Chicken Alternate Variety: you can swap out the steak for chicken and prepare it the exact same way for chicken tacos, which are also phenomenal.

Our family original steak tacos recipe!

Taco Filling Ingredients:

• A 1 pound flat-iron steak with taco seasoning (recipe below)
• 10-12 oz grated cheddar cheese
• Diced tomatoes
• Shredded lettuce
• Optional: taco sauce and sour cream (technically NOT optional at all in our family, but maybe in yours!)

We’ve tried nearly every cut of meat on the planet for this recipe, and a flat iron steak is by far the best, tastiest option. It is slightly tougher than a regular cut of steak, but the flavor is hard to beat, and since you cut it up into tiny pieces anyway, the toughness is a non-issue. It’s also known as the butlers’ steak in the UK and oyster blade steak down under.

Taco Seasoning Ingredients:

I make this in big batches and keep in handy in a mason jar – it’s like a beautifully better version of the taco seasoning packets you can buy in the store. Bonus points: it’s economical, too! So these amounts will make far more than necessary for this particular recipe, but you can also use it in soups, chili, or other Mexican-inspired dishes:

• 4 Tbsp chili powder
• 3.5 Tbsp paprika
• 3 Tbsp cumin
• 2 Tbsp oregano
• 1.5 Tbsp garlic powder
• 1.5 Tbsp onion salt
• 1 Tbsp onion powder
• 1 tsp ground celery
• 1 Tbsp flour or corn starch
• Pinch of cayenne pepper (or more to taste)

Taco Prep Instructions:

I start prepping the meal with the tortillas because they take the longest.

Now roll out the dough into tortilla rounds. My system:

1. Preheat my nonstick frying pan (no oil necessary) on medium heat
2. Roll out my first tortilla with a rolling pin
3. Place it into the frying pan
4. Roll out my second tortilla – which is just about the perfect time to…
5. Go back and flip the first tortilla in the pan
   (so you know, flip it to the other side when the dough starts to bubble)
6.  The second side cooks faster than the first, so cook the second side for about 60 seconds
7. Place it into a tortilla warmer or a serving bowl and wrap it with a clean, dry towel
8. Put the second tortilla into the frying pan
9. Roll out the third tortilla…
10. Repeat as necessary until they are all done!

I usually try to get my husband to start cooking the steak on the grill right as I start cooking the tortillas, because the timing of having it all done at the same time works out pretty well. But if you’re doing it all yourself, go ahead and throw the meat onto the grill or broiler about now. You’ll have to pay close attention to flip the meat and flip the tortillas so that nothing burns – which is why it’s good to have someone else cook the meat.  Here’s how you do it:

Cook the steak for 3-4 minutes a side until you’ve reached the desired doneness.  Just check it frequently with a meat thermometer or by cutting slightly into the thickest part of the meat to make sure it’s cooked to your liking. What I like about the flat iron steak is that they tend to have varying thickness, so that I can get my nice medium cooked ends while my husband can get his super-rare part from the middle.

Allow the meat to rest for at least 5 minutes before slicing it across the grain, then chopping up the slices into small cubes. You might want to add a little more of the taco seasoning at this point for additional flavor.

To serve: give everyone a tortilla, and let them fill it up however they want. Fold in half, take a bite, let your eyes roll back into your head, and enjoy!

Fresh Baked Tortilla Chips

I hesitate to call these “homemade” tortilla chips, because I purchased the tortillas themselves.  I still feel good about baking them at home.  We’ve done them a few times, and they turn out super tasty and aren’t full of preservatives! Editor’s Note: You could take this idea a step further and make homemade corn tortillas, and then make them into these chips. YUM. As a side note, we make homemade flour tortillas every time we have tacos instead of buying them. The taste difference is SO worth it – they are so much fresher with such a wonderful flavor. This is the exact recipe we use, and I highly recommend it!

What You Need to Make Fresh Tortilla Chips at Home

• Corn tortillas
• Vegetable oil
• Salt

Baked Tortilla Chip Ingredients

Along with the ingredients, you’ll need a baking sheet and a pizza cutter, though a knife will work just as well.

Lightly brush oil onto both sides of the tortillas, stack them and cut into eighths. You could also use a cooking spray to coat the tortillas with oil.

