Chocolate Almond Coconut Granola Bars, loosely adapted from Alton Brown
(can be served to kids 12+ mos*)

2 c organic old-fashioned rolled oats
1 1/2 c organic slivered almonds
1 1/2 c organic shredded coconut (I used sweetened)
1/2 c organic wheat germ
1/2 c organic honey
1/4 c organic dark brown sugar
2 tbsp unsalted organic butter
2 tsp vanilla
1/4-1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c organic chocolate chips
fleur de sel (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9 x 9″ baking pan or line with parchment.

2. Spread oats, almonds, coconut and wheat germ on a baking pan. Place in the oven and toast for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. In the meantime, cook honey, brown sugar, butter, vanilla and salt in a saucepan over medium heat until brown sugar has completely dissolved. (If you plan to sprinkle fleur de sel on top of the bars, use 1/4 tsp salt, otherwise use 1/2 tsp.)

4. Once the oat mixture is done, remove it from the oven and reduce the heat to 300 degrees. Immediately add the oat mixture to the liquid mixture and stir to combine. Allow it to cool before stirring in the chocolate chips. (If you don’t have time—or don’t want—to wait, you can stir the chocolate in right away, but it will get melty. Not a terrible thing.) Spoon mixture into the prepared baking dish and press down, making sure that it’s evenly distributed. Sprinkle with fleur de sel. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before cutting into squares. They will get crunchy overnight. You can store these in an airtight container for up to a week.

*Note: There is a lot of disagreement about when it’s safest to introduce tree nuts. Some pediatricians believe that it is safe to introduce nuts to children without a personal or family history of food allergies at 12 months. Others encourage parents to wait until 24 or 36 months. A new (2008) study by the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests that nuts can be introduced to children without a personal or family history of allergies as early as 6 months! Speak to your pediatrician about what’s best for your child.

Also make sure that your child can manage hard, crunchy foods before sharing a piece.

I wanted to make something different for Valentine’s Day. Something chocolate, of course, but with more. With a twist. My burning desire for something new led me down a long road paved with failed experiments before coming up with these gems. I wandered (way) far afield before remembering that it’s little adjustments made to the familiar things we know and love that make for the most pleasant surprises.

These chewy chocolate chunk cookies, first discovered on Orangette, are a staple at our house. I hate to admit it, but the first thing that drew me to Molly’s recipe was its use of yogurt (she suggests full fat, but I use non- or low-fat Greek style which always works). There’s still some butter and a cup of sugar, so I’m not claiming that these are completely guilt free (c’mon people—if you’re going to make cookies, enjoy them!), but they aren’t gut bombs either. Which might be why it didn’t occur to me right away to adapt this recipe for our Valentine’s Day treats. Valentine’s Day is supposed to be sinful, right?

All weekend I churned out decadent treats that just weren’t right. Then, it occurred to me: Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to be over the top. Instead, it can be mellow and warm. Familiar yet surprising. Quietly romantic. And that’s just what my new version of these cookies are.

This may sound corny, but the shift in my thinking about Valentine’s Day reflects a larger shift in my life. (I know. I’m laying it on thick, but just go with me…) How I feel about becoming a mom for the second time is a perfect example. Everything was (still is) so intense with my first ChowBaby. He and I share a big, loud, boisterous love. My little ChowBaby and I, on the other hand, have an easygoing connection. A peaceful, steady love that warms my soul and gives me quiet comfort. I love them just the same, but motherhood is different this time. It’s a pleasant surprise. And it has less to do with the kids than it does the fact that a second baby is a small(ish!) adjustment to something already familiar, being a parent.

These cookies are different than your average super-rich Valentine’s Day treats, but you’ll love them just the same. The small adjustment of adding warming orange zest and a whisper of cardamom makes these familiar treats brand new. A pleasant surprise. But in a mellow kind of way.

Happy Valentine’s Day. I wish much love to you all.

OH—and one more thing! Two of my favorite food bloggers, Jennifer at Savor the Thyme and Kelsey The Naptime Chef, have joined forces to bring us the Food Is Love Challenge. It’s a fun way to share the foods you use to express love to your family… or, like with these cookies, the way food reflects your feelings for them. Check it out and join the fun.

Orange Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies, adapted from Orangette, makes about 20 cookies
(can be served to kids 12+ mos)

1 c organic all-purpose flour
¼ tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp organic cardamom
4 tbsp organic butter (1/2 stick)
2/3 c organic granulated sugar
1/3 c organic light brown sugar
7 tbsp organic unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 c plain organic yogurt (I use non- or low-fat Greek style)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp orange zest
½ cup organic semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and cardamom.

