Grillmaster

My oldest has never been one for toys. Never into trains, nor dinosaurs, nor super heroes. Instead he’s into everything outdoors (he had a major John Deere obsession that still hasn’t faded). For his birthday, he dreamed of getting his own grill.

Is a mini grill really appropriate for a 7 year old? Time will tell. He is a very mature kid and I’ve been lecturing him non-stop about how he’s only allowed to use his grill when a grown up is RIGHT THERE TO HELP.

Insert nervous-emoji-face.

The entire weekend he was grilling non-stop. First up? Eggs.

Then marshmallows.

Then cheeseburgers for our dinner...

...followed by more marshmallows.

Fortunately we’ve run out of charcoal so he’ll have to take a few days off from grilling. Darn.

In regular-kitchen-cooking news, I tried making a new recipe. As usual, I have no idea what to call it. It started with an extra container of crab meat I had in the fridge (I know, I know- who has random crab meat in their fridge?). I also had some zucchini. And frozen corn. Aaaaand to round us out, some Jiffy corn muffin mix. Let’s make some corn & crab fritters!

Corn & Crab Fritters

1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix

10 oz frozen corn, heated to package instructions

1 large zucchini, shredded, with excess moisture pressed out (just blot a kitchen towel on it)

8 oz crab meat, any liquid drained

2 eggs

1/2 cup olive oil mayonnaise*

1/4 cup corn meal*

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

Nonstick cooking spray (I used butter flavor)

*Depending on how watery your shredded zucchini is, you may need to use less mayo/more cornmeal.

Heat a large griddle to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine dry corn muffin mix, corn, zucchini, crab meat, eggs, salt, and pepper. Add most but not all of the mayo, and add most but not all of the corn meal. If it seems too wet, add a little more corn meal. If it seems too dry, add a little more mayo. If you’re not sure, just cross your fingers and continue, ha! This really is a pretty forgiving recipe and it’ll cook up fine.

Spray the griddle surface with nonstick cooking spray, then working in batches, ladle out the corn/crab mixture into 8 large circles. Cook for a few minutes (my griddle took about 5 minutes), then gently lift up one to see if it’s nice and golden brown. If so, go ahead and flip. Once both sides are deep golden brown, serve!

We really dug these. They're reminiscent of crab cakes but with the added sweetness of the corn. The zucchini is really just a filler here- it adds bulk so you get a good-sized portion while keeping calories under control. To make a fancy-ish meal, serve these with a lean protein such as baked fish or grilled seasoned chicken plus a side veggie.

Per corn crab fritter: 266 calories, 33 grams carbohydrates, 9 grams fat, 11 grams protein, 577 mg sodium

Party party party

Since all my kids and myself have birthdays in the first 8 days of the month, I like to throw one big birthday party (and yes, I am very aware that at some point the kids will demand their own separate parties). It's no secret that I LOVE a theme, so the girls picked "rainbows" and the boys picked Minecraft.

PSA: Balloon arches are one thousand times more difficult than you'd think.

OH YES- three different desserts. I made a strawberry cake with white chocolate frosting for the sisters, apple pie (per his request) for my middle, and rainbow cake with chocolate frosting for my oldest.

Because that wasn't enough sweet for the weekend, we did a small Easter egg hunt for the kids in the morning.

We followed that up with church and stops at both of our parents' homes, where there may have been more Easter eggs.

Now that party party party weekend is over, you ever find yourself wanting sweet, but not like SWEET sweet? I created these breakfast cookies to be something with a bit of sweet but since there's no actual added sugar, they're subtle. Not overwhelming. Not it-hurts-my-teeth-they're-so-sugary. Perfect for if you've had a few Cadbury the day prior. Plus they're easy! I am calling them breakfast cookies but really they could be packed in a lunch box or whipped out for an afternoon snack. Store them in the freezer to keep fresh.

