Green Swamp SoupKid, Earth and Time Friendly Recipes

Pancakes are MANDATORY breakfast fare at my house on the weekends. These apple cinnamon pancakes are a quick, easy way to make this “treat” somewhat healthier, but still yummy. As you can see from the photo, I was barely able to snap a quick shot before they were gobbled up!

Ingredients:

1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tbsp. Earth Balance Organic Buttery Spread
1 dash nutmeg (optional)
1/4 cup real maple syrup
1 batch Arrowhead Mills Pancake Mix

Directions:

1. Mix 1 batch of pancake mix; set aside.

2. Saute apple in Earth Balance Spread for about five minutes, until soft but still firm (don’t let the apple pieces get mushy).

3. Add cinnamon, nutmeg and syrup. Heat till warm, then set on the lowest heat setting possible.

4. Make pancakes.

5. Spoon apple topping on top of pancakes and serve immediately!

Feast your eyes on the feasting table.

Middle Eastern food is one of my absolute favorite cuisines, so it was important to me to make sure my kids liked it from day one. We make homemade hummus here on a fairly regular basis and use pitas for everything from pizzas to sandwiches. However, this post is focused on several recipes and ideas that you can use to create a full-on Middle Eastern feast!

The basis of this particular feast is chickpeas, of course! I received some sprouted chickpeas, a.k.a. garbanzo beans, from my friend, Cara Ullrich. Cara works at Roots Market, and is a bona fide food guru. She explained to me that sprouted garbanzos contain much more protein and nutrients than your average canned variety, and are also much more flavorful — and she was absolutely right! These beans made some of the tastiest hummus I’ve had to date! NOTE: If you can sprout your own garbanzos, I highly encourage it. However, you can used dried or canned garbanzo beans to make the hummus included in this post.

The next item on the feast menu is falafel. I’m seriously CRAZY about falafel. In fact, I had some leftover from the feast and I ate with some Sriracha sauce for breakfast (but I seriously never eat anything considered “normal” for breakfast).

Unfried falafel patty.

Falafel is a fried ball or patty made from spiced chickpeas and/or fava beans. Wikipedia tells us this is a popular fast food in the Middle East and I so wish this were the case here (although they do serve some great falafel at the Pita King in Waterloo). You can make your own homemade falafel, but this takes time.

Instant falafel -- just add water!

For my personal feast, I opted to use the Fantastic Foods boxed mix, simply because it’s easy and delicious. If you want to make your own falafel from scratch, here’s an excellent recipe from Epicurious.

Now, onto the fun part — the tzatziki sauce! My version of this is probably not technically tzatziki, but I’ve found a combination of flavors and textures that everyone in the family, especially Chris, loves. My sauce is pretty simple — just Fage Greek yogurt, green onions, fresh lemon juice and a little garlic powder. Chris literally ate every bite of the batch I made and practically liked the serving dish!

So, how do we serve all of this stuff? Creatively. I will be blatantly honest right now and say that the kids aren’t big fans of falafel. This is really frustrating to me, since it IS a version of fast food, is brown and fried and very nearly resembles a chicken nugget. So, I tuck these little critters neatly inside a warm pita, add some fresh spinach and slather lots of tzatziki and hummus all over it. The kids can have more hummus, tzatziki and pitas after they try their sandwiches.

As for mom and dad, we make several different types of mini sandwiches out of our pitas — falafel/tzatziki, hummus/chili garlic sauce, falafel/tzatziki/hummus/chili garlic sauce.

Because this post contains so many recipes, I have created individual pages for each and linked to them below. For the falafel, either follow the recipe above or buy the Fantastic Foods mix! Even if you don’t make the feast all at once, I encourage you to try at least one of these recipes and introduce this delicious and nutritious cuisine to your family.

Our friends, falafel and pita, waiting to be slathered in tzatziki and hummus.

Middle East Feast Menu

1 package whole wheat pita (you can make these into pita chips as well)
1 package Fantastic Foods falafel mix
1 large bunch or bag of fresh spinach
kalmata hummus recipe
tzatziki sauce recipe
Sriracha or chili garlic sauce to taste

This is my first meat dish on the blog! I was challenged to make it by a large container of leftover chicken in my fridge. I wanted an Italian-spiced dish, but something that the kids would like (they prefer spaghetti to almost anything). This dish features a special mix of goat cheese, fresh mozzarella and lemon zest, paired with a simple garlic and herb tomato sauce. It’s easy, wholesome and offers lots of leftovers! (And my kids LOVED it!)

Ingredients:

3 cloves garlic

1 tsp. dried basil

1 tsp. dried oregano

1 tsp. dried thyme

2 tsp. olive oil

2 tsp. lemon zest

1 can tomato sauce

2 1/2 cups chopped chicken

2 cups grated fresh mozzarella, leave 1/2 cup to top casserole

1 package herbed goat cheese

1 pound spiral pasta

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375.

2. Boil pasta until al dente, about 7 minutes.

3. In a sauce pan, saute garlic in olive oil until toasted, about two or three minutes.

4. Add tomato sauce, herbs and chicken. Simmer while pasta boils. Add salt and pepper to sauce to taste.

5. Drain pasta.

6. In a casserole dish, mix the cheeses and lemon zest together.

7. Add cooked pasta, chicken sauce to the casserole dish. Stir until well blended.

8. Top pasta with 1/2 cup mozzarella.

9. Cover casserole dish and bake for 20 minutes.

10. Uncover and bake pasta for 5 to 10 more minutes or until golden brown.

11. Let stand for about five to 10 minutes.

Serve with mixed greens salad and pears … yum!

