Thursday, May 26, 2011
Trying Variety
Growing up I always ate a variety of foods at every meal, my children however prefer not to. They are content eating one thing for each meal and no sides, which means they don't end up eating many fruits or veggies. I am now on a mission to change that! My first move in this mission was to get sectioned plates to encourage more than one food item. Now the goal at most meals is to try to fill up each section with a different food. Mind you sometimes one section gets filled with ketchup but that still leaves 2 more sections to fill with hopefully 2 different food groups. This week has been a roaring success and I hope we can continue it. One night my oldest and pickiest eater even had 2 side bowls to go with his 3 section plate which means he ate 5 different things!! ( I can't lie, one was ketchup but that is ok!)
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Amazon Super Deals
I have had two $10 off Amazon Baby Store coupons from Parenting magazine burning a hole in my wallet for a few weeks and I was dying to see what kind of deal I could cook up!
So today I went searching to see what we may need from the Baby Store and while I really don't have a baby anymore since Livy turns 2 on Saturday I was worried I wouldn't find much.
I knew we needed baby wipes so that was my first hunt. I ended up getting 4 packages of Huggies baby wipes for $0.00!!! They were on sale for $11.84, then if you signed up for Subscribe and Save and Amazon Mom you save an additional 30% so that brought it down to $8.04 and since I am an Amazon Prime member I also received free shipping. Then minus the $10 coupon I got all 4 packages shipped for FREE!
Now one more coupon to go and I was challenging myself to get more items for free and not spend any money on this online shopping adventure. So off I went to baby snacks and I found Earth's Best Organic Sesame Street Whole Grain Cookies in a 6 box pack. Originally $12.70 minus 15% Subscribe and Save discount minus $10 coupon and free shipping and I got 6 boxes for $0.79!!!
Now if I could only get such good deals on shoes for myself!
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Gotta have 'em : Mr.Clean Magic Eraser
We are always stocked with a BJ's size box of Mr. Clean Magic Erasers and this is why:
Braden decided it would be fun to write on his closet door. So he had to clean it!
Mr. Clean Magic eraser in hand and up he went to clean. He did it very willingly too, I think he had as much fun cleaning it as he did drawing on it :)
Not so crafty February
I am at a stall on my craftiness this month. I started a rag doll for Livy but am not crazy about how it is coming out so I haven't picked that up in awhile. I did make a V-Day decoration that I loved for the living room mantle and we did do a bunch of crafty family projects.
Spinach, Spinach, Spinach
So I have been slacking on the postings but busy in the kitchen! I read in Real Simple magazine about the 30 healthiest ingredients to have in your diet and we regularly have 20 of them in our house so I felt pretty good about that. Now to just incorporate the other 10!
My new secret ingredient in "Project Get My Family to Eat Healthier" is frozen spinach. The majority of my family thinks that it is wonderful. Of course Tanner is the hold out on this one but what else is new. Up until recently I was the only one in the family to eat healthy side dishes with strange ingredients. Luckily spinach is starting to open their eyes to more variety and vitamins! I have been adding spinach as well as carrot puree to all sorts of meals and everyone is happy.
Last night I made a baked ziti with Smart Taste pasta and spinach and it was a hit! I was going to add carrot puree to the sauce but was short on dinner prep time due to a trip to the school book fair. I also used the extra ricotta,spinach, fontina, pecorino romano, parmesan cheese mixture as a homemade ravioli filler with leftover wonton wrappers I had hanging out in the fridge. Now Scott has a quick healthy lunch or dinner all set to make when I am at work this week.
This week we also tried a smoked sausage lentil soup for the first time. It was yummy but definitely a work in progress. I should have used only half the bag of lentils as the whole bag made it too "lentily" for our taste and Scott said it needed more veggies. I had some of the leftovers today and it is so much tastier after it has sat for a couple days.
Tonight's dinner will be a baked pesto chicken dish as I have some prepared pesto in the fridge that needs to be used up.
My new secret ingredient in "Project Get My Family to Eat Healthier" is frozen spinach. The majority of my family thinks that it is wonderful. Of course Tanner is the hold out on this one but what else is new. Up until recently I was the only one in the family to eat healthy side dishes with strange ingredients. Luckily spinach is starting to open their eyes to more variety and vitamins! I have been adding spinach as well as carrot puree to all sorts of meals and everyone is happy.
Last night I made a baked ziti with Smart Taste pasta and spinach and it was a hit! I was going to add carrot puree to the sauce but was short on dinner prep time due to a trip to the school book fair. I also used the extra ricotta,spinach, fontina, pecorino romano, parmesan cheese mixture as a homemade ravioli filler with leftover wonton wrappers I had hanging out in the fridge. Now Scott has a quick healthy lunch or dinner all set to make when I am at work this week.
This week we also tried a smoked sausage lentil soup for the first time. It was yummy but definitely a work in progress. I should have used only half the bag of lentils as the whole bag made it too "lentily" for our taste and Scott said it needed more veggies. I had some of the leftovers today and it is so much tastier after it has sat for a couple days.
Tonight's dinner will be a baked pesto chicken dish as I have some prepared pesto in the fridge that needs to be used up.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Yummy lunch for the week!
During my weekly recipe search I came across a Greek Turkey Pita with Cucumber Yogurt Sauce that was screaming my name. I love gyros so I thought this could be a healthy and yummy lunch. So today while I was preparing lunch for the fam I also made a weeks worth of this recipe, froze a couple of them for later in the week and made a container of the yogurt sauce and seperate containers of chopped red onion and sliced cucumbers to add to the sandwiches once they are heated for a minute in the microwave. I tweaked the recipe to make it my own and use what I had on hand.
Here it is:
For the turkey pita:
Heat 1 tsp olive oil in medium sized saute pan. Add cut up deli or leftover turkey or chicken ( figure out how many sandwiches you would like to make and then decide how much meat you like in each) I used 1/3 lb to make 4 pita sandwiches. Add pepper and greek seasoning and saute for a few minutes. Lay out desired amount of pitas on pieces of aluminum foil for freezing. Once turkey mixture has cooled down, split up and put on half of each pita. If saving for a future meal, fold over pitas and wrap individually in foil, place in fridge or freezer depending on how soon they will be eaten.
Cucumber Yogurt Sauce:
1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
1/2 cup light sour cream
1/2 cup peeled and grated cucumber with excess water removed
2 tsps red wine vinegar
salt
pepper
2 cloves minced garlic
Mix all ingredients together and chill until ready to use.
Cut up veggies for adding to sandwich. I used sliced cucumber, tomatoes, red onion and romaine lettuce. You can also saute the onion in with the turkey if you prefer cooked onions in your sandwich.
This will be my dinner for work tonight and tomorrow and lunches for a few days this week and it only tok me 20 minutes with interruptions from 3 children to get it all prepared!
Here it is:
For the turkey pita:
Heat 1 tsp olive oil in medium sized saute pan. Add cut up deli or leftover turkey or chicken ( figure out how many sandwiches you would like to make and then decide how much meat you like in each) I used 1/3 lb to make 4 pita sandwiches. Add pepper and greek seasoning and saute for a few minutes. Lay out desired amount of pitas on pieces of aluminum foil for freezing. Once turkey mixture has cooled down, split up and put on half of each pita. If saving for a future meal, fold over pitas and wrap individually in foil, place in fridge or freezer depending on how soon they will be eaten.
Cucumber Yogurt Sauce:
1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
1/2 cup light sour cream
1/2 cup peeled and grated cucumber with excess water removed
2 tsps red wine vinegar
salt
pepper
2 cloves minced garlic
Mix all ingredients together and chill until ready to use.
Cut up veggies for adding to sandwich. I used sliced cucumber, tomatoes, red onion and romaine lettuce. You can also saute the onion in with the turkey if you prefer cooked onions in your sandwich.
This will be my dinner for work tonight and tomorrow and lunches for a few days this week and it only tok me 20 minutes with interruptions from 3 children to get it all prepared!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Healthy Pop Tarts and Pizza Pockets
So I found a great blog from a stay-at-home mom who makes the majority of her family's food from all natural ingredients and she has great recipes.
This is her blog: http://heavenlyhomemakers.com
While I strive to cook like her, I just don't have the creativity so I have been tweaking some of her recipes with ingredients I like to cook with as well. She is very inspiring for families who want to eat more naturally.
So today I made the homemade pop tart recipe and instead of plain yogurt I used plain greek yogurt to make the crust to pack a little more protein punch into the recipe since we can always use more protein. The crust came out great and so easy to do! I made strawberry and cinnamon brown sugar pop tarts and sprinkled the tops of both with brown sugar. They sure did taste healthy and were a semi-hit. Braden and I liked them, Scott is too sick to eat and Livy is napping but I am sure she will like them.
I also used half the batch of the crust to make the pizza pockets since the recipe uses the same crust recipe. I made them with Trader Joes's Pizza Sauce and 2% Shredded Mozzerella cheese since that is what we had on hand. The kiddos are going to have these for dinner so I will have to report back on how well they go over.
I think I am going to make some homemade mac and cheese with leftover ham cut up in it for dinner. I am in the mood for comfort food since we got another foot of snow last night and I have to walk throuogh a 5 foot tunnel of a walkway to get to the cars! I spent a good chunk of the afternoon baking and shoveling since Scott didn't last too long out there. I am very done with the snow and ready for spring!
This was an inexpensive cooking day as well since all the ingredients used are staples in our house! Love that! So now I know I can make both of these at the drop of hat since I will most likely have everything I need for them.
This is her blog: http://heavenlyhomemakers.com
While I strive to cook like her, I just don't have the creativity so I have been tweaking some of her recipes with ingredients I like to cook with as well. She is very inspiring for families who want to eat more naturally.
So today I made the homemade pop tart recipe and instead of plain yogurt I used plain greek yogurt to make the crust to pack a little more protein punch into the recipe since we can always use more protein. The crust came out great and so easy to do! I made strawberry and cinnamon brown sugar pop tarts and sprinkled the tops of both with brown sugar. They sure did taste healthy and were a semi-hit. Braden and I liked them, Scott is too sick to eat and Livy is napping but I am sure she will like them.
I also used half the batch of the crust to make the pizza pockets since the recipe uses the same crust recipe. I made them with Trader Joes's Pizza Sauce and 2% Shredded Mozzerella cheese since that is what we had on hand. The kiddos are going to have these for dinner so I will have to report back on how well they go over.
I think I am going to make some homemade mac and cheese with leftover ham cut up in it for dinner. I am in the mood for comfort food since we got another foot of snow last night and I have to walk throuogh a 5 foot tunnel of a walkway to get to the cars! I spent a good chunk of the afternoon baking and shoveling since Scott didn't last too long out there. I am very done with the snow and ready for spring!
This was an inexpensive cooking day as well since all the ingredients used are staples in our house! Love that! So now I know I can make both of these at the drop of hat since I will most likely have everything I need for them.
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