I have an absolute weakness for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. I’m pretty good at resisting the candy in my kids’ Halloween baskets, but every year, without fail, I can’t help but pilfer a few packages of THESE for myself (that’s just between us, okay?).

A few months ago I came across a recipe for Chocolate Almond Butter Cups posted by the oh-so-brilliant Recipe Girl and I was immediately drooled, I mean, drawn to it. Homemade Peanut Butter Cups — how could I resist?! Especially when they’re so easy to prepare and made with two ingredients Kenya goes absolutely wild for. He has been more than willing to be my sous chef (tough job, I know) every time I make them for cookie exchanges, parties, and recently, as Valentine gifts. I top mine with a flake or two of fleur de del because it adds a fancy touch if you plan on giving them out as gifts to loved ones and friends. Also, the sweet blast of the chocolate and peanut butter combined with just a touch of salt is what makes them truly irresistible! My husband got so excited about this recipe, he made his own version with peanut butter AND jelly, but that is a story for another day.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups with Sea Salt (Makes 20 Chocolate Cups)

3/4 Cup Smooth Peanut Butter
1/4 Cup Powdered Sugar
1 10 oz. Bag Dark Chocolate Chips*
1 Tbsp Fleur de Sel

1. Place the peanut butter and powdered sugar in a bowl and stir to combine.
2. Place the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and melt for 90 seconds, stirring halfway through until smooth.
3. Place 1 heaping teaspoon of the melted chocolate into small paper liners in a mini-muffin tin and refrigerate for at least 10 minutes.
4. While the chocolate cools, roll 1 teaspoon of the peanut butter mixture into a ball and then flatten into a disk. Repeat with the rest of the peanut butter.
5. When the chocolate has cooled, place a peanut butter disk in each cup on top of the refrigerated chocolate mixture.
6. Top cups with the remaining melted chocolate to cover and finish with a few flakes of fleur de sel. Refrigerate until set.
6. Peel the papers off and eat!**

*Semisweet or milk chocolate could be substituted for the dark chocolate chips
* Chocolate Cups can be kept refrigerated or at room temperature

Why spend tons of money on packaged granola bars when you can make them on your own? Whether you use dried cherries, chocolate chips or other dried fruit in them, these granola bars are delicious and a ton of fun to prepare!

Is there a more beloved kid’s dinner than macaroni and cheese? Combining two of the most kid-welcomed food stuffs — pasta and cheese — mac and cheese rarely requires moms to cajole, persuade or bribe their kids to eat at mealtime. Is it the healthiest dinner choice? Of course not. Would I recommend serving it more than once a week? Probably not. But when made well, perhaps with some veggies thrown in, mac & cheese is certainly a far better meal option than say, a Happy Meal.

Whenever my mom made mac and cheese, which wasn’t often, it was cause for celebration in our house. The first smell of it cooking away in the oven would make my entire day. She lovingly made her’s with tons of hand-grated cheddar and baked it until bubbly, golden and mouthwateringly delicious.

There are several different macaroni and cheese recipes on weelicious like Rice Cooker Mac and Cheese and Mac Chicken and Cheese Bites, but if you’re feeding a crowd and want a more classic take on this dish, this recipe is spot on!

Classic Mac and Cheese (Makes 8 Servings)

Topping:

1 Tbsp Butter, melted
1 Cup Panko Bread Crumbs
1/2 Cup Grated Cheddar Cheese

Mac and Cheese:

3 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
3 Tablespoons Flour
3 Cups Whole Milk
4 Cups Grated Cheddar Cheese
1 Pound Elbow Macaroni (you can also use Campanelle, Cavatappi, or Shells)

1. Place the topping ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine.
2. Preheat oven to 400° F.
3. Cook pasta in salted water* for about 3 minutes less than package directions call for, until al dente, reserving half a cup of the pasta water.
4. In a large pot melt the butter and then add the flour, whisking continuously over low-medium heat for 2-3 minutes to make a roux.
5. Slowly whisk in the milk and bring to a boil.
6. Reduce heat and simmer, whisking occasionally, 3 to 4 minutes, or until sauce is gently bubbling and starting to thicken.
7. Add reserved pasta water and cheddar cheese and whisk until melted.
8. Stir in the pasta.
9. Transfer to a greased 13″ x 9″ baking dish.**
10. Sprinkle topping on macaroni and cheese.
11. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until top is golden and bubbling.
12. Serve.

* Use about 2 Tbsp of kosher salt for 4 quarts of water.
** If making ahead, mixture can be cooled after this step to room temperature, covered and then refrigerated for up to a day.

