Plan Your Work

Meal planning has made the change to a healthier lifestyle become something that is sustainable. Keeping our dinners varied, yet simple, has kept things interesting in the kitchen as well.

Here's what's cooking this week:

Sunday: Leftovers (J/S Out to dinner)

We finally made it to Passatempo and spent two and a half hours with one of our best Walla Walla dining experiences. We had:
-Delicious strong cocktails, paired with Mandorle Aromitizzate and Olive(fancy-talk for almonds and olives), shared a green salad and a pasta course of Carbonara, and finished with Steak for him and Pork Tenderloin for me with a side of braised winter greens, along with glasses of The Walls GSM and Syrah. It. Was. So. Good. If you've not yet been, get thee there posthaste.

Monday: Oven Roasted Chicken Drumsticks and Veg. (Truth told? Chicken on the bone, as my children call it, is their very favorite...and it totally skeeves me out, so I had kale salad with dump ranch and a protein shake that night while they devoured their meat sticks with greasy fingers and smacking lips. It was as appetizing as it sounds.)

Tuesday: Baja Shrimp Tacos with Chipotle Crema (Delicious)

Wednesday: Apple Cider Vinegar Braised Chicken with Collard Greens (coming up tonight)

Thursday: Mini Meatloaves with Kick-Ass Ketchup, Mashed Parsnips and Roasted Carrots with Pine Nuts

Friday:Oven Fried Salmon Cakes with Lemon Caper Dill Aioli (aka paelo mayo with lemon juice, capers and dill whisked in ;))

Saturday: BFD* Sweet Potato Waffle Sandwiches /Family Movie Night

I said in my last post that weeknights have become rather hectic with H on swim team and Charlie in Basketball, so my weeknight meals keep in mind the following routine: I prep dinner to the point that it's ready to go on the stove top or in the oven, or just be reheated, and J finishes it, feeds the littles, bathes them and then H and I walk in the door right about then and eat. I really, really, really hate having a split meal time but for the time being it is what it is. So, the prep for the shrimp tacos last night went like this:

I marinated the shrimp, mixed the vinaigrette and dressed the cabbage, whisked together the chipotle crema. Instead of using the whole chipotle chilis in adobo and having to blend them, I used Chipotle paste, which I found in the hispanic section at Safeway, in a tube, and love it. No more half-cans of chilis hanging out in the fridge post-recipe use.

The other sad part of split dinner; Crappy lighting for your victory bite photos, but they were so, so good.

*Breakfast For Dinner

Whole Dirty Thirty: The Food

Rawkstar Fuel, indeed. Please meet Dump Ranch

I finished my first full round of Whole30 Thursday. I feel really good, am planning to keep most of the routines we've established and have added a number of the food bloggers I found during my meal planning straight to the top of my rotation. I've been asked by a few people for tips and recipe ideas so I thought I'd do a couple quick posts on the process. One on the food. The other the feels.

If you're not familiar with Whole30, it's basically a super strict version of the paleo diet, which was developed first to be an elimination diet to self-test for food sensitivities and give your body a general reset. Full disclosure, and I am the first to admit that I poo-poo'd the plan for a long time. It seems a little crazy to eliminate so many food groups, it's concerning that it wouldn't be a sustainable eating plan for me long-term, so any weight loss or other gains I made during the month could be easily reversed, and I just have a general disdain for anything that smacks of elitism because I'm a reverse snob. Give me a big old truck and some jeans and I'll feel at home. Plop a diet coke in the cup holder? Homier.

A month without sugar (including maple syrup, honey, agave or stevia), legumes, dairy (no ice cream?!), chewing gum (sugar or sugar substitute), alcohol (suuuugar-boo hoo and adios vino), soy or grains. What can I even eat?! Turns out, quite a lot. And it's even good.

With four kids, I have a large-ish family, and with our already busy afterschool schedules I wasn't down for signing up for something that would add a lot more food prep or planning, but I do love to cook and make dinner pretty much every night as it is. I kept the food relatively simple because I was not making two dinners. My kids would eat what they normally did for breakfast and lunch, but would have Whole30 dinners. And no dessert. So, I figured they'd catch a little benefit from that by default. (Just to get a feel for our routine; Monday through Friday I prep dinner a bit and then grab the big kids from school. By 4:15, I have dinner pretty much ready to either stick in the oven, or instructions for reheating and I take H to swim. J feeds the other three and starts their bedtime routine so that by the time I get back with H at about 6, we eat with each other. I can't wait until H advances to the next level and has swim in the evening because I really don't like the split dinner hour.)

I had been following the Whole30 Recipes instagram account for some time, and the food they featured there every day all looked so good, and very accessible and I had read the timeline (aka what to expect) a number of times (spoiler alert: I never found the Tiger Blood).

