ML Interest Tag: parsley

The Jennifer Aniston Viral TikTok Salad Is Actually Delicious and Easy

by Maria Guido

TikTok is useful. It taught us how to clean our cookie sheets, make no-bake cheesecake, and now — eat like Jennifer Aniston.

If you’re a Friends superfan, you may have already heard the tales of the actress eating the same salad for lunch every, single day they filmed. Courtney Cox has mentioned it in interviews, and through the years, the recipe has changed just a bit. But recently, the recipe went viral on Instagram and TikTok, along with a super easy-to-follow recipe.

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Eating Healthy (@eatinghealthyfeed)

Here’s the recipe:

3.5 cups cooked bulgur wheat ( I made 1 cup uncooked )
2-3 chopped mini cucumber
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/2 cup chopped mint
1/3 cup chopped red onion
1/2 cup chopped pistachios
2 cups chickpeas
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt & pepper
1/2 cup crumbled feta

Yes, it’s really this easy. You just dump all of this in a bowl, douse it with olive oil and lemon, mix it up, and enjoy! We had to try it to see if it was really worth eating every day. The verdict? Yes. It’s delicious!

Maria Guido

As busy parents, one of the easiest things you can do for self-care is mix up a batch of something that you can easily eat for lunch for a few days. How many times do you get to 5 p.m. and realize you’ve eaten nothing? Yeah, us too. Try it! You can find the bulgar wheat in the organic section of your local supermarket—or where they keep the bagged grains.

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8 Toddler Games to Play on Halloween

by Meghan Yudes Meyers

From candy to costumes, there’s a lot to love about Halloween. But with ghosts, goblins and even some (fake) gore, it can be a pretty scary night for toddlers. If you’re planning on skipping trick-or-treating this year or you just want to add some more age-appropriate fun to your Halloween weekend, here are 8 ways to scare it up on Oct. 31st—without the fright. These games can be played indoors or out, and during the day or evening for maximum flexibility with your schedule.

photo: Freestocks.org via Pexels

1. There’s a Pumpkin Hiding in the Patch

Play hide-and-seek with pumpkins, ghosts, cats and bats. Print out these free Halloween templates, cut them out, and then hide them around your home or yard for a toddler-friendly Halloween hunt.

2. Pumpkin Hunt

Forget Easter baskets; this “egg hunt” lets little ones fill up their trick-or-treating bag without going door to door. Grab these pint-sized pumpkins and fill them with Halloween candy and tiny toys. Hide them indoors or out, depending on the weather.

3. Glow-in-the-Dark Ring Toss

You don’t have to wait for nightfall for this activity. Grab some glow-in-the-dark necklaces, turn off the lights and fling these rings for some spooky fun. Aim at the stem of a pumpkin, the point of a witch’s hat or the tops of milk jugs (painted with a ghost face, of course). You don’t have to ring a pumpkin to win the game; the player whose rings are closest to the target wins!

photo: Craig Adderley via Pexels

4. Let It Rain…Candy

Sweets take center stage on All Hallows’ Eve, so take it up a notch (literally) by hanging a ghost or goblin piñata and let the sugar pour down! Use a trick-or-treat bag to store the loot or go old school and let the kids scoop the treats into a pillowcase.

5. Pumpkin Putt-Putt

Turn your backyard or basement into a miniature golf course with this great idea from Dollar Tree. Carvable craft pumpkins, the styrofoam kind that make carving pumpkins easy and mess free, make great props for toddler-friendly games. Carve an oversize mouth for kids to knock their golf ball into. Hole-in-one!

6. Put the Boo in Boo-wling

Spook up a spare with a game of pumpkin bowling. Make the “pins” easy for little ones to knock down by sticking ghostly grins (we love this printable) onto empty toilet-paper rolls. To knock down the pins, use a small pumpkin (plastic or real) that’s roughly the size of an adult hand.

photo: Pinch of Parsley

7. Host a Pepper Carving Contest

Hacking into a pumpkin can be tough on little hands. Use peppers instead, and let the youngest of your bunch draw on faces with edible marker. They will need some help cutting the faces, but they can hollow out these vegetables on their own with a spoon. The best part: You can stuff the peppers and cook them after the contest for a festive Halloween dinner! Here’s an awesome recipe for taco-stuffed peppers from Pinch of Parsley.

8. Get Caught in the Spider’s Web

Fluffy, miniature black pom pom balls become creepy, crawling spiders in this fun toss game. Spin a spider web by criss-crossing painter’s tape or masking tape between a door frame.  Once you’ve created a sticky trap, let your littles take turns tossing their spiders to see who can get the most 8-legged insects caught in the web.

