If you read weelicious often, you know that I’m crazy for pesto. While it might sound a bit fancy or gourmet, I think it’s one of the most kid-friendly foods out there. We use pesto on everything from pasta to chicken to fish or even as a spread on sandwiches. The kids and my husband love it and it’s a total lifesaver for me, especially because I can make a batch and keep it in the fridge for up to two weeks.

Packed with protein and vitamins A, C, E, K (and more) from the spinach and pistachios, this is a recipe where you know your family will be getting their recommended daily allowance of a lot of good stuff and enjoying every last bite!

Pistachio Pesto with Pasta (Makes 1 Cup)

1 Cup Spinach, packed
1/4 Cup Pistachio, shelled, unsalted & toasted
1/4 Cup Parmesan, grated
1/2 Tsp Salt
1 Garlic Clove
1/3 Cup Olive Oil
1 lb Pasta, cooked

1. Place all the ingredients (except for the pasta) in a food processor and puree until smooth.
2. Mix with pasta and serve.

* Pesto can be placed in containers (or even ice cube trays) and frozen for up to 3 months.

If you want a recipe that’s simple to make, versatile enough to be a topping for pasta, chicken fish, even rice and a great way to get your kids in the kitchen (without a big mess), you have to try this Pistachio Pesto!

It’s easy to make, you can store it for weeks in the fridge and my kids devour it up no matter what I put it on — from fish, to pasta to a sandwich. Even my husband loves it. And seriously, what’s not to love?!

Basil Pesto (Makes 1 Cup)

2 Cups Fresh Basil

1/4 Cup Parmesan Cheese, grated

1/4 Cup Pine Nuts

1 Garlic Clove

1/2 Tsp Salt

1/4 Cup Olive Oil

1. Place all ingredients in a food processor and puree until smooth.

2. Serve.

Whatever daddy eats the kids want to eat….or at least that’s true in our family. My husband is really into eating breakfast sandwiches for breakfast, so of course Kenya and Chloe want them also. I wouldn’t say that this Banana Cream Cheese Sammie is exclusively for breakfast, but it’s definitely really delicious first thing in the morning or just as a carbohydrate filled lunch treat to keep everyone full of energy and ready to keep going for the rest of the day until dinner!

Banana Cream Cheese Sammie (Makes 2 Sandwiches)

4 Slices Whole Wheat Bread
1/4 Cup Cream Cheese, divided
1 Banana

1. Cut the banana in half for each sammie. Then cut each half into strips lengthwise (so the pieces are long and flat).
2. Spread 2 tbsp of cream cheese on one side of the bread and top with one half of the banana slices.
4. Place another piece of bread on top to make a sammie.
5. Repeat with the remainder of the ingredients to make the second sammie.
6. 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.

This is one of those recipes that’s not only easy and delicious, it’s so much fun to make! Kenya and I had a ball making some of them little “chicks” and some little “devils”! No matter how you decorate them, deviled egg chicks will be a hit!

Most people are familiar with recipes for deviled eggs. Not my husband, however. When he saw this recipe he asked me if anyone has actually eaten a deviled egg since 1955. Maybe he has a point. Deviled eggs can seem about as boring as cocktail weenies. But these deviled egg chicks hopefully blow the cobwebs off the traditional version. They are inexpensive and easy to make. You can actually spend LESS than $4 and make DOUBLE the amount in this recipe!

Not only are these chicks delicious, but the end product is so cute. Kids can get in on the fun by helping you mash the egg yolk mixture, piping it into the egg white “bodies” and putting the “eyes” and “beaks” on the chicks.

If you want to really have fun with the devil theme, it’s fun to put 2 red pepper triangles on top of the egg whites — so you have real little devils! I definitely know who the little devil is in our house….and that would be Kenya! So this recipe is in honor of all the little devils that are really the angels of our lives!

Deviled Egg “Chicks” (Makes 12 Deviled Eggs or 6 “Chicks”)

6 Large Eggs
1 Tsp Dijon Mustard
1/4 Cup Mayonnaise
1/4 Tsp Salt
Stuffed Olives, cut into disks, optional for the eyes
Red Bell Pepper, cut into tiny triangles, optional for the beak

1. Place the eggs in a pot and cover with cold water.
2. Bring the water and eggs to a boil over high heat.
3. When the water comes to a boil, turn off the heat and let sit for 12 minutes.
4. Drain off the hot water and cover with cold water to cool the eggs.
5. Peel the eggs, cut in half* and place the yolks in a bowl with the mustard, mayonnaise and salt.
6. Mash the mixture into a bowl until smooth.
7. Fill the egg whites with the yolk mixture.
8. Serve.
*If you want to make deviled egg “chicks” as I did in the picture, take a sharp knife and make zig zag cuts through the middle of the egg white. Remove the yolk and make the filling. Place the yolk mixture in a zip lock bag and cut a whole in one end to make a piping bag. Squeeze the yolk mixture into the egg white, place the olive “eyes” and red bell pepper “beak” into the yolk mixture and top with the remaining egg white.

I can’t tell you how many parents say to me that hummus is a staple dish for their families. A friend of mine’s baby has been eating hummus puree from a spoon since he was a year old, loving every bite. All she had to do was say the word “hummus” and he would start grunting in need of his fix.

Even when Kenya isn’t in the mood for vegetables, I can always get him to eat a few if I put out some of this delicious Mediterranean spread for him to dip them in. His love of hummus must be an inherited trait in our family. My father-in-law eats a container of it everyday!

These hummus pinwheels are the perfect protein-packed lunch for kids to take to school. Yes, you can buy pre-made hummus, but after you try homemade hummus, you’ll never go back. It’s super easy to make. I love making a big batch of it and keeping it in the fridge for a week or more so that any time we need a snack it’s right there.

Hummus Pinwheels (makes 2 cups of hummus)

1 15 Oz Can Garbanzo Beans
1 Garlic Clove
2 Tbsp Tahini (can be found next to peanut butter at your grocery)
3 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1 Tsp Salt
1/3 Cup Olive Oil
Lavash, preferably whole wheat (can be found in the bread section at your grocery)

1. Place all the ingredients except the olive oil in a food processor and puree.
2. Add the olive oil and continue to puree until creamy.
3. Cut one large piece of the lavash into 3 equal pieces (cutting the lavash with scissors in a good trick).
4. Spread 3 tablespoons of the hummus on a piece of lavash.
5. Roll into a pinwheel and slice into bite size wheels.
6. Serve.

We used these to make this recipe:

Cuisinart DLC-2 Mini Prep Plus Food Processor