Zucchini and Caramelized Onion Quiche

15 Apr

I really love quiche, but I had never made one until now. I’ll pretty much eat anything with caramelized onion in it, so this Cooking Light recipe seemed like a good place to start. I thought it turned out great and, after initially turning her nose up at it, Olivia eventually gave in and ate her whole piece. We had this dish for dinner, but it would also be a fantastic brunch option.

Zucchini and Caramelized Onion Quiche

1 refrigerated pie crust
2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, sliced
2 tsp sugar
4 cups sliced zucchini
3 cloves of garlic, minced
¾ tsp kosher salt, divided
1 cup low-fat milk
1½ tbsp all-purpose flour
½ tsp pepper
3 large eggs
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add onions and cook until soft and translucent. Sprinkle in sugar, stir, and continue cooking until the onions are very tender, about 20 minutes. Allow to cool and then finely chop.

2. Preheat oven to 425°. Unroll pie crust and fit into a 10-inch pie plate. Bake the pie crust for 12 minutes or until edges are golden. Remove and allow to cool. Reduce oven temperature to 375°.

3. Heat large sauté pan over medium-high heat and add remaining olive oil the pan. Add zucchini and garlic, and sprinkle with ¼ tsp salt. Sauté 5 minutes or until zucchini is crisp-tender. Cool slightly.

4. Arrange caramelized onions over the bottom of the pie crust; top with zucchini mixture. Combine ½ tsp salt, milk, flour, pepper, eggs, and cheese in a mixing bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Pour the egg mixture over the zucchini and onions.

5. Bake the quiche at 375° for 35 minutes or until set. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before cutting. 

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Toddler Spring Dresses for Under $25

11 Apr

I don’t know about where you live, but in DC it feels like we’ve jumped right over spring and landed in summer—it was 93° outside today! Luckily, we’ll be returning to true springtime temps by the weekend. With spring weather comes spring dresses for my little lady. She LOVES wearing dresses, but there’s no way I’m spending $50 on a dress she’s going to wear to daycare and get craft paint on. So I set out to find some seriously adorable (and affordable) toddler dresses. Here are five of my favs under $25!

Tea Protea Print Wrap-Neck Dress, $24.50

Target OshKosh dress, $15

Old Navy Pleated Sundress, $15

Gap Striped Terry Dress, $22.95

Carter’s Shift Dress, $13.20

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5 Ways to Involve Kids in the Kitchen

10 Apr

There are several benefits to getting your kids in the kitchen and cooking. Aside from teaching them basic cooking skills, being included in the cooking process and seeing the ingredients makes children, especially picky eaters, more likely to want to try new foods. It also takes the mystery out of exactly what you put into those meatballs.

Even toddlers can help out with easy tasks, and it builds self-confidence for them to be able to contribute to a family activity. It goes without saying that all tasks should be simple and safe {nobody needs a two year old running around with a butcher knife}. Just prepare for a mess and allot some extra time for clean-up!

Use cooking as a teaching tool   Have your child measure out ingredients, count how many different vegetables there are in a dish, identify the color of each ingredient, practice spelling and reading using the recipe, and hone fine motor skills by doing some of the tasks listed below.

Give your little helper a job to do   Wash veggies, crack eggs, stir batter, mash potatoes, measure sugar, hand you ingredients, crumble crackers, tear lettuce, sprinkle seasonings, knead dough, snap beans—you get the picture.

Have a Make-Your-Own night   You can set all the ingredients out for everyone to make their own mini pizzas, taco salads, mac and cheese with mix-ins … it can be anything your child can easily build and put together.

Involve your child in the clean-up   It’s important for children to learn the whole process from cooking to cleaning to eating. Plus, it teaches them that cooking is just like playing with toys—you pick up when you’re done—which is a good habit to enforce early on.

Make it fun!   Get your little helper a child-sized apron, pick up a few colorful cooking utensils, make sure he has a safe way to reach the counter so he can work right next to mommy and daddy, play some fun music, and let go a little bit. It probably won’t be your most impressive culinary achievement, but the time you spend with your child will be totally worth it!

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Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes

8 Apr

Whenever we had steak growing up, which was a special treat, we nearly always had twice baked potatoes to go with it. I absolutely love them, but I’m always looking for ways to make classic comfort foods a bit healthier. I decided to try making twice baked potatoes with sweet potatoes. Because the flavors are so different, however, the normal bacon, cheese, sour cream, butter mix-ins just didn’t seem to work. So here’s my take on healthier (and slightly more gourmet) twice baked potatoes.

Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes

5 medium sweet potatoes
¾ cup sliced mushrooms
2 cups fresh spinach
1 cup sliced onions
3 slices precooked bacon, crumbled (this is a healthier option than regular bacon—turkey bacon works too)
¼ cup plain Greek yogurt
2-3 oz crumbled reduced fat blue cheese
1 tsp sugar
1½ tbsp olive oil
Salt
Pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400°. Place sweet potatoes on a baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes or until fork tender.

2. While the potatoes bake, heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add sliced onions and cook until translucent. Sprinkle in the sugar, stir, and continue to cook the onions until they are brown and tender. Once done, put the onions in a bowl and set aside.

3. In the same sauté pan, heat the rest of the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and spinach and cook until soft and wilted. Add the vegetables to the same bowl as the onions.

4. Remove the potatoes from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes. Once cool enough to touch, slice each sweet potato in half and scoop out the insides, keeping the skins intact. Put the scooped out potato into a large mixing bowl.

5. Add the onions, mushrooms, spinach, yogurt, salt, and pepper to the scooped out potatoes and mix well. Fill each of the potato skins evenly with some of the mixture. Top each one with blue cheese.

6. Return the potatoes to the oven and bake for another 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

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How Much is too Much Sodium for a Toddler?

4 Apr

In the March 2013 issue of Cooking Light, there was an article about watching your salt intake and ways to lower sodium. I’m always on the lookout for this type of thing since I know kids are really susceptible to having too much sodium in their diet. For example, I buy organic canned black beans because they have 15 mg of sodium per serving as compared to the 460 mg (!!!) per serving of regular canned black beans. Even the low sodium non-organic variety have around 125 mg of sodium per serving. Shocking that the “low sodium” beans have more than the regular organic beans, right? Precisely why it’s so important to look at the labels.

Anyway, I was planning on posting about this today anyway, but then Cooking Light published a newscast yesterday about sodium intake for toddlers and the timing was just too perfect.

It’s no surprise that processed and prepackaged foods, such as hot dogs, boxed mac and cheese, and cereals, are the big offenders when it comes to high sodium. But did you know that 75% of foods aimed at children were deemed too high in sodium by the study? I found that staggering (and sobering).

The study was conducted by the CDC and monitored 1100 different foods all targeted toward children ages 1-3 years. The study concluded that a food was too high in sodium if it contained 210 mg or more of sodium per serving. The recommended daily intake of sodium for a toddler is 1500 mg per day.

Aside from checking the labels on your canned beans, here are a few other ways to watch your family’s sodium intake:

  • If you buy frozen veggies, make sure they say no salt added.
  • Use kosher salt instead of regular table salt—it contains 25% less sodium.
  • Drain and rinse your canned beans, even the organic or low-sodium ones, to save even more in the sodium department.
  • Be wary of prepacked, prepared foods—convenient usually = LOTS of salt.
  • Try not to add salt to your food, especially for your kids, where possible. It’s totally fine to add as a seasoning, but just don’t overdo it.
  • Make your own or buy organic/low sodium marinara since it’s notoriously high in sodium.
  • CHECK THE LABELS! Even so-called “healthy” foods can surprise you—wheat bread, cottage cheese, and peanut butter are all known to be high in sodium.

Of course, cooking fresh, healthy meals is always a great way to watch what your family is eating and control the bad stuff!

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Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers

2 Apr

We usually eat vegetarian a few nights a week, so I’m always on the lookout for recipes that are outside of the usual salad/pasta/quinoa rotation. I saw this recipe for vegetarian stuffed peppers and decided to try my own spin on it. 

Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers

2 green peppers
2 red peppers
2 yellow peppers
2 cups cooked brown rice
1 small onion, chopped
2 small tomatoes, diced
2 cups fresh spinach
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup goat cheese crumbles
1 clove minced garlic
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400°, and lightly spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Place the halved and seeded peppers cut side down on the baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes.