—Meghan Yudes Meyers

 

RELATED STORIES:

Lil’ Boo: 12 Pro Tips for Baby’s First Halloween

20 Halloween Costumes for Twins (Older Siblings & Parents too!)

The Best Not-So-Scary Halloween Picks for Kids on Netflix

 

 

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Jennifer Garner Asked Her 7-Year-Old to Label Her Spice Rack & The Results are Hilarious

by Shahrzad Warkentin

Having some little handy helpers in the kitchen is always fun, but as mom Jennifer Garner learned you have to take that help with a grain of salt––or in this case “rosefart.”

Garner shared an Instagram post featuring a picture of her kitchen counter with labeled spice jars lined up. At first glance all appears normal, but when you take a closer look at the labels you’ll notice something a little unusual. Instead of names like “rosemary” and “parsley” the jars feature monikers like “rosefart” and “parspee.”

In the post Garner explains the “unique” names. “Mom: Will you please make labels for my spices?, 7 year old boy: Yup.” Sounds about right. From her hilarious posts on parenting, it’s clear this mama of three has a pretty good sense of humor and now she can enjoy cooking with a side of laughs.

—Shahrzad Warkentin

Featured photo: Jennifer Garner via Instagram

 

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Pesto Is the Gateway Green (& a Sneaky Hack to Get Kids to Eat Their Veggies)

By The Anti-Cookbook Easy, Thrifty Recipes for Food-Smart Living

If you’re looking for a kitchen utility player that might open the floodgates to green eating, look no further. Pesto is perfect and it goes way beyond pasta. Pesto converts “take out the green stuff” people into green-eating machines—on the daily. Why? Because it’s absurdly delicious, that’s why!

Make it vegan, make it extra lemony, crank up the garlic, hide some spinach up in there, up the protein and anti-inflammatory properties with walnuts. It’s amazing what you can do with a blender and a dream.

Super Easy Pesto Recipe

Measure about 1 cup mixed parsley, basil, and/or arugula (basil is traditional) and about ½ cup of pine nuts (or other nuts). Put in blender with 1 tsp. sea salt, ¼ cup parmesan, 4 tbsp. olive oil, and 1 to 3 minced clove(s) garlic (how much raw garlic one prefers is highly variable).

Here’s some easy ways you can change it up:

  • Leave out the cheese and add lemon juice (2-3 lemons).
  • Add pepper!
  • Use walnuts or cashews or almonds for a slightly different flavor profile.
  • Add some spinach leaves or other vegetables—what happens in the blender stays in the blender.
  • Use a mortar and pestle instead of a blender if you’re feeling fancy.

Once you’re done tinkering with the recipe, it’s time to talk about the ways you can serve that secret sauce. Here we go:

Imagine the Pasta-bilities

It’s tried and true, so there’s no reason to knock it. Extra points for fun-shaped pasta, but you knew that.

Panini Perfection

Regardless of what you put between the bread—turkey, tofu, cheese—it’s going to taste a lot better. Hot or cold, trust us.

Omelette Accelerator

Looks gorgeous, tastes amazing. From bland to bam!

Vigorous Veggies

Put a big spoonful of pesto in a pan. Chop up some veggies into small pieces. The more surface area, the better. Cook them up. All of a sudden, they’re asking for vegetable seconds? Data point!

Better Broth

You probably didn’t realize this, but your homemade flavor-packed pesto can be a tasty cooking broth too. Just add water! Literally. Just. Add. Water. Then use it as you normally would to cook your couscous (or riced cauliflower if you’re gonna be that way about carbs). Try some fresh peas, sliced cherry tomatoes and some lightly crumbled feta on top if you want to show off a little. Or just give the people what you know they’ll eat.

And here’s the thing about pesto, moms and dads: it’s a gateway green. Who knows what they’ll be willing to try next. We see your zucchini and we raise you a Brussels sprout.

The Anti-Cookbook Easy, Thrifty Recipes for Food-Smart Living
Tinybeans Voices Contributor

We're Shelley Onderdonk and Rebecca Bloom. A veterinarian and a lawyer-turned-writer walk into a kitchen… We aren’t chefs and that’s exactly the point. We have a lot to share about food-smart living with our own young-adult children and other people and their children, too. Together, we wrote The Anti-Cookbook: Easy, Thrifty Recipes for Food-Smart Living.

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Baked Turkey Meatballs

by Erin Lem

Turkey-Meatballs

Meat sauce, basil marinara and pesto. There’s only so many ways to dress up (or down) your kids’ favorite pasta dish. Introduce them to what will inevitably become their new favorite addition: baked turkey meatballs. They’ll love the taste (you will too), and you’ll love that the dish is baked and not fried and created in just a few simple steps.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground turkey
1 egg
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 clove garlic, finely diced
1/4 cup shallot or onion, finely diced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon pepper, or to taste

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 400° F. Cover with parchment paper or lightly grease with oil.

