Sunday, September 30, 2012

Meal Planning Monday: October 1, 2012

Hope everyone has a fantastic week and gets to enjoy some fall favorites.  This week's menu is full of a few of mine :)


Monday: Creamy Potato Soup and Whole Wheat Rolls

Tuesday: Apple Cheddar Grilled Cheese and Sweet Potato French Fries

Wednesday: Tater Tot Casserole (lightening it up with low fat soup and ground turkey)

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Pizza

Saturday: Visiting my Great Aunt so we will be eating in a restaurant :)

Sunday: Most Amazing Roast Ever *new recipe-will review after*

Breakfast: Healthy Egg "McMuffins" (minus the Canadian bacon and jelly listed in the recipe)

Dessert: Apple Cake (I plan to sub diet pop for the butter and use spice cake instead of yellow.)

Kid Friendly Corner: Ham and Cheese Muffins (will sub turkey hot dogs for the ham).

Happy Eating! :)

Linked up at: My Froley Blog Hop!

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Meal Planning Monday: September 24, 2012

This week's meal plan uses recipes from Mommy Hates Cooking, Skinny Taste, All Recipes, Yummly, Martha Stewart and Spark People hope you enjoy!

Monday: Cheeseburger Pie (I am subbing Slow Cooker Catalina Chicken for the ground beef.)

Tuesday: Lemon Dill Salmon with Oven Roasted Potatoes and Asparagus using this Oven Roasted Green Beans Recipe

Wednesday: Sweet and Spicy Pork Tenderloin

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Pizza

Saturday: Eat Out

Sunday: Crock Pot Beef Stew with Quinoa

Dessert: Pumpkin Butterscotch Muffins

Breakfast: Spiced Crock Pot Oatmeal  I am very much looking forward to warm delicious oatmeal in the mornings with dark chocolate and dried fruit we bought at the Farmer's market this weekend :)

Kid Friendly Corner: Gluten Free Chicken Tenders  Trying another version today. (Subbing GF flour for the all purpose flour in the recipe.)  The last ones we tried were good but a bit too oily when reheated for my liking.  This one is Martha Stewart, so it has to be good right?

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Take 5 Recipes Episode 2: Mexican Style Beef

For this week's take 5 recipe plan you start with a Crock Pot of Mexican Style Beef.


Monday: Beef Tacos (Type of tortilla and toppings will vary by your taste.)

Tuesday: Taco Salad

Wednesday: Taco Pizza  (Recipe from Mommy Hates Cooking sub slow cooker beef for ground beef and spices)

Thursday: Beef and Bean Casserole (Sub slow cooker beef for the ground beef and spices.  We leave out the onion as well for little taste buds.)

Friday: Oven Nachos  (Recipe from Mommy Hates Cooking, sub crock pot beef for ground beef and spices)  These will be the perfect dinner/snack for movie night!

Well there you have it, Episode 2!  One meal, 5 ways, dinner for a whole week!


Happy Eating! :)

Monday, September 17, 2012

Recipe Review: Pumpkin Butterscotch Muffins

Oh.my.goodness!!!  That is what I have to say about these AMAZING muffins from Mommy's Kitchen.  The original recipe is here.

I made very few changes to the original recipe.  I made them full size muffins as I was taking them to work to share with coworkers and wanted a more substantial snack to share.  I also doubled the recipe and I got 24 muffins total.  I did not serve them with the frosting.  Once I tasted the muffins, they are definitely sweet enough for my taste without the frosting, but you may want to add the frosting.  I will note that I have quite the sweet tooth though, and these were plenty sweet for a breakfast treat.  If I was planning to serve them as more of a cupcake I would use the frosting.

 I can not wait to make these again!  I am planning to make the mini version for Little A to take as a snack to daycare next week and these will make a great Thanksgiving morning breakfast treat.  Thanks Mommy's Kitchen for an awesome. low fat and super easy recipe!!

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Meal Planning Monday

Trying out a few new recipes this week, let's hope they are good!


Monday: Lemon Dill Salmon

Tuesday: Cheeseburger Pie (made with ground turkey)

Wednesday: Fajita Beef Stew (slow cooker) *New

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Pizza (I'm chaperoning the homecoming football game so this will be dinner without me!)

