Books to Belly: Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

We might be experiencing a heat wave here in New York this week- my prediction? Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs! 

In the town of Chewandswallow, the people get their meals by simply stepping outdoors! I'm ready to pack up and move! However, things get rather sticky (literally!) when the weather becomes unpredictable showering down syrup that floods the streets and pancakes that cover houses. The meatballs were so dangerously large that the towns people had to up and move in fear of their lives. Maybe hamburgers falling from the sky instead of rain isn't so great after all!

Chloe and I  agreed that our turkey meatballs would be a perfect accompaniment to the story Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. She has seriously become my little sous chef! She's even asking for cooking lessons!

I use ground turkey opposed to beef not only because it's healthier, because I like the taste better and honestly- they taste just as great. My Italian dad loves them!

Turkey Meatballs

• 1.3 lbs lean ground turkey (shady brook farms)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp parsley
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350.

Line a baking pan with tin foil and spray with non-stick spray.

Mix all the ingredients together in a big bowl.

Roll turkey into balls (not tight) and place on tin. 

Bake for 30 minutes.

If you're making sauce, cook meatballs in sauce for another 20 minutes.

Chloe ate 2 meatballs for lunch after she helped make them today! We read Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs prior to making our lunch and discussed all of the food we would love to fall from the sky while we waited to eat. Ice cream, oreos, pizza and empanadas like Grandmas were a few!

Making these connections between reading and food have been so much fun. Chloe is enjoying cooking as much as the literature...and I am loving spending this special time with Chloe. 

Creating meals based on children's literature not only helps you connect to your child, but also helps your child make connections to the text- a very important part of being a good reader. This is also an excellent way to get picky eaters to try new foods! I hope you are enjoying Books to Belly as much as we are!

Baked "Cupcake" Eggs

Making the right food choices is a constant battle for me. I love carbs- especially pizza! Ive learned that working out alone doesn't do it for my body. Exercise and diet go hand in hand for me. When I am being really good, I get in this zone that puts me in this mindset that certain foods, like pizza, are not an option...not even the crust that Max leaves on his plate!  I still make the kids the foods they like, I've just conditioned myself to stay away from them. Yes, its hard- but very worth it. 

I am human and do fall off the foodie wagon! Last week between all of the BBQ's and extracurricular activities I partook in, I ate and drank like it was nobodies business...but I'm paying for it with my fluffiness! I'll work extra hard this week by paying close attention to what I put in my mouth and bring out the she beast at the gym! I did a run on Saturday and a spin class on Sunday to start the process. 

In my house, breakfast is our favorite meal. I should seriously consider housing a chicken- that's how many eggs we go through! I happily cook up eggs in the morning because of the protein they offer. When my kids were toddlers, I would whip up spinach and cheese omelette's and they would gobble them up along side me. As they grew and got pickier, spinach in eggs were no longer an option- for them. For me, I love throwing some greens into my eggs. Instead of making two batches of eggs, I utilize my cupcake pan to make every one's breakfast to their liking. 

I use my 2 cup measuring cup to crack the eggs and to mix them up (I despise dishes!). It's also much easier pouring them into the cupcake pan using this. 

Ingredients

• 6 eggs (makes 8 cupcake eggs)
• 1/2 cup of 2% milk (or whatever you have)
• salt & pepper to taste
• American cheese (shredded or diced)
• asparagus (I used 3)
• goat cheese (crumbled)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk your eggs with the milk. 

Spray the cupcake pan with non-stick spray. Right now, I'm loving Trader Joe's coconut oil spray. There's no fat, no calories, no sodium, sugar or carbs! 

Fill your pan with the eggs starting with halfway then fill more with the remaining eggs.

Top off four of the eggs with American cheese. As well as cracking and whisking the eggs, Chloe and Max assist with topping off their eggs. I feel like this gives them ownership of their meal, making them want to eat their creation. 

Top off the other four with asparagus and goat cheese. 

Bake for 18-20 minutes. Check them at 18 by sticking a fork in. If the fork is clean, take them out- just like real cupcakes! If the fork has egg on it, leave them in for the 20. 

