The following is a delicious recipe and a picky pointer for involving and encouraging all children to eat. Not only is the following recipe a favourite of all in my family and amongst friends but it pleases even the pickiest of eaters.

Picky Pointer: We wisemommies get our sons to hammer our crackers for the casserole. This increases their interest in the meal as it increases their involvement and investmentJ We give them a baggie filled with crackers, a hammer each, and let them pulverize the crackers needed for the topping of our casserole. Then we let them help us to sprinkle the cheese and crackers on top of the casserole. Not only does the thought of having the crackers on top of the casserole peak their interest in eating the casserole but the fact that they created these crackers, involves them in the meal.

Cheesy Crunchy Chicken Casserole

2-4 shredded cooked chicken breasts

1 (8oz) container of sour cream

1 (8oz) block sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded

1 (10 3/4oz) can chicken-mushroom soup

25 buttery crackers, crushed

Stir together chicken, soup, sour cream and 1 ½ cups cheese, then spoon into a lightly greased baking dish

Combine the remaining cheese and crumbled crackers and sprinkle evenly on top

Bake Casserole at 350F for 30minutes or until bubbly.

*Variations, I use 16oz of cheddar cheese because we love cheese and my son digs the casserole even more this way. We also use closer to 40 crackers because we like the extra crunch on top. I use Ritz crackers. *I’ve also substituted Greek yogurt for the sour cream. It wasn’t bad, but for the first try of this meal, you might want to do sour cream for a real taste comparison.

Banana Muffins: A kids favorite

1/2  cup brown sugar ( white sugar works just as good )

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 cup wheat flour

1/3 cup rye flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 mashed bananas

1 cup whole milk yoghurt

1 large egg

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

In a large bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients such as, flour, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon.

In a small bowl, beat together the bananas, yoghurt, egg and vegetable oil.

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry flour mixture and mix well. Fill muffin cups with the batter and bake for about 20 minutes on 375°.

I like to sprinkle cinnamon-sugar mixture on the batter just before baking, kids love the crunchy top!

This recipe makes 12 regular muffins, or 6 jumbo muffins.

Enjoy:)

'Wisemommies'

This weekend, our two families had a big vegetable and fruit fest. We ate the food used for our pictures in the previous blog post “foods to eat to boost skin’s natural sunscreen”. Kale seems to be a vegetable good for everything from Iron intake to augmenting a natural sunscreen. The following recipe is what we did with our Kale. The Kale really came out crispy, and we felt like we were eating chips rather than a leafy green vegetable.

Baked Kale Chips

• 1 bunch of Kale
• wash, dry, remove stems
• coat with olive oil (1-2 tablespoon(s), give or take)
• sea salt, to taste
• place leaves in a single layer on a baking sheet 
• Bake in oven, 300°F, 20 minutes, until crisp but not turning brown

Even if you can’t get your younger toddlers to eat “baked Kale chips”, you might be able to get your older children to partake in making and eating them. You also might get an added, “you sure are creative honey” from the husbands. We served our baked Kale chips on a plate to our husbands while they were watching some soccer games being played from Germany. They looked at us funny but cleared the plate and were asking for more 10 minutes later.

Let us know what you think or if you were successful with getting your family to enjoy baked Kale chips.

'Wisemommies'