Posted by Jennifer Lee on April 16, 2012 0 Comments
Need an easy recipe for busy weeknights? Here’s how
to make Italian chicken that's deliciously simple and tasty. Less than 15 minutes
to fabulous!
There’s no doubt that
Chicken Parmesan will please most crowds, including the crowd at my house. But
it’s a bear to make on weeknights and a healthier version without the
breadcrumbs and cheese would certainly be a welcome addition to our stable of
recipes. Here’s how to make Italian chicken that’s so simple, easy, and tasty it
is sure to become a regular on your weeknight menu!
Feature Recipe: Easy Italian Chicken from The Family
Chef
My kids love roast chicken
(and Chicken Parmesan, of course!) but tend to be hesitant to try chicken any
other way. Same goes for lots of other foods. So at our house, I award bonus
points for trying a food my kids already like, prepared in a new way. This
keeps me out of the recipe rut and makes it fun for my kids to try familiar foods
prepared in an unfamiliar way. When Amy The Family Chef showed me how to make
Italian chicken, I jumped at the chance to give it a try. Not only is it a new
twist on an old favorite, it is a simple recipe my kids can make in less time
than it takes to order a pizza!
How to Make Italian Chicken (the Easy Way!)
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Ready in: 20 min
Ingredients:
1 lb organic
boneless chicken breast
1 cup
mushrooms, chopped
½ tsp garlic
powder
½ tsp thyme
½ tsp salt
2 Tbsp olive
oil
¼ cup white
wine
2 Tbsp butter
Directions:
1)
Wash and trim
the chicken. Cut the breasts in half lengthwise to create thin slices. Dry
completely.
2)
In a small bowl,
mix together the garlic powder, thyme and salt.
3)
Sprinkle about ½
of the seasoning mixture onto the chicken (leave the remaining half for when
you turn the chicken in the pan).
4)
Heat a pan to
medium high heat. Once heated, add olive oil, then the chicken, seasoning side
down. Do not move the chicken in the pan.
5)
Add the
remaining seasoning mix to the chicken.
6)
Once the chicken
is browned and turning white on the sides, flip and cook the other side. Cook
another 3 to 5 minutes or until the chicken is firm when you press it, and
nicely browned.
7)
Remove the
chicken and set aside.
8)
Deglaze the pan with
¼ cup of white wine. Be sure to scrape up all of the tasty bits.
9)
Add mushrooms to
the wine mixture; simmer lightly for about 3 minutes.
10) Add butter to the sauce. Mix to melt completely.
Serve the
chicken with a side of fettuccine and garden fresh broccoli. Drizzle the
mushroom sauce over the chicken and pasta. Enjoy!
Crunch a Color Kids Vote: Fast and fabulous!
What we liked: This delicious recipe can be made start to finish in less than 15
minutes. A weeknight winner! Pair it with my easy, homemade tomato sauce and a
dash of Parmesan cheese, and you’ve got a healthier (and easier) version of
Chicken Parmesan. My favorite tip from Amy: “Put the chicken in the pan and
step away from the stove! Let the pan do the work.” Brilliant! Gives me enough
time to clean the dishes before serving up a fast and fabulous supper.
What is your favorite weeknight recipe? Dish it up!
Next up: Healthy Caesar Salad
Our Italian dinner party
wouldn’t be complete without Caesar salad! Tune in next week when we toss up a
fantastic recipe for Healthy Caesar Salad.
Craving more new recipes to try? Catch up on last
week’s recipe: Easy, homemade tomato sauce.
About the author: Jennifer Tyler Lee is a mom
of two children and the creator of Crunch a Color™ -- the
award-winning game that makes healthy eating fun. Like most parents, she
struggled to get her kids to eat healthy, balanced meals, so she decided to
make it into a healthy eating game and she’s
giving back to support non-profit children’s nutrition programs including Jamie
Oliver’s Food Revolution and FoodCorps. Watch her picky eaters tell the story of how they turned into healthy eaters playing the game.
Follow @crunchacolor on Facebook and Twitter to tune into Crunch a Color's healthy eating
adventure and Jennifer’s tips and kid-friendly, easy recipes.
Read More
Posted by Jennifer Lee on April 09, 2012 4 Comments
That’s amore! No longer will plates be
brimming over with boring buttered pasta. Enjoy a boost of color with this
deliciously easy, homemade tomato sauce that will have your whole family
singing the praises of simple Italian cooking.