I was not interested in adding a bunch of stores to my grocery shopping routine, or quadrupling my grocery budget. There were a few specialty items that I sourced on amazon, but other than that, everything I bought was at Safeway, which is my usual grocery store. I think part of what is intimidating sometimes about the idea of doing a whole30, is that you have to spend your whole paycheck on food. Now, I have a pretty well stocked freezer re: meat and a very full range of herbs and spices, so there were a lot of staples that I didn't have to purchase. I'd add a good $100 if you're going to be buying almond flour, coconut aminos, coconut oil, etc. I would also add some time to your first shopping trip if you're not used to reading labels, because unless you're buying a specific brand that's been listed as compliant, read; they sneak sugar into everything. Costco has a lot of compliant foods now as well, and at great prices. Their unsweeted vanilla almond milk is one of my staples, and their large bags of dried mangos, apricots, dates and figs were great staples to have one hand. (dates and figs are often used to lend sweetness where you'd otherwise be using honey or sugar in some recipes).

My husband agreed to take the plunge with me, after some convincing, and we chose the day after holiday break ended as day one. I spent the week or so before starting to cull through my cookbooks and pinterest, and realized that the genius thing about being so late to the party is that the interwebs have done all of the work for you. Honestly, enter 'whole30' followed by any recipe you're looking for in the google search bar or on pinterest and you're in business! I didn't do any big cook-up days, or spend any more time in the kitchen than I previously did. Now, if you are used to grabbing something to go more than a few times a month or eat a lot of convenience foods, then it might seem overwhelming at first until you find your rhythm. I would highly recommend that you have an immersion blender and wide mouthed jar for making mayo, dump ranch and other condiments, and that you prep condiments on an open time that is other than dinner prep. I learned that the hard way when I tried to make ketchup at the same time I was supposed to be basting drumsticks with bbq sauce that was supposed to have said ketchup in it.

Secondly, and this is my personal opinion, I think whole30 would be really really hard if you don't like eggs. We went through, no joke, about 12 dozen eggs. Jared did the 30 days with me, so with two adults eating hard boiled, egg salad, shakshuka, over medium, frittata, egg muffins, scrambled, you name it, we were the Forrest Gump of eggs. We also ate a lot of greens. From kale to iceberg and everything in between, this plan is heavy on the protein and greens, light on the fruit and healthy fats, even lighter on carbs (though it's not a low-carb diet). If you don't like to eat salads, this might also be a struggle at first.

I did not have any issues with headaches or other symptoms of 'withdrawl' from sugar, other than a general sense of resentment that I was so chubby I had to do this to get a jump start on my path to wellness. But that's for the emotions post. Overall, I just felt good. The first couple days I talked about food pretty much non-stop and my husband finally asked 'Is this going to be one of those things that we talk about food all the time, but don't actually eat any? If so, I'm out.' Okay, message received. From then on I just referred to the menu board when asked what was for dinner, ha ha.

I tried to rotate what I had available each week so I didn't get burned out on any one food. I tried Sweet Potato Toasts (pretty delicious), and making my own mayonnaise (I'll never buy it again, so simple and delicious), and the sweet baby angels at Whole Sisters created, and then shared, dump ranch. For which I will be forever greatful. Dump Ranch got me through the first week or so. I actually prefer it to traditional ranch and that is a huge deal. I kept a variety of precut veggies on hand, which made a lot of the roasted veg bases for dinner super simple.

Sheet Pan Dinner, which you'll see on the menu board a couple times, is just a couple packages of Aidell's (or I actually found the safeway brand to have a couple of compliant flavors) sausages cut into 1-2 inch pieces, and a jellyroll pan of veggies roasted. During the last ten minutes or so of roasting, add the sausages to the top to warm them through; et voila! Dinner is served.

Breakfast was often leftover roasted veg from the night before and a couple over medium eggs. I kept things really, really simple so that it would not feel overwhelming. Once you know what ingredients work, you can adapt regular recipes, but there are so many great resources for already whole30 compliant meals you don't need to.

I don't want this to be a novel, but I need to address coffee. I will never love black coffee. I take my coffee with a splash of half-and-half, so I needed a substitute. Some ideas I tried were cashew, almond and coconut milks, all unsweeted and carrageenen-free. They were all fine. But just fine. I found success finally with nutpods creamer, which is half coconut, half almond milk and comes in orginal, vanilla and hazelnut and had to be ordered on amazon.

RX bars were also something that I kept on-hand for mornings that were just crazy and I didn't want to skip breakfast. They have a whole30 compliant mixed case that was available on their website with a 20% off and free shipping deal so I snapped them up. They are fairly expensive purchased one at a time, but the bulk deal made them just over $1ea. My faves were blueberry and chocolate sea salt.

Without further ado, my meal plans. I only planned dinners, as lunch was either a salad or leftovers. One night I ended up having to scrap what I'd planned and make something faster, but I moved that to the following week's plan. All of the recipes turned out really well (except sweet potato fries, I've tried every trick and they just don't work out for me). Look below the plans and I've linked where applicable! On taco night, I simply had taco salad instead of a shell. Other than that I didn't add any starches to the kids' dinners. Caulirice can be found already riced in bags in the produce section.

