Waffles!

My days of yellow Eggos are over!  After having my waffle iron sit on a shelf for nearly 5 years I pulled it out this morning and made waffles from scratch and it was SUPER EASY.  Really, they we simple, yummy and they have to be a million times better for us and no Yellow #6 in sight.

I'm going to make another batch later in the week to perfect my recipe then I'll post it here.

Recipe: Wild Rice

Tonight I made wild rice for the first time and it was a hit.  I think I'll be adding it to the rotation. It is high in protein and fiber, and gluten free too.

Here is how I prepared it and the tweaks I'll make next time.

• Bring 3 cups of liquid to boil - I used 1 cup each of Water, Beef Broth and Apple Juice
  (Next time I'll only use 2 cups)
• Added 1 cup Wild Rice and returned to a boil
• Reduced heat, covered and let simmer until most of the seeds had popped I could see the white
• Drained the excess water and returned to the burner
• Added 1Tbs butter, 1/4 cup slivered Almonds and 3 dried apricots finely chopped
• Stirred until butter melted and served

Meal Plans 4-9 (100 Day Challenge)

Day 4
Breakfast: Cereal and Milk with Bananas
Lunch: BBQ Pork Sandwiches, Kiwi and Chips
Dinner: Spagetti Squash and Marinara with Zucchini and Spinach Salad


Day 5
Breakfast: Mango Lassi and Toast
Lunch: BLT's, Wild Rice and Quinoa
Dinner: Chicken Breasts, Brussel's Sprouts with Almonds, Bacon and Raisins


Day 6
Breakfast: Oatmeal and Toast
Lunch: Sandwiches or Leftovers
Dinner: Potato Tacos


Day 7
Breakfast: Eggs and Toast
Lunch: Taco Salad
Dinner: Chicken Alfredo Pasta, Salad

Day 8
Breakfast: Cereal and Milk
Lunch: Leftovers or Sandwiches
Dinner: Hamburgers, Carrots and Parsnips, Wild Rice


Day 9
Breakfast: Waffles
Lunch: Leftover Burgers
Dinner: Chicken Pizza

Recipe: Easy Quinoa

For Alexa

• Bring 1 and 1/4 cups liquid (water or broth) to a boil.
• Add 1 cup rinsed Quinoa and give it a good stir.
• Let Boil for about a min, then cover and reduce heat to simmer.
• Let simmer for about 20 min or until water is gone.
• Then add a little butter and fluff with a fork.

Meal Plans #1-3 (100 Day Challenge)

Day 1
Breakfast: Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal  (Totally a winner!  Although next time I'm going to try it with half milk and half water.)
Lunch: Chicken Tacos, Quinoa, Spinach Salad and Mandarin Oranges
Dinner: Open-faced Steak Sandwiches, Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Day 2
Breakfast: Overnight French Toast  (Not good.  Used orange marmalade per several recipes and it just tasted like orange peel - yuck!  I will now work on creating the perfect Overnight French Toast recipe!)
Lunch: Leftover Delight!  Instead of eating out with friends we will be making sure nothing goes to waste.
Dinner: Pork Roast and Wild Rice

Day 3
Breakfast: Homemade Waffles
Lunch: Lunch Out  (We got Quiznos and had a picnic in the park!  It was great fun!)
Dinner: Sausage Jambalaya, Swiss Chard

Eating Well in 2012: 100 Day Challenge

It seems like I do this every year.  I vow to eat better, on less money and then I don't.  But after several years of failing I have at least figured out the flaw in my system.  The flaw?  Not having a clear system!  When I make the grocery list, the meal plan and then do the prep work, we do great.  If I don't do it, then we end up eating frozen pizza and watching produce go bad and that is just throwing money away - something we can't afford to do.  So for the next 100 days we are going to work hard to eat better.

There are several blogs out there focusing on "Real Food" and eating better.  I'm leaning on them for ideas.  This one has some clearly defined rules for the challenge (read them here), but I read through them and while I would love to fully move into that, I know myself and my family.  We need to move a little slower.

