Recipes

It has been a while since I listed my meal plan so I thought I would just do a quick round up of what I have been cooking...if I can remember everything that is.

Marina's Primal Zuppa Toscana Soup - this was a paleo version of the Olive Garden Soup.  I used sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes.  The recipe says the bacon is optional but...really?  really, is it?  I think not.  Great soup.  I will make it again.

Paleo Buffalo Chicken Nuggets - Big Success 

Kale and Egg Bake- I got inspiration for this recipe from a blog that I found called Primal Green.  Here is the link to the recipe.  I actually just sauteed some kale with garlic for a few minutes then transferred it to a baking dish.  I topped it with chopped cherry tomatoes and avocados.  Lastly, I cracked some eggs on top and baked it until the eggs were done.  I ate it along with my girls and it was a hit!

BBQ Crockpot Chicken- I also mixed in some Dijon mustard and diced tomatoes.  YUM

BBQ Beef Brisket-  This was AH-MAZE-ING.  Go right now to your local farmer and buy a grassfed beef brisket and make this.  You will not be disappointed.

Iced Vanilla Bean Latte - I made this when I needed a little pick me up one afternoon and it did the trick.

Almond Banana Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins - Yes, it does have a long name because I had to sub a few things due to not using eggs, reducing carbs, and adding pumpkin.  Here is the original recipe before I changed everything around.

My New Room

After reading my friend Sarah's blog about the cool things that she is sewing for her girls I realized that I really am such a lover of fabric. That being said, I don't sew.  Not. At. All.  One day when the kids are bigger I am sure I will get to it but for now I will just admire Sarah's projects from afar.

Recently, I found some fabric that was just my style and went perfect in my bedroom .  My friend Julie, who just happened to be staying with us for a few months, turned them into pillows for our bed.  In about a two day period we painted my whole bedroom and made pillows for my bed.  This room went from a catch all place that we didn't like being in to a warm, comfortable, relaxing space that everyone likes to be in now.

Of course I didn't think to do true before and after pictures.  I found this one on my phone that shows the color of the wall (that I hated) and our old bedding (that I did like but was worn out) and some of the random things leaning against the wall plus furniture that I didn't like before we painted (i actually like our furniture now that we have a new wall color).  Also notice the adorable girls.

 The picture above is in the midst of our painting.

 The pic below is the finished walls.  Ignore the mess please.

 The blue and white pillows that Julie made.  The material cost five dollars and we just tore apart old pillows for the stuffing.

We even had some leftover fabric that we put on top of our old dresser. 

Julie and Telia taking a break from painting.

Meal Plan

Steak with Dinosaur Kale and Roasted Squash 
     I actually already made this and it was sooooo goood!  Brian and I ate the whole salad by ourselves.  So, I ate a 1/2 a bunch of kale.  That is pretty crazy.

Shoulder Roast with green beans and roasted sweet potatoes

Beef Taco Salad (will use the leftever meat from the roast)

Pork Chops with Sour Kraut and Apples

Spaghetti Squash with Sausage

Pumpkin Cocoa Chilli

Meal Plan

Okay, here is what is cookin this week here in So. Ind.  I am trying to use what I already have as much as possible.  I'm  also trying to add more vegetarian options to be healthy and to save money.

Sunday Crockpot Meatloaf (sort of following these directions ) with carrots, broccoli and wild rice.

Monday  Cobb Salad with Chicken Bacon, Avocado and Veggies (thanks to my friend Tessa for the inspiration).  I will probably check out Smitten Kitchen's Cobb Salad too.  I have had it saved for a long time but never used it.  We won't be adding the eggs, sadly, because of Brian's allergy and because I am staying away from them right now too. 

Tuesday Grilled Cheese/PB&J and Tomato Soup (Community Group night so we need to keep it simple)

Wednesday Vegetarian Tortilla Soup with Tortilla Chips (thanks for the heads up on this Laura)


Thursday  Taco Salad with Ground Beef

Friday Grilled Salmon with Baked or Grilled Sweet Potatos and Apples


Saturday  Kale and Goat Cheese Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms with Whatever Veggies are on Sale this Week

Sunday Pumpkin Pasta with Kale

I'm looking at this meal plan and not sure that it will pan out.  I will try and whatever I don't make will go on the next weeks plan.

