This weekend my friends and I organized a “Friendsgiving” where we each brought our own dish. I decided to make my classic chicken and pearl couscous recipe which was definitely a hit and also brought along pumpkin pastry twists. The original chicken and pearl couscous recipe came from Martha Stewart’s Living magazine years ago and is both healthy and delicious–it’s one of our family favorites. I’ve adjusted it a bit and the ingredients are listed below.
Note: if you are lucky enough to have leftovers, it’s even better the next day.
Pumpkin Pastry Twists
For dessert I made Pumpkin Pastry Twists using the ingredients listed below–along with these simple instructions.
First, preheat the oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet. Whisk together the brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Then on a smooth, workable surface, unfold or unroll your puff pastry until it’s laid out evenly. Spread the pumpkin puree even across all of the puff pastry. Sprinkle on the brown sugar mixture until the pumpkin is well covered. Cut your puff pastry into thin strips. Grab the ends of one strip and start twisting the pastry then lay the twisted strip on your prepared parchment paper and repeat with the remaining strips. Bake the pastries for 15-20 minutes and sprinkle them with powdered sugar. These twists are so easy but look impressive (and taste delicious) so I definitely recommend them.
Tonight I wanted to be really healthy and make an utterly non-meat dinner for the family. I researched a bunch of recipes and found one that seemed like it might even satisfy my dad (he likes veggies but also thinks meat should be meat.) I found this recipe at itdoesnttastelikechicken.com and despite my dad’s skepticism, I think he ate more of this than anyone else! Here are the ingredients for the Shredded Tofu:
For the cabbage slaw: just toss shredded red and green cabbage, sliced carrots, and a bit of mayonnaise to taste.
First, drain the tofu and shred it using a cheese grater, you don’t have to press the tofu because the water will dry off in the oven. Mix the oil, soy sauce, chili powder, smoked paprika, and garlic powder in a large bowl then add and coat the shredded tofu with the seasonings. Spread the tofu evenly on a pan with oil or parchment paper. Bake for about 30 minutes, stirring the tofu halfway through, until the tofu is browned. Heat the BBQ sauce and water in a pan, and then stir in the baked tofu. Heat the BBQ sauce and water in a pan, and then stir in the baked tofu. For the cabbage slaw: just toss shredded red and green cabbage, sliced carrots, and a bit of mayonnaise to taste (definitely add salt and pepper).
I served the bbq tofu on a bun with cabbage slaw and a side of warm corn salad + a simple green salad.
For the warm corn salad, I sautéed corn with butter, chopped red onion, cherry tomatoes, and chopped red pepper (add cumin if you want a bit more flavor). And for the green salad, I tossed romaine lettuce, avocados, and tomatoes (but add whatever else you feel like).
Plating this was fun because there were so many bright colors, and the tastes were just as bright!
For desert I made low sugar, fluffy chocolate chip muffins. I made an adjusted version of this recipe.
The ingredients are: 1½ cups all-purpose flour, ¼ cup sifted cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ¼ teaspoon salt, 1 cup whole-milk plain yogurt, ⅓ cup maple syrup 2 eggs, ¼ cup unsalted butter (melted and cooled), 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, ½ cup chocolate chocolate chips (I used mini ones).
Start by setting the oven to 375 degrees and greasing a muffin pan. Stir together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and once combined add the yogurt, maple syrup, eggs, butter, and vanilla. Gently fold together and finally add the chocolate chips. Pour the batter into the muffin pan and bake for about 15 min. Let cool and enjoy!
These were honestly perfect because they aren’t overwhelmingly sweet and are made with whole, healthy, ingredients. They just disappeared too fast!
Today for lunch I wanted to make something healthy and light–but still tasty. I found a couple recipes for frittatas, including epicurious’s Fresh Corn Frittata with Smoked Mozarella and heynutritionlady’s Vegetarian Frittata with Corn and Tomatoes. Based on those two recipes I came up with my own version. Frittatas are pretty forgiving so if you don’t like a particular ingredient — or don’t have it, you can always substitute. For example, feta would be a good substitute for the cheese I used. In any event, here are the ingredients I used:
The first step is to preheat your oven to 350 Degrees. Then prep all your vegetables.
