I don’t know about you but I am always looking for fun food for my kids. I love to surprise them with new foods, fun foods or food they can help whip up.

I have seen these Apple Nachos all over the internet lately, so we had fun making (and eating them).  I think food that is a “project” first is extra fun for the kids…it’s a craft AND a treat! Have fun with these!!

No real recipe here…just grab a couple of apples and raid your pantry for add-ins such as caramel, hot fudge, mini chocolate chips, raisins, nuts, granola or anything else your kids might get a kick out of. Maybe even slightly melt a little peanut butter and/or fluff throw it in a little sandwich bag, snip off the end and let the squeeze away (just though of that now…sounds fun)and then why not add a few rounds of banana. Let me know what your kids come up with

Posted December 6th, 2011 by Colleen in Colleen, Desserts, Fruit, Kid Fun, Snacks | 1 Comment »

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Kind of funny how things happen.  I posted this recipe awhile back and WHAM!  It went viral.  I think it’s because of how very, very easy it is to make.  Plus who doesn’t love chocolate or peanut butter or chocolate AND peanut butter…right!  This is quick and easy to make, a  perfect recipe for little helpers and it’s not to sweet with a nice protein kick from the peanut butter, which makes it a fantastic after school snack or a lunch box treat!

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Squares

-Souffle Bombay
1 pound white chocolate
1 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips or 12 ounces of chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream

*I happen to have a silicone “pan” with 24 squares in it – which I use when making this. In the past I have just used a 9×9 baking pan.

Line your pan with parchment or waxed paper, leaving an overhang. (you can also use foil however you will need to spray it with cooking spray).

This will make it so easy to pull the candy out once it is firmed up.

Melt your white chocolate in your microwave for about a minute, stir until the chocolate is melted and creamy. Add in the peanut butter and stir until blended and smooth.
Spread mixture into your pan.
Refrigerate for 15 minutes or until a bit firm.
In a saucepan, combine your chocolate and your cream and heat over medium high heat until melted and smooth, stirring constantly. Pour/smooth over peanut butter mixture.  Chill for at least 3 hours or overnight. Later, lift out the candy and cut into small squares.

Happy Cooking!

Posted September 9th, 2011 by Colleen in Candy, Lunch Box, Snacks | 1 Comment »

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This is a snap to make and I am sure you have the ingredients on hand! Hope you like it! I asked my 9 year old son what we should call it and he thought and said “I really don’t know.” “It’s just sooooo good”!  It’s based off of something that had my kids and husband very excited at a BBQ earlier this summer.

That particular dish was pretzles, popcorn, potato chips, M&M’s and who knows what else…In one huge pile.  I just took a peek in my pantry and combined these ingredients and the kids really dug it….the adults too!

Chocolate Marshmallow Pretzel Delight AKA Chocolate Pretzel Thing

4 TBS butter
1 bag mini marshmallows (10.5 oz)
1 1/4 cups Nestle chocolate chips
6 oz pretzels broken up a bit (I used Snyders Snaps)
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup white chocolate melting disks for drizzle
Optional: a sprinkle of salt

Set up a cupcake pan with cupcake liners, spray them lightly with a bit of cooking spray.

Place the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Once melted add in marshmallows and stir often until fully melted and incorporated. Turn off the heat and add in chocolate chips, stirring vigorously until mixed. Add in pretzels and raisins, stir well.   My kids enjoyed helping with this part!!

Working quickly use 2 spoons to scoop out the mixture and get it into the liners. Fill each cupcake liner with a mound of the mixture. If you want smaller candies, line another pan with 6 more liners and fill 18 instead of 12.

Let them set for 30 minutes in your air conditioned home or for 10 minutes in your fridge. Melt white chocolate in your microwave for 1 minute (or less) then spoon in a small baggie, snip off the end and drizzle each candy.

I am sure you could also just mound these babies on a parchment lined baking sheet…have not tried it myself, but from the consistency, I am sure it will work, especially if you are in air conditioning.

You could add in anything else you like…nuts, candies, dried fruits, etc.

Happy Cooking!