I’m always hesitant to invest in kitchen gear that I want but don’t feel like I really need. So when I saw a doughnut pan at Target recently, my first thought was, “I gotta have that!” Then the sane part of my brain kicked in and said, “Catherine, do we really need yet another baking pan”?

It took me years to invest in a crock pot and rice cooker, both of which I can safely say have changed my life in the kitchen, so I tried rationalizing that this pan would do the same. That felt like a stretch. Finally the fun part of me chimed in and said, “of course we need a doughnut pan! ” Oh, how I love my fun part.

Sure, no one in my family needs a fried doughnut, but I thought if I could make a healthier, baked doughnut for say breakfast or a snack treat, the pan would pay for itself in the long run from all the money I’d save not having to buy doughnuts.

I’ve made pumpkin doughnuts using Ziploc bags to pipe out the doughnuts (watch the video here to see how easy it is). That system works great, but I have to say my new Doughnut Pan is AWESOME and turns out the most perfectly baked doughnut I’ve ever tasted in terms of size, shape and texture.

When I gave these Baked Cinnamon Chocolate Doughnuts to the kids for breakfast the first morning I made them, they went absolutely nuts. Doughnuts, let alone chocolate ones, just about qualified me for sainthood in their eyes. It was one of those moments that I actually felt like a totally rockin’ mom for bringing that kind of joy to them in the morning.

That’s as good of an argument as I need to have “yet another baking pan.”

Baked Chocolate Cinnamon Cake Doughnuts (Makes 6 doughnuts)

1 Cup All Purpose Flour
1/4 Cup Cocoa Powder
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp Cinnamon
2 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, softened
1/2 Cup White Sugar
1 Large Egg
1/2 Cup Buttermilk
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

Icing:

1/4 Cup Powdered Sugar
1 Tsp Milk or Cream

1. Preheat oven to 375° F.
2. Combine the first 5 ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
3. In a standing mixer (or bowl using a hand mixer), cream the butter and sugar.
4. Add the egg, buttermilk and vanilla and combine.
5. Add the flour mixture and mix until just combined.
6. Spoon into greased and floured donut pan.*
7. Bake for 10 minutes, or until the tops spring back when lightly pressed.
8. To make the icing, place all of the ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine.
9. Cool.
10. Drizzle with frosting and serve.

* If you don’t have a doughnut pan, place the dough in a large Ziploc bag, seal the bag airtight and then cut off a 1/2 inch of one corner. Pipe the dough into (circles) doughnuts on a Silpat or parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes and allow to cool.

A few months ago I went to a parent-teacher potluck meeting at my kids’ school. The drill is each parent brings a dish big enough to serve about 20 people, which is no small feat for a busy mom. But what’s awesome about these events is that there always an array of delicious homemade dishes to sample from lasagna to crunchy bruschetta to rotisserie chicken and occasionally, a hot pizza picked up on the way.

At our last meeting, one of my friends (who’s also a great cook) brought a wheat berry salad which everyone went crazy for. Full of nutty, nutritious wheat berries, it was mixed with peanuts, currants, veggies, peaches and tossed with an Asian vinaigrette. As everyone was busy telling my friend how amazing and delicious it was and asking her for the recipe, she leaned over to me and whispered, “I got it from the prepared food counter at Gelson’s” (our local supermarket).

Cut to me a few days later, having cornered the lady working the prepared food counter at Gelson’s and begging her to give me the exact recipe. While she wouldn’t tell me the measurements or proportions, she did reveal the combination of ingredients which makes this dish so special. I’m not sure if I got it exactly right, but in a side by side taste test after I made my version, we decided it was pretty darn close. Now, with great pleasure, I to share with you my friend’s “homemade” parent-teacher potluck Wild Wheat Berry Salad!

Wild Wheat Berry Salad (Serves 4-6)

1 Cup Wheat Berries
2 Tbsp Honey
1 Small Garlic Clove
1 Tbsp Lime Juice
1 Tbsp Rice Vinegar
2 Tbsp Peanut Oil
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/4 Cup Raisins or Currants
1/4 Cup Peanuts, chopped
1 Cup Fresh or Frozen Peaches, defrosted
1 Small Red Bell Pepper
1 Cup Fresh Spinach, roughly chopped

1. Cook wheat berries according to package directions, place in a strainer, rinse, drain and cool.
2. Whisk the honey, garlic, lime juice, rice vinegar, peanut oil and salt in a large bowl until combined.
3. Place the wheat berries, raisins, peanuts, peaches, bell peppers and spinach in the bowl with the dressing and stir to coat.
4. Serve.

