Missy Chase Lapine's Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins

Aidan loves these and I'm a fan too. The recipe is from The Sneaky Chef, a cookbook dedicated to sneaking fruits, vegetables and whole grains into your child's favorite foods. Basically, she makes purees, juices and flour blends that can be added to everyday foods like mac n cheese and muffins so that your little ones are getting the nutrients they need without the food fight. I strongly recommend her book and thought I would post one recipe (which also includes recipes for her 'Orange Puree' and 'Flour Blend') that I am particularly fond of.

1 Cup Flour Blend (see below)

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 large eggs

1/4 Cup brown sugar

1/4 Cup canola oil

3/4 Cup Orange Puree (see below)

3/4 Cup smooth peanut butter

8 heaping teaspoons favorite jam

(jelly doesn't work as well as jam - jelly disappears

into the muffins)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a muffin tin with paper liners (or spray muffin pan with vegetable oil spray).

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the FLour Blend, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside. In another large bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until well combined, then whisk in the oil, Orange Puree, and peanut butter. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet and mix until flour is just moistened (don't overmix or muffins will be dense).

Scoop about two tablespoons of batter into the large muffin cups until half full. Place a heaping teaspoon of jam in the center of each muffin. Cover the jam with another 2 tablespoons or so of batter, filling the cups just over the top.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the tops are golden brown.

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Flour Blend Recipe

1/3 Cup unsweetened wheat germ

1/3 Cup whole wheat flour

1/3 Cup unbleached all-purpose white flour

Mix all ingredients together. Can be stored in the refrigerator for months.

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Orange Puree

1 medium sweet potato, peeled and roughly chopped

3 medium to large carrots, peeled and sliced into thick chunks

3-4 Tbs water

Steam the carrots and potato for about 20 minutes (or boil for same amount of time) until vegetables are very tender. Puree cooked vegetables in food processor with 2 Tbs water. If necessary, add remaining amounts of water to make a smooth puree. This makes about 2 Cups of puree. N.B. I freeze the remainder in ice-cube trays and defrost one cube to mix with another cube of plain pureed fruit and applesauce. Aidan loves this!

Baked Ziti

The most simple dish to make in the world so long as you have a sauce to use.

Ingredients:

16oz of Ziti or Rotini
4-6 cups shredded mozzarella or pre-packaged shredded 5 cheese blend
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan

Cook Ziti according ot directions on package. In 9x13 oven safe bake dish layer Sauce, Ziti, Mozzarella/cheese blend, Parmesan. Repeat.

Not at all gourmet but easy and fast and the kids will love it. I usually serve this with green beans for a more well-rounded meal!

Quick Meaty Tomato Sauce

This is a quick and delicious tomato sauce that is great to use in casseroles such as Baked Ziti or Lasagna if you're not into making the really long all day sauce (which is def. better but more time consuming). This is my own recipe.

Ingredients
1 15oz can diced tomatoes
1 25oz can tomato sauce
1/2 onion, diced to preferred size
1 lb. ground beef (or turkey or whatever meat)
1 -2 cups button mushrooms (the kind in the blue foam square containers) (optional)
1/2 tsp. oregano (optional....to taste, I dont always feel like oregano so I dont always add it)
1 stick salted butter


In a large pot stir together all tomato sauce and diced tomatoes, plus half a stick of butter. Low Heat. Leave to simmer while you prepare everything else.
In a medium saucepan sautee mushrooms in half a stick of butter.
In large saucepan/frying pan toss meat and onions together. Stir continuously until meat is browned thoroughly.
Dont forget to stir your mushrooms as well! Sautee mushrooms until they are tender, smaller in size and darker in color.
Drain meat and onions of fat.
Throw meat and onions, and mushrooms into the tomato sauce.
Add spices to taste... oregano... I use two or three ground pinches... dont add too much salt and pepper as the butter already has salt and so doe sth esauce from the can.

That's it. If you make this at lunch time and let it simmer covered for the rest of the day it will taste great by dinner time but you can use it right away. Obviously you can add whatever you want to this recipe, like bell peppers or olives, whatever you want.

Very Easy Quesadillas

This recipe was born out of my laziness but actually tastes better this way. One night I spent 3 hours or more making "homemade" quesadillas: fresh jalapenos, onions, grilled chicken, the works. Actually, typing that out makes me wonder why it took so long...ANYWAY, this is how I do it now and it's great. If you have an aversion to canned veggies, opt for lower sodium brands.

1 whole rotisserie chicken or 2-3 grilled or baked chicken breasts, shredded or chopped (great if you have leftover chicken)

1 can mexicorn (drained)

1 can black beans (rinsed and drained)

1 can rotel (drained)

1-2 small cans green chiles, depending on how spicy you like it

1 clove garlic (this really adds a nice flavor, don't forget it like I always do)

approx. 8 oz. pepper jack cheese or colby for little ones or those who don't love the spice

salt and pepper to taste

However many tortillas you want. I usually buy a pack of 24 for making extras

Preheat oven to 375

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. I usually let them sit in a collander for awhile to drain off all the liquid.

Quickly steam the tortillas over boiling water or pop them in the microwave for about a minute just to make them pliable.

Scoop about 2 tbsp of the mixture in the tortillas and fold in half, you can cut them after they cook.

Put in oven for about 15-20 minutes, turning once to bake evenly. If you were really ambitious you could cook them in a pan over the stove, but that takes way too much time!

I love this recipe because you can add or omit really anything you want depending on your taste.

Chicken Nuggets

You can probably find this on every website possible and your mothers must have made a rendition of this many times but I put this together with a slight twist the other night and Aidan loved it. Normally, he will only eat chicken nuggets from Swansons or Wendy's. The measurements are estimations.

1/3-1/2 C Flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

1 lb chicken breasts, cut into nugget-sized pieces (love those kitchen shears!)

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2 Tbs milk

1 1/2 C Japanese Panko breadcrumbs (for crunch and flavor - don't substitute - this is the twist! I know, not that exciting.)

Vegetable oil

Combine flour, salt and pepper in shallow dish. Combine eggs and milk in another shallow dish. Place Panko in yet another. Heat enough vegetable oil to coat the bottom of a fry/saute pan (I use a 12in pan with 2in sides) over medium to med-high heat. Dredge nuggets in flour combo, shaking off excess, then coat with egg combo and finally coat with Panko. Place as many nuggets in pan as possible without touching. Turn when golden on the bottom. Adjust the heat as needed (I was on med-low about halfway through cooking). Transfer to paper towel-lined plate. Salt to taste.