Posted August 21st, 2011 by Colleen in Candy, Colleen, Desserts, Snacks | 1 Comment »

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What child doesn’t love fun food (or adults for that matter?

You have two ways to go on this one….this is an easy treat for little hands to help with OR you can just surprise them with it at a barbecue, party or in the lunchbox!

Little hands can easily help skewer the marshmallows as well as help decorate them.  You could also wrap these up individually in a cookie bag with ribbon and donate them to your church or schools next bake sale or make them as party favors.  Just decorate to your theme.

Marshmallows on a Stick

Regular sized marshmallows

Chocolate melting disks in the colors or your choice

Decorations like sprinkles, jimmies, small candies, chocolate chips, nuts, etc

Wooden skewers or long lollipop sticks

The quantity needed depends on how much you want to make…for 1 bag of marshmallows you will need 2 1/2 cups of chocolate.  That will yield about 10 sticks.

Assemble your marshmallows on your sticks, three to a stick.  Set aside.  Line 2 baking sheets with wax or parchment paper.

In your microwave, melt your chocolate disks (Wilton works great).  Melt no more than 1 1/2 cups at a time.  Cooking for 1 minute, then stirring and then cooking in 30 second bursts and stirring till smooth.

Using a spoon, scoop some melted chocolate onto your marshmallows, covering the tops as well as most of the marshmallows (no need to get the bottoms coated).

Spread the chocolate around with the back of the spoon or with your clean index finger.  Decorate and place on your prepared baking sheet.  Once your sheet fills up, place in your refrigerator for 15 minutes allowing the chocolate to firm up.  Serve when ready.  These can be made 1 day ahead. 

Use your judgement for little ones indulging in these, if you use a wooden skewar, make sure they are not runn

Happy Cooking!

Posted July 24th, 2011 by Colleen in Candy, Colleen, Kid Fun, Lunch Box, Snacks | 3 Comments »

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Ever make your own granola? 

Making your own granola is fun (and tasty too)!  You can create whatever flavor combinations you have in mind.  Combine a little of this with a little of that and you have your own unique snack and breakfast cereal!! 

Let your kids experiment with creating granola.  By the time the holidays roll around they can have their “signature granola” mastered.  Think of what a great gift that would make to their family and friends “Nathan’s Honey Granola” or Jessica’s Famous Granola” .  Not only will they have fun making it and enjoy eating it, they will puff up with pride as they package it, decorate it and give it away!!  The designing of  the packaging of will ignite their creativity as well!

Cranberry Granola

3 cups oats

dash of salt

1 cup dried cranberries

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup cranberry juice

1 TBS vegetable oil

1/2 tsp vanilla

Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.  Pour out onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake at 300 degrees for about 25 minutes. 

Stir every 10 minutes with a big spatula.  Allow it to cool  completely.  Store in an airtight container or package in small bags or mason jars with homemade labels for gift giving. 

Additional mix in ideas: Nuts, sunflower seeds, raisins, cheerios, dried sweetened coconut, cinnamon, nutmeg, dried blueberries (or any dried fruit), puffed cereal or what ever else your child dreams at – let them have a look in your pantry to see what they may find

Happy Cooking!

Posted July 11th, 2011 by Colleen in Breakfast, Lunch Box, Snacks | No Comments »

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Summer is here and you know what that means – the kids want ice cold treats – stat!

I remeber growing up and loving to get my hands on the freeze pops my mom would stock the freezer with – blue and green were my favorite!  A big box of 100 freeze pops went a long way when you have 5 kids!  Now that I am a mom and a little conscious about what I feed my family, I don’t continue that tradition.  There is just to many “unnatural” ingredients found in them.

Instead my kids and I make popsicles!  My kids are not a fan of fruit pieces in their pops, instead they opt for juice pops and sometimes they add in some yogurt for added texture and taste.  My kids love making the popsicles and of course they love eating them too.  I love watching them have fun creating their treats, thinking up flavor combinations and of course I feel good about what they are eating.

What you will need:   Popsicle sticks and either popsicle molds or dixie cups

The tangerine pop is 100% fresh squeezed tangerine juice – that’s it.  We poured the juice into a dixi cup and froze it overnight. (Just insert the stick about 1 hour after you place cups in the freezer if you are using cups and when ready to eat, use sissors to cut the cup and continure ripping the rest of the cup away).

Let your kids select fruits that interest them…such as oranges, lemons, limes, taggerines, grapefruits, kiwis, watermelon, etc.  Squeeze every last drop our of your chosen fruit(s) add some sugar to the more sour fruits or depending on the palate of your kids any fruit.

Another option is purchasing 100% organic juices from some supermarkets.

If you want to incorporate yogurt into the pops, just fill the molds/cups part way with your chosen juice, then add a layer of yogurt and in another 2 hours or so add another layer of juice or vice versa – no rules here!

Enjoy!

Posted June 3rd, 2011 by Colleen in Colleen, Desserts, Fruit, Kid Fun, Snacks, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

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We all know kids love to make and eat food then eat it,  however when that food is fun it brings it to a whole new level!  This would be an awesome twist on giving flowers to Mom or Grandmom this Mothers Day!  These flowers you can eat!!

Kids just love the visual of a fun treat, let’s spoil them a bit while we can!

I sent this in for my daughters Father-Daughter Dance.  I have to admit, I had an especially busy week and only gave the treat I committed to making some thought on my way home from work that afternoon.  Once I thought about the theme of the dance…flowers…this popped into my mind.  My 6 year old daughter was thrilled with the idea, and helped stick, dip, place the flowers and sprinkle!  She was proud to bring this to her dance…I will say, had I actually given this a bit more planning, I would have spray painted the pot and tied a pretty bow around it – next time!  This would be super cute as centerpieces for a birthday party or as one of the treats at a tea party!

All I used were:

A flower pot and a half circle of florist foam.

Marshmallows

2 sizes of lollipop sticks

Melting disks (Wilton – from the craft store)

Various sprinkles I had on hand

Sugar flowers

Either select a flower pot and foam that work perfectly with one another or cut the foam to fit.  Slip the foam into your pot.  Get your sticks, marshmallows, sprinkles and flowers ready.  Melt the chocolate disks.  Dip one marshmallow at a time 1/2 of the way into your melted chocolate, place 1 flower on the top of the marshmallow (the chocolate acts like glue) sprinkle with your chosen decorations and gently stick it into the florist foam.  Repeat until you have the look you want!  Place in your cool garage or refrigerator to firm up the chocolate quickly.

This literally took us 20 minutes to make once I had the foam in the pot.  Be careful when placing your “flowers” in the foam, every once and a while a flower wanted to slide…I just had my daughter hold the stick for a minute until it began to firm up if that was the case.

Have fun making this if you do!!

Posted May 2nd, 2011 by Colleen in Candy, Colleen, Desserts, Snacks | No Comments »

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This is amazing!  Adults and kids alike will compete to see who can get to the most of this super tasty, super juicy pineapple…!Maybe you should bake 2!

By roasting the pineapple, it becomes even sweeter and jucier if you can believe that!

Slow Roasted Pineapple

-Jim Fobel,  from the cookbook Big Flavors

1 whole pineapple

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

Slice the leafy green top of the pineapple off, cutting just to where it ends.
Place your pineapple standing up on a baking sheet and roast it for 1 hour in your oven (if it is a super large pineapple…add 15 minutes). Turn off the oven, leave the door closed and allow the pineapple to cool in the oven for an additional hour.
*If you need the oven…it’s ok remove the pineapple and let it cool on your counter.

Serve by slicing off the top and the bottom. Cut off the skin and the eyes. Slice into rounds and eat around the core or core the slices and serve the halves. Either way – serve it warm and enjoy the deliciousness! (My mouth is watering as I type this!!)

No real recipe here for your kids to follow, however it may interest them to see how the pineapple tastes different after the slow roasting…be sure to have napkins aplents.  This is one juicy, tasty dessert or snack!

