Kids Eat the Darndest Things

Weight Watchers Cake

2008-07-11T18:24:00.005-04:00

I saw this recipe on youtube and had to try it! You can use any box mix. I used the one that was the cheapest (Pillsbury .94 - bargain!) in devil's food with pudding and Cherry Coke Zero.

Mix together and cook at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. I used a large springform pan. I could easily get more than 12 slices out of this but 1/12 of the cake is 3 points on Weight Watchers.

Later, I realized it's probably not a good idea cooking with aspartame so I think I'd look for some soda that has sucralose in it instead or heck, you could probably use real soda since it's only 2 points for an entire can.

The strawberries are organic to cancel out the effects of the chemicals in the cake. LOL

Topped with fat free Kroger brand cool whip (.79!) It was delicious and incredibly moist. Who knew soda could be used instead of oil, eggs and water?

Homemade Bread

2008-06-23T19:40:00.004-04:00

Classic White Bread
Setting - Super Rapid

2 lb loaf

12 oz. warm milk
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tblsp. butter
2 Tblsp. sugar
4 c. bread flour
4 tsp. of breadmaker yeast

Did you know that a five pound bag of flour (which costs around $3 +/-) contains about 20 cups? You can make almost 5 loaves (10 lbs.!) of bread with one bag of flour! Yeast is a little pricey (about $4 or $5) . You can substitute dry milk (2 Tblsp.) and water to equal the milk for further savings!

This bread is good and makes great sandwiches. My daughters both love it and the older one isn't a fan of bread so that says something!

You can also substitute olive oil for butter - I've tried that and it works just fine and honey for the sugar.

Delicious and ready in just over an hour!

If you have a Goodwill near you, I've spotted a lot of breadmakers there recently. You're taking your chances of course on their reliability but for the savings it might be worth a shot!

A loaf of storebought bread here is over $2 now. I can't get over how the grocery prices are skyrocketing! Won't be long before we'll have to grow our own wheat and mill it ourselves. Ha!

Fiber Rich Muffins

2008-06-22T09:28:00.004-04:00

I'm doing Weight Watchers now and thought I'd share some of the healthy new recipes I've discovered here along with the point values per serving. My kids eat this, too. :)

Using this:

The number on the box is the points value if you make this as cereal.

The recipe:

1 c. Hodgson Mill Multi Grain Cereal
1 c. Unbleached all-purpose flour
1 T. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. ginger (I added some spices - recipe didn't call for these two)
1/2 t. cinnamon (could have used more I think)
1/2 c. sugar
1 c. shredded carrots (I used one large carrot)
1 c. apple chopped (I used one large Granny Smith apple shredded)
1/2 c. milk (I used 1%)
2 eggs (or 4 egg whites - I used whole eggs)
1/4 c. vegetable oil (I used oil but I wonder if you could use apple sauce instead)
1 t. vanilla
1/2 c. chopped pecans (I left these out to reduce fat plus my girls don't like nuts)

Preheat oven to 400. I used a 24 mini muffin and a 6 count regular cupcake pan. Recipe says it makes 12 full size cupcakes. Blend together dry ingredients. Add the remaining ingredients and mix until blended. (I just used a spoon not a mixer.) Batter will be thick. Spoon into muffin pan(s) and bake 20-22 min or until golden brown. (My mini-muffins were done in 10 minutes. The cupcakes took about 15.)

I plan on freezing these so we have something quick to grab on days I don't feel like fixing breakfast.

Weight Watchers Points Value: 4 points for 4 mini muffins or 1 regular muffin

PW Ripoffs

2008-04-26T09:00:00.002-04:00

I made her French Breakfast Puffs this morning with some fruit salad on the side. Yum!

The girls loved them but didn't finish a whole one. I think next time I might make them as mini-muffins. I ate one and was FULL. They were very good and my idea of the perfect breakfast.

Twice Baked Potatoes!

2008-04-15T18:18:00.011-04:00

From scratch! (well, as "from scratch" as you get with potatoes) Ooohhh Ahhhh

Tonight's dinner was Quorn Chik'n Breasts, Green Beans and Twice Baked Potatoes. (From Scratch! OOohhhh AAAhhhhh)

I kinda overdid the Chik'n but it was still yummy. I'm not sure if I talked about the Quorn products on here before so I will now. They rock. They aren't soy, they are some kind of mushroom protein thing. They really do freaking rock, and I'm in mourning that they don't carry the Quorn hotdogs in the USA anymore; because, they are the only vegetarian hotdog that doesn't taste like eating playdough and, as such, are the only vegetarian hotdog that doesn't make me gag.

Onto the potatoes....

Twice Baked Potatoes (From Scratch! Oooooh Aaahhhh)

You will need:
3-4 potatoes
sour cream
cream cheese
cheddar cheese shreds
milk
salt/pepper

The problem with this recipe is that I don't measure the ingredients so you'll have to play with it to find out how you enjoy it the best.

Now, you can be all 1950's about it and bake the potatoes at 400F for an hour like my mom does OR you can come up to speed and nuke them in the microwave for about 9-10minutes. Let them cool before you move on.

Preheat oven to 375F.

Slice the nuked (or baked) potates and scoop the insides into a bowl but leave about half an inch of insides there so that it doesn't lose structure. I always sacrifice one potato to be strictly for inside stuff, you might want to do that too.

In the same bowl, toss in about oh, I dunno, 2 tablespoons of cream cheese, 1/4 cup of sour cream, a handful of cheese shreds and a splash of milk. Use a hand mixer to mix until creamy. Toss in a pinch of salt and pepper and mix again just to make sure there are no lumps.

Scoop the potato mixture back into the hollowed out potatoes, put on a cookie sheet that was lightly greased with olive oil... toss in the oven for about 30 minutes or until the tops are golden-brown.

Serve and get all the "ooohs and aaahhs" that you did this by yourself instead of using some lame ass frozen version.

Meat Loaf (Veggie of course!)

2008-04-12T20:02:00.004-04:00

I won't promise that I'll update more than once a week. I can't even seem to get myself motivated to update my regular blog more than about once a month; however, I'll do my best. I got really burnt out updating this every day so don't expect that.

So tonight we had Vegetarian Meatloaf, Green Beans and Mashed Potatoes.

That's kind of a crappy picture... I should have used a smaller plate, so here's a "close-up" on the meat loaf.

Vegetarian Meat Loaf

2 Eggs (or 2x Egg Replacer for the Vegans)
1 box firm silken tofu
1 tablespoon soy sauce
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 packet onion soup mix
1 medium chopped onion
3 stalks celery chopped (chop them small)
8oz chopped baby portobello mushrooms
1.5 teaspoon of basil
1.5 teaspoon of oregano
0.5 teaspoon sage
1.5 cups plain bread crumbs

Preheat Oven to 350F

In food processor (or blender) mix eggs, tofu, soup mix, walnuts and blend until smooth.
In pan with a bit of olive oil, saute veggies until soft mix in the herbs and stir well.
In a bowl mix blended tofu mixture and sauted veggies. Add bread crumbs and mix well. Pour into a greased bread pan and bake at 350F for 1 hour 30 minutes. Let it sit on the counter and cool for about 15 minutes before slicing.

I supposed you could do the traditional ketchup on the top of the meatloaf but... ick.

Enjoy!

Trying This Again

2008-04-02T21:18:00.002-04:00

So I'm still fixing my kids about the same quick and easy fare as I was five months ago but I've got a new camera.

So at least it looks a little prettier now, right?

Dinner tonight was Nathan's hot dogs (all beef), cherry tomatoes, steamed broccoli, and sliced apples. One big change I've made is going more organic on many things and cutting out high fructose corn syrup from our diets.

My husband works long hours so we were dining alone and I didn't feel like fixing a big meal just for the three of us.

