more food stuff

We are still doing well with our new healthy food goals, and have been trying tons of new foods. We have been doing a food co-op and get all kinds of new foods in our basket each week, its so fun. John and the kids have been really into grapefruits lately so when we got some red pommelos in our basket they were super excited. Yesterday while John was working I put the girls down for a nap and Wes and I snuck the last pommelo. They really take a little while to peel so we had a fun little date. The best part is dusting each piece with sugar, so so yummy.

some other new foods we have tried:
brussels sprouts: I ate a few, John ate one, Wes ate one bite, and Mae couldn't choke it down. Many requests to never make again.
cauliflower: super good, will definitely do lots more.
tangelos: just like oranges, a big hit.
homemade granola: didn't even last a week, I will probably make a batch once a week, so yummy.
quinoa: the kids think its rice, although I think I need to perfect my recipes.
wheat berries: thumbs down, I guess I need to try again, no one ate it
carrot and yam puree: so yummy, we just used it in the place of mashed potatoes, so much more healthy.

greek yogurt: I really like using it for baking but not sure the kids are a big fan of it plain.

(just so you know, I have eaten cauliflower, brussels sprouts, and grapefruit before, I just haven't made them since Iv'e been married)

Dinner

I roasted my first chicken last night and it was super delicious. You need to make it. But please don't let the pictures make up your mind, it tasted way better than these dark pictures can show.




LEMON CHICKEN WITH CROUTONS - Ina Garten

Ingredients

1 (4 to 5-pound) roasting chicken
1 large yellow onion, sliced
Good olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 lemons, quartered
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
6 cups (3/4-inch) bread cubes (1 baguette or round boule)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Directions

Take the giblets out of the chicken and wash it inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pinfeathers. Toss the onion with a little olive oil in a small roasting pan. Place the chicken on top and sprinkle the inside of the cavity with salt and pepper. Place the lemons inside the chicken. Pat the outside of the chicken dry with paper towels, brush it with the melted butter, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken.

Roast for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between the leg and the thigh. Cover with foil and allow to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes. (The onions may burn, but the flavor is good.)

Meanwhile, heat a large saute pan with 2 tablespoons of olive oil until very hot. Lower the heat to medium-low and saute the bread cubes, tossing frequently, until nicely browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Add more olive oil, as needed, and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Place the croutons on a serving platter. Slice the chicken and place it, plus all the pan juices, over the croutons. Sprinkle with salt and serve warm.

Family food

I love to read books, not so much novels, but how-to and informational books. Reading makes me miss school a little less. So, lately nutritional books have been my favorite and the new year has got me into finding new ways to feed my family healthy meals. There are so many different books and ideas on nutrition, written by doctors, scientists, researchers, journalists, bloggers, how do you choose? There is just so much info that sometimes I feel so confused, and they all have good points and are so convincing. I decided to go by three main rules when making nutritional decisions that I know are true:

1. The Word of Wisdom
2. Everything in moderation (no extremes here)
3. Personal revelation to me for my family

John and I sat down and read through the Word of Wisdom together and had a great discussion about what we feel is good for our family. It has probably been years since I read it and had forgotten several things. There were a few things I swore were in there that were not mentioned at all ;), oops.

So with that said, here are a few books that I have read that I have really enjoyed and have tried to incorporate:

Food Rules
In Defense of Food
Eat to Live and Disease Proof Your Child by Joel Fuhrman (you have got to read this if you have kids, you will love it)
Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day and Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day
Jamies Food Revolution




This week we have eaten and tried, salads, soups, whole grains, quinoa, seeds, fish, soy products, healthy muffins, and lots of vegetables. Here are some results:

For dinner Mae and Wes each ate a plate of steamed green beans and then asked for seconds

During lunch Wes ate his bowl of spinach salad and veggies faster than anyone else while complimenting and thanking me for making it for him

Mae said: "leaves are good!"

John: "I could eat this for every meal"

A very skeptical John: "this stuff actually tastes good"

And Wes and Mae have been thanking me at every meal, so cute, and such a great habit :)

Man, if I knew it was going to be this easy I would have done this a long time ago.

Apple Tart

Reference of our Food Habits

I really like having a big salad for dinner with any veggies, fruit, cheese and nuts I can find, but the kids won't eat salad. So this is what they have when we have a salad. I really liked using the muffin tins for plates for the kids but I wanted to get a whole set and they were expensive. I found these little plates for a dollar and got a bunch of them, they are great. Wes ate all his dinner except his nuts and most of Mae's ended up in her lap.

