CHEF is proud to be a finalist for the 5th Annual Philanthropitch San Antonio! Vote for our organization during the week of May 9th – 15th to help us drive healthy eating in San Antonio.
It can feel overwhelming if you have experienced a power outage and are not sure what to cook for your family. Here are some simple recipes your family can make together with basic pantry staples.
Black Bean Salsa: This bright and flavorful recipe can be made with fresh or canned ingredients. Try subbing canned peppers or green chiles if you don’t have fresh ingredients.
Greek Chickpea Salad: Using canned chickpeas, olives, tomatoes, and dried herbs, you can easily make a delicious recipe without having to use your stove.
Tostadas Deliciosas: Make this crowd pleaser using canned nonfat refried beans and your favorite toppings. Canned foods are pre-cooked and do not need to be heated.
Shirazi Salad:This Persian inspired salad combines canned chickpeas, cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion, and dried herbs to create a flavorful and filling recipe.
Confetti Corn: Treat your tastebuds to a flavorful fiesta with our Confetti Corn! If you don’t have some of the ingredients that must be kept cold such as cilantro or green onions, swap them out with shelf stable vegetables such as red onion and jalapeno. You can used canned, frozen, or fresh corn.
Nutrient-Packed Snacks:
Trail Mix: This quick and easy recipe is fun to make together as a family. Each member of your family can add the ingredients they like to their mason jar or bag.
Salsa Fresca: Skip the blender and make this delicious, fresh salsa by finely dicing each ingredient.
Fruit Salad:Use up any of the remaining fresh, canned, or frozen fruit you have on-hand to create this simple and colorful recipe.
Oatmeal Raisin Energy Bites:These simple no-bake energy bites are a fun and easy recipe you can make with your kids!
Other Meal and Snack Ideas:
Canned chicken salad or tuna with avocado on crackers
Canned beans with pre-cooked rice or quinoa (microwave rice works too!)
Tuna wrap made from a tortilla, tuna, and lettuce or other vegetables
Sandwiches: tuna salad, peanut butter and jelly, chicken salad
Nothing says ‘I love you’ like making a delicious dinner for your family, so this Valentine’s Day, skip the busy restaurant and opt for a healthy home-cooked meal! Try including the entire family in the cooking process to bond and build confidence in the kitchen. From chopping to washing produce to setting the table, there’s a job for everyone!
Working together in the kitchen is also a great way to get children excited about eating healthier and to expand their taste preferences. If they help you pick out the recipes and have a hand in preparing the meal, children may be more likely to try foods they wouldn’t normally be interested in.
We’ve put together a menu that’s kid-friendly and will be sure to steal your Valentine’s heart! Along with each recipe, we’ve added some tips on how you can include the little members of your family in the kitchen. Before you get started, make sure to highlight the importance of food safety with your children by properly washing hands before, during, and after touching raw and ready-to-eat ingredients.
The first item on our menu is Broccoli, Avocado, and Quinoa Salad. While it will serve as our side dish, it can also be an entrée if there are any vegans or vegetarians in the family. This filling yet light recipe is loaded with nutrients and fresh flavors. The combination of quinoa and pumpkin seeds makes this recipe an easy way to include more plant-based protein into your diet. The addition of avocado will give you a boost of heart-healthy fats and the broccoli adds fiber, calcium, and iron.
Tips for including your children in the cooking process:
-Show them how to wash fresh produce.
-Let them help prepare an ice bath for blanching.
-Teach them how to properly measure ingredients.
-Allow them to mix the ingredients.
-Use a mason jar when mixing the dressing. Your child will have fun shaking the jar to combine the flavors!
-If they are old enough or if you own a kid-friendly, plastic knife, teach them age-appropriate knife skills and the “claw” technique to keep fingers and hands safe. Our knife safety video is a great place to start! https://youtu.be/BL4whr85kCc
Our main dish is Italian Herb-Crusted Chicken. This protein-rich recipe relies on dried herbs rather than extra salt to add flavor the chicken. If you don’t have an Italian herb blend at home, you can make your own by combining dried herbs such as oregano, basil, parsley, thyme, or rosemary. Additionally, if anyone in your family has a dairy allergy, you can skip the parmesan cheese.
Tips for including your children in the cooking process:
-Show them how to measure out the different ingredients for the herb breading.
-Review food safety and discuss the importance of keeping raw meat separate from fresh produce. You can learn more in our food safety video: https://youtu.be/jxtm_0buR-k
-Try greasing and lining the baking sheet.
-Teach them how to clean their work area.
-Demonstrate the safe use of an oven and stove top for baking, roasting, toasting, and sautéing.
