recipes Archives - MomStart

Disney Fourth of July Crafts and Dishes

July 3, 2017 by Momstart Leave a Comment

Patriotic Popsicles	Berry Flag Pull-Apart Cake	4th of July Flag Cake

Uncle Sam Hat Treat Holders	Red, White and Blue Paper Napkin Wreath	Firecracker Crowns

Mickey’s Patriotic Tie-Dye	Minnie’s 4th of July Headband	Printable 4th of July Candy Box

With the 4^th of July coming up, I wanted to share some of Spoonful.com’s new and patriotic ideas to help you celebrate the holiday! Spoonful.com features easy to navigate categories (cook, create, play and celebrate), allowing you to find just what your’re looking for to celebrate Independence Day – including delicious July 4^th inspired treats in “cook”, colorful crafts in “create” and so on. Best of all, the site was built to allow for easy viewing across computers, tablets and mobile devices – perfect for parents on the go.

Blueberry Chicken & Waffles Recipe

February 4, 2015 by Beeb 33 Comments

Samples provided.

I never thought that chicken and waffles sounded very appealing – until I went to Memphis last year. My first night there, I ate at a restaurant called Flight, which allows you to build your own entree by sampling different dishes. I chose three different items to taste, including chicken and waffles, since I’d never tried them before. Oh my goodness! Suddenly, I understood. The chicken was cooked in a sweet syrup that tied it together perfectly with the waffle – it was just delectable.

So when Krusteaz sent me a fun box of goodies and invited me to create a recipe for National Hot Breakfast Month, I looked at their waffle mix and felt inspired to create my own chicken and waffles, since I enjoyed my meal in Tennessee so much. All this month, Krusteaz are denoting Wednesdays as “Breakfast Night”, inviting families to take a night off from cooking a standard dinner and mixing it up with some fun breakfast favorites instead. I can’t be the only one who has sat down with a bowl of cereal at 6 PM and called it a day, right? 😉

I thought chicken and waffles was the perfect “Breakfast-as-dinner” fare because it’s such a hearty, filling dish. Now that I know that preparing the chicken in a sweet sauce is crucial to making delicious chicken and waffles, I thought back to a recipe I tried several years ago for Garlic Chicken and Potatoes, which utilized maple syrup; at the time, Jai told me that it was possibly the best chicken he’d ever had. I took inspiration from that recipe’s slow-cooked hint of sweetness and used two of the ingredients, butter and maple syrup, in this recipe I created.

Since I was using Krusteaz Blueberry Belgian Waffle Mix for the base, I knew I needed to tie the dish together by cooking the chicken with berries. Combining these ingredients in my crockpot resulted in tender chicken with just enough sweetness to pair nicely with the blueberry waffles. This is also very easy to throw together in the morning, ready just in time for a relaxed dinner!

Blueberry Chicken & Waffles

Ingredients:

For the chicken:

4 TBSP butter
2 large, boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 cups frozen Safeway Triple berry Blend – blueberries, raspberries & blackberries
1/4 C maple syrup

For the waffles:

1 1/2 C Krusteaz Blueberry Belgian Waffle Mix
1 egg
3 TBSP vegetable oil
2/3 C water
Cooking spray

Directions:

Cutting the butter block into 4 individual tablespoons, place in the bottom of a crock pot. Layer your chicken pieces* on top of the butter pats. Cover the chicken with the frozen berries and drizzle the maple syrup on top. Set crockpot to low and cook for 7 hours, or until done. Slow cooking this on a low temperature is crucial for getting tender chicken.

Once the chicken is done, turn the crockpot to “Keep warm”. In a large bowl, combine the waffle mix, egg, oil, and water and whisk together until smooth. Allow the batter to stand for 2 minutes.

Turn on your waffle iron and coat it with cooking spray. Once heated up, fill the iron with waffle batter – roughly 2/3 C, depending on the size of your iron. Cook for about 3 to 4 minutes or until the waffle is golden brown.

Place the waffle on a plate and spoon the chicken on top. Eat up and enjoy!

*A note on the chicken: Depending on the size of the chicken cutlets, you may need to use 3 or 4. The chicken should cover the bottom of the crockpot; as the other ingredients liquefy, they will surround (but not entirely cover) the chicken. Although I used boneless skinless chicken, I think this would actually be improved by using bone-in chicken!

This dish brought back good memories from my trip to Memphis, and I served it to four other family members to taste-test. They liked the slow-cooked chicken and commented that the waffle does make a nice bready base for the meat. I’d say it was a hit!

For more Breakfast Night inspiration, don’t miss my recipes for Chocolate Bacon Muffins and Valentine’s Day Pancakes! Keep up with the latest on Krusteaz by following them on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.