2. Place butter in a medium microwave-safe bowl and microwave briefly, until just melted. Add sugars and sift in the cocoa (you can skip sifting if you are in a rush). Stir to blend well. The mixture will be somewhat thick and pasty, like wet sand.

3. Add yogurt, vanilla and zest and stir to mix thoroughly. Add dry flour mixture and stir to just combine. Add the chocolate chips and stir to incorporate.

4. Drop dough by generous tablespoons onto prepared baking sheet. You should be able to fit about 8 or 9 cookies, nicely spaced, on a standard sheet pan. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until the tops of the cookies have crackled slightly and look set. Transfer the sheet pan to a wire rack and cool cookies on the pan for 10 minutes. Then transfer the cookies to the rack to finish cooling. Repeat with remaining dough.

Romain lettuce, tomatoes, cukes, feta cheese and, if you’re down, some olives and anchovies. Toss with the simplest red wine vinaigrette and you’ve got the classic Greek salad. But here’s a little secret. Try horiatiki instead (should be offered at any authentic Greek restaurant) and you’ll eat the real deal: a greek salad minus the lettuce. It may seem like a minor edit, but it makes a big difference. It’s like taking out the filler. You’re left with all the good stuff, all the stuff that matters.

In Greece, horiatiki is most often served as a slab of creamy feta over a bed of tomatoes and cukes tossed in red wine vinaigrette, garnished with a sprinkle of dried oregano and a few kalamata olives. Just describing it brings me back to lunch on the beach in Santorini or dinner in a busy tavern in Athens (or Queens, NY!). Tart from vinegar spiked with lemon, peppery from great olive oil, salty from cheese, cool and crunchy from cucumbers, it’s simply the best salad ever. (What? Me, biased?) It’s also easy to make and, served alongside simply broiled fish or with lemony grilled chicken on top, it makes a quick and satisfying meal. I sometimes even add chickpeas. Bonus! Without the ever unpopular raw leafy greens, young ChowBabies get down with this salad, too. Even eat it with their fingers!

I made last week’s horiatiki with chicken, chickpeas and a kalamata olive vinaigrette. We’re big fans of olives in this house, and this vinaigrette allows me to play with olive to salad ratio. Instead of blessing a few random bites with heavenly briny olive flavor, it’s spread throughout. It’s not a traditional approach, but I think yiayia would approve. I also crumble the feta for the same reason. Plus, spreading both olives and cheese throughout makes it easier to serve my ChowBaby who demands both in every bite.

The salad itself isn’t much of a recipe: put in as much cuke and tomato as you need depending on whether this is a side salad or main dish (I suggest 2/3 cuke to 1/3 tomato), and put in as much cheese and red onion as you like. This is totally up to your taste.

Horiatiki with Kalamata Vinaigrette
(can be served to kids 8+ mos)

for the salad
organic cucumbers (I like seedless hothouse cukes), chopped
organic tomatoes, each cut into 8 wedges (you may want to pick out for kids under 10 mos)
organic red onion, diced (optional; use large dice that can easily be picked out if serving to little eaters)
chickpeas (optional)
feta cheese, crumbled or in a nice big slab (be sure to use pasteurized feta if serving to little eaters)
dried oregano, optional

for the vinaigrette*
3/4 c organic olive oil
1/2 c organic red wine vinegar
juice of 1/2 an organic lemon
1/4 c chopped kalamatas
salt and pepper

1. Put cucumber, tomato, red onion, chickpeas and feta (if using crumbled) in a large bowl. Set aside.

2. Whisk together oil, vinegar, lemon juice, olives, salt and pepper. Pour over salad and toss to coat. If using  a slab of feta, put salad on a plate or in a shallow bowl and lay cheese on top. Garnish with oregano.

*Note: This is as basic as vinaigrette comes. I like my Greek salad dressing this way because it’s the way my yiayia made it—no frills and delicious. I’m sure adding chopped garlic and/or shallots, a dollop of dijon mustard, and/or fresh oregano or thyme would do nice things for this dressing. Have fun with it.

Here’s the skinny (or not-so-skinny, as it were): Cascadian Farms is owned by General Mills who recently quietly reformulated Purely O’s adding THREE times the sugar, fillers including corn meal and sweeteners including tapioca syrup.

