[my_igit]

Hi All!
I'm a stay at home mom with 2 little ones (my daughter is 5 and my son is almost 2- both domestic adoptions). Anyway- I have just started a blog for recipe sharing. Since becoming a parent- I have realized how important dinnertime is. Its really more about filling empty bellies!! I think its a great opportunity to connect with each other. ANYWAY- I'm looking for great, healthy recipes to post. I thought this would be a good way to share ideas and easy dinner ideas. I know everyone is busy- but I think this is a great way to help each other! I'm also going to add some dinnertime "games" onto the site (making up stories, etc.) Thanks everyone!!

[Mom2Max]

What a great idea! I will have to start looking for recipes to share.

[Stormster]

I would love to participate but I"m the most boring cook. You can't even CALL them recipes! Plus DS is too young for games really ...

Tonight we are having corn on the cob, marinaded (in Soy Vay store bought marinade) and grilled (on George Forman grill no less!) chicken tenders and mashed potatoes which I make from scratch by quartering them, boiling them adding butter and milk, salt & pepper. Maybe I'll throw in a few cloves of garlic to make it more gourmet!

So for what it's worth. But I"m trying to be more of a "chef" so hopefully I'll grow with this thread and have more to add.

Yay!

[my_igit]

Thanks! I'll take "boring" recipes too!! I'm no chef- but I like to cook- and I like it even better when my little munchies EAT what I cook. I love making home-made chicken nuggets (with Shake n Bake.) As I'm saying this- I have to add it to my blog! Marinated corn on the cob is a great idea!

[Stormster]

oops i wrote that wrong! THe chicken tenders will be marinaded but i wonder how corn would be marinaded too?

I just want to add that Trader Joe's Sweet Potato Fries and Trader Joe's organic, uncured turkey sausage (which are precooked!) are huge hits around here with the little man. Not really recipes but there ya go...!

[tweetybirdus]

A big hit at my house is Turkey Meatloaf.

Preheat oven to 375° Sautee onions and mushrooms. Mix 1 lb ground turkey, onion and mushroom mixture, 1 egg, 1 small package of pepperidge farm herb stuffing, half a jar of fat free turkey gravy and 1 small can of tomato paste. Once mixed, smush (yes that's a technical term) the meatloaf mixture into a loaf pan smoothing out the top. Mix 1 small can of tomato paste with 1/2 of the remaining gravy and smooth out on top of the meat mixture. Bake at 375° 50-60 minutes or until internal temp reaches 185°. Serve with darn near any veggie or side dish you want. Talk about yum.

FYI-I have substituted the gravy with pureed veggies with great results. You could probably mix in other veggies as well, might want to sautee with the onions and mushrooms though.

[Stormster]

oooh yum and I just got ground turkey today with the intention of making turkey loaf! My one question is where do you get the gravy?

[tweetybirdus]

Originally Posted by Stormster

oooh yum and I just got ground turkey today with the intention of making turkey loaf! My one question is where do you get the gravy?

I buy it at the grocery store. It's usually near the bags of stuffing. I forget the brand name though. At my grocery store, it's usually on the bottom shelf.

Just looked it up, it's made by Heinz.

[Stormster]

Thanks! I think that is going to be a staple around here! Isn't this site great sometimes????

[akcskye]

2 and 5 year olds love finger foods.

For snacks in our house, my kids LOVE banana sushi.

Get a tortilla, peanut butter, and a banana.

Put the PB on the tortilla, and lay the banana across toward the bottom.

Roll the tortilla up, and cut into sushi looking slices. Delish.

For food...gosh...casseroles are SO easy to make, and with the cheese, kids love them.

I have managed to get my kids to eat okra, tomatoes, squash, etc by putting them into a pasta casserole.

Pizza casserole is really good, too. You can make either pepperoni, or if you want veggies, try your kids favorite pizza veggies in it.

You simply heat the oven to 350º, cook the pasta, drain it, mix in pizza sauce and veggies (or pepperoni that has been diced), layer it with cheese and pepperonis (whole slices) on the top, and bake 'til the cheese is done.

You can make it super healthy by using soy meat, soy pepperoni and cheese or low fat pepperoni and cheese.