Enter To Win:

Would you like to try Breakfast Night in your own household? One reader will win a box of Krusteaz products including 1 box of Buttermilk Pancake Mix, 1 box of Blueberry Belgian Waffle Mix, 1 box of Chocolate Chunk Muffin Mix, and 1 box of Honey Wheat Pancake Mix as well as Krusteaz coupons for free product!

To Enter:

Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter. Giveaway is open to residents to the continental US (Sorry, no PO boxes), 18 years of age or older, and ends on February 18th 2015 at 11:00 PM PST. Winner will be drawn the following day. See the Rafflecopter widget for full details and click here to read our giveaway rules.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Valentine’s Day Pancakes

February 2, 2015 by Beeb 1 Comment

Samples provided.

Valentine’s Day is coming right up, so why not woo your sweetie with a meal straight from the heart? These cute pancakes are the perfect thing to serve up for a breakfast in bed – and, since February is also National Hot Breakfast Month, you can also declare it “Breakfast Night” and have hotcakes for dinner! Here’s how to create pancakes with love:

Valentine’s Day Pancakes

Equipment needed:

Pancake art squeeze bottle
Nonstick frying pan
Spatula
2 large bowls
Whisk
Measuring spoons & cups

Ingredients:

1 C Krusteaz Buttermilk Pancake Mix
1 1/4 C Krusteaz Honey Wheat Pancake Mix
1 TBSP juice from a jar of Maraschino Cherries
Red food coloring
Water
Cooking spray

Directions:

In a bowl, combine Krusteaz Buttermilk Pancake Mix with 2/3 C water, Maraschino Cherry juice and 5 drops of red food coloring. Whisk until smooth, and pour into a pancake art squeeze bottle.

In a separate bowl, mix 3/4 C water and Krusteaz Honey Wheat Pancake Mix with a whisk until combined and slightly lumpy.

Spritz cooking spray in a pan and heat to medium low. Using your pancake art bottle, draw and fill in a heart in the pan, then cover using the Honey Wheat pancake batter. Leave for 60 seconds, flip, and then cook until the pancake looks done.

Do you make any special meals for Valentine’s Day?

Make the Best of Corn: 30 Amazing Corn Recipes

November 25, 2014 by Momstart 3 Comments

I feel like the best of the Holidays is food, so I wanted to share 30 Amazing Corn Recipes with you!

Corn recipes

10 Ghosts Goodies & Craft Ideas for Halloween

October 15, 2014 by Momstart 1 Comment

Ghosts are part of Halloween and they make great decorations. Here are 10 different recipes and craft ideas for you to do as a family some of them, no I mean all of them are really cute!

The Hundred Foot Journey Gourmet Getaway Sweepstakes #GourmetGetaway

July 21, 2014 by Momstart 1 Comment

This is a partnered post with Cost Plus World Market in partnership with Disney and the film release of The Hundred Foot Journey on August 8th.

The Hundred Foot Journey is about one restaurant owner being threatened by a new restaurant of Indian Food that she actually thinks is kind of tacky. But a relationship develops and things change for both sides.

Official Summary:

In “The Hundred-Foot Journey,” Hassan Kadam (Manish Dayal) is a culinary ingénue with the gastronomic equivalent of perfect pitch. Displaced from their native India, the Kadam family, led by Papa (Om Puri), settles in the quaint village of Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val in the south of France. Filled with charm, it is both picturesque and elegant – the ideal place to settle down and open an Indian restaurant, Maison Mumbai. That is, until the chilly chef proprietress of Le Saule Pleureur, a Michelin-starred, classical French restaurant run by Madame Mallory (Academy Award®-winner Helen Mirren) gets wind of it.

For us here at MomStart this is what we call the perfect campaign. You know that I go on almost every single press trip for Disney and that Zoe and I LOVE to decorate the table for the theme of the month. So working with Cost Plus World Market and Disney at the same time is golden. Plus we get to share with all of you this amazing sweepstakes. But first we get to share with you some amazing recipes. To celebrate World Market’s Gourmet promotion and the theatrical release of The Hundred-Foot Journey, Cost Plus World Market has partnered with celebrity chefs, Ryan Scott (Restaurateur & Host of Food Rush and) and Aarti Sequeira (Author & Host of Aarti Party), to create delicious recipes inspired by the film. The chefs have developed exclusive French and Indian recipes featuring World Market’s gourmet offerings.

French Cuisines (created by Ryan Scott)

Berry-Ricotta Crepe Layer Cake

Chicken Roulade Provençale with Whole-Grain Mustard Bearnaise

Orange-Chocolate Almond-Nougat Champagne Trifle

Indian Cuisines (created by Aarti Sequeira)

Channa Masala Hummus

Masala Moules Frites

Chai Coconut Ice Cream with Curry-Chocolate & Ginger Snap Ripple

And if that wasn’t enough, You could win a Culinary Trip to Paris inspired by the film THE HUNDRED-FOOT JOURNEY. Imagine that, a trip to Paris, the city of love and amazing French Food. The Grand Prize is:

· A trip for 2 to Paris courtesy of Delta Vacations ®

· Dinner at the Eiffel Tower and Cruise

· City excursions

· One day private cooking class at Le Cordon Bleu Paris

· $1,000 World Market gift card

· Plus, 3 First Prizes: $500 World Market gift card

The Sweepstakes ends August, 15^th, 2014.