I made biscuits with the eggs that I didn't eat! I had a small bowl of Kashi cereal on the side. Making simple changes like this will help pounds come off and your body healthier. This is an easy way to prepare something for your family that everyone can eat at the same time. Alter your ingredients to your liking and to switch things up.

Books to Belly; Dragons Love Tacos & Shrimp Tacos

Forget dinner and a movie- dinner and a book is way better! 

It wasn't hard getting inspiration to create a meal based on the children's book Dragons Love Tacos!  Much like my family, the way to a dragons heart is always through his stomach! 

Chloe and Max chose Dragons Love Tacos at our local library and I immediately knew we had to have tacos to accompany the story! 

Creating a meal based around a children's book is a great way to promote a love of reading over the summer. Part of being a good reader is making connections to what you are reading. What better way to connect to a story than through food! Its also an excellent way to introduce new foods to your children and get picky eaters to try new ones. 

I read the story before preparing our shrimp tacos. Chloe and Max loved hearing why dragons love eating tacos so much. They especially enjoyed checking off the ingredients dragons love in their tacos because we were including most of the same in ours. We were very careful not to include the one ingredient dragons should never have in their tacos (anything spicy) because we do not like spicy either!

I truly enjoyed this time with my children. I cannot wait to select the next book with Chloe and Max and cook a meal together. Chloe loves to help in the kitchen and I hope through this, she will love reading just as much.

I look forward to sharing more "Books to Belly" posts with you and your families! 

                                                                                 

Shrimp Tacos

• 2 pounds of shrimp (feeds 4)
• taco shells (hard or soft- or both if you want to get crazy!!!)
• lettuce
• tomato
• avocado (optional)
• shredded Mexican cheese (I use Sargento Mexican blend)
• reduced fat sour cream (optional)
• Margie's all natural mango herb & garlic marinade for the shrimp.

Cook shrimp until pink throughout. I did ours in a pan on the stove. You can grill them on the BBQ as well. 


Involve the kids by having them assemble the ingredients in a platter. Before heating the pan, I had Chloe scoop the shrimp into the pan and clean the celery in the sink.

Breakfast S'mores

We kicked off the first day of summer in our house with S'mores for breakfast- no flame required! I mixed the summertime staple with classic French Toast and created a tiny miracle! If you think this looks good, wait until you taste it! 

First step is making your French Toast. You can even prepare it the night before and warm before serving. I use quinoa bread (pronounced keen-wah) from Trader Joe's. Known for its amazing nutritional value, quinoa is high in protein and iron and low in fat. Max and I love this bread. Chloe needs some convincing at times but had no trouble getting down her breakfast S'mores and actually asked for more! 

Ingredients:

• Sliced bread of your choice ( I use the quinoa to boost the nutritional value)
• Eggs
• Milk
• Cinnamon
• Nutella
• Fluff
• Graham Crackers

For my French Toast, I mix a little milk in eggs and sprinkle cinnamon directly into the mixture. After the French Toast is cooked, let it cool a bit and cut a circle out of each piece using a glass. My kids don't eat the crust so making everything crustless here has become second nature! If your kids eat the crust- you can leave the bread whole.

While the French Toast cools, take 2-3 graham crackers and grind them in your food processor. I use a magic bullet. 

Take your circle and spread on the Nutella. If the French Toast is too hot, it will melt off- same for the Fluff. 

Fluff is hard to work with. I took a snack sized Ziploc bag, cut off the tip, and spooned in the Fluff. I then squeezed it on top of the Nutella in a circular motion.

Finally, sprinkle the graham crackers on top of the Fluff!

I hope your family loves this breakfast as much as mine! It is something simple that your kids will love so much. 

Enjoy you summer...and your Breakfast S'mores!

Fourth of July Shrimp Skewers

Forgive me Father, for I have sinned....it's been over 2 months since my last blog post! My kitchen remodel has kept me from cooking! With Fourth of July around the corner, I wanted to make these fun Fourth of July star spangled shrimp skewers for Chloe (my little shrimp lover)! You can't get any more patriotic than star shaped food! I wanted an alternative to meat which Chloe hardly eats. I will be bringing these to many a BBQ over the holiday weekend! 