2. In a bowl, mix all ingredients together thoroughly with your hands. Roll into about 20 meatballs and place on pan. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes or until cooked through and not pink in the middle.

For more kid-friendly recipes click HERE

Recipe and photo courtesy of Barb at Wishful Chef

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Today Is Teacher Appreciation Day

by rtstephen

 

Daily
 
Today Is Teacher Appreciation Day
Are your pupils dilated yet?
1

Present your teachers with this sweet Teacher Appreciation Certificate
to show how much they really mean to you.
2

From manners to arithmetic, teachers drop wisdom every day. Discover more life lessons in the fun book, If You Ever Want to Bring a Piano to the Beach, Don’t! By Elise Parsley.
3
Make the head of the classroom a gift from the heart.
Here are 9 creative ideas to get you started.

{ Today’s ideas brought to you by Little, Brown and Company }

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Utensils Optional: Best Places to Eat with Your Hands

by rtjamybond

There’s a part of us that never grows up and, for some, that part is the kid who loves to play with her food. We don’t know why, but food just tastes better when you get to touch it before you chew it. So let’s face it: forks and spoons are overrated. We’ve compiled a list of exceptionally tasty restaurants where eating with your hands is not just condoned, but expected. These restaurants make for a very fun, finger-licking good family night out.

Photo: y i v a via Flickr

Brazilian Style Tapas at The Grill from IpanemaThe “Petiscos” at The Grill from Ipanema are bite-sized bits of yumminess that you and the kids will love to pop in your mouth. No utensils needed. Choose from a variety of small plates: fried cod fish croquettes, cubes of sautéed sirloin, spicy sausage slices, crispy fried chicken pieces, herb-basted shrimp, and many more. Order a few plates of small bites and you’ve got one delicious meal.

1858 Columbia Rd., NW (Adams Morgan)
202-986-0757
Online: www.thegrillfromipanema.com

Marrakesh
The first thing you do when you enter Marrakesh is wash your hands, so you’re fully prepared to use them as your main utensil. Then relax and get ready for a seven-course meal that you’ll eat entirely with your hands, while your eyes feast on talented belly dancers. Highlights of the meal include b’stella, a layered pie with chicken, parsley, eggs, nuts and onions topped with cinnamon and sugar. There’s also lamb with almonds and honey, fresh fruit and Moroccan pastries.

2147 P St., NW (Dupont Circle)
202-775-1882
Online: http://www.marrakechrestaurantdc.com

Sticky Fingers Sweets and Eats
In addition to catering local events with very beautiful specialty cakes, Sticky Fingers features some of the tastiest treats in town at its downtown café, and none of them require utensils. Take the kids on a sugar binge with some decadent fingers foods, such as red velvet whoopee pies, cinnamon and walnut sticky buns, and pecan bourbon sandwich cookies. There’s also a full menu of finger-friendly breakfast and lunch plates, including burgers, sandwiches and wraps. The only menu items you might need a fork for are the salads. You decide.

1370 Park Rd., NW (Columbia Heights)
202-299-9700
Online: www.stickyfingersbakery.com

GBD Fried Chicken and Doughnuts
You know that any place specializing in fried chicken and doughnuts is going to be finger-friendly, and GBD (Golden, Brown and Delicious) is definitely that. The chicken comes by the piece or the bucket, or on top of waffles with maple-chicken jus and buttered pecans (yum). You can choose between nine delectable dipping sauces for your chicken tenders – buttermilk ranch, jerk, chipotle bbq, and sweet and sour mumbo, to name a few. And don’t forget the doughnuts. They are baked fresh throughout the day and topped with classic and seasonal glazes.

1323 Connecticut Ave., NW (Dupont Circle)
202-524-5210
Online: www.gbdchickendoughnuts.com

Do you have a favorite restaurant where the kids can (acceptably) eat with their hands? Dish in the comments section below. 

—Jamy Bond

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Eat Breakfast for Dinner WIth This One-Pot Red Flannel Hash

by writerredri

When it comes to eating breakfast for dinner, Red Flannel Hash created by food author, Linda Gassenheimer is everything you would want. She shared with us this recipe that’s a tasty mixture of beef, potatoes, and beets. It’s a New England specialty and turns a beautiful red color (hence the name). Get the full recipe below.

Serves 2 

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon canola oil
3/4 pound red bliss potatoes, unpeeled, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 2 cups)
1 cup sliced red onion
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 cups canned no-salt-added beets, drained and cut into 1/2-inch pieces (not pickled)
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup fat-free, low-sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 pound cooked, low-fat deli roast beef, cut into short 1-inch-wide strips
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Helpful Hints:
Yellow potato or canned potatoes can be substituted for red potatoes.
Look for canned beets that are not pickled.
Minced garlic can be found in the produce section of the market.
A quick way to chop parsley is to snip the leaves from the stalks with a scissors.