O’s cereals are one of THE most popular first finger foods. They are consumed by babies as young as 8-months-old and General Mills doesn’t have the moral clarity, or just plain business ethics, to tell us? They didn’t even have to advertise the details. How about just informing us to look at the nutrition panel for changes? We can—and should—take it from there.

I don’t know about you, but this enrages me. Makes me wonder what kind of society will live in that we can’t trust the companies that feed our children to keep things like unnecessary excess fat and sugar and endocrine disruptors (e.g., Bisphenol-A) out of our babies’ food and food containers. Or to at least tell us that they haven’t (remember the Sigg debacle?). I guess, as Marion Nestle points out, it’s just business as usual for these big companies.

What do you think? Am I overreacting? Will you keep buying Cascadian Farm O’s? If not, is it just because of the sugar, or also on principle?

If, like me, you plan on giving up O’s all together, consider these breakfast alternatives:

• oatmeal with your favorite add-in’s (we love this banana pecan oatmeal
• whole grain toast with slow cooker apple butter
• toast or whole grain bagel with pumpkin walnut cream cheese
• 10-minute blueberry almond morning polenta
• plain yogurt with my all purpose blueberry puree
• coco-banana date smoothies
• orange cardamom french toast
• sweet potato muffins with cream cheese filling (can be stored in the freezer and reheated in just minutes in the oven or seconds in the microwave for an on-the-go option)

Photo: Martha Stewart

It’s no secret that I don’t usually cook kid menu staples like mac and cheese, plain pasta with butter, hot dogs or chicken fingers. It’s not that I don’t like (some of) these foods when they are home made with whole ingredients—I do!–but only every once and a while, and it never seems the right time to make them. I’d much rather invest the same amount of time to make more interesting and healthier foods.

But now we’re talking kids party, and you can’t have a kids party without some reliable kid friendly food. Not only does my “everything in moderation” philosophy apply here, but so does my (our!) need for convenience. It’s super easy to turn up the health and sophistication of chicken fingers, plus you can make them ahead of time, which is especially important for party food (but also great for any weeknight meal or packed lunch food).

As you read in yesterday’s post, these chicken fingers can be prepped more than a week ahead of time. Simply make them as directed and place in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Slip the entire cookie sheet in your freezer for about an hour, until the strips are solid, then transfer to a heavy duty zip lock bag for storing. If you’re making more than fits on a single cookie sheet, freeze the chicken in batches (storing the strips waiting to be frozen in the fridge).

The adults liked these chicken fingers as much as the kids! I credit my (restrained) use of Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning, a staple in creole cooking according to my (soon to be!) brother-in-law, a New Orleans native. If you don’t have or can’t get your hands on some, make your own spice mix with a little cayenne, salt or celery salt, garlic and onion powder. I also offered the adults apricot mustard (dijon mixed with peach apricot jam; you can use any orange colored jam to sweeten the mustard), a slightly more refined accompaniment than ketchup.

Don’t forget to bookmark the entire menu and planning timeline for your next kids party!

ChowMama Baked Chicken Fingers, serves 4-6
(can be served to kids 8+ mos)

1 c plain organic breadcrumbs
1/4 c organic wheat germ
1/2 c organic corn flake cereal
2 tsp Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning (or see above to make your own spice mix)
6 large organic eggs
3 tbsp organic mustard
2 lbs organic chicken breast, cut into 1/2 – 3/4″ strips
vegetable oil cooking spray

1. If cooking these right away, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Put breadcrumbs, wheat germ, cereal and seasoning in a food processor and process until you have an even crumb size throughout. Put in a wide, shallow bowl and set aside.

2. Lightly beat eggs with mustard.

3. Dip chicken strips in egg, allowing excess to drip off. Then coat both sides in breadcrumb mixture, pressing to make sure the coating stays on. Lay flat and set aside until you’re ready to cook or freeze.

4. If freezing: place chicken fingers in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Slip the entire cookie sheet in your freezer for about an hour, until the strips are solid, then transfer to a heavy duty zip lock bag for storing. If you’re making more than fits on a single cookie sheet, freeze strips in batches (storing the chicken waiting to be frozen in the fridge).

To cook (from fresh OR frozen): Place chicken strips in a single layer on a cookie sheet that’s been prepped with cooking oil spray. Spray the top of the chicken with more oil. Cook in preheated oven (400 degrees) until crisp and brown, about 12-14 minutes if cooking fresh or 18 minutes if cooking from frozen.