crock pot fajitas

Put in crock pot some chicken breasts, sliced bell peppers and onions.  Add a can or two of black beans.  Sprinkle everything with some taco seasoning and a ranch packet, add some water. and cook all day...  I have not made these but I had this meal at a friends house a couple weeks ago and this is what I remember her saying she did.  It was so yummy!  Oh, she added some fresh mushrooms during the last hour.  

Update on my menu for this week.  A friend brought me a crock pot meal for today so we are having cheesy chicken potatoes and broccoli tonight.  :) I think I will do the lasagna on Sunday.  

Talena's meal this week

I have done pretty good this week with meals too.  :)
Sunday we had roast and mashed potatoes
Monday we had chicken florentine
Tuesday we had beef stroganoff
Wednesday we did leftovers cause that is our busiest day of the week and no one eats together so we have to just warm something up and run...
Thursday (tonight) we are having lasagna
Friday probably pizza and
Saturday crockpot chicken fajitas
I feel so blessed to have food in our house and a place to prepare meals for my family.

Backward Meal Plan

Since we got home from our exhausting Christmas break I feel like I've been doing pretty well at making dinner. Before Christmas I was doing terrible! Every night 5:00 would roll around and I would ask everyone what they wanted to eat and of course no one here can agree on a dinner so we would throw together something for each person. An Engish Muffin for Audrey, bagel for Rylen, yogurt for the baby, you get the idea. We just weren't eating well and I was feeling stuck!

So, I am feeling motivated again and I thought I would share the meals I've been making in the past week, in case you are feeling stuck like I was. I don't claim they are extremely healthy, but I try to add in veggies with every meal and have a green salad with most meals. Just the fact that I am making dinner though, and we are all sitting down together to eat without stressing at dinner time every night makes us all feel better I think.

Wed: Easy Chicken Fiesta Rice served over chips, like taco salad. (Briella calls this Red Rice and she loves it. It's on her list of faves)
Thurs: Potato Pancakes, Waffles, and Eggs
Fri: Homemade Pizza
Sat: Ground Beef Enchiladas with corn and rice
Sun: Sausage Egg Rolls and Rice
Mon: Stir fried leftover rice with lots of frozen mixed veggies, served on tortillas with cheese, and leftovers
Tues: Homemade Mac and Cheese and corn off the cob (frozen corn. Rylen has discovered he loves it!)
Wed: Broiled Tilapia, twice baked potatoes, and brocolli

Tonight was my first attempt at cooking and eating Tilapia and I LOVED it! It helped that the recipe I used (I linked it) smothered the stuff in Parmesan cheese, butter, and mayo, but I think I would have liked it anyway. The recipe was super simple and Briella enjoyed it with me. If you have never cooked fish before, or if you aren't a big fish fan, I strongly recommend that recipe. It's easy and so tasty.

So there you go. I have been trying to just simplify and not over-complicate making meals. I try to make something someone (besides me or Wayne) likes every night so that at least two of us can enjoy dinner, and that means simple stuff because the kids like simple!

Let me know if you want a recipe for any of these dishes and I will post it! And lets see how long this motivated streak lasts...

Egg Rolls (and some other stuff)

Last week I got a bountiful basket and I was a bit disappointed. 2 HEADS OF CABBAGE! blech. Also some kale and cauliflower? All in one basket?
But I decided to make the best of it. I gave one head of cabbage away. With the kale I decided to make some kale chips. People rave about these online and declare their kids scarf them down. My kids wouldn't touch them. They smelled funny. I kind of liked them, but they are nothing to rave about and I ate as many as I could. The rest went bad.

 With the over ripe plums I got in my basket I made some plum syrup. It was delicious! Especially served over my whole wheat blueberry pancakes (I also got the blueberries in my basket)

But my favorite meal this week was egg rolls! Why have I never made these before? They were so easy and so good and now I have a bunch in my freezer for an easy meal.

