Kid/Spouse Friendly Recipes

NOTE: The reason why I often give options in all of the recipes I post is because I want to make the food accessible to all, based on tastes and what you have in your pantry. Plus, I passionately believe in the Genotype (and Blood Type) diets, which means that the recipes need to be flexible to accommodate the different genotypes/blood types (diets for nutrition and optimal living based on each individual person, rather than a one size fits all diet).

Wendy’s Homemade Teething Biscuits – Eggless/Gluten Free Baby Cereal Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup Millet flour (although I may try a different flour next time- Quinoa perhaps? As I found the millet just a tad bit bitter)
1 cup dry infant rice
1 whole banana
3 tablespoons coconut oil
ice water

Directions:
Preheat oven 425F
Mix flour and cereal.
Gradually stir in oil.
Mash up banana and hand blend.
Mix a little ice water at a time (start with 1/4 cup) until dough begins to form a ball and pull away from the bowl.
Roll out to the thickness of a cracker on a floured surface and cut into desired shapes. OR roll into sausages or bagel rings for good grip.
Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet 10-12 min. or until lightly brown. Cool completely.

Store in an airtight container.

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Turkey Meatballs (with a little hidden veggie of course!)

Ingredients

1/4 cup dried breadcrumbs

2 tablespoons milk or water

1 egg lightly beaten

1/2 cup romano cheese

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1/2 cup finely chopped carrots, or pureed butternut squash

salt and pepper to taste

1 pound ground turkey

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put the breadcrumbs in a large bowl and add the 2 tablespoons of milk or water and mix. Stir in the egg, cheese, salt, pepper, onion and carrots or butternut squash. Once these ingredients are mixed well, add the ground turkey and combine. Form meatballs and place on cooking sheet or glass baking dish. Cook for about 20 minutes, until done.

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Veggie Packed Beef, Turkey, or Chicken Chili (slow cooker style)

You can pack a lot of secret goodness in this recipe! I like to serve this over the shell shaped rice pasta. The kids love the shape and even if they pick out the pasta, they still get the goodness of the chili as it gets stuck inside of the shells!

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 cup chopped red or yellow onion

1/2 cup chopped celery

1 pound ground meat (turkey, chicken or beef)

2 cloves of garlic minced

1 tablespoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

2 1/2 cups chopped tomatoes (canned or fresh)

1 1/4 cups soup stock – veggie, chicken, turkey or beef

1/2 cup finely chopped red pepper (use food processor)

1/2 cup finely chopped carrots (use food processor)

1/2 cup finely chopped broccoli (use food processor)

1/2 cup any other veggie you want!

2 tablespoons ground flaxseed if so desired (added goodness you can’t taste or see)

1 can pinto, black or kidney beans

rice, couscous, pasta or quinoa to serve the chili over

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Heat olive oil in pan. When hot, add the onion and cook for about 5 to 7 minutes, until translucent (stir consistently so it doesn’t brown). Add celery and cook for another 4 minutes. Remove from stove and scrape into the slow cooker. Using the same pan, brown the meat until almost cooked all the way through. Remove from stove and put cooked meat into the slow cooker. Put the remainder of the ingredients into the slow cooker and stir until all ingredients are mixed together. Turn slow cooker on low for 6 to 8 hours or on high for 3 to 4 hours. Twenty minutes before serving, cook up the grain you will be serving the chili with.

Place grain in bowl with chili on top and sprinkle with cheese.

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Chock Full of Goodness Pancakes (can be made wheat free)

Just two days ago a neighbor stopped by to help my husband while we were eating these. I offered him one and he couldn’t get enough!  I am talking about a man who admitted to me that the only other pancakes he has ever liked are IHOP pancakes.  He was pleasantly surprised to find out just how healthy these are!

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour – I do 3/4 cups oat flour, 1/2 cup brown rice flour and 1/4 cup spelt

3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder (I use aluminum free)

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 tablespoon sugar (optional)

1 1/4 cups milk – you can use any kind, rice, almond, cow, etc.

1 egg

3 tablespoons melted butter

1 tablespoon ground flaxseed (optional)

1/2 cup ground pecans or walnuts (optional)

In a large bowl mix your combination of flours together with the baking powder, salt, sugar and flaxseed.  Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter.  Mix until smooth.  Add nuts and stir.  Cook pancakes on oiled (I use coconut oil), non-stick griddle(after all, do you really want the added chemicals of the non stick pans?).  I make the pancakes relatively small, as I find they hold together better that way. When cooked garnish with REAL maple syrup – no artificial syrup allowed 🙂

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Turkey or Chicken Cutlet Wheels

Not only are these easy to make, they incorporate protein, veggie and dairy AND they are one of my husband’s favorite meals. I will post a picture when I make these again!

