Using my guilt for good

Here's the deal...I haven't cooked much at ALL in the past month. I am so tired, I was sick of my kids not eating things I spent time making, and if you're reading this blog, you know my deal with cooking skills.

Here's the thing...I've been lazy. I need to get back on the cooking wagon, and I need to change our eating habits. Of course, I feel way less healthy when we're constantly eating out. Even when I cook, though, I just don't cook healthy things. They are sub-par, good-enough-for-calling it a meal, very much lacking in vitamins and minerals, etc.

Here's the plan...I'm cooking again. I'm cooking to save money and also to put home-cooked food in our bodies instead of fast food. I'm also cooking to get us back on track health-wise. My goal right now is to cook the foods that are in our pantry, fridge, freezer, cabinets, etc. I have planned meals from what we have on-hand. THEN, after the holidays, I want to start fresh. I want to plan our meals based on what is good for us. I want our meals to at least START with whole foods. I don't want to be ridiculous about this, because I know I will set my goals too high and fail and be right back where I started. So I'm going with the "Focus on what you can ADD to your diet first, then you can start letting unhealthy things go."

I myself want to cut back on many things (if not entirely), but I know this process is always hardest on kids. My kids are healthy, we don't have any behavior/health problems that are bringing on my desire to change our eating habits...so really, it's no rush.

Here are the meals I have planned based on the food we currently have in our house. Starting in January, I will hopefully be starting the road to healthy eating!! (Do NOT mistake this for a new year's resolution........I will NOT go there!!)

Meal 1: Sloppy Joes, mac and cheese, frozen peas
Meal 2: Italian Chicken Breasts, corn on the cob, TX Toast
Meal 3: "Chipotle" Chicken Burritos, chips and salsa/queso
Meal 4: Crock Pot Stew on any toasted bread
Meal 5: Crock Pot Chicken Parmesan, canned vegetable
Meal 6: Taco Soup
Meal 7: Sicilian Meatloaf with vegetable
Meal 8: Biscuits, bacon, eggs
Meal 9: Muffins, Smoothies, Fruit Salad
Meal 10: Spaghetti and Meatballs, vegetable, bread

Maybe Blue does have a clue

My oldest brought home a recipe from a friend's Blue's Clue's book the other day. We had all of the ingredients on hand, so I figured "why not?" Well, it turns out they were really yummy!

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Blue's Banana Muffins

Ingredients:

3 large bananas

1 1/2 c flour

1 c brown sugar

1/2 c butter

2 eggs

1/4 c sour cream

1/4 t salt

1 t vanilla

1 t baking soda

1 1/2 t baking powder

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray muffin pan.

2. Cream together butter and sugar.

3. Add sour cream, eggs, mashed bananas, and vanilla to butter mixture.

4. Mix all dry ingredients in separate bowl and add to butter mixture.

5. Pour batter into muffin tins.

6. Bake for 20-30 minutes until muffins are golden brown and spring back to the touch.

Rocky Road Candy

Rocky Road Candy

Ingredients:

1 (12 oz) pkg. semisweet chocolate chips

1 (12 oz) pkg. butterscotch chips

1/2 c. butter

1 (10 1/2 oz) pkg miniature marshmallows

1 c. peanuts

Instructions:

1. In a 4 qt microwave safe bowl, combine chips and butter. Microwave on 70% power for 5 minutes or until melted.

2. Stir and fold in marshmallows and peanuts.

3. Spread in buttered 9x13 pan.

4. Refrigerate for about 2 hours until set. Cut into squares.

White Chicken Chili (Crock Pot)

My friend, Brandi, posted this recipe on her cooking blog, and I made it yesterday. YUM!! So easy, simple ingredients, and you can just stick frozen chicken breasts in the Crock Pot. Awesome...
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White Chicken Chili
1 1/4 lbs boneless frozen or thawed skinless chicken (I just threw 3 breasts in the crockpot)
2 (15 oz) cans great northern beans or navy beans
1 (15 oz) can of hominy or white corn (I would suggest white corn. Hominy was not my fave)
1 (1 1/4 oz) envelope taco seasoning
1 (4 1/2 oz) can of chopped green chilies
1 (10 3/4 oz) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 (14 oz) can chicken broth
1/2 C. sour cream
chopped green onion (optional, but I suggest!)
monterey jack cheese (optional, but I suggest!)