Here's the recipe I used

1 lb sausage

1/2 head cabbage (chopped up)

2 large carrots, peeled then grated

1 small onion, chopped up small

1 package of egg rolls

Cook the sausage in a large pot on the stove, stirring to break up. Add the chopped cabbage, carrots, and onion. Keep stirring it and cook until the veggies are wilty.

Follow the directions on the back of the egg roll package, they say it a lot better. Just put a couple table spoon fulls of the cooked mixture into the egg roll and roll it up.

After putting mine on a cookie sheet I rubbed some olive oil on them and then baked them for about 12 min. They came out crispy and juicy and yummy! The only of my kids who enjoyed it though was the baby. She likes just about everything I make, sweet child!

Sweet Potatoes

If you remember, in my bountiful basket about 4 weeks ago I got a couple of gigantic sweet potatoes. Yes, almost 4 weeks ago. I finally used the last of them today. I tried sweet potato soup and it was a huge flop. I tried sweet potato fries, and that wasn't so good either.
Finally I scored with this sweet potato bread:
http://www.chow.com/recipes/11150-pecan-and-sweet-potato-bread
The kids gobbled it all up and really enjoyed it.
Today I made some sweet potato cookies and they turned out so interesting I had to share them. I got the recipe from here: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sweet-Potato-Cookies-II/Detail.aspx
But I changed some things so I wanted to post what I did.

Sweet Potato Cookies

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tsp grated lime zest
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup honey
1 egg
1 cup grated raw sweet potato

Cream the sugar, butter, and coconut oil. Add the rest of the wet ingredients. Then the dry ingredients. Bake at 350 for 9-10 min.

So basically I just substituted some oats for some flour, cinnamon instead of nutmeg, and lime instead of lemon. I also used part coconut oil for some of the butter. Other than that I stayed pretty true to the original recipe.

I asked my son how he liked them and he said, "Well, you know Mom, they're kind of yucky."

I however think they are pretty yummy. I think he is caught off guard by the lime flavor. Who would have ever thought to add lemon or lime zest to sweet potato cookies? I never would have thought it, but it makes a fascinating combination and makes them taste quite refreshing.
I would be interested to hear about it if anyone else tries these and likes them! I think cookies are a great way to get a vegetable serving in for the day ;)

How to Cut a Melon

Okay, y'all probably know this already, but this is what Susan, Jen's mother-in-law, taught me once, and it works with any melon I've ever tried.

First you cut a thin slice off each end of the melon. Then you cut the whole thing in half crosswise. Then scoop out the insides (of course, you don't have to do that if it's a watermelon). Then put one of the halves cut-side down on your cutting board, and use your knife to take a slice of the rind off from the top to the bottom. Work your way all around till the rind is removed from the entire half, then, without moving it from its upside down position, it's easy to simply cut it into eight sections. From there I put a bowl over the whole thing and, using the cutting board to keep it all together, turn the bowl right side up and remove the cutting board, and wa-la! the melon is in the bowl ready to serve.

This honeydew melon that we cut into today was oh-so-good. I have enjoyed it tremendously!

Roast Vegetables

Tonight Dad and I tried something for the first time: Rutabaga. I guess it's also called a yellow beet. Anyway, I remember last Fall when I was visiting Talena, we roasted some red beets that were wrapped in aluminum foil, then peeled and cut them up and put them in a green salad. I didn't expect to like them, but I did. In fact, they were really good. I've tried canned beets before, which I didn't like because they were pickled. I've tried boiled beets from the garden before, and they just tasted like dirt. But that roasted beet, now, it was good.

So here's how I did it tonight: I peeled the beet and cut it up, and I peeled the rutabaga and cut it up, and I peeled an onion and cut it up. Then I put them all in a plastic bag with a little olive oil and some salt and pepper and shook them around. Then I dumped them into a glass cooking pan and baked them in a hot oven for about an hour. I actually baked them at too hot of a temperature, and they got a little overdone. But they were still really good. Something about the little bit of oil at the hot temperature causes them to caramelize and turn sweet on the outside. The little bits of onion that stuck to the bottom of the pan were especially sweet and yummy.