Meal Plan...Last Week

I actually made a meal plan this past week and mostly stuck to it.  We were fortunate to get some very tasty heirloom tomatoes from Brian's parents and we also hit up the Bowling Green farmers market.  I am starting to trade meal plans with a couple of friends for inspiration and accountability so hopefully I will post here more often.

creamy broccoli soup with bread (this was really great and really healthy, no cream)
http://www.wholeliving.com/
130293/creamy-broccoli-white-bean-soup

crockpot chicken (chicken broth with heirloom tomatoes) and minty chickpea salad with couscous and tomatoes
http://www.realsimple.com/
food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/minty-chickpea-salad-couscous-10000001639803/index.html

Tostadas (fish (tilapia), refried beans, cheese, lettuce)

bean soup and cornbread & salad

cabbage and sausage with honey roasted sweet potatoes ( http://www.foodnetwork.com/
recipes/ellie-krieger/honey-roasted-sweet-potatoes-recipe/index.html)
 and roasted veggies (zucchini, tomato's, peppers and garlic).  This seems like a lot but it was basically leftover stuff from the farmers market that I threw together.  Brian loved the honey/olive oil/lemon mixture I put on the sweet potatoes.

We also made these the other day: Garlic Grilled Tomatoes
http://prouditaliancook.
blogspot.com/2012/05/let-grilling-begin.html

3 Little Ones List

People are always asking how it is with 3 kids and whether the transition from 1 to 2 was harder or 2 to3.  I don't know...it is all hard but kind of a good hard.  Parenting is hard...harder than you would ever expect but when I say it is the "good" kind of hard I mean...in the end I know it is making me a person who is more dependent on God and less dependent on myself.  So, here is my list of things that I have learned/realized since having three little ones:

1.  I am one of those "late" people now.  You know, the ones you can always count on showing up 15-60 minutes late.  Yep, that is our family.  Kind of humbling

2.  I cannot do it on my own. 

3.  Planning the night before is no longer a "good idea" it is a necessity if we are going to leave the house before noon.

4.  Breastfeeding is easier with number 3...or maybe I am just wiser/more laid back with him.

5. It is impossible to have a completely clean house.  The dishes may get done but the floor will not be swept.  The laundry may get washed and dried but it won't get put away.  C'est La Vie

6.  I can go to the grocery with all three of them but it has to be the exact right time of day...a couple hours before naptime for Telia, right after a feeding for Caius, and before 5 for Ruby.  So, 10:15 a.m. is sort of doable if I have a short list.

7.  I can go about 3 nights on little sleep before I completely melt down

8.  I have had to change how I do things like cooking.  It is really hard to find the time to meal plan.  Right now I am doing good to get a meal on the table that is half way healthy.

9.  Nothing beats those 3 smiles, 6 arms for hugs, and all the giggles I hear throughout the day

10.  God has equipped me to parent these three children no matter how much I doubt that day in and day out.

11.  My husband is also a really good Daddy to our 2 girls and our boy

Updates

Now is as good of a time as any to update my readers (all 5 of them) on the happenings in our life since Caius was born.

After we brought Caius home from the hospital we had a few bumps in the road.  First, he had jaundice (which has proven to not be uncommon for our kids) and had to have the light blanket.  We were sooo thankful to have the blanket instead of the light bed that our girls had. Remember when Telia was in it and when Ruby was 2 years before her?  The difference this time was that we could hold Caius all we wanted and still have the lights working on his jaundice.

One week to the day after I went to the hospital to have Caius I was re-admitted to the hospital for high blood pressure.  Evidently, you can have pre-eclampsia AFTER you give birth.  Who knew?  I actually didn't have it but that was because the doctors were so great and took every precaution to make sure that I didn't.  So, this was not fun.  I got to take Caius with me to the hospital and our parents took care of our girls but I really felt horrible.  I had the worst headache of my life and stayed in the hospital on magnesium until Monday.  They finally found the right combination of meds to bring my blood pressure down and sent me home.  I had to monitor my blood pressure for a few weeks and take medication for a few weeks.  Usually pregnancy related illnesses resolve themselves after 6 weeks and thankfully this followed that course. 

In the middle of all of this we moved.  We are so fortunate to have a beautiful home with lots of space, a yard, garage, and a garbage disposal (just to name a few of the amenities).  We closed in March and it was a nail biting experience that we don't won't to go through again for a long long time.  We didn't know if we were going to actually close on our house in KY until an hour before the scheduled time.  In the end it all worked out.

We started attending Sojourn New Albany and have found a great community group already.

We had a couple of house guest...My brother Joe with his 3 kids and one of their friends...also, Brian's parents.  We found a good deal on a bed so if you want to visit let me know cause we have a place to put you now!

We went to IKEA with all the kids and my parents and came out alive and came home with some new stuff for our house.

Brian got a promotion to Sr. Systems Engineer because he is awesome!  We haven't gotten to celebrate yet because he has been working so much..isn't it ironic.

The kids are great.

Telia talks and talks and talks and we love it!  She is starting to exert her will a little more which is to be expected since she is 2 years old.  She got allergy testing last week and is allergic to cats plus other stuff although we won't find out the "other stuff" until she is older.  She has pretty bad eczema which is why we got her tested.

