Broccoli Soup, Sweet Potatos and Spinach Salad

For the second time, I made broccoli cheese soup. Since it came out so good the first time, I just stuck to the same recipe. See this previous post for details. 

To go along with our soup I made these rosemary sweet potatoes and a spinach salad. So good!  

Chicken Flautas

Recently I tried this recipe for Chicken Flautas. I cooked the chicken as it said to but I just used frozen spinach (bc I didn't have any fresh on hand). Otherwise I more or less followed the recipe. These came together pretty quickly and were absolutely delicious. Like, really, really delicious! Husband and kids all devoured them. Next time I will be less more generous with the spinach, just to really pack in some nutrition! 

Pork Tenderloin w/ Apples, Quinoa and Kale

Last week I (sort of) followed this recipe for Apple Pork Tenderloin. I didn't drizzle honey and cinnamon rather I added some fennel and sage to the meat. I LOVE fennel and sage on pork. I also didn't have any red onion so I just set the roast on top of (what I like to call regular) yellow onion.  This came out really well! I made a batch if quinoa and some sautéd kale to go with it. I also threw together some whole wheat biscuits following this recipe by 100 Days. I have been making these biscuits a lot more lately simply bc my kids love them! 

Root Vegetable Lentil Soup

Using my homemade stock (see post about Whole Chicken), I threw together a root vegetable soup in the crock pot. I found this recipe on Pinterest for Crock Pot Lentil Soup so I used it as inspiration rather than following it 100%. I threw in chopped celery, carrots, sweet potato, onion, golden beats, daikon and lentils. I was going to throw in the leftover chicken bits from the night before but my husband enjoyed himself a chicken sandwich for lunch that day. So, meatless soup it was. This soup was packed full of nutrition and really delicious! The homemade stock was amazing! 

Whole Chicken

A couple of Sundays ago we had back to back birthday parties to go to and I knew by the time we would get home, we (I) would be exhausted and the not the least bit interested in cooking dinner. Enter my handy crockpot...

For the second time, I followed this recipe for roasting a whole chicken in the crockpot. This is relatively quick to throw together and then the crockpot does all the work. The chicken was delicious. The flavor is amazing and the meat was incredibly moist and tender. And the carrots were amazing after sitting in that liquid all day. I added a lot more carrots than the recipe called for bc those seem to be a favorite in this house and I knew they would all get eaten up quick. 

In addition to the chicken and carrots, I steamed some fresh broccoli and made a quick pot of plain quinoa. It was a fast, delicious feast on the first night of Sunday football!

After dinner, I salvaged every last bit of chicken meat from the carcass and packaged it up for later use. I then tossed the chicken bones, remnants, etc along with all of the liquid and veggies (onions and celery) from the crockpot into a large stockpot and filled it with water. I let this boil for a good half an hour (maybe longer) to make the best batch of homemade stock. After it's done boiling, I strain the liquid into 2 large mason jars and set them in the fridge. 

The process of making stock seems a little daunting after you've just served, eaten and cleaned up an entire dinner but it so worth it. Since I buy organic chicken and veggies (and spices for that matter), all that goodness leftover in the crockpot is just too useful to toss in the trash. The stock is so flavorful and a beautiful orange color and best of all, you know exactly what went into it. Almost all store bought chicken stock has MSG in it (hidden in the form of yeast extract). Yuck. Take the time, make the stock! 

Sticky Buns

Most of the time, I attempt to make nutritious meals or incorporate/substitute some kind of healthy ingredients in recipes. Just a warning...nothing about this recipe for Sticky Buns is healthy and I wouldn't dare change anything about it. If I were brave I would make fresh whole wheat biscuits instead of using god-awful store bought ones out of can (WORST junk ever; but Whole Foods does sell half way decent canned biscuits). These are meant to be bad and they are sooooo good at being so bad! I follow the recipe exactly and they are amazing. 

I've made these on Christmas morning a couple of times, I made them for my dad to take to a potluck at work, I've made them for breakfast day at teacher appreciation week and most recently, I made them for our family while on vacation in Palm Springs. 

They are pretty darn easy and always a huge hit! One thing I should mention though, they seem to be best when eaten fresh out of the oven. If you wait an hour or so (like the times I made them and delivered somewhere) the "sticky" part hardens and they're just not a delicious. Just out of the oven, the dough is soft and warm and the sticky part is so gooey and smooth. 

Lasagna Rolls

Last week I made a lot of repeat meals so I don't have a lot to blog about. One night I made Lasagna Rolls based on this recipe I found on Pinterest a long time ago. While slightly time consuming, these are fairly simple to assemble and really, really delicious! 

