These Recipes Are as Innovative as a Child's Imagination

Lisa Messinger
Thu, 15 Jan 2015 21:55:43 -0800
Lifestyle

"Weelicious Lunches: Think Outside the Lunch Box with More than 160 Happier Meals" by Catherine McCord (William Morrow, $29.99).

Try to resist the urge to steal your child's lunch — or at least make two of them. That may be what you're motivated to do many times over while reading "Weelicious Lunches: Think Outside the Lunch Box with More than 160 Happier Meals" by Catherine McCord.

McCord, a trained chef named one of People magazine's Most Influential Mommy Bloggers for her Weelicious website, lets her imagination run even wilder in this lunch and snack tome than she did in her excellent Weelicious Cookbook (2012). In that delightful one, she stressed that for every "one family," there should be "one meal" (no special orders for picky eaters) and showed just how fun and delicious that dictate could be.
Updated: Thu Jan 15, 2015

"Weelicious Lunches: Think Outside the Lunch Box with More than 160 Happier Meals" by Catherine McCord (William Morrow, $29.99).

Try to resist the urge to steal your child's lunch — or at least make two of them. That may be what you're motivated to do many times over while reading "Weelicious Lunches: Think Outside the Lunch Box with More than 160 Happier Meals" by Catherine McCord.

McCord, a trained chef named one of People magazine's Most Influential Mommy Bloggers for her Weelicious website, lets her imagination run even wilder in this lunch and snack tome than she did in her excellent Weelicious Cookbook (2012). In that delightful one, she stressed that for every "one family," there should be "one meal" (no special orders for picky eaters) and showed just how fun and delicious that dictate could be.

More hijinks are on the loose in this colorful guide.

You and your mini-me's probably will never notice how many nutrition nuggets are tucked into these mesmerizing meals. There are delicious crackers chock-full of some of the world's healthiest ingredients, like sesame seeds and poppy seeds. Mini chocolate doughnuts are baked rather than fried in the form of mini muffins.

Kids get attracted, too, by the wild colors, like the bright red fresh honey-sweetened strawberry jam cleverly tucked with peanut butter between two large crunchy green or red apple rings. This is just one of the many "why didn't anyone think of this before" moments in this treat of a book from McCord.

COUSCOUS-CARROT-RAISIN SALAD

3 / 4 cup low-sodium chicken stock, vegetable stock or water

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup couscous

1 / 3 cup raisins

2 medium carrots, peeled and grated

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Yields 4 servings.

Place the stock, salt and 1 cup of water in a small saucepan and bring it to a boil over high heat.

Add couscous and raisins, cover, and turn off the heat.

Let the couscous sit, covered, for 5 minutes.

Add the grated carrots, olive oil and lemon juice and fluff the couscous with a fork.

MINI DOUGHNUT MUFFINS

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 / 4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 / 2 teaspoon salt

1 / 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1 / 2 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 / 2 cup buttermilk (see Note)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Yields 24 mini muffins.

Preheat oven to 350 F and spray mini muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

In the bowl of a standing mixer, or in a large bowl using an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Add the egg, buttermilk and vanilla and stir to combine.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.

Using a small ice cream scoop or a 1-tablespoon measure, scoop the batter into the mini muffin cups.

Bake for 10 minutes, or until the tops spring back when lightly pressed.

Note: If you do not have buttermilk, you can make it: Place 1 / 2 cup milk less 1 1 / 2 teaspoons in a measuring cup and fill with less than 1 1 / 2 teaspoons of white vinegar or lemon juice. Allow to sit for 5 minutes, then stir and add to the recipe.