Pizza Friday - Mexican Pizza

Our menu plan told me we were having "Veggie Pizza" for dinner tonight but our refrigerator told me otherwise. There were no pizza-worthy veggies to be found. So I thought and thought all day to figure out how I could still make it Pizza Friday without just doing plain old cheese. I thought about breakfast pizza but knew Cora wouldn't go for the eggs. Then I spied a can of pinto beans in our pantry and suddenly I knew what to do: Mexican Pizza!
First Leyna and I made a batch of fresh whole wheat tortillas (SO YUMMY straight from the cast iron skillet!).
Then I mixed the can of rinsed and drained pinto beans with a few splashes of beef broth and about a tablespoon of homemade taco seasoning. I warmed them in the microwave and smashed them with a fork to make a quick version of refried beans. I was pretty proud of myself for such smart thinking ;)
I laid 3 tortillas on a cookie sheet, topped each one with a third of the bean mixture, and spread that with salsa. Then I topped them off with 3 more tortillas and sprinkled each of them generously with cheese (I used mozzarella because that's all we had but I would have used monterey jack if it were available.) I sprinkled a little more taco seasoning on top for color and baked them in a 350 degree oven until they were all melty and warmed through. Then I sliced them up and served them with a toppings tray so everyone could choose their own adventure. It was a hit! Gonna have to do this one again soon :)

First Picnic Lunch of the Year!

We were lucky to have gorgeous weather and a day at the park today. The girls were so excited to pack their own lunches in their new princess lunch boxes this morning. They had peanut butter and nutella on whole wheat sandwich thins, string cheese, an apple, and some strawberries & grapes that they mooched from Ms. Jami. Great energy food for lots and lots of swinging, climbing, running, and playing :)

Clean-out-the-fridge dinner

I'm a few days late on grocery shopping but we had a lot of containers of leftovers in the fridge tonight. I managed to pull together a healthy and satisfying meal and was pretty proud of myself :) Everyone ate and enjoyed and you can't ask for more than that!

(Cora's on top, Leyna's on bottom. Leyna also had a bowl of rice on the side.) Cucumbers, lettuce, leftover broccoli, leftover taco rice, the rest of a jar of salsa, cheese quesadillas with the last of the tortillas, and black olives. Plus the last few lime slices in the fridge to squeeze on whatever needs a little zestingup!

Tomorrow I'll go shopping and there will be plenty of room in the fridge to put everything!

Valentine's Day Fare

Well, the girls ate very well and very festively today! Here's what they had:

Breakfast: Whole Wheat Heart-shaped Pancakes with Strawberry Jam Filling, Strawberry Smoothies.

Heart-shaped Sugar Cookies with Raspberry Buttercream Frosting

Lunch: Fruit salad, Green Salad, and Pizza with Heart-shaped Salami

Raspberry Lemonade with cute straws :)

Dessert: The kids decorated their own cookies with lots and lots of candy

Dinner: The girls dined "Lady and The Tramp" style. Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Homemade Meatballs. That's Amore :)

Chocolate Half Birthday Cake with Naturally Purple Frosting

Today was Cora's half birthday and to celebrate we had the usual half birthday cake. When I asked her what kind of cake she wanted a few days ago she said "Chocolate Cake with Purple Icing." I immediately thought, "How can I make purple icing without food coloring?" Well, it didn't take too much searching to figure it out and now I have a technique I can use for every occasion. I LOVED the color of this cake and Cora did too. And even better, it tasted FANTASTIC! This will be my new go-to chocolate cake recipe and I'll be playing with icing colors for years to come :)

Chocolate Cake
from Betty Crocker's Cookbook, Bridal Edition

2 1/4 C flour
1 2/3 C sugar
3/4 C butter, softened
2/3 C baking cocoa
1 1/4 C water
1 1/4 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 t vanilla
1/4 t baking powder
2 large eggs

Heat oven to 350. Grease bottom and sides of rectangular pan, 13x9x2 inches, 2 round pans, 9x1.5 inches, or 3 round pans, 8x1.5 inches, with shortening. Lightly flour (I used baking cocoa instead of flour).
Beat all ingredients with electric mixture on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan(s).
Bake rectangle 40 to 45 minutes, rounds 30 to 35 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool rectangle in pan on wire rack. Cool rounds 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
*To make the half birthday cake I baked two 9-inch round cakes, cut each in half from the top to make four halves, and stacked them with frosting between the layers.

Naturally Purple Buttercream Frosting

Begin by placing about 1 1/2 to 2 cups of frozen blueberries in a pan on the stove. Cook over low heat until blueberries burst and release their juices. Smash and strain thru a sieve to obtain blueberry juice. (you can add the blueberry pulp to some yogurt for a snack if you'd like!) Cool completely.
Next, make a double batch of Vanilla Buttercream Frosting, adding only 2 tablespoons of milk. Replace the remainder of the milk with your reserved blueberry juice until you reach the desired color of frosting. If your frosting gets too thin add more powdered sugar. Then frost and enjoy! The blueberries give the frosting a gorgeous purple color and a only a very slight hint of fruity flavor.