25 Perfect Peanut Butter & Chocolate Combinations

June 6, 2014 by Momstart Leave a Comment

My daughter’s quite open about what her favorite food is. It’s peanut butter, that girl would eat Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches for every meal if I let her. She has no idea that there are all kinds of different desserts that could be made so this post is for her. Here are 25 perfectly decadent ways to enjoy peanut butter and chocolate. YUM!

1. Peanut Butter S’mores Bars Recipe

2. Homemade Oh Henry Bars – Recipe

3. Triple Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe

4. Peanut Butter Lover’s Rice Krispie Treats

5. Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Dip Recipe

6. Cherry Peanut Butter Balls

7. Peanut Butter Chocolate Molten Lava Mug Cake Recipe

8. Chocopalypse Peanutty Cookies Recipe

9. Peanut Butter Cookie Eggs

10. Mini Buckeye Cheesecakes

11. Afternoon Delight Peanut Butter Pie

12. Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Cheesecakes

13. Chocolate Cornflake No Bake Cookies

14. Peanut Butter Marbled Brownie Skillet Pie

15. Easy No Bake Cookie Recipe

16. Buckeye Bark

17. Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies

18. Tagalong Donuts {Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake Mix Donuts}

19. Reese’s Popcorn

20. Recipe for Peanut Butter Balls

21. Chocolate Stuffed Peanut Butter Bars Recipe

22. Easy Peanut Butter Fudge #recipe {2 ingredients}

23. Peanut Butter Fudge Swirl Ice Cream

24. Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

25. Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola Bites

Summer BBQ Ideas From Chef John Doherty

May 23, 2014 by Beeb 2 Comments

Did you know that Chicken Soup for the Soul has their own line of foods? Talk about “Soul” food! Just in time for summer, Chicken Soup for the Soul has teamed up with Chef John Doherty to share some great ideas for using their BBQ sauce. Chef John has an impressive resume, cooking for presidents and royalty in addition to managing the Waldorf-Astoria in NYC. He works with the Chicken Soup for the Soul developing recipes and products, so here are his hints for utilizing their BBQ sauce this summer:

Summer BBQ Ideas:

Use Chicken Soup for the Soul barbecue sauce on pizza dough instead of tomato-based pizza sauce for a smoky-sweet note
Toss steamed fresh vegetables and canned beans with any Chicken Soup for the Soul barbecue sauce for a delicious vegetable-bean salad
Dress up your baked potato with Chicken Soup for the Soul barbecue sauce and melted cheddar cheese for a savory meal
Spice up your bacon by brushing a little Chicken Soup for the Soul barbecue sauce on strips of cooked bacon and bake in the oven for 2 minutes for an explosion of flavor
Mix 2 tbsp of Chicken Soup for the Soul barbecue sauce to ½ cup sour cream to make a zesty dip for your raw veggies
Toss the ketchup for bigger flavor! Add Chicken Soup for the Soul barbecue sauce to your favorite sandwich, burger or wrap

What’s your favorite use for BBQ sauce?

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

March 12, 2014 by Beeb 10 Comments

Compensation provided for this post.

Last month, I hosted a dinner at my house and wanted to bake a carrot cake, so I pulled out one of my favorite vintage cookbooks, Favorite Recipes of America: Desserts. This cookbook was published in 1968, and as far as I’m aware it’s not in print any more, but there are several used copies available on Amazon, which is cool! I love this cookbook and refer to its carrot cake recipe any time I make one. This cookbook compiled recipes from people all over the country, and this tasty recipe was submitted by Sharon A. Longaker, who won a blue ribbon at the Kentucky State Fair for her efforts. Because I wanted to make this recipe sugar free, I made a few adaptations to it, including the fact that I baked it as cupcakes rather than using a tube pan. This way, I was able to frost some cupcakes and leave the others plain.

5.0 from 3 reviews

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Author: Beeb Ashcroft - Recipe adapted from Sharon A. Longaker's carrot cake recipe originally published in "Favorite Recipes of America: Desserts"

Recipe type: Dessert

Sugar free carrot cake cupcakes, adapted from a classic recipe!