3. While the peppers roast, heat olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook for one minute.

4. Add onions and mushrooms and cook until tender, about 5-7 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and spinach and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

5. In a large bowl, mix together the rice, vegetables, goat cheese, salt, and pepper.

6. After the peppers are done roasting, flip them over and fill each half with the rice and vegetable mixture.

7. Return the peppers to the oven and roast for another 5 minutes.

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Rice Krispie Easter Treats

29 Mar

I don’t usually post on Fridays, but this was just too cute not to share!

My coworker, Stephanie, brought each of us an Easter treat this morning—little Rice Krispie Easter eggs covered in pastel sprinkles, all wrapped up in adorable packaging. Seriously, how cute are these?!

I love Rice Krispie treats because they’re kid-friendly and super easy to make. And today, I am choosing to believe that they are a nutritious breakfast food (hey, it’s cereal, right?).

This is actually the second Easter-themed Rice Krispie treat I’ve had this week. My in-laws came over on Sunday and brought Olivia a plate of Rice Krispie Easter baskets filled with M&Ms, similar to the ones pictured below, sans coconut. Olivia was thrilled to be allowed to have two of her favorite treats in one!

Photo via RiceKrispies.com

Ok, that’s all I have for today. Just wanted to share these sweet little treats! I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter!

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Egg-cellent Easter Tables

28 Mar

This week has been a bit hectic, so today I’m posting an oldie but a goodie! Enjoy!

Yep. I went there. And you know what? I’m not even ashamed of that one! You know what else? I don’t even really like eggs that much (scrambled is okay but never hard boiled). I do, however, like dying them for Easter and decorating my house with them like I suddenly live in a chicken coop.

I was looking online the other day for inspiration on how to use my brightly colored and be-glittered eggs on my Easter table and came across some pretty amazing ideas, some of which actually include eggs. My dining room table is neither big enough nor grand enough to accommodate most of these decorations (seriously, where does the food go? over-the-top doesn’t even begin to describe them), but I have to say, I rather like the one with the egg cups and the Peeps—no eggs, but cute nonetheless!

Photo via Good Housekeeping

Photo via epicurious.com

Photo via Potterybarn.com

Photo via thepartydress.net

Photo via toriejayne.blogspot.com

Photo: Tonya Lee, About.com Guide

Photo via Ladies Home Journal

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Six Stylish Toddler Sandals

26 Mar

Last year, I found a pair of green sandals for Olivia on clearance for $4 at Target. She got so many compliments every time she wore them that it kind of became this inside joke with us. Who knew that the cheapest pair of shoes she owned would be the most popular?!

I went back this year to see if I could find the same ones in a larger size but no luck. So I set out to find ones that could compete with the mythical green sandals.

There are some seriously cute sandals out there for toddler girls this year! I’ve rounded up six of my favorites.

Embellished Flower Jelly Sandals at Gap, $16.95

Wakely Sandal at Stride Rite, $30

Flower Sandals at Gymboree, $32.95

Cherokee Jumper Sandal at Target, $14.99

Strappy Neon Sandals by Carters, $16

Navy Espadrilles by OshKosh B’gosh, $18

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Shrimp and Grits

25 Mar

My husband is not a fan of grits, but I thought this recipe just might bring him over to the dark side. I was right—he enjoyed every bite, much to his chagrin.

With no cream or flour, this recipe is lighter than what you’ll find in most restaurants but it’s every bit as tasty!

Shrimp and Grits

1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
½ lemon, juiced
¼ tsp Tabasco sauce
¼ tsp cayenne
4 slices of bacon
¼ red pepper, chopped
¾ cup onion, chopped
1½ cups sliced mushrooms
2 cups water
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup quick grits
1 cup shredded cheddar
1 tbsp butter
Salt
Pepper

1. Combine shrimp, lemon juice, Tabasco sauce, and cayenne; set aside.

2. Cook bacon in a large sauté pan until crispy. Drain on a paper towel, but reserve the drippings in the pan. Crumble bacon and set aside.

3. Add the red pepper, onions, and mushrooms to the bacon drippings and cook until tender. Stir in the shrimp and bacon and cook until the shrimp turns pink.

4. In a medium saucepan, bring water and chicken broth to a boil. Slowly whisk in grits, reduce heat to medium-low, and continue cooking until the grits are thick, about 5 minutes.

5. Remove the grits from heat and stir in cheddar, butter, salt, and pepper.

6. Portion grits into bowls and top each with some of the shrimp and veggie mixture.

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