How To Make An Omelet Your Kids Will Love (Recipe)

Eggs, the breakfast of champions, at least for my 2 year old. Anyone who has kids knows how difficult it can be to cook for them, especially little ones. Once they turn 2 they become so finicky that cooking can be a nightmare for any parent.

Usually I spend my days fighting with my daughter at meal times to even eat, unless I make eggs. Omelets are her absolute favorite breakfast food, it's the one meal I can count on. That and bacon, you can never go wrong with bacon.

It's taken me a while to perfect my craft, I have been making her eggs for quite some time, switching out ingredients trying new things until I found something she liked. Here is what I have come up with, the perfect kid friendly omelet:

Ingredients:

1 egg
1 piece of turkey bacon
1/8 tsp of Parsley
1/8 tsp of no salt seasoning (I buy mine at Costco but something like Mrs. Dash works great too)
3 pinches of grated cheddar cheese or any other cheese your child likes (I say pinches because if you use too much cheese it is going to make it difficult to cook evenly)
A pinch of garlic salt
Optional Ingredients:

A pinch of salt

A pinch of black pepper

Directions:

1.) In a small bowl beat 1 egg with a fork for about a minute or two. Add cheese, and seasonings. Mix well so the ingredients are distributed evenly.

2.) Cook the turkey bacon in the microwave for about 15-20 seconds, you want it to be slightly undercooked because it will finish cooking in the pan. 

3.) Tear the bacon into tiny pieces and mix into the egg mixture. Transfer egg mixture to a small greased pan and cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes.

4.) Your egg should look like this when it's ready to flip. Using a spatula flip to one side so the egg looks like a half circle. Continue cooking for about a minute then flip the egg over to the other side and cook for another minute.

5.) Remove from heat and let it cool for about 2 minutes, then plate and serve.

Photo Credit: Me

Minnie Mouse Themed Birthday (DIY Minnie Mouse candy apples and cupcakes)

Last weekend we celebrated my daughter's second birthday with family and friends. She has really taken a liking to all things Disney especially Minnie Mouse, so it was only natural for her birthday we have a Minnie Mouse themed party complete with Minnie Mouse decorations and Minnie Mouse goodies.

I got the idea for these candy apples from Disneyland, they actually sell them and other Disney themed candy apples at Marcelines Confectionery, in Downtown Disney. They were so pretty I just knew I had to recreate them. When I started on them I had no idea what I was getting myself into, it took me 2 days and lots testing to get them JUST right.

Minnie Mouse Candy Apples

Ingredients:
20 apples (I used granny smith)
20 wooden sticks
1.5 bags of large marshmallows
Toothpicks
2 tubs of caramel
1 bag of white chocolate chips
4.5 bags of chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate but dark choclate would work too)
Milk
Pink sugar
Peppermint Patty Candys (white only)
Pink and white ribbon


1.) Wash apples and pat dry, then insert the wooden sticks into the apples and put aside.

2.) Now you want to heat the caramel, the easiest way to do it is to heat it up in the microwave. Put the caramel in a big bowl and add a little bit of milk and heat the caramel up for 30 second increments. (Each time make sure you stir the milk and caramel) until smooth and creamy. Once the caramel is smooth and creamy dip each apple into the caramel and cover as much of the apple as possible so it looks like this:

3.) Place apples on wax paper, add 2 toothpicks to each side of the apple for the ears and place a marshmallow over each tooth to make the ears, then place in the fridge to cool.

4.) While the apples are in the fridge cooling you can melt the chocolate. Pour all the chocolate chips into a large bowl and add a little bit of milk and place in the microwave and heat the same way as you did with the caramel. 30 seconds at time, taking it out each time to stir and then reheat until it's smooth and creamy. It took me about 5 minutes total to get the chocolate to the right temperature on a low powered microwave.

6.) Remove the apples from the fridge and dip each apple in chocolate so its completely covered, ears and all. I had to use a spoon to drizzle chocolate over the ears so it was completely covered in chocolate. When you're finished place them on a clean piece of wax paper. They should look like this when you are done.

7.) Then you want to place the chocolate apples in the fridge and let them set overnight. 

8.) Once the chocolate has set it's time to make the pink skirt. You're going to want to melt the white chocolate chips the same way you did the chocolate and caramel. Let the white chocolate cool a little so it doesn't melt the chocolate and caramel off of the apples. Then dip each apple in white chocolate, place about six white peppermint patty candies on each apple and sprinkle with pink sugar over each apple shake the excess fall off. If the white chocolate starts to harden add more mix to the mix and stir until smooth. Place each apple back on the wax paper to cool then refrigerate.

9.) Wait about and hour before removing from the refrigerator.

10.) Then tie pink and white ribbons on each one and you're ready to serve!