Dinners Recently

2007-11-28T18:35:00.000-05:00

I've been neglecting this blog. Lack of inspiration I guess. But I have been taking pics so here's a couple of our recent dinners:

Tonight I made this tomato/cheddar/macaroni bake that I concocted along with some help from a recipe I found online.

Here's what I did:

Boil 1/2 lb. macaroni about 8 minutes. Drain and add to 1 qt stewed tomatoes (I used some my MIL canned last summer), spices to taste including celery salt, black pepper, ground mustard, a little sugar and salt. Add about a cup of cheddar cheese shredded and about two tablespoons of unsalted butter. Pour into casserole dish and top with some more cheese and buttered breadcrumbs. Bake 30 minutes at 350. It was VERY good. I also made some steamed corn but you know what that stuff looks like!

The kids and I dined in front of Nemo since my husband is working late and it's just us girls.

Last night we had baked chicken with gravy, brown rice and steamed mixed veggies. I seasoned the chicken with this rotisserie seasoning I found at the store and some sage. It was really tasty.

I guess that's all. I'll try and get back in the habit of posting daily. I've just been consumed with other things lately and I'm not really thrilled with the pictures my crappy digital camera takes. Maybe Santa will bring me a better one. ;)

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-22T17:13:00.001-05:00

Turkey
Gravy
Mashed Potatoes PW Style
Green Beans PW Style
Stove Top
Cranberry Sauce

Sweet Potato Casserole

My grandmother's recipe:

2 huge red yams baked and then scooped out
mash w/ butter, cinnamon, maple syrup and some of the syrup from a can of apricots
layer 1/2 that in dish and then cover w/ apricots
top w/ other 1/2 and bake at 350 to warm if you had refrigerated the mixture
then top w/ marshmellows and bake till brown
Enjoy!

Yum!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-22T17:12:00.002-05:00

Hope all the American blog readers had a great Thanksgiving. It's currently snowing here, and I hope it keeps it up. I want to see some sticking!

We had a HUGE dinner tonight and will likely eat the leftovers for the next several days.

TOFURKY! Yum Yum.

Learn why I don't feed my kids Turkey on Thanksgiving:

Stuffing:

Green Bean Casserole with Fresh Made French Fried Onions!

"Tomato Ick" (Recipe to Follow)

Apple-Cranberry Dumplings

Mashed Potatoes w/butter

Rolls

Pumpkin Pie!

Tomato Ick
Got its name because my father hates tomatoes and my mom made this and he said "oh, it looks like tomato ick"

2 large cans stewed whole tomatoes - drained
2 small onions sliced
1/2 stick butter
8-10 pieces of dry bread chopped into "squares"

Mix tomatoes, onions and bread gently in a baking dish. Top with pats of butter. Bake at 350 for like 40-ish minutes until the top is browned.

sketee

2007-11-16T19:18:00.000-05:00

Baby wanted SKETEE SKETEE SKETEE... so I obliged.

And of course, Salad.

Spaghetti Night

2007-11-14T19:40:00.000-05:00

I made some spaghetti with meat sauce tonight and mixed it all together. It was so good. I used a little bit of leftover sausage from last weekend with some hamburger meat. Then I added garlic and onions and spices.

We had salad, too.

Look at this kid. She's a mess!

Veggie Frittata

2007-11-13T19:29:00.000-05:00

Company is gone. Yay! Back to reality. ;)

Dinner tonight was a Veggie Frittata with broccoli, Avocado, spinach and topped with cheese and salsa.

Veggie Frittata
Veggies Chopped
Eggs
Cheese

Soften up your veggies a bit by cooking them in a pan with a little butter or olive oil. Wisk eggs in a bowl and then pour into pan and cook until done. Top with some cheese and Salsa.

Bourbon Chicken (thanks Meg!)

2007-11-12T20:50:00.001-05:00

Man, this stuff freakin' rocked! Here's the recipe: Bourbon Chicken. Meg inspired this dinner when I asked her what she was having for dinner. I, however, used REAL Jack Daniels (instead of apple juice) and you know what, that stuff ain't half bad straight. ;)

I don't know why my salad was so blurry. It was good too. I finally found an Asian Ginger dressing comparable to my favorite Japanese steakhouse house dressing.

This dinner was loved by all and will be in our WEEKLY rotation! Maybe in the summer I'll add tomato slices. Ha ha!

Meat & Potatoes

2007-11-09T19:07:00.000-05:00

We had steak (ribeyes) on the grill and mashed red potatoes with skins on and a big salad. They all ate it but my kids were wild and crazy. I really should feed them first.

Yummy Dinner

2007-11-08T19:44:00.000-05:00

Isn't it hilarious how I covered Diego with this macaroni and cheese?

This was a new recipe for macaroni & cheese. It was scrum-dilly-umptious! Served with steamed broccoli and a classic favorite, tomatoes. ;)

The girls ate every last bite of it. They loved it all.

Here's the recipe for the mac & cheese - I left out the onions, paprika and the bay leaf and doubled the recipe so I could take it to a potluck tomorrow. For bread crumbs, I use scraps of crust (Emma hates the crust) that I froze and put through a food processor. I have no clue what Alton Brown is referring to regarding bread crumbs but these worked just fine.

Oh, and to steam brocolli, I just chop it all up, even the stems, and add to a small amount of boiling water, butter and salt and cook till tender but not mushy.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown
Show:	Good Eats
Episode:	For Whom the Cheese Melts 2

1/2 pound elbow macaroni
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon powdered mustard
3 cups milk
1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 large egg
12 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Fresh black pepper
Topping:
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup panko bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.

While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.

Temper in the egg. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.

Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes.

Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.

Hodge Podge Veggie Pasta

2007-11-08T17:48:00.000-05:00

Tonight's dinner was sort of a hodge-podge creation of things I had in the house that I didn't want to go bad. The boys are going out of town tomorrow, with their grandparents, so I likely won't post until they get back on Sunday. I also hope I shoved enough veggies in them tonight to counter-act all the crap food their grandparents will feed them. No matter how many times I ask, they let them eat crap like McDonalds once a day. *hurl*

This has lots of different veggies in there ... there is spinach, zucchini, portobello mushrooms, tomatoes, garlic and fresh mozzarella.

Hodge Podge Veggie Pasta
1 medium zucchini sliced into small strips
1 bag of baby spinach
2 tomatoes, diced
2 portobello mushrooms sliced
2 cloves garlic minced
Fresh Mozzarella (I used 6 ounces) chopped into cubes
Olive Oil
Pasta of your choice

Boil pasta of your choice (we used penne). In a pan, heat some olive oil and toss in the zucchini and spinach. Cook until spinach is wilted. Add the mushrooms and garlic and warm through. Add a few pinches of salt. Place on low heat and stir in most of the tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. Let sit until pasta is done.

When the pasta is done, drain and mix well with the veggie mixture. Spoon onto a plate and top with some of the remaining tomatoes and mozzarella. Add salt/pepper as desired.

Pizza

2007-11-07T07:55:00.001-05:00

We had pizza that I made last night. I'm not sure what's on the menu for tonight. I need to get to the store but that's going to have to wait until tomorrow or Friday.

Sorry no picture but you've seen my pizza many times. ;)

Shells with Sour Cream

2007-11-06T20:26:00.000-05:00

I was all set to make something else when my 9 year old asked if I would make this tonight, so I did. This is something that is from my childhood -- my great grandmother used to make this and I understand that it sounds gross but it actually is really good. The only thing with this is you have to use some salt. If you don't put salt on it, it doesn't taste right.

Shells with Sour Cream
Pasta Shells
Sour Cream
Pepper
Salt
1-2 Tbs butter

Boil pasta per box directions and drain. Melt butter and mix with pasta. Add sour cream until well coated -- I honestly have no idea how much I use. Sorry. Liberal amount of pepper and salt and mix well and enjoy.

