I love that Kenya’s into eating sandwiches for his school lunch. I also love that figs are in season right now and they are SO naturally sweet and delicious. Figs are really cheap at our local farmers market, so I’ve been buying tons of them to eat and put in recipes throughout the week. I made a huge batch of fig puree for Kenya and Chloe to put on their yogurt and just to eat plain as a snack, but it’s so flavorful I wanted to figure out something else to do with it.

These fig and goat cheese sandwiches are heavenly. The creamy tang of the cheese mixed with the sweet of the figs, all sandwiched between two pieces of whole grain bread, makes for a magical combination and these sandwiches only take minutes to make.

If you were to send your little one off to school with one of these sammies in his lunchbox, I guarantee he’ll be the envy of all the other kids.

Fig and Goat Cheese Grilled Sandwiches (1 Sandwich or 4 Mini Sandwiches)

2-3 Tablespoons Goat Cheese
3 Tbsp Fig Puree
2 Slices of Bread, preferably whole grain
Butter (if desired)

1. Spread one slice of bread with goat cheese.
2. Spread the other slice of bread with fig puree and place the filling sides of the bread together to make a sandwich (lightly spread a bit of butter on the outside of the bread if desired).
3. Heat a panini press or a sauté pan to medium heat.
4. Cook for 3-5 minutes (on both sides if using the sauté pan, flipping half way through) or until the cheese melts.
5. Cool and serve.

It’s not that I make everything our family eats from scratch, but I do try to make as many of the sweet treats my kids eat as possible. I recently realized that Kenya had never eaten a graham cracker before. How is that possible?! Graham crackers are like a total cookie rite of passage for kids! When I was Kenya’s age, I think I ate them every day of my life. So, my next recipe challenge was born.

It’s not that I’m against pre-packaged cookies or crackers (I’ve definitely bought a few boxes in the past two years), but it’s so much more fun to make them with your kids. I have to say this is one of my favorite new sweet treat recipes, especially when it comes to school lunch. Not only does the recipe make a TON of cookies, but you can cut them out and freeze them to bake as you need them. It takes no time for me to make the dough, roll it out and then let Kenya take over, using mini cookie cutters to pop out the sweetest, crispiest graham crackers I’ve ever tasted. They reminded me of the ones I used to eat as a kid, but even better!

Homemade Graham Crackers (Makes A LOT, depending on the shape you cut them in)

1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Dark Brown Sugar, packed
1/2 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Cinnamon
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Cup Butter, chilled & cubed
1/4 Cup Honey
1/4 Cup Water

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a food processor or mixer combine the first 6 ingredients.
3. Add cubed and chilled butter to the mix and pulse/mix until it resembles coarse meal.
4. Add honey and water and continue to mix until it all combines.
5. Remove and shape the dough into a flat disk and place between two pieces of parchment paper.
6. Roll dough out until 1/4 inch thick. Cut into crackers or shapes.*
7. Place cookies on a Silpat or parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.
8. Cool and serve.

*To Freeze: After step 6, place the cut out cookie shapes on a baking sheet and freeze for 20 minutes. Remove, place in a Ziploc bag, label and freeze for up to 4 months. When ready to bake, follow steps 7-8.

Sometimes when I’m trying to come up with new recipe ideas, I try to think of two foods I know my kids love and then build a dish around it. I’ve discovered that if I make meals that take the form of a muffin, cake, cookie or pie, my guys are instantly intrigued. I’ve had great results with Sweet Beet Cookies, Breakfast Cupcakes and Veggie Pancakes, but I really thought I hit the jackpot when I came up with Spaghetti Pie. When I told Kenya I was making him a Spaghetti Pie for dinner, he actually started giggling, “what’s Spaghetti Pie, Mommy?!” “Well, it’s….Spaghetti Pie!” I realized that’s all I had to say — no explanation, description or convincing needed. The only downer is that I had planned on having leftovers, but there were none to be had. Bye bye Spaghetti Pie!

