Talk about the breakfast of champions

I have been discovering the beauty of omelets and smoothies. Smoothies have very much been a favorite since I had kids, because I could add just about anything to them and my kids would drink it. Lately, though, I'm discovering that I (myself!) will drink and eat way more in an omelet or smoothie than I would ever chew and swallow in the course of a day. I guess that's what people say about juicing, too...but I still haven't invested in that hobby.

This morning, the following vegetables were included in my breakfast: mushrooms, green peppers, onions, (tomatoes), kale, cucumber, and spinach. Some of that was in the omelet, some in my smoothie. Another beauty of a smoothie is that you can empty out random leftovers in your fridge :) I used up half a container of yogurt, half a bowl of applesauce, a soon to be rotten banana, and an Odwalla juice box that had not been finished the day before. Amazing.

I truly have been feeling better, energy wise, and the mental peace of mind I have from eating good for me foods has been a great plus, too. I haven't tried any new recipes or anything like that, because my current goal is to serve new vegetables to the kids. Last week, we were out of town so things were a little different (although we did discover that our kids like swordfish!)...but the week before that, we had homemade guacamole, sliced avocados, sweet potatoes, and more. I want to serve the "different" vegetables more often so that their palates get used to them and begin to enjoy them. We talk more about the look, taste, texture, shape, etc. of the food we're eating as opposed to just saying how many bites they have to try. I try to include them in the food prep or at least show them how the process worked ("This is a whole avocado, then I sliced it in half and had to take this cool looking ball out of it!! Then, I sliced the inside up and scooped it out. Does it look like it will taste smooth and creamy or crunchy?" (etc.) )

It's fun, it's a journey for all of us, and hey...why not have fun with it? 

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

Overnight French Toast

Ingredients:
1/2 loaf white bread
4 eggs
1 c milk
2 T sugar
1/2 t vanilla
cinnamon
(powdered sugar for dusting)

Instructions:
1. Spray pan and lay one row of bread down. Cover with egg mixture.
2. Repeat until all bread is covered.
3. Soak overnight (or all day) in fridge.
4. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes.

Another meal without a recipe

After all, meals without recipes are some of my favorite!! ;) The downside to most of my "meals without recipes" is that they are usually quite unhealthy. Take this one for instance...

Biscuits with Sausage Gravy, Scrambled Eggs, and Smoothies!

For the biscuits, I used Pillsbury refrigerated southern style biscuits. Put them on the pan, bake for 13 minutes, done.

For the gravy, I used Pioneer Brand's Country sausage flavor gravy mix. It's with all of the soup packages in an envelope. All you have to add is water. Hold on, I'm not done with the unhealthy stuff yet...

I added Jimmy Dean refrigerated sausage crumbles to the gravy. They come in a package, cooked for you, and ready to be re-heated. Awesome.

So I put the biscuits in the oven, made the gravy, re-heated the sausage and mixed it up in the gravy, scrambled the eggs, and made smoothies with (yes, packaged) Jamba smoothie frozen fruits and apple juice. Then, I put it all on the table with jelly, honey, and butter for self-serving...and while the boys doused their biscuits in honey, I enjoyed a nice, hot biscuit with sausage gravy, yummy scrambled eggs, and a scrumptious smoothie to top it all off.

Planning ahead...month 2

I didn't like the format of the calendar last time (for month 1)....or rather, I liked the calendar, I just couldn't get it to fit correctly without running through the right sidebar, so I'm doing it this way this time!

Basic Weekly Schedule:

Sundays
-Easy breakfast
-Eat out for lunch
-Dinner at the in-laws'

Mondays
(During the week, I only plan dinners ahead of time)
Breakfast for Dinner

Tuesdays
Italian Dinner (I use the category loosely, as *IANACAH)
If baseball is happening that night, soup or crock pot dinner!

Wednesdays
Pizza-ish meal (baseball night)

Thursdays
Mexican Dinner (again, loosely :) )

Fridays
All the other categories the rest of my food fits under besides Mexican, Italian, and breakfast. Sadly, it's not a long list of categories!!

Saturdays
Typically, leftovers are nice when available. If not, I try to use up whatever wasn't used up during the week...which can mean quite a hodgepodge of a dinner!

*I AM NOT A COOK AT HEART! ;)
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Here goes Month 2 of Meals!!

