We recently posted about Healthy, Fun Lunches here on BBA. I’m always searching for creative ways to feed a kid, since I have a picky preschooler who is more of a grazer than a sit-down-and-eat-a-meal kind of child.

Here’s another great post that my friend Leslie came across while blog hopping. It’s called Kid Won’t Eat? This Works for Me! from Cooking on Clover Lane. She offers lots of other great recipes with beautiful pictures to accompany them. Check out all the labels in the right column to jump to recipes titles that look like they will work for your family.

I was introduced to it by a friend who kept talking about these amazing meals she was cooking every night. She has used Relish! for a few months and loves the service for her family. She follows it faithfully and loves going to the grocery only once a week with her organized grocery list.

I, on the other hand, was not as succesful with my venture into menu planning with Relish! The concept is really good and it helped me to realize how important it is to meal plan, something that I’ve always wanted to do, but never got around to doing. The Relish! website is also very organized and actually encourages you to choose new recipes for your family which is great. I just think I need to stick with more recipes I know. I’ve realized that I’m not that adventurous when it comes to new recipes and foods and my husband isn’t either. We won’t even get started on our VERY picky three-year-old.

My first mistake was taking my three year old to the grocery with me for my first shopping trip. For the first trip, it took more thought than my usual grocery trip, because I was buying things I don’t normally buy. Throwing an impatient three-year-old into the mix didn’t help.

On the way home, I realized how great it was to know that I had all the ingredients I needed for five meals! Sometimes I come home from the grocery and still think, what did I buy that I can throw together for a meal? I LOVED having all the ingredients for the meals I selected, but I also wondered each day if that night’s meal would be a success or a failure and we’d have to order pizza.

I am still considering using Relish! for a meal or two a week in conjunction with some of my other standard recipes. I hope to get better at meal planning. In the next few days, I’ll be posting a meal planning spreadsheet here on BBA that I found recently while blog hopping.

I’d still suggest checking Relish! out for yourself, because I think it can be great for some families. Let us know if there are any menu planning methods or services that work for you.

We’re giving away a ONE YEAR SUBSCRIPTION TO RELISH! along with a gift from Crate and Barrel to one lucky BBA reader. See the details at the end of this post.

A fellow baby blog addict and friend, Danielle, kept updating her facebook status with amazing dinners she was cooking for her family. One day it was, “Danielle is cooking Deconstructed Lasagna with Mushrooms, Spinach and Turkey Italian Sausage.” Another day was “Almond Crusted Chicken Fingers with Honey Mustard Sauce” and yet another was “Peanut Noodles and Sesame Asparagus”. YUM! You should see the comments she gets. Everyone wants to move in with her.

I thought she needed to start a blog with all these recipes, but she confessed that the secret to her amazing dinners is a menu planning service called relish! at relishrelish.com. When I asked how she likes it, she said, “We are still doing it and we love it! The food is always soooo good. I am obsessed with a single weekly shopping trip with an organized list. I think you will love it.”

Relish! touts itself as putting an end to agonizing trips to the grocery store and 5:00 stare-downs with the fridge…something I’m all too familiar with. You choose your weekly recipes (you pick five out of fifteen choices), the grocery list is tabulated, shop once a week and have all of the ingredients needed for five meals.

There’s even a Dime and Dash category offering menus that are easier on the wallet, kid-friendly options, low cal and vegetarian. They also offer a gluten-free site (gfreecuisine.com). A 3-month subscription is $21.00, 6 months is $35.70 and 1 year is $58.80. That’s as little as 16 cents per day.

We are trying out Relish! in our own household, so I’ll give you an update in the next couple of weeks to let you know how its working for our family.
Here’s how to enter our giveaway for a 1-Year Relish! Subscription plus a gift from Crate and Barrel:

1) Go to the Relish!

2) Earn one entry by leaving a comment on this post telling us what you like best about the service after visiting their site.

3) Earn one extra entry by becoming a BBA Follower in our left column and letting us know in a separate comment. If you are already a follower, you can still earn an extra entry by just letting us know in a separate comment. Make sure we have your contact info (email or blog address) in your blogger profile or comment itself, so we can contact you if you win.

4) This giveaway ends: Thursday, 2/26 at 8:00 PM ET. We’ll select a random winner then post their name here on BBA and email them after the contest ends. Good luck!

Cooking with a Baby On Your Hip

Francinne Cascio Lawrence does a great job of making the book a fun, easy read that has eight quick recipes mixed in. It has adorable illustration on the cover and throughout making it a fun addition to a baby shower gift or a great “happy” for the new mom who is having a bad day. It’s just $12.95 and you can buy it through Baby On Your Hips’ online shopping cart.

Francinne says that some of her greatest pleasures have come while raising three spirited and diverse young women who grew from being on her hip to hip all on their own.

