Summer Favorites

What’s cooler than a corn dog? A chili dog with cheese in a blanket! Check out this walk-around-and-eat-it summer fun dog with the works! Rachael says, "I’m sending a shout-out to my friend Rob Walls who gave me the big idea of Frankenstuffers – sauerkraut and mustard wrapped dogs. These Chili Cheese Dogs in Beach Blankets would not be possible with out your big, bright ideas, fella!"

Have your kids help with dinner tonight. All they need is a vegetable peeler!

Now, it doesn’t get any easier than this! This recipe is just about as easy as opening a jar of sauce: you chop up a few ingredients and don’t even need to cook them! The heat from the cooked pasta warms them through.

This salad goes well with our Cheddar-Studded Turkey Burgers!

This fun recipe will help avocados "sail" onto your kids’ list of favorite foods! It makes a great light lunch, appetizer or snack.

A zesty dressing adds a nice zing to this colorful salad!

Why take lunch kits from the store when you can pack up this healthy chicken salad in just a few minutes? You’ll have fun putting together this interactive, "DIY" meal right at school! You can get creative and add or swap in a variety of additional ingredients, such as tofu instead of Rach’s Baked Chicken Tenders, or sliced grapes.

On a hot summer day, what better snack is there than popping some frozen grapes in your mouth? They are cool, refreshing and nutritious. We’ve taken frozen grapes to the next level and made a frozen grape slushy – jam packed with fruit to start the day off right.

This dressing is sweet (no pun intended)! Drizzle it over spinach or any lettuce you choose. Rach likes to use mixed greens when she makes it. The balsamic vinegar gives it a little kick.

Inspired by Sicily, this Orange and Red Onion Salad is refreshing and sweet on a hot summer day. Navel oranges work best.

Cecilia likes to make this healthy dish with her 14-month-old son, Joe, who already loves to eat all kinds of food!

This easy, refreshing salad goes really well with our Tomato, Basil and Cheese Baked Pasta.

Easy and colorful, this salad can also be enjoyed over several days while the meats soak up the flavors. Instead of making your own dressing, you can also use bottled Caesar dressing. Antipasto is traditionally the cold foods served before the pasta course at an Italian restaurant or home. This salad mixes it all up together – salami, pepperoni, peppers, artichoke hearts, cheese, olives and lettuce. –RR

You can prepare the shrimp and sauce while you boil the water and cook the pasta – each takes about five minutes.

Smoothies are a great snack for everyone and refreshing on a hot day. You can have your kids pick out the fruit they want and you can substitute soy milk and yogurt for cow’s milk products if you choose. This smoothie recipe comes to us from Felicia B. Here’s what she has to say about how her kids help to make their own smoothies: "To help make the smoothies, the children round up all of the ingredients and get the blender out. They put the ingredients in the blender and push the buttons to turn it on and off. I supervise, but they do the rest."