I know it sounds bizarre but have I steered you in the wrong direction yet? ;)

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

2007-11-05T18:27:00.000-05:00

Tonight's dinner was portobello mushrooms with spinach tomato stuffing.

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms
1 bag baby spinach
1 tomato, diced
1 cup mozzarella cheese (shredded or cubed)
2 eggs
2 cups (dry) stuffing mix (we used herb-style)
1/2 cup vegetable broth (or water)
4 Portobello Mushrooms
Olive Oil

Pre-Heat oven to 400

In a pan with some olive oil, cook the baby spinach until wilted. Add tomato, stuffing mix, and vegetable broth (or water). Remove from heat and gently stir (don't over-stir or you'll make mush out of the stuffing).

Let cool for a few minutes while you remove the stems from the mushrooms and scrape out the brown "gill" looking things. Rinse mushrooms and pat dry.

Gently beat the two eggs and mix with the stuffing mix. Mix the cheese in as well. Scoop the stuffing mix into the mushroom caps and place on a non-stick cookie sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until cooked through and the tops are brown.

Lasagna - The best ever!

2007-11-04T09:27:00.000-05:00

I made the Pioneer Woman's recipe last night. It was so damn yummy I could almost eat it at 9:30 in the morning! LOL

I didn't take pics because mine wouldn't do it justice and she has amazing ones on her website. See here.

Friday night we went out to eat at a buffet/salad bar type place. The food was mediocre but it was fun to have someone else clean it all up for a change. The girls liked it because there were so many options. Oh, and they have a kids eat free till age 6 policy. Can't beat that. All four of us ate for around $20. What a bargain!

I still haven't got back on the meal planning wagon. I just fix whatever is here and plan most of my meals around whatever meat is on sale at the store. Like that pork roast the other day for example.

I think I'm going to start posting some of our other meals though and not just dinner. We eat a lot of the same stuff over and over so I thought maybe you'd like to see some breakfast and lunch pics for a change.

We're Back! - Cheese Steaks!

2007-11-03T19:20:00.000-04:00

I think we're FINALLY all healthy! *knocks on wood* Three kids sick really sucks. Blech. Don't want to do that again. Considering that I got sick first and then didn't want to drag sick kids to the grocery store we hadn't been grocery shopping in like 3 weeks. It got to the point that last night was one of those "hmmm, what can I make with half a lemon, ketchup and some cheesesticks?" (Ok, not really but it was pretty bad.)

So, we went grocery shopping (370 dollars later - OUCH!) and we finally have food in the house! Yay! The baby actually let me put him down long enough to cook dinner so here we have it --

Tonight's dinner was Vegetarian Cheese Steaks!

Vegetarian "Philly" Cheese Steaks
Morningstar Farms Philly Cheese Steak Burger Patties
Mushrooms sliced
Onions sliced
Green Bell Peppers Diced (or sliced)
Mozzarella Cheese
1 Tbs Butter
Sub Rolls

Saute the onions, mushrooms, and green peppers in some butter.
Microwave the veggie burgers for 30-45 seconds until not frozen. Slice into strips.
Add the burger strips to the veggies and warm through.
Put some Mozzarella cheese on the sub rolls and then top with the meat-vegetable mixture. Top with more cheese if desired.

Enjoy!

Pork Roast

2007-11-01T19:27:00.000-04:00

I made a pork roast in the crockpot today. It was delicious. I used a pack of the McCormick Pot Roast seasoning and a little water and let it cook all afternoon. Then I made gravy and roasted some veggies in the oven with a little olive oil and seasoned salt.

The girls and the husband loved this dinner.

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T08:55:00.000-04:00

We're still here. I just haven't been inspired. But this morning I made us a yummy breakfast and decided to take a pic and post it here. Maybe I'm just burnt out on sharing my dinners. :)

We had scrambled eggs with a little bit of Jimmy Dean hot sausage sprinkled over them, cheese and ketchup. Strawberries and applesauce on the side. We eat a lot of applesauce around here. The girls love it. It's cheap and easy but I'm always careful to buy the unsweetened kind after discovering the other ones have corn syrup in them.

This is Cate's plate. She loves eggs. Emma's had a sprinkling of cheddar but she still didn't touch them.

And here are my two sweeties just yesterday when we were outside:

Hope you're having a fun Halloween this year! We seem to have been enjoying it for days now. ;)

On The Mend?

2007-10-30T18:37:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to let you know I haven't left yet I just am still dealing with the germie kids.

Here's a link to my non-PC and non-kid friendly blog where you can read all about it, if you so desire.

Misadventures Of A Modern Day Alchemist

Baby screaming ... time to head back to reality ...

No Pics, Busy Day

2007-10-24T19:31:00.001-04:00

Fed the girls some chicken nuggets, grape tomatoes, and some sliced apple. We were so exhausted from a day of fun that I didn't even think to take a picture.

Baked Chicken

2007-10-22T23:10:00.001-04:00

We had baked chicken breasts that were delicious, green beans and rice. I'll add pics tomorrow.

Pork Chops

2007-10-20T20:09:00.000-04:00

Shake and Bake pork chops, green beans seasoned with some Tastefully Simple Bacon Bacon and Onion Onion stuff, twice baked potatoes (variation of the Pioneer Woman's recipe).

It was good. The girls liked it but Emma doesn't like potatoes even though she helped me make these.

Oh, and I'm starting to think we need new dishes. These are 11 years old and starting to annoy me with the scraped off flowers. Ha ha!

Beans & Stuff

2007-10-20T13:53:00.000-04:00

Last night's dinner was some northern beans I cooked all afternoon. They were really good but Emma and Billy didn't like them so they ate hotdogs. I also made these cheddar garlic biscuits from the beer bread I got from Tastefully Simple. They were just okay. I didn't like how they had a sweet taste to them. Billy said they were good though.

Taking a Time-Out

2007-10-20T10:18:00.000-04:00

I'm taking a break from this blog for a few days (if you haven't noticed). I was sick and now both of my older sons are sick with high fevers etc... Neither of them were interested in dinner last night so I didn't cook. I assume this will likely hit the baby soon, so I will be back to updating the blog as soon as we all are healthy.

Thanks!

Pizza Night

2007-10-18T19:35:00.000-04:00

As usual, Emma helped. Pizza is her absolute favorite to help make. It was delicious!

Two Meals

2007-10-16T22:03:00.000-04:00

The soup (yeah, I kind of copied Tali but this one is not vegetarian. ;) )

The casserole

I worked all day on making this chicken noodle soup. Well, the broth anyway. Then I used the chicken to make chicken salad and this casserole that Billy's aunt used to make - Chicken Divan it's called in the recipe book she made me. I used the broth to make soup without any chicken in it.

Emma didn't like the casserole but loved the soup and Cate liked the casserole. Strange kids.

Tomorrow night I'll be out doing a party - have I mentioned I sell sex toys? Please, don't let that make you lose your appetite.

There will be no post from me tomorrow since the husband will be feeding the girls leftovers.

