Healthy Family Hangout

On Sunday, Halloween morning, we slept in just a little so breakfast was late.  I wanted to keep it light so I made Christian a simple funny face breakfast.  The eyes were leftover Deviled Eggs from his little Halloween Party the night before, an orange section nose and a buttered toast mouth. Christian loved it! 

We've carved pumpkins. We've painted pumpkins.  We've colored pumpkins.  Now we are going to eat pumpkin!  Christian was pretty excited when he got home from school because his Halloween Party at school is tomorrow afternoon.  So when I told him that he was having a pumpkin milkshake he was ready to start right away. I already had all of the ingredients laid out and ready to go. First he dumped in 4 oz of chilled pumpkin pure Then 1 1/2 cups of 1% milk   and 8 tsp of Splenda 1/8 tsp of Cinnamon  and 1 tsp of Vanilla    Then he blended it up   And it's tasting time... ...for both the boys. At first taste Christian said it was delicious, but he didn't drink a whole lot.  He liked it, but I think it was just too rich for him.  He wanted to keep what was left in his glass so I covered it and put it in the fridge for a little later.  Alexander totally mopped his up.  :) 

Yesterday I was fighting the flu and thought it was the perfect time to hop online and search for some more Halloween-themed foods.  I found Mummy Pizzas that were easy to make and best of all we had all the ingredients... simply English Muffin halves, pizza sauce, pepperoni, cheese, and olives (I used green olives slices, but black olives would work fine too).  I made the mummies and Millard jumped in and made some monster fingers with cheese and green pepper fingernails.   I put it all in the fridge overnight and waited until morning to heat up the pizzas and transfer them to his lunch box container.   Christian seen them this morning as I was packing it up and he thought it was the coolest thing.  Now to figure out what's on the menu for tomorrow...

Last night as I was preparing lunch boxes I mentioned to Millard about a cool green egg sandwich that I saw online earlier in the day.  Next thing I knew he had the frying pan out and was cracking eggs to create the Monster Egg Sandwich complete with green egg and green olive eyes.  When I plated it for Christian this morning he was amazed and thought it was pretty darn cool.

It's Halloween week... the trick or treats are bought, the kids' costumers are ready and the house is decorated!  Now its time for some food fun!!  I always try to keep Christian's lunch box balanced, but it can get a little boring and repetitive.  This week will have a Halloween twist on his lunches. Mornings are so rushed so I try to prep lunch boxes the night before.  Last night I pulled out the Halloween cookie cutters to make skull-shaped sandwiches. Cutting the face... The skull sandwiches and freshly baked pumpkin seeds.

Mmmm.... don't you just love salmon?!  It was on sale this past week so I picked up a couple of packages and wanted to try something out of the norm.  We all like Asian-influenced food so when I saw Sesame Salmon with Noodles I knew it was worth a try.  I changed the recipe up some based on what we had in the fridge and pantry.   I used were Shanghai Noodles, at least I think that's what they are called, but you could use ramen noodles or even rice.  The green peas came straight from my uncle's garden.  My cousin had hand delivered them during Hurricane Igor. It was only now that I used them, but they kept fresh and tasted great.   Myself & Millard liked the meal although we thought that the sesame seeds were a little overpowering.  Christian loves anything that consists of seafood so it was a bit hit with him  and Alexander, as you can tell, loved the snow peas.   Next time I think that I'd like to make a little extra marinad...

I made this quick Yogurt Parfait earlier this week for breakfast.  I had bought a container of "Yoplait Source Parfait Citron Meringue" that tasted so yummy!  I scooped in the yogurt, a granola cereal with pumpkin seeds, and fresh raspberries.  They were so simple and quick to make.  In less than 5 minutes I had all 4 made and ready to eat. They were delicious! 

Last night we had Spinach Stuffed Chicken .  I've made it several times before, but yesterday afternoon got away from me and was extremely late starting meal preparation.  I took a few shortcuts and managed to somehow get a good meal on the table at a reasonable time.      We are a family of 4 and I used to thaw 4 huge chicken breasts for us.  Now that I am more mindful of portion control I only take down 2 chicken breasts to thaw.  I did that nice and early yesterday morning.  Once they thawed I split the breasts down the center giving me a total of 4 portions.  I then mixed up a quick dry Greek Seasoning to coat one side of the chicken. ---- Greek Seasoning Ingredients: 2 tablespoons dried oregano 1 1/2 tablespoons onion powder 1 1/2 tablespoons garlic powder 1 tablespoon salt 1 tablespoon fresh ground black pepper 1 tablespoon dried parsley 1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon 1/2 tablespoon ground nutmeg ----  Next I l...

1st Day of Grade 3 The school year is here and its time to get creative with the lunchbox meals.  This was a short 3-day week so meals have been kept simple with sandwiches 2 days and a pizza burger another.  I am putting together next weeks ideas which include a Pizza Pasta Salad .  Mmmm!  Christian is getting very vocal as to which fruit he wants to pack or if he wants ham vs. turkey on his sandwich. That`s great though because he is picking the things that I know he will eat at school and I don`t have to worry about it being trashed.  He is choosing water for his new drink thermos and, unlike last year, he is drinking it and bringing it home empty or near empty.  I am working very hard to continue to balance his meals and to keep from throwing in those extra grains.

Last week Millard brought home a big bag of swiss chard.  His farmer connection said that it wasn't selling because no one liked it. Apparently locals boiled the chard and found it too bitter. Millard bought home a big bag and as you can see Alexander was definitely impressed.   We sauteed our swiss chard with some balsamic vinegar, onions, garlic,  pine nuts and fresh mushrooms. We served it with Christian's Lasagna Roll-ups Myself and Millard love our swiss chard this way... and there is no bitterness.  The kids however do not like swiss chard.  Christian attempted, but truly didn't like it.  He picked out his mushrooms and ate them only. 

