Lunch Special

Do you know what kind of plate this is? Yep - it is an egg plate. I guess you know how much use this gets in our house now. Zilch. None. Zip.

Well, Julia saw it the other day and wanted to eat her lunch on it. Luckily, I hadn't decided what she was going to have. This made it super easy.

What you see is what you get with this one. Diced turkey lunch meat in some of the holes. Cheese in another. Bean dip in the rest. Sun Chips in the middle. She was thrilled. This lunch mirrored what I sent with the other two for lunch at school that day. It is an allergen free meal for us.

The turkey is something we have checked to make sure it doesn't have diary in it. A lot of lunch meat does. Didn't know that until we had to start checking labels.

We cook up a whole bag of beans whenever we do beans so that we can freeze them. These beans were leftovers from that big pot. I just got some and mashed them with a fork and some water until they were the consistency of bean dip. Then I added a bit of salt and garlic powder until I liked the taste for a dip.

The cheese is goat cheese, or chevre. It appears that Louisa can handle this. We have not done any big challenges to her system with it but she can have several slices with a meal and it doesn't bother her.

Sun chips are another thing that Louisa can eat. As long as they are not the flavored varieties. Most of the flavors have things in them we are trying to avoid. The plain ones are good, though.

So, just a quick and easy lunch. I thought it was cute, though, so I shared it, too. YES!

Chicken and Rice

I got a very good compliment tonight. Well, 3 actually. All the girls liked dinner. It was almost as good as the stuff Aunt Jenn cooks. That is a tough challenge to live up to but I am evidentally getting closer. I'll take that.

Dinner tonight was chicken and rice. (No pictures today - I forgot) It was based on a recipe that I grew up making. I think Campbell's puts this recipe on a lot of their soup cans. It is the one where you put water, rice, and soup in a dish and mix it up. Then put the chicken pieces on top and bake it. A good recipe, except for the cream soup part. Dairy products are not allowed for us. So, remake - here I come.

I used the exact same concept but I had garlic flavored chicken broth in the fridge. (Never would have bought it but it came in a meal deal during one of our shopping trips to HEB. Nice freebie!) I put the chicken broth and rice in and the chicken on top (frozen!). Bake and voila! The girls didn't stop talking about it until they were done eating it!

CHICKEN & RICE:
2 C garlic flavored chicken broth
1 1/4 C long grain/slow cook rice
4 - 6 chicken breasts (thawed or frozen, doesn't make too much difference except for cooking time)

Put the broth and rice in a 9 x 13 dish and stir it up. Place the chicken on top and cover with aluminum foil. Place in 375 degree oven for 40 - 60 minutes (40 for thawed; 60 for frozen), checking to make sure the chicken is baked thoroughly. If you want a little bit of color to your chicken, uncover and bake for another 10 minutes. You could even sprinkle a tiny bit of paprika over it. Serve. Makes 4 - 6 servings.

I served this with corn and broccoli (both frozen and cooked in the microwave). This was a good dinner with very little work involved. My kind of cooking. And it was all from the YES list!!!

Chicken and Noodles

So I couldn't wait to share now that I have gotten back on here. So here is the recipe that my DD5 thought was AWESOME!

Chicken and noodles is a wonderful standard meal. Why hadn't I thought of this before?

We went to my parents for Thanksgiving. My mom and I were trying to plan the meals for the time we were going to be there so we could decide if we needed to go to the store. Well, anytime I am with my mom, I think of chicken and noodles. It is one of her favorites. So, we went through the ingredients and, yep, everything is on the YES list. Now why did this take so long to register? Well, my daughter loved it.

It is now about 3 weeks later and I was thinking about dinner while doing some Christmas shopping. I am normally better about my dinner planning but I had been lazy lately. I was thinking of my mom and chicken and noodles popped to mind. So, when I got home I got the chicken out of the freezer and got dinner started. It was a HUGE hit. The words awesome, yummy, good, love, and more were said over and over. Why didn't I think of this one before? She even asked if I had made enough for leftovers for tomorrow. (I had. She was happy.)

