Practical tips, reliable recipes, & family-friendly food ideas

Cheeseburger Pizza Recipe

Cheeseburger-pizza-recipeGet ready, this Cheeseburger Pizza recipe makes a pizza that tastes just like… you guessed it… a cheeseburger!  It kind of is a cheeseburger, really.  I mean, nearly all the ingredients that you would put on a cheeseburger are on this pizza, so why would it taste like anything else?

Ultimately, this recipe will be one of many creative pizza ideas you’ll see featured on MENUbility.  If you follow our menus or know me personally, you may know that I’m a big fan of Naan as a pizza base.  If you ask Google “What is Naan?”, you’ll get back:

Naan – a type of leavened bread, typically of teardrop shape and traditionally cooked in a clay oven.

I like Naan for its taste, texture and size.  Usually, I find it in the bakery section of my grocery store and it’s sold in packs of 2.  So, for my family of 4, I buy 2 packages of Naan, giving me 4 individual-sized pizza crusts.  A friend of mine calls Naan Pizzas “Naanzas”, and we’ve adopted that term in our house, too.

On a typical night, my husband and I each have one naanza (1 per adult). My kids are still pretty small, so they usually consume 1/2 naanza each, leaving one whole naanza as leftovers for lunch the next day.  Pair it with salad, and you’ve got a lovely fast, easy weeknight pizza that everyone in the family will love.

A quick note on kids who don’t like cheeseburgers: my kids… they aren’t so crazy about them either. They would never order a cheeseburger out at a restaurant, ever.  I think it’s the format of a cheeseburger that is a little intimidating for them.  BUT, they do like cheeseburger pizzas.  And that’s just it.  It’s not always the ingredients that our kids protest.  Sometimes, it’s the format, the vehicle for those ingredients that they just can’t wrap their little heads around.  Before you count a dish out, I encourage you to try changing it up a bit.  Get creative! Deconstruct those sandwiches into salads, or that burrito into a rice bowl. Once we get them tasting things in a variety of ways, we can hope that their palates will become more adventurous and that one day, they’ll come to enjoy many of the same things we do as grown ups.

I’d love to hear about the creative ways you get your kids to eat a variety of food. Please also share your thoughts on this Cheeseburger Pizza recipe, too!

cheeseburger-pizza-recipe-step-by-step

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Easy Beef Stroganoff the Whole Family Will Love

Easy Beef Stroganoff
In a previous life, I traveled from time to time for my job, which required “daddy” to cook dinner for the kiddos while I was away. These occasions called for something easy, tasty, and not too intimidating or complicated. A recipe for ground beef stroganoff found its way onto the “while I’m away” menu. My husband told me it was a hit with the kids, but to him, it tasted sort of, um, bland. The original recipe was insanely simple and used cream of mushroom soup as the base. After a few weeks, I decided to give this recipe a try myself, but we didn’t have any cream of mushroom soup on hand. It was a blessing in disguise as my improvisations resulted in a new and improved easy beef stroganoff sauce and it used ingredients I’m likely to have on hand at any given time. Score!

We regularly serve this with a side of green beans and either dinner rolls or roasted potatoes. The green beans are whole green beans of the generic variety, found in your grocer’s freezer section. I saute 2 slices of chopped bacon until crispy. To that, I add a half of a red onion (sliced), then add the green beans and salt and pepper to taste. This can simmer in a pan at low or low-medium heat while you’re making the stroganoff. Easy peasy.

Quick note: if you don’t eat red meat, need a break from it, or prefer something different, try this with ground chicken or turkey. Just be sure to use a little extra olive oil as these lean meats may turn out dry otherwise. You can even omit the meat and use extra mushrooms.  Just do a rough chop on them instead of a dice and it’ll be just a delicious.

Once upon a time, my family did not care for mushrooms at all (myself included).  If you’re in the same boat – or even if you don’t have mushrooms on hand, but you’ve got everything else – try this without the mushrooms.  I’m sure it’ll still taste great!

Let me know how this recipe goes for you!

Quick Healthy Asian Dinner: Sesame Noodles with Grilled Ponzu Chicken

Healthy Sesame Noodles and Ponzu Chicken RecipeThis delightfully quick and healthy Asian dinner packs a lot of flavor and nutrients into a quick and easy weeknight meal.  I’ve slightly modified and brought together two recipes from a couple of different sources: Chicken Sate with Ponzu Sauce from Cooking Light served with Lighter Sesame Noodles from an old publication of Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food (circa 2008). You can make the recipes as they appear in the originals, or you can go along with my version, which I think tastes better and is even easier to make.