I particularly like these bc of the tomato issue we have in this house (my husband can't eat tomatoes but I LOVE them). I make one pan w/ pesto and one pan w/ tomato sauce and we both win! I've made these a few times and always with some random variation of filling. I made a batch of homemade kale pesto the night before to save some time and (gasp) I used jarred tomato sauce. Using my little mini-chop grinder thingy, I ground up some fresh spinach leaves and stirred them into the ricotta (in the interest of incorporating as many veggies as possible). I chopped up some mushrooms and zucchini and then boiled the lasagna noodles. 

I didn't take any pics of the assembly line bc my hands were messy and I was in a hurry but I just laid a noodle on a plate, casually smothered a spoonful of sauce, ricotta cheese and then a small handful of veggies and then loosely rolled it up. These all get placed into a casserole dish before being topped with more sauce, shredded mozzarella and some pine nuts. Bake them at 350 for 20 or so minutes, just until the cheese is melted. SO GOOD! 

Meatballs w/ Veggies, Roasted Butternut Squash and Broccoli

Recently we tried this recipe for Veggie and Herb Meatballs. I only used 1/2 pound of organic grass fed beef and to make up for some of the bulk, I added about 1/2 cup or so of brown rice (I had extra prepared rice on hand from another recipe earlier in the week). Otherwise I pretty much followed the recipe using zucchini and yellow squash for the veggies. And I used dried spices instead of fresh. These came together pretty quickly and tasted pretty darn good. 

Before I started on the meatballs, I had thrown some butternut squash in the oven. It takes about 40 minutes or so to roast butternut squash depending on the size of the pieces. I started out with the intention of following this recipe for Roasted Butternut Squash with Kale and Almond. I pretty much fell off my plan though bc I was getting distracted by the kids; so I just left it at, roasted butternut squash that had been tossed in olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and parsley! I just never finished it off w/ the kale or almond topping. Maybe another time! 

I also roasted some broccoli in the oven. I know "roasted" broccoli isn't exactly a traditional way to prepare it but we like it in our house. I just sprinkle on a little olive oil, salt and pepper and roast it for about 15-20 minutes. 

Might not seem so pretty but this is what the inside of the meatball looked like! 

Mexican Chicken Casserole

Last week I found this recipe on Pinterest for Cheesy Chicken Rice Bake which I have dubbed, Mexican Chicken Casserole. Please do yourself a favor and try this recipe! It was super easy to throw together and so, so tasty! All four of us really liked it. The flavors were amazing. I followed the recipe pretty closely and it made a huge amount. I could have cut it in half to feed my family of four and still had left overs; so this is perfect to feed quite a few people. Additionally, it would be really good as a dip for a party. I believe this will be coming with me to a football party this season! 

As for the recipe, I made the chicken and rice on Sunday so that I could easily throw this together after work one day. I added everything the recipe called for and I included olives bc they just sounded like a good addition to all the ingredients! While the rice helps the dish go longer by increasing the volume, I would say you could get away with a lot less. Next time I will probably only add 3 cups or less. And I will add more salsa and probably an extra can of green chiles. The flavors were amazing but the spice was lost on all of those ingredients. It didn't have any zing to it. So a little extra spice of some kind would be preferable. Otherwise...wow! Really, wow! I thought this was SO GOOD! 

See...it's really "ricey"! 

Lentil Mushroom Shepherd's Pie

A while back I tried a new recipe for Veggie Lentil Shepherd's Pie; see this post for info and link to to the original recipe. While I liked the way it came out, I immediately thought that it would have been better with regular potatoes as opposed to sweet. So I gave the recipe another shot last weekend substituting with gold potatoes. Either way it is a really good (and nutritious) dish but I'd say I much prefer the regular potato version. 

That's a lot of flavor! 

I left the skin on the potatoes (bc I like it like that). 

After baking; the liquid was oozing out from the bottom and the smell was incredible! 

May not look very impressive but it's super delicious! 

Apple Pie Pancakes

Sunday morning...I'm out of nearly everything and have no idea what to make my kids for breakfast. After spending a couple minutes on Pinterest I saw this post for Apple Pie Pancakes. I had everything I needed so I whipped up half a batch (it was just me and the kiddos that morning, Daddy was working). These were amazing! Repeat, amazing! 

Note-I added some nutmeg and chopped pecans to the mix. Yum! 

Steak, Kale, Cauliflower and Potatoes

Last Saturday my husband worked his behind off in our backyard so I wanted to make my hard working man a "hungry mans" meal! Meat and potatoes! I bought some grass fed steaks at Whole Foods and used this recipe for the garlic/soy marinade. I let the steaks sit in the marinade while I cleaned up dishes from earlier and got my kitchen ready for the sides. 

I started by quartering some red potatoes and then threw them on a parchment lined cookie sheet before drizzling w/ olive oil, salt, pepper and a generous amount of rosemary. I roasted these at 400 for about 30-40 minutes or so, tossing them every 15ish minutes so they didn't stick. 