My grandmother and her
sisters were amazing cooks. Growing up in a traditional Italian family, as
young women they learned the art of simple Italian cooking. Learning to cook
and enjoying food was at the heart of the family experience. Each one had a
specialty and worked it to perfection. I’ve never experienced anything quite
like my grandmother’s homemade tomato sauce – but I guess it’s hard to replace
what was a delicious, handcrafted weeknight staple at our house. You can
imagine my shock and dismay when my daughter announced, “I don’t like tomato
sauce!”
Feature Recipe: Grandma Yola’s Homemade Tomato Sauce
Buttered pasta and pizza
without sauce just doesn’t cut it in my books! To get my daughter past her
picky palate, I needed to bring her into the inner circle. Like my grandmother
patiently taught me, it was time for me to teach my daughter the secrets of how
to make a deliciously simple homemade tomato sauce. I certainly don’t have time
on weeknights to whip up a homemade sauce. What I love about this recipe is
that you can make it ahead, and enjoy the fruits of your labor in different
dishes all week long. The sauce can be used for dressing homemade pizza, pasta,
and chicken dishes – saving busy parents time and making weeknight dinners a
breeze!
Grandma Yola’s Homemade Tomato Sauce
Prep time: 20
minutes
Cook time: about 2 hours
Makes about 16 to 20 servings
Ingredients:
5 28oz cans,
Italian packed tomatoes
1 28oz can,
tomato juice
½ large white
onion, finely chopped
1 medium
shallot, finely chopped
3 slices extra
fine prosciutto
1 slice
pancetta, cut into ½ inch pieces
3 cloves of
garlic, finely chopped
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive
oil
½ tsp marjoram
1 tsp sugar
A few handfuls
of fresh basil and parsley
Salt and pepper
to taste
Directions:
1)
Over a large
mixing bowl, run the tomatoes through a food mill with the finest sieve
attachment (no seeds allowed!).
2)
Add the tomato
juice to the strained tomatoes. Set aside.
3)
In a large
stockpot, heat the olive oil and butter over medium-high heat.
4)
Fry the pancetta
until crisp, then remove.
5)
Fry the
prosciutto.
6)
Reduce heat, add
the garlic, then the onions and shallots.
7)
Add the marjoram
and sugar. Mix well.
8)
Add the tomato
mixture to the pot. Lightly season with salt and pepper. Bring to a strong
boil.
9)
Add a handful of
parsley and a few twigs of basil.
10) When the sauce reaches a boil, reduce heat to low and
simmer for at least 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
11) Serve with whole-wheat pasta and top with a sprig of
fresh basil.
Cooking tip: If you’re lucky enough to have fresh
tomatoes from your garden, chop them into ½” dice and add a cup or two to the
sauce during the last 20 minutes of simmering. This is a great way to add
fresh, seasonal veggies to your delicious, homemade sauce.
Crunch a Color Kids Vote: Delicioso!
What we liked: Making homemade tomato sauce is a wonderful Sunday afternoon activity.
Together, we gathered our fresh ingredients and spent the day sizzling,
simmering and stirring up a delicious meal. Putting my daughter in charge of
the dish, and letting her add a few of her special touches like parsley from
her garden, was the key. She proudly served her carefully prepared meal at our
family dinner, and was eager to give tomato sauce another chance. Arrivederci
bland white pasta, ciao ciao colorful, authentic Italian homemade tomato sauce!
What is your favorite Italian dish? Share your
comments!
Next up: Italian Chicken
Chicken Parmesan is the
perfect partner at any Italian dinner, but I was looking for a healthier
alternative. Next up: a simple Italian chicken recipe that is so tasty you
won’t miss the cheese and breadcrumbs!
Craving more new recipes to try? Catch up on last
week’s recipe: Kale chips.
About the author: Jennifer Tyler Lee is a mom
of two children and the creator of Crunch a Color™ -- the
award-winning game that makes healthy eating fun. Like most parents, she
struggled to get her kids to eat healthy, balanced meals, so she decided to
make it into a healthy eating game and she’s
giving back to support non-profit children’s nutrition programs including Jamie
Oliver’s Food Revolution and FoodCorps. Watch her picky eaters tell the story of how they turned into healthy eaters playing the game.