Chocolate Chip Banana Breakfast Cookies

-2 ripe bananas

-2 eggs

-1/2 cup milk (I used unsweetened almond milk but any kind will work)

-1/3 cup plain oats (instant/steel cut/old fashioned- doesn't matter)

-2 cups Kodiak buttermilk pancake mix

-2 tablespoons mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, mash bananas with a fork until smooth-ish. Stir in eggs and milk. Add oats, pancake mix, and chips. Stir until combined, but try to not over-mix.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. I made 12 good-size cookies but you could make yours smaller if you'd like (I had two baking sheets with 6 cookies on each). Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown.

These are cake-like cookies- soft and tender and are best warm so you get melty chocolate in each bite. My kids dug these and I think it's a recipe I'll be making lots of variations on in the future! Freeze any leftovers and microwave ~30 seconds to reheat.

Per cookie: 110 calories, 17 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams fiber, 2 grams fat, 6 grams protein

Easter Prep

OH guess what? My birthday falls on Easter this year! I feel like over the course of, ahem, 30-something years, this has happened a fair amount. Am I mad? Not at all! I love Easter.

I have all the Easter eggs and candy set. Initially I just bought one pack of empty eggs, but then I realized it's pretty lame for each kid to only get three.

Sometimes I can be a fun mom...sometimes.

What do you usually have for Easter dinner? Around here it's typically ham, cheesy potatoes, and a veggie. While cheesy potatoes are delicious, I felt like trying out a new recipe that gives all the vibes of cheesy potatoes, but with a nutritional twist. We're making baked cauliflower. Ranch cauliflower. CHEESY ranch cauliflower, with a creamy sauce made with...cauliflower. You get me?

Cheesy Ranch Cauliflower

-3 cups water

-2 teaspoons Better Than Bouillon or 2 bouillon cubes

-3 12 oz bags fresh cauliflower florets (or two heads of cauliflower, cut into florets)

-4 oz cream cheese

-2 teaspoons ranch dressing mix

-1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

-8 oz sharp cheddar cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium sauce pan, bring water to a boil. Add bouillon and one bag of the cauliflower florets (or 1/3rd of florets if you chopped it yourself). Let simmer over medium high heat for at least 10 minutes. Remove from heat and either get out your food processor to puree that, or be lazier like me and just stick in an immersion blender and go to town 'til it's smooth.

Return pan to heat, turn down to medium heat, and stir in cream cheese. Whisk it until it's melted and smooth. Stir in ranch mix and pepper, then lastly half of the cheddar. Stir until sauce is smooth and cheddar is melted.

If your pot is big enough, you can toss in the remaining two bags of cauliflower, or, just put the cauliflower in the dish in which you're going to bake it- I used a pan that's about 8x10. Either way you do it, mix the florets with that cheesy sauce, cover, and bake for an hour. Also, I just realized that I could've made the sauce in my Le Creuset and put the whole dang thing in the oven. Oof.

I don't add any extra salt to this recipe since bouillon has a fair amount already. If you don't have any bouillon to use, add 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

Remove foil, sprinkle on remaining cheddar, then kick oven up to a low broil. Place the baking dish in the oven and check every minute- when the top is deep golden brown, remove from oven and serve!

Pictured with baked salmon and roasted green beans with tahini.

My kids devoured this. It is an incredibly kid-friendly recipe that feels fancy for some reason, but really it's a snap to put together. Yes it takes awhile in the oven, but that just means you have no excuse for not folding your laundry and giving the bathroom a wipe-down, er, maybe that's just me.

Makes six servings. Per serving: 223 calories, 5 grams carbs, 18 grams fat, 10 grams protein, 473 mg sodium. Compare this with typical au gratin potatoes, where a similar serving is 400 calories and 27 grams of fat.

Consider making these as a side dish on Easter, or really any day of the week. You could easily make this into it's own meal by adding a protein or additional veggies- cheesy chicken broccoli ranch hotdish might be coming to our menu rotation!