Freezer Meals

Today I prepared freezer meals for the crockpot again. It started to become tedious, but then I remembered how nice it was to just pull the bags out of the freezer for 2 weeks and was re-energized :). I found a great website for freezer meal ideas called momswhothink.com. The recipes sound so amazing, I'm really excited to try some of the things I made, for example: cranapple cinnamon raisin chicken breasts and rosemary tomato and herbed chicken with pasta :) A cool thing about researching new recipes is trying different foods all week long. I tend to always revert to salads for dinner, which is great and totally healthy, but it is nice to expand the palate, and to expand Esther's palate so she doesn't become closed minded about food choices (fortunately she's not a picky eater and loves trying new things :).
Here's to new recipes and more free time for the next two weeks :)
Valley

Grocery Store Day

Today I went grocery shopping and bought a ton of stuff to prepare crock pot meals again. I plan of prepping everything tomorrow. Tonight's dinner was just a basic pasta and red sauce with Parmesan, and for dessert I made chai tea with Oregon Chai mix. It was the first time I tried it, and it was pretty good. Next time I'll add a bit of milk as per the directions to make it a little richer :)

Pot Roast and Pancakes

Tonight's dinner was a slow cooked pot roast with Italian green beans and brown sugar glazed carrots. After dinner I decided to make a batch of banana pancakes to freeze and then E can just stick them in the toaster in the mornings for breakfast. Quick yummy breakfast without the all the chemicals and crazy ingredients in the store bought frozen stuff :)

Hello Kitty

After a good nights sleep last night, E was feeling a little better today, but was definitely still under the weather. We made a trip to yogurtland though for a special treat, and she was stoked to get a hello kitty spoon :). Tonight I dug out her old hello kitty humidifier and cleaned it up and put it in her room at bedtime. I put a few drops of lavender essential oil in there; so when I went in to check on her before I went to bed her room smelled especially yummy, and she was sound asleep.

Sweet dreams and healthier days ahead :)
Valley

Sick Day

Going back to school is always so exciting... And at the same time the thought of all the germs your little one will be exposed to and the waiting game for the first sick day is kind of a bummer :-/. E had her first sick day of second grade today. She's got a cough/stuffy nose/fever thing going on. Blah. Hopefully after a day of rest, sleepy time throat tamer tea and badger aromatic chest rub she'll be feeling better in time for the 3 day weekend :). In the interest of keeping things simple and healthy we had a yummy salad for dinner which we ate on the porch enjoying today's cooler weather :).

First Day Of Second Grade

Today was the first day back to school, she was so stoked this morning, which was awesome :) Getting to see friends from kindergarten and first grade, having a classroom on the second floor, new teacher... All sorts of reason for excitement!
We had dinner with friends tonight, who have a beautiful garden.. FULL of basil! They were nice enough to send a ton home with us. Now I have a sort of basil bouquet on my kitchen table filling my house with its amazing aroma. I decided to make blueberry basil milkshakes tonight with some of it, I had one at a restaurant once and it was amazing. My version came out pretty great too ;) milk, vanilla ice cream, malt, frozen blueberries and of course the fresh basil.. I will definitely be making more :)

Back To School Banana Bread

Second grade starts tomorrow!!! I can hardly believe it, she's growing up so fast. Even looking at pictures from last year to this year, the difference is shocking. Its a great reminder to take as many photos as possible though, and try to capture all the moments I can. She's so excited to be back in school though, my little social butterfly :)
Today she baked a loaf of fresh banana bread so she'll have a yummy breakfast for her first day back. Tonight we had chicken and sausage chili from the crock pot. I seriously think the crock pot is becoming my new favorite kitchen appliance ;). It is so convenient and the meat is always so tender and flavorful. :)

Camping in the Rain

So we went camping Monday up at Jefferson Lake. Its gorgeous up there.. Except that it rained the whole afternoon and most of the night :-/. It was freezing cold and I was way underprepared. Coming home to not having to cook was so nice though. I just pulled one of the meals out of the freezer and threw it in the crockpot :) as much as I love cooking and being in the kitchen playing with different foods and new recipes the convenience factor of pre-preparing meals is awesome. Last night it was potato soup and tonight chicken and dumplings; both of which came out deliciously :)

