Kids Desserts, Dessert Recipes For Kids, Family Dessert Recipes

Fall Faves – Pumpkin Bread

October 24, 2011 By Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner 9 Comments

You all know how we love the pumpkin.

Pumpkin Pie.

Pumpkin Pancakes.

Pumpkin Coffee.

Pumpkin Anything.

Nothing makes the boys happier than getting off the bus…

To a batch of delicious warm pumpkin bread.

WHAT YOU NEED:

1 15 ounce can pumpkin puree

4 eggs

1 c vegetable oil

2/3 c water

3 c sugar

1 c brown sugar (divided)

3 1/2 c flour

2 t baking soda

1 t baking powder

1 1/2 t salt

1 t ground cinnamon

1 t ground nutmeg

1/2 t ground cloves

1/4 t ground ginger

1/2 t ground allspice

Optional:

chocolate chips

walnuts

pumpkin seeds

WHAT TO DO:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl combine pumpkin, eggs, vegetable oil, water, sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Mix until blended.

In another bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger and allspice. Mix until well combined. Pour dry ingredients slowly into wet ingredients and mix until well combined.

Add in your desired mix ins. We usually do one with walnuts and one with chocolate chips.

Pour batter into 2 greased loaf pans. Sprinkle tops with remaining brown sugar.

Bake on 350 for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Apple Week – best apple pie ever

October 4, 2011 By Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner 10 Comments

There is nothing that says home to me…

Like the smell of apple pie baking in the oven.

It’s just everything good about fall…

Moms…

Holidays…

And yummy goodness.

I’ve made plenty of apple pies in my day.

But this the the best of the bunch.

Trust me!

The Best Ever Apple Pie

WHAT YOU NEED:

For the pie crust:

1 cup butter (2 sticks), cubed and chilled

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

8 to 10 tablespoons ice water

For the filling:

8 -10 peeled, cored and sliced apples (I like a mix of granny smith and empire apples)

juice of 1 lemon

3/4 cup white granulated sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 t ground cinnamon

1/2 t salt

1/2 t vanilla extract

3 T butter, cut into cubes

1 egg beaten

1 T sugar in the raw

WHAT TO DO:

For the crust:

Put the butter, flour, and salt in the food processor, and pulse lightly just until the mixture resembles wet sand.

Add the water, 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing briefly after each spoonful of water.

Keep adding water until the dough just begins to gather into larger clumps.

Transfer equal amounts of the dough into 2 resealable plastic bags and pat each into a disk.

Let rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Remove 1 of the disks from the bag to a flour coated surface.

Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to a 10-inch round. Gently fit the rolled dough into a 9-inch pie pan, and refrigerate while you prepare the pie ingredients. Roll the other disk into a 9 inch round to top the pie with.

For the filling:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine apples, both sugars, lemon juice, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla extract. Toss well to combine.

Pour the apple mixture into the dough lined pie dish. Dot the top to the apple mixture with butter chunks.

Top with second pie crust and crimp edges to close.

Cut a few slits in the top of the crust to vent.

Using a pastry brush, brush the crust with beaten egg and sprinkle with sugar in the raw.

Bake at 350 for 1 hour 15 minutes.

Let cool before slicing.

Filed Under: Baking Recipes For Kids, Featured, Holidays, Kid Favorite Recipes, Kids Desserts Tagged With: apple picking, apple pie, buy local, farm to table, holiday pie

Boozy Bluesy Blueberry Cobbler

July 25, 2011 By Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner 12 Comments

Happy Blueberry Month!

We love us some blueberry desserts!

And cobbler is one of our faves.

Have you tried this new Jack Daniels honey liquor?

It’s amazing!

Spice up your cobbler with it and you’ll be tickled!

Boozy Bluesy Blueberry Cobbler

WHAT YOU NEED:

6 cups fresh local blueberries

2 sticks unsalted butter, divided

1 c sugar, divided

2 T corn starch

1 T lemon juice

1 t ground cinnamon

1/2 cup Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey (honey liquor)

¾ t salt, divided

1 ½ c all purpose flour

2 T baking powder

¾ c heavy cream

1 whole egg

1 T water

2 T sugar in the raw

WHAT TO DO:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

In a large pot melt 4 T butter. Cut remaining butter into cubes and place in freezer.

