Turkey-Rosemary Meatballs in White Whole Wheat Pitas

This is a guest post from Kara over at Itty Bitty Bistro. She is a like minded blogger with loads of healthy recipes for babies, toddlers and children. Show her some love and comment here, then check out her Minnesota Dinner Dish post and find out what "hotdish" and "lutheran binder" are.

I started bringing my daughter, Abby, into the kitchen with me when she was a newborn, holding her in a baby carrier while I made dinner. As she got older, I put her in her high chair next to me at the kitchen counter. Soon, she graduated to being allowed to stand on a chair next to me and stir whatever needed stirring. At 3 years old, I now have her help me with some slicing (whatever can be cut with a butter knife), stirring, scooping, rolling, and whatever else I can think of. I find Abby is more motivated to try a new food if she had a hand in making it, and in turn, I am more motivated to have her “help” me!

Cooking with small children requires you to shush your inner perfectionist – when Abby and I cook together, I often have to stop myself from reaching over and saying “just let me do that!” But if you can get your inner Martha to zip it, the rewards (learning how to cook, learning to appreciate new foods and tastes) far outweigh any culinary mishaps! Here is a dinner that Abby and I made together.

Turkey-Rosemary Meatballs

1 lb ground turkey

¾ tsp dried rosemary

1 egg

¼ cup Panko bread crumbs

salt & pepper to taste

Directions Preheat oven to 400F. In a large resealable plastic bag, combine all the ingredients and seal the bag shut. Have your child helper squish and squash the bag until the ingredients are well-mixed.

Cut off one of the corners of the bag. Let your child (with your help as needed) squeeze out roughly 1-inch blobs of the turkey mixture onto a baking sheet. Bake the meatballs for about 10-15 minutes, until completely cooked through.

White Whole Wheat Pitas

1 ½ cups white whole wheat flour

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ tsp salt

1 Tbsp agave nectar (or sugar)

2 tsp rapid rise yeast (or, one packet)

1 ¼ cups water (at room temperature)

2 Tbsp olive oil

Directions

In a large bowl, have your child stir together the flours, salt, agave nectar, and yeast with a wooden spoon. Stir in the water and olive oil until a shaggy ball of dough begins to form.

Turn the dough onto a work surface and hand knead for about ten minutes (you can have your child help with some kneading), or use an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook on low speed for about ten minutes. Spray a large bowl with canola spray and place the dough ball inside. Spray the dough with a little bit of canola oil, too. Cover the bowl in plastic wrap and leave in a warmish place to rise for about an hour, or until doubled.When the dough has doubled, punch it down and divide it into 8 pieces. Cover them with a clean kitchen towel and let rest for about 20 minutes.Preheat the oven to 450F. Put a baking sheet inside of the oven to preheat as well. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough balls into circles about 1/8” to 1/4” thick. I have a child-sized rolling pin, so I let Abby do a lot of the rolling.

Place as many of the pitas on the hot baking sheet as you can fit, and bake for about 5 minutes, until they are baked through and puffy. They will fall a little as they cool, and when you cut them open… voila! Pita pockets! Ready to stuff and enjoy!

We filled our pitas with some lettuce and the turkey-rosemary meatballs, drizzled with a bit of Abby’s favorite ranch dressing. Not all of our pitas turned out perfectly, and our meatballs were really meatblobs, but Abby and I had a great time making dinner together – and that’s what matters most!