Planning Ahead

So there's a ton of crock pot recipes to be found on pinterest, which is awesome because with out air conditioning the last thing you want to do in the summer time is turn your oven on, and the crock pot offers a nice alternative to stove top cooking. So in looking at these recipes on pinterest I came across a blogger who prepares meals ahead of time and freezes them so all she has to do is pull out a bag and throw it in the crock pot and dinner is done.. Which is a fantastic idea. Plus, you don't get all the chemicals and preservatives that are in the pre-packaged meals in the freezer section of the grocery store. So yesterday I got super motivated and searched recipes online, went grocery shopping, then came home and spent 4 hours in the kitchen prepping meals for *2* whole weeks. Today I pulled the first bag out which was steak fajitas, and it came out pretty good :).

Older me.. New shoes :)

I was given a gift card for a sporting goods store for my birthday to get a new pair of running shoes. So truthfully, I was kind of stoked because I've actually never been to a sporting goods store to get a nice pair of running shoes. In the past I've just gotten whatever nikes or new balance shoes I could find at Ross for relatively inexpensive, because I'm kinda cheap and couldn't really justify spending big dough on shoes that would just be used for running and probably get all dirty anyway. Trying on different styles of shoes was really nice, the differences between models are really noticeable. I wound up deciding on the nike free run +3. They're super fun neon orange.. Like so bright, they could glow in the dark (not really ;), and they're a minimalist shoe which means they're designed to be close to barefoot running. Which is pretty cool, I think, because although I love a cute pair of heels, I prefer to be barefoot whenever possible (yeah I'm a Florida girl ;). Anyway, the other cool thing about these guys is the Nike + app, which was preloaded on my iPhone but I'm not to tech savvy and didn't really know what it was, so for an extra $19 I got this little electronic insert thing that fits into the sole of your shoe and syncs wirelessly with your iPhone or iPod and keeps track of distance, calories burned, etc. VERY COOL.
So, hopefully with new shoes and the impending big 3-0 in a couple years I can find new motivation to get out there and run as often as possible to stay in shape ;)
Off to make another delicious salad for dinner then hit the pavement for an evening run :)

Fresh Veggies

So some friends of ours have a gorgeous backyard complete with an amazing garden filled with a nice array of fresh veggies. They went out of town for a few weeks and I have the pleasure of picking their veggies so they don't go to waste while they're gone : D lucky me! I went over tonight and picked fresh spinach, beets, tomatoes, banana peppers, basil, rosemary, and parsley and then made the most amazing salad for dinner. I washed everything really well, tossed it together with some fresh mozzarella, turkey pepperoni, hard salami, black olives, artichoke hearts, carrots, sunflower seeds, dried cranberries, and grated fresh beet over the top, added a little Newman's Own lime dressing and voila! Served with some bread from the grocery store that has whole roasted garlic cloves on it with earth balance butter.
So. Good.
Headed off to bed now with a belly full of deliciousness :)

Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup and Sodium Labeling

Tonights dinner in an attempt to knock out a cold was a delicious lemon chicken orzo soup recipe I found online:
http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/1820/Greek-Chicken-And-Lemon-Soup-W102906.shtml

Ingredients:
8 cups chicken stock
3/4 cup orzo pasta
1/2 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch thick pieces
3 eggs
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (I doubled this I prefer more lemon flavor)
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
salt and white pepper to taste
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley


DIRECTIONS:
In a large saucepan, bring stock to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and add orzo. Cook uncovered until tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. Five minutes before pasta is done, add chicken.

Place eggs in mixing bowl. Whisk eggs while adding lemon juice. Stir in zest. Whisking constantly, slowly pour a ladle of the hot stock into the egg mixture to temper. (This step is very important so you don't wind up with strands of cooked egg in your soup.)

Reduce heat to very low. Then, while whisking the soup in pan, slowly pour in the egg mixture. Soup should thicken slightly. Add salt and pepper and garnish with parsley.


