Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix

'Tis the season. Gifts for teachers season, I meant. But it also happens to be the start of hot cocoa season, so I figured I'd combine the two this year.  

Ingredients for hot cocoa mix

Last year, my sister made vanilla extract for everyone and I plowed through it in no time flat. I decided to try my hand at a homemade gift this year and, while I'm not the best with ribbons and things, I can vouch for the mix inside. 

Hot cocoa mix for holiday gifts

Here's the recipe (this makes enough for one 8 oz jar):  

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa
1/4 cup date sugar
1/4 cup turbindo sugar
1.5 teaspoons ground vanilla
1 teaspoon salt

I like to add 2 tablespoons of mix to just a bit of hot water to form a paste and then add an additional 6- 8 ounces of hot water or milk. Stir well and enjoy! 

p.s. - you can use 1/2 cup of whichever sugar you prefer. Great additions include a teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne or 1/4 teaspoon of fresh ground pepper. If you cannot find ground vanilla, no problem. 

What are your go-to holiday gifts for teachers? 

Quick Weeknight Meatballs

I'm all for letting my kids have a say in their breakfasts and lunches. Their choices aren't a free for all; I customize the foods available to them by managing the Food Library on our LaLa Lunchbox and LaLa Breakfast apps and the rest is (well documented) history. The process makes my life easier, and as a working mom of 3, it's exactly what I need to survive. 

But dinner is all mine. I love thinking about and talking about what to cook and what to eat for dinner. While I appreciate the occasional request, and even ask my family what they're in the mood for when I'm in a dinner rut, I like being Queen of the Dinner Castle. Lately I've been making turkey meatballs with tomato sauce and pasta about once a week. It's a meal that comes together in under 30 minutes, it's filling and satisfying and if I'm lucky, there are leftovers (usually requested for lunch by my 3 year old). Despite the fact that 2 of my 3 kids won't go near a tomato, somehow they like it in the form of sauce, so this is a meal that all five of us can enjoy together. Major victory. 

Here's the secret: A couple of months ago, we harvested a bounty of basil from our tiny garden and I pureed it to make vegan pesto with garlic and olive oil and froze it in small containers. It's the "flavor pouch" to our meatballs, and as long as I can remember to defrost one of those containers in the morning, everything else falls into place. It's easy to find basil even if it's not in season, so don't fret – just puree a large handful of basil leaves with one clove of garlic and 1/4 cup of olive oil and you've got it. Here's the confession: I don't always use homemade sauce. Time is tight. There are a few places by me that make a good marinara sauce (and in a perfect quantity) so if there's no time to make this one, I outsource the job. Bottled sauce also works perfectly well. 

These Quick Weeknight Meatballs have just 5 ingredients: 
1.5 pounds of ground turkey (I prefer dark meat to white meat)
3/4 cup panko (or unseasoned breadcrumbs)
1 jumbo egg
2 tablespoons pesto
1 scant teaspoon salt (or salt to taste) 

Preheat the oven to 375. Combine all ingredients thoroughly in a bowl and form meatballs about 2-3 inches in diameter. Place the meatballs on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 25 minutes. 

The meatballs will be fully cooked. You can eat them just like this! Or you can place them in a pan, cover with tomato sauce and heat until everything is warmed. While this is happening, cook the pasta as directed. We make 1 pound of pasta for our family of 5, and because it's not a ton of pasta, the meatballs really take center stage. While you wait for the water to boil, it's a great time to enlist the help of kids to quickly gather and wash salad ingredients, peel produce or do some basic chopping, if they're old enough. Dinner will be on the table in 30 minutes or less. Score! 

What are your go-to weeknight meals? 

What's In My Freezer?

When my kids were babies, my diaper bag was ready for anything. I'm a planner and I like to be prepared for the "what if" scenarios. My pantry is always stocked with extra cans of beans, coconut milk and dried grains, I keep a roll of paper towels and a travel potty in the trunk of my car. Just in case! My mother laughs at this (lovingly), but I am who I am. Unfortunately though, because I live in NYC, I can't fully apply the "what if" laws to my freezer, which is a sliver of the size I want it to be. 