WEEK ONE::
Monday- Oven Baked Fritatta, blueberry muffins, smoothies
Tuesday- Mario's Chicken and Noodles (and I call that a "whole meal!!")
Wednesday- Stromboli, cucumber slices and carrots with French onion dip
Thursday- Burritos, rice, corn, and chips (with some queso and salsa, OF COURSE!)
Friday- Sloppy Joes, Hashbrown Casserole, brownies for dessert
Saturday- Leftovers/Hot Hoagies or Philly Cheesesteaks/BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

WEEK TWO::
Monday- Pancakes, Bacon, Eggs, and Smoothies
Tuesday- Chicken Tortilla Soup
Wednesday- Make-your-own English muffin pizzas, raw veggies with Ranch dressing
Thursday- Beef Enchiladas, refried and black beans, rice
Friday- Crock Pot Stew, French bread, Apple crumble and ice cream for dessert
Saturday- Leftovers/Soft tacos

WEEK THREE::
Monday-Omelets, smoothies
Tuesday- Baked Ziti, Salad, Garlic Bread
Wednesday- Frozen pizza
Thursday- Southwestern Chicken, avocado slices, rice
Friday- Ronald Reagan macaroni, milkshakes for dessert
Saturday- Leftovers

WEEK FOUR::
Monday- Breakfast Burritos (scrambled eggs, sausage, and cheese rolled up in a soft tortilla shell), fruit salad
Tuesday- Cheesy Chicken Casserole, rolls
Wednesday- Homemade cheese pizza, tossed salad
Thursday-Taco night!!
Friday- Chuck Roast BBQ Sandwiches, mashed potatoes, Tomato Basil Asparagus Pasta Salad, mini monster cookies for dessert
Saturday-Leftovers/Taco salad/Mexican pizzas

WEEK FIVE::
Monday- Biscuits and honey/jelly, bacon, and eggs, Smoothies
Tuesday- Shepherd's Pie
Wednesday-Chicken and Ranch pizza, raw veggies
Thursday- White Chicken Chili with fritos
Friday- Sausage-Stuffed French Loaf, Cucumber slices, Microwaved S'mores for dessert
Saturday- Leftovers

Tomato Basil Asparagus Pasta Salad

Ingredients:
16 oz. penne pasta
1 lb. asparagus, cut into 2" pieces
Lemon Garlic and Herb Vinaigrette dressing
1 oz. fresh basil, chopped
Grape tomatoes, halved

Instructions:
1. Cook pasta. Add asparagus during last 2 minutes of cooking.
2. Drain and rinse in cold water.
3. Stir in 1 c dressing and basil
4. Pour 3/4 c dressing over pasta.
5. Stir in grape tomatoes.
6. Chill for 1 hour.
7. Toss with rest of dressing and serve!

Ronald Reagan Macaroni

Don't ask...I have no idea why this is named after Ronald Reagan. I just know it's easy, and it's basically like homemade mac and cheese with diced ham and ritz crackers. The kids love it :)
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Ronald Reagan Macaroni

Ingredients:
8 oz. hot cooked macaroni noodles
shredded cheddar cheese to your liking
diced ham
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups milk (See instructions below before you pour the whole 2 cups in!)
Ritz crackers, crushed

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In a greased casserole dish, layer cooked macaroni, cheese, salt, pepper, and ham.
3. Pour milk over all...JUST until you can see the milk rising up through the pasta. 2 cups is often too much in my opinion.
4. Spread crackers over top and bake 40 minutes or until crackers are turning light brown.

Crock Pot Stew

Ingredients:
1/2 lb. beef
1 can creamed corn
1 can DelMonte Original Recipe Stewed Tomatoes
1/2 c ketchup
loaf of French bread

Instructions:
1. Brown and drain beef.
2. Combine all (except bread) in crock pot. Cook on low for 8 hours.
3. Serve with (or even ON slices of toasted bread)

Southwestern Chicken in the Crock Pot

Ingredients:
2 cans (15 1/4 oz.) whole kernel sweet corn, drained
1 can (15 oz.) black beans, drained
1 jar (16 oz.) chunky salsa, divided
6 chicken breasts*
1 c shredded cheddar cheese

Instructions:
1. Combine corn, beans, and 1/2 c salsa in crock pot.
2. Top with chicken.
3. Pour remaining salsa over chicken.
4. Cook on low 7-8 hours.
5. Sprinkle with cheese and replace lid until cheese melts.

*This is REALLY good with Pilgrim's Pride "Eat Well, Stay Healthy" Frozen chicken fillets!!