Aunt Tina's Chicken Divan

Layer cooked and chopped chicken in bottom of casserole dish. Layer with steamed chopped broccoli. Mix up this for the sauce:

1 can of cream of chicken soup (or other cream soup that you like)
Aunt Tina called for 1/2 tsp. of curry but I used this Pampered Chef dill seasoning instead
1 tsp lemon juice
black pepper
1/4 c. mayo

Layer that over the brocolli and then sprinkle with parmesan. Repeat layering process and top with either bread crumbs or stuffing (I used Stove Top). Sprinkle lightly with cheddar and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

These crazy kids:

Pasta E Fagioli

2007-10-16T17:28:00.000-04:00

Sort of ... It has a variety of beans whereas, most of the times this soup doesn't, but it's close enough for government work. ;)

Pasta E Fagioli
1 cup Carrots Shredded
1.5 cup Celery chopped
2 or 3 cloves garlic minced
1 Onion chopped
1 can diced tomatoes
8 cups Vegetarian "Beef" Broth
Beans of your choice (usually cannellini beans)
2 Tablespoons dry Italian Herb Blend.
Pasta of your choice
Olive Oil

In a pot saute the vegetables until soft. Add the broth, beans and Italian Herb Blend. Cook until beans are soft -- usually 3-4 hours. Add water as needed (I usually add about 3-4 cups of water by the time the whole thing is over). About 20 minutes before serving, add the pasta and cook until done. Serve with some parmesan cheese on top and a side of fresh bread.

Pizza

2007-10-15T21:13:00.001-04:00

Forgot to take pictures because we all were so hungry I just dished out dinner tonight. We had cheese pizza. Nothing exciting because I still feel like crap.

It's Shake & Bake (and Emma helped!)

2007-10-15T19:05:00.000-04:00

For dinner tonight we had chicken breasts cut into nuggets and shaken by a 3 year old in some Shake & Bake, some kind of Pasta Roni, and fresh broccoli steamed.

We spent a few hours at the park this afternoon so I thought we'd just have something simple. Unfortunately, Emma filled up on snacks at the park (it was a playdate) and wouldn't touch her dinner. Cate loved the broccoli and the pasta but wasn't too keen on the chicken.

Mmmm. . . MEAT

2007-10-14T20:07:00.000-04:00

Another oh-my-god delicious meal courtesy of the Pioneer Woman. I'm in love with that chick and so is my husband! The kids weren't so keen on it but I had a little home shopping party here today and they snacked a lot.

Just for fun, here's some recent shots of my girls getting maximum use out of Halloween outfits:

No-Chicken Noodle Soup

2007-10-14T19:11:00.001-04:00

Company has gone home. I can't believe how fast it went. Of course she was only here for 3 days but still, it felt like it went way faster than that. It's prolly good she had to go today, though, because I'm sick! *cries* I've got some sort of creeping crud in my chest and my throat hurts. The best thing for sickness is chicken soup but since I'm a vegetarian we do the No-Chicken noodle soup! It tastes the same if you make it correctly. Alas, I'm too sick to type the whole recipe here, maybe next time. I'm sure I'll post it again over the winter.

No-Chicken Noodle Soup:

Chicken Spaghetti

2007-10-12T19:51:00.000-04:00

Thanks to the Pioneer Woman, I have discovered a recipe that I will be making again. This was oh-my-god so good. Even though my picky ass husband had to pick out all the peppers, the kids and I ate it up. Cate loved it more than Emma I think.

A little tip, turn the broiler on at the very end to brown the cheese a little. I just can't say enough good things about this meal. Very simple. Very affordable (one whole cut up chicken was only $4 and change!) Delicious! There was plenty of chicken remaining to make a nice bowl of chicken salad for lunches over the weekend.

A salad with this would be great, too but I didn't bother.

Sandwich & Pasta Salad

2007-10-11T11:03:00.000-04:00

Argh! I forgot to get batteries again! So I guess I'll just have to describe what we had last night.

I made some bacon ranch Suddenly Salad and added in some fresh broccoli, grape tomatoes and red onion. Then on the side I had part of a New Yorker sub that Billy brought home. Their subs are famous around here. It's got bologna and salami with some cole slaw and peppers and cheese I think. I only had a tiny portion of it and gave the bologna to the girls (ick!) They thought it was hot dog.

I've really been inspired recently by this blog. I went to the store again this morning and over the next few days I'll be using her recipes to make her famous Marlboro Man sandwich, chicken spaghetti, and beans and corn bread. Yum! I love how she really dumbs it down for the common cook. I've learned a lot just from reading over the past few days. Check her out! And thanks for the comments by the way. Comments are really the bread and butter (heh heh!) of a blog.

Jimmy John's Subs

2007-10-10T20:33:00.001-04:00

Had to drive 400 miles today (had to get company from the airport) and then do Cub Scouts after that so no cooking today. So after Cub Scouts we ordered Jimmy Johns. This is a #13 :)

It has: Cheese, Avocado Spread, Lettuce, Tomatoes, Cucumbers (that I pick off - blech!), Sprouts and Mayo. Add that with a pickle and some chips and we had easy dinner.

Dinners of Late

2007-10-09T20:05:00.000-04:00

Tonight I made this lasagna. This one right here. But I didn't follow the instructions to the letter and that was my only mistake. I used spaghetti sauce instead of tomatoes and paste like the lady says in the recipe. It was good but a bit too juicy. My husband liked it though. He liked that it didn't contain ricotta.

Last night we had that meat and gravy with egg noodles that I've fixed before.

No pictures because I need some new lithium batteries for my camera.

You know what would be cool? If you could leave a comment letting us know you read us. Feeling kind of bored with this blog lately. Is anyone out there reading? What are your thoughts?

Tostadas

2007-10-09T18:47:00.000-04:00

My older sons were convinced that tostadas taste different than tacos so we made them tonight. The verdict? They taste the same but are just messier.

Ribs Drool

2007-10-08T18:33:00.000-04:00

Gardenburger makes the best fake meat product I've ever had -- the BBQ Riblets They are so good. They taste like real BBQ Ribs and the best thing is they are so much healthier than real ones. This is another one of those fake meat things that I think meat eaters would enjoy.

Tonight's dinner was a BBQ Riblet sandwich (add tomato to mine) with potato chips, a pickle and a small garden salad on the side (not pictured, forgot cuz the baby was screaming for food).

Spagehtti - My Easy Staple

2007-10-05T19:30:00.000-04:00

TGIF that's ALL I have to say. I'm exhausted. I have a fellowship this year that pays me to bring "real world" (ie. laboratory) science into k-12 classrooms and this week I was at a k-4 primary academy 8 hours a day. I had a really great time but holy Moses am I EXHAUSTED! I usually work all day long but there's a huge difference in being by myself, in a lab, getting something done and trying to entertain 25 kids ages 5-10 all day long.

Anyways, after doing that and then running errands this afternoon I wanted something easy. So we did pesto-marinara spaghetti with a mozzarella, tomato, and basil salad.

Soup & Bread

2007-10-05T18:55:00.000-04:00

Soup out of crockpot and bread from bread machine - that's what this sick and tired mother fed her young.

Recipe:

Stewed tomatoes
stew meat
bag of frozen mixed veggies
garlic
seasonings of your choice

Dump meat in crock pot and let it cook. Drain fat and then dump in other ingredients. Let it cook all day.

Tomato Pasta

2007-10-04T21:22:00.000-04:00

Tali can't seem to connect to blogger and hopes the issue is resolved by tomorrow night; however, she had tomato pasta tonight and wanted to have me post it for her.

Salmon, Veggies & Rice

2007-10-04T18:25:00.000-04:00

We had salmon baked in the oven and seasoned with lemon pepper and lemon juice, rice, and steamed veggies.

I liked it but I was the only one. The girls wouldn't taste it. Cate's sick so I really just wanted her to eat the rice. Emma wouldn't even taste the salmon. The husband said he doesn't care much for baked fish and proceeded to dump soy sauce all over the veggies and the rice. I think they got spoiled after last night's dinner and thumbed their noses at this healthy stuff.

Fried Chicken (Oh my!)

2007-10-03T19:23:00.000-04:00

This was so good. It's hard to believe since the inception of this blog with my dear "vastly different" friend Tali that I have not posted any deep fried meals. We love our deep fryer. LOL

Fried Chicken

Virginia's Best Seasoned Flour
Egg
Water
Lemon
Chicken tenders (hormone & steroid free! Did you know Perdue chicken claims that? Yep, they do.)

