Category Archives: Six Ingredients or Less

July 17, 2012 · 2:22 pm

No Bake Berry Cream Cheese Tarts

My mother-in-law sent me this recipe before the 4th of July. Yes, this would have been a perfect dessert for the 4th, but we were out of town. I meant to make it last week, but the berries kept getting eaten before I could make the dessert. So, I finally got around to making this last night…we had all of the ingredients AND the family LOVED this! It only made four and there are four of us. The kids wanted to eat mine. Sorry…I am not handing over anything that involves cream cheese and berries.

Ingredients:
4 whole graham crackers (8 squares)
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons sour cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
2 cups mixed berries: raspberries, strawberries and/or blueberries

Instructions:
Finely crush graham crackers and divide crumbs among four small bowls. I used ramekins.

In a small bowl, mix cream cheese, sour cream, vanilla, and confectioners’ sugar with a whisk.

Put mixture on top of graham cracker crumbs. Top with berries.

Refrigerate for at least two hours before serving.

What did the family think? We all loved it! Hubby actually hasn’t eaten his yet and he better hurry up or it’s going to be GONE.

Where did this recipe come from? KU Med Center

photo from KU Med Center

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Filed under After School Snacks, Definitely Making it Again, Desserts, Easy, Everybody Ate It, Make Ahead of Time, Six Ingredients or Less, Vegetarian

July 9, 2012 · 10:45 am

Baked Breaded Shrimp

Every Sunday night in our house is fish night. The problem with this is that our boys aren’t huge fish fans and they especially don’t like salmon which is what we normally have on Sundays. I don’t want to fix two separate meals, but I do want them to at least be eating something that comes from the sea since we are having fish. I also don’t want them eating something that comes from a box. These little tasty shrimp were the solution.

Ingredients:
1 large egg
2 tbsps milk
1/3 cup bread crumbs (seasoned or plain)
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese (optional)
1 lb shrimp (peeled deveined medium)
Cooking spray

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and milk.

In a separate small bowl, combine the bread crumbs and cheese.

Dip each shrimp in egg mixture and then coat with bread crumb mixture.

Place on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray.

Spray shrimp with cooking spray.

Bake shrimp for 7 to 9 minutes or until shrimp are pink and no longer translucent.

What did the family think? They loved them and were disappointed that I hadn’t made more.

Where did this recipe come from? Yummly

photo from FoodBuzz

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Filed under Definitely Making it Again, Everybody Ate It, Fish, Italian, Lent, Six Ingredients or Less

June 29, 2012 · 6:01 pm

Homemade Dog Biscuits

I don’t recommend eating these yourself (although our 8-year old did give them a try). They are edible though and your pup will love them…at least ours did. We had a friend over today and they brought their pup along and he liked them too. So it’s two paws up for these tasty treats.

Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour (you can use another type of flour if your dog is sensitive to wheat)
1 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup smooth peanut butter
1 1/4 cups hot water
Additional flour for rolling

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350° F.

Mix dry ingredients together.

Mix in the peanut butter and hot water. You may need to add more flour if the dough is too sticky.

Knead the dough well.

Roll out the dough into 1/4″ thickness and cut into shapes with small cookie cutters. (We used hearts and stars, but there are some cute dog-themed cookie cutters out there.)

Bake for 40 minutes.

What did the family think? Well, the two pups who tried them LOVED them!

Where did this recipe come from? Dog Treat Kitchen

photo from Bakingdom

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Filed under Definitely Making it Again, Six Ingredients or Less

June 28, 2012 · 9:53 am

Hard-Baked Eggs

You have certainly made hard-boiled eggs before, but have you ever made hard-baked eggs? Does it matter if they are baked or boiled? Some benefits of baking them are: you can bake them while you are cooking something else in the oven so it saves energy, they are easier to peel when they have been baked and the yolks don’t come out gray like they do when they are hard-boiled. This has been all over Pinterest, so I had to try it.

Ingredients:
Whole Eggs
Muffin Tin

Instructions:
If you are baking them by themselves: place eggs in muffin tin and bake at 325 degrees for 25 minutes.

If you are baking them with something else: place eggs in muffin tin and bake on top rack at 350 degrees.

Let cool and peel.

photo from Alaska from Scratch

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Filed under After School Snacks, Breakfast, Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Lent, Six Ingredients or Less, Super Easy to Make, Vegetarian

June 16, 2012 · 3:34 pm

Homemade Sidewalk Paint

I know this isn’t technically a recipe (but it does use edible ingredients). I have been wanting to do this with our kids for over a year now and today I finally had all of the stuff we needed and one child was at a birthday party so the other child “needed” to be entertained. This was the perfect activity to do today…the weather was gorgeous…and since it’s the first time we did it, I am glad there was only one child around to work out the kinks with instead of two.

