbers are on their spoon before they eat each spoonful. "N" stands for "nincompoop!"

Pinto Bean, Southern Greens, and Campanelle Pasta Soup with Paprika Bean Puree

"Cold weather" has arrived in the San Francisco Bay Area, meaning that I actually need to wear a sweater or light jacket outside and that we're running our heat in our apartment. I must be a wimp because this weather chills my bones, like there's no getting away from feeling cold all the time, even though I spent my childhood on Michigan. I adjusted to the subtle weather changes here way too easily!

For my lunch group at work this week, I made a warming and comforting soup that is a modification of a recipe from The Wednesday Chef, Amy Scattergood's Cranberry Bean, Lacinato Kale and Pasta Soup. Unfortunately, I can never find the ingredients I need when I choose to make our meals from a recipe, and this time was no exception. I couldn't find cranberry beans or Mother Stallards, but I do know that pinto beans are cousins to cranberry beans, so I used those commonly found beans instead. I couldn't find lacinato kale, but I did find a bag of already washed and cleaned southern greens (collard, mustard, and turnip greens) at Trader Joe's. I couldn't find orrechiette (!), so I used the bell-shaped pasta, which I find more interesting anyway, campanelle. The soup turned out just as fabulous as I hoped, and it made enough servings for four people at lunch at work, lunch for my husband for two days, and dinner for the two of us! You might want to look at the quantity of the ingredients before making this -- it calls for 3 cups of dried beans and 12 cups of water, so it's certain to make a metric ton. Make sure you have a very large pot before you begin!

What I found interesting about this recipe is that you cook the pasta separately, and I actually stored and transported it separate from the soup, which kept the pasta from bloating too much before consuming the soup. The bean puree with two kinds of paprika, sweet and smoked, and fresh herbs, added a freshness to the soup and had a beautiful color. I might just need to try making other flavors of bean purees to add to soups -- it has the effect of adding creaminess, fresh herbs, and color to a soup that you might be storing for a few hours or days.

We ate this soup so fast that I didn't get a picture, but you'll get the idea from the post at The Wednesday Chef. I suggest trying different beans and greens and herbs in the puree for a yummy, transportable creation!

Slow-cooked Eggplant and Pea Curry

This was a recipe worthy of me making more than once, and even for my lunch group. I have to say that I'm sometimes weary of making eggplant because it can just be done WRONG, and can end up watery or bitter or grey. This dish, on the other hand, makes the eggplant melt, and it has color, and it melds perfectly with rice. I've been on an eggplant kick lately, ever since making this recipe. It comes from a book called, "The Gourmet Slow Cooker," and it must be one of the simplest and tastiest recipes in the book. Serve it with rice or naan, yogurt, chutney, and a salad. Check out the book to get the recipe.

Pasta and Bean Stew

My grandmother made this dish for us, and I find it yummy to have a bean gravy with your pasta. This version is a vegetarian version derived from “Food and Memories of Abruzzo, Italy’s Pastoral Land,” by Anna Teresa Callen.

Beans:
1 pound cranberry beans, picked over and washed
1 celery rib with leaves
2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
2 sprigs fresh parsely
2 bay leaves
1 piece of Parmesan rind (a large hunk of the hard rind left from a Parmesan wheel)
Sauce:
1 medium onion, quartered
1 medium carrot, peeled and cut into 4 pieces
1 sprig fresh parsley
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 16 oz. can pureed tomatoes
1 teaspoon tomato paste
Freshly ground black pepper
Red pepper flakes
Pasta:
1 cup short pasta, such as tubetti or lumachine

Soak beans and drain and rinse. Place beans, celery, garlic, parsley, and bay leaves in a large soup pot. Add 2½ quarts of cold water. Bring to a boil. Add the Parmesan rind to the beans. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until the beans are tender, about 2 hours.

To prepare the sauce, place the veggies, including the parsley, in a food processor to chop finely. In a 10-inch skillet, heat the oil over medium heat and add the chopped vegetables. Cook, stirring, until soft, about 5 to 8 minutes. Add the canned tomatoes and tomato paste, stir, add pepper and the red pepper flakes. Cook the sauce over medium-low heat at a simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes.

With a slotted spoon, remove the celery, garlic, and parsley that was cooked with the beans. Place these in a food processor with 1 cup of the beans. Puree and return to the pot. Add the sauce, bring the soup back to a boil, reduce heat to low, and summer 10 to 15 minutes longer.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in plenty of boiling water for about 5 minutes. Drain. Add the pasta to the beans and bring the soup back to a boil and cook until the pasta is done, 5 to 8 minutes. Let the soup rest 5 minutes before serving.

Chana Masala and Cabbage-Tomato Curry

A selection of recipes made this yummy dinner. The best Chana Masala recipe I have tried yet can be found here. This site has many wonderful Indian recipes which actually taste authentic. Indian food is my weakness, meaning that I love it, and I also can't cook it. But the Chana Masala recipe really is no-fail.

The Cabbage-Tomato curry I took from Heaven's Banquet, another one of my favorites.

With these two dishes, we had yogurt and mango chutney to round it out.