Whole Sisters; dump ranch, zuchini bites, BBQ drumsticks, and dump ranch. Oh, did I say that twice?

NomNomPaleo; kahlua pig, mocha rubbed pot roast

WellFed: Fried Chicken Meatballs, KickAssKetchup, Burger Night (well fed Weeknights cookbook)

Rural Eating: Grilled Romaine Salad with Hot Tomato Vinaigrette

Food Faith Fitness: Jerk Shrimp Strew with Cauli Rice (SO GOOD)

Are you contemplating a Whole30? Any other questions I can answer? Stay tuned for my post in the next couple days on the feels. Because it turns out this was more about meal planning and keeping sugar out of my gob. There was some real work to be done!

Peanut Butter Oat Bars

When I had Stella I was overwhelmed by the number of friends who dropped by with a meal or a treat, along with their company, outside of the schedule arranged by the local mom's group. One afternoon my friend Carol came over to meet Stella and brought with her an after-school snack for the kids in addition to dinner. Those granola bars were so tasty, and I'm sure more so because I was so recently post-partum and I was starving constantly, both for food and contact with my friends. For the uber-health conscious, it should be disclosed that these are more treat than snack. Just the way I like it. Be glad they don't have corn syrup. (except in the m&m's).

Today was the first day of school for the big boys, so I pulled out my recipe binder when I got home from dropping them off, hoping I still had the card. I've tweaked the recipe each time and I think I nailed it today. Originally from the food blog, Garnish With Lemon, these chewy granola bars with peanut butter easily satisfy that craving for sweet with a hit of salt. I'm listing my rendition; for the original, click the above link.

Peanut Butter Oat Bars

Spray 8x8 or 9x9 pan with nonstick spray

3/4 c. peanut butter (heaping)
3 T coconut oil
1 1/2 T butter
1/2-3/4 tsp salt (depends if your pb has salt in it)
1/3 c. honey
3 T brown sugar
1 t vanilla
3 c. old fashioned oats
3T m&m candies (mini's would be perfect, but I have the big daddies in the hopes that I'll eventually get to use them as potty training rewards for Jackie John Jones; #diapersforlyfe )

Optional:
mini chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, (reese's pieces would probably be fantastic!)

Pulse 2 c. oats in a blender or food processor until finely ground and add to a bowl with the remaining 1 c. oats. (I like this ratio better than the 1:2 ground:whole in the original). In a saucepan over medium heat combine peanut butter, oil, butter, salt, honey and brown sugar until melted, remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

Pour mixture over oats and stir until combined. There should be no dry oats outside of the liquid mixture. Add your optional treats (or leave them out for a marginally healthier treat) and press firmly into pan. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Run a knife around the edge to loosen and turn out onto a cutting board. I cut mine into 20 portions by making three cuts vertically and four horizontally. With the age of my kids, not all of them need a full bar when added to fruit or whatever else we have after school. The originally recipe simply cuts them in half and then makes five cuts for twelve (12) servings.

Store in the refrigerator, at room temperature, or in your belly.

Saturday Sweet Tooth

Most weekend mornings, I take time to make a hot breakfast ranging from pancakes to egg dishes. This week, H's writing prompt was to wax poetic about his favorite breakfast and he chose pancakes, saying he 'mostly ate them at his granny's' -um, okay, we'll just forget about the 30+ weekends a year that I make them at our house. Not that I'm keeping score, because in the contest of mom vs granny when it comes to who's more awesome, mom will usually lose.

Childish feelings aside, Friday night I got these oatmeal pancakes started. It had been a long time since I'd made them-maybe even since we lived in Massachusetts, but I remembered them as being a super hearty breakfast option passed to me from my sister. Oats and buttermilk (or a buttermilk substitute-this is a great resource and I always use either the vinegar or greek yogurt method) are left to comingle in the fridge overnight. The addition of a scant amount of flour, some eggs and oil the next morning make for a fairly liquid batter, so let the edges set completely before you flip them.

You can serve them, as the recipe dictates, with warm chunky applesauce or drizzle with maple syrup. I had some applesauce I'd made and frozen last year, but served it on the side and the kids loved them. There is no added sugar in the actual batter, so you have complete control over that aspect with the amount of syrup you use.

I love that these are really filling with just one good luncheon-plate sized pancake, but still also very satisfying for that Saturday morning sweet tooth. (Someday I'll remember to photograph the pancakes either as I'm drizzling on the syrup, or just before. That day was not yesterday.)

Overnight Oats Buttermilk Pancakes

2 Cups Old Fashioned Oats
3 Cups of Buttermilk
1/2 c. flour (I used whole wheat-I love Prairie Gold by Wheat Montana, which is non-GMO and a light color, for things like pancakes because it lends to a lighter-colored end result.)
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
2 eggs lightly beaten
1/4 c. vegetable oil (or coconut or olive oil to make whole-food friendly-depending on the brand, you will taste both of these oils, so consider that in your end result wishes)

Mix oats and buttermilk together in a bowl and store covered in the fridge overnight.

