Today’s recipe is by my friend Vanessa whose son Finn is only days apart from Hannah. This is a super-toddler-friendly idea, and I can’t wait to try it out!

Today I invented the Fruicchini Smoothie (husband Joel came up with the name). In order to get a bit more than just fruit sugars, I decided to go to my handy-dandy grated zucchini.

This is your basic fruit smoothie, and I throw in whatever fruit we have in the house. Today’s selection was the following:

• 2 clementines
• 1/2 bag of frozen smoothie fruit: strawberries, pineapple, mango
• 1/2 cup orange juice (or enough to make the smoothie thin without being too thin – I don’t actually measure anything when I make smoothies).

To this I added:

• 1/4 of zucchini grated

Blend until smooth.

This is quite delicious. Finn actually stole Joel’s glass, so Joel didn’t get any. He didn’t seem too heartbroken over that, though. I think you could do this with any fruit combination really – would probably go really well with berries. Well, darn, now Finn has stolen mine, too. Sigh. But at least he’s getting veggies!

• 4 medium zucchini
• 2 T. oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3/4 c. chopped mushrooms
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1 can petite diced tomatoes, drained well
• dashes of assorted Italian dried herbs (basil, parsley, etc)
• salt and pepper
• 1/3 c. dry bread crumbs
• 1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese
• 3 T. finely chopped pepperoni or cooked bacon (optional)

1. Cook whole zucchini in boiling water for about 1 1/2 minutes to tenderize. Remove and let cool enough to handle.

2. Cut zucchini in half lengthwise and scoop out flesh with spoon. Leave at least 1/4 inch “shell.” Finely chop the scooped flesh and squeeze/drain to remove excess water.

3. Heat oil in a sauté pan on medium heat. Add onion and zucchini flesh and sauté, stirring frequently for about 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and garlic, cook for 2 more minutes.

4. Add tomatoes, dried herbs, and salt and pepper, cook for 2 more minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes. Add bread crumbs, parmesan, and pepperoni.

5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a baking dish. Put filling into zucchini halves and place in dish.

6. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

It is a necessity for me to plan meals for the week before grocery shopping. This makes shopping easier, and I just look at the plan each night to remind myself of what’s on the menu. I usually shop on Mondays, so the weekend is at the end of my plan. Sometimes I get a little foggy about my ideas by the time Saturday rolls around.

Today I looked at my plan which only said: “chicken skewers, quinoa.” Not very descriptive, so I had to get my creative juices flowing to fill out the meal. Mid-afternoon, I cut up the chicken to marinate. I had many seasonings on hand, so I was faced with a lot of possibilities: go Mexican with lime juice and fajita seasoning, go Italian with some bottled salad dressing, go BBQ with our favorite Stubb’s sauce, or go Asian with a soy and ginger marinade. I chose the latter as I had some ginger in the freezer to use up.

If you don’t already, use fresh ginger. It’s very inexpensive, and the flavor is no comparison to the dry, ground stuff you find in the spice aisle. Buy more than you need, then put the rest in the freezer and it is ready to peel and grate on a microplane whenever you want it.

So I made a quick marinade with about 1 1/2 tablespoons of grated ginger (we really like ginger), 1/4 teaspoon minced garlic, 2 ounces of canola oil, 2 ounces of soy sauce, and a tablespoon of water. I let that sit with the chicken for a little over an hour, and it was perfect. Put it on some skewers and the grill awaits.

For a side dish, I cooked the quinoa in chicken stock for a flavor boost. Then I found a bag of stir-fry vegetables in the freezer and sauteed them with some more fresh ginger and soy sauce.

Brett did the grilling, as usual, and here we have tasty chicken skewers with Asian veggies on a bed of quinoa. Yum! I was racing through photos so we could get to the eating part. Hannah decided not to wait for photos to finish, and while I was trying to get a shot of her cute little plate, she went for it.

She loved this! She ate it all and asked for more chicken and carrots. The quinoa was a little hard for her to eat because the grains are so small, but she still liked it and was licking it off her fingers.

This meal was so tasty we almost forgot how healthy it is! Good lean protein, ginger (which has all kinds of health benefits), mixed veggies, and whole grain. (forget all the sodium in the soy sauce)

Should I mention we “rewarded” Hannah’s excellent eating with a few chocolate chips for dessert? :)

Brett has the sweet tooth in our family, so he is always hoping I have some dessert in the meal plan. Baking is not my favorite, too much measuring and clean-up, so I’m always looking for easy recipes that make us both happy.

“More-with-Less” delivered again with the “Coconut-Custard Pie.” It only has seven ingredients, six of which were already on hand. I only had to buy the coconut. Plus, there were minimal items to wash afterwards: one measuring cup, one liquid measurer, and the food processor.

While Hannah was finishing up dinner in her high chair, I set up the food processor on the table and lined up all the ingredients. I decided to make my own mini cooking show. We named all the ingredients as I put them in, she already knew eggs and milk. Then we mixed it up; she loves watching everything spinning around in the food processor. So easy – I just poured it out into the pan and stuck it in the oven.

Coconut Custard Pie

Preheat oven to 350. (I used the toaster oven)

Combine in blender: (I used food processor)

• 4 eggs
• 6 T. margarine (I used softened butter)
• 1/2 c. flour
• 2 c. milk
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 1 t. vanilla

Add

• 1 c. coconut (I toasted it slightly, yum!)

Blend several seconds. Pour into a greased and floured 10″ pie pan, or two 8″ pans. Bake 50-60 minutes. Pie forms its own crust.

This was very quick to whip up and the toasted coconut then the baking pie made the house smell so good. I estimated the pie cost less than $3.50 for ingredients which even included cage-free eggs, unbleached flour, and organic milk. We cut it into six nice slices, so that’s around 58 cents a serving. Sweet!

It is truly amazing how you can just blend up all the ingredients then while it’s baking it makes a crust, custard layer, and crunchy coconut topping. I added some fresh berries. Easy and affordable for the summer sweet tooth.

As I have mentioned on here before, I have a hard time with lunch. Sometimes I have leftovers, sometimes I eat the same thing as Hannah, sometimes I do a fridge clean-out salad. When none of those options are enticing my taste buds, I turn to the freezer. My favorite go-to freezer lunch is Buffalo Fake Chicken.

So easy. Just cook two Boca “chik’n” patties (12 mins in the toaster oven) and make a little buffalo sauce (approx. 1 T. melted butter and 1 T. Frank’s). The Boca patties have less fat and more protein than normal processed chicken patties. And the texture is just like chicken; I actually prefer the texture and taste to real chicken patties. They can be pricy, so I stock up when they go on sale.

Frank’s is my favorite. If I was stranded on a desert island and could have two condiments, I would have Frank’s Hot Sauce and dijon mustard.

Anyway, I cut the fake chicken patties into bite-sized pieces and mix them with the buffalo sauce. Spicy, crunchy, chickeny, yum.