NUTRITION:
4 servings(values per serving)
285 calories
5 grams fat
28 grams carbohydrates
24 grams protein


So when I buy the ingredients for any recipe, I always look at labels. Three things I look for are, high fructose corn syrup, MSG and sodium content. Sodium recommendations are no more than 2300 mg/ day or 1500 mg/day for those who are salt sensitive. Watching your sodium intake is important as increased sodium intake is related to increased risk for cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and hypertension. Sodium labeling can be tricky if you're just going by the disclaimer on the front of the packaging and not reading the nutrition fact label. Here are the guidelines for sodium labeling (straight from the lecture notes of my medical nutrition therapy professor, Dr. Heather Brady)
"Sodium free"- less than 5mg/ serving
"very low sodium"- 35 mg or less/serv
"low sodium"- 140 mg or less/serv
"reduced sodium"- 25% less sodium
"light in sodium"- 50% less sodium
"lightly salted"- 50% less added sodium

Keeping these terms and intake guidelines in mind when buying food for your family can help ensure your healthy meals are heart healthy too :)

Veg Sushi and Miso

Today wasn't as productive as I'd hoped, we did get some cleaning done but got side tracked running errands. We stopped at Whole Foods- I could spend all day there, everything smells and looks so good :) While we were there we picked up some tofu avocado "sushi" for dinner and miso soup mix. I'm a little disappointed with the miso we got this one is low sodium, and tastes kind of bland :-/. The sushi was great though as always :)

Pizza and Gelato

Tonight's dinner consisted of mini whole grain pita pizzas. I poured extra virgin olive oil on the pita, added a slice of tomato, some sliced kalamata olives, diced marinated artichoke hearts, chopped chicken breast, sun dried tomato basil feta cheese and some fresh mozzarella. They were baked at 350 just long enough to melt the cheese. For dessert we had banana chocolate swirl gelato. I love the talenti brand gelatos, they're so rich and flavorful, the also make fantastic sorbets, the blood orange one is my fav ;).

Chicken, cucumbers and peppers

Tonight's dinner was pan fried chicken, that I first glazed in honey mustard before coating in breadcrumbs, leftover cucumber salad from last night, and peppers that I found at Walmart- cute, colorful baby bell peppers- that I halved, removed the stem, diced capers and put them in the halves, then used a melon baller to ball out chunks of fresh mozzarella which were pressed into the peppers on top of the capers. I put these guys in a jar covered in olive oil and added basil, oregano and parsley.. Soooo yummy ;)

Cucumber Salad and Potato Leek Soup

Tonight's dinner was out of Jamie's Food Revolution cook book. The cucumber salad was just peeled and diced cucumber, chopped bacon and a homemade dill-yogurt dressing (plain yogurt, dried dill and a little salt). It's really simple but tasty :). The potato leek soup requires the following ingredients:
(serves 6-8, I cut the recipe in half for us)
-2 carrots
-2 celery stalks
-2 medium onions
-1 lb leeks
-2 cloves garlic
-1 3/4 qts chicken or vegetable broth, preferably organic (buying low sodium is always important too)
-1 lb potatoes
-olive oil
-sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions:
Peel and roughly slice the carrots. Slice the celery. Peel and roughly chop onions. Cut the ends off the leeks, quarter them lengthways, wash them under running water and cut into 3/4 inch slices. Peel and slice the garlic. Put the broth in a saucepan and heat until boiling. Place all your chopped ingredients into a saucepan on high heat and add 2 tbsp olive oil. Add all of your chopped and sliced ingredients and mix together with a wooden spoon. Cook around 10-15 minutes with the lid askew until the carrots are softened but still hold their shape, and the onion and leeks are lightly golden. Peel the potatoes and cut them into 1/4 inch dice. Add the boiling broth to the vegetables. Add your potatoes. Give the soup a good stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes with the lid on.
Serving:
Remove the pan from the heat and season with salt and pepper. Serve as is or pulse with an emersion blender until smooth. Divide between serving bowls. I added fresh grated mozzarella to the top of my soup for a little extra flavor :)