The next morning, mix the dry ingredients together and then add the egg/oil mixture. Finally, stir in the oats and buttermilk until a uniform consistency.

Cook pancakes in a heated griddle over medium heat, waiting until the edges are set before flipping, and serve with applesauce for a fall treat, or alternate toppings of your choice. With oatmeal as the base, the flavor combinations are endless!

Ladies Who Brunch

Last night, before leaving the house, I gave my kids a choice for dinner-one of them involved using a neglected loaf of french bread to make french toast. I had made a large crock o' soup for teacher conferences as part of the meal the PTA provided and also as dinner for a new mama. I love doing both of those things, and generally I just make enough that the same meal feeds my family as well. Last night the stars just didn't align so my poor little cobbler's children were shoeless. Feel very bad for them.

I got home from delivering dinner to find that J had already re-heated leftovers and the kids were just sitting down to dinner, hooray! Charlie was immediately incensed that I hadn't made the promised french toast so I blurted that we'd have it for breakfast the next morning before really thinking about the fact that I would never get my act together to make french toast on a school morning. Scrambled eggs and toast? Sure. French toast? Never gonna happen, way too high-maintenance.  Our Best Bites to the rescue; their Overnight Baked French Toast is so insanely good, and it takes almost no time the morning of because all of the prep is done the night before (hence the overnight in the title, in case you didn't catch that piece). 

Eggs, milk, half and half, brown sugar, cinnamon and vanilla soak into a crusty loaf of bread all night creating the most perfect custardy middle and crispy top after spending a little less than an hour in your oven the next morning. Were it not a school day, I'd have added the streusel topping that normally accompanies it, but I figured that the drizzle of melted butter and maple syrup were more than their teachers wanted already. See? Always thinking of the teachers.

Before I went to bed I set, and obsessively re-checked, my alarm for six so there was no chance of oversleeping (silly me, I didn't need that alarm). This morning I pre-heated the oven to 350, put the pan in the oven, set a timer and laid back down pretending that my kids were not already up and playing with legos in the pre-dawn light.

About forty-five minutes later the house was filled with the smell of warm, sweet cinnamon-y eggs as I pulled out a pan of perfection with golden peaks and let it cool. I have to admit, I was feeling like pretty hot shit as I melted a stick of butter and warmed the syrup. I called the boys out and my heart warmed as they recognized the smell and raced to the table. This is where memories are made.

Are you gagging yet? Don't worry. The very next words out of Charlie's mouth were 'Seriously?! This is the kind of french toast that I don't like!' Sigh.

A Place at Our Table

Because decorative gourds are cute

I was innocently looking for some dinner inspiration while meal planning last week when I fell down the pinterest rabbit hole and found the blog Living Well Spending Less. The specific post I found intriguing was this one. I know that several friends have taken on the challenge of foregoing non-essential purchases for a month, but I'd never really considered groceries a non-essential. Until I really thought about the incredible amount of food and meal possibilities I have languishing in my freezer(s) and pantry. Starting this last week through the end of October, I'm making an effort to meal plan based on what I already have. (duh, right?) I'm still going to be buying milk, yogurt, some produce and other fresh foods, but the idea is just to start making a dent. Also, I may have felt incredibly guilty after watching A Place at the Table.

Saturday afternoon I went through the bottom drawer of the stand-up freezer, which was where I'd relegated all of the meat that needs to be used first when I was putting away the half-beef. I pulled stew beef, flank steak, chicken breasts and a package of ground beef and put them in the refrigerator to thaw and be used throughout the week.

Yesterday I thought about poaching the chicken to shred and add to a salad, but then I saw a chicken pot pie on the cover of a magazine in the check-out line when I was buying milk (and candy corn...so much for non-essentials) and knew that I already had everything to make a stellar one, so I'd be saving those chicken breasts for later in the week.

When I got home, I still didn't have plans for dinner, J had just gotten home from work, and the clock was striking the ominous four o'clock witching hour. I quickly summoned the powers of pinterest and searched for salads with arugula (to avoid the giant tub of it turning into a green slime wasteland) and quinoa and found this goody; an arugula salad with quinoa, chickpeas (which will always be garbanzos to me), feta and some crunch lent from carrots, celery and almonds. I hate when people say, 'I followed the recipe except...' and then list a novel of changes, but I'll do it anyhow. I used the base of arugula, quinoa, feta and chickpeas, but then got the crunch from a bell pepper and omitted the rest. The lemon dressing was simple, and a big ol' plate was filling without being heavy. I had planned to just make pbj for the kids, but then nixed the idea and served the salad to everyone. Charlie was thrilled it wasn't soup, Henry was excited about the garbanzos (I'd forgotten he loved them at the Farm to Table tasting for them earlier in the year) and Jack ate as much as he would have of anything. Boom. Dinner done. And I'd even forced myself to unload and load the dishwasher while the quinoa was cooking, so clean up was a breeze.