Spaghetti Pie (Serves 6)

8 oz Spaghetti, cooked (about 1/2 a package)
2 Large Eggs, whisked
1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese, divided
1 Lb Ground Turkey (you could also use ground beef or chicken)
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 Tsp Onion Powder
2 Cups Weelicious Tomato Sauce or 1 16 Oz Jar Marinara Sauce
1 Cup Ricotta Cheese
1/2 Tsp Italian Herbs
1 Cup Mozzarella Cheese, grated

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place the cooked spaghetti in a bowl and coat with 1 tbsp of olive oil.
3. Combine the eggs and 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese in a bowl. Add mixture to the spaghetti and mix.
4. Place the spaghetti mixture into a greased deep-dish pie plate and spread to make a “pie crust”.
5. Heat 1 Tbsp of oil in a sauté pan over medium heat and cook the ground turkey, salt, garlic and onion powder for 5 minutes or until the meat is cooked through.
6. Pour the marinara sauce over the meat and stir to combine.
7. In a bowl stir the Ricotta cheese, the remaining 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese and Italian herbs to combine.
8. Spread the Ricotta/Parmesan cheese mixture over the pasta, then layer the marinara mixture and finally, top with 1 cup of mozzarella.
9. Place dish on a sheet pan and bake for 30 minutes.
10. Cool, cut into wedges and serve.

At this time of year when kids are headed back to school, most moms are focused on a million things, among them, trying to put together healthy school lunches that their kids will hopefully enjoy. Though possibly even more important than what’s for lunch, is offering your little ones a meal first thing in the morning that will give them a boost of energy to get them out the door and stay focused in the classroom.

Oatmeal is not only nutritious, but also inexpensive and a real “stick to your ribs” food. It’s delicious with a bit of honey or a touch of maple syrup, but why not add some blueberries for added vitamins and sweet flavor? Berry Delicious Oatmeal is not only bright and colorful, it’s a breakfast that will send your kids off to school with a smile on their faces.

Berry Delicious Oatmeal (Serves 2)
1 Cup Water
1 Cup Milk (almond, rice, soy or cow’s milk)
1 Cup Old Fashioned Oats (Five Minute Oats)
1 Tbsp Honey, Maple Syrup or Agave Nectar
1/2 Cup Blueberries, Blackberries and/or Raspberries (fresh or frozen)

1. Bring the water and milk to a boil.
2. Add the oats, reduce to a simmer over low to medium heat, stirring occasionally, and cook for 5-7 minutes or until thick and creamy.
3. Add the honey, maple syrup or agave and berries, cook an additional minute or until the berries are warmed-through and start to pop (I like to add frozen berries so the oatmeal cools faster for kids to eat).
4. Serve.

*If serving to a baby under 1 years old, don’t use honey

It’s amazing how positively kids react when you do something as simple as changing the shape of one of their favorite foods. There’s obviously nothing that needs improving when it comes to a delicious peanut butter and jelly sandwich, BUT try mixing a bit of cream cheese into the jam, spreading it onto a flat piece of lavash, rolling it into a cylinder and then cutting it into wheels, and it becomes a totally new take on a lunchtime classic that’s even more fun to look at and eat!

Peanut Butter and Jelly Pinwheels (Serves 4)

1/4 Cup Regular or Whipped Cream Cheese
2 Tbsp Jam, Jelly or Preserves
1/3 Cup Peanut Butter, divided
Lavash, preferably whole wheat (can be found in the bread section at your grocery)

1. Place the cream cheese and jam in a bowl and combine until smooth.
2. Spread 1/2 of the peanut butter on a piece of lavash and top with 1/2 of the cream cheese/jam mixture.
3. Roll the lavash lengthwise into a roll and slice into bite-size wheels, about 1 inch each.
4. Continue to make the second pinwheel sandwich and slice.
5. Serve.