This pizza recipe is soooo easy and guaranteed to be kid-friendly. Now, not every ingredient in this recipe is from scratch, but sometimes, busy parents need to compromise in order to fit a good meal into a crazy schedule. It takes about 15 minutes of prep time (kids can help) and 12 to bake.

I like to buy organic crust and sauce, but you can use whatever you have available. Since summer squash is still in season, I used it in this recipe, but you could also use broccoli, peppers, onions, mushrooms, whatever veggies you have available. Just make sure you use fresh mozzarella and real feta cheese!

Ingredients:

1 prepared pizza crust (such as Boboli)
1 jar spaghetti or pizza sauce (such as Muir Glen)
1 cup shredded fresh mozzarella
1/2 cup crumbled feta
10 basil leaves
1 small summer squash, thinly sliced
1 small zucchini, thinly sliced
2 tbsp. pine nuts

Directions:

1. Follow directions on prepared pizza crust for preheating oven and preparing crust.

2. Spread about 1 cup prepared pizza sauce on the crust.

3. Place squash and zucchini over sauce.

4. Sprinkle pine nuts evenly over squash/zuke.

5. Place basil leaves curved side down over pine nuts.

6. Spread cheeses evenly over everything.

7. Bake for about 12 minutes (at 425) or until golden brown and cheese is completely melted.

8. Serve with a small lettuce salad and enjoy! (Gus is enjoying his by picking off the veggies, but oh well.)

Summer Squash Pasta by Summer Tomato has to be one of the most genius recipes I’ve ever tried. First and foremost, it’s delicious. Second, it’s a healthy alternative to pasta. Third, it helps me eat up my summer squash. Fourth, it’s so easy to prep, a six-year-old can do it.

Sophia and our little neighbor friends had a blast helping out with the squash peeling. However, I couldn’t get either kid of mine to try it. But, I won’t give up. Next time I’ll serve the squash noodles mixed in with some of their regular Barilla Plus noodles.

These healthier noodles come in all shapes and sizes and are naturally rich in protein, fiber and ALA omega-3 fatty acids. They literally look and taste the same as regular pasta so there’s not a whole heck of a lot of trickery involved in making the switch.

I served up my squash noodles (and the Barilla Plus) with my own marina recipe that is quite similar to Darya Pino’s, author of Summer Tomato. I absolutely LOVE Darya’s website, and encourage anyone wanting to eat healthier and live a healthier life style to visit Summer Tomato often.

Here’s my marina recipe:

1/2 red onion, chopped
1 very large clove garlic, pressed
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 can tomato sauce
1 cup ripe garden tomatoes, diced
10-12 fresh basil leaves, chopped (follow Summer Tomato’s advice on chopping basil)
2 tsp. capers
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onion in olive oil over medium heat, until onion is soft/clear. Add garlic and saute until fragrant, about two minutes. Add the can of tomato sauce, garden tomatoes, capers and red pepper flakes and simmer for 10 to 12 minutes (add reserved tomato juice for a thinner sauce). While the sauce is cooking, make up your summer squash pasta. When sauce is thickened, add fresh basil and salt and pepper to taste. Serve over pasta.

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Fast food restaurants and food marketers will pull out all the stops to get our kids to eat their junk food. (I know this because I work in advertising.) So, when it comes to getting my kids to eat healthy foods, I pull out all the stops too.

I  hide veggies in chocolate cake. Bribe trying a new vegetable with ice cream for dessert. And pretend I have discovered the secret formula for Mr. Krab’s famous Krabby Patties.

Tonight I walked the plank and served said Krabby Patties with a Sea Cucumber Soup (gazpacho) and Fish Eggs (grapes). The kids loved the idea! However, one didn’t care for the cucumbers in the soup and the other didn’t fall for the Krabby Patty story. Still, they both tried everything and each came away with one healthy, new dish that they liked.

Krabby Patties (Vegetarian)
2 cups coarsely grated yellow squash, unpeeled (about 1 medium)
1 cup Italian or whole wheat bread crumbs
1/2 cup onions, grated or finely chopped
1 tablespoon mayonnaise (I use soy mayo, which is much lower in fat)
1 tablespoon Old Bay seasoning
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup of flour

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients except flour in a small bowl (grate the zucchini and onion into a colander so some of the liquid could drain out). The texture can be adjusted — if it’s too dry, add another egg; if too wet, add more bread crumbs. NOTE: recipe can be doubled or tripled easily.

2. Heat some oil in a skillet. Form mixture into patties and dredge in flour. Drop into fry over medium heat until golden brown on both sides, about 5 to 8 minutes per side. Makes 4 big or 6 medium cakes.

Krabby Patty Sauce

Ingredients:

1 clove garlic
1 tbsp. lemon
3 tbsp. olive oil mayo (or soy, or whatever you’d like)
1 dash hot sauce

Directions:

1. Put all ingredients in a food processor  and puree until smooth. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Sea Cucumber Soup

1 avocado
1 cucumber
1 clove garlic
1 tsp. Old Bay Seasoning
1 tomatillo
1 can tomatoes (or use garden tomatoes if you’re lucky enough to have some, about two large tomatoes, peeled)

Directions:

1. Put all ingredients into a food processor and puree till smooth. For the true gazpacho lover, serve with a splash of balsamic vinegar and freshly ground pepper. (Sophia, my foodie in training, specifically recommended that I add the pepper because the soup needed a little spice.) If you’d like, serve this with some crusty bread.

Also, here is some additional information about the nutritional value of an avocado (which Sophia loves whipped into a spicy guac).