Summers Secret

For 30-minute Thursday let's start with what I made my kids for lunch. I don't like to buy a lot of processed/boxed foods for my family but every once in awhile I will give in but try to make it a little more healthy. So I started with a box like this....

And it ended up looking like this......

Can anyone see the "secret ingredient"? It's not ground turkey or peas. I add the ground turkey for more substance to the meal and I add peas cause I tell my kids they need to eat at least 1 vegetable with lunch and they like peas. Summer Squash just happens to have a very similar look and color to the cheese and noodles. It's not really a secret anymore but the first time my kids had this it took them awhile to figure out what it was. SECRET= I grate 1 yellow squash about the size of the mac n cheese box to the ground turkey when it's almost done cooking just to soften it up. I recommend gradually adding in things to mac n cheese if you don't already. I have almost always made mac n cheese with peas and/or cubed ham so my kids are used to more than just the mac and the cheese and 1 box will feed more mouths this way.

For dinner I made SPAGHETTI! I know there's nothing new or special about making spaghetti in 30 minutes. But another little summer secret is I add ZUCCHINI to our spaghetti. My kids don't even notice with the other green(Italian seasoning) in there. If I make a smaller batch of sauce that will only feed my family of four for that night I will only use 1 large zucchini. If I want to be able to refrigerate or freeze some for a later date than I will add 2 zucchini's to the  sauce batch.

I enjoy sharing this SUMMERS SECRET and hope someone can benefit from it.

Most Important Meal of the Day

Frittata's are so great because the add-ins are endless. Here is the base I use for a frittata and then you add in your family's favorites.

In a large bowl whisk 8 eggs and 1/2 cup egg white, 1/2 cup milk, 1 tsp salt, & 1/4 tsp pepper.

Here is what I added in:
8 oz sausage, cooked
4 slices ham, cubed
3 green onion, chopped
1/2 TBSP minced garlic
1/4 red, orange, yellow bell peppers, diced
Small broccoli head, chopped small, I boiled mine just for a few minutes to slightly soften

Started with the sausage and then throw everything else in there to soften. Then remove everything to a separate bowl. Drain broccoli and add with everything else. Preheat oven to 350.

Grease the same large/deep skillet (I used a 4 QT) really well. Put the egg mixture in the skillet on medium heat and let it firm up for a few minutes. Dump your veg/meat mixture evenly into the eggs. Cook in the oven until eggs are set in the middle, mine took almost 30 minutes.

I think this paired well with my favorite summer salad. I promise it's so easy! I grabbed a 10 oz container of spinach from the grocery store and put half or maybe a little over half in a large bowl.
1-1/2 cups sliced strawberries
1/2+ cup chopped almonds (I like using whole slightly salted almonds and chopping them up)

For the dressing:
1/4 olive oil
2 TBSP red wine vinegar
2 TBSP honey
1-1/2 tsp poppy seeds
Whisk together
Toss everything together and VIOLA you have a yummy easy salad for summer that works as a "breakfast" meal because spinach, almonds, & strawberries are things I put in a morning smoothie quite a lot.

Heart(rate) Healthy

I may not have a closet full of race medals because I have put my time and attention elsewhere. Don't get me wrong I do love trying to be fit, strong, & healthy but a large part of that comes from the food we eat. I have never been one for diets of any sort. I am a firm believer in variety and moderation and that includes the occasional sweets. And that's hopefully what you will find in my blog. I enjoy cooking for my family and the satisfaction that comes from it. Speaking of satisfaction, your belly will be satisfied with this CHICKEN MARINADE recipe I used for Saturday Salad or Sandwiches. It deserves a medal!

Take a look...

It's so juicy and tender! It makes for a great Summer "Cool-Down" meal combined with pretty much any vegetable under the sun. 

I have yet to marinate mine overnight and it's still my pb (personal best) marinated chicken! Enjoy!

The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow

"The sun will come out tomorrow, betch your bottom dollars that tomorrow there'll be SUN!!" IT'S SUMMER! I LOVE THE SUN!!
Our Fun Family Flick Friday was......

My girls love the new version of Annie but I lean more towards the original.
So when choosing our food I stuck with the original and went with WARM MUSH aka MAPLE-BACON GRITS PUFF with a side of sweet potato hashbrowns baked with chopped bell peppers and zucchini. I did have to substitute the bacon with breakfast turkey sausage because apparently we ate all the turkey bacon. The recipe I used can be found on my Pinterest under Yummy Food or here.

For dessert we took a little bit of the new Annie mixed with the old and came up with these cookies...