-Practice using an oven timer.
To satisfy your sweet tooth, we’ll round off our menu with Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Bark. Desserts don’t have to be loaded with sugar to be delicious. We can make creative swaps in our recipes to decrease the amount of added sugar but maximize the flavor. Our sweet treat will use dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate, which contains more sugar. We’ll combine spices, extracts, and dried fruit to add natural sweetness to the recipe. We promise, you won’t even miss the extra sugar!
Tips for including your children in the cooking process:
-Help them understand the basic principles of reading and following an age appropriate recipe.
-Practice using a spatula to remove ingredients from a bowl.
-Show them how to safely use a grater or a micro-plane.
-Review the basic science of cooking and how common ingredients change during cooking (for example, the chocolate melts and the water begins to boil when we add heat).
-Practice hand skills and coordination of carrying, transferring, and pouring of ingredients.
Keep in mind that recipes are just guidelines. We encourage you to experiment with new flavors and make these recipes your own. You can swap out any ingredients based off your family’s taste preferences or with what you have in the kitchen. Don’t have broccoli? You can use green beans, squash, bell pepper, or any other vegetables you have on-hand. Frozen vegetables are great options too and can be just as nutritious as fresh produce. Don’t care for apricots? Use dried cranberries instead! Can’t find hazelnuts at the store? Try chopped almonds!
We hope you enjoy this Valentine’s dinner! For more healthy recipes and inspiration, check out chefsa.org/recipes.
Forget about Valentine’s Day, we’ve got Galentine’s Day on the calendar! Galentine’s Day, which takes place on February 13th, is a day to honor and show appreciation for the friendships in your life. Strong friendships help us build confidence, give us a sense of community, and provide us with support through life’s ups and downs.
What began as a made-up holiday to celebrate female friendships on the television show, Parks and Recreation, Galentine’s Day has become a fun way for friends to get together and show each other how much they mean to each other. This celebration doesn’t have to be limited to gal pals, you can enjoy the day with any of the platonic friends in your life!
This year, celebrate safely with a socially distanced brunch or plan a Zoom call. We’ve got delicious and healthy recipes to take your menu to the next level.*Giggles and gossip not included.
We’ll start off with Banana Kale Muffins. These may look like an ordinary breakfast item, but these delicious muffins pack a nutritional punch! Instead of regular flour, this recipe combines oat flour and wheat flour, both of which contain fiber and can help you digest your meal more easily. We’ll also use a combination of spices and extracts, such as cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla, to help naturally sweeten the recipe without the extra added sugar. The addition of kale is another thing that makes these muffins stand out. Kale is a nutrient powerhouse and is packed with vitamins and minerals such as vitamins A, C, and K, folate (a B vitamin key for brain development), zinc, and calcium. You may be nervous about adding kale to muffins but trust us, with all the other flavorful ingredients, you won’t even be able to taste it!
Next up, we’ll make a Vegetable and Cheese Frittata. This dish is full of colorful vegetables such as spinach, broccoli, tomato, and bell pepper. Did you know that each color of fruits and vegetables contains different nutrients? Green produce like the spinach and broccoli we’re using, gives us vitamins K & E, iron, and B vitamins. These nutrients help us with everything form protecting the body’s cells and tissues, to helping carry oxygen throughout our body, to even helping our body turn food into energy. Red produce, like our tomato and bell pepper, contain vitamin A which contributes to eye health and vitamin C which helps our immune system fight off infections. Eggs and cheese will round off this dish to add protein and calcium.
Frittata can be a little tricky to follow our tips to make the perfect frittata every time!
Make sure you use the right egg to pan ratio. Thin frittatas can quickly overcook. For a 12 inch skillet, use 12 eggs. For a 9 inch skillet, you can use 8 or 9.
Make sure you use an oven-friendly pan. We’ll need to put the pan in the oven to make sure the inside is fully cooked and to get the perfect golden color on top. Using a pan with plastic will cause it to melt under high temperatures.
Keep an eye on your frittata while it’s in the oven. We don’t want it to over cook and become dry.
Mix it up! Use whatever vegetables you have on hand in your frittata. Exploring new flavor combinations is part of the fun of cooking!
The last dish to round out our menu is going to be Fruit Salad. This mix and match recipe can be easily customized based off of your taste preferences and what’s in-season in your area. Simply chop up your favorite fresh fruits, add some delicious herbs such as mint or basil, and add a drizzle of honey or agave.
We hope you enjoy these recipes and celebrate the amazing friendships in your life this Galentine’s Day! For even more tasty and healthy breakfast recipes, visit chefsa.org/recipes.
