Whether you’re trying to cut back on grains or just want a healthy veggie side dish, this cauliflower rice is the perfect addition to any menu. It’s very simple to whip up and it is delicious! Not to mention, it’s white, but still healthy, for all those mamas trying to feed green-opposed children.

I first tried cauliflower rice at a friend’s house, when she was doing a low carb diet. It was so awesome, I decided I had to make it for my own family. It only took me a year to get around to it! The result? Delicious. We’ll be making this more often.

Garlic Cauliflower Rice

Serves 4

1/2 head of cauliflower, cut into pieces
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 carrot, diced
Salt to taste
2 Tblsp. olive oil
1/4-1/2 c. water

In a food processor, pulse to chop the cauliflower into fine pieces. I found that it worked best to cut the stems from the florets, pulse those first and then add the tops.

Pour the oil into a frying pan or deep sauce pan. Add the garlic and slowly heat over low heat. When the oil around the garlic starts to bubble, add the cauliflower and carrots. Stir and cook over medium heat for 2 minutes.

Add 1/4 c. water and let simmer for 10 minutes or until the cauliflower is tender. You may need to add more water. Salt to taste and serve hot or cold.

It took me a long time to find an oatmeal cookie recipe that uses rolled oats instead of quick oats. Now that I’ve found it, however, I fully intend to use it often! These cookies can almost be classified as healthy and they are so tasty! You can make them plain or add chocolate chips, raisins, nuts, etc. as you see fit. For this recipe, I used candy coated chocolates, like M&Ms. They were a big hit!

Candy Oatmeal Cookies

makes 3 dozen

1 c. margarine
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 c. flour
3 c. rolled oats
1 Tblsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. M&Ms

Preheat the oven to 350°.

In a large bowl, mix the sugar and margarine until blended. Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, oats, cinnamon, salt and baking powder. Add the dry mixture to the eggs and beat until well combined.

Stir in the M&Ms and drop spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets, about 2″ apart. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. These are fairly thick cookies, with a nice chew to them.

Interested in grabbing our new cookbooks while they’re still $2.99? We have two out at the moment, Picky Eaters and Savory Soups. There will be more books coming out soon, but for the moment, we’re proud to be offering these cookbooks for Kindle! The price is going up mid-February, so now is the perfect time to grab them!

You’ll find some of our best recipes in these two books. In Picky Eaters, we offer 26 tried and true recipes that will give your kids something nutritious to chow down on. Savory Soups is just what it sounds like, a collection of delicious soup recipes to keep you warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

Gadgets and Stocking Stuffers

Misto Gourmet Olive Oil Sprayer, Brushed Aluminum - $9.98

This handy tool lets you fill it with oil and then spray it. I spend WAY too much on cans of spray oil, so this is my gift to myself this year.

Joie Kitch Gadgets Devil Oven Pull - $1

Here’s a great idea . . . instead of burning yourself by reaching into the oven to pull the cake pan closer so you can test the cake, just pull it with this little gadget. Super simple, but ingenious. Oh, and it’s only a buck.

Wilton 570-1121 Easy Flex 3-Piece Silicone Spatula Set, Blue – $7.96

You can never have too many spatulas, in my opinion! This is a great stocking stuffer for the cook in your life.

Joseph Joseph Uni-tool, 5-In-1 Utensil, Grey – $7.99

I saw this useful tool the other day on a trend site and decided I need one. It has two ends that can be used and is heat resistant. You can flip items on the grill, scoop soup, stir, smooth, spread and even slice with the serrated side. In short, it’s a super multi-use tool and not one of those dumb ones, this looks like something that will actually work. It has great reviews, too.

Joseph Joseph Twist 2-in-1 Silicone Whisk – $15.70

This is the best idea for a whisk I’ve ever seen. You know how normal whisks are hard to clean? This one flattens out, which makes it super simple to clean AND store. No more trying to untangle forks from the loops of your whisk. Oh, and it works as a flat whisk, too, for mixing sauces in shallow pans. I think I’m in love.

