Eat your veggies! My favorite new lunch time meal

A couple of weeks ago I was shopping in Trader Joe's and saw this Healthy 8 veggie mix.

I love bite sized food {don't ask me why}, and decided that for $2.99, I would give this mix a try.

The mix includes eight different kinds of chopped veggies including carrots, jicima, green and red cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, green peppers and celery.

I started by adding olive oil and fresh pressed garlic to a saucepan.

Heat the olive oil on medium high heat until the garlic starts to dance.

Add the veggie mix and stir.

I didn't have any fresh lemons, so I used a little lemon juice.

Cook the veggies on medium high heat for about 5-7 minutes.

Isn't this the most beautiful plate of food you ever did see?

It is my favorite lunch!

What is your favorite thing to whip up for lunch?

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Making your own soup stock

I love my crock pot.  I use it at least once a week.   Lately I have been using it to make soup stock. It's super easy.  Here's how.

Take the bones from whatever carcass your family cleaned off the night before.

It could be the turkey your family ate or the carry out whole chicken you picked up.

You can even save those bones in your freezer for another night.

While my parents were out last week I made a turkey, so I had bones leftover.

I put them in the crock pot.  Covered it as far up as it could go with water and added celery, carrots and onions.  Your only using those vegetables for their flavor so you can use the pieces you don't want.  I like to cut the tops off of the celery and add that part because I usually don't use it when I cook.   I've also heard that you could start saving your vegetable castoffs in a bag that you keep in the freezer and use them in your stock when you make it.

I cook the stock all day in the crockpot and by dinner time, it is ready.

To make things go more smoothly for dinner, I cut my vegetables up ahead of time.  I always have celery, carrots and onions on hand so soup is an easy meal for our family.

I forgot to take a picture of the turkey noodle soup I made that night, but here's a photo from last year. Super easy, super healthy and super cheap!  Three of my favorite things.

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Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins Recipe

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins Recipe

School has been back in session for about three weeks now. I finally feel like we are starting to get back into the swing of things, but my new routine during the day still feels really weird. I actually have time to do stuff. I often find myself baking during the day in preparation for the kids when they get home starving...or are my kids the only ones?

Because we all tend to have a few ripe bananas hanging around, I thought I would share with you how I make a nice healthy snack that is easy to pack in lunches or to satisfy those kid cravings after a day at school.

I've been making chocolate chip banana muffins for about two years now, and I get lots of requests for these. I feel good about making them because they are fairly healthy and I usually have most of the items on hand. Want the recipe too? O.k. here it is:

2-3 large bananas, ripe

2/3 cup sugar

2 large eggs

6 tbsp butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup quick oats

1/2 cup flax seed

2 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup milk

2/3 cup chocolate chips

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

In mixer, mix bananas, add sugar and eggs and mix well. Stir in melted butter and vanilla. Add flour, baking soda, and milk. Mix in chocolate chips last

Spoon batter in to 12-18 paper lined muffin cups, filling mostly full.

Bake 20-22 minutes or until golden.

Let muffins stand for about 5 minutes

I often double this recipe, and I have even been able to modify it to make it gluten, dairy and soy free. You can add nuts and cranberries or raisins to spice it up a bit too! Try 'em out. You just might get the best housewife award for the day!

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gluten free corn bread

Over the past few weeks I have been sharing with you some of my favorite easy gluten, dairy, soy free recipes. This week, I tried making Golden Cornbread and it turned out really well. I served it with pasta e fagioli soup on one of our colder evenings.

Here's the recipe:

2 large eggs

1 cup rice milk

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups yellow corn meal

1 cup rice flour

1/4 cup sugar

2 1/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp xanthum gum

Heat over to 450 degrees. Coat 8x8 or 9x9 pan with oil. Beat eggs, stir in remaining ingredients. Batter should be creamy and pourable. If it's too think, add 1-2 tsp of rice milk. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with honey. Enjoy!

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Gluten Free Brownies

As I have mentioned before, my youngest son Owen has several food intolerances (gluten, dairy, soy, and nuts). There are several places to find Gluten Free recipes out there, but most of the ones I find seem so complicated and I rarely have the ingredients on hand.

I recently made these gluten free dairy free brownies for a family get together and not one person knew they were not "regular" brownies.

Here's the recipe:

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 scant cup of coconut oil (I use Spectrum )

2 T of applesauce

3/4 cup baking cocoa

1 cup rice flour

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

Mix all ingredients thoroughly. Put into greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-28 minutes.

Don't be surprised if even the pickiest eater goes back for seconds! Enjoy!

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Gluten Free Pancakes

A couple of weeks ago I shared with you how my son Owen had been diagnosed with several food intolerances (gluten, soy, dairy, and nuts). I cook most of our meals from scratch, so it hasn't been that big of an adjustment for us, just a few tweaks on ingredients.

Several days after Owen was diagnosed, our family participated in a pancake feed to help raise money for World Vision after our 30 hour Famine. It was super sweet that the coordinator had gluten free pancakes as an alternative for those who have that intolerance (seems like it's cropping up all over!). The GF pancakes that she served were made from a box mix and honestly, didn't taste that great. Owen didn't want to even eat them!

Thankfully, I found a good alternative of my very own that my whole family will eat and that tastes great!

For our wedding 13 years ago, one of my sorority sisters (Lindsay Clark, holla!) got us this cookbook. It's by far the most used wedding gift I own!

I looked up numerous gluten free recipes on-line only to be turned away by their laundry list of unknown ingredients. I thought, hey, why can't I just make a few substitutions to this pancake recipe I have been using for years, and make it gluten free, so I did.

Notice how I wrote right in my book...yep, sort of reminds me of my college days. Anyway, here's the recipe.

1 egg

1 cup rice flour

1 cup rice milk

1 T brown sugar

2 T oil

3 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp xanthum gum

Beat the egg, then add the remaining ingredients.

Mix well. After I mix all the ingredients together, I always like to add some fresh berries. I'm not picky, whatever I have on hand (blueberries, blackberries, raspberries). This week I had raspberries. Fold your berries into the mix.

Then cook up as usual.

Did you notice the "You are Loved" plate? At least a few times a week, we like to give the "You are Loved" plate to one of the people in our family. Sometimes it's our guests that eat over, most of the times it's our kids. The person who has the "You are Loved" plate doesn't have to do anything special, but those who don't have it, must say something nice about the person with the plate about why they are loved.

Do you have a special plate in your family? Or a family dinner tradition you want to share?

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Kale chips

A few months ago my youngest son was diagnosed with several food intolerances. We have eliminated from his diet all dairy, soy, nut and gluten products. I realized I had gotten stuck in a rut in my cooking, so the new diet was good for me to break out of my normal cooking routine, and add some new things to the mix.

One of those things was kale chips. I have a wonderful friend that joined a CSA with me. We both felt a little tied down with the week to week commitment and were ready for a change, so when I saw that bountiful baskets was starting a pick up down the street we joined in on the weeks that work for us.

Kale was in the mix this week and the first thought that came to mind is to try kale chips. I think they turned out surprisingly well. You start off by taking your kale bunch and cutting the leaves off the stalk.

I put the leaves in my lettuce spinner to get them super dry, and then mixed them with 1 Tbsp of olive oil and 1/2 tsp of salt (you can use more if you want, I started with 1 tsp and thought it was too salty).

I spread them flat on my silpat baking sheet and placed it in my oven at 350 degrees.

Cook for 10-15 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.

Place in a bowl and enjoy!

Really, your kids will eat them!

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