So, on to the recipe. (Don't forget that I do a lot of "whatever I have on hand"! Substitute where needed.)

2 large chicken breasts (provided about 3 cups of meat after it was cooked)
6 C water
Spices & seasonings: salt, thyme, parsley, basil
4 large carrots
1 C frozen peas (or whatever amount you have of whatever veggie you have leftover)
8 oz mini shell noodles, uncooked (or whatever shape and size you want; the ones I used were egg free)
3 T flour
water to make a paste with flour (you want it kind of liquidy but I forgot to measure this; I always just eyeball it)

Put the frozen or thawed chicken into a stockpot with the water. Add your spices and seasonings, about a palm full of each. Bring the water to a boil and then turn down the heat to a slow boil. Let it cook until the chicken is done (about 40 minutes for frozen; about 20 minutes for thawed). Add the carrots and let cook for another 10 minutes. Remove the chicken and shred.  While you are shredding the chicken, add the noodles. Let cook until the noodles are done, adding your veggies about 5 minutes before your noodles are done and the chicken whenever you get it shredded. Make a paste from the flour and water. Add it to the pot, stirring to help prevent lumps. This will thicken it up just a bit and make it yummier!

All done. Spoon it up and serve with bread, rolls, crackers, or nothing at all. And, enjoy more Food In The World of YES!

Crock Pot again!

So, there are no pictures to go with this one but it was success!!!

I love my crock pot/slow cooker and with the temps at 105 and higher still, it is getting a work out. Last night, it was chicken. I am not putting this one in recipe format because it is so simple!

I got out the slow cooker about 3 PM. I poured a couple of tablespoons of canola oil in and them poured in about 1/4 - 1/2 C of red wine vinegar. I put in about 3 pounds of chicken breasts (bone-in) and sprinkled it over the top with creole seasoning (Tony Chachere's). That was it. Put it on 3 (medium) until 6 PM and it was done and yummy. The girls like it a lot and even asked if I would send it for their lunch today. I was more than happy to! Oh, and there was plenty of leftovers!

Hope you enjoy this sweet, flavorful, juicy chicken.

Vegetables and Grits

The grits were a hit! Yea! The veggies were not. Boo! I can't seem to hit a home run very often but I will keep trying.

Once again, I really liked these veggies. They had a sweet and creamy flavor, without being too sweet. I think I have to figure out how to hide the green and red bell peppers. I am guessing that is why two of the three girls wouldn't eat these. I enjoyed it and will have plenty of leftovers for a couple of meals for myself.

The recipe is what I think of as easy. I hope you do, too. Here it is...

VEGETABLES AND GRITS

• Grits - prepare as instructed on package
• 2 T total canola oil and/or margarine
• 1 onion - diced
• 1/2 green bell pepper - diced
• 1/2 red bell pepper - diced
• 1 carrot - cut into thin disks
• 1/2 C frozen peas
• any other veggies you want to include
• 2 T flour
• rice milk - about 2 C, more or less to consistency desired
• salt
• pepper
• garlic powder
• paprika
• parsley

1. In a large saucepan on the stove top, add the oil and/or margarine. Put in the onion and bell peppers. Cook for a few minutes and then add the carrots. Cook for 5 or 6 minutes, until the carrots are tender enough to stab with a knife or fork but not so tender they mash. Add the peas and any other veggies that need to go in. Cook for another minute.
2. Add the flour. Stir and cook for about 2 minutes. Slowly add the milk, stirring constantly to help avoid lumps. Continue adding the rice milk until the consistency you want is achieved.
3. Add salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, and parsley to taste.
4. Serve with grits. You could also substitute a rice or a pasta for the grits.

The menu for this meal was grits and veggies, baby oranges (mandarin oranges), and broccoli.

I hope you try grits. They are so much better than the reputation they get from so many of the old books. I really enjoy them and with the veggies they make a great main dish.

Grits

The grits were good served with a vegetable medley.

