Cooking with Kids, Recipes, Dining Out with Kids, Takeout Food, Vegetables, Meal Planning

Marin Mommies presents this week's guest recipe from Nicole Cibellis, Marin mom and author of the blog A Family that Eats Together, where she shares meal plans and recipes that will please foodies and children alike. Nicole is also the creator of the new Little Froglet line of children's activewear.

Nicole's meal plan for this week features Irish lamb stew, beef stir fry with snow peas, penne ai peperoni, Asian lettuce cups, and this easy quiche with spinach, pancetta and shallots.

My mom always made quiche for a quick lunch or dinner when she had very little in the house to make. I found myself in that situation this weekend so I made my own version. This is a quick and easy recipe. As a side, I prefer a lettuce and baby arugula salad with a French vinaigrette (recipe included).

A few weeks ago, we visited the Petaluma Seed Bank to pick out our seeds for this year's vegetable garden. After last year's experience with really slow-growing seedlings, we decided to be a little smarter about how we did things this season.

Last year's garden was hit-and-miss, mainly due to the cooler-than-usual weather we experienced here in Northern California. The hits were our tomatoes—we had tons of them, and the vines kept producing well into December! Sadly, our squash plants never really got going, and only produced a few fruits. What we had was good, but there wasn't very much. The peppers that didn't get destroyed by cutworms early on didn't produce that well, either. Hopefully this season will be a little warmer and we'll have better results.

Our first task was to start the tomato and pepper seeds indoors. Last year we used egg cartons. They worked OK, but our seedlings took a long time to grow, and apparently the egg carton cups aren't deep enough to allow for proper root development. This time we picked up a reusable and recyclable plastic seed-starting container from the Seed Bank. It has 72 cups, so we have room for plenty of seedlings, and the whole thing fits into a neat drip tray to keep things neat.

Marin Mommies presents this week's guest recipe from Nicole Cibellis, Marin mom and author of the blog A Family that Eats Together, where she shares meal plans and recipes that will please foodies and children alike. Nicole is also the creator of the new Little Froglet line of children's activewear.

Nicole's meal plan for this week features baked ginger chicken, beef bulgogi with pear dipping sauce, curried cream of tomato soup, broccoli rabe pesto with orechiette, and this easy and delicious Spanish-style roasted chicken.

This is super quick and easy recipe in which you throw everything into the baking dish and let it cook for 1 hour. The result is a terrific stress free dinner the whole family will love.

Servings: 4
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour

Marin Mommies presents this week's guest recipe from Nicole Cibellis, Marin mom and author of the blog A Family that Eats Together, where she shares meal plans and recipes that will please foodies and children alike. Nicole is also the creator of the new Little Froglet line of children's activewear.

Nicole's meal plan for this week features slow cooker Moroccan brisket with red onions, broccoli rabe pesto with orechiette, kheema mattar curry, Guiness and onion soup with Irish cheddar croutons, and this easy chicken cacciatore with red pepper sauce..

This is a quick and easy recipe that the kids will love. The peppers make the sauce sweet which is a nice addition to cacciatore. What I love about it is how easy it is to make it. I let the chicken poach in the sauce so it is not only healthy but it makes the chicken super juicy with little effort on my part. I serve my cacciatore with spaghetti but any pasta will do. This recipe gets better as left-over’s. I added some peas to it for our lunch today and it was a hit!

I'm always looking for healthy but tasty snacks for the kids' lunch boxes or for after school. My daughter brought this oatmeal muffin recipe home from preschool last spring and it's been a hit in our house ever since. This recipe is easy enough that children can help out in nearly every stage (let mom or dad take them in and out of the oven, though).

With whole-grain oats and raisins, these muffins are tasty and kid-friendly, but full of nutrition and fiber. You can also add chopped walnuts or substitute dried cranberries for the raisins. Be creative!

You can make these as either full-sized or mini muffins. Mini muffins are a real hit with the kids, and they're the perfect size for school lunches, after-school snacks, or for play group treats. We often bring these for school class parties, too.

Lemon bars have to be one of my all time favorite desserts. I usually reserve lemon bars for special occasions, because they are so sweet and rich. They are great for a special treat, party or a school event.

The other day, a friend gave me a big bag of Meyer lemons from her tree and mentioned that they make spectacular lemon bars. If you're not familiar with Meyer lemons, they're a seasonal citrus fruit that's similar to the regular Eureka lemons that you find in the grocery store, but with a thinner peel and sweeter and more aromatic. That weekend, I made a big batch of lemon bars from the freshly picked lemons. They were truly fantastic, with an amazing citrus flavor that you simply won't get from grocery store lemons. If you don't have a Meyer lemon tree yourself (or have a friend who does), you can find them Trader Joe's or at one of the local farmers markets—while they're in season.

In recent years, the tiny West Marin town of Point Reyes Station has become something of a foodie hot spot, and one of the reasons for this is Cowgirl Creamery, creator of amazing artisanal cheeses crafted from locally produced milk. When you're visiting Point Reyes Station or passing through on the way to the beach at Point Reyes National Seashore, Cowgirl Creamery and Cowgirl Cantina are worth a stop to not only pick up some delicious locally produced foods, but to see how artisan and farmstead cheese is made as well.

Step through the doors of the weathered wood Tomales Bay Foods building on Point Reyes Station's 4th Street (around the corner from the town's main drag), and you'll be greeted by a cheese counter holding a bewildering variety of cheeses, many of which are the products of Cowgirl Creamery. Don't be afraid to ask for samples, which the cheesemongers will happily give.

Marin Mommies presents this week's guest recipe from Nicole Cibellis, Marin mom and author of the blog A Family that Eats Together, where she shares meal plans and recipes that will please foodies and children alike. Nicole is also the creator of the new Little Froglet line of children's activewear.

Nicole's meal plan for this week features hunter's stew with roasted rosemary potatoes, shrimp scampi with linguini, tomato and red pepper soup, tagliatelle with asparagus and pancetta, and this apricot glazed chicken with dried plums and sage.

I used to make this recipe all the time before my husband and I were married. It was the perfect quick and easy recipe after a long day at work. So, I went back into my archives to find it for something new again at dinnertime. It is a showstopper with little effort needed. The sweetness of the chicken and sauce is perfect for little ones. My son didn’t even know he was eating prunes and kept asking for more. I serve this with Israeli couscous but rice or potatoes with would be great too. Recipe by David Lieberman

Marin Mommies presents this week's guest recipe from Nicole Cibellis, Marin mom and author of the blog A Family that Eats Together, where she shares meal plans and recipes that will please foodies and children alike. Nicole is also the creator of the new Little Froglet line of children's activewear.

Nicole's recipe for this week is this lamb ragù with pappardelle noodles.

I found this recipe years ago after I had surgery. While in recovery I read endless cookbooks and magazines and found this recipe in Food and Wine from 2005. It was the first meal I ate when I came home and I was blown away. My mom made it for me at that time but this time I made it and it was just as good. My family went wild for it, especially my son who cleaned his bowl, which almost never happens. We also had it for lunch today, and a day later it is even better.