Super-easy salads, super-fast salad recipes

Our teen chef, Kayla, from The Nerdy Chef, has some recipes to make it so much easier to eat healthier or maintain resolutions since her salad recipes taste so good and are good for you. Asian Broccoli Salad

You may not have liked broccoli as a kid, but that's because you've never had broccoli like this. You just steam it and toss it with some other vegetables like scallions and bean sprouts as well as some dressing. If you've never made salad dressing before, don't be intimidated. All you have to do is whisk some ingredients together and you're done! Just toss it with the vegetables and you have a delicious, easy, and nutritious salad!

4 Cups Broccoli Florets (About 2 Heads) 2 Cups Bean Sprouts 2 Scallions, White & Light Green Parts Sliced Thinly 1/4 Cup Cilantro Leaves, Optional 1/4 Cups Almonds, Chopped 2 T + 1 tsp Sesame Oil 1/4 Cup + 1 tsp Soy Sauce 2 tsp Rice Vinegar 1 tsp Honey 1 Clove Garlic, Minced 2 tsp Grated Ginger

1. Steam the broccoli until tender, about 4-5 minutes. Place the florets in an ice bath until cooled, then drain. 2. Heat 1 tsp sesame oil. add the almonds, stirring until toasted and fragrant. Stir in 1 tsp soy sauce. Cool. 3. Combine the remaining sesame oil, soy sauce, vinegar, honey, garlic, and ginger. 4. Toss the broccoli, bean sprouts, scallions, cilantro, and almonds together. Stir in the dressing.

Serves 4-6, Recipe Adapted from Anja's Food 4 Thought

Cucumber Salad

Looking for a simple side dish that won't break your New Year's resolutions? This is it. It's just thinly sliced crisp cucumbers tossed with a yummy dressing and sprinkled with crunchy sesame seeds. It's that easy. The only trick is to keep the slices of cucumber as thin as possible so that they absorb the dressing. I have a mandoline, a really cool little piece of equipment that can slice anything as thin as you want it to be. I like to use it for this since it really speeds things up, but make sure you are very careful if you want to use one. If you don't have one, it's just as easy to use a knife to slice the cucumbers paper-thin. Either way, it will be fantastic!

2 lbs Cucumbers 1/2 tsp Salt 1/2 Cup Rice Vinegar 2 T Soy Sauce 2 tsp Sesame Oil 2 T Sugar 1/2 tsp Sesame Seeds

1. Slice the cucumbers thinly; mandolines work well for this. Toss with the salt and let sit for 5-10 minutes. Squeeze gently to dry. 2. Combine the vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, and sugar. 3. Toss the cucumbers with the dressing. Let sit for at least 1 hour. 4. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds before serving.

Serves 6-8, Recipe Adapted from Appetite for China

For more delicious recipes by our Teen Chef, Kayla, check out her blog, The Nerdy Chef!

Holiday Desserts: Push Pops

Kim from KC Bakes, our favorite cake pop princess,  is back to show you creative Push Pop ideas for Christmas and Hanukkah that you can adapt for any time of the year or for any holiday desserts. The winter holidays are a time of family, friends and food. Food is everywhere, especially holiday desserts… there are plates and pans of cakes, cookies & pie (oh my!).

If you are in charge of sweets for your holiday get-together, make sure you stand out from the crowd and bring something truly unique. Push Pops are sweeping the dessert world by storm... here's why.

Push Pops go by a few different names… push pops, push up pops, push up cakes, push cakes, etc. They are basically a plastic cylinder that has a stick that will literally push the container’s contents up to the surface.

One of the most popular combinations for Push Pops is cake, frosting and sprinkles. Who needs plates and utensils? Cake Push Pops are mess-free and easy to serve.

Since the cylinder container is see-through, it’s a great way to use color-themed food to match the occasion you’re baking for.

For these Christmas-colored cakes, all you need is a box of cake mix, the ingredients it calls for and food coloring! White cake mix is preferable, as some vanilla cake mixes can have an off-white or yellow-ish hue.

When the green cake comes out of the oven, it doesn’t look super pretty… see the top and sides? Fear not! This is just the “crust” or the sides of the cake that were exposed to the direct heat. Make an even slice across the cake and it will reveal a beautiful shade of green.

To get the perfect circle shape, use the actual Push Pop container itself to cut out discs of cake.

To add some extra flavor and texture, try adding crushed candy cane pieces in between the layers!

The holiday season can get expensive, and food shopping is no exception. Bags of candy cane pieces can range from $2.99 to $5.99 depending on the brand; don’t even bother with those. A box of regular candy canes is $0.99 at AC Moore, just smash them up yourself. And let’s be honest, it’s more fun to whack them with a hammer! Just make sure you have the candy canes in a thick plastic bag – the broken pieces can pierce the bag as you smash them, and then you wind up with a mess all over your counter.

Feeling festive? Party City had these cute little Santa hats for $1 – they have little clips inside of them, so after your guests eat the pop, they can wear the hat!

