I have been really trying to better our meals lately. We eat out over the weekend, so I try to balance it out by buying fresh, and making foods from scratch...well, for the most part. If read this blog or know my family, you know I live with the pickiest eaters, so finding recipes that please everyone is difficult.
Lorelai is pretty much a lost cause for the time being, seeing as not all my meals will involve grilled cheese or dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets. So, while Lorelai eats her food (and makes up for nutritional gaps with pedia-sure), I make food for Chris and myself.
This week I have made 4 foods. 3 new recipes. 0 so far are worth making again. :\
I made breakfast cookies from a recipe my friend posted. I don't know, maybe I messed it up somehow, but they are only mildly acceptable. With all fresh fruit and whole grains, they are healthy, but bland.
I made black bean burgers, and that was a mess and required too much time. You can ask the crying infant about that one. They tasted good, but not good enough for me give it a second go. I think I need to find a different version of the recipe before I attempt them again.
I made cauliflower "mac n' cheese" which is basically steamed cauliflower with cheese sauce. It was alright, but nothing too great. I would make it again if I needed "something different" to make.
The last thing I made was good ol' chocolate chip cookies. They weren't healthy, they just sounded good. Even that I messed up. Unsalted butter makes them funky, and my new cookie sheets do not bake evenly. I'll need to adjust to the thick, dark sheets.
So I feel like I am 0-4 so far. Tomorrow I make white bean chili and cornbread. I hope it goes well. I am using the crockpot for it, so I am excited.
I still have one other recipe I bookmarked but have yet to buy for, but it's pumpkin bread. Yummy, but not a meal.
Time to start researching for next week! If you have any favorites, please pass them my way. I'll see if they fit the requirements. ;)
P.S.> I hope you like my new layout. Modern fall chic was the vibe I was going for.
M.LEWIS
My favorite "whole foods" recipes come from 100daysofrealfood.com (great granola, muffins, waffles). Oh! I'm actually making her pork carnitas (http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/08/01/recipe-pork-carnitas-tacos-with-tomatillo-salsa/) which are great because they are a suuuper simple crockpot meal (I buy rather than make the tomatillo salsa and throw a dash of that in with the pork) and it can go in a lot of directions. Daniel and Anni like their stuff spicy, so they add tomatillo salsa and usually a normal salsa as well with cheese and sour cream in a tortilla. I prefer very little spiciness, so I put mine with chopped up cucumber, sour cream and just a tiiiny bit of salsa in a tortilla. We also eat leftovers with bbq sauce on buns (pulled pork sandwiches!) and with baked potatoes. Even Colette gnaws her own piece of pork, it's fabulous :).
ReplyDeleteMy most popular go-to fall/winter/take-for-families-with-new-babies meal is this white chicken chili: http://www.cheekykitchen.com/2010/10/white-chicken-chili.html. I *always* get asked for the recipe!
Zuppa Toscana is Daniel's absolute favorite: http://www.tuscanrecipes.com/recipes/olive-garden-zuppa-toscana.html
This is reaaaalllly tasty: http://menumusings.blogspot.com/2011/06/meatballs-stroganoff.html I usually make it with homemade meatballs, but it's probably delicious no matter what.
I haven't made these in a while, but they were good in a variety of ways (with pasta, by themselves, in a salad, with rice etc): http://www.pink-parsley.com/2011/08/baked-honey-dijon-chicken-tenders.html
We also love rice or pasta with sauteed tomatoes/onions/garlic. Di-vine.
Okay, I've probably barraged you enough :).