Add blueberries and ½ cup sugar to the melted butter. Stir in corn starch, lemon juice, cinnamon, ¼ t salt, and Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey. Mix well. Cook for a few minutes to allow the alcohol to burn off then turn off heat.

In your food processor sift in flour, remaining sugar, baking powder, and remaining salt. Pulse quickly to combine.

Add in butter from the freezer and pulse until the flour mixture looks like sand.

Pour in cream and pulse again quickly just until the dough comes together and is slightly sticky.

Beat your egg in a small bowl and add water. Set aside.

Pour your fruit mixture into a 9×13 baking dish. (You can also make this in a cast iron skillet or in individual gratin dishes for individual cobblers.)

Drop the dough by spoonfuls onto the fruit mixture, spread it out as it will all cook together in the oven. Brush the top of the batter with egg wash then sprinkle on sugar.

Place the pan on a baking sheet to catch “bubble over” and bake at 375 for 45 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with ice cream or whip cream.

Filed Under: Baking Recipes For Kids, Featured, Fruit Recipes For Kids, Kid Favorite Recipes, Kids Desserts Tagged With: baking with kids, blueberries, buy local, cobbler, cooking with kids, farm to table, national blueberry month

Fruit Week – Breakfast Berry Parfait

June 21, 2011 By Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner 14 Comments

Today is officially the first day of summer!

Can I get a wooooo hooooo!!!!

Now if you’ve been neglecting the gym…

Eating yourself into oblivion over this foolishly long winter…

And lackluster spring…

Or just plain forgot to look at the calendar til today…

Yes, I’m totally talking about myself if you’re wondering…

You are in luck!

Because we’re celebrating FRUIT WEEK here at Ma What’s For Dinner.

So come and get your yummy on…

Today is a breakfast that the boys and I love…

BREAKFAST BERRY PARFAITS.

A take off on the dish my dad used to make me when I was a kid with nectarines, sour cream and sugar.

This is our version with our favorite berries.

WHAT YOU NEED:

1 pint blackberries (organic & local if possible)

1 pint blueberries (organic & local if possible)

1 pint strawberries, sliced (organic & local if possible)

1 cup plain greek yogurt (we like FAGE)

1 bunch fresh mint

4 t sugar in the raw

WHAT TO DO:

On the bottom of four glasses, layer in your washed blueberries.

Spoon on some yogurt to cover the berries.

Next layer in your washed strawberries and cover with another layer of yogurt.

Top off with washed blueberries and a dollop more of yogurt.

Sprinkle with sugar in the raw and top with a mint leaf.

Breakfast of champions!

Want to get fancy? Sprinkle with a bit of granola or honey.

Want to make this dessert?

Top with chocolate shavings or caramel sauce!

Don’t have fancy glasses??? Never fear…make it on a plate.

Filed Under: Breakfast Recipes For Kids, Featured, Fruit Recipes For Kids, Healthy Recipes For Kids, Kid Favorite Recipes, Kids Desserts, Snacks, Vegetarian Recipes For Kids Tagged With: berries, blackberries, blueberries, breakfast ideas, buy local, cook with your kids, farm to table, fruit, strawberries, summer, summer recipes

CSA Special – Braised Mix BLT Salad

June 6, 2011 By Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner 13 Comments

I’m sooooooo excited!

This weekend I got to pick up my first CSA share at our local farm.

So I grabbed my reusable grocery bags and went on down to the Farm.

Stone Gardens Farm in Shelton, CT to be exact.

And my big box of fresh goodies was there waiting for me!

I got tons of lettuce, like green leaf and red deer…

An asian mix and braising mix…

Radishes and kohlrabi…

Kale and bok choy.

And my favorite…escarole and basil!!!

So this week I’ll be bringing to you some fun and new ways to cook up the things you’ll be finding at your local Farmer’s Market right now that you may not be familiar with or know what to do with.

More importantly, how to make the kids want to eat up these goodies.

