March 17 // Rainbow Smoothies, Peanut Butter Blondie Showdown, Spring Focaccia, and More
This week's meals also include Easy Rice Bowls and Salad with Focaccia Ingredients
Hey there! The Russian invasion of Ukraine is still a lot to grieve and process, and we’ll talk about it more tomorrow. However, this week’s meals are a particularly bright and cheery selection to bring your family some stability when it feels like the world is crumbling.
We also made peanut butter blondies four times in one week because, well, it’s been that kind of week. The winning recipe might surprise you. Results below.
Breakfast
Rainbow Smoothie
The result is beautiful, fun, and healthy, but it takes a little bit of work…or a lot, depending on how many different colors you want.
Simply blend fruits of different colors in the blender with yogurt or milk, one color at a time. (Tip: Start with lighter fruits, then go to dark, and you might not have to rinse your blender between uses.)
We used mostly frozen fruits because they’re cheaper and you don’t have to wash them. Pour them into bowls and keep in the fridge or freezer as you make each batch.
This is educational because you can add a handful of dark cherries, for example, to change the hue of your peach smoothie. Kids learn a lot about color mixing from this.
Then spoon the layers into a glass! Your kids will have fun helping with this!
Lunch
Spring Focaccia
As announced in Tuesday’s newsletter, we have a spring focaccia art contest going on! Each family is challenged to make an artistic and beautiful batch of focaccia bread. Make a focaccia masterpiece, send a picture to family.scripts.info@gmail.com by Thursday, March 24th, and if you get the most votes, you’ll win $50 to your favorite small business!
The recipe we used worked as a canvas but only tasted okay, so thanks to dear reader Tyler for sending in a focaccia recipe that went really well in her home. It’s adapted from the book Bread of Life by Abigail Dodds, and Tyler was kind enough to send a picture of this deliciousness!
Instructions:
Whisk together 4 c flour, 2 tsp yeast, 2 tsp sugar, and 2 tsp salt.
Add 2 cups lukewarm water and mix until a dough is formed.
Cover and set in warm place to rise for 1+ hour.
Grease a 9x13 dish with butter.
Turn out the dough, drizzle olive oil on it, and use fingers to spread out the dough.
Add toppings of choice.
Preheat oven to 425 F.
Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 375 F and bake for 20 more minutes.
Remove from pan and enjoy!
Dinner
Salad with the Focaccia Ingredients
Ok, so you just bought a ton of peppers and random items for a pretty focaccia; what do you do with your smorgasbord of rainbow goodies now? Chop ‘em up and make a salad! Balsamic glaze such as Nonna Pia’s is an always-ready dressing that’s sweet enough to interest kids in a salad. (Bonus: make focaccia croutons.)
Easy Rice Bowls
Have you ever made rice and beans at the same time in the rice cooker? Just cook the rice how you normally would, but add a drained can or two of beans and seasoning of your choice. We used coconut milk for half the liquid and stirred in jerk seasoning and salt while they were cooking.
While the rice is cooking, you can sauté two different sides in the same pan. Plantains are great in a little coconut oil (and maybe a drizzle of honey at the end,) and broccoli and garlic are just meant to be.
Ideally, you’ll serve this with some sauce to tie everything together.
We would love to hear what easy rice bowls you make with your family; send ‘em in!
Treat
We tested four recipes for peanut butter blondies. These are the very serious results.
Peanut Butter Blondies (A)
This recipe from The Big Man’s World couldn’t be easier and it’s absolute gooey deliciousness. But it’s got a lot of peanut butter, so it’s a treat 😬
Preheat oven to 350F and line an 8x8” pan with parchment paper.
Combine two cups of peanut butter, 3/4 cups of maple syrup (or honey), 2 large eggs, and 1 teaspoon baking soda. Stir in about 1/2 cup of chocolate chips.
Scrape the mixture onto the parchment paper and bake for 20-25 minutes.
You have to let it cool completely before you slice it, and even then we enjoyed ours best once refrigerated. But yum. You’ll love it.
Peanut Butter Blondies (B)
This recipe by Ambitious Kitchen is made with chickpeas and far less peanut butter and sweetener. We gobbled these up even faster than the first recipe. Downside: cleaning out the sticky blender or food processor is a pain. (So you might want to make a couple batches in a row 😉)
Preheat oven to 350F and line an 8x8” pan with parchment paper.
In a food processor or powerful blender, combine 1 can of drained chickpeas, 1/2 cup peanut butter, 1/3 cup maple syrup, 2 teaspoons vanilla, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp baking powder, and 1/4 tsp baking soda.
Stir in 1/3 c chocolate chips and pour into baking pan.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, and let cool before slicing. These, too, are excellent refrigerated.
Peanut Butter Blondies (C)
This recipe from The Lean Green Bean was the healthiest and also the only one that wasn’t gobbled up by our family 😅 But if you’re making it as breakfast, and not a treat, it works.
Peanut Butter Blondies (D) - Winner!
For the last recipe, we used elements from all the others and didn’t measure anything, and it was actually the best batch! The liquid from chickpeas is a binder (and you can make aquafaba with it) so chickpeas + peanut butter + baking powder + honey + vanilla + chocolate chips (and maybe some oats) are a pretty solid combination to blend together and bake on parchment paper.
Exercise
To celebrate the first official week of spring (starting Sunday), spend some time outside! Is there a hike you’ve been wanting to try? You might want to keep an ongoing list somewhere of hikes you want to do. Here’s a sample one that lists the name, distance, and proximity-from-home of each hike!
Hopefully this gave you some inspiration for the week! Happy cooking!
Warmly,
Hope and the Family Scripts team
P.S. Reading this newsletter is so much easier in the free Substack app!
You've inspired me to buy plantains. Thank you!