Next, heat the olive oil in a large oven-proof skillet and cook till translucent (about 5 minutes), stirring frequently. Add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds (do not let brown).
Then add the corn kernels, stir in and let cook for about 4 minutes, stirring once or twice. Add in the tomatoes and cook until starting to soften.
Whisk the eggs, add the milk, salt, and pepper, and 1/2 of the cheese, and chopped basil. Use a spatula to even out and gently lift the corn and tomatoes up. Let cook for 3-5 minutes on low heat until eggs begin to set. Sprinkle the top of the frittata with the remaining cheese. You can also add additional parmesan cheese if you like.
Place the frittata in the preheated oven. Bake for 5 minutes and then switch to the broil setting. Broil the frittata for about 5 more minutes, but watch as you don’t want it to get too brown. The frittata is done when it’s nicely browned and only jiggles a little. (If you don’t want to risk burning it with the broiler, you can just bake it for an additional 5-7 minutes but it won’t puff up as much.)Let cool for a few minutes before serving–garnish with extra basil, avocado, cheese…and whatever else you feel like.
Brown Butter Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
For dessert I made Brown Butter Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies from HandleTheHeat. This was the first time I’ve ever used brown butter in cookies and I won’t be going back. Not only did it completely elevate the taste but it also made the kitchen smell like caramel. For these cookies you will need 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, 1.5 cups flour, .25 teaspoon salt, .5 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, .25 teaspoon ground ginger, .25 teaspoon nutmeg, .125 teaspoon cloves, .75 cup white sugar, .25 cup light brown sugar, 1 egg yolk, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, .3 cup pumpkin puree, and .75 cup (or more!) semisweet chocolate chips
First you brown the butter by melting it over medium heat, swirling occasionally until brown bits form at the bottom. Then remove from heat and pour into a medium mixing bowl. Add the sugars to the hot butter and stir to combine. Let cool.
In a separate bowl mix the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Then egg yolk, pumpkin puree, and vanilla to the cooled butter mixture. Slowly add the flour mixture in until a soft dough forms. Then fold in the chocolate chips.
Chill the dough in the fridge until firm and place on the lined baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees, let cool and enjoy!
Welcome to KidsCookDinner.com: a website my brother Max and I (Alex) started in 2015.* Originally we posted about kids’ cooking (usually dinner, but not always) and tried to draw attention to the fact that a lot of people don’t have enough to eat. Along the way, we won a prize for our domain name, donated over $17,000 to Action Against Hunger, and competed against each other on Chopped Junior on Food Network.
We have had a lot of fun but recently I’ve become really concerned about climate change and its relationship to food. I’ve learned about food’s carbon foodprint (the greenhouse emissions produced by the growing, harvesting, processing, transporting, cooking, and disposing of the food we eat).
I’ve realized the way I eat (and most Americans eat) has a negative impact on climate change. The mass production of food, especially of animal products like meat, dairy, and eggs generates a really big foodprint. For example, commercially produced beef has a really high carbon footprint because of the methane produced by the animals themselves and the methane from manure lagoons and pits. (Methane is a greenhouse gas linked to global warming.)
I also learned that food waste is an enormous hidden contributor to climate change. The United States wastes roughly 40% of its food, and when it goes to landfills, it breaks down and produces methane. Finally, the warming global temperatures and increasingly violent weather linked to climate change are negatively affecting communities’ ability to grow sustainable crops–resulting in more global hunger. (If you want to learn more about food’s foodprint, I recommend these two sites:
https://foodprint.org/issues/how-our-food-system-affects-climate-change/ and
https://www.earthday.org/our-work/#food-and-environment )
Given all that, I decided I wanted to try to change the way I eat and also use this website to encourage others to be more mindful about the food they eat (and the food we waste). I am trying to reduce the amount of meat and dairy I eat as well as try out more plant-based recipes on this website. And, I want to try to be more conscious of food leftovers. I want to try to find ways to use them in new recipes, and when we do have compostable waste, actually compost it! We used to compost vegetable scraps every week at the local farmers’ market but we stopped during COVID. Now, I’ve started doing it again and want to work with local organizations to raise awareness of the availability of compost drop-off containers in the neighborhood. For example, I found one close to the dog park where we take our dog!