Saturday: Visiting Great Aunt so we will be eating out

Sunday: Apricot Ribs (slow cooker) *New

Breakfast: Chunky Monkey Pancakes

Dessert: Spice Cake made with applesauce instead of eggs/oil

Kid Friendly Corner: English Muffin Pizzas (To make ahead bake until cheese melts slightly to hold toppings, wrap in freezer paper and place in a freezer bag.  Then when you want to serve remove from freezer, unwrap and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes or until cheese is completely melted.)

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Recipe Review: Gluten Free Chicken Nuggets Take 4!

If you read this blog regularly, you probably know I am on a quest to find the perfect gluten free chicken nugget.  Little A is obsessed with what he calls "nuggies" and momma is definitely not obsessed with feeding him the fast food ones.  The recipe for these was found on wholenewmom.com and is a great, simple recipe for chicken nuggets.


I made these following the recipe exactly (but omitting the cayenne since they were intended for a little guys taste buds.)  They turned out really well and received the "Little A Seal of Approval!"  Having made them once now though I have a few changes planned for next time.

1. Increase the black pepper a bit to account for the lack of cayenne so they have a bit more flavor.

2. Decrease the coconut oil to 1/8c instead of 1/4 because they were a bit oily for my taste.

3.  After I coated the chicken pieces in the flour mixture I poured the oil over the chicken while still in the bowl as the directions stated.  As I began moving the chicken pieces from the bowl to the the baking sheet, the oil began to harden making the pieces very difficult to move to the sheet. Next time I will coat the chicken pieces in the flour mixture and then place them in a foil lined 9x13 dish then pour the coconut oil over them and toss to mix. 

Other than these few minor changes these were great.  So good in fact that Little A believed they were from the "Chicken Nugget Store," otherwise known as the place we go when momma is too tired to cook and the bane of many a mother's existence the golden arches!  I figure, any recipe that my son believes is from McD without me actually having to go there is a winner!!

Happy Eating! :)


Take 5 Recipes: Episode 1

I am so excited for a new menu planning series on this blog!  I am always struggling with what to do with leftovers since Little A is super picky about slow cooker meals and they are kind of my obsession :)  Out of the stacks of storage containers in the refrigerator, Take 5 Recipes was born!


 In this series I will start with a slow cooker recipe that can be stretched throughout the whole week.  Not only does this save time and money, it makes menu planning so easy!  If you can't stand the thought of eating the the same base meal 5 days in a row, this can definitely be frozen and reheated later in the month.

Catalina Chicken 5 Ways


Monday: Slow Cooker Catalina Chicken you make need to increase the amounts depending on the size of   your family and their appetites.

Tuesday: Catalina Chicken Tacos/Burritos Use the shredded chicken to make tacos or burritos.  Our favorite way to serve them is with mashed potatoes (instead of sour cream), shredded cabbage and a little bit of cheese yum!

Wednesday: Catalina Chicken Bake This one is modified from Mommy Hates Cooking.  I just sub the chicken for the ground beef and leave out the onion, green pepper and garlic due to our personal tastes (and it gets Little A to eat it!)

Thursday: Catalina Chicken Pizza I use pre-made pizza dough to save time, spread the chicken on the crust and top with your favorite pizza toppings (cheese, green peppers, mushrooms, etc...)

Friday:  Catalina Chicken Sandwiches  This is a definite favorite!  We use the mini-Hawaiian rolls (sweet bread) top the warm chicken and your favorite cheese.  I like to add pickle to mine, but pickle obsession is just a little quirk of mine :)

Well there you have it, Take 5 Recipes Issue #1!  Hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Happy Eating! :)

Linked up on: No Ordinary Blog Hop

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Meal Planning Monday September 10, 2012

This week's plan is going to feature some classic comfort food meals made healthy because we are all a bit under the weather and need some food love haha!
Image Credit: my719moms.com

Monday: Double Delicious Mac and Cheese

Tuesday: Slow Cooker Shredded Beef Tacos

Wednesday: Slow Cooker Chicken and Rice; I use Campbell's Healthy Request soups, brown rice and mixed veggies.

Thursday: Pancakes and Bacon!!!