The great thing about Push Pops is that you can decorate the outside of the container however you like since it does not come into contact with the food product inside. Meet… Rudolph the Red-Nosed Push Pop!

It’s much easier to fill the container first, and then decorate, so let’s do that first.

Now with all of the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, you may not have time to do a lot of baking. No problem! There are so many prepared desserts that you can convert into Push Pop fillers, and your party guests will never know.

This pre-sliced cake is perfect, it’s already cut into even strips for you!

Using your Push Pop container, cut out discs of the cake and layer it in. I used Betty Crocker Cookie Icing in between the cake layers; it’s a great product because it comes ready-to-go in a piping bag.

For Rudolph’s features, you’ll need googly eyes, red pom poms and brown pipe cleaners, or “chenille stems”. To make the antlers, you’ll need two shorter pieces, and one longer piece. Twist the shorter pieces at their middle around the longer piece and voilá – antlers!

The eyes and nose were easy to glue on, but the antlers didn’t seem to want to stay in place. Cut some thin strips of clear tape to secure them in place; if you press the tape on well enough, it’s barely noticeable.

For the more health conscious guests at the party, there are a lot of Christmas-colored fruits and veggies that you can layer in your Push Pops. Slice up some red and green bell peppers for the perfect hand-held appetizer, complete with ranch dressing inside of the container!

Now, since Hanukkah is already underway, I’ve got some more quick, no-bake ideas to fill your Push Pops. First up, brownie bites!

To jazz up the containers, I found these sparkly stickers at Party City as well.

Using teal and blue Wilton icing colors, tint your frosting as bold as you like. Remember to start off with just a little bit of dye, and add more as you go – you can always add more color, but you can’t remove color if you “over-dye”.

This pretty shape of icing (below) was made using a flower tip (metal icing tip, shown above).

Ta da – the finished product, ready for a Hanukkah gathering!

A word of caution regarding lids – use two hands! If you place the lid on the Push Pop, and push down on it without holding the sides of the container, this may happen…

Whoops! No one is immune to baking bloopers!  :oops:

While I was at Party City, I spotted chocolate gelt and the bigger coins fit perfectly inside of the Push Pop containers! I had recently bought some chocolate-covered sunflower seeds at a farmer’s market, so I picked out the blue and yellow seeds and added those to the container as well. But it still needed something to finish it off… a dreidel!

Since the dreidel is touching the sunflower seeds, be sure to wash it off before adding it to the mix. Just like the excitement of finding a prize at the bottom of a cereal box, the dreidel adds such a fun touch of whimsy to these Push Pops.

Holiday Push Pop Essentials

• Push Pop Containers (I bought mine from Global Sugar Art; great prices and fast shipping!)

• KC Bakes Push Pop Stands

Other Push Pop Filler Ideas

• PEEPS® Characters

• Donut Holes

• Cookies

• Mini Cupcakes

• Rice Krispy Treats

Push Pop Container Décor Ideas

• Hand-decorate or personalize the containers with Sharpie Markers

• Ribbon

• Washi Tape

• Sequins

• Rhinestones or craft ‘jewels’

Enjoy and let us know in the comments below which push pop is your favorite! 

Hanukah Latkes

Our teen chef, Kayla, from The Nerdy Chef, is back with an easy Hannukah Latke recipe for teens and anyone who wants a quick and easy recipe!

Honestly, I've already eaten my fair share of latkes. The little nuggets of potatoes are both creamy and crispy, and Hannukah is the best excuse to eat them. I've been inhaling them for a few weeks already, but it is finally socially acceptable to eat plates and plates of them. This recipe is unbelievably easy to make, so you will never use a box mix again! You simply peel and shred some potatoes, drain off the liquid, mix them with onions, eggs, and some matzo meal to bind the mixture, and fry to your heart's content. It is Hannukah, after all, so don't even bother trying to bake these. You have to fry latkes; one of the main rules of eating during Hannukah is to fry as much as possible to remember the oil that lasted for 8 days. This is one of my favorite holiday recipes, and I know that it will soon become one of yours, too.

2 lbs Russet or Yukon Gold Potatoes, Peeled

1 Medium Yellow Onion, Quartered

1 Egg

1/4 Cup Matzo Meal

1 1/2 tsp Salt

Oil, for Frying

1. Grate the potatoes. Place in a clean towel over a medium bowl and squeeze to drain the water.

2. Using a food processor, pulse half the potatoes and onions until mostly smooth. Place in a large bowl and add the remaining potatoes. Combine the egg, matzo meal, and salt. Add to the potatoes and mix until cohesive.

3. Heat some oil in a large skillet. Press the potato mixture into small patties and fry until golden and cooked through.

4. Place on a paper towel lined plate until all of the batter is cooked, then place on a platter and serve. Enjoy!

Recipe Adapted from Cook's Illustrated

For more delicious recipes by our Teen Chef, Kayla, check out her blog, The Nerdy Chef!