My kids are - shall we say - less than enthusiastic about eating vegetables. The trick to getting them to eat more vegetable is to make them more exciting. One of the ways that they really like vegetables is on vegetable pizza. It is super simple to make and I never have to remind the kids to eat their veggies when vegetable pizza is on the table. Vegetable Pizza 2 packages crescent rolls ½ cup mayonnaise 16 ounces cream cheese ½ package Hidden Valley cheddar cheese Ranch Dressing Mix Vegetables: green pepper, tomato, cucumber, carrots, celery Place crescent rolls on baking sheet and bake 10 minutes at 375. I skimp and buy off brands on a lot of things but I've learned the hard way that generic crescent rolls are just not as good as Pillsbury crescent rolls. Trust me when I say that it's definitely worth spending the few extra cents on these name brand rolls. Mix cream cheese, mayonnaise and dressing mix. Top with vegetables and grated cheese. Cut into squares and serve. I used to have the kids help make the vegetable pizza when they were really little. (Another secret to getting them to eat more vegetables.) They used to love arranging the veggies on top of the filling. Sometimes, they would even make rows of vegetables on top of our pizza to make it look like a garden. It really didn't matter how our veggie pizza ended up looking, as long as they ate the veggies it the end.
Ciao!
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This is a really old pampered chef recipe but it is still one of my favorites. Every time I have leftover chicken or leftover chicken salad, I like to make chicken braid to use it up. My daughter and I made this one Friday night before we headed downtown to take in a Braves game - I didn't want to make a big dinner to ruin our appetites for hot dogs at the ballpark. This was a nice quick and easy meal to fix before we headed out the door. Chicken and Broccoli Braid 2 cups chicken salad 2 packages crescent rolls egg white Use leftover chicken to make a chicken salad. Add fresh broccoli. Arrange chicken salad down the center of the rolls. Top with cheese.
Bake 20-25 minutes at 375. Slice. The game turned out to be a disappointment. The Braves lost 6-0 to San Fransisco. On the up side, the weather the perfect, our seats were spectacular and the firework show after the game was incredible. All in all, a great night.
Ciao! I'm not really sure how many attempts it will take before I will consider myself proficient at making cake pops but I can tell you - it's more than a dozen. They can be tricky little things but I'm fascinated by them so I continue to try and perfect my cake pop skills. For complete instruction on how to make cake pops, check out my blog post on Hot Air Balloon Cake Pops. The hot air balloon pops turned out really cute but they weren't without their challenges. My lastest idea for a cake pop came from bakerella.com. (If you haven't seen her website, you need to check it out.) I started by baking my cake, crumbling it into a bowl along with some frosting and then shaping the cake into strawberries. (You have to use your imagination to make them look like strawberries.) Chill the cake for 1 hour in the refrigerator. Melt some red candy melts, dip one end of a lollipop stick into the chocolate then insert it into the small end of the strawberry cake pop. Get supplies ready. (Melted chocolate, cake pop stand and pearls for decorating.) Dip each cake pop into the melted chocolate and then add pearls while the chocolate is still wet. I didn't take pictures of the dipping process because I was afraid if I stopped to take a photo, my chocolate would harden and I wouldn't be able to press the pearls onto the sides. You can imagine that this would be a somewhat messy task - working quickly with melted chocolate and tiny pearls, etc. After my last cake pop had been dipped and set into the cake stand to dry, I went to the sink to wash my very messy hands and ... no water! The water main in the neighborhood had burst and there was absolutely no water in the house! I considered jumping in the pool to rinse off but instead, I opted for tiny wet wipes and bottled water to wash my hands. I went to bed, leaving mounds of dried chocolate all over the kitchen counters and a sink full of dirty dishes. Thankfully, I woke up the next morning to the most wonderful sound - drip, drip, drip of the faucet. (Why is it that I don't appreciate things like running water until I don't have any?) I am happy to report that things finally got cleaned up and the cake pops were a success.
Ciao! Can you tell that this picture of yummy looking spaghetti and meatballs really has no pasta in it at all? I swapped spaghetti squash for traditional spaghetti at one of our pasta dinners. Why? you ask. I am trying to cut down on my carbs AND a cup of roasted spaghetti squash has only 42 calories! Spaghetti squash is REALLY easy to make. For those of you who are shopping for a spaghetti squash for the very first time, this is what you're looking for... Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds. (Just like a pumpkin.)
Once the squash cools slightly, use a fork to shred it into spaghetti like strands. Put squash into a bowl. Top with sauce, turkey meatballs, parmesan cheese and fresh basil. My bowl of spaghetti squash was surprisingly filling and delicious. So let's be honest - there is no way in the world that I was going to get Ben and the kids to eat squash instead of pasta. I made them each a small bowl of squash pasta to try and they all tried it - hesitantly. They've decided that they're sticking to regular pasta for a while. Since I kind of suspected that they would not be sold on my squash pasta right away, I had bowls of regular pasta ready and waiting. Even though the rest of my family isn't sold on the idea of spaghetti squash, it's easy enough that I can still make it for myself on pasta night.
Ciao! Summer showers are awesome. I was super happy to see this quick summer shower pop up because my garden and my grass really needed the water. Unfortunately, it made grilling our dinner a bit more challenging. My Big Green Egg does an excellent job of keeping the coals hot and the food warm but it does nothing to keep the cook dry. The balsamic chicken that I cooked on the Egg for dinner was so good though - it was worth getting a little wet. Balsamic Grilled Chicken Ingredients ⅓ cup balsamic vinegar ½ cup chicken broth 2 Tbsp. white sugar 1 clove garlic, minced 1 tsp. dried Italian herb seasoning 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
Remove the chicken from the marinade. Place the chicken on the grill and cook until they start to brown and are no longer pink inside. Use a meat thermometer to make sure that the breast registers 165 degrees. Even if you're not a huge balsamic vinegar fan (like my husband) you will like this chicken.
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