Every Sunday when I was little, my parents took us to church. After Sunday school the entire congregation would gather for conversation, juice and cookies. Without fail, all the kids would run up to the table to grab handfuls of pre-packaged, jelly-filled thumbprint cookies. But even as a kid that loved sugary sweets, the mere thought of the jelly in those cookies grossed me out. I would scrape the jelly out and throw it away because it tasted more like strawberry glue/gel than the “all natural” preserves advertised on the package.

Wanting to improve on yet another childhood memory that’s still vivid in my mind AND keep with this week’s Peanut Butter and Jelly theme, I came up with these PB&J Thumbprint Cookies. I’ve recreated many of my unhealthy childhood favorites here in the pages of weelicious, only I always try to come up with a healthy version. What strikes me is how easy it is to make healthy desserts your kids will love without sacrificing taste! Instead of the hydrogenated fats and untold amounts of sugar that comprised the cookies I ate as a kid, I added naturally sweet honey, fiber-packed oats, protein-rich peanut butter and then topped them off with fresh preserves for a tasty, real fruit touch.

My kids were so excited when I put the plate of these fresh baked cookies in front of them, but the best part for me was watching Kenya react just like his mommy used to: by digging out the preserves first. The only difference was that he put them right into his mouth!

PB&J Oatmeal Thumbprint Cookies (Makes about 60 cookies)

1/2 Cup Butter (1 Stick), softened
1/2 Cup Agave Nectar OR 1/2 Cup Honey
1 Large Egg

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Cup Peanut Butter

1 1/2 Cup All Purpose Flour

1 Cup Old Fashioned Oats

1 Tsp Baking Soda

1/2 Tsp Salt
Jam, Jelly or Preserves

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Place the butter and agave (or honey) in a bowl or standing mixer and beat for 1 minute.
3. Add the egg, vanilla and peanut butter and beat another minute on medium speed or until smooth.

4. In a separate bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and mix to combine.

5. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix to incorporate.
6. Drop 1 tbsp of the cookie dough onto a silpat or parchment-lined cookie sheet and using your thumb (or index finger if you prefer), make an indentation in the center of each cookie.
7. Fill the indentation of each cookie with about 1/2 teaspoon of jam.
8. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
9. Cool and serve.

Friends of ours gave us a panini press as a wedding present and for some reason it sat in the closet for years until we had kids. I don’t know why we didn’t break it out sooner because it’s hands down one of my favorite pieces of kitchen equipment. It’s amazing how just hot pressing a sandwich can turn average bread and filling into a rich, gooey and crusty creation that my kids, their friends (and our mommy and daddy friends) adore.

Surprisingly, making a panini doesn’t take much longer than a regular sandwich. In fact, while I’m packing the rest of Kenya’s lunch I just put his sandwich in the press for a couple of minutes and by the time I’m finished, so is the sandwich, ready to be packed away.

When most people think about paninis, cheese comes to mind, but I thought hot pressing a PB&J was a cool way to liven up a classic school lunch sandwich. With plenty of potassium from the banana slices, carbohydrates from the bread and protein from the nut butter, this is a well rounded treat that will keep your kids going in the middle of the day when they need it most. You’ll be hard pressed to beat it.

PB & J Panini (Serves 4)

2 Bananas
8 Slices Whole Wheat Bread
¼ Cup Jelly, Jam or Preserves
¼ Cup Peanut Butter (you can also use sunflower, almond or cashew butter)

1. Cut the banana in half. Then cut each half into strips lengthwise (so the pieces are long and flat).
2. Spread the peanut butter on one side of four pieces of the bread and top with the several slices of bananas.
3. Spread the jelly on one side of the four remaining pieces of bread and then place on top of the banana slices.
4. Place sandwiches in a panini maker, press and cook for 3-4 minutes or until sandwich is pressed and golden.
5. Serve.

It’s Day Two for weelicious’ new, out-of-the-box and exciting PB&J school lunch recipes. Yesterday’s recipe was PB&J Pancake Sandwiches, something I think your little ones are going to love. But it got me to thinking: do you really need bread to make PB&J? That led me to the idea of mixing it with yogurt.