Ingredients:
Corn Starch
Water
Food Coloring
Muffin Tin
Paint Brushes
Stir Sticks (we used popsicles sticks)

Instructions:
Put about 2 T of corn starch in each muffin tin “hole”. Decide what colors you want. We got creative and used Food Network’s May icing article to help us make some fun colors….pink lemonade and green gummy were a couple of our favorites. You don’t have to have some sort of color guide though, just have fun with it. I will tell you though, that the more vibrant the colors are, the more fun it will be, so don’t be shy with the food coloring.

DO NOT USE A PAPER EGG CARTON LIKE WE DID!!! IT WAS A BAD IDEA!!! If you have a styrofoam one, then maybe use that. Otherwise, use the muffin tin.

Once you have all of the food coloring drops in the corn starch, then you want to add the water. You want to have about equal parts water to corn starch and you don’t want it to be too runny. Star conservatively…you can always add more water. Mix each color with your stir stick and make sure to rinse it off between each color.

Now it’s time to have some fun!

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Filed under Six Ingredients or Less

June 7, 2012 · 9:23 am

Snack Ideas: The Kids Are Home for the Summer and They’re Hungry

Snacks are an essential part of summer. The days can be long and the kids get hungry. They need a little extra fuel to get them through all of that swimming, baseball playing and sprinkler jumping. Hopefully this list of (mostly) easy and (mostly) healthy snacks will keep their bellies full until mealtime…or at least until they ask for another snack. 🙂

*Apple slices dipped in peanut butter
*Apple slices dipped in Nutella
*Fresh fruit (keep some already prepped and ready to go on the kitchen counter or in the frig)
*Carrots sticks, pepper strips, celery sticks for crunching, munching and dipping
*Edamame
*Hummus with pita chips (we love Trader Joe’s hummus)
*Dried fruit (raisins, dried cranberries, dried apricots, dried bananas, etc.)
*GORP
*Yogurt
*Frozen yogurt tubes
*Yogurt and granola parfait
*Peanut butter and cracker sandwiches
*Cheese cubes or string cheese
*Chips and salsa
*Chips and guacamole
*Crackers and cheese
*Hard-boiled egg
*No Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Granola Balls
*Applesauce
*Smoothies
*Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
*Oatmeal Applesauce Cookies
*Mini Chocolate Chip or Blueberry Muffins
*Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Dip
*Graham Cracker sticks (dip in yogurt or softened cream cheese for extra yumminess)
*Zucchini Bread
*Fruity Peanut Butter Sushi
*Chocolate Chip Cookie Pretzel Bars
*Strawberry Nutella Muffins
*Popcorn
*Mini Waffle Ice Cream Sandwiches
*Sunshine Cupcakes
*Blueberry Lemon Cream Cheese Muffins (These are a little bit of work, but they are SO good!)
*Graham Cracker Sandwiches
*Banana Bread
*Peanut Butter Krispies
*Pretzel sticks to dip in peanut butter
*Vanilla yogurt and fresh fruit parfait (strawberries, blueberries and bananas work well)
*Fruit leathers

Please share your ideas with the rest of us…we’d love to hear them!

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Filed under After School Snacks, Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Everybody Ate It, Six Ingredients or Less, Super Easy to Make, Vegetarian

June 4, 2012 · 9:58 am

Lunch (and a Few Breakfast) Ideas: The Kids Are Home for the Summer and They’re Hunrgry

The kids are home from school and now you have to feed them lunch every. single. day. 🙂 It might be easy to fall into the chicken nugget/hot dog/peanut butter and jelly rut, so here’s a list of ideas to jazz things up a bit and make lunch a little more interesting. These are a few ideas from our house as well as some ideas from readers on MommaCooks’ Facebook page.

First of all, lunch doesn’t have to be eaten at the kitchen table. Take it outside to the back porch, spread a blanket out in the grass or even in the living room for a picnic. Take your lunch to the park or invite some friends over for lunch. Heading to the pool later in the day? Why not go a little early and have lunch by the pool?

Now that the kids are home for the summer (or will be soon) the possibilities are endless as to what they could have for lunch since it doesn’t have to fit in a lunchbox. Here are just a few ideas to get you started and please share your ideas as well.

*Peanut butter and apple slice sandwich
*Peanut butter and jelly spread on a tortilla
*Banana dogs
*Breakfast for lunch (eggs, pancakes, etc.)
*Macaroni and Cheese-We eat this a lot on the weekends
*Bean and cheese burritos
*Quesadillas (we use our panini maker) (cheese, scrambled egg and cheese, turkey and cheese….the possibilities are endless)
*Put peanut butter and a banana in a tortilla, wrap it up and slice it
*Make your own pizza bar with their favorite toppings to choose from. Use pitas, English muffins or naan for the crust.
*Cheddar cheese and apple slice sandwich
*Chicken/tuna/egg salad sandwiches
*Mini frittatas
*Egg muffins
*Egg (and bacon) Cups
*Sunshine Eggs
*Pancakes
*Waffles
*Yogurt and granola parfait
*Pasta with marinara
*Leftovers from last night’s dinner
*Use bagels or tortillas instead of bread for their favorite sandwich…it’s amazing that this one little change can make something old new again
*Make something on the grill…hamburgers, hot dogs…eating something from the grill makes it much more interesting, especially in the middle of the day
*Peanut butter and honey sandwich
*Hard boiled eggs

A lot of these ideas could be used for breakfast as well. Hopefully your summer mornings are a little more relaxed and you can get away from the standard get-you-out-the-door-as-quickly-as-possible breakfast options that can come into play during the school year.