*For those of you who want to learn more about the story of our website, we created it when my mom said we couldn’t keep posting food and cooking pictures on her Facebook page. When we registered the domain, we checked a box to register it in Verisign’s national domain name contest and then had to make a video about the website. Amazingly enough, we won the contest and $35,000! Click HERE for more about the story of our domain name. Since we have enough to eat, we decided to donate $17,000 to Action Against Hunger–a charity dedicated to saving the lives of malnourished children and helping vulnerable communities become self-sufficient. We were lucky enough to get to visit the Action Against Hunger office in New York and meet some of their amazing staff. (Below we are sitting with Alex Cottin, Director of External Affairs, and Andrea Tamburini, CEO of AAH-USA, in August 2015)
Tonight I wanted to try another of The New York Times one pan dish recommendations and found this easy recipe for shrimp and pearl couscous with harissa. Harissa, a hot chili pepper paste with herbs and spices from northern Africa, is definitely the key ingredient for the dish and because it can be very spicy, I suggest going easy the first time you try the recipe. I also made sure to buy sustainable shrimp from Fresh Direct!
The recipe (with my modifications) is below:
For dessert, I needed something comforting (and cooling for my taste buds!) We had a couple of ripe bananas so I decided to make banana bars from an adjusted a recipe from WellPlated. They were surprisingly easy and disappeared very quickly.
Preheat the oven to 350° and line a 8×8 pan with parchment paper. Mash the bananas and make sure this is exactly a cup. Stir in the sugar, cooled butter, milk, egg, and vanilla. Then in a different bowl mix the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt). Next, add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and combine. Lastly, add in the chocolate chips and pour the batter into the baking pan. Bake for 15- 20 minutes then cut into squares and enjoy!
I was home alone for the weekend so I decided to make a small batch of cookies as a treat for myself. I found this recipe on Instagram from Tasty. The recipe below is for 10 cookies but I halved it since it was just for me. The ingredients you will need are:
Whisk the brown sugar and eggs, then stir in the melted butter, melted chocolate, and vanilla extract. Add in the rest of the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and salt), and lastly, add the chocolate chips. Then chill the batter in the fridge so it hardens into a dough. Scoop the dough onto a lined baking tray, and bake for 12 minutes at 350˚F until crispy on top and slightly gooey in the middle.
Since I love both cookies and brownies, these were the perfect combination.
Today I wanted to cook something healthy and mainly plant-based, so I researched the New York Times recipe database and found this great recipe for Shakshuka with Feta from Melissa Clark. Below is my interpretation of her recipe.
The ingredients are:
*Plus more to taste.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Prep your vegetables (e.g. slice your onions and peppers, mince your garlic). Heat the olive oil in a large (12-inch at least) oven-safe skillet. Cook the sliced onions and peppers on medium-low heat, stirring from time to time until very soft. Meanwhile, measure your spices, chop the tomatoes and crumble the feta cheese.
When the onions and peppers are very soft, add the garlic and cook for about 2 minutes (don’t let brown), then stir in the spices. After about a minute, add the tomatoes, salt, and pepper. Simmer on low for about 10 minutes until the sauce starts to thicken and then add the feta cheese.
Gently break the eggs into the skillet over the tomatoes. (If you are worried you might break the yolk, break each egg into a shallow cup, and, if the yolk is intact, slide it into the tomatoes.) Gently transfer the skillet to the oven and bake until eggs are just set — 8 to 10 minutes. Sprinkle with basil (and, if you like, add extra feta, sliced avocado, and hot sauce). Delicious!