Gosh, I have so many things I can make, tell me what type of courses you are wanting.

I'm a wanna be chef (waiting for my back to either have surgery or heal before I enroll in culinary school), so I have tons of recipes...many are scratch.

[binkybear]

Originally Posted by Stormster

I would love to participate but I"m the most boring cook. You can't even CALL them recipes! Plus DS is too young for games really ...

Tonight we are having corn on the cob, marinaded (in Soy Vay store bought marinade) and grilled (on George Forman grill no less!) chicken tenders and mashed potatoes which I make from scratch by quartering them, boiling them adding butter and milk, salt & pepper. Maybe I'll throw in a few cloves of garlic to make it more gourmet!

So for what it's worth. But I"m trying to be more of a "chef" so hopefully I'll grow with this thread and have more to add.

Yay!

Stormster, try steaming the potatoes! We always boiled and then hd one recipe that called for steaming (food 911 recipe from foodtv.com) we've never boiled again! The steaming seems to make a better textured mash/whip...I don't ever get that pastey texture we'd sometimes get with boiling. Just thought I'd pass that along


recipes...I like making one dinner that can roll into the next night as something different. We like doing whole turkey breast one night with basic veggies, etc and then the next night I'll do a "pot pie". I just shred the leftover turkey into a round casserole dish, toss in frozen peas, canned corn, frozen carrots if we have them. I pour turkey gravy over it all and bake in the oven @ 350 until just bubbly (super fast since everything is already cooked and you're really just reheating) THEN I top it with a batch of freshly mixed up instant mashed potatoes (instead of a typical "crust"..I can't do wheat so this works for us). Goes back in the oven for a few more minutes until the potato "icing" gets a little crunchy on top (you can brush with a little melted butter too to get it golden). It's yummy and easy. (bakes at 350)

I use a packet gravy that fits my diet. The instant potatoes are from here... shilohfarms.net . these are one of the only organic instant I could find after Barbara's stopped making a year or 2 ago. I just call them up and order them by the case. They store well and are great when you're short on time.

[maviskat]

What a great blog idea!

Here is one that is staple around here...quick, easy, healthy. Luckily for us DD will eat just about anything so she gobbles this up!

Saute onion, garlic in olive oil, add turkey sausage (or regular Italian sausage) cut out of the casing, break it up into small pieces in the pan. When sausage is just about cooked through add cherry tomatoes (cut in half). When tomatoes are softened add fresh spinach until wilted. Add feta cheese crumbles (or goat cheese or whatever cheese you want, I guess). Toss with pasta (I usually do rigatoni or ziti). Top with fresh basil, maybe a little parm. While the turkey mixture is cooking, add a little pasta water to develop a sauce...sometimes I'll add a splash or two of a white wine too. Since we like it spicy in our house we always add red pepper flakes!

This takes about 20 minutes to throw together. We usually have it once week.

[my_igit]

Thanks all- I'll be printing these out today and hopefully get them on there tonight or tomorrow. Keep them coming!!!

[4everwaiting]

Brocolli Salad, or that's what we call it. YUMMY!!!

Sorry guys, I never measure anything, so I'm guessing at the measurements.

Buy brocolli floretts wash and drain, break into bite size pieces.

add in big bowl about 1/4-1/2 cup mayo (from health food store of course) two small boxes of raisins, 3/4 cup pecan peices, half cup sliced almonds, one tablespoon unprocessed sugar- toss, stirr, fold, whaterever to mix all ingredients with raw brocolli. Hint- if too dry add a little water(5-7 tablespoons?) so that the mayo mixture "sticks" to the broccoli but not watery- takes about 5 minutes to make, let set in fridge for 20-30 minutes to absorb flavors... quick, easy and healthy!

S

[loveajax]

My easy staple is something I can eat on my Weight Watchers plan (you can substitute cheese with fat!):

Four "thin" chicken breasts (I get the Purdue "precut" ones that are in the package);

A jar of peach or pineapple salsa;

can of corn;

FF shredded cheddar.

Top the chicken with the salsa and cook at 350 for 25 minutes. Add corn and cheese to the top and bake 5 minutes more. Serve over brown rice (trader joe's have premade frozen brown rice packets). Easy, healthy and delish!