Pizza Friday x2

We ate a lot of pizza today!
Lunch:

Mini pizzas on Sandwich Thins, served with grapes

 Dinner:

Costco Pizza (on sale for $5.99 today - I couldn't pass it up since it meant no dishes to clean up tonight!)

Served with orange peppers, carrots, snow peas, and honey mustard for dipping

Super Bowl Grub

 

 On the menu:

Shredded Beef Soft Tacos with all the fixings

Homemade Guacamole & Homemade Restaurant Style Salsa with chips

Cilantro Lime Rice

Uncle Steve's Buffalo Chicken Dip with chips, carrots, and celery sticks

And our neighbors made these AWESOME homemade cream puffs that they topped with strawberries, melted chocolate, powdered sugar, and whipped cream. So good!

Soup Week! Dinner #5: Lasagna Soup

Tonight we rounded out soup with with a recipe that was no so popular with the kids but very popular with the adults. I should have known better and substituted something else for the mild italian sausage because it was a very strong flavor and the girls just weren't fans. Everything else in the soup is right up their alley (and the cheese topping it wonderful!) so I will probably try it again with either regular sausage or ground beef.

Lasagna Soup
From Closet Cooking

1 T oil
1 lb Italian sausage, casings removed
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
4 C chicken broth
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
2 T tomato paste
1 t oregano
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 lb pasta
4 oz ricotta
1/2 C grated Parmesan
2 C shredded mozzarella
1 handful basil, chopped

Heat the oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat.
Add the sausage and cook until lightly browned, about 10 minutes, breaking it apart as you go. Set aside.
Add the onion and saute until tender, about 5-7 minutes.
Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute.
Add the chicken broth, tomatoes, tomato paste, sausage, oregano, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for 30 minutes.
Add the pasta and cook until al dente, about 7 minutes, and remove from heat.
Mix the ricotta, Parmesan and mozzarella and serve the soup garnished with a tablespoon of the mixture along with the basil.

Soup Week! Dinner #4: Bahama Mama Tortilla Soup

I'll admit, I was nervous about tonight's soup. It sounded so good to me 2 weeks ago when I was making my bi-weekly menu plan. But tonight when I started putting it together I was wondering, "What was I thinking?" Coconut milk? Allspice? Ginger? The girls are never gonna go for this...
Amazingly, I was wrong! This soup was SO GOOD. The broth was amazing and everything tasted fresh and healthy. We all loved it. I made the tortilla strips myself and those stoked Cora's appetite. Both girls were excited to put their own toppings on again too. I'll be making this soup again FOR SURE.

Kiddo version, with topping trays

Mommy version with mozzarella, tortilla strips, cilantro, and lime  juice

Bahama Mama Tortilla Soup
from On My Menu

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
8 C chicken stock
1 C matchstick carrots (I sliced mine)
1/3 t ground allspice
1/2 t fresh thyme, chopped (I used 1/4 tsp dried thyme)
1/8 t ground cinnamon
1 T fresh ginger, minced
1 T minced fresh garlic
1 C chopped roma tomato (I used 1 can of diced tomatoes, drained)
1 C coconut milk
1 C shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 C chopped cilantro
tortilla strips (you can make your own by tossing sliced corn or flour tortillas with olive oil and salt and baking at 450 for 5 minutes!)
limes, cut in wedges
salt & pepper to taste

Lightly salt & pepper chicken breasts on each side. Grill or broil until browned & cooked through. Cut or shred into bite size chunks.
In a large pot combine chicken stock, carrots, all herbs, spices and seasonings. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes, or until carrots are tender. Add coconut milk, tomatoes, chicken and cilantro. Heat through but DON'T BOIL. Add salt and pepper as needed (I didn't use any).
Ladle into bowls and top with tortilla strips, mozzarella, and a lime wedge.

Happy Groundhog Day!

Who knew we could even eat festively on Groundhog Day? We had Groundhog Pancakes for breakfast...

 ...and Groundhog Poo for our afternoon snack ;)

Soup Week! Dinner #3: Slow Cooker Taco Soup

Tonight's soup was a huge hit. Even Cora ate it! Miracles really can happen. I think one of the keys was my stroke of genius in giving each girl her own condiment cups to top her soup with. It was something different and special that made them feel like they had more control over what they were eating. Though I would like to note that Cora licked the sour cream out of her cup instead of putting it on her soup. Oh, and I should also note that Leyna insisited this was "Chili," not "Taco Soup." I guess she's kind of right...

Kid version

Mommy version

Taco Soup

1 lb organic ground beef
1 can chopped tomatoes, undrained
1 can organic red kidney beans, rinsed and drained (so excited to have found out that Eden Organic makes BPA-free cans so I finally feel like I can serve the girls canned beans again!)
1 can organic pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 can white corn, undrained
1/2 C water, or more to reach desired consistency
3 T homemade taco seasoning (or 1 envelope of store bought)
1 envelope of ranch dressing mix (need to figure out how to make this myself!)


Brown ground beef in a skillet. Drain if necessary, then add the beef plus all remaining ingredients to the slow cooker. Cook on low for at least 2 hours. I let mine go about 9 hours and it was great!
Ladle into bowls and top with whatever you like. The girls topped theirs with shredded cheddar and sour cream, and the grown ups did the same plus some cilantro and hot sauce.