I know, I know, another red, white and blue recipe for the holiday. What can I say? I love holidays. This is one of my favorite recipes that I’ve ever made for weelicious.
I’m a firm believer that it’s important for little ones to spend their first year or so not eating added salt (some fruits and vegetables naturally have some sodium). You want them to love the fruits and vegetables they’re eating, not the salt that enhances or changes the flavor and does not add nutritional value.
Now that Kenya’s 16 months-old, I give him food with added salt every now and then just to introduce the flavor of it for him. When I was shopping for this recipe, you can buy salt-free blue corn chips, but I used organic blue chips from Garden of Eatin,’ which only has 60 mg of sodium.
These fish sticks are crunchy on the outside and tender inside. I tested this dish with tilapia and orange roughy which both turned out delicious, but you could use almost any white fish available such as snapper or halibut. Kenya loved watching me dip my fish stick into the sweet red pepper coulis (just a fancy word for sauce. He thought it was so funny, so I helped him dip his stick in and take a bite which he thought was even funnier. It’s amazing to see what entertains a little one.
Happy 4th of July!!!!

Blue Corn Chip Crusted Fish with Red Pepper Coulis (Make 8 Fish Sticks and 1/2 Cup of Coulis)

2 Cups Blue Corn Chips (about 30 chips)
1 Red Bell Pepper (you could also use roasted bell peppers in a jar)
2 Fish Fillets, cut in 4 pieces (tilapia, orange roughy, snapper or halibut will work)
1 Egg, beaten
2 Tbsp Flour
2-3 Tbsp Oil, olive, vegetable or canola

1. Place the chips in a food processor and pulse until completely fine, similar to sand.
2. Place the red bell pepper directly over a low flame on your stove.
You want the skin of the pepper to turn black in spots. Keep turning the pepper with tongs every few minutes until it’s charred all over and starting to soften.
3. Place the pepper in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a towel.
Let the pepper steam for several minutes.
4. Peel the skin off the pepper (it will easily peel off), cut it in half removing the seeds and stem.
5. Place the pepper in a food processor and puree until smooth. Pour the
coulis into a bowl.
6. Place the egg, flour and the blue chip crumbs each into separate shallow bowls.
7. Roll the fish pieces in the flour and tap off to remove any excess.
8. Dip the fish in the beaten egg, letting any excess liquid drip off.
9. Roll in the blue corn chip crumbs making sure the fish is completely coated.
10. Repeat with the remaining pieces of fish.
11. When all the fish pieces are coated, heat a large saute pan over medium heat.
12. Heat the oil for 30 seconds.
13. Place the fish pieces in the pan and cook 2 minutes on each side.
14. Place the cooked fish on a paper towel lined plate.
15. Cool to room temperature (very important for the little ones) and serve.

I wanted to cook something festive and naturally colorful for the 4th of July and came up with this heavenly blue potato gratin. Not wanting it to have a heavy 
cream sauce, I thought that the idea of “cauliflower cream” sounded so 
much more nutritious and delicious. Its kind of surprising that the cream’s main ingredient 
is a vegetable since it has such an undeniably rich taste. Let it be known, though, I don’t 
want to deceive Kenya into thinking he’s getting cream sauce. I want him to know 
that even cauliflower can be the star ingredient of a dish and give you just as much flavor, if not more, than heavy cream.
This is one of those perfect dishes to serve on the fourth because the 
adults will dig it too. I made it for a party and everyone loved the 
red, white and blue theme. Kenya loved peeling apart the layers and 
eating them one by one. Although weelicious stands by the concept that every recipe should be easy, 
fast and fresh, this one might take you a few extra minutes. But for 
me, it was worth it!

Blue Potato Gratin with Cauliflower Cream and Sun-dried Tomatoes (15 Toddler Squares)

1 1/2 Cups Cauliflower Florets
3/4 Cup Whole Milk
1 Garlic Clove
1/3 Cup + 2 Tbsp White Cheddar Cheese, grated
4 Blue Potatoes
12 Sun-dried Tomatoes, oil packed or sun-dried and then rehydrated in hot water for 10 minutes, chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Place the first 3 ingredients in a saucepan, cover and bring to a boil. As soon as it boils, lower the heat to a simmer.
3. Steam the cauliflower for 6-8 minutes, or until fork tender.
4. Place the cauliflower mixture (you may not need to use all of the milk) and 1/3 cup cheese in a food processor and puree until smooth.
5. Slice the potatoes, preferably on a mandolin or by hand into very thin slices.
6. In a buttered 9×5 loaf pan, make a double layer of potatoes (this will use about 20 thin potato slices).
7. Cover with a tablespoon of the chopped sun-dried tomatoes.
8. Make another layer of potatoes.
9. Cover with a thick layer of cauliflower cream.
10. Make a layer of potatoes.
11. Cover with a tablespoon of sundried tomatoes.
12. Make another layer of potatoes.
13. Cover with a thick layer of cauliflower cream.
14. Spinkle the top with cheese and cover the loaf pan with tin foil.
15. Bake for 45 minutes. Uncover and continue to bake 10 more minutes until cheese becomes golden.
16. Throughly cool, cut into 15 rectangles and serve.