So I have been looking for a good home made salad dressing recipe but all the ones I have tried were not impressive. I found this one and have really liked it, much better than store bought and goes with every kind of salad, definitely a keeper.

Vinaigrette

1/2 T honey
1 T dijon
2 T red wine vinegar
1/4 c canola/olive oil (or less for stronger flavor)
salt and pepper

Wes insisted that his feet be in this picture

another recipe

Since most of our things are packed away, most importantly, all my tools and supplies to make or create, I have been cooking for fun. I need some kind of creative outlet and I do have my favorite cook books so I have been making new things all week. This week I made Thai Chicken and Coconut Soup, Beef Teriyaki, Chinese Chicken Salad, and Huevos Rancheros. They were all really good but this Beef Teriyaki was by far my favorite, it was super fast and easy and it reminds me of the Mongolian Beef from PF Chang's, which is our favorite.

Beef Teriyaki

2 lbs top blade steak or flank steak sliced thin (the deli will slice it for you, I wish I would have remembered this)
Ground black pepper
2 T vegetable oil
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup sugar
2 T mirin, sherry or white wine
2 t cornstarch (which I left out because I didn't have any)
2 t grated fresh ginger
1 garlic clove minced
1/8 t red pepper flakes
2 scallions sliced thin

1. Pat steak with paper towel and season with pepper. Heat 1 T of oil in skillet over med-hi until just smoking. Brown half of steak on both sides about 5 min total. Transfer steak to clean bowl. Repeat with remaining T oil and remaining steak.

2. While steak cooks, whisk soy sauce, sugar, mirin, cornstarch, ginger, garlic and red pepper flakes together. Add sauce to skillet, return to med-hi heat and simmer, sraping up any browned bits, until thickened, about 2 min.

3. Add steak and any accumulated juices to skillet and continue to simmer until steak is heated through and sauce has thickened, about 1 min. Transfer to serving platter and sprinkle with scallions. Serve with sesame seeds and rice.

This recipe was great, the only thing I would add next time is steamed veggies.

Best Soup Ever!

Seriously we just got done eating this Tortilla Soup and it always makes us so happy. I got the recipe last fall and we make it about once a month. It is sooo good. It is probably John's favorite meal that I make and while we were eating I got these two comments "Mom, your a good mom" and "I have the best wife". Wes had seconds and John had thirds. The recipe came from my favorite series of cook books from cooks illustrated, every recipe turns out very good, if you don't have any of these books go buy one NOW, I got all of mine used on Amazon so they were a great deal. Ok, here is the recipe:

Quick Tortilla Soup

5 sprigs fresh oregano
5 sprigs fresh cilantro plus 1/2 cup roughly chopped leaves
4 medium cloves garlic slightly crushed
2 dried New Mexico red chiles, stemmed, cracked open to remove seeds (in the mexican food area)
7 cups chicken broth (4 cans) (I have used canned and boillon and both are good)
1 1/2 pounds bone in chicken thighs, skin removed and trimmed of excess fat (I have used boneless too, its faster)
hot pepper sauce (sometimes I leave out)
1 bag tortilla chips
1 small red onion diced fine (I usually leave out)
2 medium avocados diced
2 ripe medium tomatoes diced
1 lime cut into wedges (the best part!)

1. Tie together oregano sprigs and cilantro stems with kitchen twine. Place the garlic cloves and dried chiles in a large dutch oven over med-hi heat. Cook stirring frequently, until the garlic begins to darken and is aromatic, 2 to 2 1/2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat for 30 seconds to cool it down. Return the pan to the heat and add the bundled herbs, broth, and chicken thighs and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the chicken is cooked through, about 40 min.
2. Remove the chicken from the broth and use two forks to remove the meat from the bone and shred into thin strands. Strain the broth through a fine mesh strainer into a large bowl; return the broth to the pan over low heat to keep warm. Add the shredded chicken and season with salt and hot pepper sauce to taste. (it usually doesn't need salt, esp if you used bouillon).
3. To serve, gently crumble a small handful of chips into individual bowls and divide the broth evenly among them. Serve the chopped cilantro leaves, onion, avocados, tomatoes, and lime wedges at the table. (We also like shredded cheese).

I didn't have time to take a picture but this one looks similar

Happy Halloween!

Food

Most of the time we eat one breakfast and three lunches everyday. Forget dinner. I think lunch is the perfect meal and John would choose to eat breakfast all day. Since John only eats breakfast with us we have a few more lunches and then John eats his own meal when he gets home from work late at night. So it can be really hard coming up with meal ideas for me and Wes to eat that is healthy and filling and most of all fast. I came up with this chart to reference so that I can be sure that we are eating well balanced meals. Lately my motivation to put more than two minutes into a meal is zero, so this has helped. Am I missing anything?