Cut up the tortillas into six or eight wedges.

Lay tortilla wedges out on a cookie sheet and sprinkle with salt.

A little kitchen helper is always handy to have around.

Bake the tortilla chips at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes.

Here's your "homemade" tortilla chips!

For a yummy kid-friendly treat, make these with our watermelon salsa recipe – a surprisingly not-too-sweet salsa that tastes wonderfully light, fresh and delish.

Have a fun lunch with your kids by making their sandwiches into kebabs instead!

What You Need to Make Sandwich Kebabs

Yummy and fun lunch idea for kids

• Bread
• Lunch meat
• Cheese
• Veggies
• Cookie cutters (small)
• Skewers
• Knife

Use the cookie cutters to cut your bread into cute little shapes.

You can cut shapes out of the cheese, too, although we just used the knife to cut ours into squares. Other ideas: cut shapes from cucumbers, carrots, or hard boiled eggs.

Little cookies cutters can make even a simple lunch more fun!

If you don’t have any small cookie cutters on hand, you can cut the shapes with a knife. Kids could cut their own shapes out of soft cheeses with a safe butter knife. You can also use a small drinking glass to cut circles, or hunt around the kitchen to see if you have any items that can pass for a cookie cutter, like the lids of decorative tins or odd shaped drinking glasses.

Alternate your sandwich fixin's onto your skewers. Voila! Sandwich kebabs!

Homemade graham crackers recipe that your kids will gobble up!

I didn’t have all the ingredients in the recipe I found, so I adapted it to what I had in the kitchen. You could easily swap out the rye flour for whole wheat flour if you don’t have rye flour on hand.

How to Make Homemade Graham Crackers with Cinnamon & Honey

Ingredients:

1. 1 1/4 cup all purpose (preferably unbleached) flour
2. 1/2 cup cornmeal
3. 1/2 cup rye or whole wheat flour
4. 1/2 tsp salt
5. 1/4 tsp baking soda
6. 1/4 tsp baking powder
7. 2 tsp cinnamon, plus more for sprinkling on top
8. 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
9. 3 Tbsp shortening (like Crisco)
10. 4 Tbsp butter, softened but NOT melted
11. 1/4 cup honey
12. 1/4 cup milk
13. 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
14. Sugar for sprinkling on top

To prep the dough:

Mix the first 8 ingredients together in a bowl.

Using a pastry cutter (or a food processor), combine the butter and shortening with the dry ingredients until they are well incorporated with no huge lumps.

Add the honey, milk and vanilla and blend with a hand mixer (or food processor!) until the dough comes together to form a ball.

Form the dough into 2 or 3 small flat rectangles, wrap in plastic, and chill them for at least one hour. I like to form them into rectangles now so that it is easy to roll out the dough in a rectangular shape later. Less wasted dough!

To roll, cut and bake:

Preheat the oven to 350°. Mix 1/2 cup sugar with a tablespoon of  cinnamon and set aside.

Take out one package and roll it out onto a well-floured  sheet of waxed paper. You could roll it out directly onto your counter, but the dough is somewhat fragile, and it’s easier to work with and remove this way.

Roll it to slightly less than 1/4 of an inch thick. After a little experimentation, we found that anything thinner burnt too easily and got annoyingly crispy.

Use a ruler and a zig-zag pastry cutter or pizza cutter to cut the dough into squares or rectangles as shown in the photo at the top of the page.

Use a pastry brush to wet the tops of the crackers with some water, and sprinkle generously with the cinnamon sugar mixture. The crackers themselves aren’t very sweet, so the amount you use on top will determine how sweet they taste when finished.

Prick holes in the crackers with a fork to keep them from puffing while cooking, then use a spatula to transfer them to your cookie sheet.

Bake for 12 minutes, or until the edges just barely get brown.

Serving homemade graham crackers, a super healthy kids snack made from whole grains!

You can freeze the rest of the dough for up to 6 months, or leave it in the fridge for up to two days for a second batch to cook later. Or now. You can definitely cook more now. And if your kids eat them up like my son did, your entire batch will be gone in about 24 hours!

When I mentioned this toddler craft idea by saying Lucy and I were painting bread, my friends' first response was "why?" Why? Because it makes snack time more fun!