Today, it’s the Braised Mix.

I must admit, I wasn’t terribly familiar with it.

It’s like a bunch of lettuces that are a bit tougher than your usual baby lettuce mix.

I didn’t braise them…I wilted them.

It was delish! Cooper couldn’t get enough of this one.

WHAT YOU NEED:

3 cups braised mix lettuce (or any lettuce you have on hand – baby spinach would be great!) I threw in some of my red deer lettuce too.

1/4 red onion, sliced

1 tomato, diced

1 t olive oil

4 slices bacon

8 button mushrooms

3 T apple cider vinegar

1 T dijon mustard

S&P

WHAT TO DO:

In a large bowl toss in your lettuce mix, red onion, and tomato. Set aside.

In a small saucepan heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add in your bacon and cook it until it’s nice and crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon to a paper towel and set aside. Once it’s cooled a bit, add to the top of your salad.

Pour off all but 2 T of the bacon fat. Set the pan back on the heat and add in your mushrooms. Season with S&P and let the mushrooms soften up.

Once the mushrooms have softened knock the heat down a bit and deglaze the pan with your vinegar. Stir in some dijon mustard, season with a bit more S&P, and simmer for 2-3 minutes.

Pour the dressing over the top of your salad and toss to wilt your lettuce mixes.

Look out! This one’s a keeper.

Think your kids don’t like salad?

Try a salad with BACON!

Everything is better with Bacon…

We decided to have ours with an awesome Roast Chicken.

I got the chicken from the Farm too! Along with some hamburger and farm fresh eggs.

Stay tuned this week for the coolest ways to use kale and kohlrabi that you’ve ever seen!

Want to find your local farm or farmers market so you can buy local too?

Just visit the Local Harvest finder on right side of our page there and add in your zip code to find your local Farmers Market and Farms!

You’ll be glad you did!

Filed Under: Featured, Healthy Recipes For Kids, Healthy Salad Recipes For Kids, Healthy Side Dish Recipes For Kids, Kid Favorite Recipes, Kids Desserts Tagged With: blt, blt salad, braising mix, buy local, csa, eat your veggies, farm to table, salad, salads, veggies

Easter Week – Easter Egg Mini Pies

April 22, 2011 By Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner 12 Comments

This is a fun delicious craft to make with kids this easter.

They’re easy to make…

Fun to decorate…

And the bite size portions go down super easy!

Easter Egg Mini Pies

WHAT YOU NEED:

Pie crust dough (you can use store bought or make your own.

Canned pie filling

4 egg whites

Food coloring

new paintbrushes

WHAT TO DO:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Roll out your pie crust and using an oval cookie cutter cut equal numbers of “eggs.”

Place half of them onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Top each with a spoonful or two of filling then moisten the edge with egg white. Top with remaining eggs and seal edges to close.

Add food coloring to your egg white then let the kiddos use the paintbrushes to paint on designs on top of eggs.

Bake at 375 for 12-14 minutes.

Serve and enjoy!

Filed Under: Baking Recipes For Kids, Crafts, Featured, Holidays, Kid Favorite Recipes, Kids Desserts Tagged With: baking with kids, Crafts, Easter, holidays, pastry, pie

Fall Faves – Pumpkin Bread

Apple Week – best apple pie ever

Boozy Bluesy Blueberry Cobbler

Fruit Week – Breakfast Berry Parfait

CSA Special – Braised Mix BLT Salad

Easter Week – Easter Egg Mini Pies

Featured Cooking With Kids Videos

Join Our Mailing List

Find us on Facebook

Find A Local Farmer’s Market

Ma’s Causes

Ma In The Press

Fall Faves – Pumpkin Bread

Apple Week – best apple pie ever

Boozy Bluesy Blueberry Cobbler

Fruit Week – Breakfast Berry Parfait

CSA Special – Braised Mix BLT Salad

Easter Week – Easter Egg Mini Pies

Featured Cooking With Kids Videos

Join Our Mailing List

Find us on Facebook

Connect With Ma

Find A Local Farmer’s Market

Favorite Ingredients

Ma’s Causes

Ma In The Press