Plain yogurt is packed with calcium, protein and is easier to digest than milk, but it can also be just that to kids: plain. In order to get most kids to eat yogurt, you have to entice them with those flavored yogurts that are sold at the grocery. But many of those are packed with sugar and preservatives. So I thought it would be fun to see how healthy plain yogurt tasted with a swirl of low sugar preserves and nutritious peanut butter mixed in. I’m happy to report that not only is it mind-blowingly delicious, it’s beautiful to look at too!

Peanut Butter and Jelly Swirled Yogurt (Serves 4)

2 Cups Plain Yogurt (I like using greek yogurt)
¼ Cup Jelly, Jam or Preserves
¼ Cup Peanut Butter (I use natural peanut butter)

1. Divide the yogurt between 4 bowls.
2. In a saucepan heat the jelly or preserves over low heat for one minute or until liquefied (this can also be done in the microwave for 30 seconds) and allow to cool.
3. Drizzle the jelly and peanut butter equally between the bowls of yogurt and swirl the contents together.
4. Serve.

* If using store bought peanut butter such as Jif or Skippy, melt in the microwave for about 15 seconds to soften. I use organic peanut butter which tends to already be a bit more liquified then most name brands.

Recently, I was asked to come up with five recipes using peanut butter and jelly for LilSugar. Not only did they ask that the recipes be different than the standard PB&J sandwich that gets stuffed into most kids’ lunch boxes everyday, but they also wanted them to be healthy.

I had the best time coming up with the recipes and my in-house testers were more then thrilled with the results. These Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches were such a hit with Kenya that I barely heard him mumble “I WOVE these” as he stuffed bite after bite into his mouth with Strawberry Preserves dripping down his chin. I hope you get to see the same results with your little ones on their first day back to school!

Peanut Butter and Jelly Pancake Sandwiches (Serves 4)

1 1/4 Cup All Purpose Flour
2 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/4 Cup Peanut Butter
1 Large Egg
1 Tbsp Sugar
1 1/4 Cup Milk
Jelly, Jam or Preserves*

* I like to use my own Strawberry Preserves

1. Whisk the first 3 ingredients in a bowl.
2. In a separate bowl whisk the peanut butter, egg and sugar until combined, then whisk in the milk until incorporated.
3. Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined (it’s okay if there are a few lumps).
4. Heat a large sauté pan or griddle over medium heat and grease with oil (Vegetable or Canola).
5. Pour about 1/4 cup of the pancake mixture onto the griddle and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side.
6. Take a cooled pancake, spread 1-2 tbsps of jam on one side and top with the other pancake to make a sandwich.
7. Continue to do the same with the remaining pancakes and serve.

We’ve been having a crazy busy summer running around from our house, to camp, to activities all over the city and more. Between work and kids, by the time I get home at the end of the day the last thing I’ve got energy to do is make dinner. Especially when it’s so hot outside.

Thank goodness for the slow cooker (also known as a crock pot)! It really is a mom’s secret weapon in the kitchen. Literally, all I had to do for this recipe was sprinkle a touch of salt and coat the racks of ribs with my favorite barbeque sauce at 8am, and by 5pm me and my two little munchkins were nibbling away on the most tender, meat-falling-off-the-bone barbeque baby back ribs you’ve ever tasted. The best part is, no matter how hot it is this summer, you won’t even break a sweat making these!

Slow Cooker Ribs (Serves 4)

1 – 3-4 Lb. Country Style Pork Ribs, also known as Baby Back RIbs (about 2 racks)
1 Tsp Salt
1 Cup BBQ Sauce plus additional for serving (my favorite is Smokin Willie’s)

1. Place ribs in a crock pot and sprinkle both sides with salt.
2. Pour BBQ sauce over the ribs and coat the ribs WELL with the sauce.
3. Cover the slow cooker (aka crock pot) and cook on low heat for 8-10 hours.
4. Baste with BBQ sauce if desired and serve.