Serve that with some baked salmon, a generous serving of dark salad greens, and a bite of dark chocolate for dessert. Mm-mm! I ate like a queen tonight!

Here's the recipe where I got the idea.

Sausage Lentil Kale Soup

This recipe appealed to me because of the "healthy" foods in it, i.e., the kale and the split peas, but also the appeal-to-Dad food in it, i.e., the Kielbasa Sausage. The original is found on Kitchen Parade, here. Make sure you read her tip for how to prepare the Kale, as the hardest thing about eating kale (I think) is the stringy texture. So anything you can do to remove the strings can only help. Of course, I adapted it to what I had on hand, which is lots of cannery-canned dry soup mix, and a package of frozen tomatoes that needed to be used. But I did buy the kale and the sausage especially for this recipe. So here's how I did it:

4 oz. Kielbasa sausage
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 onions, chopped
1 quart tomatoes
1 quart water
1 tablespoon chicken bouillon granules
1 cup dry soup mix
1 bunch kale
2 carrots, peeled and sliced thinly
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar or red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Heat a large pot over medium high heat while you prepare the sausage. Cut the sausage in quarters lengthwise, then slice into little bits. Add to the hot pot (it should sizzle) and stir around. Chop the onions and the garlic and add them as well, being careful that the sausage doesn't burn while you do. In other words, turn the heat down if you have to, and stir often. While the sausage and veggies simmer, blend the tomatoes up on high. Then add the blended tomatoes, the water, and the bouillon granules to the soup pot. Stir in the dry soup mix (or split green peas or lentils or whatever you're using). Prepare the kale by soaking it in a sinkfull of water for a couple of minutes then remove the stems and just keep the curly leaves. Chop the leaves finely then add them to the soup pot, along with the carrots. Turn heat to low, cover, and simmer for 90 minutes or until the peas and lentils in the soup mix are cooked through. Stir in the vinegar and salt and pepper and serve immediately.

Garden Vegetable Soup

I'm putting this recipe on here so I have quick access to it. This version came from here. In fact, I think I'll add her blog and a few others to the sidebar of this blog.

WEIGHT WATCHERS ZERO POINTS GARDEN VEGETABLE SOUP RECIPE

Hands-on time: 20 minutes
Time to table: 1 1/4 hour
Makes 9 cups

6 cups broth 

Cooking spray
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 large onion, diced
4 teaspoons garlic, minced 
1/2 cabbage, chopped 
1/2 pound frozen green beans
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 large zucchini, diced

Bring the broth to a boil in the microwave. (This is a time-saving tip that can be skipped if there's no hurry.)

Spray a Dutch oven with cooking spray and heat on MEDIUM HIGH. Add the carrots, onion and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes. Add all the remaining ingredients EXCEPT the zucchini and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat to MEDIUM and simmer for about 15 minutes or until the beans are tender. Add the zucchini and cook until the zucchini are tender. Serve and enjoy!

ALANNA'S TIPS & KITCHEN NOTES 
 BROTH Canned broth or bouillon granules work fine but for more freshness, consider using Homemade Vegetable Bouillon or Light Vegetable Stock. 
 GARLIC Use garlic from a jar or substitute about four cloves minced garlic. 
 CABBAGE Fresh cabbage is best but you can use a bag of pre-cut slaw, just look for the biggest chunks you can find versus the fine angel-hair slaw. Don't skip the cabbage, somehow it makes the soup. 