My mother used to make the most insanely delicious zucchini bread. I don’t remember eating a lot of zucchini in side dishes as a kid (which is sad because I love it so much), but I sure remember her bread. It’s was sweet and moist with thin ribbons of zucchini laced throughout. Was that just her way of getting zucchini into our diet or was she simply baking something that she enjoyed making and we loved eating? I’d say the latter since, no one was holding me down telling me I had to eat it. In fact, I would usually beg for seconds.

I wanted to make a zucchini bread recipe for weelicious, but since I already made Zucchini Muffins last year I decided to mix things up and feature one of Kenya and Chloe’s favorite ingredients — chocolate — in a co-starring role. The chocolatey flavor comes from just 1/3 a cup of cocoa powder and while you may assume this bread is only for dessert, it’s actually also great as a mid-day snack and even for breakfast. Yes, I said it. Chocolate for breakfast. That’s not to say you should be handing out Snickers bars before the school bus comes, but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with offering this bread to your kids to start their day.

And while you may have seen the title for this recipe and thought to yourself, “awesome, I can get my kids to eat their veggies by telling them I’m serving Chocolate Bread,” I beg you not to. Don’t sneak. Food is all about making discoveries and you just may find yourself with a new zucchini fan after your little one tries this bread.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread (Makes 2 Loafs)*

1 Cup All Purpose Flour
1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1/3 Cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 Cup Canola or Vegetable Oil
2 Eggs, whisked
1 Banana, mashed
1/2 Cup Honey
2 Cups Zucchini, grated

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. In a bowl, combine the first 6 dry ingredients.
3. In a separate large bowl, beat the vanilla, oil, eggs, banana and honey until combined.
4. Slowly combine the dry ingredients into the wet then stir in the grated zucchini.
5. Pour the batter into two greased 8 x 4 inch loaf pans.
6. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
7. Cool for 10 minutes, then remove bread from the pan and cool completely.
8. Serve.

* Loaves can be wrapped tightly in foil, placed in Ziploc bags labeled with the date and frozen for up to 3 months.

Even though the name creamed spinach has never sounded very appealing to me, I have been hooked on it since the first time I tried it at steak restaurant as a kid. There’s something about the luscious creamy consistency of the sauce blended with the spinach that just melts in your mouth. Yet as good as creamed spinach is, it seems like a shame to take such a healthy veggie and then load it down with such a rich sauce. This lighter version is healthier, but just as yummy as the creamed spinach you’re probably used to.

Just because I fell in love with creamed spinach immediately as a kid, does not mean that my little ones took to it as quickly. On try number one, Kenya and Chloe looked at it blankly and then back up at me with absolutely desire to try it. After talking about it a bit and telling them that I ate creamed spinach a lot as a kid, Kenya changed his mind and dug right in. Chloe was a different story. She was in full-on mouth lock down mode – - no way, no how was she even going to taste it. The next night I decided to repackage it by mixing it with rotini pasta. Chloe devoured it, no prodding required. It’s funny how just by adding one of Chloe’s favorite foods changed things completely for her. From that moment on, whenever make creamed spinach, it’s enjoyed by all!

Creamed Spinach (Serves 4)

1 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
1 Onion, diced
1 Garlic Clove, minced
1 Tbsp Flour
2-10 oz Pkg Frozen Chopped Spinach, defrosted and drained well
1/2 Tsp Kosher Salt
1 1/2 Cups Chicken Broth
1/2 Cup Sour Cream or Low Fat Sour Cream

1. Heat 1 tbsp of butter in a medium sauté pan over medium heat and sauté onions for 3 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté an additional 30 seconds. Sprinkle in the flour, stir and cook for 30 seconds more.
2. Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine.
3. Cook for 3-5 minutes or until the mixture thickens.
4. Serve.

Planning a kid’s birthday party always seems like an easy feat 4 months before the big day. Then, before you know it, you’re a few weeks out and actually have to come up with those new and fun ideas to keep everyone entertained. It can be daunting to say the least.

While I’m totally game for ordering a few pizzas and calling it a day, this Quilt Pizza is much more exciting, easy to make and a great way to get all your guests involved. It becomes an activity in and of itself.

First, get a ton — I mean a TON — of toppings: veggies, meats, even some pineapple if you like, and divide them between separate bowls. Next, buy a few packages of pre-made pizza dough from the grocery store or your local pizzeria and roll and stretch it to fit a sheet pan. Then place everything out on a table….and let the kids go crazy. Each child gets a square to design their own handmade patch of pizza. Once the pies are all baked up and bubbly, you won’t believe how excited the kids will be to chow down on their personalized piece.

And you don’t have to have a big party to enjoy this pizza. It easily scales down to accommodate smaller gatherings like slumber parties, get togethers or an intimate family dinner.

