Soy Sauce Pan Fried Noodles.The girls devoured this dish. Next time, I want to add shrimp and more vegetables, but even without those things, this really was so yummy. Another plus, it’s easy to make too!
Week of 2/23 – 2/27
Monday: Soba Sesame Noodles
Tuesday: Dumpling Soup
Wednesday: White Bean Chili
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Tilapia Ceviche (we have this every Friday night)
We have new friends coming over this week, so I think the chili is a safe dish to make. Do you have a go-to dish when you have first time guests coming over to your house?
Ingredients:
8 cups oats
1 cup chopped nuts
4 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup honey
2 tbsp vanilla extract
1/8 cup canola oil (or any oil)
1 tsp brown sugar (optional)
Cooking spray
Directions: Preheat oven to 300°F. Combine the oats, nuts, cinnamon, and salt in one bowl and mix together. Set aside. Next, combine the honey, vanilla, and canola oil together in a small bowl. Warm that bowl in the microwave for about 30 seconds (if you prefer, do it over the stovetop in a small pot). Warming it helps coat the oatmeal more, rather than the honey creating too many clumps. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and be sure to mix together well. Spread the mixture onto two baking sheets lined with foil or parchment paper, and lightly spray with cooking spray. If you like, drizzle some honey and sprinkle some brown sugar on top. Bake for about 10 minutes, then stir a bit, and place back in the oven for another 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely; then, transfer to a container for storage.
I make big batches since I have a lot of mouths to feed, but if your family is smaller than ours, you might not need as much. Also, if you have nut allergies, this tastes just fine without nuts in it. In fact, I make two batches, one with nuts, and one without (for True).
The girls have been devouring it with milk every morning, and I like using it to top my plain yogurt with it (with berries!). The first time I made it, Ben kept having spoonfuls and I had to remind him to leave some for the girls. It’s mildly sweet, but if you need more sweetness, just add more honey. There’s so many other ways to change this recipe up. We want to get some sunflower seeds and put that in, or maybe even add raisins. If you’ve made granola, what other ingredients do you suggest putting in?
Mexican Chicken Soup with Chick Peas, Avocado, and Chipotles.This is the best chicken noodle soup recipe ever. It actually isn’t exactly a chicken noodle soup, but we change it up to where it kind of is. First, we put ten times the amount of carrots it calls for, and then we add whole wheat pasta with it. I highly recommend you make this!
I’m sure you figured out by now, we are pretty adventurous when it comes to eating and cooking. The only thing is we try to make things healthier, but we love trying new things. Are your taste buds open to trying new things or do you like sticking with what you know?
Mushroom Burgers with Carrot Garlic Parmesan Fries. My attempt at recreating a healthy version of the Red Robin (a chain restaurant) mushroom burger didn’t end up so great. My version was delicious, but it didn’t taste anything close to that 961 calorie burger I used to eat all the time back in college (slathered with honey mustard sauce of course). I made a lean ground turkey patty infused with garlic and parmesan, and then topped it off with low-fat swiss cheese. I used shiitake mushrooms, which were so flavorful, and while we all enjoyed it, it still didn’t satisfy my Red Robin craving. For the fries, I just cut the carrots real thin and tossed loads of fresh herbs, garlic, and grated parmesan on top. The burger and the fries made a good pairing.
Week of 2/2 – 2/6
Monday: Chicken Noodle Soup
Tuesday: Won Ton Soup
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Lavash Pizza
Friday: Ceviche
I made some fresh won tons and soup last week and most of us loved it. I want to make another batch, but this time leave out the ginger in some because I think that’s the part True didn’t like, so hopefully that will win her over. I find myself looking forward to cooking dinner, especially something new. Sure, I get tired of cooking, but I do experimenting and trying out new recipes. I never thought I would enjoy cooking as much as I do these days. I cook 3-4 days out of the week, and the other days we eat leftovers.
Whole Wheat Spaghetti & Herb Stuffed Meatballs. This is always a winner in our house. My friend, Reese, even jokingly refers to it as the “Bratcher Meatballs.” HA! We usually use the Trader Joe’s marinara sauce, but since it doesn’t use organic tomatoes, I think we are going to try something else. Anyone have an easy marinara recipe you can share?
Week of 1/19 – 1/23
Monday: Garlic Cheese Balls
Tuesday: Steamed Tilapia with Garlic and Ginger
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Mushroom Burgers
Friday: Ceviche
I’ve been craving a Red Robin mushroom burger, and it’s been years since I had one. I just looked up the calories, since I used to eat that burger all the time back in high school and college, and my oh my, it’s a whoppin’ 961 calories! That doesn’t even include the fries and honey mustard I use to guzzle down with it. I’m definitely going to attempt to make my own (much healthier) version of it.
Oven Baked Taquitos and Guacamole. It looks plain and boring, but it’s so good. I don’t even remember what deep fried taquitos taste like, so I don’t feel like I’m missing out.
I haven’t shared our family meals in awhile, but since the time change, it’s hard to get a good picture at dinnertime. We haven’t had much leftovers either, so no luck taking a picture at lunch. What have you been cooking lately?
I have a large growing pile of fabric scraps. I refuse to throw them away because I am sure they can be used for something. I have been seeing different types of interesting necklaces made of buttons, beads, and fabric. Then, I figured why not make one out of my scraps...
I think it made my white shirt a little less boring. This was so quick and easy to make.
How to make a recycled scraps necklace (which is very similar to the straps on my braided tablecloth bag):
1. Take your scrap fabric, I cut a .5''-1'' snip and tear the rest of the fabric down for a nice frayed edge. Used 3 different fabrics for each strand.
2. Take 3 of the torn pieces and tie the ends together with a rubber band.
3. Braid the 3 pieces together and tie ends together with rubber band when done.
4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 for more strands. Remember you can make the strands any length you want, if run out of fabric, just weave more into the braid.
5. Once all the strands you want are braided, gather one end of each strand together and straight stitch together with sewing machine. Repeat for the other ends of the strands. Snip off any excess.
6. Gather ends of the necklace and sew together (snip excess) or a ribbon can be sewn at the ends to be able to tie the necklace closed, but I just sewed both ends together.
7. Voila! A nice way to make use of all your lovely scraps.
Sorry if the directions get you a little lost, but it really is easy. I promise. Maybe I should put some in the shop. Please share any other good ideas you may have of things that can be made with scraps. I would love to hear (read) them!
Soy Sauce Pan Fried Noodles. The girls devoured this dish. Next time, I want to add shrimp and more vegetables, but even without those things, this really was so yummy. Another plus, it’s easy to make too!