She is giving all of you a sneak peek at one of the book’s recipes:

Angel Pasta Nirvana

While your little angel is napping, sear a couple of chicken breasts and cut them into cubes. They will keep nicely in the refrigerator until you’re ready to prepare the rest of the dish. If you prefer to go vegetarian, chop up a few of your favorite fresh vegetables in place of the chicken. Some of my favorites for this recipe are zucchini, squash, and carrots.

As dinner time approaches and you have found another break from parent duty, melt the ½ cup butter in a skillet. Add the chicken or veggies and sauté them along with the mushrooms onions and garlic. When your cherub takes wing to for the night, you’ll be just minutes away from experiencing Angel Pasta Nirvana!

Ingredients
10 oz angel hair pasta
¼ c olive oil
½ c butter or margarine
4 large cloves garlic
1 medium onion
½ c sweet red bell pepper
¼ c dried parsley flakes
½ c dry white wine
8 medium mushrooms; sliced, sautéed
½ c Parmesan Cheese
8 ounces of poultry or 2 cups of fresh mixed vegetables depending on your preference.

Instructions
1. Cook pasta according to package directions.
2. Drain and toss with olive oil.
3. Melt butter in skillet.
4. Add garlic, onion, and mushrooms and sauté until onion is tender. Either fresh vegetables or chicken may be added here to make a rich medley of ingredients.
5. Add sweet pepper, parsley flakes, and white wine.
6. Pour mixture over pasta and toss until blended. Add chicken and cheese.
7. Toss and serve immediately.

Serves 4

Shrimp or Crawfish Opelousas

1 lb. shrimp or crawfish, peeled
1 medium onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
onion tops & parsley to taste
1 1/2 cups rice, washed
1 can beef broth
1 can sliced mushrooms, drained
1/2 stick margarine
season to taste

Put all ingredients into a rice cooker and mix. Cook as you would be cooking rice about 20-25 mintues. Do not open and stir.

*I tweaked the recipe just a bit. I only added 1/2 of a bell pepper and did not add the mushrooms, because they are not a favorite in our house.

**Like Adrienne said in the comments, it’s kind of like a jambalaya.

1 – 32 oz. pkg. Shredded frozen potatoes
½ stick melted butter (4 Tbs)
1 can cream of chicken soup
12 oz. grated American cheese
1 – 8 oz. carton sour cream
1 tsp. salt
½ small onion, chopped
2 c. crushed cornflakes
½ stick melted butter (4 Tbs)

Mix ½ stick melted butter, cream of chicken soup, cheese, sour cream, salt and onion together in a large bowl. Pour over shredded potatoes in a 9″x13″ baking dish. Spread crushed cornflakes over mixture and drizzle with ½ stick melted butter. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, uncovered. Serves 12.

For a lower fat version, use low fat or fat free soup, cheese and sour cream.

For more recipes from Baby Blog Addict, click here and scroll through.

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 envelope Good Seasons Italian Salad Dressing & Recipe Mix
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (about 2 lbs.)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix cheese, salad dressing mix and garlic powder.

2. Moisten chicken with water; coat with cheese mixture. Place in shallow baking pan.

3. Bake 20-25 minutes or until chicken is cooked through (170 degrees).

Jazz it up: For a golden appearance, after chicken is cooked through set oven to broil. Place 6 inches from heat source. Broil 2-4 minutes or until chicken is golden brown.

Prep: 5 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes

Click here then scroll down for more recipes from Baby Blog Addict.

We featured a recipe for Pumpkin Pancakes a while back, but in honor of Thanksgiving, here it is again. I actually think pumpkin pancakes are better than regular pancakes, because they taste so moist. My family has already eaten them twice this week and we’ll have them again tomorrow morning.

1/2 cup canned 100% pure pumpkin
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 cup milk
2 cups all purpose baking mix (like Jiffy or Bisquick)
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (I leave out the spice)

1. In a bowl, mix together the baking mix, sugar and pumpkin pie spice (optional).

2. In another bowl, mix together the pumpkin, eggs, oil and milk.

3. Add flour mixture all at once. Stir just until blended.

4. Coat a griddle/skillet with a spray of canola oil. Pour 1/4 cup batter for each pancake.

5. Over medium high heat, cook pancakes until golden brown, turning to cook second sides when pancakes have a bubbly surfaces and slightly dry edges.

Yield: 10 pancakes.

INGREDIENTS

1 pound shredded, cooked chicken or 1 pound raw chicken, shredded halfway through
1 (15 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, mashed
1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce
1 medium onion, chopped
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups water
1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 (10 ounce) package frozen corn
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

Top with shredded mexican cheese, green onions, sour cream & tortilla chips

DIRECTIONS

2. To serve, top each bowl of soup with shredded cheese, green onions, sour cream and crushed tortilla chips.

Quick tips:

• Try tossing in two or three raw chicken breasts and shredding halfway through instead of going through the trouble of cooking the chicken first.
• Replace 2 cups of water with an extra can of broth.
• Add a can of black beans.
• I like to freeze individual servings of the leftovers for quick meals.
• Double the recipe so you can freeze even more leftovers.