Sound like a plan?

Quilt Pizza (Serves 8-12 depending on the size of each square)

1 lb. Pizza Dough, brought to room temperature
1/2 Cup Pizza Sauce
2 Cups Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
1 Small Red Onion, thinly sliced
1 Cup Broccoli Florets, steamed
1/2 Cup Pineapple, chopped
1/2 Cup Cherry Tomatoes, halved
1 Red Bell Pepper, sliced
1/4 Cup Olives, sliced
1/2 Cup Mushrooms, sliced
4 Strips Bacon, cooked
1/2 Cup Sun Dried Tomatoes
1/2 Cup Spinach Leaves
1/2 Cup Green Onions, chopped

* These are just suggested toppings. Feel free to come up with your own. The possibilities are endless.

1. Preheat oven to 425 F.
2. Lightly grease the backside of a half sheet pan with olive oil and stretch the dough to fit the size of the pan (about 16″ x 11″).
3. Spread 1/2 cup of sauce on the dough and sprinkle 2 cups of cheese on top.
4. “Decorate” the pizza using the topping ingredients. Divide into 8-12 squares to create a quilt.
5. Brush the edges with olive oil and bake for 18-20 minutes.
6. Serve.

When you’ve got two kids running around the kitchen and you’re trying to focus on too many things at once, mistakes happen (I guess welcome to motherhood, right?). The other night, I had tossed zucchini, broccoli and cauliflower into the food processor to make Crock Pot Lasagna and accidentally left it running while I ran to answer the phone. The next thing I knew, the veggies that were supposed to be roughly chopped were now chopped so fine that they wouldn’t work in the dish. Argh. As you know, nothing bugs me more than wasting food, so I stashed the overworked veggies in the fridge and chopped up a new batch for the lasagna. The next day those finely chopped veggies were staring me in the face when I opened the fridge and I swear I heard them say, “well?”

Whenever you have leftover vegetables (or flat out botch a recipe like I did), the addition of an egg, flour and some herbs can turn a mistake into one of the most delicious and happiest of accidents. Case in point are these Green Veggie Patties. They work great as a side dish or even on their own for lunch or a snack. Add any one of a variety of dips or sauces and things get even more fun. They are easy to make, fun to eat and perfect for the whole family….whether you intend to make them or not!

Green Veggie Pancakes (Serves 4)

1 Cup Zucchini, Broccoli, and/or Cauliflower
1/4 Cup Flour
1/2 Tsp Kosher Salt
1 Large Egg
1 Tsp Dried Basil
1/4 Tsp Garlic Powder
Canola or Vegetable Oil

Accompaniments: Marinara sauce, Ketchup, or Mustard

1. Place the vegetables in a food processor and pulse to chop fine.
2. Add the chopped vegetables into a bowl along with the flour, salt, egg, basil and garlic powder. Mix to combine.
3. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat and place 1 tbsp of the batter into the pan for each pancake.
4. Cook for 1-2 minutes on each side.
5. Serve with marinara sauce or dip of your choice.

While I’m super easy-going about Kenya and Chloe having cake at birthday parties or ordering things like french fries every now and then when we’re out to eat, I can’t help but cringe when they are offered goldfish as a snack on play dates or at camp. Of course there are many things that would be considered far worse for them than these little yellow bite-sized snacks, but goldfish kind of get under my skin. Goldfish are one of those “easy” foods that most people keep in the pantry for their kids. And why not? They’re delicious. But they are also high in sodium, low in fiber and feature some unneeded empty ingredients like sugar. For what is such a simple food, making your own homemade version is so much better, especially when you use whole wheat flour, which ups the fiber content and is far more nutritious than refined.

I know what you might be thinking: “it takes longer to make goldfish than it does for me to buy them”. Well, you’d not only be surprised by how quick and easy these cheddar crackers are to make but also how much money you’ll save making your own. And the best part is that you can use cookie cutters to pop out these crackers in whatever shapes you think your kids will love. More special than goldfish? What more could you hope for at snack time!

Whole Wheat Cheddar Crackers (makes a lot depending on the size cookie cutter you use)

2 Cups Cheddar Cheese, grated
1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 Tbsp Spike Salt-Free Seasoning (any salt free/herb seasoning will work)
6 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, chilled

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.
2. Place the first 3 ingredients in a food processor and pulse to combine.
3. Add the butter and pulse and until a ball forms.
4. Roll out dough 1/4 inch thick on a floured or parchment-covered surface. Slice into crackers or cut out shapes with a cookie cutter.
5. Bake for 15-17 minutes.
6. Serve.