The kids came to me asking for “Triple Beef Burgers” like they eat on the show. I had to get creative, but I came up with a pretty good recipe.

Burger + King’s Hawaiian roll + lettuce. I deconstructed it for their lunch so they could assemble it themselves. Hey! Just like a real Beyblade! I totally planned that. (not at all.) Do you think Vader plays Beyblades? I bet he does and just uses the force instead of a launcher…

Triple Beef Beyblade Burgers recipe – here.

This weekend I am on a panel at Geek Girl Con about parenting, and the question people always ask me is how I get my kids to try different foods. The answer is easy – make dinner fun and engaging!

A good friend who knows how to have fun – gave the kids these cool Fred and Friends Food Face plates as a gift. I knew they’d be a perfect vehicle for an entertaining, healthy dinner where I could introduce some new foods.

I decided to go with all one color, green. Just because there are so many healthy green foods and it was also a nice palate to work with.

Here is what we used for our ‘green’ meal:

Green Tea Udon Noodles
Spinach Tortillas
Seasoned Seaweed cut into strips
Edamame (shelled)
Sliced Cucumber
Green apples

Once the kids got into it they started thinking of other foods that would make good hair, accessories, facial features – and they got really excited about planning our next meal. As the Baby said, “every dinner should be like this!”

The Baby went for the obvious with noodle hair while the Kid thought seaweed was the way to go. Apples became ears, edamame became eyes.

I tried to stay away from the obvious greens (broccoli, beans) and try different textures and flavors but also go for good ‘shapes’ that would help them be creative. My fave was the seaweed unibrow – courtesy of the Baby, of course.

The plates became a great way to get kids to be imaginative and creative and also get them involved in planning and eating a variety of foods. The empty plates don’t lie – they ate everything and had a great time!

Yoda ate very well in years past, so well that – I had an incident with teachers eating my Kid’s food. I know, right? Who does that?? Well that teacher (and daycare) is gone, and we’ve got a new lunch box. So I give you…What Would Vader Eat.

For lunch today Vader has Brown Sugar Meatballs. These are a big hit at parties but are so easy that I often make them for weekday dinners. The leftovers are perfect for the kid’s lunches because they can eat them quickly, no mess and can run off to play faster than you can say “Luke, I am you fa…”

Brown Sugar Meatballs recipe, here.

*More Vader lunches coming soon – depending on how busy this school year goes. Yikes.
**All lunches kept frozen or cold w/ice packs because of my complete and total paranoia.

“Oh gosh, how delicious it was! It was sweet and refreshing. It tasted of vanilla and cream with just the faintest trace of raspberries on the edge of the flavour. And the bubbles were wonderful. Sophie could actually feel them bouncing and bursting all around her tummy. It was an amazing sensation.”

The Kid BEGGED me to make him some Frobscottle. We talked about what we’d put it into it, ‘popping and fizzing’ meant soda which my kids are NOT allowed to have but seeing as how he’s read 35 books in three weeks – I’d say he’s allowed a treat. And man, is this a treat.

I kept meaning to put a recipe together for him, but as parents do, I got busy. Proving that he is my child, before summer school one morning he left his very own homemade recipe on my desk, just as a reminder:

Interesting. I like the way that Kid thinks. I improved it (in my opinion) and upped the ante by using Lilikoi soda from Hawaii. Truly delish stuff IF you can get ahold of it. Most people can’t, so Ginger Ale will do just fine. Here’s the recipe:

ingredients:
1 scoop vanilla ice cream (recipe, here)
1 scoop raspberry sorbet
Lilikoi soda (or Ginger Ale)
whipped cream
fresh raspberries
Pop Rocks

Put the scoops of ice cream in a glass. Man, you could just stop here and that’d be a great summer treat. But no, I must carry on.

I love this natural Hawaiian soda from Waialua Soda Works. I had it in Hawaii YEARS ago and now it’s finally readily available on the mainland. If you can’t find it, ginger ale works just as well! Add just enough soda to get the bubbles to the top. Add the whipped cream and top with fresh berries.

Sprinkle the top with Pop Rocks. Yes, Pop Rocks. It gives it that extra “whizpopping” kick, as the BFG would say.