Appliances Gourmet Mamas Can Use

Appliances are what make my kitchen work. Without the ability to blend veggies into sauces so kids will never realize they’re there, and the ability to toss some ingredients into a machine and get a full blown dinner hours later, my meals would be far less interesting. Probably just cereal some days, in fact!

Crock-Pot SCCPVL610-S 6-Quart Programmable Cooker – $41.86

I have a crockpot, but with 3 growing boys and a hungry husband to feed, my little slow cooker just isn’t cutting it anymore. This one looks ideal, not too big, but large enough to feed the whole family. It also offers a programmable menu for ease of use.

KRUPS 203-42 Electric Spice and Coffee Grinder with Stainless Steel blades, Black – $19.99

A spice mill is insanely useful for all manner of tasks. For example, if you want to make your own tahini, this sucker will get those sesame seeds smoother than a food processor. Definitely a useful item to have on hand.

Cuisinart CSB-76BC SmartStick 200-Watt Immersion Hand Blender - $34.32

An immersion blender is insanely useful and lets you blend soups and such right in the pot, instead of risking an exploding blender of hot liquid (admit it, you don’t always wait til it’s cool enough!). This one comes in tons of cool colors, which I like, but it’s also really affordable and makes a great gift.

Baked pancakes rock. I don’t think I’ll ever make the regular stove top kind again! Baking them eliminates the whole issue of sending an hour making breakfast and not being able to sit down with the kids to eat. Since starting with this, I’ve made a few variations, including these banana pancakes. They’re super simple to make, healthy and pretty darn yummy, to boot. The original recipe is from Big Red Kitchen.

Baked Banana Pancakes

Makes 3 9″ pancakes or 1 9×13″ and 1 8×8″ pancake

1 banana, chopped
1 1/2 cups milk
4 Tblsp. melted butter
2 eggs
2 Tblsp. sugar
2 c. flour
4 tsp. baking powder

Preheat the oven to 350°. Spray your baking containers with spray oil. I use 3 9″ frying pans or a 9×13 pan and an 8×8″ pan. You can vary the sizes depending on how thick you want your pancake.

Beat the eggs and milk together and add the butter. Then add the flour, baking powder and sugar and mix well. (note: you would normally mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, but I like breakfast to be minimally messy, so I add it all in one bowl, just put the flour first and mix the baking powder into it so you don’t end up with bitter lumps)

Pour the mixture into the pans and sprinkle with the banana chunks. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until just barely firm on top.

Cut into portions and serve with your favorite topping. The entire family can eat within 10 minutes!

My middle son is picky beyond belief when it comes to vegetables. He hates anything green and while he will eat carrots, anything else pretty much grosses him out. It’s a PAIN to get him to eat anything, but a recent health issue has forced us to get more veggies into him. After a stint in the ER, he willingly ate more veggies for a few days, but then it was back to gagging. Until I found this solution.

We now do “rainbow choice” plates where I will present four to six different colored veggies and each kid has to pick a minimum of two colors to eat. This has eliminated the crying, gagging and frustration at mealtimes. I don’t know if it will work for everyone, but it certainly got my kids trying new flavors!

Rainbow Veggie Plate

Makes 1 rainbow

1 tomato, chopped
1/2 carrot, chopped
1/4 c. corn
1/4 c. green beans
1/4 c. pasta
blue food coloring
2 Tblsp. purple cabbage, shredded
4-5 pieces cauliflower

Let the pasta sit in colored water until you have the color you want. Alternatively, you can just boil the pasta in blue water, which is what I did. The kids loved eating the extra later.

Arrange your colors as shown . . . tomatoes as the largest curve, then carrots, corn, green beans, the drained pasta and finally, purple cabbage. Use the cauliflower to make your clouds and you’re done!