 

 

Kitchen-Notebook-Healthy-Sesame-Noodle-Recipe-and-Ponzu-Chicken-flareWhen a recipe deems itself worthy of making again (and again), it gets printed and put into my beloved Kitchen Notebook (pictured left).  My Kitchen Notebook is a collection of recipes and old menus that were big hits with the family. They are on everything from recipe cards to printed 8.5 x 11″ sheets to torn out magazine pages – all compiled into one 3-ring binder.  I digress… more on the Kitchen Notebook later. Let’s get our Sesame Noodles and Ponzu Chicken cooking!

 
 

stainless steel strainer spoonIf you don’t already have a stainless steel handled strainer, I’m happy to recommend this affordable little tool from Amazon.  I rarely dump my pasta in a colander these days. Instead, I use this handled strainer to transfer my hot pasta directly from the water into the sauce.  The 7″ version tends to be a little difficult to get in and out of most pots, so I’d suggest going with the 5″ strainer spoon.  You can thank me for better tasting pasta later.  🙂

Easy Crispy Asian Chicken with Soyaki Sauce

Have you wondered how the chicken (like General Tso’s or Crispy Honey) at Chinese takeout establishments could achieve such crispy chicken texture without deep frying it?  A while back, I heard the secret was cornstarch. I decided to give it a try on my own, making my best guesses on recreating the texture.  This recipe doesn’t have quite the buildup of batter on the outside, but the chicken gets nice and crispy.  The inside stays moist and juicy. If you like your entrees extra saucy, just spoon more soyaki sauce over your rice. Careful, though! Soy-based sauces are very salty, so you can go overboard! A couple of spoonfuls of extra sauce should be plenty.

 

Organic Basmati Rice on Amazon.comtrader joes island soyaki sauceServe this Crispy Asian Chicken with Soyaki Sauce over Basmati Rice (cooked according to the package).  I prefer the Island Soyaki Sauce from Trader Joe’s. Roasted Carrots are a natural side dish and can cook in the oven while you’re preparing the chicken and rice on the stovetop.  Try using chopped cilantro (instead of parsley or dill) on the carrots. Cilantro would also taste incredible on top of the Chicken and Rice.

 

 

 

 

Savory Apple Recipes: Apple-Fennel Slaw

Savory Apple Recipes - Apple Fennel SlawI love how much flavor is packed into this extremely simple and versatile slaw! We paired it with Warm Goat Cheese patties sitting on top of a bed of greens that were very lightly dressed with balsamic vinaigrette.  I imagine it would be delectable on a pulled pork sandwich as well. If you’re on the hunt for savory apple recipes, you’ve got to give this one a try!

 

What would you pair with this healthy, crazy-fast side dish?

 

 

 

 

This recipe is adapted slightly from the original Celery, Apple and Fennel Slaw recipe on Epicurious.

Super Easy Southwest Pasta Recipe

This is one of many ridiculously easy pasta recipes I have up my sleeve (and the first to be officially documented).  I’ve shared it with countless friends and family members who have all given me positive feedback regarding the ease and the taste of this flavorful, healthy, kid-approved pasta recipe.  I hope it will become a favorite weeknight dinner for your family, too!

 

Buy Ziti Pasta Online at Amazon

Some quick tips before you get started:

  • You can cook the pasta and prepare the sausage/pepper sauce at the same time.
  • Don’t drain the pasta! Scoop it out of the boiling water with a large slotted spoon and put it directly in the sauce.
  • I use light cream cheese AND light sour cream (not fat free!).
  • The red sauce/marinara I use is something I usually have left over in the fridge.  It can vary from several tablespoons to a 1/4 cup of sauce from the jar. Nothing special, it just adds some tang to the cream sauce.  If you’re starting with a new jar, use the rest as pizza sauce or dipping sauce for calzones!
  • Serve the sausage on the side if you have vegetarians coming over for dinner and everyone will be a happy camper.

A great, easy weeknight family meal idea! If you love pasta and spices, you'll love this Southwestern dish with it's sausage, peppers, and creamy tomato sauce.