Speaking of freezer clean-out. I feel like every time the fall/holiday baking season comes around I stock up on every variety of chip known to man, only to come home to a freezer full of last year's spoils because one simply cannot make enough Oatmeal Scotchies to validate a purchase of 400 packages of butterscotch chips. After seeing Kate Jones' instagram of cookie dough at 6:30am, I felt compelled to make a batch of Our Best Bites Giant Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. I used half semi-sweet and half butterscotch chips, which eliminated another collection of quart freezer bags filled with half-used packages of chips. They were absolutely as good as they claim-that big douse of vanilla (I used my own, and it's so good) and lack of cinnamon make them perfect.

Then, because I felt just so efficient in my clean out efforts, a couple days later I made these Banana chocolate chip muffins. I had four brown bananas to use, so doubled the batch because the recipe said it only made a dozen. It does not. I easily got three dozen plus out of the double batch. I added diced walnuts because it makes them delicious, and it was another freezer bag emptied. The kids have loved having both treats in their lunches. I may have also let them have oatmeal cookies for breakfast on Sunday because, well, it's oatmeal.

I'm starting to see a little light where there may actually be some room in Mr. Freeze to get some dinners prepped and ready before baby girl's arrival, which is now officially scheduled for December 4th. 

Do you stockpile food to a certain extent and then 'forget' to use it? What are some of your tried and true use-what-we-have inspiration starting points? 

A Day of Rest

This is a drill weekend for J, so I've been flying solo since Friday and can I just reiterate that I'm so pleased my kids are not exceptionally talented in the soccer arena? Being able to adjust our schedules to my current energy level so that I'm the nicest mom possible has been a gift in the last trimester of this pregnancy, both to my kids and to myself.

Laundry folded and put away, clean sheets for everyone, and even time to sit and enjoy the beautiful fall (still summer) sunshine to knit while the kids played outside before a play date that ended in a gushing bloody nose for H, I was ready for an easy day today. Early to bed has made the early to rise of late not quite so punishing. 

Don't mind my fat finger in the corner.

This morning I gave the kids a quick breakfast at quarter to six, noting with a little wistfulness that it was still dark outside, and promised a more hearty, traditional Sunday morning meal for second breakfast. What, doesn't everyone have second breakfast on the regular? 

After two cups of coffee, an almost-nap for Jack and then a second wind, a Bath and Body Works Pumpkin Cinnamon Bun candle brought H wandering out to the kitchen asking if I had already made the treat.

I quickly searched pinterest and found this Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancake recipe on Thriving Home so that our treat could also be a relatively healthy meal. I said relatively. Using whole wheat flour, pumkin puree and coconut oil, they really aren't a terribly unhealthy option for a carb-o-licious sunday breakfast. I omitted the brown sugar because I don't ever add sugar to pancake mix. If you're going to eat them without maple syrup (an abomination if you ask me, and probably against a state law in all of New England) then by all means add the sugar. Also, stevia? Still not a fan. The only other change I made was to add some chopped pecans for a little texture.

Hot off the griddle, the kids gobbled them up and then I shoo'd them away to play with legos while I enjoyed every last bite of my still-warm trio. Slicked with Kerrygold and pure maple syrup, these aren't super pretty to look at in the photo, but they tasted beautiful. 

Festivities and Fajitas

This is seconds before the words 'stop being weird' flew out of my mouth.

Yesterday we celebrated H's ninth birthday...a month late. Don't get me wrong, we had a fun day on his actual birthday, but his friend group is kind of small so planning his birthday party this year was a little tricky with summer vacation schedules and J's schedule to work around.

The whole summer I've just felt behind the ball. H requested a red velvet ice cream cake for his birthday, and I'd found the perfect recipe followed by a serendipitous posting by Our Best Bites for cheesecake ice cream. However, it slowly devolved from ice cream cake, to red velvet cupcakes with ice cream on the side to a very first for me; ordering the cake from a bakery for his party, which I felt needlessly guilty about. And you know what? We all enjoyed the cake and nobody will end up in therapy. Phew, glad I finally had that revelation.

Love the cake server? Check out ASpoonful and support a local mama-owned small busines!

My parents and sister came over for the party with my nieces yesterday and joined us for lunch beforehand. As I was putting away the leftover Papa Murphy's I spied the thawed flank steak that should have already been in the crock pot to be our dinner. Shoot! I groaned and debated for a few seconds just saving it for dinner the next night, but knew I'd come home from the party after four o'clock and be very sad that I hadn't taken the time to make a real dinner and we'd have crappy cereal or something. No judgement, but that's just been happening all too often this summer.

I quickly pulled out the crock pot, mixed up the seasonings, patted both sides of the flank steak, drizzled in 2T of soy sauce over the steak, chopped four bell peppers and an onion and added those to the pot and turned it to high for 4.5 hours, thinking it'd at least be ready for J and I to eat with the big boys after putting Jack to bed. 

