The kids and I have been busy cooking this week…. yesterday, we made cod fish bites. The kids had fun dipping in flour, egg and bread crumbs. They ate them all up before I could take a photo. We ate them with a slice of broccoli and cheese quiche for dinner.
Today, Lucas and I made chicken empanadas. I love, love empanadas. I tried to save some time by buying the already made pie crust that you just unroll but it wasn’t worth it. It cost $3.79 for the Pillsbury Pie Crusts and it was only enough dough to make 24 small empanadas, which sounds like a lot but only uses up half of the chicken filling. There is still lots of filling left over so now I’m going to make my own pie crust to finish it up. Besides, the ingredients in the Pillsbury crust are horrible with bleached flour and partially hydrogenated lard as well as other strange ingredients and preservatives. I was hoping to find a natural/organic alternative at Whole Foods but no such luck. I’m open to any other ideas for a natural/organic dough alternative that I could just unroll.
In the meantime, I just made my own pie dough, courtesy of Martha Stewart, and it only took me 5 minutes in the food processor and used only 4 basic ingredients, flour, salt, sugar, butter and ice water! Here is her recipe for Pate Brisee (Pie Dough).
Well, for tonight’s dinner, we’re having some beautiful Swiss Chard with a homemade garlic and tomato sauce mixed with Barilla Plus spaghetti. So easy to make, so delicious and so very good for you. Swiss chard is a leafy green, similar in taste to spinach but even better. Swiss Chard is packed with vitamins, beta-carotene, potassium, fiber and iron. It’s also rich in phytonutrtients like anthocyanins. It is awesome, you have to try it out.
Talking about food, cooking food, eating food… it always gets my mind off other matters in life. Food is fun, food is delicious, food is exciting, food is simply wonderful.
foodjules.com 
WOW! How did you get your kids to each such a variety of great stuff? This is such a cool idea!
I make ONE meal for the entire family and that’s what we all eat. If they give me a difficult time eating it for dinner, then that is their bedtime snack and if they don’t eat it for snack, then it’s their breakfast, etc. But, usually, they are always receptive to anything that I make. Besides, they’ve been eating vegetables and all different kinds of food since they were babies. I think the more you surround kids with a variety of foods, the more they get used to it and start eating it.
It’s also important to include them in making their own meals too, but as we all know, there isn’t always time for that. So, just keep putting it on the table and keep eating it in front of them and teaching them it keeps their bodies strong and healthy and they will eventually eat it! Besides, vegetables don’t have to be “boring”. You don’t have the eat plain spinach (I don’t even like to eat it that way), you can make a spinach frittata or spinach and cheese quiche or tortellini with spinach and parmesan cheese. Be creative and stand firm as the parent. Kids need to learn to eat healthy and be healthy. It’s important. They are the future. We as parents need to do our best for them. Just keep trying!
Hi Liz,
I completely agree about the dough, it’s so much better to make things yourself. I remember the first time I actually looked at the ingredients for a frozen pizza we were eating and I almost died. WE WILL NEVER EAT THAT “STUFF” AGAIN. I also agree about food, food is fun and delicious! I love food! Oh and can I have one of those empanadas??
I have yet to find an already made roll out dough that is not full of disgusting ingredients. I usually make my own. It’s so easy with my Kitchen aid mixer! This post made me crave empanadas! 🙂