So here are the rules for our family:

• Refined while flour, sugar etc. will be limited as much as possible. 
• Soda will be limited to 1 can a day or less. (Michael gave up soda cold turkey on year for Lent, it wasn't pretty and I promised not to make him do that again.)
• Limited packaged foods to those with only REAL foods listed - nothing I can't pronounce.
• Make a meal plan and stick to it.
• Plan lunches:  Lunch is where it all falls apart for me.  I need to plan it out.
• Make a thorough grocery list and only buy the listed items.
• Stick to the budget of $125.00 a week
• Eat more veggies!

You can check out the rules my friend Laura planned out for her family here.

First Spring Meal Plan of 2011!

It is finally warm out! We have the windows open and have been playing outside. I LOVE IT!

This week my meal plan challenge was to only use what we had in the house. This is actually the 2nd week in a row that we've done this. I haven't been to the store for more than Milk, Eggs and Deli meat in 2 weeks!! Although I will have to go on Thursday as we are running low on produce.

• Turkey Burgers with Guacamole, Spinach Salad and Mandarin Oranges
• Grilled Chicken over Spinach Salad with Mandarin Oranges. Chips and Salsa
• Eggs in Sauce over Polenta
• Ham and Veggie Soup (May end up doing Corn Chowder with Ham instead)
• Sausage Jambalaya
• Grilled Salmon and Alfredo Pasta
• Pizza Night for the boys while I have a Girl's Night Out!
  

Not very Spring-y, but next week I'm busting out some great spring-time recipes!

For Serious - It's a meal plan and I'm sticking to it!

Last week we all got sick. Michael had the flu, I had a sinus infection, Greyson had a cough. It was no good. In the week when we should have been eating healthy things to help our bodies, we ate total junk instead. I was just too tired to cook, and we weren't even home for 2 days (my wonderful mother-in-law cooked for us - so we had 2 days of good food).

Basically this week I wanted good and good for us food. Even Michael agrees. When he SUGGESTS a salad - it is REALLY time for a salad.

So here is our meal plan for the week:

• Asparagus Soup with Bacon, Parmesan Cheese and homemade Croutons
  Salad
  Apple Slices with Cheese
  (I make this soup at least a few times each Spring, when asparagus is cheap and in season. It is so good, and I leave out the cream - it doesn't need it.)
  
  
• Citrus Marinated Chicken over Salad
  Mango and Kiwi
  
  
• Pasta Bolognese (ground beef, carrots, spinach in tomato sauce)
  Salad
  Cheese Toast
  
  
• Hot Pizza Dip
  Bread-sticks for dipping
  Salad
  Cuties and Banana Slices
  
  
• Ground Beef Burritos (Spinach, Carrots, Cheese)
  Rice
  Mango
  Avocado
  
  
• Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole (with Broccoli)
  Salad
  Mixed Fruit
  
  
• Bread Pork Chops
  Sweet Potatoes
  Asparagus
  Apple Slices
  

Holy Moly - A meal plan!!

I've been posting our weeks meal plan on the dry erase board in our kitchen, but I've been terrible about posting them here. So here is the plan for this week:

• Baked Chicken with Carrots, Potatoes and Biscuits.
• Cheesy Turkey Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes
• Pork Chops with Apples and Baked Sweet Potatoes
  
• Chicken, Spinach and Rice Casserole
• French Toast and Sausage
• Pasta and Spinach Salad
• Pizza and Salad
  

Laptop Lunch: For Mother and Son

Black Box: Mom
Light Blue: Tri-color pasta with ground turkey and red sauce, topped with broccoli slaw
Dark Blue: Triscuit Thin Crisps
Just in the Box: Clementine

Blue Box: Greyson
Large Dark Blue: Tri-colored pasta and broccoli slaw
Lime Green: Triscuit Thin Crisps
Small Dark Blue: 2 mini gherkins
Purple #1: Red Sauce
Purple #2: Ground Turkey

Cook Ahead Night: January

I'm trying to get in the habit of spending one night a month cooking/preping ahead. I'd love to make a bunch of freezer meals so when May Baby arrives we don't have to work too hard to keep our family fed.