Dip chicken in water, lemon, egg mixture. Dip in flour. Drop in super hot oil. (We have a little deep fryer that is cool to the touch and closes - got it at Target for $20 I think.)

Delicious!

We also had salad and steamed peas to cancel out the bad. Oh, and homemade fries with skins on.

I told Emma that the peas turn into magical dragons in her tummy and she couldn't shovel them in fast enough. ;)

Wild haired girls demand dinner!

The Past Two Nights

2007-10-02T22:50:00.000-04:00

What's today? Tuesday?

Tonight we had Pizza Hut pizzas which the girls didn't touch. They ate applesauce and these organic cheese things that are rabbits instead of goldfish and drank milk.

Monday I was sick so we just had leftovers.

English Muffin Pizza

2007-10-02T18:35:00.001-04:00

I have leftover spaghetti sauce that I need to use, so I was going to make bagel pizza's for dinner tonight but sometime between leaving for work and coming home the men in the house ate 4 bagels. SOooo, I decided to improvise and use English Muffins instead.

As such, dinner tonight is English Muffin pizzas and a Caesar salad.

Do you really need a recipe? Well, why not.

English Muffin (er... Bagel) Pizza
English muffins split (or bagels)
Spaghetti sauce
Cheese
Veggie or meat of your choice.

Preheat oven to 400. Put spaghetti sauce over the muffin and top with cheese and veggies. Toss in the oven until cheese starts to brown (about 20 minutes).

Soup and a Sandwich

2007-10-01T19:16:00.000-04:00

Rainy all day. Chilly outside. Had to get up at an ungodly hour. (I was actually at work this morning before the sun game up). Soup was what I wanted when I got home so that's what we had!

Veggie Soup

With an Eggplant Sandwich

*Please Note: Each boy only ate half a sub and half a bowl of soup.

Eggplant Sandwich recipe can be found here.

And, as if the weather here wasn't bizarre enough, it's supposed to be 20 degrees warmer tomorrow. Blah. I really can't wait for soup weather.

Chicken and Salad

2007-09-30T20:02:00.000-04:00

Pictures don't do this justice. My salad was delicious. I bought organic greens on sale today and layered it with rotisserie chicken, mandarin oranges, cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, broccoli, celery, Chinese noodles and some Asian sesame dressing.

Cate liked it. My other daughter is sick so she only ate the oranges.

I'm really craving the dressing at this Japanese steakhouse we love but nothing I buy at the store even comes close.

Chinese (at home)

2007-09-28T18:48:00.000-04:00

Chinese noodles with veggies in them and egg rolls. Two nights of no meat. Easy dinner because we went to a late playdate today.

The girls had applesauce on the side.

My husband had to grill himself a burger. So we actually had two dinners going on but that's what I fed the kids (and me).

Broccoli Chicken Pasta

2007-09-28T18:12:00.000-04:00

This is a recipe I used to make when I wasn't vegetarian and it's one of those crockpot things that is super easy. So I'll give you both versions below (the vegetarian and non-vegetarian version).

Broccoli Chicken Pasta

Vegetarian Version
Broccoli
Cream of Broccoli Soup
Broccoli Cheddar Soup
Milk
Veggie Chicken Breast (We use Quorn)
Pasta of your choice

Steam the broccoli until almost done. Add in the cans of soup and a little milk until thin enough to put over pasta. Toss the Quorn chicken breast in the oven and cook until done. Boil up the pasta until done.

Mix the pasta with the soup mixture and top with a chicken breast.

Non-Vegetarian Version
Need all the same stuff as above

Take RAW (thawed) chicken breasts and add a bit of pepper to each side. Place raw chicken breasts into a crockpot. In a bowl mix together the soups, broccoli and a bit of milk until thin. Toss it on top of the chicken breasts in the crock pot and put on medium heat all day long. This makes the most tender and moist chicken breasts I've *ever* had.

If you don't have a crockpot and are short on time, you can put the raw chicken breasts topped with the soup mixture into a baking dish and bake at 400F until the chicken is done. It's about what? 45 minutes? I have no idea since I haven't cooked meat in years.

Then when it comes out of the crockpot (or oven) just top the pasta with the chicken breasts and spoon a little extra of the soup "sauce" over the pasta.

ENJOY!

Night Out

2007-09-27T20:21:00.000-04:00

This Thursday soccer thing is killing me because it's from 6:30 - 7:30 and I had to get gas afterwards and by the time I left the soccer field and got gas it was like 10 to 8. So we decided to eat out which I hadn't intended on doing but it was nice.

We went to Moe's Southwest Grill. It's sort of like a Subway but for Mexican food. You order it and then point to what you want on it and they hand it to you on a plastic tray. Good food, reasonable prices, overall fairly healthy.

If you have one in your area I suggest checking them out. They have lots of vegetarian options and, of course, non vegetarian ones as well.

Spaghetti

2007-09-27T17:58:00.000-04:00

I thought I'd try this organic spaghetti sauce on sale at Krogers today. I have to say it wasn't that great.

We had some sort of vegetarian crumbles by this company called Quorn instead of ground beef. It was good. Couldn't tell the difference. However, my husband must have ESP because he wouldn't touch it and I didn't even tell him what I did. He said he "wasn't hungry". Um, ok, sure you're not.

We had these organic cheese sticks and mushrooms I got. The cheese sticks were good. The mushrooms (and I like mushrooms) were just ok.

Rising Moon Ravioli

2007-09-26T19:34:00.000-04:00

Wednesday and Thursday are easy dinner night because of Scouts/Soccer so tonight we have Rising Moon Organic Ravioli with Bertolli Organic Olive Oil, Basil and Garlic pasta sauce.

Specifically the pasta was the Garlic and Mozzarella Ravoli with Merlot Wine Pasta and Garlic Gorgonzola Ravoli with Spinach Pasta. Topped with a little fresh Parmesan cheese and a Caesar Salad on the side.

For dessert I picked up the best looking raspberries I've ever had. They are so awesome. We are going to just sit on the couch and watch some TV and pop these like candy. I've already had two of them... shhh ... don't tell the boys.

Pizza & Salad

2007-09-26T19:19:00.000-04:00

Well it's what we fed our kids, right? Not what we cooked!

Sent the husband back out for pizza. Man, it was yummy but I think the pizza could have used more sauce. They were so stingy with it! Salad cancels all bad calories out, right?

Pasta Creation

2007-09-25T18:57:00.000-04:00

My pasta creation using ham, peppers, onions, sauteed in some olive oil and tossed w/ tomatoes and parmesan cheese. It was good. Cate didn't like it so much though. Emma ate the pasta and a few peppers.

Enchiladas

2007-09-25T18:56:00.000-04:00

Cheese Enchiladas with Veggie rice. I just tossed some brown rice, in a pot, and cooked it until mostly done. Tossed in a can of diced tomatoes, and half a can of mixed veggies along with a little hot sauce.

Typical

2007-09-24T19:00:00.000-04:00

We had some typical kid fare food. I was tired and was thinking about spaghetti but didn't have any sauce. Have I ever mentioned that we live out in BFE and it's a 15 minute drive to the nearest store? Yep, we do.

So they had hotdogs (oscar meyer beef), macaroni & cheese (Annie's organic shells), and steamed fresh broccoli (again, yes - they really love it) with some carrots.

My husband brought home some NC style pork bbq some guy he works with made over the weekend and that's what we had instead of hotdogs. Emma tried it but didn't like it.

One of these days I'm going to get back into the Grocery Game and menu planning, I swear.