Ingredients

1 pound of turkey or chicken cutlets sliced thin

1 block of mozzarella or munster cheese

1/2 bunch of asparagus or 1/2 package of spinach

a little bit of olive oil

a bit of sea salt, I prefer the light grey rock salt for this

1 large glass baking dish

toothpicks (1 for each cutlet)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and lightly coat the bottom of the baking dish with olive oil. One by one lay each cutlet out flat, and evenly spread and layer the asparagus or spinach and the cheese. Starting from one end and working your way to the other, roll the cutlet and stick a toothpick in it so it won’t unroll itself. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt. When all cutlets are stuffed and rolled, bake for about 15 – 20 minutes or until done.

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Oatmeal Raisin/Chocolate Chip Cookies (Wheat Free and Low Sugar)

I like these because I don’t feel guilty eating them! Okay, so they are a little bit fattening because of the butter, but this recipe makes about four dozen cookies, so the sugar content is lower than what you will find in a lot of other recipes and I add ground nuts for some protein.

Ingredients

1/2 pound (2 sticks) softened butter

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups oat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

3 cups of uncooked oats

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup chocolate chips – I use Ghirardelli*

1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Beat together the butter and sugars until creamy. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat well.  Add the combined oat flour, baking soda and salt and mix well. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto the ungreased cookie sheet (if you flatten them or make them any bigger, they will be really thin and on the crunchier side). Bake 10 – 12 minutes or until the edges have just started to turn golden brown. Let them cool for 1 minute and then transfer to a wire rack.

* I use Ghirardelli because I have found that they are one of the few chocolate chip makers that do not add artificial ingredients to their chocolate! (Hersheys and Nestles surprisingly do!)

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Veggie Packed Macaroni and Cheese

Since every child I know loves mac and cheese, this is the perfect meal to add veggies into!

Ingredients

1 ½ lbs of rice pasta (I like Tinkyada) * You can use another kind of pasta if preferred

2 tablespoons of butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 tablespoons of flour

1 ½ cups of organic 2 percent milk

3 ½ cups of shredded cheese – I usually do 2 ½ cups cheddar, 1 cup gruyere

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

sea salt to taste

1 ½ to 2 cups of steamed and pureed cauliflower, butternut squash and/or grated yellow squash

1 pound of ground turkey or ground beef (optional)

Steam and puree or chop cauliflower (works with butternut squash as well) in the food processor AND/OR grate some yellow squash. Cook the pasta until al dente.  At the same time that you start the pasta water, heat a large pot over medium heat and add the oil and butter when hot.  When butter melts, add flour (helps to thicken the sauce).  Gently cook, whisking the flour into the butter/oil for about 3 minutes.  Slowly add the milk while continuing to whisk.  Let the milk slowly come to a boil while stirring frequently.  Allow the sauce to thicken a bit, then stir 2 cups of the grated cheese a bit at a time. Season the sauce with the nutmeg and cayenne.  Add salt to taste.  Next, add whatever vegetable you set aside and after stirring it into the sauce, drain and add your cooked pasta.  At this point you should add the already cooked ground beef or ground turkey if you so choose.

Now transfer this mixture into a large baking dish and top with the remaining cheese. Set under the broiler until the cheese has had time to brown – 5 to 10 minutes.  I sometimes bake it at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes first, but you don’t have to.  Enjoy!

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Healthy Cupcakes OR Super Anytime Muffins (and icing too)

I make these for my children’s birthday parties and they are a hit with kids and adults alike!  When they each turned one I topped the muffins with yogurt.  Now I make a homemade icing, which is so simple and cuts out all of the chemicals in the store bought icing.  I also make these throughout the year as healthy snacks or an accompaniment to breakfast.

One of the best parts of this recipe is that you can personalize it for your taste – see below! These can be made using whatever kind of flour(s) you like; I make them without wheat, thus they are gluten free, and no one knows the difference.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of flour – I break it up like this: 1/2 cup brown rice flour, 1/2 cup oat flour, 1/2 cup almond flour.  For completely gluten free do 3/4 cups oat and 3/4 cups brown rice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar (or you can do a little less – this is already cut) I recently started using maple sugar and use about 3/4 cups of that.
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup pumpkin or butternut squash or banana – you can use fresh pumpkin or squash by roasting it in the oven at 400 degrees for 45 minutes to and hour and then pureeing it (easier than it sounds)
1/2 cup olive oil (I may try extra virgin coconut oil next time)
2 eggs beaten
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or peacans (optional, makes great protein)

Preheat oven to 350. Mix the flours together, then add and mix sugar, salt, and baking soda. In a bigger bowl, mix together the pumpkin, olive oil, water, eggs and spices. Next add dry ingredients to the wet ones and mix. Stir in the nuts. Bake for about 20 minutes – check them around 18 minutes.

For Icing:

1 cup butter, softened
1 or 2 cups powdered sugar (some people like 4 cups of sugar, so just keep tasting until you get the sweetness you like)

Beat the butter in mixer until it’s soft, slowly add the sugar.  Don’t over beat!  It’s done when you get the taste and consistency you want.  When muffins are completely cool put the icing on.