What do you think of when you think of grits? Me? I think of Grandma Terrell. Not because she made them for us that I can remember but because I seem to remember her talking about grits and milk. I may be remembering wrong but that is what comes to mind. I don't know that I ever had them growing up at all.

However, not long ago, my wonderful mother-in-law brought me a whole bunch of different grains from a gristmill they had visited. One of the things she brought was grits. I had no idea how to make grits so I just followed the directions on the bag.

It took 10 minutes in the microwave. The measurements were 1 C grits to 2 1/2 C water. I also added salt to taste and a couple of tablespoons of margarine when they came out of the microwave. I really like them. They can be cooked on the stove top or in the microwave. I served them with some veggies that I cooked on the stove top. I will give you that concoction in another post.

All in all, I would certainly recommend trying these. You should know that there are some rather large pieces of corn hull or husk or something in the grits that I had. Just be aware of how coarsely ground your grits are if you are serving them to small children. Also, if you have a corn allergy, these are not for you since most grits are ground up corn. But, this is allergy free otherwise.

At any rate, something new that the girls ate - a positive dinner.

Dinner Menu

Dinner the other evening was a success. Of course, when I choose sausage, it is seldom anything else. The girls all love sausage. Usually, I just cut up the smoked sausage links and brown the pieces in a skillet. I needed something different though.

I took the turkey sausage, about 14 ounces, and boiled it with the juice from a large can of pineapple chunks. It turned out sweet, with a nice citrus flavor, without being overwhelmingly pineapple-y. I just simmered it until the rest of the dinner was ready and the sausage was heated through.

So our menu was this:

• turkey smoked sausage boiled in pineapple juice
• canned pineapple
• sliced red bell peppers and cucumbers
• black beans (prepared ahead and frozen, then thawed for this dinner)
• carrots and broccoli (from a bag of frozen veggies)

That's all. It was simple and easy because much of the prep work had been done ahead of time. I seem to get bogged down in side dishes a lot of the time but these ended up being quick. I will have to remember this menu.

Yummy but no takers...plus a recipe

A week or so ago, I bought two large fresh beets at the store intending to roast them for dinner one night. I didn't get around to it until I saw this recipe from the Weelicious site for a hummus dip. I thought it would be perfect. Bright pink!! What more could these 3 girls want? Pink food would fit right in. Boy, was I wrong about the girls.

But let me put this all in order. I made the beets Monday night for dinner. If you are going to make this, let me give you a tip...beets do not microwave cleanly! I thought that since it was 105 yesterday evening, I would do them in the microwave instead of roasting the beets in the oven. Big mistake, kind of.

Here's the recipe and what I did: I cut each one (I did two so we could eat one for dinner) into about 8 pieces and put them in a microwave safe dish. I added a couple of tablespoons of water, some diced garlic, and a few dashes of dried rosemary. I popped that into the microwave for 10 minutes, planning to check it but expecting it to need about 10 more minutes (for a total of about 20). Well, when I checked it, the water was a beautiful pink and boiling out all over the microwave. I decided that since it was already messy, I might was well finish. So I did. When I took them out, the pink water was everywhere but wiped up nicely and I now have a very clean microwave.


Anyway, at that point, I let the beets cool a bit and then peeled them with a knife and fork. I cut them into bite-sized pieces and reserved half for the hummus recipe (it ended up being right at a cup). I thought these were super yummy but the girls would not eat them.

Tueday for lunch I figured we would have a Pinkalicious lunch, since they love those books, the beet hummus being the pink part.  I followed the recipe from Weelicious, except that I had done the beets the night before. The food was a beautiful dark pink.

And it was so yummy! But, alas, they would not like it.

You know what that means... I had to eat it. I did not eat it all in one sitting, though that was VERY tempting. I will probably finish it up in two, though. I had bite-sized wheat crackers and bell pepper strips to dip with. So good!

I think this one will have to come back a few times and if they don't ever like it, more for me!!

 Oh well... on to the next attempt.
Enjoy!