Product Review-Copy Kids DVD

"Copy-Kids is a DVD series designed to get very young children excited about eating fruits and vegetables.

Simple.  Adorable.  It shows kids having such a good time eating fruits and veggies, that when children watch it they want to join in.

Featuring well-known pediatrician, Dr. Jay Gordon, this product is a positive approach in the quest to get children eating healthy from the start."

The dvd is broken down into chapters featuring 1 fruit or vegetable. There are bell peppers, carrots, blueberries and bananas...just to name a few. From the main menu you can pick the individual chapter you may want to play to get your child to eat that particular fruit or vegetable. Or you can play the whole dvd while they watch for fun.

 

I watched the dvd with my 3 and 5 year old. At first my 5 year old was like, "Why is that kid eating food?" But they both enjoyed the movie and asked for each vegetable or fruit when it came on.

Haley wanted to enjoy some blueberries...

She even ate a carrot, which she normally isn't too excited about!

Find out more about Copy Kids-HERE
You can also visit their Facebook
And their Youtube Channel

Creamy Sausage Mac 'n Cheese

This was a super easy thing to throw together. And it tastes sooo much better than boxed macaroni!

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 lb smoked turkey sausage, sliced
1 tablespoons minced garlic
1 cup diced onions
2 cups chicken broth (may need to add a tad more or less depending on the size of your noodles)
1 can diced tomatoes (optional, we don't like tomatoes so I didn't add this)
1/2 cup heavy cream (use fat free milk to cut down on calories)
8 oz dry pasta, any shape bowtie, twirls ect.
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/3 cup chopped green onions

 

 

1. Heat olive oil over medium/high heat. Sautee onions and sausage until lightly browned. Add in garlic and cook for 1 minute, make sure not to overcook the garlic.

2. Add chicken broth, noodles, seasonings, cream (and tomatoes if you wish). Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook until noodles are tender.

 

3. Remove from heat and add shredded cheese. Top with green onions.

 

Trevi Italian Restaurant-Halloween Pizzia

With Halloween at the end of the month, TREVI Italian Restaurant, located at the heart of The Forum Shops at Caesars in Las Vegas, is sharing an easy to make delicious treat.
 
Chef Peter Scaturro has created the perfect pizza for the spooky season and has shared his easy step-by-step instructions on how to make the Trick or TREVI Pumpkin Pizza at home.

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1.      Mix some ricotta cheese with salt and pepper and a little orange food color to get the pumpkin color desired.

2.      Stretch about 7 to 8 ounces of pizza dough to about 10 inches in diameter.

3.      To make the eyes, nose and mouth of the festive jack-o-lantern, cut squares and triangles from pepperoni slices.

4.      Spread the ricotta mixture onto the dough.

5.      Pinch the top of the dough to form the pumpkin shape (I used a zucchini skin as the stem).

6.      Add some shredded cheddar cheese, pepperoni parts and bake.

7.      Stripe the pizza with balsamic glaze to make the lines of the pumpkin for that extra touch!

Want to find out more  about the posh Trevi Italian Restaurant? Check out their website. Don't forget to stop by and try them out next time you are in Vegas!

Website: http://www.trevi-italian.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TREVILV

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/TREVILV 

Quick Chicken Parmesan

I looove Chicken Parmesan. It's one of my favourite Italian dishes. Here is my quick version.

Ingredients

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 eggs
1 cup Italian bread crumbs
salt
pepper
1 tsp. basil
1/4 tablespoon garlic powder
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
2 cups mozzarella cheese
Box of spaghetti noodles
Jar of marinara sauce (I love Emerils, its to die for!)

1. Place chicken breasts between two sheets of wax paper and beat with wooden mallet. I don't have one so I used a wine bottle. (While you are messing with the chicken, preheat your oven to 350, and start your water boiling for the noodles)

2. Beat egg in one bowl. Add bread crumbs, spices and parmesan cheese in another. Stir well.

3. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in saucepan over medium/high heat. Make an assembly line like pictured above. Dip breasts in egg, making sure they are completely covered. Dredge in bread crumb mixture, completely coating chicken. Then place in saucepan.

 

 

4. Cook until lightly browned, then flip over and cook other side until lightly browned. Remove from heat. Chicken will not be completely cooked, you are just searing it to hold in the juices.