I will admit that it’s harder to find kids’ crafts that get my toddler engaged than it is to find good ones for her pre-school-aged sister.  Lucy just doesn’t have the dexterity or attention span for a lot of kids crafts.  Bread painting, however, was interesting enough for her to enjoy and short enough for her to…not stop enjoying, I guess.  I love how you can have this craft lead right into snack time, too!

What You Need for Toddler Bread Painting

• Milk
• Bread
• Food coloring
• Bowls/containers
• Paint brushes

Bread Painting Kids Craft Supplies

Pour a small amount of milk into a container and add a couple of drops of food coloring. There's no need to be overly precise about it. After all, it's a craft for toddlers, and they're not judgmental about stuff like that. :-)

Mix your milk and food coloring for edible paint!

Let your little Picasso or O'Keefe go! This toddler craft doesn't expect more from them than they can do, and look how fun it is!

Once we had all the colors we wanted, I put the bread in the toaster, and she got to eat her creation.  (With some peanut butter added for good measure…and a source of protein.)

What I Learned the Hard Way:  You may not want to make too much edible “paint.”  Our bread ended up so soggy in the middle that I had to toast it extra long in an attempt to dry it out before serving it.

Fun, healthy, and delicious. What's not to like about making snacks into crafts?

Recently, I’ve been having a lot of fun combining snack time and craft time.  Because, hey, what’s more fun than snacks and crafts, right?!  It’s been fun turning our snacks into kids’ crafts.  I really like the way these apple slice race cars turned out.  I can’t take credit for this idea, though, as that goes to Cristi from Bent on Better Lunches.  I did think I was being pretty clever when I used string cheese for the wheels, although, it really didn’t look as cute as the grapes.

What You Need to Make Race Car Apple Snacks

• Apple
• Grapes and/or String Cheese
• Toothpicks

Fun Racecar Snack Craft Supplies

Stick two toothpicks through each of your apple slices.

Cut your grapes in half to make wheels for your race car.

We also sliced some string cheese to make tires for our race car snack.

Affix your wheels to the toothpicks, and you've got an awesome kids' craft that they can eat!

Healthy Oreo "cookies and cream" low sugar recipe made with yogurt.

This healthy Oreo ice cream is a great alternative to traditional ice cream and is so much easier to make. Everything is placed in a bowl and mixed together then stored in the freezer for a few hours, making it a great recipe for the kids to help out with. With no whipped cream and barely any sugar, this healthy option is so much better for you and your family than regular ice cream.

I know there are some healthy ice cream recipes floating around on the internet that are more like sorbets. That’s great if that’s what you’re looking for, but it’s terrible if you’re looking for a thick and creamy dessert. This healthy Oreo ice cream stays true to its name with a wonderfully thick and creamy texture which is almost identical to ice cream.

This recipe makes two child-sized portions, but it can easily be adapted to feed as many or as few people as you need. Don’t worry if you make too much – you can store the leftovers in the freezer for up to three months (if they last that long!)

Oreo Ice Cream Ingredients

Healthy Oreo Ice Cream Ingredients

½ cup Greek yoghurt

2 tablespoons light cream cheese

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon sugar

½ tablespoon hot chocolate powder

2 Oreos

Recipe Instructions

First you have to crush the Oreos. This can be done with a food processor, or by placing the Oreos inside a plastic bag and crushing them with a rolling pin. Don’t process or crush for too long – a mixture of small crumbs and medium-sized chunks is best for this recipe.

Place all the ingredients together in a bowl with the Oreo crumbs and mix until well incorporated. You don’t need a mixer for this stage – simply stir everything together with a spoon.

Scoop the ice cream into a container suitable for freezing and store in the freezer for at least 3 hours.

Remove from the freezer 5 minutes before serving to allow the ice cream to warm up a bit so you can scoop it out easily.

