An asparagus recipe for picky eaters

How do you feel about asparagus?  I love “Junior Asparagus” from VeggieTales, but haven’t had very much experience cooking with the bumpy green stalks.  Ok, make that no experience.  The other day a very large bag of it came home from Costco, and I had no idea what to do with it.  Resisting the urge to let it quietly grow a fuzzy green beard in the bottom of the refrigerator, I decided to get on the ball and check out Pinterest for some asparagus recipe ideas.

I felt very hesitant about cooking it at all, since I have never been impressed with any of the stalks I’ve tried in the past.  And obviously my kids haven’t been eating it if I haven’t been offering it.  Dilemma!!  But then I found this asparagus gratin recipe over at Apron Appeal that looked so cheesy and good, I figured anyone could choke it down!  🙂

I liked the way the white sauce was made with water from boiling the bottoms of the asparagus.  I changed up the recipe a bit since I didn’t have the same cheeses and basically used Parmesan in the sauce and a bit of Tex-Mex grated cheese mix to sprinkle on top.  But I didn’t really add much cheese at all (less than the recipe called for)  And added bacon bits, sort of an added incentive for picky eaters.

Since I was busy trying out this new recipe (at the last minute) I ran out of time, so supper was….asparagus gratin over white rice!!  Ta-da!  When I whipped the tray of asparagus out of the oven the reactions were so funny!  Mostly along the lines of “Mom, whaaaat’s thaaaaat??” >insert disgusted emoticon<  ahem, Let me introduce you to asparagus my dear ones.

Long story short, it received a thumbs up from almost all 6 of us, and a double thumbs up from one adult and one child.  I really enjoyed it, but am not exactly rushing out to by asparagus again….not sure why….maybe because someone felt it was sad to be eating “Junior”…..

But I do really recommend this recipe and you should head over to Apron Appeal and try it out the next time you have a bag of lonely asparagus!  I really liked the way the gratin (white sauce) browned up under the broiler, it looked so very nice……………….well now that I’m seeing my photos, maybe we should try it again….!

(click on highlighted links above to get to the recipe)  (se puede encontrar la receta aqui)

Easy Pink Dough Valentines for Preschoolers

An easy way for toddlers and preschoolers to celebrate Valentine’s Day!  Pink dough to play with!  Mix up a quick batch of pink colored dough and break out the heart cookie cutters!  The recipe I used is at the end of the post.  Here’s my nostalgic look back at my babies busy at work on their “Valentines”We’re going to make something!Squish that pinkness!The idea was to get them to make a Valentine on the table, then I would photograph it as their “valentines” for Daddy and Grandma and Grandpa.And that’s what we did.It was a lot of very pink fun!  I had to play a bit, too….Here’s the recipe I use for play dough:

2 and 1/2 cups of white all purpose flour   (I’ve tried it with whole wheat flour, and let’s just say…No!)

1 cup of salt  (fine, not coarse)

2 small packages of Kool Aid  (the ones without real sugar)  this is optional. if you don’t have Kool Aid, then add food coloring

3 tsp. vegetable oil  (canola oil is good)

2 cups of boiling water

Mix all the dry ingredients together, then add the boiling water.  Stir it all together very well and turn out onto a surface where you can knead it a bit.  It will be hot, so let it cool a bit before kneading.  Then knead away until it becomes smooth.  When it’s cool enough, the kids can start playing.  As soon as it’s cool enough, either play with it or seal it in plastic bags so it doesn’t start drying out.  This will last for quite awhile in a sealed bag.   Note:  the Kool Aid is just for easy color and aroma!  We used cherry for Valentine’s day.  If the kids love the smell so much that they taste it, it won’t hurt them at all, just a little salty.  If there’s worry about the flour, then I’d say don’t add the Kool Aid and then it won’t smell appetizing enough for little ones to put into their mouths!

Fun for the kids to make, and the photos are easy to send to everyone online, no mess, no snail mail! 😉  Just digital cuteness from the kids!  Happy ❤ weekend!

Quesadilla Dogs!!

Have you ever eaten a Quesadilla Dog??  I’m guessing that you haven’t, since I’m pretty sure that my Mom invented this delicacy!!  Well, I suppose if you’ve attended Eston College, then maybe you have, since I introduced them when I worked there…. 🙂 but I don’t know if they are still serving them….not the healthiest thing on the menu!  (but I think they are super yummy and worth a blog post!)

For those times when you feel like having a hot dog but don’t want all that soggy bun….or when you’d like a quesadilla, but a little more substantial….it’s the Quesadilla Dog!!

Super easy to make for a quick lunch (supper, snack or breakfast!!)  I think that if you like hot dogs or smokies, you’ll enjoy this twist:

Quesadilla Dogs

everything you need:

hot dogs or smokies

tortillas (flour or corn & flour blend)

grated cheese (mozzarella or cheddar)

jalapeños (optional!)

toothpicks

ketchup and/or salsa!  (optional!)

skillet or frying pan  (oil is optional)

What to do:

First heat up the smokies/hot dogs however you like.  To do this quickly, I usually throw them into the microwave (after pricking them) on a plate with a bit of water and heat them like that.  The yummiest way would be to fry them up!! Haha!  Or you could boil them or grill them….or use leftover bbqed smokies!!  Anyways, heat them up a bit.  Oh, and start heating up your skillet or frying pan now, too….

Get out the tortillas.  We usually use those whole wheat, whole grain ones with all the little flax bits in them, like this…just because…but this last time we tried the flour and corn blend ones and they were very tasty!  Now get out the grated cheese!!  (we always use mozzarella, just because)…Lay the first tortilla out and add the hot dog and sprinkle it with cheese:Now add some pickled jalapeños if you like them!!  Go for it!Roll up the tortilla and fix it in place with a toothpick (this is one of the corn & flour tortillas)Set that little baby into the hot skillet….I don’t use oil or anything, I just brown them on all sides in a dry skillet.  Of course they are super delicious fried up in oil!!!  (At Eston College we used to quickly fry them up in the deep fryer!! ahhh!)  But, you know, I try and not fry too much just because…blah blah blah…..When they are toasty on all sides, serve them up!!!  Either pull out all the toothpicks, or remind everyone to NOT BITE down on one!!  Serve with choice #1 Ketchup, choice #2 Salsa or choice #3 Sour cream and Salsa!!  🙂  Everything tastes yummy!  (Oh booy, I get soo hungry when I post about  my favorite foods!)

Let me know what you think if you try this out at your house 🙂