For sure this is sugar overload but this was a one time treat, and the Kid was SO HAPPY to see the BFG’s Frobscottle come to life! I love enhancing the Kid’s creativity by incorporating fun into his summer reading. It sure makes life a lot more fun.

I knew I wanted the kids to fully experience it so we had ‘dinner and a movie’ night to watch the previous Pirates. Luckily they loved the movies (and weren’t scared) and mostly because of our family love of Disney they were ready for the full experience. It’s a good thing too because I got VIP tickets to see the new Pirates at the El Capitan in Hollywood (recap, here).

To go along with our Pirates celebration I made a Pirates themed dinner of course!

We talked about what pirates eat on the ship: “Bread! Chicken! There’s not room for anything else!” Hm. Ok. And if you remember green apples are BIG part of the movies as well. I also made a special pirate-y dessert.

Salt + Pepper chicken drumsticks (recipe, here)
Garlic Bread
Green Apples
Cap’n Crunch Treasure Treats (recipe, here)
Milk

The Baby wanted RUM “like the pirates drink.” Yeah, nice try 5 year old, it’s milk or nothing. We enjoyed our pirates dinner and re-watched the old movies – the Baby in full pirate regalia, of course.

This is one of my favorite meals. Why? Because I have the kids do most of the work.

If your kids are old enough (and you have the right mindset of letting go of mess) why not let the kids mix and stir and pour? It’s a big help in the kitchen and by getting involved – I know my kids are more likely to eat something that they’ve proudly helped with. Now to get them to learn to use the deep fryer…

ingredients:
1 package penne pasta
5 cups marinara
1-1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 (15 oz) container ricotta cheese
1 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1 egg
zest of half a lemon
salt
pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prep a 9×13 pan by greasing it with melted butter. Set aside.

In a large pot, boil the pasta according to the package directions. Drain, do not rinse.

Now here’s when you get the kids to do all the work. Mix the pasta with half the marinara and pour into the prepped pan. Then pour the rest of the sauce on top.

My kids being children born in the 2000′s have never realized that you can actually grate your own cheese, it doesn’t just come in a bag pre-done. HELLO. That was one of my jobs as a kid, my mom always made me grate cheese and I always thought, why don’t they just sell it pre-grated?? I was a child genius ahead of my time, obvs.

To come full circle I decided to enforce child labor and make the kids do all the grating of the cheese. As you can tell by the pic it takes two people to grate mozzarella cheese, apparently.

Sprinkle the well-grated-child-labor-cheese on top of the pasta and sauce.

Then, in a medium bowl combine the ricotta, parmesan, egg and lemon zest. Stir together well, season with salt and pepper. Again, this is something the kids can do easily since it’s just mixing.

Drop the ricotta by dollops, almost like biscuits, on top of the penne.

Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes and serve.

While you’ll have to do the pasta boiling and oven part – the rest can be done by the kids, which is nice. Getting them involved in the kitchen makes them want to try new foods and frankly, it’ll give YOU a much needed break.

Every night while I cook dinner the kids pick out books to read and somehow the books they choose always revolve around…food! What can I say, I have two little foodies. One night the Baby chose Where the Wild Things Are, a classic.

If you remember in the end of the book when Max comes back to his bedroom, a hot dinner is waiting for him. We read the book and talked about Max coming home after his long trip and the Baby decided that Max’s dinner was obviously a warm bowl of soup with MEAT in it (the Baby’s fave) and a nice BIG piece of yummy yellow cake. That’s some dinner.

The Baby asked me to make my version of Max’s dinner, so here you go:

Roast Pork Stew (recipe, here)
Mascarpone Poundcake (recipe, here)
A glass of milk

A nice meal to come home to at the end of a long journey…or day at school.
Let the wild rumpus begin!

(drawing by the Kid)

I love boy birthday parties. Princess parties are everywhere and I’m down with pink, but lightsabers are where it’s at.

This weekend I made cupcakes for my friend’s awesome outdoor Star Wars party for her 7-year old! My kids have winter birthdays so we’re often stuck inside, it’s the Spring birthdays that get all the park-fun!