Follow @crunchacolor on Facebook and Twitter to tune into Crunch a Color's healthy eating
adventure and Jennifer’s tips and kid-friendly, easy recipes.
Read More
Posted by Jennifer Lee on April 03, 2012 0 Comments
Snack attack! We all have them (kids and adults
included). The trick is to make the snacks you grab healthy. Here’s how!
It’s that dreaded no man’s
land between the end of school and the start of dinner. My kids barrel through
the front door after a fun and active day – and they’re hungry! A freight train
drives into the kitchen and throws open the refrigerator door. “What’s for
snack, Mom?”
Feature Recipe: Kale Chips, A Fast and Healthy Snack Idea
On the food love spectrum for my kids,
potato chips are like a “high-school crush” and kale is more like a “first and
last date." When I discovered kale chips I paused and pondered, “Could this
relationship change?” Crunchy, colorful and deliciously satisfying, it was a
match made in heaven. Kale chips are the answer to our daily snack dilemma!
Crunch a Color’s Kale Chips
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: about 18 to 20 minutes
Makes about 4 servings
Ingredients:
1 bunch lacinto ("dino") kale
1 Tbsp olive oil
Salt
Directions:
1) Preheat oven
to 250°F.
2) Wash kale.
Peel or cut leaves from center stalk. Chop into medium size pieces. Pat dry.
3) Toss in
1Tbsp of olive oil. Sprinkle with salt.
4) Arrange in a
single layer on a baking sheet.
5) Bake about
18 to 20 minutes, or until crisp. Cool then serve.
Crunch a Color Kids Vote: Crunch!
What we liked: Kale chips are a colorful, healthy snack food that my kids love (their
nutty flavor is akin to seaweed). They are easy enough for a 5 year old to
prepare, which wins them more points in my book. This is the kind of snack food
I can get into.
What is your favorite healthy snack? Do tell!
Next up: Spaghetti with Meatballs
Having grown up in an
Italian family, it’s impossible to imagine a week without spaghetti and
meatballs! Next up, a deliciously healthy Italian dinner that will have you
singing, “That’s amore!”
Craving more new recipes to try? Catch up on last
week’s recipe: Asparagus with Ginger-Soy Glaze.
About the author: Jennifer Tyler Lee is a mom
of two children and the creator of Crunch a Color™ -- the
award-winning game that makes healthy eating fun. Like most parents, she
struggled to get her kids to eat healthy, balanced meals, so she decided to
make it into a healthy eating game and she’s
giving back to support non-profit children’s nutrition programs including Jamie
Oliver’s Food Revolution and FoodCorps. Watch her picky eaters tell the story of how they turned into healthy eaters playing the game.
Follow @crunchacolor on Facebook and Twitter to tune into Crunch a Color's healthy eating
adventure and Jennifer’s tips and kid-friendly, easy recipes.
Read More
Posted by Jennifer Lee on March 27, 2012 3 Comments
Celebrate spring with the perennial harbinger of buds
and butterflies: asparagus. With bushels of bright green spears crowding our
local markets, we decided to welcome asparagus to our family table.
A perfect spring meal at our
house always includes asparagus. Beautiful and easy to prepare, asparagus is a
welcome guest at our table for the few weeks that it is in season. Asparagus
recipes abound, but this deliciously simple recipe is one that my family loves.
Feature Recipe: Asparagus with Ginger-Soy Glaze
Asparagus is one of my
favorite vegetables. Its delicate flavor always reminds me of playful spring
brunches with my family and simple summer outdoor meals. Grilled or broiled and
tossed with a touch of olive oil and salt, it epitomizes wholesome, simple
cooking. It’s also a fun way to start the conversation with your kids about colorful,
seasonal vegetables. Can you name a few?
Asparagus with
Ginger-Soy Glaze
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 8 to 10 minutes
Makes 6 to 8 servings.
Ingredients:
2lbs thin asparagus
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp minced ginger
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp honey
Juice from one lime
Salt to taste
Directions:
1) Set oven to broil.
2) Snap off ends of asparagus.
3) Toss with olive oil and salt. Lay on a baking sheet.
4) Broil for about 8 minutes, turning halfway through.
5) Whisk soy sauce, ginger, honey and lime juice together in a
small bowl.
6) Arrange asparagus on a platter. Drizzle lightly with ginger-soy
glaze.