Method:
Countdown: Prepare ingredients. Make hash.

1. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the potato and onion and sauté 5 minutes. Add the garlic and beets and stir to combine. Stir the flour into the vegetables.

2. Mix the broth and mustard together and add to the skillet. Lower heat to medium and simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Add the roast beef to warm for 30 seconds in the skillet. Add salt and pepper. Sprinkle with parsley. Serve on 2 dinner plates.

“Reprinted with permission of the American Diabetes Association (2015)”. 

What are your kids’ favorite breakfast for dinner recipes? Will try out this One Pot Dish?

 

This recipe comes from Linda Gassenheimer’s ”Delicious One-Pot Dishes: Quick, Healthy, Diabetes-Friendly Recipes.” This cookbook provides the easiest and quickest ways to create healthy one-pot meals that are packed with flavor. There’s also additional sections on shopping smart and stocking the pantry. Get the book at Amazon or ShopDiabetes.org.

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Threaded Churrasco Steak

by Erin Lem

Ready to fire up your grill? Skip the hamburgers and make this recipe for Churrasco Steak on skewers from the new book, Mr. Food Test Kitchen: Guilt-Free Weeknight Favorites. Published by the American Diabetes Association, this new cookbook features healthy family recipes for diabetic and non-diabetic eaters. Bonus: if you don’t have a grill these skewers an easily be cooked on your stovetop.

Serves 8, 4 skewers per serving

Ingredients:
3/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 cup fresh parsley, stems removed
4 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 pounds well-trimmed boneless beef top sirloin steak, cut into 32 (1/2-inch) strips across the grain
32 (6-inch) skewers

Method:
1. In a food processor or blender, combine oil, lime juice, parsley, garlic, chili powder, salt, and pepper; process until marinade is well blended.

2. Thread one piece of steak onto each skewer. Place skewers in a 9 × 13-inch baking dish and pour marinade over steak; cover and refrigerate 1 hour.

3. Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat and cook steak on skewers 2 to 3 minutes per side, or until desired doneness.

Tip from the Book: These can be cooked on the grill, too. If you are using wooden skewers, just make sure you soak them in water for a few minutes before skewering the meat to prevent them from burning.

Health Information: 
Calories 230, Calories From Fat 130, Total Fat 14.0g, Saturated Fat 3.0g, Trans Fat 0.0g, Cholesterol 40mg, Sodium 210mg, Potassium 430mg, Total Carbohydrates 1g, Fiber 0g, Sugar 0g, Protein 24g, Phosphorus 235mg

Do your kids love eating food on skewers? Tell us below!

With more than 30 million adults and children with diabetes in the United States alone and an additional 1.7 million are newly diagnosed each year diabetes is a disease that touches us all. MR. FOOD TEST KITCHEN: GUILT-FREE WEEKNIGHT FAVORITES will provide your diabetic and non-diabetic eaters with healthful recipes they can make Monday through Friday when they’re short on time but have a family to feed. Available on Amazon.com for $12.

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Stuffed Mushroom Grilled Cheese

by Christal Y.

Ready for all the flavors of delicious stuffed mushrooms packed conveniently between two slices of bread? Whipped up in the kitchen by the food blog, Dessert for Two, this ooey gooey sandwich is not your average grilled cheese panini. Get ready to see this sandwich of healthy greens, mushrooms and melted cheese disappear into hungry tummies in no time at all.

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons oil
2 portobello mushrooms, de-stemmed and de-gilled
2 tablespoons butter, divided use
4 slices bread
¼ cup cream cheese
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup shredded melting cheese (I used gouda)
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
handful of baby spinach
a few sprigs parsley (optional)

Method:
1. First, rub the oil over both of portobellos. Sear them on both sides over medium-high heat in a non-stick skillet. Remove them from the skillet, let cool, and then slice thinly.

2. Next, add the butter to the skillet and toast the first side of the bread in the butter. Flip the bread slices, top two with the cream cheese (evenly divided between two slices), and sprinkle the cream cheese evenly with the garlic powder.

3. To the other two bread slices, sprinkle on the cheese, Parmesan, and spinach–evenly divided between the tough. Divide the sliced mushrooms on top. Add the parsley sprigs, if using.

4. Top the two cream cheese bread slices with the other two slices of bread and grill on both sides until golden brown. Serve immediately.

Do you have any secrets to making the perfect grilled cheese?  

On top of savory treats, Dessert for Two is a sweet blog dedicated to turning those family sized dessert recipes into more petite portions. Learn to make everything from pies to frozen treats for your sweet tooth.

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