So while I dream of making and freezing gallons of soup or lasagnes, and having these fabulous lunches or breakfasts for my kids all ready-to-go, my real-life space constraints make that impossible. What's a gal to do? Prioritize. I've boiled down the "freezer what ifs" to our family's most important:

• What if I feel like making smoothies? I always have frozen fruit (this is great for lunches and pies too!).
• What if someone is sick and we need soup? I usually have a small container of carrot soup or bean soup on hand in the freezer. 
• What if I want to make spinach pie, add extra vegetables to something or my kids want peas in their lunch? I always have frozen veggies. 
• What if I need some chocolate? I have several dark chocolate bars in the door, and quite honestly, have to replenish the stash with regularity.
• What if I forget about groceries entirely and there's absolutely nothing for dinner, not even eggs or pasta? I have a small drawer of frozen meat. Note: this has never happened and I don't actually know how to defrost meat quickly. I'm not sure why I ever have meat in my freezer. 

Beyond the "what if" areas in my freezer, there's also the "occasional" shelf that houses non-staple, sometime-foods that aren't regulars in our house like waffles, breakfast sausages, chicken nuggets, dairy free ice cream, frozen pizza dough or pie crust and if we're lucky, half a batch of these delicious muffins.

The Occasional Shelf hit the spot this weekend when I was home with my sick 3 year old while the rest of my family was out of town for a family wedding. After the 100th reading of Jez Alborough's It's the Bear!, my little one suggested making a blueberry pie. I took it as a good sign when the kid who had a 103.5 fever two days earlier was interested in an activity. I've probably made a fruit pie twice in my life, and I'm not a pie lover myself, but my mom is the queen of pies so I knew exactly where to go for the recipe. 

As it turned out, we had most of the ingredients that this recipe called for on hand (thanks for the pie crust, Occasional Shelf!) and we made substitutions where we needed them. Blueberry Pie thus became Blueberry Pomegranate Pie! Thanks to the cooking class I took last weekend in Tennessee, I added freshly ground black pepper to enhance the flavor of the streusel topping. See below for the full recipe. 

Frozen blueberries and pomegranate seeds

This pie was made with all frozen fruit: 2 packages of frozen blueberries and 1 package of frozen pomegranate seeds. Two thumbs up for the freezer! 

Add sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt

Next, add the dry ingredients: sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt.

Squeeze fresh lemon juice on the berry mixture

Squeeze lemon juice on the mixture and thoroughly combine. Preheat the oven to 375 and pour the berries into the pie crust. Next, prepare the streusel topping. 

oat streusel topping

In a separate bowl, add the flour, oats, cinnamon, brown sugar, salt, ground pepper and melted butter.

add fresh ground black pepper for added flavor

Pour the streusel topping on the berries and this pie is ready to go!

Ready to bake!

Blueberry Pomegranate Pie

Tada! Bake for one hour, let it cool and enjoy! Yum yum. 

Blueberry Pomegranate Pie with non dairy ice cream and "It's The Bear!" 

Blueberry Pomegranate Pie with Oat Streusel

1 recipe Oat-Coconut Streusel (see below)
4.5 cups frozen blueberries and frozen pomegranate seeds
1/2 cup sugar
5 tablespoons flour
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 9-inch unbaked pie crust

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Prepare the Oat-Coconut Streusel and set aside. Mix the blueberries and pomegranate, sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, and lemon juice in a large bowl. Pour the blueberry filling into the pie crust. Cover with the streusel. Bake about one hour or until top is golden brown.

Oat Streusel
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
6 tablespoons melted butter

Place the flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt and pepper in a bowl and toss ingredients to distribute them evenly. Pour in the melted butter. Mix until the dry the ingredients are covered with the melted butter.  

What's in your freezer? 