 Ruby is finishing up her first year in a Pre K program in Louisville.  We have been on the look out for a new program for next year in Indiana and think we found one today.  She has been super helpful lately.  She gets excited to help with the dishes, cleaning up her room and play area, and likes to vacuum.  She really is starting to show more maturity.  This week she is learning about the Kentucky Derby at school and has even learned to words to My Old Kentucky Home.  We also made a derby hat for their celebration at school.

 

Caius is giving us lots of smiles and a couple of chuckles.  He has been the most laid back baby that I have had.  He is so happy and only complains when he is tired or hungry...or maybe when Momma isn't holding him.  He has eczema too so I have been eliminating things from my diet to see if anything helps. That is no fun.

New Recipes

Thanks to Pinterest I have found tons of new recipes to try and I am loving it.  Here are a few:

Bacon Guac Grilled Cheese Sandwich I used this recipe more as inspiration and didn't follow it exactly.  I just made a bacon, avocado, grilled cheese sandwich for breakfast on Saturday and it was delish!  We will be having that one again for sure.

Avocado Chicken Salad  Again, I didn't follow this exactly but I think it would've tasted better if I had.  I regret not having cilantro and not using grilled shredded chicken (I used canned chicken).  I will try it again though.

Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie  This was so good!  Make it today and you will not regret it.

 Creamy White Bean and Apple Chili  This was actually really good and the whole family liked it.  I was surprised because there was no meat in it but the flavors were great.  Next time I will use less onions.

Spaghetti Squash Gratin with Chorizo and Kale Another great recipe that I would make again with WAY less onions.  Even Brian, who likes onions, thought they were overpowering.  The recipe is vegetarian too but I added real chorizo not soy chorizo and it was great.

Slow Cooker Black Bean Enchiladas  This recipe wasn't a big hit in the house.  The consistency was kind of mushy and it came out too spicy for the girls.  We probably won't make it again but it was fun to try.

Crockpot Pizza Soup Don't judge this before you check it out.  I made it for our family and my parents and everyone really liked it.  I left out the bell pepper and onions.  We all really liked it and it didn't even give this pregnant Mama indigestion.

Monday Meal Plan

Monday- Chicken Taco Salad (making the chicken in the crockpot with salsa)

Tuesday- Autumn Penne Pasta with Sauteed Brussel Sprouts in Light Ragu

Wednesday-  leftovers

Thursday-  Crockpot 16 Bean Soup with greens and cornbread

Friday- Roasted Acorn Squash and Gorgonzola Pizza and Shaved Asparagus Pizza with salad
 

Meal Plan

I am not really doing a meal plan but listing recipes that I intend to use this week.

I found the Pioneer Woman's Chili Recipe on this blog.
Brian used it for the 2nd time on Sunday and it was delicious.  I think this is pretty much our go to chili recipe now.  We didn't put the jalapeno in it and decided that neither of us like kidney beans so substituted black beans instead.  I highly recommend this recipe if you are in need of a good chili recipe.

Also, I am going to try out this Sausage, Potato and Kale Soup from none other than the Pioneer Woman.
I just noticed (when I was trying to remember what website that soup was from) that there is a lighter version of this soup on skinnytaste.com if you are interested.

Grilled Chicken with Spinach and Melted Mozzerella and Rice

Meal Plan Monday

Monday- Dinner with our community group- Chili Night

Tuesday-  Spaghetti Squash Lasagna

Wednesday- Chili Cook Off at Sojourn New Albany

Thursday- Southwestern Egg and Black Bean Skillet

Friday- Eat out to celebrate Brian being home!

Monday Meal Plan

I had to go back to some of my archives this week for inspiration.  Here is what we are looking at this week:


Tuesday- Asparagus and Mushroom Frittata
Wednesday- Spinach Salad with Salmon
Thursday-   Feta Cheese Turkey Burgers with Quinoa Salad and Zucchini
Friday- Cucumber, Tomato and Hummus Sandwich with Salad and Crusty Bread
Saturday-   Sauteed Cabbage and Sausage

Meal Plan

Here we go...some repeats from last week so not too exciting

Tuesday- taco soup and tortilla chips (we have lots left over from Saturday)
Wednesday- pizza and salad (didn't make it to Whole Foods last week so adding this again)
Thursday- steak and corn on the cob and green beans
Friday- breakfast for dinner (turkey bacon, eggs, hashbrown, toast, fruit)
Saturday- spaghetti with meat sauce, bread and salad
Sunday- leftovers
Monday- Salmon Burgers with Chimichuri sauce with cole slaw(shredded napa cabbage with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper) and sweet potato fries

Every Once In a While

I use coupons sometimes and every once in a while I get some great deals.  Below is a picture of my trip to Kroger today.  The bill was $39 and some cents before my coupons and Kroger plus card...after wards it was $9 and some cents ($6 of that was the Larabars).  Not too shabby!  I usually get my information from Thrifty Mama.