Ingredients

1½ cups vegetable oil
¾ cup Truvia Baking Blend
4 egg yolks
4 egg whites
5 TBSP hot water
2½ cups flour
1½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp nutmeg
1½ cups grated raw carrot
1 cup chopped walnuts

Instructions

In a large bowl, cream oil and sugar together. Add egg yolks to the mixture one at a time, followed by the hot water. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg, mixing thoroughly. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form, then fold into the cake batter.
Place cupcake liners into two trays and preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spoon batter into liners - an ice cream scoop works well for this - and fill liners with batter. Depending on the size desired, you can fill each cupcake liner ¼ to ⅔ of the way full. My first batch was slightly larger than the second, so my total yield was 23 cupcakes.
Bake cupcakes until a toothpick tests clean in the center. I forgot to write down the time I took mine out at, but it was maybe 45 minutes - the original recipe calls for 60-70 minutes when baked in a 9" tube pan. I also goofed and baked them at 250 degrees for the first 20 minutes because I read the dial wrong! Bottom line, this recipe is resilient, so adapt it to suit your needs!

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Since this is a stout cake, I left half of the cupcakes plain so that they could be enjoyed almost like a muffin. Eaten plain, these cupcakes should be suitable for those with diabetes. This recipe was created 40 years before Truvia Baking Blend was invented, and it worked great – so it’s easy to adapt any classic recipe to work with Truvia. Try toasting one of of these cupcakes with butter – mmmm!

I used a traditional cream cheese frosting on the other half, for those who can consume sugar. The frosting recipe for this cake in the original cookbook calls for 3/4 of a margarine stick, 4oz cream cheese, 2 teaspoons of vanilla and 1 box of powdered sugar. Since my margarine was in a tub rather than stick – not to mention my powdered sugar being in a large bag rather than the standard small box this recipe called for – I just improvised and “Eyeballed it”, especially since I didn’t need as much frosting with only half the batch getting any. I used all the same ingredients in proportions that “Looked about right”, and it worked out great!

Do you use vintage cookbooks? Have you ever adapted one of the recipes?

Produce For Kids Community Forum, Recipes & Twitter Party 9 PM EST 10/22

October 21, 2013 by Momstart Leave a Comment

I’m working (compensated and opinions are my own) with Produce for Kids and helping with their virtual launch party starting today and officially kicking off with the twitter party at 9PM EST 10/22. Produce for Kids is an organization that provides tools and resources for busy parents like you and me looking to embrace a healthy lifestyle and incorporate more fresh fruits and vegetables into their families’ daily diets. It’s really important to me to find a way to get my kids eating healthy. When we make lunches for them to take to school they have to pick out at least one healthy snack and I make them a sandwich. They’ve gotten really good at picking out healthy things to eat and we do a lot of talking about what’s healthy. Another thing I’ve been working on is cooking healthy, and to do that I do a lot of recipe hunting. Produce for kids has great recipes and snack ideas like these Apple Pear Gondolas. How fun is this:

And there’s a blog: Parents on Produce® Blog: Known as “Real Advice for Parents by Parents,” Parents on Produce (P.O.P) is a blog where parents can find simple tips from PFK P.O.P. Board Members to make healthy eating stress-free and fun, and take the guesswork out of ways to prepare healthy meals that kids will actually eat and love. Parents are encouraged to comment on blog articles and share them through social media outlets to keep the healthy eating conversation going.

It’s really nice for parents to have a place to go for ideas on how to get little eaters eating healthy foods. Kids are picky and it’s a tough battle and for those that fight it every night I know ideas get tough and patience wears thin. So if you’re in the mood for some fresh ideas come join us for the #ProduceForKids twitter party tomorrow October 22nd at 9PM EST. I’ll be there along with a lot of nutrition experts.

The Experts joining us are:

Produce for Kids’ Parents on Produce members

· Brenda Thompson, Meal Planning Expert and blogger of http://www.mealplanningmagic.com/

· Aleksandra Nearing, Time Management Guru and blogger of http://www.busyworkingmama.com/

· Estela Schnelle, Official Produce for Kids Dietitian and blogger of http://weeklybite.com/

· Chef Marshall O’Brien, Official Produce for Kids Chef

· Stephen Ames, Blogger of http://www.spatuladad.com/

· Dr. Stephanie Smith, Psychologist

And me. LOL, I’m not an expert I’m just joining for fun. Keep up with Produce for kids on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/produceforkids, and on pinterest http://www.pinterest.com/produceforkids/, and on twitter https://twitter.com/produceforkids and use the hashtag #ProduceforKids.

I hope to Tweet You there! If you miss the twitter party but still want to ask questions just be sure and visit the forum.

Produce for Kids Forum: Have questions for the Produce for Kids experts? Want to talk with peers about getting the kiddies to eat healthy, trade exercise ideas and cooking tips, or chat about the joys of motherhood? The Produce for Kids Forum provides a place to ask questions, chat and learn from others. Current conversations include healthy back-to-school snacks and produce tips. The team at Produce for Kids will be randomly selecting forum participants to receive $25 gift card giveaways during the virtual launch.