Last night was my first attempt. I didn't make any full meals, but I still think it's a good start. Here's what I made:

- 28 chicken breasts, marinaded and frozen in packs of 2.
- 5 packs with a brown sugar and soy mix (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Marinade-for-Chicken/Detail.aspx) only I used balsamic vinegar instead of red wine vinegar.

- 3 packs with a spicy lime mix (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Crazy-Chicken-Marinade-Grilled-Chicken/Detail.aspx)

- 3 packs with a lemon, orange and garlic mix (no recipe, just throwing stuff together)

- 3 packs with a balsamic mix (there was a recipe - but I can't find it now)

- 3 quart bags of shredded chicken thighs poached in broth and Italian seasoning (about 15 chicken thighs)

- 1 ham and cheese quiche plus 4 muffin-cup quiche (perfect for breakfasts on the go)

- 2 9 x 14 pans of apple crisp. Today I'm going to divide it up and freeze a cups worth at a time. It is the prefect addition to oatmeal or pancakes, or just warmed up and poured over ice cream.

Meal Plan: Januray 8th - January 14, 2011

This week my grocery store was running an AMAZING DEAL on the chicken breasts we like. I have to admit that chicken is something we are really picky about. And while I love these chicken breasts they can be so expensive! This week they were half-price. So I bought 14 packages of 3 breasts. Considering a single chicken breast usually feed our family of three this is enough chicken for awhile. I've been putting 2 breasts in bags with marinade and putting them in the deep-freezer.

I'm excited to have this ready to go!

So on to the meal plan for the week:

1. chicken breast over salad with havarti cheese
2. pork roast with apples in the crock-pot
3. bbq sandwiches with sweet potato fries and apples slices
4. roasted chicken with rice and mixed veggies
5. ham and egg casserole
6. cottage pie
7. leftovers or frozen pizza night!
   

Meal Plan: January 3rd - Jan 7th

On the menu this week in no particular order:

1. Pot Roast and Veggies over Quinona
2. BBQ sandwiches, Sweet Potato Fries and Apple Slices
3. Chicken Enchiladas with Rice, Corn and Avocado
   
4. Grilled Chicken over Spinach Salad
5. Pasta with Meat Sauce, Cheese Toast, Spinach Salad

Meal Plan: December 27th through January 2nd

Okay, so deciding specific meals for specific days just didn't work for our family. So this week I just made a list of meals, made sure we had everything we needed to make them and then we just decided what we wanted to eat on that day.

Here is the week's meal list:

Roasted Chicken with Veggies
Chicken Jambalya, Cheese Toast and Salad
Frozen Pizza and Salad
Pot Roast with Carrots and Potatoes
Barbecue Beef Sandwiches, Salad and Fruit
Spicy Sweet Potato and Chicken Stew

First Laptop Lunch for ME!

After making lunches for Greyson I finally got a box for myself for Christmas! Here's what I made for my first lunch. It was yummy!

Light Blue: Chicken Jambalaya with Carrots and Corn
Green: Romaine Salad topped with Broccoli Slaw
Tiny Blue: Tuscan House Dressing
Purple: 3 kleiner cookies
Plus a Clementine

Recipe: Cheesy Turkey Meatloaf

Earlier this week I made this meatloaf.

Only being me, I just used it as a jumping off place and changed it to suit our families tastes and they ingredients we had on hand. So here's what we did.

• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup whole wheat Saltine crackers ground fine
  
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
  
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 cup finely grated carrots
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
  
• 6 ounces shredded Colby Jack cheese
• 2 slices of bread
  
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 2 Tablespoons barbecue sauce
• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. In a bowl, mix the milk, cracker crumbs, seasoning, pepper, carrots, onions, garlic and eggs.
   