One of Christian's favorite foods is Lasagna... layered with meat, cheeses, pasta and full of fat and carbs!  While grocery shopping he saw a picture on the front of the lasagna noodle box for lasagna roll-ups and asked if we could make them.  It was his project so he did most of the work.  Daddy boiled the noodles and I laid them out to cool.  Then Christian took over. He spread out about a teaspoon of Cream Cheese on each noodle. then the pasta sauce and the baby spinach. Then he added some mozza cheese     and rolled them up. We put about a 1/2 cup of pasta sauce in the bottom of the baking pan, put the roll-ups in, and spooned just a little sauce over top and a sprinkle of cheese.  Popped them in the oven for about 20 mins and dinner was ready.  We had 2 roll-ups each and served them with Balsamic Swiss Chard with Mushrooms .    Delicious! 

It's berry pickin' time and what better surprise than to discover wild raspberries growing in our own back yard!!  Millard & Christian headed out back and picked away. They got quite a few. They were so rich in color and tasted delicious. I sooo wanted to bake some yummy sweets, but knew that I couldn't.   Instead I made some pudding topped with raspberries. and some pancakes for breakfast. Alexander loves eating them all by themselves.  We still have some left and I hope to make some muffins tonight... maybe.

Soccer season is winding down. The playoff tournament has started and Christian has 2, possibly 3, games left to play.  He scored his first goal on Monday evening and helped his team to a 3-0 win.  It was really exciting for him and we took him and his friend, Brandon for DQ icecream afterwards.  A little treat is ok occasionally.  Throughout the summer Christian has played 2 games a week and has really enjoyed it.  He has improved in his play, as have the other players on his team.  One thing that I think is very noticeable about Christian now compared to the beginning of the season is his running.  He can run faster and run harder without having to stop for a breather.  Sure, he still gets tired, but so does his teammates.  Christian is now more conditioned and most importantly...getting healthy! 

When we lived in Virginia we occasionally would go to this little place in Norfolk that made the best Philly Steak & Cheese Subs.  We'd get a foot long sub piled high with meat and oh boy it was delicious!  We made our own for dinner last night that were very yummy! I picked up a 3-pack of red, yellow & orange peppers and Millard picked up some local onions from a road side veggie stand. I would've liked to have fresh mushrooms too, but I had to settle for canned from the pantry.  I sliced everything and put it on the Wolfgang Puck Grill and fried it in a little olive oil. We had bought the frozen Philly-style steak meat at M&M Meat Shops.  Millard put it on the grill, poured a little water over it and covered it with a pan to cook and steam it.  He seasoned it with a dry mix that I will post the recipe for below. Then he added the already cooked pepper/onion/mushroom mix.  We didn't have any mozzarella cheese on hand so we improvised a...

Burgers were on our menu for tonight, but I wanted to try something different.  I had a little burger recipe booklet from "All You Need is Cheese" with a Mexi-Mozza in it that I decided to try.  I had the ingredients for the patties, but didn't have the recommended garnish, but I figured I'd give it a go anyway.  I served it with side salad.  I always have a fresh supply of lettuce from my dad's garden and my uncle's garden.  Before we started eating healthier our burgers used to be massive.  This time I broke out my scales and measured out six 4oz patties...a much more reasonable portion size.  The recipe called for Salsa which made the burgers a little wetter than usual... and made it a little tougher to keep them from falling apart when cooking.  The recipe also called for 1 tablespoon of chili powder and 1 teaspoon of ground cumin which as you can imagine was very strong tasting in the burgers.  As I already said we didn't have the su...

Today was grocery day.  I shopped the sales fliers and came home with some lovely looking strawberries.  I knew they would go great with the Fat Free Jello Pudding that we already had in the pantry.  I prepared the pudding with 1% milk and spooned 1/2 cup into each dessert dish.  I washed and sliced the strawberries and layered them on top and lastly added a heaping tablespoon of cool whip on top.  A very simple and low fat, low cal dessert and oh boy was it ever delicious!  For dinner we had Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Coleslaw.  We tried Renee's Salad Dressing for the first time tonight and it was very good.  Overall our meal was about 4 carbs which was perfect!  

There's nothing like eating a good meal in the great outdoors!  A couple of weeks ago we packed up our picnic basket and headed to Cape Spear National Historic Park for dinner at The Most Easterly Point in North America.  We don't use my picnic basket very often but I love the darn thing.  Millard bought it for me at a store in Lynnhaven Mall, Virginia Beach.  I've had it for maybe 10 years, but it is still in great condition.  It actually came with its own cutlery, plates, cups and salt & pepper shaker, but I hadn't taken the time wash them all up after taking it out storage therefore I used real forks, paper plates and canned coke and disposable cups. For the meal we had chicken and veggies.  I'm sure you heard of Beer Can Chicken, well we did Diet Coke Can Chicken .  Same idea, just a different beverage.  We filled up Rubbermaid containers with the chicken, the veggies, and cantaloupe.  We sat at the picnic table just next...

We have been really working on balancing out lunch for the kids.  It used to be so much easier to open a can of  Chef Boyardee or throw some chicken nuggets & french fries in the oven.  I have learned though that making a better lunch is not all that difficult.  I was just stuck in a rut but now, with some lazy day exceptions, I have done a full 360! This is one of Christian's favorite lunches:  Pizza Burger (this one I used Turkey Pepperoni) , Celery Sticks... and well the applesauce is not necessarily his fav, but he manages.   It was served with Milk.