Meal Plan

Monday- Dinner with our community group.  We are bringing Hashbrown Casserole and orange juice (it is a breakfast theme)
Tuesday- Barbecue chicken, corn on the cob and green beans
Wednesday- chili in the crock pot with bison and cornbread
Thursday- Pizza (from Whole Foods, on Tuesdays they are buy one get one free) with salad
Friday-  Spaghetti with sauteed chicken and grape tomatos
Saturday- Meatless Taco Soup and tortilla chips
Sunday-  Brunch- hashbrowns, eggs, turkey bacon, toast and fruit
Monday- Pasta with tuna and black olive vinaigrette (this is a recipe that I made a few weeks ago.  message me if you want it)

If you give...

This week we read the book "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" by Laura Numeroff and Illustrated by Felicia Bond.
I have no idea how to make a link with this picture of the cover of the book but I got it from www.amazon.com

This week we read the book and since we read it often I paused and let Ruby finish parts of the story. We also made up a story about Ruby. I started with "If you give Ruby a...." She decided to go with the cookie theme but we had a little more fun with it and didn't follow the original story. I got those ideas from our Harper Collins "Treasury Picture Book"

We also made some oatmeal cookies from this cookbook that I have.


I put too much flour in the cookies therefore Ruby kept referring to them as muffins :)


Ruby and Brian enjoying their cookies...yes, he is a tough guy



This is what Telia does while we are baking...she runs around the kitchen snacking on crackers


Mmmm

New Recipes

We have been cooking a lot more this month and have tried out some pretty good recipes that we can share with ya'll.

Chicken salad Dijon with grapes and apples- This was a healthy alternative to mayonnaise based chicken salad. I didn't add the celery and used Greek yogurt and it was great.

If you haven't tried Taco Soup you should go make it today. Delish! I kind of followed this recipe but instead of white beans I used chili beans cause that is what I had. I didn't have the ranch packet either so I didn't put it in and it still worked. I actually made this in the crock pot but I don't remember where I got the recipe so this link will do.

I love cooking with my crock pot and here are some of the crock pot recipes I have tried this month:

I made this Crockpot Pasta Fagioli recipe a couple of times and it turned out great too. I used tortellini as the pasta once and ditalini as the pasta once and both were tasty. I made it vegetarian one time and the other time I added ground turkey. I preferred adding the ground turkey.

We tried this loose meat sandwich recipe in the crock pot and it wasn't our favorite. It tasted okay but we probably won't make it again.

These Pepperoncini Beef Sandwiches were super easy and delicious. We used the leftover meat on our nachos a few days later.

This week I am going to try Zucchini Enchiladas and Slow Cooked Sweet Barbacoa Pork. Let me know if you try any of these recipes and what you think.

Holiday Cooking

Over the Holidays we actually had some fun cooking and baking. Most of what we made turned out good so I thought I would share with ya. I don't have any pictures so you will have to settle with some links.

I made 2 different cookies over for Christmas: Cranberry White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
and Andes Mint Cookies. I didn't save the mint cookie recipe but the link I posted looks like it.

For our Faith family get together I made a low sugar dessert for my Dad which turned out to be a hit with everyone. I made Strawberry Pretzel Salad but substituted sugar free jello instead of the regular stuff and used splenda instead of sugar.

I have decided that Christmas brunch will always consist of quiche (I never make quiche because of Brian's egg allergy but I love it) and other yummies that Brian can enjoy. This year I had some extra squash and zucchini hanging around so I made this Summer Quiche. I made it crust less, used mostly egg whites and didn't have onions or tomatoes on hand but it was still delicious!

This week I made a Breakfast Quinoa Recipe that I found on the Martha Stewart website. This was a nice break from oatmeal and most of the family loved it (minus Ruby). Telia had tons and Brian finished his bowl so that was a good sign.

For the New Year Brian made a wonderful Corned Beef, Cabbage, Carrots, Onions, and Potato meal. No recipe to follow but had to mention how great it was!

Mmmm...Halloween Treat

This looks awesome and someone should make it
photo credit here

Meal Plan Monday

I'm gonna go ahead and put this out there...this weeks meal plan is not really interesting. Here ya go:

Monday- pizza with veggies and salad

Tuesday- slow cooker cowboy beans

Wednesday- baked spaghetti squash and salad with bread

Thursday- breakfast for dinner- potato's, Canadian bacon, eggs, and biscuits

Friday- sandwiches and fresh veggies