3. Fold the ground turkey and shredded cheese into the mixture
4. Place bread on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet. Top the bread with the turkey mixture and shape into a loaf.
   
5. In a small bowl mix ketchup, barbecue sauce and brown sugar. Top the loaf with mixture.
   
6. Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven or to an internal temperature of 170 degrees.
7. Cover with foil and let rest for 5 to 10 min.

It went over well. Greyson in particular loved it! He ate a slice and a half.

Recipe: Spinach and Pepperoni Pizza

While I was searching the inter-webs for dinner ideas I came across this: http://blog.superhealthykids.com/giveaways/2010/12/17/spinach-pizza-and-no-whine-with-dinner-giveaway/

It sounded great and I'm always looking for a way to get more spinach into my family so I gave it a try. I made some tweaks based on what I had on hand, and instead of a stuffed pizza I just made it as a regular pizza.

It was so yummy and beautiful to boot! Too bad I didn't take a photo of it!

• 1 10 ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• 1 TBL extra virgin olive oil, divided
• 2 packages of Jiffy pizza crust mix (which I then prepared)
  
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• About 10 slices deli pepperoni (they were large slices) cut into thin strips
  
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning
  
• Freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 425°. Drain the spinach in a colander. Press with the back of a large spoon and pat with paper towels to remove excess moisture. Set aside.
2. Prepare the Pizza Crust as directed on the box.
   
3. Place 2 tsps. of the oil in the center of pizza pan. Roll the dough until it’s completely coated. Use your fingers to gently stretch the dough (or unroll it) until it covers the entire baking sheet. Pre-bake for 3 min.
   
4. In a bowl, stir together the spinach, mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, pepperoni, garlic powder, Italian seasoning and a few cranks of pepper until well combined.
5. Spread the spinach mixture evenly over the wider bottom half of the crust, leaving a 1/2 inch boarder.
   
6. Bake until the crust is golden brown, about 15 minutes.

Serve with Pizza Sauce for dipping!

(Greyson LOVED this and ate nearly 2 slices!)

Back to Meal Planning!

We fell off the meal planning wagon AGAIN! Sigh.
So here's my attempt to get us back on track.

	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Saturday	Blueberry Pancakes and Yogurt	Turkey and Cheese Sandwiches, Apple and Kiwi Slices	Cranberry Pork Roast Baked Potatoes, California Mix
Sunday	Eggs and Toast	Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Apple Slices and Carrots	Chicken and Rice Soup
Monday	Bagels, Yogurt	Soup or Pork Sandwiches	Meatloaf Pie
Tuesday	Cereal	Almond Butter Sandwiches, Apple Sauce, Pretzels	Taco Bake
Wednesday	Oatmeal with Fruit and Yogurt	Ham and Broccoli Roll-up, Mandarin Oranges, Yogurt	Chicken Fried Rice
Thursday	Waffles with Almond Butter	Taco Bake	Spicy Sweet Potato Stew
Friday	Cereal	Fried Rice or Stew	Coconut Salmon, Twice Baked Potatoes

Laptop Lunch At Home!

Last week I couldn't find my camera after I packed Greyson's lunches :(
But yesterday we made a laptop lunch at home. Greyson LOVES eating out of it. I like to seeing all the different containers is a great reminder to put VARIETY in our meals.


Large Lime: Green Giant Antioxident Blend. (Broccoli, Peppers and Carrots in a light butter sauce)
Dark Green: Shells and Cheese
Small Lime: Peach Yogurt
No Container: Whole Wheat Saltine Crackers


Ready to chow-down!

Laptop Lunch #2 - Easy Lunch For A Two-Year-Old

• Dark Green Container: String Cheese and a Granola Bite
• Lime Green Container: Almond Crackers
  
• Purple Container: "Before and Afters" (Sliced Organic Grapes and Golden Raisins)
  
• Light Blue Container: Sliced Deli Turkey

Verdict: G ate almost everything! Just a little bit of turkey and some raisins were left.