Healthy Family Hangout

I absolutely love artichokes, but I've only ever had them jarred or canned.  I've eaten them directly out of the jar and made various dips with them, but packed in oil or mixed with mayo is not necessarily the healthiest way.  On their own, the artichoke is a low-calorie, nutrient-rich vegetable.  It is an excellent source of fiber and vitamin C, and a good source of folate and magnesium.  It is also a natural source of antioxidants.   On the hunt to find a healthier way to prepare artichokes, I found this recipe idea at Food.com for Grilled Drunken Artichokes .  I have been excited to test it out for several months.  Last week we ran upon the artichokes on sale 6 for $1.  At that price it was the perfect time to try the recipe out.  We tweaked the recipe to make it our own and using the ingredients that we already had. After the artichokes were boiled, we cut them in half... ... and got them drunk on the marinade. ...

Over the past year we've learned that Christian seems to have more stomach issues with ground beef so we have been steering away from as much as possible.  A great alternative is ground turkey.  The one thing that we've learned is that ground turkey is rather bland and needs lots of seasoning to make it tasty.  So last week I dug through my recipes in search of some bold ground turkey recipes and got my game plan together.  Then I stopped by Costco and picked up a bulk package of ground turkey. I have things down to a system now... I pick out the recipes, do the grocery shopping and then hand it over to Millard who puts it all together.  He made up the a few different burgers and meatballs, packaged them up and stuck them in the freezer... ready for me to take out and cook when I need them.  It makes life so much easier and is possibly just as quick as a fast food pit stop. To the left is the Curry Turkey Burger with Thai Slaw that we had last week....

Wednesday was a "Do-It-Yourself Night" with Panini Sandwiches and Salad.  To the left is a picture of the salad bar in progress.  Notice the bowl?  It's the perfect size for a side salad.  I found a salad-making approach that helps keep us from drenching our salad with salad dressing and all those extra calories!  We add a little lettuce into the bowl and just 1 tablespoon of salad dressing, toss it to give the lettuce a good coating, and add our choice of ingredients.  We then transfer it to a plate, drizzle with just a little salad dressing and it's ready to eat. 

It's Tuesday and on this evening's menu was Chicken-Veggie Quesadillas with Mexican Tomato Rice.  It was super simple and both kids helped create them.  The quesadillas are stuffed with cheddar, mozzarella, and asiago plus chicken, sliced fresh mushrooms, and diced green, red & yellow peppers.  Christian says "They were awesome!  The chicken was delicious with creamy, ooey-gooey cheese." The rice was simple too.  A can of tomatoes, a little water, a pinch of cumin and a cup of rice... all thrown into the rice cooker.  All in all, a super quick and easy meal that both kids totally enjoyed.

Eating healthy on a strict budget has been challenging these past several months and I am always looking for new ideas to stretch our dollar.  We've always shopped clearance items, but more recently we've been stocking up on reduced perishables.  And to reduce wastage and get the most out of our bargain finds we use these steps: Decide what will be used in this week's meals and set aside. Wash chop, slice, and dice everything else.  Then package them up in reusable containers and zip lock freezer bags and toss them in the freezer.  We find it best to do them up in portion sizes. Pull them out of the freezer as needed. Right now we have a good stock of Smoothie Fruits portioned and frozen, ready to make a quick 1-serving smoothie for Christian before school each morning.  There's pineapple, banana, peach, pear, and cantaloupe.  They freeze great and taste just as delicious in a smoothie.  I'm very excited because I just read a new tip... "Yog...