Directions:

1. Place chicken in a 4 qt slow cooker.
2. Top with beans and corn.
3. In a medium bowl, combine taco seasoning, chilies, condensed soup, and broth. 4. Pour over top of ingredients in crock pot.
5. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours.
6. Before serving, stir gently to break up chicken, then stir in the sour cream. Serve topped with green onions and jack cheese, if desired.

*We also topped ours with crushed up tortilla chips, AND I had avocados that I intended to use but totally forgot about. HA! That would have been good with it, too,though, had I remembered!

Going out on a limb

We often have random things around that I know won't get eaten by the expiration date, but that I hate to just toss. This week, it's half a big link (is that what you call it?) of summer sausage and 2 random green peppers my husband brought home from work. I still haven't asked him where in the world those peppers came from! I'm assuming they're from a patient's garden or something. Anyway, when the random-ingredient issue hits, I surrender to Allrecipes.com. Here's what it came up with for us:

Letcho

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 onions, sliced
• 2 green or red bell peppers, seeded and chopped
• 1 pinch salt and pepper to taste
• 2 teaspoons mild paprika, or to taste
• 4 tomatoes, chopped
• 9 ounces hot pepperoni sticks or summer sausage, sliced

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and green peppers; cook and stir until soft. Season with salt, pepper and paprika. Put in tomatoes, cover and simmer for about 5 minutes.
2. In a separate skillet, fry the pepperoni or sausage until browned. Mix into the pan with the tomatoes. Cover and simmer for 5 more minutes. Serve over hot cooked rice.

Now, I can just about guarantee my kids won't eat this, but it should be a fun change for the 2 adults in this house who eat kid-friendly food almost every single night of every single day of every single month of........

Here's to a nice dinner for me and the hubs (and an extra pizza night for the boys!)

Gotta love it...

My mother-in-law bought me probably the best cookbook I have ever been gifted for my birthday back in August. It is a cookbook for college students...you know, those on-a-tight-budget, without-any-cooking-skills, crunched-for-time people! Perfect book for my kitchen if I do say so myself!! :) I will definitely be trying and posting recipes from this book, and I'm using many of the recipes to create Month 3 of meals. This one hasn't been tested yet by my fam, but I'm assuming it's simple enough...(famous last words, right?!) Oh well, here's the recipe. I'll be sure to delete it if it's just awful after I make it.

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Chicken Parmesan

*Crock pot!! Woohoo!!*

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 (10 3/4 oz.) cans cream of chicken soup

3/4 c grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 - 1/2 c water

Salt and pepper, to taste

(Vermicelli) noodles, cooked (I'll use whatever I have on hand)

Instructions:

1. In a slow cooker, combine all ingredients except noodles.

2. Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours.

3. Serve over noodles.

Sicilian Meatloaf

Shout out to my mom for this one!! I don't know if she "invented" it or if she got it from someone else, but I do know it is good!
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Sicilian Meatloaf

Ingredients:
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 c bread crumbs
1/2 c tomato juice
2 T parsley
1/2 t oregano
1/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1 small clove garlic, minced
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2 pounds lean beef (Make sure it's lean!!)
8 thin slices ham (I use sandwich thin deli meat)
6 oz. grated mozzarella cheese (I actually use shredded)
3 slices mozzarella cheese

Instructions:
1. Combine first 8 ingredients (above the solid line in this post)
2. Stir in beef and mix well.
3. On wax paper, pat beef into 10x12" rectangle (or something close)
4. Arrange ham on top of beef.
5. Sprinkle on shredded/grated cheese.
6. Roll up.
7. Bake at 350 for 1 hour*

*LAST 10 minutes, place mozzarella slices on top to melt.

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Good sides for this:
Mashed potatoes
Southern-Fried potatoes
Green bean casserole
Hashbrown Casserole