NUTRITION INFORMATION Per Cup: 61 Calories; 0 g Tot Fat; 0 g Sat Fat; 13 g Carb; 3 g Fiber; NetCarb10; 701 mg Sodium; 0 mg Cholesterol; 4 g Protein.  WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS WW Old Points .5 & WW PointsPlus 1

WHAT? HOW DOES A ZERO-POINT RECIPE HAVE POINTS? This soup is low-cal, low-carb, high-fiber and no-fat. But hmmm. What about the claim that it has no points in the Weight Watchers world? I suppose so, since all the ingredients are "free". But the way I calculate points, a calorie's a calorie and so I count every one of them whether from chocolate cake or fresh vegetables. In my book, Garden Vegetable Soup counts as 1 point but if you want to count it as Zero Points, go ahead. Either way, it's a winning recipe.

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Originally from Betty Crocker, then Mom, then Josie

Here's the recipe with my notes on how I make it healthier:

3/4 cup shortening (I don't use shortening, I do 1/4 cup butter and half a cup of applesauce)

1 cup sugar (I only use 1/2 cup)

1 egg beaten

1 1/2 cups flour (I use half wheat)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 tsp salt

1tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 3/4 cup rolled oats

1 cup mashed ripe bananas or 1 cup well drained crushed pineapple

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Bake 375 for 12 min.

The healthier version is still really tasty and the kids gobble them up!

Cheddar Leek Soup

In last weeks bountiful basket I got (among other things) a 5lb bag of petite golden potatoes, broccoli, and leeks. Now, I know what I can do with potatoes, and I know what to do with broccoli, but leeks? I actually had to ask someone what they were because I didn't recognize them. I mean I've heard of them, but never used them.
So what do you do with leeks? Make soup! I found this recipe on allrecipes (thanks Talena!) and actually I just glanced at the recipe and then did what I usually do to make soup, but it turned out delicious so I wanted to share.

Garlic Cheddar Leek Soup

Ingredients:

2 leeks
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup chopped onion (roughly)
butter
olive oil

Sautee those veggies in a large pot in the butter and oil until tender (about 5 min)

Add:

5 cups water
2-3 chicken bouillon cubes
6-7 petite golden potatoes, cubed

Bring to a boil and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.

Actually before the potatoes are quite done, add:

Broccoli, chopped (however much you want, I did one bunch)

Boil until the broccoli and potatoes are tender, meanwhile whisk:

1 cup milk and
1/3 cup (roughly) flour together

Add the milk mixture to the soup and stir until thickened then add about:

1-1/2 cups cheese

Stir until the cheese is melted. Add:

Salt and pepper to taste

And you have a delicious soup! Seriously, it tasted as good as some soups I've had at restaurants. I really liked it.

Chicken Nacho Soup

I came across this recipe from Valerie Phillips, editor of the Food section in the Ogden Standard Examiner newspaper, and before that for the Deseret News, for a Slow Cooker Nacho Chicken soup. I decided to make it for dinner last night, so here is how I did it. 

First of all, I mixed up my own taco seasoning mix from what I had in my cupboard based on this recipe from allrecipes.com. But since the original soup recipe called for TWO cans of chicken broth and TWO cans of chopped chili, in my mind I was doing TWO recipes of taco seasoning mix. Then I realized I should have only done one. Oh, and also since I didn't have chicken broth, then I just did water with chicken bouillon powder in it, so I added the bouillon into the taco seasoning mix. So, whether it's "right" or not (I'll let you know later), here's what I did for the taco seasoning mix:

1 tablespoon chili powder (I just did one tablespoon instead of doubling it so it wouldn't be so hot)

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (again, I'm afraid of the heat!)

1 teaspoon paprika

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin (didn't double this one as ground cumin smells like stinky socks to me, so I have a hard time adding a lot of it, even though I always like the end product)

1 teaspoon black pepper (also didn't double this one, plus I left out the salt that the recipe calls for because I figure that between the bouillon and the canned goods that I'll be adding there will be plenty of sodium in this soup.)

I also noticed that in her recipe, the two cans of diced chili are 7 oz. each, but my cans of diced chili are 4 oz. each. I still only added two of them, again not wanting to make the soup too hot.