Pool noodles wrapped in electrical tape – a homemade ‘lightsaber!’ Genius for outdoor play. Using those ‘lightsabers’ (and the force of course) the kids had to keep a balloon afloat as long as they could. Not easy when pokey grass is working against you. Grass and nature is truly the work of the Empire. Grr.

She also got a very cool near indestructible R2-D2 pinata from my FAVORITE pinata store. Help me Obi-Wan…no one can break this thing. Poor Artoo. He didn’t stand a chance against these young padawan thirsty for blood, I mean, candy.

For the party I made Vanilla Yoda and Darth Vader cupcakes (recipe, here). For some reason whenever I make these for parties – Darth Vader is always the first to go, I’m sure it’s because he’s chocolate not because the kids are turning to the Dark Side…um. Right.

I also made the birthday boy some Stormtrooper cupcakes to surround and protect his one special birthday cupcake.

Swinging with your friends and swinging lightsabers, not a bad day for 7-year old Jedi.

It’s Fat Tuesday aka Shrove Tuesday aka Pancake Day!

I first made these back in December when the kids were on winter break and on a pancake kick – as in pancakes all day everyday for breakfast AND dinner.

Pancakes are so easy because it’s just one bowl and the kids love to help with the mixing. Sweet potato and mochi go together really well in dessert form, so I thought it’d also make for a perfect pancake!

ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 cup mochiko flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 Tablespoon maple syrup
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 sweet potato, mashed
1 egg
1-1/2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 Tablespoon melted butter

Mochiko is a fine rice flour, and what gives mochi it’s familiar ‘chew’. You can find it in Japanese markets or online. I use it in lots of desserts and savories and it’s a very fun and versatile ingredient.

Start by roasting your sweet potato. Prick it with a fork and place it on a baking sheet in a 350 degree oven for one hour. When it comes out the skin will peel off easily. Mash it with a fork or a masher and set aside.

In a bowl, whisk the flour, mochiko flour, baking powder, salt, brown sugar, maple syrup and cinnamon.

Add the mashed sweet potato, egg, milk (you may not need all of it depending on the consistency!), vanilla and butter. Stir to combine, making sure all the flour is dissolved. If the mixture is a bit thick, add a little more of the milk.

Ladle the batter into a hot pan (how to make perfect pancakes, here). When bubble form, flip them over and cook until done. Darth Vader totally photobombed this shot. I think he loves pancakes. Evil pancakes.

The sweet potatoes add a nice flavor to the pancakes and together with the mochi, you get a nice hefty chew. I make an extra batch of these and freeze them for mornings when the kids DEMAND hot pancakes and I am still wiping the sleep out of my eyes. A few minutes in the microwave and they taste just as fresh as the day I made them!

For this particular 1st birthday it was a Dr. Seuss theme – so fun, and how fitting that today is actually Dr. Theodor Seuss Geisel’s birthday!

First birthdays are about excitement and new adventures and smash cakes are a big part of the celebration, and for a lot of kids, it’s often their first taste of sugar. My oh my, you’re in for a ride.

Aptly named the ‘smash’ cake is to be SMASHED at the party, and they are often tiny, about 4″ – 5″ in diameter. I made this one to look like the Cat in the Hat‘s red and white striped hat. The mom wanted it to be very frosted, lots of fluff, perfect for smashing.

I baked a brown sugar cake (recipe, here), and using a 5″ circle, cut out three layers of cake.

I stacked the cake, but only used a very thin layer of frosting in between. I wanted to give the hat height but also keep it in proportion to the smallish cake.

Then using vanilla buttercream, I crumb coated the cake to start.

I would have used fondant to get a ‘clean’ look, but let’s face it, fondant is not fun to smash or eat for your first taste of cake. So buttercream it is! To get the stripes I tinted half the frosting in red, then alternated the stripes around the cake.

Instead of getting a possibly wonky black line to separate the stripes – hey, nobody’s hand is perfect – I opted for the easy way out by adding some thin black licorice. It was whimsical AND it did the trick!

To top it off, I printed out the Cat in the Hat himself, with a little message to the birthday boy.

I’d say by the looks of it, this cake was definitely loved and smashed to smithereens!