Baked Ziti

Ingredients:
1 pkg ziti or penne noodles
1 large container cottage cheese
2 large bags shredded mozzarella cheese
1 large jar spaghetti sauce
Beef

Instructions:
1. Boil noodles and brown beef.
2. Layer noodles, beef, sauce, and cottage cheese in greased casserole dish.
3. Top with shredded mozzarella.
4. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.
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Throw some bagged salad and garlic bread on the plate, and call it dinner!! :)

Hashbrown Casserole

I don't usually MAKE side dishes. It takes enough planning and time and effort to make a main dish, so I typically just throw on some veggies and bread to complete our meals around here. This one is so simple, though, and it's a good "make ahead of time" dish, too, so you can put it in the fridge the night before.
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Hashbrown Casserole

Ingredients:
2 lb. bag of frozen, shredded hashbrown potatoes (I don't use the entire bag)
1/4 c melted butter
10.75 oz can of condensed cream of chicken soup
8 oz. sour cream
1 c shredded cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste
crushed cornflakes (I don't crush mine very much...do as you wish :) )

Instructions:
1. Let the hashbrowns sit out for about 30 minutes before you're ready to work with them. Throw them on the floor like you would a bag of ice if they still feel hard. You need them to be easy to mix with other ingredients.
2. Combine all ingredients but hashbrowns and cornflakes into a large!! bowl.
3. Mix in hashbrowns a little at a time.
4. Pour all into very lightly greased baking pan.
5. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.
6. Add cornflakes on top for last 10 minutes of baking.

Stromboli

Ingredients:
Refrigerated pizza dough
Pizza Sauce (I use Ragu in a jar)
Shredded cheeses (cheddar, mozzarella, any you prefer)
Any pizza toppings you like (sausage, pepperonis...mini work best, etc.)
*This is also really yummy with deli meat ham rolled up right into the dough!*

Instructions:
1. Roll out dough onto ungreased cookie sheet in the shape of a rectangle.
2. Spoon pizza sauce onto dough, not too close to the edges.
3. Layer on cheese then toppings then more cheese.
4. Roll it all up so that you are rolling the long side of the rectangle over to the other long side.
5. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.
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I serve this with some raw veggies and Ranch dressing and call it DINNER!!!!!

I name recipes after the people who share them with me

Kind of like "Dawn's Chicken Casserole"...I'm sure she didn't invent the recipe for that dish, but she made it for me, I loved it, and therefore I dubbed it HERS!! Our friend, Mario, made us this once, and I think we have requested it every single dinner get-together since. (He even came to our house to make it once! ha!) Anyway, even with the instructions he gives me, the lessons I have been through while watching him make it, and every tip I have written down on my recipe card, mine still doesn't turn out as wonderful as his. Nevertheless, I continue attempting this recipe, and it's going on my month of meals this month...so here goes!
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Mario's Chicken and Noodles

Ingredients:
Olive oil
spaghetti noodles
chicken
bread crumbs
paprika
Chicken breasts
eggs

Instructions:
1. Begin boiling a pot of water.
2. Scramble the eggs and set aside.
3. Saute onions and set aside.
4. Pound the chicken breasts between two sheets of wax paper until they are thin.
5. Coat the chicken in bread crumbs. (Paprika is to your liking, I suppose.)
6. Pound the chicken a little more to get the crumbs "set." Set chicken aside, close by and ready to roll if you get stressed out easily while cooking like I do.
7. Once the water is boiling on the stove, heat a little olive oil on the stove, and throw in the spaghetti noodles to give them a light brown color. (Note: This is where I usually make my first mistake...and I think the toasted noodles are the best part.)
8. When the noodles look light brown in color, put them immediately into the pot of boiling water.
9. Fry chicken in olive oil (add more oil as needed.)
10. While chicken is frying, drain noodles and mix scrambled eggs and sauteed onions in with noodles in the hot pot to heat all throughout.
11. Serve fried chicken on top of noodles
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YES!! It is complicated, at least for me it was and still is!! It stresses me out a little bit just typing all of that out. Here's the thing, though (since the point of this blog is supposed to be EASY cooking!): the only reason I think it's stressful is because I never do the steps in the right order. Things get burnt or cold because I am always a step (or 2!) behind. Hopefully with it all written out this way, I will do better this month. It really shouldn't be that hard...I mean, seriously!!!!!!

Oven Baked Fritatta

Ingredients:
8 eggs
3/4 c milk
dash of pepper and garlic powder
1 c shredded cheese
2 c diced ham
(any other omelet-type ingredients: sausage, spinach, etc.)

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Mix 8 eggs, milk, pepper, and garlic powder in a bowl. Whisk together.
3. Layer other ingredients in a greased 9" pie dish.
4. Pour egg mixture over layered ingredients.
5. Bake for 40 minutes to 1 hour.

Helps:
Once the eggs start to "puff up" in the baking process, you might need to press down the "toppings" lightly with a fork.
::The top of the fritatta should be a nice brown color. Stick a knife/fork down the center and make sure it comes out clean.