Another adaptation: I didn't start the chicken in my crock pot until 4 p.m., which means that I didn't do it in the crock pot, but instead cooked it in the broth and soup and seasonings in a pot on the stove so it would cook faster than it would have in the crock pot. But, you know, I bet two hours in a crock pot on the high setting would have been plenty of time to cook the chicken thoroughly.

Okay, the results are in. The soup was yummy! A little on the hot side, but that can be adjusted. As I went through the recipe, I realized that she has the ingredient of "2 cups crushed tortilla chips" listed twice. But in the directions, she talks about adding "the cheddar." So I think that one of those chips listings must really be for cheddar cheese. But it doesn't matter to me; I think it tasted fine without the cheese, and is likely better for me anyway. (In fact, I'm wondering if the cream of chicken soup is even necessary. Leaving it out would eliminate some fat.) Also, I'm glad I didn't add the salt to the taco seasoning mix that I put together, as the soup had plenty of flavor and was salty enough. Here's how I would do it next time:

Chicken Nacho Soup (Does it count as "Nacho" soup if there's no cheese?)
1 or 2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons chicken bouillon powder
3 1/2 cups water
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cans (4 oz. each) chopped green chilies
1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast or thighs
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can corn, drained
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 cup fat free sour cream
a couple handfuls crushed tortilla chips

In a small bowl combine the chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, crushed red pepper flakes, paprika, ground cumin, black pepper, and chicken bouillon powder.Put the water, soup, green chilies, combined seasonings, and chicken pieces in a pot and bring to a boil over medium heat, then cover and reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 to 2 hours until chicken is done. Half an hour before serving, turn off the heat and remove chicken to a platter with a slotted spoon. Stir the beans, corn, cilantro, sour cream, and chips into the soup pot. Shred the chicken with a couple of forks, or chop it on a cutting board with a knife, and then return to soup pot. Stir all ingredients and serve.

Blitz!

Oops! Wrong blog!! Sorry!!!

Determined!

I am determined to use all the food from my basket this week, so that means trying some new things. It is actually getting me pretty excited about cooking again!  I was really excited about making Sunday dinner. Here's what we had:

Orange chicken served over mashed cauliflower, grilled asparagus with Parmesan cheese, green jello, and Rhodes rolls.
The orange chicken atop the cauliflower was surprisingly tasty. The rolls were to die for! The green jello was pretty good. The asparagus was a flop! I accidentally messed it up. I should have just stuck with what I usually do with asparagus (grill it in butter for about 3 min then add salt and pepper) but I wanted to experiment and I ruined it. Wayne still ate all his, but I ended up throwing half mine out because I couldn't gag it down, and that's saying something because usually I can eat anything.
My sister was the one who suggested that I mash the cauliflower like mashed potatoes. I could not get it to the consistency of mashed potatoes, it was more like, well, tiny broken up cauliflower, but it was fine, especially with all the butter and salt and pepper I added to it ;)

So tonight I need to finish the other half of the bunch of asparagus and then we'll have either a spaghetti squash or sweet potatoes. Any suggestions on how to cook those????

Bountiful Baskets

Today I ordered my first bountiful basket. I am really excited! It was $16.50 (including shipping and handling) plus a $3 fee for a first time buyer. I ordered on Monday and got my food today. Here is what I got:

2 spaghetti squash

2 (gigantic!) sweet potatoes (seriously, they are bigger than my kids head!)

1 head of cauliflower

1 bunch of asparagus

10 clementine oranges

1 bag apples

7 bananas

1 (10.5 oz) package of mini tomatoes

5 pears

1 (8oz) package of sugar snap peas

Do you think I got my moneys worth? I hope I did! I am excited to use it all. One kid opened the peas and ate half a package already and another kid gobbled down two oranges and an apple and declared the apples "better than the best apples that I've had!"

If you want to sign up for a bountiful basket too, you can go here: http://www.bountifulbaskets.org/

I am not even going to try to explain it, just check out the website.