Summer is one of my favorite seasons because of the amount of fruits and veggies that are available and in season. Try not to get stuck in a fruit and veggie rut…explore the produce aisle with your children. Try something new and if you see something interesting, but you’re not sure how you’re supposed to eat it, ask the produce manager. Our favorite “standard” summer fruits are grapes, blueberries, watermelon, cantaloup and strawberries. The chart below is also a good reminder when shopping for produce.

Have some ideas that you’d like to share? Please do. We are all trying our best to feed our kids healthy lunches this summer, so let’s help each other keep it interesting as well.

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Filed under Six Ingredients or Less

June 2, 2012 · 3:49 pm

No Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Granola Balls

These are SO good and perfect for a quick snack and just enough chocolate to satisfy your sweet tooth. I made ours with just chocolate, but I think coconut would be a good addition too.

Instructions:
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup natural peanut butter
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup crisp rice cereal
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup dried cranberries, raisins, chocolate chips or coconut (mix and match these however you want, but all together there should only be 1/2 cup)

Instructions:
In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine honey, peanut butter, and butter. Stir until melted and smooth, 1 to 2 minutes.

Remove from heat; stir in cereal and oats. Let the mixture cool for about five minutes and stir in the chocolate chips/coconut/dried cranberries/raisins.

Drop mixture by the tablespoon into mini paper cupcake or candy liners. Place on a rimmed baking sheet and refrigerate until set, about 15 minutes. (I just skipped the cupcake holders/liners and put them directly on the baking sheet.)

What did the family think? Only two of us have had any so far, but these are SO yummy and perfectly bite-sized.

Where did this recipe come from? I got it from Two Peas and Their Pod and they got it from Martha Stewart.

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Filed under After School Snacks, Definitely Making it Again, Desserts, Six Ingredients or Less, Vegetarian

May 22, 2012 · 8:44 am

Goose Eggs for Breakfast

Several weeks ago on MommaCooks’ Facebook page I had mentioned some new foods I had tried lately and some that I wanted to try, like lychee fruit, which I still haven’t tried yet. Well, we have some neighbors down the street who raise chickens, geese and some dairy goats. When we walked down to their house last night to pick up some chicken eggs they had one goose egg for sale. The boys were so excited, so we picked up one goose egg to go along with our chicken eggs.

Trying a goose egg was not on my list of new foods to try, it wasn’t even on my radar, but that’s what we had for breakfast this morning…scrambled goose egg. Since we only had one goose egg, we mixed in a few chicken eggs as well. What was the verdict? We all decided the goose egg did taste a little different than chicken eggs and that the eggs turned out more yellow because the yolk is a lot bigger. Everyone gave it a thumbs up!

Goose egg on the left and chicken egg on the right.

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Filed under Breakfast, Definitely Making it Again, Everybody Ate It, Six Ingredients or Less, Super Easy to Make, Vegetarian

May 14, 2012 · 10:38 am

Quick Summer Veggie Salad

I know this isn’t technically a recipe, but I thought I would pass along this idea. I also realize this dish isn’t revolutionary, but let me start from the beginning. I was at the grocery store and wanted a cool summery salad-type dish to go along with our hamburgers for dinner. I went to the deli and got some cold tortellini and veggie salad. The employee handed me the container and I looked at the label. Holy smokes! The ingredient list was a mile long. I handed it back to her and kindly told her I had changed my mind, but I still didn’t have a salad. I headed back to the produce aisle and had a lightbulb moment. I grabbed a package of pre-chopped cauliflower and broccoli and a bottle of gorgonzola and pear salad dressing.

Directions:
Rinse veggies and place in a mixing bowl. Add about 1 1/2 cups of the dressing of your choice to the veggies. Toss and serve or toss and let them marinate for a while before serving. Keep refrigerated until ready to be served.

See, I told you it wasn’t life changing, but it was quick and cool. It was just what we needed to go with our hamburgers and the ingredient list was pretty straight forward.

What did the family think? Hubby and I really liked it. I thought I might be able to get our oldest to eat it, but he looked at my while I was eating some cauliflower and said, “I don’t know how you eat that stuff.” Oh well. Heavy sigh. Someday maybe?

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Filed under Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Side Dish, Six Ingredients or Less, Super Easy to Make, Vegetarian