What I did was ask the boys to “try” every color and eat at least one or two. My oldest ate every last bit, despite declaring earlier that he would never touch purple cabbage. My middle son ate the pasta, corn and carrots, plus most of the green beans and didn’t complain about any of the colors.

All in all, a success!

P.S. You can toss all the leftovers (minus the pasta) into a bowl with some dressing to make a rainbow salad for the grownups who don’t mind their food mixing up.

Looking for a quick and easy Halloween breakfast idea? These baked pancake bites are perfect. They’re very quick to whip up and there’s none of that standing over the stove, trying to get pancakes done fast enough for all those hungry mouths. I’m in love with baked pancakes and these mini Halloween themed pancakes are just right for a holiday breakfast. Oh, and to make them even more seasonal, I’ve added pumpkin, so they’re healthy, too!

Baked Pumpkin Pancake Bites

Makes 3 dozen (I actually did two large pancakes and a dozen bites)

2 eggs
1/4 c. butter, melted
2/3 c. pumpkin puree
1 c. milk
2 c. flour (I used 1 c. white, 1 c. whole wheat)
1/2 tsp. each cloves, nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
4 tsp. baking powder
2 Tblsp. sugar
Halloween sprinkles (we liked the multi-colored balls best)

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Mix the eggs, puree and butter together. Beat in the milk and sugar. Add the flour, spices and baking powder and mix well. Dump one large spoonful into greased muffin tins. Sprinkle with Halloween sprinkles and bake for 5-7 minutes or until just firm to the touch.

These can be served with syrup, but truthfully, my kids ate them just like this. They’re the perfect size for grabbing . . . even my 8 month old ate a couple!

Lately, I’ve seen a gazillion recipes for pumpkin smoothies and frappaccinos, etc. Unfortunately, ALL of those recipes seem to have ingredients I don’t have on hand, like coconut cream. So, I decided to come up with a tasty pumpkin smoothie that sticks to the basics. If you want something more incredible, you can certainly look up those other smoothies . . . but this one is like liquid pumpkin pie in a cup. Dreamy. And filling. Oh, and super healthy. Even my kids drank it.

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

Serves 4

1 c. milk
2 c. pumpkin puree
4 Tblsp. sugar
2 Tblsp. maple syrup (you can just use sugar if you prefer)
1 c. ice cubes
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Put all the ingredients in the blender and blend on medium until smooth. Enjoy!

If you’ve never tried baking a banana, you have totally missed out in life. Bananas are good, but pop them in the oven and they take on a whole new dimension, especially if you add some sugar and cinnamon. This is a relatively healthy dessert (all depends on how much sugar you add) that is so delicious, your family will be asking for it every night.

Baked Cinnamon Bananas

Serves 4

4 bananas
1 Tblsp. cinnamon
4 Tblsp. sugar
2 Tblsp. butter

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Mix the sugar and cinnamon together. Lay the bananas on a baking sheet (I line mine with tinfoil in case of molten sugar spillage) and slice banana lengthwise, leaving the skin and a bit of banana intact at the bottom.

Open the fruit a bit and dot each banana with 1/2 tablespoon of butter cut into small bits. Sprinkle with a quarter of the cinnamon sugar mixture.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the fruit is as soft as you want.

Hint: These go AWESOME with vanilla ice cream!

Halloween is coming and it’s time to start thinking about freaky food. These pasta eyes are probably one of the healthiest “icky” snacks out there and they’re really easy to make!

Halloween Pasta Eyes

Makes 12

12 large pasta shells, cooked
3 black olives
1 avocado
tomato sauce

Fill the pasta shells with mashed avocado. Don’t overfill or it will squish out everywhere.

Slice the olives (or buy pre-sliced) and put a slice in the middle of each eye. Press down so that the olive slice tucks under any curl of pasta to make it look more realistic.

Dab tomato sauce in the middle of the olive slice and serve. You can put these out as is, or create cheeseball faces to use them in.