 

5. Pour marinara sauce into casserole dish. Nestle chicken into the sauce. Cover with mozzarella. Cook at 350 for 20 minutes or until cheese on top is bubbly and chicken is cooked through.

 

 



Chili Macaroni

This an easy meal to throw together and kids love it! Its super filling and great for those kids with endless pits.

Ingredients

1 box of elbow macaroni
1 lb. ground beef
1 can kidney beans, drained
2 8oz cans tomato sauce
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. onion powder
2 tsp. garlic powder


1. Boil macaroni with a dash of salt and a splash of oil. Drain and set aside.

2. While macaroni is boiling, cook ground beef. You can add in some onions and minced garlic towards the end of cooking if you like (just take the onion and garlic powder down to 1 tsp.) Drain ground beef.

3. Add the tomato sauce, beans and seasonings to the drained beef. Mix well then add macaroni to mixture.

4. Top with cheese and serve warm!

Ritz Cracker Chicken Casserole

My mom made this recipe growing up, and it was one of my favourite meals as a kid. I came across a similar recipe and decided to make my own version.

Ingredients

5 cups shredded chicken
1 cup plain greek yogurt
3 cups (24 oz) cream of chicken soup
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup melted butter
2 rolls of Ritz crackers; crushed
Rice

1. Preheat oven to 350. If you don't have shredded chicken already, boil several chicken breasts in water with a boullion cube and some chopped onions.

2. Place shredded chicken in a casserole dish.

3. Mix yogurt, cream of chicken soup, salt, pepper, and sauce in a bowl. Pour over chicken.

 

4. Melt the butter and mix with crushed crackers. Sprinkle evenly over chicken mixture.

5. Bake for 30 minutes or until top of casserole is browned and sauce is bubbly. Serve over rice. Add some steamed broccoli for a complete meal.

 

Valentine Swirl Cookies

Welcome to my 2nd Valentine's Day post! Today I'll show you how to make swirl cookies. The girl's and I had a lot of fun making these although it turned out to be a pretty messy project!

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla

1. First whisk together your dry ingredients: flour, salt and baking powder then set aside.

 

2. Next cream together butter and sugar. Add in egg, milk and vanilla, mix until well combined. Slowly stir in flour mixture, make sure mixer is on low.

3. Transfer half the dough to a work surface. Add a few drops of red food coloring to the mixture left in the bowl. Mix until desired color, try not to overmix though.

4. Place a sheet of wax paper down, the dough in the middle and another sheet of wax paper on top of the dough. Roll out into a rectangle. Repeat with colored dough. Place on cookie sheet and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

 

 

5. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and peel the paper off of one side of the colored dough. Lightly flour your work surface and flip the dough over onto it, then peel off the paper from the other side. Brush the top of the colored dough with water using a pastry or basting brush. (Or if your cheap like me any ol' paintbrush will work) Peel the paper off of one side of your white dough. Place it dough side down on top of the colored dough, trying to align the two rectangles of dough as well as possible. Then peel the paper from the other side.

 

 



6. Trim the corners so they match up. Save the scraps you can make funky looking cookies with it. Next, gently start to roll dough up. If there are gaps when you are done, roll the log back in forth a bit to close the gaps. It should end up looking similar to this...

7. Brush the log with water, then roll in sprinkles or non pareils.

 

8. Wrap log in plastic wrap and chill 1 hour in the fridge. You can roll the scraps into a log as well. When you are ready to bake, preheat oven to 350. Slice circles of dough and place on cookie sheet. Bake 10 minutes or less, don't allow them brown. Cool on wire rack and then enjoy!

Quick Tortilla Pizzas

 I originally got this idea from my Mom. She fed us tortilla pizzas growing up because they are cheap, quick and yummy! Now I feed them to my kiddos and its a favorite in our house.

Take pizza sauce (or leftover spaghetti sauce) and spread a light layer on a tortilla. Grate a layer of cheese over the tortilla and add some pepperoni or other toppings you like. Onions, green peppers and olives work well. Set oven to Broil and lay the pizzas on a cookie sheet. Bake until cheese is melted and bubbly. Keep an eye on them, it only takes about 4-5 minutes to cook.