I used my Pampered Chef cookie cutters to cut the red bell peppers into stars. Perfect Fourth of July food...and easy too!

I saved the remaining pepper to cut up in a salad. You can also save them to make fajitas, sausage and peppers or an add in for your morning omelet.

Fourth of July Shrimp Skewers

1 1/2 pounds of extra large jumbo shrimp

1 tablespoon of olive oil

salt & pepper (to taste)

1/2 teaspoon of Adobo (found in Spanish aisle)

Add shrimp to a bowl and mix in the olive oil. Add salt, pepper and Adobo. Mix 

well. I let them marinade for at least an hour. 

While shrimp marinades, soak your wooden skewers in water for 30 minutes to prevent burning. 

I grilled them on my indoor grill on 350 until they were pink throughout. If you are cooking them on the BBQ, you can lay foil down to prevent burning. Chloe will not eat anything from the grill if it has char marks or "black" as she refers to it! Watch them carefully- they cook quickly. 

Try these with chicken or steak, whichever your children prefer! They will definitely love the pepper stars!

        Happy Fourth of July from my little star to yours!

We are Mothers, Hear us Roar!

 

 

Being a mom, I'm constantly reminded of just how strong I have become. Carrying two pregnancies, giving birth, producing milk to nourish my babies. Besides the fascination of what my body has been capable of doing, I'm honestly amazed at how much my strength has magnified since having children. I think this hammer strength is a woman's right of passage upon entering motherhood.

 

Before the kids came along, I made a pact with my husband. I would be on shit duty-he puke. I couldn't see puke, smell it, hear it or think it. If I did, all hell would break loose...can't possibly take care of a vomiting child when you're puking yourself. This weak stomach of mine somehow metamorphosed into steel when I became a mom. It comes with the territory. I am now capable of handling human feces and vomit like no other. I wear this badge honorably because I earned it!

 

Both kids were sick last week-unfortunately simultaneously with me. Although the flu test resulted in a negative, it very much mirrored it. I woke up one night with a fever- freezing, dry mouth, sore throat and headache from hell. I couldn't even lift my head to take a sip of water from my nightstand! I felt like absolute shit. I envisioned myself getting up to take Tylenol in the kitchen while getting an extra blanket from the living room. I laid there for what felt like forever, listening to the beat of my headache, shivering, thinking of all the things that would make me feel better, completely and utterly immobile- until hearing..."mommyyyyy"!!! And... right out of bed I went. Just like that. For myself, I laid there suffering. My son needed me and there wasn't a moments hesitation. Knowing he felt similar to how I did - made me feel worse. After getting him what he needed, I lay cuddled next to him in his twin bed- shivering synchronized, praying to God to transfer his pain to me. If only cuddling could somehow access that transfer, our kids would go unscathed for life- and, we really would be able to do it all!

 

A mother's strength comes in many different forms. I never thought I would make it when both kids stopped napping!  It can be a bouncy house rescue- climbing a blow-up ladder military style with one arm, while carrying a child in another! Sometimes its finding the courage to speak up at school when need be. This animal instinct to protect my young is a strength within me I never knew existed. I have evolved into this Superwoman that can get through just about anything. I always knew I wanted to be a mom...I just didn't know I would feel this amazing being one. Putting their needs, wants and desires first takes a lot of strength...I believe we suddenly possess this strength because Lord knows- we need it!

 

Being a mom is empowering. I have never felt as confident as I do today as Chloe and Max's mom. Sure there are days I want to have a cocktail by 10am- but that strength within me gets me through the day (or at least until 5pm) without it! I brought them into this world and have watched them grow into these amazing little people- because of me. I always second guessed myself and what I was good at before having them. This- I got. This is what I was meant to be. A mommy. And... I couldn't be happier with my title...or my new found mommy muscle.

 

This post is dedicated to my two little loves, Chloe and Max. Thank you both for making me feel so important. The love you both have for me feeds the Superwoman in me to keep me going on those not so fun days. Mommy loves you both more than my heart can hold. You have made my life what I wanted it to be.

 

xoxo