When we pulled back into the garage after the party, I was so glad I'd taken the time to throw dinner together because it smelled delicious and I didn't have to think about dinner as J and I sat and stared into space nursing cake-overs and H and Charlie happily built the new lego spoils.

I love all the sunlight we get being direct west-facing in the evening, but it makes taking a decent photo a little challenging at the dinner table.

Fresh from the crock pot

I forgot to add the garlic and jalepeno in my rush, but it was all good, because I cracked open a can of last fall's green tomato salsa as one of the toppings. On corn tortillas with salsa, cilantro, avaocado and the meat/pepper mix, these were so good and, again, really filling. This would be a great addition to any week night rotation with busy days abounding now that school is back in session. These are definitely more 'pot roast' in flavor and texture than traditional steak fajitas, but still outstanding.

Slow Cooker Flank Steak Fajitas

100 Days of Real Food

1 ½ lbs flank steak, preferably grass fed 

1 ½ teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon coriander

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

2 tablespoons soy sauce, preferably the low-sodium variety

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

4 – 5 bell peppers, any color

1 onion

Optional: whole-wheat or corn tortillas, grated cheese (I didn't use any cheese), avocado, cilantro, lime, greens, sour cream, salsa, etc.

Mix together the dry spices with a fork including the chili powder, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper. Rub the spice mixture over all sides of the flank steak and place it in the bottom of the slow cooker. Sprinkle the soy sauce on top. Top the flank steak with the diced jalapeno and minced garlic. Slice the bell peppers and onion and throw those on top of the steak as well. Turn the slow cooker onto HIGH and cook for 5 – 6 hours or until the steak can easily be shredded with two forks. Drain the meat and peppers well then serve with the recommended fajita “fixings” (listed above). 

Sunday Breakfast

Sunday breakfast is when I usually roll out the big guns; cinnamon rolls, donuts, bacon...all things in the goodness of gluttony category.  The promise of donuts after church is sometimes the only thing that makes my kids sit through mass.

Today, I changed tact with a breakfast casserole from 100 Days of Real Food. With very few ingredients, this breakfast came together quickly and was really, really filling.

Start with a pound of good quality breakfast sausage (I used turkey sausage) that's already 'loose' or with the casings removed, and brown in a skillet on the stovetop. The recipe calls for a tablespoon of olive oil, which I omitted because I don't ever use oil to brown ground meat in. Dice a bell pepper (I chose yellow so that my kids were less likely to notice it in the midst of the egg yolks; tricky, tricky.), and when the sausage is browned, add that to the skillet and cook for a few minutes more until the pepper is tender. Because sausage is already pretty heavily seasoned, I'd urge you to refrain from adding salt and pepper until it's done baking, I didn't feel like it needed anything more, and the recipe doesn't call for any.

Transfer the sausage/pepper mixture to a greased 9x13 pan, spreading evenly on the bottom, and sprinkle with a half-cup of grated cheddar (or swiss). I used closer to a cup because I'm a rebel like that. Lastly, crack a dozen eggs over the top of the mixture covering as much of the surface as you can, and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes or until the eggs are set.

Love the horrid lighting in my kitchen; it's why I usually turn the lights off to photograph :/ Using a full block of cheese to freshly grate ensures that you aren't getting any additives that pre-shredded cheeses generally have as an anti-clumping agent.

lights off; better

To add some greenery, I wilted a handful of arugula for each of the adult plates, and gave everyone a slice of whole wheat toast. Even my little hobbits who eat copious amounts at the breakfast table were full after one serving. It's flavorful and filling and will definitely carry you over until lunch. Also, because of the limited amount of prep time, and the fact that you don't even have to dirty a bowl to pre-scramble eggs since they're cooked whole, this would be a great option for a school morning breakfast. It could also easily be made portable by wrapping the mixture up (including the arugula if you're so inclined) in a whole wheat tortilla.

If you've purchased the cookbook, have you tried any of the recipes yet? Tonight, we've got the Slow-Cooker Flank Steak Fajitas on tap.

100 Meals of Real Food

One hundred days, three meals a day (plus snacks), that's a whole lotta planning. I decided instead I'd try for 100 days of at least one meal a day that consisted only of 'real food'. Tonight, it was dinner. Actually, lunch was as well because I ate dinner leftovers, so I'll rewind to last night. First day of school meant falling back into schedules and routine hence; Taco Tuesday.

H 'invented' a taco soup that is dead simple, but surprisingly good. Brown two pounds ground beef* (or turkey or chicken or whatever protein you want); add taco seasoning (make your own with this quick recipe that you don't have to mix up in advance), a quart of good beef stock, and simmer for about 15 minutes to bring it all up to temperature and at the last minute throw in some corn (I cut the kernels off the cobs of two leftover from the previous night's grill-out). If the corn is frozen, obviously do this more than a minute from the end so it's not still frozen. My kids like this as is with some grated cheese on it (which is where H's rendition ends), but I garnish mine and J's with sliced avocado, cilantro, a little cheese and (if I have the foresight) the chili-lime crunchies from this Iowa Girl Eat's burger recipe. If you don't include the corn crunchies, as I did not last night, it's still a good and really filling soup that takes no time and the whole family likes it.