A special thanks
to Aida Mollenkamp for the beautiful pictures of this family-friendly dish.
Check out her take on our Asparagus with Ginger-Soy Glaze, along with her other
wonderful recipes, at aidamollenkamp.com.
Crunch a Color Kids Vote: Let’s celebrate!
What we liked: This recipe is delicious, colorful and easy enough for kids to prepare.
Make it more than a meal! Stop by your neighborhood farmers’ market, scout out
locally grown asparagus, and enjoy swapping recipes with the people who grow the
food we eat.
What is your favorite colorful springtime recipe?
Share your comments.
Next up: Kale
My kids love potato chips
but they haven’t been willing to try kale. Could a healthy, colorful twist be
the answer? Tune in next week for the latest in our new food adventure: kale
chips.
Craving more new recipes to try? Catch up on last
week’s recipe: Whole wheat banana pancakes.
About the author: Jennifer Tyler Lee is a
mom of two children and the creator of Crunch a Color™ -- the
award-winning game that makes healthy eating fun. Like most parents, she
struggled to get her kids to eat healthy, balanced meals, so she decided to make
it into a healthy eating game and she’s giving back to support non-profit
children’s nutrition programs including Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution and
FoodCorps. Watch her picky eaters tell the story of how they turned into healthy eaters playing the
game. Follow @crunchacolor on Facebook and Twitter to tune into Crunch a Color's healthy eating adventure and Jennifer’s
tips and kid-friendly, easy recipes.
Read More
Posted by Jennifer Lee on March 21, 2012 6 Comments
Health up your hot
cakes! Banana pancakes get a whole lot healthier with the addition of whole-wheat
flour. Thanks to Jamie Oliver, they’re deliciously tasty too!
Brunch. Like Ramona Quimby, the sound of the word makes me
smile. The perfect combination of half breakfast and half lunch, it’s my most
favorite meal. Brunch brings together family, friends, delicious comfort foods,
and great conversation. Banana pancakes are a must on my brunch menu, but could I make
them healthier?
Feature Recipe: Whole
Wheat Banana Pancakes from Jamie Oliver
Turned up noses are typical when I introduce whole-wheat
versions of our favorite dishes. But the simple blend of flours in Jamie
Oliver’s All-American Pancakes, combined with bananas and walnuts, made
this recipe a brunch time winner at our house. Here’s how I made them.
Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes
Ingredients:
½ cup whole wheat flour
½ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 cup fat-free milk
1 egg, beaten
1 TBSP butter
1 banana, sliced
1 handful of walnuts (optional)
Directions:
1)
Whisk flours, baking powder, and salt together
in a bowl.
2)
Add the milk, egg, and butter. Stir until just
blended (a few lumps are okay).
3)
Heat a non-stick griddle or large frying pan.
Lightly grease with butter.
4)
Pour ¼ cup of batter onto the griddle for each
pancake. Place a few slices of banana on each pancake as it is cooking.
5)
Cook until large bubbles begin to appear. Flip
and cook until golden brown on the second side.
6)
Serve immediately with warm maple syrup, a sprinkle of walnuts, and seasonal fresh fruit.
Crunch a Color Kids
Vote: Pass the pancakes, please!
What we liked: This
recipe is easy, tasty and the perfect weekend brunch companion. Let your kids
play with the flour blend and toppings to find the right mix for your family.
What is your favorite
brunch recipe? Share your comments.
Next up: Asparagus
A perennial springtime favorite, bushels of asparagus are
crowding the tables at our local farmers’ markets. Next week, a simple recipe
that will make these splendid green spears a welcome addition to your family
table.
Craving more new
recipes to try? Catch up on last week’s recipe: Gluten-Free
Fruit and Berry Crisp.
About the author: Jennifer Tyler Lee is a
mom of two children and the creator of Crunch a Color™ -- the
award-winning game that makes healthy eating fun. Like most parents, she
struggled to get her kids to eat healthy, balanced meals, so she decided to
make it into a healthy eating game and she’s giving back to support non-profit
children’s nutrition programs including Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution and
FoodCorps. Watch her picky eaters tell the story of how they turned into healthy eaters playing the
game. Follow @crunchacolor on Facebook
and Twitter to tune into
Crunch a Color's healthy eating adventure and Jennifer’s tips and kid-friendly,
easy recipes.
Read More