Veggie Pasta

2007-09-23T18:58:00.001-04:00

Decided to use the sun dried tomatoes and toss it in with other veggies and have pasta tonight. So dinner tonight was fettuccine with mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, spinach, garlic and feta cheese. I just warmed everything up in a little bit of olive oil and tossed with the cooked pasta. Simple, easy, and yummy.

Chicken Nuggets (oh yeah!)

2007-09-23T18:39:00.000-04:00

I found these yummy chicken nuggets at Walmart of all places. The box swears that no hormones have been used and they are all white meat.

We had them with honey on the side. Also, broccoli and a pouch of these Lipton noodles (I think it was pasta primavera). The kids didn't eat the noodles at all. Neither did my picky husband.

Emma said, "Mmmm, Mommy, this broccoli is very good!" How many kids say that? Hope it lasts.

Pork Tenderloin

2007-09-21T19:57:00.001-04:00

For dinner tonight we had garlic herb pork tenderloin, pasta roni noodles, steamed green beans and baby carrots. It was delicious! I got the pork loin on sale today. Plenty of leftovers for the weekend. :)

Alfredo Gnocchi

2007-09-21T18:49:00.000-04:00

I was going to put sun dried tomatoes on dinner tonight but I forgot. So now I have to think of something to use the sun dried tomatoes on. Expect to see them next week. ;)

We also usually do challa on Friday nights but I got to the bakery too late and they were sold out. However, they did have this nifty "Notre Dame" bread that they used food coloring in to make it blue and gold... I figured my kids haven't had enough dye in their diets so why not try it once. Maybe if we pray really hard when we eat it they won't suck so much tomorrow at football but either way the baby will be pooping rainbows shortly.

Anyways, as you can see pictured below, dinner tonight was tri-colored gnocchi (spinach, tomato and potato) with alfredo and fresh basil, a Caesar salad and some bread. It was good but I'm sorta bummed I forgot the sun dried tomatoes.

Cabbage & Kielbasa

2007-09-20T23:38:00.000-04:00

I went out tonight but cooked this in the crockpot this afternoon. I just layered kielbasa with cabbage and carrots and made some corn bread.

It tasted better than it looks.

Tacos

2007-09-20T20:50:00.000-04:00

Tonight we had tacos made with Boca crumbles and topped with lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, avocado and sour cream.

We also picked up a caramel apple kit and made some caramel apples! I LOVE FALL! :)

I sliced up one for the baby to try but he wouldn't even try it with the caramel and peanuts on it. He pushed it away. So I ate it. ;) And then I handed him the leftover sliced apple still on a stick. Which he proceeded to eat to his hearts content.

Oh yea, that's my husband and if you're curious ... what you see on the wall behind the two of them is our "word wall". We homeschool and that's where Vocab and Challenge words go (Different color for each older kid).

To see the Taco Recipe Click Here.

Leftovers

2007-09-19T20:17:00.000-04:00

Literally didn't get home from scouts until 8:15 pm (was supposed to be home by 7 but it was a recruiting night so it ran WAY long) so I just heated up some leftovers.

"see" you all tomorrow.

Slop Sloppy Joes

2007-09-19T19:11:00.001-04:00

I feel like the Lunch Lady - we had sloppy joes (aka Manwich) on some french bread, chips and corn.

Chicken Again

2007-09-19T13:49:00.000-04:00

I was going out last night so I fed the kids something easy. I got one of those yummy rotisserie chickens from Kroger and just gave them that and some green beans w/ italian dressing (it's good, honest!) and some oranges. Then I left them with a sitter. AGAIN!

Anywho, there it is. No idea what I'm fixing tonight. I really need to start planning better.

Sausage Spinach Mushroom Lasagna

2007-09-18T19:21:00.000-04:00

I'm still not feeling all that well but I couldn't bring myself to cook another boxed dinner tonight so we had sausage spinach mushroom lasagna (veggie sausage of course) with the left over Focaccia bread from the other day.

Every other Sunday we go out to breakfast at Baker's Square and pies were on sale this past Sunday; so, I couldn't pass up a Strawberry Rhubarb pie. That was dessert tonight. Yum!

Sausage Spinach Mushroom Lasagna
Lasagna Noodles
Veggie Sausage
Spinach (I used frozen this time around)
Mushrooms
28 oz can Crushed Tomatoes
Fresh Basil Chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
Ricotta Cheese
Mozzarella Cheese

Preheat oven to 375. Cook lasagna noodles until tender. In a pan with a small amount of water heat up the sausage and mushrooms until the mushrooms are cooked. Toss in the spinach and heat through.

In another bowl toss in can of crushed tomatoes, garlic and fresh basil. We have sort of an unnatural love of basil so I used probably half a cup of chopped basil; however, normal people would probably only want about 1/4 of a cup. ;)

Coat the bottom of a baking dish with a small amount of the tomato mixture and place lasagna noodles on top of it. Top lasagna with some ricotta cheese. Top the ricotta with half of the sausage-mushroom mixture. Top that with some more of the tomato mixture. Top that with some mozzarella cheese.

Repeat one more time.

Place one final layer of noddles down and put the rest of the tomato mixture on top of it. Place in oven for about 30 minutes. Top with Mozzarella cheese and bake an additional 10 minutes.

Let cool before serving.

Chicken Fried Rice (with a little "help")

2007-09-17T19:49:00.000-04:00

So tonight we had chicken fried rice. It was my great aunt Ming Ming's secret recipe. Just kidding. Let's say this dinner was also from a box and was a great help. Ha ha!

It was good and we had some apple sauce on the side to cancel out all those milligrams of sodium.

Boxed Dinner gasp

2007-09-17T19:13:00.001-04:00

I feel like crap. I have zero desire to cook anything so I decided to take advantage of the box of Kraft Organic Mac n Cheese we got to try.

So that was dinner tonight -- Kraft Organic Mac n Cheese with carrot sticks on the side. The baby enjoyed it, my 7 year old was sort of iffy on it and the 9 year old hated it. I guess we'll be sticking to Annie's for the occasional Mac n Cheese meals.

Notice it doesn't have the bizarre neon orange color that regular Kraft has. ;)

I'm off to lay on the couch now (well for as long as the baby will let me).

Huevos Rancheros

2007-09-15T18:13:00.000-04:00

I have no idea why I've been craving this all day (NO, I'm NOT pregnant!) but I caved into the craving and decided to make it for dinner! Yay for breakfast for dinner!

Huevos Rancheros w/fresh Pico de Gallo:

(Please note, this is my plate with two tortillas, two eggs etc... my eyes were bigger than my stomach though cuz I only managed to eat a little more than half of it. Ooops)

Huevos Rancheros

Corn tortillas
Refried Beans
Eggs
Green Chili
Cheese
Sour Cream
Pico de Gallo
Avocado

Warm the refried beans and top the tortilla with the beans. Top with Green Chili. Fry up an egg and place it on top of the bean/tortilla. Top with cheese, sour cream, Pico and avocado.

Yum!

Stuffed Eggplant

2007-09-14T19:13:00.001-04:00

Tonight's dinner was stuffed eggplant with a side of spinach feta focaccia bread from the local bakery.

Below is a picture of the full stuffed eggplant.

Each boy only ate half so here is a side-view of it cut in half.

Stuffed Eggplant
2 medium sized eggplants
Tomato sauce
Garlic
Spinach
Fresh Mozzarella cheese
Olive Oil
Kosher Salt

Place eggplant (not cut or anything) into the oven at 425 F. Cook until slightly soft (about 15 minutes) remove from oven and let cool enough that you can touch it without being burned. Slice the top quarter off the eggplant and hollow out the other part. You should leave about a quarter of an inch of the eggplant.

Chop up the top quarter as well as the pieces removed. Toss eggplant pieces and chopped spinach in a pan coated with olive oil and lightly salt the mixture. Cook on a medium heat until soft (about 15 minutes). Please note: Eggplant is spongey so it will soak up your olive oil. If you find the pieces start to brown add a little bit of water.