Jam

I made raspberry jam saturday while John was gone working all day. It turned out good but I don't think I will try doing that again while also taking care of a baby and toddler. Maybe next time I will wait until they go to bed for the night or get a babysitter or something. We had toast with jam first thing when John got home and it was delicious.

Sunday Morning

Lemon Crumb Muffins

Healthy Fun

I have been meaning to do a muffin tin lunch for Wes for a while now. We tried it this week and it worked out so well! I try and put something from every food group into his tin, in this particular one he ate everything but sometimes he leaves a little left in one or two (usually whatever is green). It works out great because I feel like I can see what he is getting and know it's a well rounded offering and he has fun moving his food around into all the different cups while he eats, perfect.

Best gifts

I think my favorite and most unexpected gift from Christmas was my Wusthof chef's knife from John. Way to go for thinking of something that I would love but didn't even know I wanted! It is super sharp (will cut through anything) and very well made.

I have to say in close second is the bread making supplies and class that Rose got me, again, I love it but didn't know I wanted it. I have been dreaming of bread and rolls and braids all week and made my first batch yesterday, it turned out ok but I will definitely be perfecting as time goes on.

Some other things I received and am excited to use soon are my cast iron skillet, food processor and baking sheet. I will be busy in my kitchen for the next six months at least. Thank you to everyone who gave us wonderful gifts for Christmas, especially Wes' exciting gifts which keep him busy so we can get things done.

In the Kitchen

This is a really good article from the New York Times about organizing the food in your pantry and keeping up healthy habits. Some of these things I already do but most of them I'm excited to try. Check it out.

Goodies

Wes and I had tons of fun making these peppermint patties. I found the recipe in a book of fun things to do with kids, they taste just like York peppermint patties. Wes especially liked dipping them in the chocolate. I made up some of these little goody boxes for neighbors but only one got delivered before it got either eaten or destroyed by Wes. You seriously need to make these with your kids it's so fun and easy and you don't even have to bake them.




Peppermints

1 egg white
1.5 cups powdered sugar
a few drops peppermint extract
2 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

Whisk the egg white in a bowl until frothy. Sift in the confectioners sugar and stir until stiff (I had to add extra since I used an extra large egg). Add a few drops of peppermint extract and knead it into the mixture (I added more than just a few drops to get a good peppermint flavor). Roll into balls and place on parchment paper on a baking sheet. Press flat with fork and leave them to set for 24 hours. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Dip each peppermint into the melted chocolate and place back onto the baking sheet until the chocolate has solidified.

Fall Weather

It's been pretty chilly out lately, we were supposed to go to the pumpkin patch tonight for family home evening but decided to wait till Saturday when it will hopefully be warmer. We did have the traditional chili and cornbread for dinner and boy was it delicious! Lately Wes has really enjoyed hiding behind, jumping over, and playing on the couch, as you can see.

Pacific Rim Salmon

We had this for dinner last night, it was pretty darn tasty!

Hummus

First of all I have become obsessed with hummus. I had never tried it until last week and I'm hooked.

Second of all you have to make this recipe TONIGHT! It is so good and so easy, and a perfect light meal. I made one for me and John for dinner and then he asked me to make him another one, and then he said "that was so good, can I have another one, Wes ate most of it"



Ingredients:
1/3 cup prepared hummus
4 whole wheat tortillas (8 inches)
2 cups cubed cooked chicken breast
1/4 cup chopped roasted sweet red peppers
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh basil leaves
I also added avocado, and it was great

Directions:
Spread hummus on tortillas; top with chicken, peppers, cheese and basil. Roll up.

Third you can use it in place of mayo on sandwiches and it is so much better for you and in place of dip and use pitas, veggies and chips, so delicious.

Fourth you can make your own which is much cheaper and here is a good recipe:
(I did buy store bought and it was delish)



Ingredients:
3/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 cups garbanzo beans or chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:
In a food processor, combine the oil, lemon juice, beans, garlic and salt; cover and process until smooth.

Sugar

I think it was a mistake to give Wes a little taste of the sugar cookies we made. Now he spends most of his time pointing to the cookies and saying 'uhhh?'. For Valentine's we had pink pancakes for breakfast and John made a smoked salmon salad for dinner, yum!

Cake

My long lost favorite chocolate cake.