itty bitty fish

Many thanks to my friend [and neighbor], David, who provided me with this recipe and brought over fresh mint from his garden so I could make it! It is delightfully refreshing, and so simple. Also, you can get everything you need at your local farmer’s market. The ingredients are watermelon, feta cheese and fresh [chopped] mint.

After cutting the watermelon into small squares, I tossed it with the mint leaves. When serving, I tossed in the feta. Onefish decided he liked his without the feta, but thought mint with his melon was magnificent.

These are so simple and the bitty fish has a blast making them. All you need is a package of crescent rolls and two kosher hot dogs [cut length-wise into quarters] and little hands to roll the piggies into their blankets. You could be adventurous and put cheese in these, as well.

I cooked this batch in the toaster oven [on my wee silpat] at 375 for 15 minutes. Depending on your oven, you may need more or less time. Just keep an eye on them, and let them get nice and brown so the centers get cooked.

To celebrate the start of the Vancouver Olympic Games, I put together a red [strawberries], white [pita triangles] and blue [blueberries] snack tray for the bitty ones. As you can see, there was also yellow [hummus], brown [honey roasted peanuts] and green [Snapea Crisps - the ONLY vegetable twofish will eat].

Onefish and twofish polished off the entire spread during the qualifying rounds of the men’s ski jumping.

These days, I always seems to be making dinner at the last minute. I’m constantly trying to come up with recipes that take less than 20 minutes… because as soon as twofish even senses I’m cooking she throws herself around the kitchen, writhing in agony and angry-talking at me because I’m not paying enough attention to her. This was tonight’s recipe [serves two big and two bitty people].

bitty baked potatoes
Four medium-sized [round] baking potatoes
Four pieces of center-cut bacon
One large chicken breast [cut into tiny cubes]
Two cups of broccoli [chopped and steamed]
Two slices of American cheese [or shredded cheddar]
Salt & pepper

With a fork, punch holes in the potatoes. For speed reasons I cooked the potatoes in the microwave – 3 to 4 minutes on each side at full power, then 2 minutes on each side at half power. Fry the bacon on medium-low to the crispness of your liking. Take the bacon out of the pan and cook the chicken in the bacon drippings. Crumble the bacon into the pan with the chicken and fold in the steamed broccoli. Salt and pepper to taste.

Scoop out the center of the cooked potatoes to make little bowls [set aside the leftover potato].

Fill potatoes with bacon/chicken/broccoli mix and top each with a quarter of an American cheese slice [or shredded cheddar]. Pop in microwave for about 30 seconds [just enough to melt the cheese]. And… dinner.

[for the teeny tiny ones, take the potato centers and leftover bacon/chicken/broccoli mix and mash/puree together.]

I’ve been in love with this itty bit of silicone since I first saw it at A.C. Moore a couple months ago. So, I jumped at the chance to make their Halloween treats for onefish’s preschool class so a) I had an excuse to buy it and b) so I could make delicious, cute treats for onefish and his class. I used an orange cake mix [if you have a good "from scratch" recipe you want to share, please do] and turned the little guys over right out of the oven so their wee faces [on the bottom of the muffins] didn’t get smooshed.

After they were completely cool, I covered their tops with vanilla icing so the kids could decorate them with sprinkles. They turned out delicious, and [I was told] they were a hit with the kids. Now I have to figure out what I’m going to do for their snacks week after next…

I’m guessing onefish never would have tried potstickers if it weren’t for these fun little bento picks.

As it was, he enjoyed them immensely; all the while making up stories about the [itty bitty] animals. You can find some cute picks like these here and here.

As this was my week to do snacks for onefish’s preschool class, I decided to make my [itty bitty kitty] honey waffles. I also made some banana flowers. You know, just in case someone didn’t want waffles.

What I didn’t plan on was how long it would take me to make an entire class-worth of [itty bitty kitty] waffles. Prepping and mixing [which I did the night before] only took about 15 min, but the actual cooking of the waffles was about an hour in the morning. It takes 4+ minutes to cook each batch of 4 [itty bitty kitty] waffles, and then about a couple minutes to take them out and refill. And, I made over 30 waffles each day. Both days, the plate came back like this:

The first day the plate came back completely empty, I was worried I hadn’t made enough waffles for the kids, but the teachers exchanged a slightly impish, knowing glance and admitted they had finished what was left over. I also overheard some of the kids talking their parents about the waffles. So, yeah… totally worth the effort.

I made some fun french toast this morning using my two-hearts sandwich cutter. I had to shred them into smaller bits for twofish, but the lack of crust made it much easier for her to chew them. These made perfect hand-sized snacks for onefish later in the day. [Side note: handle the bread gently as it tears easily without the crusts once it's been soaked in the egg mixture.]

~ 6 large eggs
~ 3/4 cup whole milk
~ 3 tablespoons sugar
~ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
~ 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
~ dash of salt
~ About 12 hearts [six slices] of Trader Joe’s Texas Toast [but any bread will do]
~ Canola Harvest butter [I get those massive tubs - LOVE the stuff!] for the frying pan/griddle
~ Powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar to top [optional]

I cooked these just a touch over medium heat so they didn’t get burned. The bitty fish loved these with cinnamon sugar on top [shocker, huh?], and bluefish liked his with maple syrup. I really need to get some different shapes of crust cutters, as they leave very little waste. And, if you make a little bit more egg mix, you can soak the crusts and cook them up, as well.

I’ve been having so much fun with my vegetable cutters, I thought I’d try them on potatoes. They worked like a charm, so I also tried using some small bear and bunny cutters (a bit more challenging, as they were plastic). Then I preheated the oven to 450 degrees, sprayed a them (and the baking sheet) with some Pam, and then sprinkled the potatoes with the magic ingredient:

I cooked them for about 20 minutes, and then my fishees and I enjoyed fresh, hot, homemade spicy chip-fries:

Both of my kids snarfed them down. In fact, I had to give them to twofish one at a time or else she’d shove them all in at once! And, lest you think I was a tater-waster, bluefish and I enjoyed the “crusts”: