Saturday Soup!

I don't know about your area but its getting cold here. When its cold outside all I can think about is a nice warm bowl of soup. Now in my household this is no easy task. Aside from my oldest daughter the younger kids will only eat raw veggies and 2 of them wont eat beans. Most soups being either veggies, beans or both...well let is just say its enough to make you want to pull your hair out! I did however find the perfect soup everyone could enjoy. I tried several recipes online before I figured out like most recipes to just go with my gut and what I already have. I get the greatest satisfaction out of using what I already have on hand and not having to shop...

Chunky Chicken Corn Chowder
1 pound of cubed chicken breast
4-5 peeled and cubed potatoes
1 small onion diced
1 can creamed corn
3-4 cups frozen corn (I like to use the white and yellow corn mix)
1 12oz can evaporated milk
2 TBSP corn starch
1/4 cup unsalted butter
salt & pepper to taste
Water
shredded cheese

In a large pot melt your butter and cook onions and chicken. Add potatoes and enough water to cover everything and cook until your potatoes are tender. now add your evaporated milk, creamed corn & frozen corn I usually add about another cup of water now too. Bring to a boil. In a small bowl mix corn starch and a small amount of water add this to your pot and bring back to a boil. Add salt and pepper to taste. When in bowls sprinkle a little shredded cheese on top. This makes about enough for 2 adults and 4 small children. if you have a large stock pot you can double it.

I like to go a little Mexican with it sometimes and will add some diced red pepper when I do the onions and will serve with a dollop of sour cream, pico de gaio & tortilla chips.

After reading this...Please take a Moment of Silence to remember the Hero's & Victims of 9/11/01

Thursday Theme (Pizza)

Just ask your child what they want for dinner...is the answer almost always pizza?? We likely eat pizza 2-3 times a week in our house. And no its not delivery or Digiorno lol. Pizza is a very versatile food and its so fun to let your kids help.

Making your own dough is really easy I use my bread machine most of the time but some days I just feel like doing it the old fashion way. Making a traditional pizza with homemade dough isn't the only option. You can make pizza on English muffins, pita bread, bagels, tortillas.. even bread. Its so simple when you are not fussing with dough. When we do little pizza like this the kids get so happy knowing they each get their own little pizza and I let them do their own toppings. Even my 1 year old sprinkles her own cheese on.

When making mini pizza with the kids I give them each a pre sauced pita and place it on wax paper. I line up bowls with toppings across the table starting with the cheese, pepperoni, veggies then Parmesan at the end. They make an assembly line of sorts and pull their wax paper down the line as they pick out their toppings. We then place them on the cookie sheet and bake at 350 for about 8-10 mins.. when you are not dealing with dough you pretty much just need to cook until the cheese is melted.

How about Mexican pizza with your taco night leftovers? We generally will do this on English muffins pretty much the same way as above I just use salsa in place of the sauce and will put out left over beef, beans, rice & cheese.. when the pizzas are cooked they can then add sour cream, pico, lettuce, etc..

My husband also makes a wonderful breakfast pizza..I will have to get the recipe from him soon.

and for extra fun..dessert pizza? This works best on regular dough.. you cook just the dough when it comes out brush the crust with butter and sprinkle on some Cinnamon sugar, then I smooth on some vanilla pudding then top with seasonal berries and drizzle the fruit with a bit of honey... YUM!

Thursday Themes

I thought it might be nice to have a theme day. Where I will maybe share a group of recipes, list of helpful links, and topics. With school in session for most I thought it would be nice to talk about sandwich ideas. Sandwiches seem to be a popular lunch choice because they are easy on moms and what kid doesn't like sandwichs...for a little while anyway. Possibilities are endless when it comes to sandwiches. Here are a few Sandwich ideas for you.

breads

whole wheat sandwich bread

whole wheat pita bread

flat bread

wraps

tortillas

pancakes

waffles

English muffins

bagels
matzo crackers

Melba toast

Spreads & fillings

Hummus

Cream Cheese

Cheese/cream cheese spreads

Sun or Nut Butters

Jams & Jellies

Cheeses & sandwich meats

alfalfa Sprouts

lettuce

shredded carrots

cucumbers

pickles

leftover turkey & chicken

egg salad

tuna salad

ham salad

chicken salad

Another thing I have found a great love for is Sandwich cutters and large cookie cutters. It's much more exciting to open you lunchbox to a Sandwich shaped like a heart or a star. I keep the trimmings of the sandwiches for my own lunch at home so their is no waste. Pinwheel sandwiches are also fun for the kids. Experimenting a few days ago I made some pinwheel sandwiches with lemon almond chicken salad (recipe coming soon) and sprouts they where a huge hit. Its so simple to just slather a spread and veggie on a tortilla roll it up and cut into fourths.

Waffles on Wednesday

Wednesdays are one of our busiest days of the week. The older girls have school then we have about 1.5 hours to change out of uniforms, do homework, eat dinner and go to church. By the time we get home it's time for a small snack, showers and off to bed. Trying to get so much accomplished in such a little amount of time makes me really glad that I always have tons of frozen waffles on hand. I think kids are drawn to breakfast for dinner because it almost feels like your doing something naughty (mind you I don't by into the concept that you should have pizza for breakfast either lol) I have a very yummy basic waffle recipe that you can add just about anything to it. Most popular in our home are Cinnamon, banana, peanut butter & blueberry waffles. I have even started making cheese waffles that are yummy for sandwiches. I have also discovered Organic batter blaster that I like to keep on hand for the rare times that we have no waffles. It's super easy and makes a really fluffy waffle. Making pancakes with it however was a bit tricky because its so light and fluffy then burn quickly. Waffles are great because they have no rules, they can be breakfast with some fresh berries, a sandwich for lunch, A comforting dinner or even desert with whip cream & honey. My 5 year old likes to eat them frozen right out of the freezer (I think that is crazy but she loves them that way lol)

Waffles (and yes works for pancakes too)
1 1/2 cups Whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt (I use a fine grain sea salt)
4 Tbsp Raw organic sugar (or equivalent sweetener of your choice)
2 large eggs
3 cups milk (you can use any kind of milk I generally use 2% or homemade almond milk)
2/3 cup butter or oil
(add fresh berries, chocolate chips, mashed bananas, applesauce, peanut butter etc)
Mix together dry ingredients in a large bowl, Mix wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients careful not to over mix them. Fold in any extras to your batter mix If you are adding fresh berries do not mix them in you will simply toss a few berries on top of the wet batter after your pour it into the waffle maker (trust me on this one)


you will want to take note of the cooking recommendations of your waffle maker. For mine I use 1/3 cup of batter and cook on medium heat for about 3.5 minutes each. You may need to butter your iron or use a cooking spray if your waffle maker requires you to do so. mine recommends it only with you are using fruits and sweet batter because the sugars/juices will make them stick.
This will make about 16-20 waffles

Now as a part 2 to this recipe a new waffle sandwich was born (due to low pantry supplies and over ripe bananas for lunch the other day. We call it the "WWED? Waffle Sammie" (wwed?=what would Elvis do)

WWED? Waffle Sammie
Using the above recipe mix in 1/2 cup of sun-butter or nut-butter of your choice (we used sun-butter) and 1 ripe banana mashed into your batter.
Take 2 cooked waffles and spread Sun-butter over it and top with thinly sliced bananas. And you have a nice healthy Waffle Sammie. We would like to think that if Elvis where alive today he would enjoy this lunch treat.
Enjoy!

Taco Tuesday!

Taco's and pretty much anything Mexican gets lots of cool points for mom around here. Taco's are quite versatile and give kids lots of choices for their fillings. Cady (21 mts) is happy with just beef, sour cream and pico de gaio (no shell) Morgan (5 years old) pretty traditional soft taco, beef, cheese, lettuce, sour cream & taco sauce, Aria (8 yrs old) is all about hard shell with beef or chicken with cheese & sour cream. Erynn (11 yrs old) Beef, beans, cheese, lettuce & ranch. I always give lots of topping options and not always beef, ground turkey & chicken. Sometimes even Mexican rice & guacamole make it to the "Taco Table" as the kids call it. My one major gripe with tacos is the mess. Anything to avoid messes gets an A+ around here. So we came up with mini taco pizza's.

Mini Taco Pizza's (makes 12 mini pizzas)
1 Package whole wheat English muffins
1 pound ground beef (chicken or ground turkey are good as well)
1 package taco seasoning (we like simply organic)
Salsa (you can make your own or we like Newman's Own Salsa)
Shredded Cheddar cheese (we like extra sharp)
sliced black olives (I leave these off mine I am not an olive lover but all my kids adore them)
toppings of your choice such as guacamole, sour cream, lettuce, beans etc.

Directions
Preheat oven to 350, brown meat and follow directions on taco seasoning.
Split English muffins and spread about a table spoon of salsa over them, then cover with beef, then cheese & place olive slices on top. Cook for about 10-15 minutes or until cheese in well melted. Then add what ever toppings you like. By placing the cheese over the beef you cut down on pieces of greasy meat hitting your nice clean floors.

With out additional toppings added you can freeze these and you can pop them in the toaster oven for a nice afternoon snack. Or even defrost and warm up in the oven on a cookie sheet. My kids like these as is with out the extra toppings. I like to double or triple most of my recipes so that on nights when we need something quick I have a few go to favorites on hand.

Make it Monday (lunches)

Taking a moment here to talk about lunch. School lunches are pretty well BAD. Watch Jamie Oliver's food revolution if you don't believe me. I don't even know the cost of a school lunch but I recall in my day they where a $1 and well.. you get what you pay for. The schools have tried to improve and make more healthy options. Of course moms lunch is always going to be better. Packing 3 lunches a night for children with different request can be a bit daunting but doable!
I LOVE my kids lunch boxes its easy and fun. laptop lunch boxes are well worth the purchase. I try to cover the basics with lunch while making it fun & healthy at the same time. Protein, fruit/vegetable & grains and the occasional treat are the basics here. I am lucky that my kids see fruits or fruit leathers as treats and they are not expecting twinkies.
Now packing lunches if well planned can be a very smooth process. I like to plan a few days in advance and I like to cook things in groups for example I might make banana muffins, banana waffles, banana leathers and banana pudding all at once to use up bananas. Now I wouldn't want to over kill them on bananas all in one week so I think about things that freeze well to. I also know that kids bore easily with the same old sandwiches and salads so I try to think of new things. Sandwich's can be very versatile make them on bread, pancakes, waffles, wraps, pitas, english muffins, bagels etc. You can change up salads to My husbands makes an awesome cilantro lime dressing which is wonderful on spinach salad with craisens. YUM. My older daughter loves Cesar salad. Just take a walk through your produce section and inspiration will find you.