The candy apples were a hit! The other tasty treat I made for my daughter's birthday were these cute little Minnie Mouse cupcakes.

Minnie Mouse Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes:

Ingredients:

1 Chocolate Cake Mix

Half a bag of peanut butter chips

2 tsps of Vanilla extract

1 box of oreo cookies

1 box of mini oreo cookie

1 can of vanilla frosting

1 bag of twizzlers pull apart licorice

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make cake mix as instructed and mix in 2 tsps of vanilla extract and peanut butter chips. Batter will be lumpy because of the peanut butter chips scoop out batter into cupcake liners. I use a ice cream scooper to add the perfect amount. Bake for 20 minutes.

2.) Remove from oven and allow the cupcakes to cool.

3.) Once the cupcakes have cooled frost them and then place one large oreo in the middle and two small oreos on each side around the large oreo for ears. Repeat for each cupcake.

4.) Pull each the twizzlers apart and mold into a bow you may to use a toothpick to dip in the frosting and add a little bit of frosting to the back of the bow and stick onto the oreo to act as glue. 

Now you have cute and tasty little cupcakes that everyone will enjoy!

Photo Credit: All Photos Courtesy of Me

Super Easy (And quick) Kid Friendly Recipe: One Pan Lasagna

As a mother I know sometimes it can be difficult to keep the house clean, and if you're working, work an 8 hour shift, take care of the kids and still get dinner on the table all in one day. It doesn't help when you have a picky eater and don't you enjoy cooking. And then cleaning up a big mess after... NOT FUN.

Growing up my mother hated cooking, so I learned how to cook by myself at a young age. Since I have years of experience in the kitchen I've learned how to take recipes like this one that I found online, and make them simple so anyone can make them without fail.

 The great thing about this lasagna recipe is that if you have picky eaters or don't have all the ingredients you can make easy substitutions and it will still taste delicious. You can also add more or subtract any of the ingredients in this to your family's liking. For example, my daughter likes hers with lots of sauce so we put a little more in, but if your family isn't big on sauce but likes a lot of cheese you can add more cheese.

One Pan Lasagna

Serves: 6  Prep Time: About 10 minutes Cook Time: 25-30 minutes

Ingredients:

1 lb Italian sausage (You can use turkey sausage if you prefer or don't have Italian sausage)
Half a box of lasagna ribbon noodles, broken into thirds (I like to use whole wheat to make it healthier but you can use any kind you like)
2 Jars of Marinara Sauce (If you don't like it real saucy then just use 1 jar)
1 cup of water
1/2 cup of ricotta cheese (you can use more or less depending on your tastes)
1 cup of mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup of parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon of fresh oregano finely chopped (if you don't have fresh oregano dried works just as good)
1/2 teaspoon fresh basil finely chopped (again dried basil works just as good)

You can add any other ingredients your family likes if you wish like mushrooms, onions, garlic, etc.

Directions:

1.) Begin by dividing all the cheeses except the ricotta into three equal portions (don't worry if it's not exact it will still come out fine) then set aside.
2.) Using a large non-stick skillet* with cooking spray or 1 tablespoon of oil (I like extra virgin olive oil) remove the sausage from the casings into the pan and cook on medium/high heat for about 5 minutes or until sausage is brown. While the sausage is cooking gather the rest of the ingredients.
2.) Once the sausage is finished cooking remove it from the pan and put it aside for later, then place the skillet back on medium/high heat. Add half the jar of pasta sauce to coat the bottom of the pan.
3.) Now we begin layering if you haven't already done this, begin breaking the lasagna noodles into thirds and place them in the pan anyway you like, the add some a sprinkle of sausage, and the first portion of cheese. Now start adding 4-6 small dollops of ricotta cheese over the top with a small spoon. Do this 2 more times while adding the rest of the sauce each time you start a new layer so there are a total of 3 layers.
4.) Once you've added all the ingredients add 1 cup of water to the top making sure everything is covered, if you need to press ingredients down with a spoon gently. Cover and let it simmer on medium heat for 25-30 minutes.
5.) Check the pasta to make sure it's done but pressing down on it with a fork, if the pasta still feels firm let it cook for an additional 5 minutes.
6.) Once the noodles are cooked and the cheese is bubbling, now add the oregano and basil and remove from heat. Let it sit for 5 minutes too cool before serving. Sprinkle additional cheese over the top when serving if desired.

*If you don't have a non-stick skillet make sure you use plenty of cooking spray or enough oil so the noodles don't stick your pan and create a mess to clean, also make sure if you're not using a non-stick skillet that after you cook the sausage and before your coat the pan with sauce, your re-spray or oil the pan.

This recipe also tastes great the next day, so if you make too much you can save the leftovers and eat them for lunch or again for dinner.