How to Make a Shark Cake

I made this shark birthday cake for my daughter waaayyyy back in 2009 – and when I realized it was Shark Week this week, I remembered that I had never posted about it! This cake is fairly easy to make, but requires one specialized pan (that you will be able to use for a ton of other occasions) – a large cupcake cake pan:

Large Cupcake Cake Pan

For evidence as to how versatile this cake pan is, you can see this black cat Halloween cake I made for my other daughter’s birthday from the same cupcake cake mold:

Halloween Party Cat Cake

How to Make a Shark Cake

You’ll need:

• 1 box of cake mix (or your favorite cake recipe)
• 2 cans of frosting (or your favorite white frosting recipe)
• Blue and green food coloring
• 1 bag of chocolate chips
• Mini marshmallows for the teeth
• Black decorator’s icing

First, bake your cake in both the top and bottom parts of the cupcake cake pan, and allow to cool completely. Plus, make your white frosting if you aren’t using store bought frosting.

Attach the top of the cupcake to the bottom of the cupcake with a layer of frosting, the same way you would make a regular double-layer cake.

Set aside a small portion of the frosting to make the eyes, and dye the rest of the frosting with the blue and green food coloring to make the light turquoise blue color.

Frost the entire cupcake – top and bottom – with the turquoise frosting.

Now put the cake in the fridge for a couple of hours to get the frosting to set up well.

Take the cake out and use some Saran/cling wrap to press down on all parts of the frosting all over the cake. This will give the frosting that glossy smooth finish to look like shark skin – this was my way of trying to get the look of fondant without messing with fondant!

Add the green food coloring to a tiny bit of frosting to make the eyes.

Now you will need to ‘draw’ the shark face – use the photos above and below as a guide for placement

• Use white frosting to make two half circles for eyes.
• Use green frosting to make the eye iris
• Use black icing to make the eye pupils, mean looking eyebrows, nostril holes, and the large “triangle” for the mouth:

Here's the shark cake mouth

To make the shark teeth, cut up mini marshmallows diagonally to make the pointy tooth shapes, like this, and then place them around the mouth as shown.

Cutting mini marshmallows to make shark teeth

To make the shark fin, melt some chocolate chips in the microwave – usually just 1-2 minutes will do the trick. Put it into a plastic sandwich or ziplock bag and cut off a corner to make a simple cake decorating bag. Pipe the melted chocolate into the shape of a shark fin onto a piece of foil. Let it cool completely until it is solid again.

Making the shark fin out of melted chocolate

Since the fin is a bit fragile, you’ll want to pre-cut a slit in the cake and push the fin into the opening:

Attaching the fin to the shark cake

I found that this held the fin well, but looked a little sloppy. So I simply covered up the mess with a line of more black icing around the base of the fin.

And that’s it!

Aren't you just freaking out right about now?!

I’m sort of in love with Nutella, so you can bet that when I came across this recipe, I was all over it!  My four-year-old and I made these during her little sister’s nap the other afternoon.  Yummy stuff.

What You Need to Make Nutella Cookies

• 1 cup Nutella
• 1 cup flour
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup sugar

Seriously, you don't need the sugar!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and put your Nutella, egg, and flour in a mixing bowl.

The Nutella cookie ingredients never really got to the point of being like dough. Instead, after running them through the mixer for about a minute, it was more like a shortbread dough.

Roll the Nutella dough into 1" balls, place on a cookie sheet, and flatten. Each of our batches made about 30 cookies.

 

Bake your Nutella cookies for about 8 minutes. They come out looking a lot like ginger snaps but are softer.

What I Learned the Hard Way: The selflessness of motherhood apparently extends to letting someone else lick the Nutella off the spatula…

Mmm, Nutella.

A beautiful red, white, and blue dessert that kids can make. (It's delicious, too!)

We were recently invited to a friend’s house for dinner, and I wanted to take something along for dessert.  This trifle recipe is so easy, that the littlest kiddos can help make it!

Related Pages:Healthy Homemade Dippin’ Dots, 20 Easy Summer Recipes Kids Will Love

What You Need to Make a Red, White and Blue Berry Trifle:

• Angel food cake
• Berries
• Vanilla pudding
• Whipped topping

Pretty much everything about this "recipe" is instant.

Follow the directions on the box to make instant vanilla pudding.

Tear the angel food cake into pieces and arrange enough of them to cover the bottom of your bowl.

Cover the angel food cake with a layer of vanilla pudding.

Add a layer of berries to your trifle.

Now, add another layer of angel food cake, followed by another layer of pudding, and then a top layer of berries.

Scoop to serve with some whipped topping!