As I was making my meal plan for the week on Sunday night, I asked J if he had any requests for main dishes or sides and he mentioned a bread salad I'd made earlier in the summer. While waiting for my car to get washed I'd seen it in O magazine and snapped a photo of the recipe, made it that night and we loved it, but just kind of forgot about it after that.

September means an overwhelming abundance of garden tomatoes and basil, so this was the perfect suggestion. Instead of a sourdough or white baguette I used a loaf of whole wheat bread, but otherwise the recipe is perfect as is. In order to make it a full meal for my family I heated a package of Aidell's chicken and apple sausages  (thank you Costco for carrying these in bulk!). My kids don't love the salad, but they still ate bites of it, but they do really, really love the sausage plus a straight up piece of the bread. J and I? Love the salad. With one of the sausages it's a full meal without feeling heavy. Let me know if you give it a try!

Warm Bread Salad with Tomatoes

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 6 cloves garlic, crushed but kept whole
• 4 cups torn baguette pieces
• 1 cup 1/2"-diced red onion
• 4 cups 1/2"-diced tomatoes, divided
• 3 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
• 1 bunch fresh basil, stemmed
• 1 Tbsp. capers
• Kosher salt
• Ground black pepper

Directions

Total time: 30 minutes 

In a large sauté pan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Add baguette pieces and sauté until golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes. Lower heat to medium-low, add red onion, and sauté 1 minute, then add 2 cups tomatoes. Add vinegar and remove from heat. Add basil, capers, and remaining tomatoes and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with basil leaves and serve immediately. 

Adapted from I Love New York: Ingredients and Recipes 

What changes (if any) are you making to inject a little change into your ho-hum menus? What do you have planned for this week?

*I'm so glad we invested in the half of a cow from my cousin and his wife this Spring. While our freezer was almost overwhelmingly full of beef at first, it's gotten to a manageable level after a summer of grilling burgers and steaks and I have room to start making some freezer meals again. If you're interested in purchasing bulk meat, one thing to consider is the huge savings you'll get on the premium cuts: a big 100% grass-fed, organic Prime Rib for under $4 a pound? Yes, please!

Make You Banana Pancakes...

I recently took part in a five-day clean eating challenge, and had to share one of the breakfast recipes.

During my first trimester of this pregnancy, my established eating patterns of salads for lunch and egg-heavy breakfasts with reasonable dinners went out the window for the stomach-soothing caaaaaarbs. I heart gluten, that's certainly no secret, but I knew that if I stayed on the path I'd started down, they'd have to roll me to the hospital by month nine. 

This time around I'm determined to gain very little weight. Or none. (and unless you are my OB, please save the admonitions, this is not an unsafe thing to do if you're chubby to start with, are eating nutrient-dense foods, exercising sensibly, and your baby is growing at the normal rate)  As I've learned the hard way, the novelty of gaining 800 pounds over the course of a pregnancy wears off pretty quickly when you have to then work off said half-ton with a newborn. And older kids. And a life. On limited sleep.

That said, I was happy to find this protein-rich breakfast that honestly gave me all of the satisfaction of eating actual pancakes. I promise. They're good! I quadrupled the original recipe to feed myself and my three kids, with a few leftover for the next day...at which point they weren't very good. This is definitely a recipe that is better on the day it's fresh and hot. They were super fast, and if you make them small and let them cook long enough on the first side, they flip as easily as traditional pancakes. If you don't, they're an ugly mess, because they're just a smidge thicker than crepes. You've been warned. 

I love using a blender with a lip, because it eliminates the mess going from bowl to griddle with a ladle.

I chose to cook mine in coconut oil, but they would likely be even mo' bettah in a straight-up butter coated pan. Or, if you're boring, a naked non-stick pan. So bust out your blender and heat up your griddle; these babies are even quick enough for school mornings!

Banana Protein Pancakes (quadrupled)

Breakfast:

8 eggs

2 bananas

1 c. dry oats

2 t. vanilla

2 t. ground cinnamon

In a blender or food processor, combine all ingredients and pulse until smooth.  Coat pan with ½ t. coconut (or olive oil or nonstick cooking spray...or grassfed butter) and cook just like pancakes.  

Spread with 1 T. almond butter or peanut butter. (make sure it's not straight from the fridge or you'll rip the pancakes). I also added a mix of fresh berries and you can add pure maple syrup or whatever your favorite pancake toppings are-get crazy.

Makes about 32 silver-dollar sized, thin, pancakes.  