Dessert
For dessert, I made an easy cookie skillet. All you need to do is mix with 1-1/2 cup flour, 1/3 cup sugar, 1 egg, 1/4 cup almond milk, 1 1/2 tbsp butter, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp vanilla, and a ton of chocolate chips! Then bake in a round pan at 350F for 15-20 min.
When I saw the Kitchen-Aid pasta-making extensions laying unused in the back of our cupboard I knew it had been too long since I had made pasta. Although the recipe is surprisingly simple, there are quite a few steps. Still, I had a free night and wanted to try.
Simple Egg Pasta Dough
The first step is to combine the ingredients in the Kitchen-Aid bowl and mix for about 30 seconds with the flat beater. Then replace the flat beater with the dough hook and mix for 2 minutes. Finally, knead the dough by hand for another 2 minutes, wrap it in plastic wrap and let rest for at least 20 minutes.
Making Fettucine Noodles
To make the actual noodles, divide the dough into two pieces and keep the piece you are not working with wrapped in plastic. Take the first piece and flatten it to about 1/2 inch thick. Attach the pasta sheet roller to the Kitchen-Aid mixer and set it to setting #1. With the speed at 2/4, carefully feed the dough through the attachment. When that is done, fold the dough in half and then half again. Feed through the roller again on setting #1. Then keep running the pasta through the roller, gradually increasing the settings until you are at #5 and the pasta is very thin. (It’s ok to cut the sheet of pasta in half so it’s not super long). Once your pasta is thin enough, replace the pasta sheet roller with the fettuccine attachment. With the mixer on speed 2, carefully feed the past through the attachment (it’s helpful to have someone catch the cut pasta). Lay it flat on a floured counter or on a drying rack until ready to cook. (It will only need 3-4 minutes in boiling salted water until it is al dente)
Creamy Mushroom Sauce
To go with the fresh pasta, I decided to make a creamy mushroom sauce using a mix of shitake, cremini, and button mushrooms. You will need the following ingredients:
After you have prepped everything (sliced the mushrooms, chopped the onion, etc.), melt the butter and oil in a large skillet over heat. Then add the chopped onion and cook till translucent. Add the mushrooms with a little salt and pepper, when they are starting to turn golden, add the garlic and cook till it’s golden (but don’t let burn!) Then add the wine and let simmer till it is mostly evaporated. Then add broth, cream, and parmesan cheese. Stir until the parmesan has melted and dissolved — about 2 minutes.
To serve toss with pasta and spring a few thyme leaves on top (and additional grated parmesan if you like)
*Homemade Chicken Broth
In an effort to waste less food, I decided to make homemade chicken broth. We had a rotisserie chicken that was almost picked clean of meat, so I broke the bones into smaller pieces, added 3 cups water along with a peeled chopped carrot, 1/2 an onion that was on its last legs, 2 cloves of garlic and a couple of sprigs of thyme. I let it simmer for an hour and then poured it through a strainer, keeping only the broth.
I find a lot of recipe ideas on Instagram and loved this one from Apple Cake Annie’s — giant meringue cookies. With only a few ingredients and the ability to customize based on what you like, this recipe is extremely popular. It’s also easy and delicious, especially since you can choose your favorite flavor.
Ingredients
As promised here is the recipe for the peach cobbler that I made on Labor day. There are lots of recipes online but I liked this one from allrecipes.com linked here, but I’ve also included it below with my suggestions.
Peach Cobbler Ingredients
Optional Additional Topping
Instructions
1. First mix the peaches, 1/4 cup white sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, cinnamon, and cornstarch. Toss to coat and pour into a 2-quart baking dish. Bake for 10 minutes in an oven preheated to 400 degrees F.
2. While the peaches pre-bake, combine the flour, remaining white and brown sugar, baking powder, and salt. Blend in the cold butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in the boiling hot water until just combined.
3. Remove the peaches from the oven and drop spoonfuls of the topping over them. If you like cinnamon, mix the optional additional topping above (cinnamon and sugar) and sprinkle on top. Bake until the topping is golden brown (about 30 minutes).
**NOTES**