After I got the potatoes in the oven, I rinsed and roughly chopped a head of cauliflower. I found a recipe for this a while back but now I just eyeball everything. Put the cauliflower pieces in a bowl and pour some olive oil, the juice of half a lemon (or more if you like strong lemon flavor), fresh sliced garlic, salt and pepper. Toss it all up and then throw it on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Roast at 400 for about 20 minutes or so, until the cauliflower is at least fork tender. Just watch it so it doesn't burn. 

Once the potatoes and cauliflower were about 10 minutes from being done, I threw one bunch of roughly chopped kale into a saucepan with some minced garlic and about a half cup of water. The kale barely fits into my largest saucepan but it steams and cooks down rather quickly, just like spinach. 

Finally I cooked the steaks on my griddle pan on the stove. On the rare occasion that we have steaks, my husband usually barbecues them but since he was working so hard in our backyard, I wasn't about to ask him to stop and bbq. 

This meal was a little bit time consuming from start to finish but it was well worth it! Husband was happy!

Zucchini Tots and Whole Wheat Biscuits

Last week I followed this recipe for Zucchini Tots. They were pretty quick and easy and came out really good. The only issue I had was removing them from the mini muffin pan. I used olive oil to "grease" my pan but it didn't seem to help one bit. These were really good served with ranch dressing. 

I also made some home Whole Wheat Biscuits following this recipe. They were ok. Theoretically they were just fine but they needed some flavor. Whole wheat flour is pretty dull so next time I will either had some seasonings and spices or maybe a splash of maple syrup to give the biscuits a sweeter bite. 

Zucchini prior to squeezing out the liquid. 

I made the biscuits a little too thin. This is before they baked and I wasn't sure how much they'd rise. Well now I know...roll out thicker biscuits! 

Sunday

I spent the better half of my Sunday in the kitchen prepping dinner and ingredients for more dinners later in the week. Pictured: brown rice cooking, potatoes boiling, lentils and veggies waiting to be thrown in a pot for Shepherd's Pie, beans soaking before being cooked in the slow cooker the next day and chicken breasts cooling after being baked. 

Buffalo Chili

Yesterday my son and I were lucky enough to go on a last minute ride on the famous, Good Year Blimp! Our ride was between 4-5 and it was about half an hour away so I got home much later than normal. Thank goodness I had thrown dinner in the slowcooker so the last minute change in (regular day to day) plans wasn't a big deal (as far as dinner was concerned).

 

I had previously browned 1/2 pound of buffalo meat and threw it in the slow cooker with a chopped onion, 1 cup each of rinsed kidney and pinto beans and about 1/2 cup of cannellini beans. I added a generous teaspoon of minced garlic and a couple heaping spoonfuls of "taco" seasoning mix (it's all the same spices as chili seasoning so I use it for both dishes). As for the liquid, I added one container (32 ounces or 4 cups) of TJ's organic vegetable broth and about equal parts (maybe only about 3 cups) of water.

 

I did not take any pictures of this masterpiece but you'll just have to take my word for it! It was delicious!

Lentil Veggie Soft Tacos

One night last week I made a version of lentil veggie soft tacos. This is a basic "go-to" meal that I make often bc it's easy, inexpensive and really nutritious. See this previous post about Taco Salad w/ Lentils or this one about Lentil Tostadas or this one about lentil tacos.

 

On this night, I rinsed one cup of lentils and poured them in a saucepan with about 2 1/2 to 3 cups of water. I threw in a couple heaping spoonfuls of homemade taco seasoning mix, brought it to a boil and then simmered for about 20-30 minutes, just until most of the water had been absorbed.

 

While the lentils were cooking I cut some large chunks of portabello mushrooms and green bell pepper and sauted them in a skillet just until they were soft, maybe about 10 minutes or so. I haven't made a batch of beans in a while so I had to use canned black beans (shameful, I know!) and I threw on some white cheddar cheese to complete the tacos. This dinner was fast and delicious!

Basically!

Salmon, Broccoli and Quinoa

Salmon is one of my favorite things to serve at home bc my kids both LOVE it. They eat so much, it makes me so very happy! Broccoli and quinoa are also an easy given with them. I bought 1.5 pounds of wild salmon from Whole Foods (don't ask the price, you don't want to know). I sprinkled a little salt and pepper on the fish and then baked it at 350 for about 30 minutes (salmon always varies based on the thickness of the filet). Salmon is so delicious, I just don't need to over-flavor it. Sometimes simple is just better!

 

I steamed some brocolli from the farmer's market and made a batch of quinoa. For the quinoa, I just add 2 cups of water and one cup of thoroughly rinsed quinoa to a saucepan. Bring to a boil and then simmer until the water is absorbed, usally about 10 minutes or so. I love making quinoa bc it's simple, quick and everyone in my family loves it. I always sprinkle a little soy sauce on mine though my husband and kids eat theirs plain.