Monday Night: Football and Easy Recipe Kids will Love!

Okay forget the hamburgers, grilling outside, sweating to make patties small and cute for your little ones. We all know it is football season – yes, I stayed up until past midnight for the first Sunday night football last night and I’m exhausted today. I am sure your little ones will want to eat whatever daddy is eating while he watches his Monday night football. Here is an easy and delicious take on pizza (semi-from-scratch) that will satisfy the hunger in your kiddos and hubby! It’s packed with flavor, protein and is a hearty meal going into fall!

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Cook Time: 30 minutes (yay!)
Serves 4

Hamburger and Grape-Tomato Pizza 
Special note for the chef – To ensure even cooking, gently roll and stretch the dough to an even thickness. You don’t have to shape it into a precise rectangle — rounded corners are fine.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil, such as safflower
• All-purpose flour, for work surface
• 1 pound frozen pizza dough, thawed
• 3/4 cup store-bought marinara sauce
• 1 cup grated provolone cheese (4 ounces)
• 1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced (optional)
• 1/4 pound ground beef chuck
• Coarse salt and ground pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Rub a large rimless baking sheet (or a rimmed one, upside down) with oil.
2. On a lightly floured work surface, use a rolling pin and your hands to roll and stretch dough into a 15-by-11-inch rectangle (if dough becomes too elastic to work with, let it rest a few minutes). Transfer to prepared sheet.
3. Spread sauce evenly over dough, leaving a 1-inch border all around. Top with provolone, tomatoes, and if desired, onion; scatter beef over top. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Bake until crust is golden, beef is cooked, and cheese is melted, about 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

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Football Sunday Kid-Friendly Recipe: PB & J Sushi Rolls

These entertaining “sushi” rolls reinvent the classic PB&J sandwich for kids and make it fun for the whole family to watch football with daddy on Sundays! I sometimes like to recommend almond butter instead of peanut butter because it has a thicker consistency, good flavor and can be A LOT less messy than regular peanut butter. You can use any kind of jam, but try to use whatever you kids’ favorite flavor is or even experiment with new flavors and let your child pick it out a the grocery store. I always try to use jam that is 100% all-natural fruit and organic.

INGREDIENTS:

–        whole grain bread
–        peanut butter or almond butter
–        jam (any flavor)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Take 2 slices whole-grain bread and remove crusts.
2. Spoon out enough almond butter or peanut butter to spread a thin layer on bread.
3. Spoon out enough 100 percent all-natural fruit jam to spread a thin layer on bread.
4. Flatten bread with rolling-pin.
5. Spread a thin layer of almond butter or peanut butter on one slice of bread.
6. Top the almond butter or peanut butter with a thin layer of jam.
7. Roll up bread tightly.
8. Slice into four pieces with a serrated knife. Repeat with second slice of bread.

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