Friday: Pizza

Saturday: Eat Out

Sunday: Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

Breakfast for the Week: Make Ahead Egg "McMuffins" courtesy of The Yummy Life

Kid Friendly Recipe: Gluten Free Chicken Nuggets take 4!  We have been trying a lot of these recipes and this one seems to have the most promise.  Will get a review up as soon as they are given the Little A seal of approval or disapproval :)

Dessert: Angel Food Cake with Peaches

Happy Eating! :)

About Me

Hi!  Thank for visiting my little corner of the recipe world!  My name is Meghan and I am really glad you are here.  When I am not food blogging I am a single mom to an amazing 3.5 year old son and in my spare time I am a high school science teacher :) I started this blog in December of 2011 as a way to motivate myself to prepare healthy meals for my son and I on my quest for a healthier lifestyle. 

On this journey, I began to realize that the only way I was going to make healthy meals, especially while working outside the home full time, was if I planned ahead so Meal Planning Monday was born.
Then I realized that even though I was making healthy meals that I thought were delicious, little A did not necessarily agree, so Kid Friendly Corner was born.  There you will find healthy (and often gluten free) meals that almost any kid will love!
Almond Meal Chicken Nuggets
 
Lastly, you will often find Weight Watchers point values included with my recipes and meal plans.  As I worked for a healthier lifestyle, I realized it might be easier if I had some guidance along the way so I joined Weight Watchers and don't regret it for a minute!
Well, I guess that's all!  Thanks for taking the time to visit, I hope you stay awhile and Happy Eating! :)





Saturday, September 8, 2012

Recipe Review: Chcolate Slow Cooker Oatmeal

Good Saturday Morning!  This week I am participating in my first blog hop yay!  I am not totally sure what it is, but it seems like a good way to find some really great blogs so I figured I would give it a chance :)

For breakfast this week we tried Slow Cooker Chocolate Oatmeal.  The original recipe was found here.  I made a few modifications to suit our taste and food preferences and to increase the serving size.  My recipe is found below.

Thoughts on this recipe:

1. It was very chocolatey, but not at all sweet.  In fact it was quite bitter from the cocoa powder.  This could be from the fact that I left out Stevia (not using artificial sweeteners right now), but I increased the honey to account for this.

2. Next time I will increase the extract to add a bit more flavor to the oats and a bit less liquid.

3. Cooking time was MUCH longer than expected (other slow cooker oats I have tried took 4 hours max).  This ended up needing a full 8 hours which will make it a great overnight oats recipe yippee!!

All in all, this was a realy yummy breakfast, after a few toppings.  To counteract the bitterness of the cocoa powder, I topped it with a teaspoon of nut butter and 10 dark chocolate chips and it became a truly decadent chocolate delight!  With the changes and additions this is going to become a definite regular in our breakfast rotation.

Happy Eating! :)
Image Credit: scrumptousspoonfuls.wordpress.com
Slow Cooker Chocolate Oatmeal
Ingredients:
2 cups steel cut oats
5 cups water
2 cups fat free milk
2tsp peanut butter extract
2tsp cinnamon
4-6T honey
8T cocoa powder

Directions:
Insert slow cooker liner or spray liberally with cooking spray. 
Mix all ingredients in the slow cooker.
Cook on low for ~8 hours (or overnight to wake up to a super yummy chocolatey treat!)
Top with peanut butter, chocolate chips, nuts, dried fruit, etc...



Monday, September 3, 2012

Meal Planning Monday

With the holiday on Monday, I only have to plan for 4 weeknight meals, yippee!

Image Credit: my719moms.com

Monday: BBQ with family

Tuesday: Crock Pot Chicken and Dumplings

Wednesday: Breakfast for Dinner!  (Pancakes, eggs, fruit, turkey bacon)

Thursday: Apple Cinnamon Pork Chops in the Crock Pot...this is a new recipe so I will let you know how it turns out

Friday: Pizza

Saturday: Eat Out

Sunday: Slow Cooker Orange Chicken  I am REALLY excited to try this recipe!

Breakfast for the Week: Slow Cooker Chocolate Oatmeal  I made a few edits to the original recipe.  Sub honey for agave, no stevia and fat free milk.

Dessert: Angel Berry Goodness

Kid Friendly Recipe: Cupcake Pizzas

Hope you have a fantastic week and Happy Eating! :)
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