Leapin' Lizards, these are so good! Cookies & Cream Cookies

Summer Meal Planning

Summer is here! To make my life easier I (with the help of my family) come up with a monthly meal plan. Everyone chips in and lets me know one thing they would like to eat every day of the week this month. I also thinks this helps with the grocery budget because I am buying a lot of the same foods in bulk.

Sundays this month we will eat something Grilled.
Mondays this month we will eat The Most Important Meal of the Day (Breakfast)

Tuesdays this month we will eat Tacos (of course)
Wednesdays this month we will eat wraps (My kids love wraps, there are easy to make, and great for hot summers)
Thursdays I'll make up a 30-min meal
Fridays this month we will have Fun Family Flick & Food (The food will coordinate with the flick)
Saturdays will will be a Sandwich or Salad

We won't be following this if we happen to go out of town or go out with friends but it's all planned for when we eat at home.

Last Friday was my girls last day of school so we celebrated by having an early FUN FAMILY FLICK & FOOD FRIDAY.

Throw back to the 80's! Anyone remember this movie? It's rated PG but does have a few swear words. My kids really liked it and our dinner too. We had HARRY STEW.....

SPOILER ALERT! At one point in the movie the Henderson's try to entice Harry into the car to take him back to the forest by throwing sacks full of hamburgers and fries into the car. So we put ground turkey and potatoes in our stew. BUT Harry wasn't that interested in this because....he is a vegetarian! So we loaded lots of veggies in here.

2 pounds hamburger or ground turkey
1 medium onion
4 cans (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes
A handful of baby carrots chopped up
2 small celery ribs cut very fine
2 medium red potatoes, peeled and diced small
1 large zucchini shredded
1 heaping cup of peas
2 cups beef broth
1/2 cup uncooked long grain rice (helps to thicken it up)
1 -2 TBSP salt (I used a little over 1 TBSP seasoned sale)
1 - 2 tsp pepper

Cook meat and onions until cooked through.
Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil
Reduce heat; cover and simmer until veggies are cooked through.
Sprinkle each serving with Parm on top

We ended our night with "HARRY" gingerbread cookies that my girls decorated earlier that day.

Disclaimer: I am not a foodographer (someone who is good at taking pictures of food).

POST RACE meals

The week after a race I usually try to get in a good amount of protein to hopefully help my muscles repair themselves. I also splurge a little on what I want to eat cause I feel like I should be burning calories for at least a week. I do don't I? Anyway, I was craving Chicken and Waffles so I used this recipe here

A family favorite at my house are STACKS. It's like an open faced hot sandwich. It's comfort food for me. There are a variety of ways to stack it but this is how we do it (I just sang those words as I typed them). Remember that song? Back to the stack. Pick your choice of bread. Next, I buy my turkey patty from Costco. Cook it. Stack it. Plopped on some mashed potatoes. Then smothered it in homemade gravy. I used this gravy recipe . Healthy it up with some veg on the side.

CARB Loading

Here are 4 carb loading meals I made and ate the week I ran the Ogden Marathon.

First up, Sweet Potato Turkey Chili
Original Recipe Found Here
I didn't put in a jalapeno and didn't add quite as much chili powder or cumin. I did put in one 14 oz can of CHILI READY tomatoes and one 14 oz. regular diced tomatoes. A little more kid friendly. As you can see I cooked it in the crockpot so I didn't have to babysit it.

There are 2 things missing from this picture. One, I haven't added the cheese in yet. And second, my favorite......

These chips are so good, especially when crunched on top of this chili! I found mine at Smith's. And don't forget a dollop of guac/avo on top as well.

My kids enjoy Tater Tot Casserole so I thought I would make it a little healthier and make my own tater tots out of sweet potatoes. I found a recipe of homemade tater tots so I used it but made them from sweet potatoes. Took me longer to make these buggers than I thought. I thought the sweet potato tots would shrink when baked but they didn't.

I used this recipe but added peas & green beans to the casserole.

I love to eat rice the week of a race and my kids love that I make white rice rather than the usual brown rice. So last but not least Grilled Hawaiian Chicken Teriyaki Bowls errr...plates.

I eliminated the pineapple because I cut out most of my fruit the week of a race and didn't put in any crushed red pepper. But I did add in peas cause that's how I roll.

What do you get when you combine a bagel and a pizza? A Pizza Bagel or is it a Bagel Pizza? Whatever it is, it's yummy! I love the bagels from Smith's bakery! I try not to eat them too often except when it's race week. A bagel pizza or any mini pizza is great because everybody picks their own toppings. We chose the cheese bagels, cut them in half, topped with marinara, cheese, italian seasoning, and any favorites.