Posted April 17th, 2011 by Colleen in Breakfast, Desserts, Fruit, Snacks | No Comments »

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I just HAD to share this recipe for Brownie Cookies I came across in an issue of BON Appetit Magazine awhile back.  My family (and me too) went nuts over these cookies – they are a new Kennedy favorite for sure!

They are more difficult to make than the recipes I typically post here, however A – your kids WILL love them and B – they can certainly help you make them!

I don’t think I have shared here before that I also have my own recipe site, Souffle Bombay, where I post recipes I enjoy, some for adults,  some for families and some for kids to enjoy.  It’s natural for me to cross over some of the recipes I post here over there and vice versa from time to time.  On my other site I am currently in the middle of a recipe challenge – I am making myself cook up 40 NEW recipes – so I will end up with some new favorites to enjoy – you can certainly incorporate an idea like that into your own family – how about your challenge your family to cooking up 10 new recipes in a month – have everyone find a few they would like to try from cookbooks, magazines, blogs etc and then make them come to life!  I bet your kids would enjoy all the tasting along the way!  Paste pictures up on your fridge and cook them up one by one – a fun Spring family project!

And guess what???

You will be sure to find a few new family favorites that you and yours will be enjoying for years to come!

If you want to cut down the cooking time  on these cookies you can certainly use a fudge box brownie mix – however I have to say, for me part of the appeal of baking these beautiful cookies  is that I KNOW what every ingredient is PLUS the brownies actually make enough for two batches – so use 1/2 now and freeze the other for your next batch!

Brownie Chunk Cookies
-Bon Appetit
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 sticks butter, room temperature
1 cup (packed) brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 recipe of chilled Old Fashioned Brownies (below)cut into 1/2 inch chunks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper, Whisk first 2 ingredients in a bowl and set aside. Beat butter and both sugars in a large bowl until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in dry ingredients. Gently fold in your chilled brownie chunks.

Using a 1/4 to 1/3 cup size cookie / ice cream scooper or a tablespoon, scoop your batter and drop onto your prepared baking sheets about 1 1/2 inches apart. Flatten the mounds with your fingers to about a 1 inch thickness.

Bake for 14-20 minutes depending on the size cookie made – or until just golden.

Old Fashioned Brownies
5 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 teas vanilla
4 large eggs
1 cup flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 13x9x2 inch baking pan/dish with parchment paper (allow an overhang). Melt chocolate and butter in a saucepan over low heat, whisking till smooth. Cool for 10 minutes.

Whisk sugar and vanilla into chocolate mixture, whisk in eggs then flour. Spread the batter into your prepared pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Cool in pan, then refrigerate overnight. When ready to make your cookies, lift chilled brownies from the pan and cut in half. Freeze half for next time and cut the half you are using into 1 inch chunks.

Feel free to add in a cup of your favorite nut!

Happy Cooking!

Posted March 29th, 2011 by Colleen in Colleen, Desserts, Snacks, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

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I LOVE this smoothie and my kids do too!  Seems we can never make a batch big enough!

What else can you whip up this quick, that is this pretty, that packs a HUGE vitamin and mineral punch AND an immunity BOOST to boot??

As the weather gets warmer and your kids are running, bouncing and playing outdoors and working up a thirst…show up with a tray full of these and watch them disappear!  This freezes well too, so go ahead and make a double batch – for a quick thaw microwave for half a minute or so, stir and serve.

For breakfast on the go, a snack, drink or dessert this kids smoothie is sure to please!

Banana Berry Smoothie

2 cups cranberry juice

1 whole banana (frozen for a thicker smoothie)

8 oz container of a strawberry, raspberry or mixed berry yogurt

2 1/2 cups of  frozen berries (strawberry, raspberry and blueberry mixed)

Using your blender add in the cranberry juice, yogurt and the banana.  Blend until combined.  Add in the frozen berries and blend until thick and rich like a milkshake.

For an extra special treat, layer with some fresh whipped cream!

This is a great recipe for your kids to take the lead on!!

Happy Cooking!

Posted March 22nd, 2011 by Colleen in Breakfast, Colleen, Desserts, Drinks, Fruit, Snacks, Uncategorized | No Comments »

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