Once soft add enough tomato sauce to coat the eggplant and heat until warm. Spoon the eggplant mixture back into the hollowed eggplant "shells" and top with fresh mozzarella cheese. Place back into oven until cheese is melted (about 5 minutes).

You can eat the whole thing or just the insides.

Enchiladas & Spanish Rice

2007-09-14T19:04:00.001-04:00

I made chicken enchiladas once again and Spanish rice from scratch, a few orange slices on the side to make it pretty and because the girls love them. Tali gave me some advice this afternoon on how to make the rice.

I'll be really honest, it was good but it wasn't spicy enough. The enchiladas were a little soggy. I think I used too much sauce. Maybe next time I won't dip the things in the sauce before I wrap them up. Everyone ate them though. The girls really loved the rice.

Steak on the Grill

2007-09-13T20:36:00.000-04:00

This guy came knocking on my door today selling steaks. I'm such a sucker. I bought 10 filet mignons and 24 chopped sirloins for $47. Is that outrageous or a great deal? He started with $380 but eventually came down when I told him I didn't have it like that.

So we had filet mignon tonight and potatoes and a tossed salad. I didn't eat all that by the way, the girls ate some of the meat. I think my husband actually cooked them a little too long. Either that or the meat wasn't that great. It wasn't as tender as I remembered a filet. In any case, I'm really craving something other than cow for tomorrow. ;)

No Pic Today

2007-09-13T20:02:00.000-04:00

No picture today because everyone ate something different. I don't really understand the concept of having 7 year olds have soccer from 6:30 - 7:30 because it really screws up dinner. If I feed him before he goes to practice he'll run around and get sick, but when I wait until after I don't really have time to cook and I have to do something easy. I need to get out my crock pot and start using that again on Thursdays but I'm not motivated. LOL!

So tonight everyone had something different. The baby had a cheese quesadilla. My 7 year old also had a quesadilla and some yogurt. My 9 year old had nachos. I haven't eaten yet.

"See" you tomorrow!

Spaghetti

2007-09-12T20:12:00.000-04:00

Soccer practice + Cub Scouts = Easy Dinner. So tonight we did spaghetti. I like spaghetti because it's one of those things that I can hide veggies in without anyone caring. Not to mention that when we get home at 7:30 at night it takes all of 15 minutes to prepare.

So it's plain old boring pasta with organic jarred pasta sauce mixed with some pesto. Then, to hide some veggies -- I added some diced tomatoes and chopped fresh baby spinach and topped it off with some fresh Parmesan cheese.

To answer yesterday's comment question about our Alfredo sauce. Yes, we make it from scratch. It's rather easy to do. If you go to this post and replace the mozzarella with Parmesan you've got our version of Alfredo sauce.

Spaghetti Night

2007-09-12T19:47:00.001-04:00

We had spaghetti with meat sauce and a tossed salad. Yummy. (There's a party in my tummy - a party a party! So yummy so yummy!)

Soup & Sandwich

2007-09-11T19:48:00.000-04:00

Dinner tonight was canned soup (healthy request Campbells Select chicken noodle if you care - it was actually good) and a p.b. and honey sandwich non-pictured applesauce on the side.

This is what a tired mommy fed her kids.

Pasta with Asparagus

2007-09-11T19:26:00.001-04:00

My first repeat dinner on this blog. Pasta with Asparagus and Alfredo sauce. We also had a garden salad that I forgot to take a picture of.

(Old Picture Used)

Nachos

2007-09-10T19:20:00.000-04:00

Tonight's dinner was blue and white corn nachos with fresh made salsa, green chili, lettuce and cheese (well, duh on the cheese) topped with sour cream. The baby even loved the salsa!

Non Post

2007-09-10T18:51:00.000-04:00

We just had leftovers - mushroom spinach meatloaf (haha!) and corn and potatoes. A carb fest!

No pics tonight. :)

Meat & Potatoes

2007-09-08T19:48:00.000-04:00

I don't feel that we're under any obligation to post weekend dinners but we were here and I cooked so here it is.

Tonight I was so tired and uninspired but I knew I had this hamburger meat in the fridge (I loathe frozen meat) so I decided I'd make a meatloaf and use my grandmother's recipe as a guide. However, I did something pretty sneaky. (Tali gave me the idea last night!) I cut up mushrooms and spinach and hid it within the meatloaf. My husband hates both spinach and mushrooms. Ha ha! It was very sneaky.

He didn't notice and in fact, he raved about this being one of the best meals I've *ever* made.

We also had a tossed salad on the side. The girls ate most of this. My three year old isn't big on meat so she didn't eat much but she did try the potatoes and ate most of her salad.

Here's my recipe for my new and improved Mima's Meatloaf if you're interested:

1 lb ground chuck
1/2 an onion finely minced
several white mushrooms also finely minced
a clove of garlic
about 2/3 of a cup of diced baby spinach leaves
approx. 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup of seasoned bread crumbs
some milk
2 eggs
salt & pepper

I use my hands to mush it all up. It works better than a spoon. Then I shape it into a loaf and bake at 350 for an hour. Oh, and I top with a few strips of bacon for flavor! *gasp*

We had smashed potatoes on the side - that's what I call 'em - boiled red potatoes with milk, light sour cream, salt, pepper, a little butter and I thought about tossing in some pressed garlic but was scared I'd ruin them but you could.

Homemade bread (hee hee) - exact measurements depend on size of loaf or breadmaker. I made a 2 lb loaf.

3 1/4 c. bread flour
11 oz. warm water
1 tsp salt
4 tsp bread machine yeast
1/2 c. oatmeal
1 1/2 tblsp. butter

The bread takes about an hour and 10 minutes to mix, knead, rise and bake. Isn't that amazing?

Fresh strawberries for dessert - organic even!

Chef Salad

2007-09-07T19:20:00.000-04:00

I made two chef salads tonight. It was good but the girls weren't too thrilled with it. I also made some bread in my bread maker! It was REALLY good. I should have taken a picture of that but it disappeared too fast.

Chef Salad Ingredients:

(You really can't see everything that's in it.)
green leaf lettuce
baby spinach leaves
red onion
cucumber
tomatoes
mushrooms
ham
turkey
sharp cheddar
seasoned croutons (no, I didn't make them from scratch)
hard boiled eggs

I took one salad and one loaf of yummy homemade (admittedly, the breadmaker did most of the work) oatmeal bread to my friend Lindy who just had a baby girl a few day ago. She seemed happy with it.

Tofu Cutlets w/Mashed Potatoes

2007-09-07T18:36:00.000-04:00

Evidently taking a flash picture of mashed potatoes washes out the potatoes, but without a flash it was just too dark so, yea... oh well.

Tonight's dinner was pan fried tofu "cutlets" with mushrooms and a side of mashed red potatoes with the skin left on.

Pan Fried Tofu Cutlets
1 package of Tofu sliced
16 ounce container of mushrooms - sliced
1/2 cup chopped spinach
1 small onion diced
2 cloves garlic minced
vegetarian chicken stock
Flour
Pepper

In a pan place a few tablespoons of the chicken stock and add the onions and garlic. Cook until soft. Add mushrooms and some more stock. Cook until mushrooms are close to done. Add more stock and the spinach. Cook until most of the liquid is evaporated.

In a small container mix flour with pepper. Coat tofu in flour and pan fry (about 2-3 minutes on each side) in olive oil until browned on each side.

Top with mushroom mixture. Enjoy.