Third Rising: Whole Wheat Bread (Again, Some More)

I've posted about my issues with bread-baking here and here using my mom's recipe, but I never did get it to work out perfectly every time. When I had Jack, my friend Emily brought soup and bread to us one night for dinner. It was so good, and she offered to have me over for a long playdate one day to show me exactly how she does it. She starts, as did my mom, with whole wheat berries that she grinds into flour. I don't have a grain mill (yet) so I go with the same brand of flour, Wheat Montana, which is nonGMO and can be purchased in bulk on amazon. There is only one store locally that sells it, and that's Wal-Mart, though I've requested it at two other grocery stores, so we'll see if they start to carry it. I love the Prairie Gold varietal, because it doesn't produce too dense a bread, but their other varietals are great, along with the all-purpose flour, which is a natural white flour; unbleached and unbromated.

The recipe she uses for her everyday bread is the Fresh Milk Bread from The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book, with a lot of' 'you'll know it's ready when it feels like this' and she'd pinch the dough between two fingers looking for the perfect amount of give. It was the best, most generous thing for her to host us for about four hours on a sticky, summer day. She walked me through each step, fed my kids lunch and sent me home with a loaf of fresh bread.


I ordered the book right away and embarked on my quest to replicate. After several months, I've had consistently good bread and am so grateful to her. My kids are brimming with gratitude as well. I believe H's direct quote was 'Can't we just buy bread at the store like normal people?' Brats. I do a one and-a-half batch of this bread to make three full loaves. My kitchen aid won't work a full double batch. The big-daddy kitchen aid is next on my appliance upgrade list. Also, I find that it's really important to weigh your flour because the way you scoop and measure it, may make the difference of about a cup when you compare weight to volume.

First rising

Punched down and risen again

use a bench scraper to divide into three equal balls and allow to rest on the counter

roll each ball with a pin into a rectangle and then roll up into a loaf and place in pans to raise for a third time

Third rising complete and ready to go into a 350 oven for 40 minutes

Golden Delicious

cool before cutting

Unless you baked it, and then you get a warm slice with honey and butter

Do you have a favorite bread recipe?

Pop Secrets

R-2 is a frequent guest at chez Wutzke

Every Friday night, and sometimes Saturday as well, we sit down for Family Movie Night. The kids get to pick a movie, or we watch the movie version of whatever chapter book we've just finished so they can compare the book to the movie. A big part of movie night is the popcorn and treat, and I've perfected the art of stovetop popcorn making. You'll never go back to that bag of microwave popcorn again! (Unless you're my husband, and then you'll buy it when I'm out of town.)

Step 1: Disregard the directions on the popcorn container. They'll make you use too much popcorn so that there are a bunch of unpopped kernels when the majority of the popcorn is ready, or you'll pop it all and it will be burnt. Ask J how we know this.

Measure out 1/3 c. of popcorn kernels and set aside. Add 3T of oil to a sauce pan, I like to use coconut oil. I know that it's super trendy, but I swear I won't make you serve it with a side of quinoa or sprinkle kale chips over the top. In this case, it really just lends a good flavor and having a healthy fat to boot is not a bad thing. If you don't already use coconut oil, I really like the Nutiva brand, and you can get a big ole container of it at Costco.

It's solid, but melts very quickly in the pan, so turn your burner to about medium and let it melt. While it's melting, sprinkle about a teaspoon of good salt over the oil. This way, the salt gets kind of impregnated into the popcorn to make it perfectly seasoned instead of just salty. While the oil is heating up, put one popcorn kernel into the pan of oil.

When that kernel pops turn off the heat, add the rest of the popcorn kernels to the pan and then count to 30. Seriously. Stand at the stovetop and count to thirty. Out loud if you need to. Then put a lid on the pan, turn the heat back to medium and listen for the pop, pop of the kernels. If you don't have a vented lid, leave it just a tiny bit off-kilter so the steam can escape. Give the pan a gentle shake every 20-30 seconds, and leave it on the heat until you hear a pause between pops of about 2 seconds. Turn the contents out into a large bowl. From here you can doctor your popcorn however you wish.  Plop a tablespoon of butter into the now empty hot pan so it can melt and drizzle it over the top, sprinkle with endless seasoning combinations, add a little shake of sugar to create kettle cornor drizzle with homemade caramel sauce for a really special treat.

Why, yes, I do frequently balance dishes on the edge of my counter. I lead quite a thrilling life!

In addition to the popcorn, we always have a treat on top; some leftover candy between holidays (before I toss it) or York 'pepper patties' that I keep in the freezer because they're always a win. Just a few treats in a bowl of popcorn with a big glass of ice cold 'fridge water' to wash it all down and you've got movie night dessert.

Perfect Stovetop Popcorn:

1/3 c. popcorn kernels
3T cooking oil-I prefer coconut
1/2 -1 t. salt (optional, but really does make it better)

1T melted Butter or preferred toppings

Heat oil in a large saucepan and sprinkle with salt (to taste), add one kernel to the heating pan. When that kernel pops, turn off heat, add the rest of the corn and wait for 30 seconds. Return to heat until 2 seconds between popping sounds and then turn contents into large bowl and season as desired. Enjoy!