Meal and Snack Planning at the Kids' Fingertips

I love the grocery store. Except when I hate it. My kids feel the same way. There are some weeks that they're chomping at the bit to come with me and other weeks where they're practically offended that I've asked. As I browse the aisles, I think about what's in season and I check out what looks good but I'm also thinking about what *I* want to eat and what *I* want to cook. This week I felt like having chicken thighs for dinner one night. And I was in the mood to make granola and spinach pie. I always keep my kids' preferences in mind when I'm shopping, but as the parent, I make the final decisions about what's in our house (and what's not). 

On weeks that my kids come with me to shop, they're given more freedom to choose what we purchase. Tired of chicken legs? No problem, I'll be flexible. Want those pretzels that we haven't had in a while? Okay. But once I've done the grocery shopping for the week, their choices are limited to what we have. 

After I shop, I manage the Food Library on our LaLa Lunchbox app and dim out those items that we won't have available for the week. It's a fast process, and it makes their meal planning easier as well. They make food choices based on what's in stock at home. But beyond lunches, my kids have started meal planning for their after school snacks. When all of this is chosen in advance, I can set up their snacks at night so there's (a little) less whining about how very hungry they are the minute they step off the bus. Win-win. 

It's been a system that has been working for me, though on weekends when I'm feeling uninspired, I still hand over the phone *before* shopping instead of after. However your family has chosen to navigate the world of kids and food, finding a system that works for you as the parent is critical. If you're looking for a way to lessen the load of lunches and snacks, check out my top time and sanity-saving tips. 

Best 4 Lunch-Packing Tips

Life is busy. There are various things I've done in the last 9+ years of parenting to smooth out some of the harried edges, like setting alarms on my phone to remind me about half days at school. Or buying toilet paper and tooth paste in bulk. Lunch is a big deal around here, as you can imagine, and making it a smooth sailing thing is critical. Here are our top 4 best time and sanity-saving tips: 

Pre-prep produce for easy packing. 

The best thing I've done for peace of mind is pack lunches at night. When we're in the midst of dinner clean up, I take the extra 10 minutes to pack their lunches for the morning. Think about it: the kitchen is still a mess. The dishwasher hasn't been turned on. The timing couldn't be more perfect. I carve out a bit of space on the counter and just get it done. Even for the most organized zen person in the universe (which I am definitely not), school mornings with kids aren't easy. Why add the extra layer of lunch packing into the mix? 

Simplify! Uncomplicated lunches are delicious! 

The second sanity-saving lunch tip? Cut fruits and veggies in advance so they're ready to go for those lunches. Naturally, this doesn't work with everything, like bananas or avocados or fruit that needs a few days to ripen. But for oranges, grapefruit, apples (with lemon juice squeezed on top to prevent browning), carrots, cucumbers and celery sticks, it's a godsend. And things like grapes can be washed and ready to go in a second. Talk about a time saver! When I'm in the kitchen cutting one apple, I'll cut four. While I'm cutting those apples, I take the extra 5 minutes to prep something else. 

Third, we absolutely keep it simple for lunches. Lunch doesn't need to be complicated to be delicious. Beyond the basic pb&j, there are loads of straightforward and healthy lunch options available. Here are some of last year's favorites.  

Let your kids choose their meals. You may be surprised with how healthful and varied they are. 

Finally, there are several reasons why I let my kids plan their own lunches. One of the big ones is that it takes the guess work out of my job. After a long day of work and parenting, I simply don't have the creativity to magically come up with something each kid will enjoy. By letting the kids use the LaLa Lunchbox app to pick their foods in advance (from choices that I've approved and selected), I don't have to reinvent the lunch wheel night after night. I've shopped ahead of time from the grocery list their choices generated, so I have what they want on hand. And here's something fabulous: they feel independent and in control of part of their school experience. The lunch room is a social place. I want my kids to feel empowered there, and this is an easy way to do it for everyone. 

What are your lunch packing tips?