Pork Chops & Random Leftovers

2007-09-06T20:12:00.000-04:00

So there's tonight's dinner in all it's glory! Man, it was snacky! We had pork chops and leftover mac & cheese (not Cate though because it made her constipated today, she's lactose intolerant), steamed veggies, leftover baked beans and wow, isn't that enough? I almost tossed in some tomato slices. ;)

I decided to just save them for tomorrow. My supply of garden tomatoes is quickly dissolving! I'm making a chef salad (preview!) and an extra to take to a mom in my MOMS Club who just had a baby a couple of days ago.

Stuffed Mushrooms

2007-09-06T20:05:00.000-04:00

Tonight we had mushrooms stuffed with fake sausage. We also had some bruschetta-style bread on the side.

To answer the question about my Asian meal. I have no idea if they are noodles with eggs in them. I just picked up some asian-style noodles. I am not a vegan so I don't really look too often at ingredients of things that I know are going to be vegetarian (ie. bread, pasta). But next time I'm at the store I'll look and report back. :)

Vegetarian Stuffed Mushrooms
Sausage Crumbles from Morningstar Farms
Large mushroom caps
Fresh Mozzarella cheese chopped into "chunks"
Spicy Pizza Sauce
1 onion diced
2 cloves garlic minced
1 egg

Toss the onion, garlic and sasuage crumbles in a pan. Cook until sausage is warm. Toss in some pizza sauce to coat the sausage. Take off the heat and let stand for about 5 minutes. Put in a mixing bowl, add the egg and mix well. Stuff the mixture into the mushrooms. Put Mushrooms in 400 degree oven. Let cook for about 20 minutes.

No Meat or Oven Required

2007-09-05T18:04:00.000-04:00

I've misplaced the camera. I'm sure it will turn up though. It always does. In any case, you've seen it before. We had macaroni and cheese - stove top version, baked beans, and tomato slices. The husband is working late yet again and I didn't care about having meat. The kids loved it.

Oh, and I let my 3 year old help me bake a cake this afternoon, so we had chocolate cake with buttercream icing for dessert. It was delicious of course. I figure somewhere it's someone's birthday so we might as well celebrate!

Asian Something-or-another

2007-09-04T19:38:00.000-04:00

Tonight's dinner is Asian style noodles (teriyaki dressing) with broccoli, carrots, celery, garlic and faux chicken. The "chicken" is by a company called Quron. We used their "Chik'n Tenders". Their stuff ROCKS! It's not soy, it's actually a mushroom-style fungi thing. I'm so sad that they stopped selling their hotdogs in my area because they are the only veggie hotdogs that don't make me gag!

Tomorrow is soccer and cub scouts so I may or may not post dinner tomorrow.

Meat & Gravy

2007-09-04T19:30:00.000-04:00

For dinner we had this Tyson beef tips and gravy stuff over egg noodles with steamed peas and garden fresh tomatoes. It was delicious and easy.

I'm really tired lately and the husband is working late so there it is. The girls loved it.

Salad

2007-09-03T19:17:00.001-04:00

For dinner we just had a simple salad with some grilled chicken in it and Asian sesame dressing. It was good, not spectacular or anything. I really like it better with mandarin oranges but we didn't have any so there you go.

I need to start menu planning again. I've even been pretty lax with the grocery game. I used to be all about stockpiling. We're talking about buying a second fridge and if we do that I'll have more room to stock up.

Fettuccine with Veggies

2007-09-03T19:17:00.000-04:00

Tonight's dinner was regular fettuccine and basil fettuccine tossed with broccoli, tomatoes, baby portobello mushrooms, spinach (without the e. coli I hope), and garlic. The veggies were sauted for a few minutes in some butter and then deglazed with a bit of red wine. (Yellow Tail Shiraz if you care.) Topped with some Parmesan cheese.

I realize we do a lot of pasta dishes. Can you tell I grew up spending lots of time in Italy? ;)

Fettuccine w/Veggies

Obligatory Cute baby pasta pic. ;)

Gnocchi

2007-09-02T17:52:00.000-04:00

Gnocchi is a potato dumpling-like food. It's yummy. I served it with yellow peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, garlic and pesto. Caesar salad on the side.

Gnocchi

For dessert it's fruit topped with whipped cream.

Chicken Enchiladas

2007-09-01T20:10:00.000-04:00

Tonight we had chicken enchiladas. I have never made these before but they turned out pretty well. We had Spanish rice on the side. For a recipe I did some searching on the internet and came up with some ideas on how to make them. We all ate them even the girls. I was surprised but they didn't seem to mind the heat from the green chiles.

Sushi

2007-09-01T18:46:00.000-04:00

Notre Dame game requires food that is easy to eat while watching TV. Unfortunately, they are getting their butts kicked. Also unfortunately, it's going to be that way all season because we literally have a brand new team (every one of our starters, except 2 people, graduated last year). Anyways, enough whining about Notre Dame and onto dinner.

Veggie Sushi -- Carrot, Avocado and cucumbers.

... oh yea... the green stuff is Wasabi. My 9 year old likes it, my 7.5 year old doesn't... the baby hasn't tried it yet. ;)

Back to watching us lose...

Taco Salad

2007-08-31T20:45:00.000-04:00

Taco salad night yet again! This was delicious as usual and very easy. I had planned on making chicken enchiladas but decided against it because I forgot one of the key ingredients.

Last night, oddly, we had the same thing as Tali did. The girls really liked it. I just used leftover pasta from the night before and some garden tomatoes, butter and parmesan cheese.

Mexican Lasagna

2007-08-31T18:46:00.001-04:00

I'm not sure why I call this Mexican Lasagna as I'm sure Mexicans actually make real lasagna but I couldn't think of a better name for it so there ya have it.

Mexican Lasagna

Ingredients:
Corn Tortillas
1 can black beans drained and rinsed
1 can corn drained
1 can diced tomatoes (not drained)
1 small can diced green chilis
2 pouches boca crumbles
taco mix
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, diced
1 cup shredded cheese
Enchilada sauce
10x10 baking pan (I get about 9 slices of lasagna from the 13x9 pan)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375

Mix corn and black beans in a pot and warm.

Cook the boca crumbles with taco seasoning, can of tomatoes, onion and garlic.

Slice about 5 corn tortillas in half and have 3 whole ones.

Use the halved tortillas and lay along the bottom ouside of the pan, fill in the gap in the middle with a whole corn tortilla.

Place a layer of bean/corn mixture on top of the tortillas. (I only end up using about half of the corn/bean mixture.)

Put another layer of corn tortillas on top of the bean/corn mixture.

Top that layer of tortillas with "meat".

Place a final layer of corn tortillas on top of the "meat" mixture.

Place green chilis on top of tortillas and then top with cheese. Place in the oven until warmed through and cheese is melted (about 20 minutes).

With about 5 minutes left on the oven warm up the enchilada sauce.

Slice Mexican lasagna and put on plate. Top with 1-2 tablespoons of enchilada sauce. Add sour cream, avocado or salsa (or all 3!) on top of the enchilada sauce.

Enjoy! :)

Leftovers

2007-08-30T22:43:00.000-04:00

We were going to go out to dinner for my birthday but that didn't happen for various reasons. Top that off with the fact we didn't get home until around 8pm so we did leftovers. Leftover "Tomato Pasta" that I posted about a few days ago. Not as pretty as fresh made but yummy nonetheless.

Tomato Pasta

Kids Eat the Darndest Things

Weight Watchers Cake

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Fiber Rich Muffins

PW Ripoffs

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Meat Loaf (Veggie of course!)

Trying This Again

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Happy Thanksgiving!

sketee

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Shells with Sour Cream

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

Lasagna - The best ever!

We're Back! - Cheese Steaks!

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Tomato Pasta

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Soup and a Sandwich

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Spaghetti

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Pasta Creation

Enchiladas

Typical

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Leftovers

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No Pic Today

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Ribs Drool

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