Kids in the Kitchen

My "visual" recipe to help me keep
both kids busy while we cook together

My kids are getting older and I haven't taught them to cook. I have a new goal for us to cook together until they know how to cook meals independently. Along with preparation, I want them to learn meal planning too.

We started this week cooking together again. No one wants to stop their activities to prepare meals, but since we all like to eat, we gather in the kitchen!

I print all my recipes on printer paper (8 1/2"x11") and store them in sheet protectors in a 3-ring binder. Each week when I plan meals, I pull out the recipe for planning the grocery shopping list and then hang it on the fridge.

For each meal we've made so far, I've made a "visual" recipe to help us with the steps. This has helped me keep each child on task without long periods waiting for me.

Since starting this blog, we've had spurts of cooking together, but now is the time to "compleat" their education!

Summer 2014

It's uncanny how everything changes!

Lately, I've been eating for weight loss. I eat my daily salad for breakfast these days (which I love) and I've found that I just LOVE eating a salad for dinner, too! I totally would not do this if I didn't like it, but I love both salads so much I take every opportunity!


So, I've been cooking fewer family meals since I've been eating salad for dinner and my husband has been enjoying salad for dinner, too. That makes cooking for the kids easy...I'm just in a loose place right now.

I am very dependent on my Tuesday meal planning and Wednesday grocery shopping. It is the backbone of my care for my family and I love it! We don't shop on Wednesday night anymore, but in the afternoon and since we go to Costco, we often eat pizza for lunch. The kids select a favorite frozen meal to have on Wednesday night (and the parents eat salad) which makes a nice easy night after a few hours out shopping.


Recently my Mom gave us her barbeque grill and I can't express how much we are LOVING IT! This has also made my life even better in the meal department! My husband is willing to grill Saturday and Sunday nights, so we have marinated chicken one night and hamburgers/hot dogs on the other night. Two more nights I'm not cooking! I never would have guessed! I've done some experimenting with marinades which has been fun and trying to find combinations the kids like. My son is a tough nut, but last week we finally put some cheese on his hamburger (DUH!) along with some Montreal Steak Seasoning and he really enjoyed his burger-yay! My daughter loves meat and eats it all!

I'm handling the changes in our meal routines with ease and don't freak out when I notice a new trend. I've tweaked my worksheets and use them every week to plan meals. I feel like I have a "fluid mastery" of this area of my life! I like to document every now and then on this blog because I enjoy looking back over my process!

Current favorite meals:
grilled chicken tenders
grilled hamburgers and hot dogs
packaged Southwest salad
dinner salad: butter lettuce/Costco quinoa salad/egg/crans/sun seeds/dressing
cheesy chicken casserole

Thanksgiving Weekend

Wow! At the last minute, we had our dear friends join us for dinner! I felt like nothing tasted really good, but it was food. My Mom is an amazing cook and the flavors and textures of her cooking are fantastic. I know I can't expect that when she's been cooking for years and years and I'm such a novice.


We decorated the Christmas tree on Friday and did an overnight on Saturday...FUN weekend!

Thanksgiving 2013

This NEVER happens...we aren't seeing my family for Thanksgiving, which means we're on our own. I'm SO excited to prepare turkey dinner for my family! We want to establish some new traditions so we'll be putting up our Christmas tree and decorations on Friday and then Saturday will be a day trip to see another lighthouse.

I've never made a pie. I love to bake, but I've never done a pie. My daughter wants to make an apple pie, so we'll be doing our first pie together! We've got apples and I found this awesome pie crust tutorial.

But I need to pause a moment and compare this year with the last time we were on our own...that was maybe five years ago? Want to know what I did for Thanksgiving dinner? This is so embarrassing to think about now, but I made FROZEN DINNERS. Yep, like frozen turkey dinner with mashed potatoes, stuffing and veggies. I'm SO glad I'm not that person anymore!

(IF, by chance, you need a good frozen dinner, this one is awesome! Sadly, they used to have beans with cranberries, but they replaced the crans with carrots!)

Confidence

We celebrated my husband's birthday at a cute cabin in the woods. I cooked for three days for my family-AND LOVED IT! There wasn't a grocery store nearby, so we brought along everything we needed, we even baked cookies while we were there! It was EXHILARATING to provide wonderful meals that my family loves over the weekend, even on the go!

It's pretty amazing to me. I feel like I'm so competent with the cooking and planning now. I can handle interruptions to the status-quo and I'm experimenting with different kinds of foods. I can cook on a camping trip or for an overnight in a cabin. My system is really working and we've been handling all kinds of disruptions to our shopping routine, but we're still going!

I stop my day around 5:30pm every day so I can prepare dinner. We eat around 7pm these days.

I've been thinking more about baking recently, I LOVE baking desserts, and no, not just because I get to eat them. I've been watching some baking videos...cookies and bars. Hmmmm, better do something about that!

I'm soooo amazed at how far I've come. Thank you Lord!

What Doesn't Change is CHANGE

The thing that stays the same is that nothing stays the same! (I think I even started the last post with this statement)!

My husband and I are discussing joining forces and losing weight together, so this busts open my current meal plan. I've been relying on old favorites to plan meals, but it isn't really what we NEED.

Today I took a look at my weekly plan and what we could do differently. Currently, we have dinner at Costco together once a week and then go grocery shopping. I love doing this together! But during a conversation this morning, my husband expressed he doesn't want to eat Costco food anymore...so we talked about keeping the routine, but maybe doing something different (like bringing him a salad).

Here's how I'm changing it up as I look at what we want to do with our summer routine:
Sunday: homemade pizza
Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday: Costco (plus salad?)
Thursday: Chicken Broc Dijon or Southwest Turkey
Friday: special favorite meal (stroganoff, taco salad, chick enchiladas)
Saturday: this day is always different, so it needs special planning (crockpot, sandwiches, out, guests, frozen casserole, chili, etc)

This only really leaves Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday to plan for! WOW! After taking a little time to jot down our weekly plan (we're making some changes there), I can see a little better what needs to change...and I'm welcoming it!

Family Grocery Shopping

It's kinda funny how nothing stays the same...that shows up a lot for me in how we grocery shop!

On March 1st, we moved into a new house, which has turned my routines upside down. Now that we're getting settled, we're shopping on Wednesdays again-together!

I am LOVING this! We meet Dad at Costco on Wednesday nights, do a quick shop before they close and then head over to our regular grocery store which is in the same parking lot (LOVE)!

Cooking just keeps getting better and better and easier and easier. I've really streamlined my planning and my grocery list...I actually look forward to planning now (!!!) because it brings so much peace knowing what we're going to do for dinners each day. WOW, what a change!

Green Smoothies for Health

A friend of mine asked me if I had heard about Green Smoothies. So I got a book from the library and loved the book enough to try one. WOW! This is a super easy way to get more greens!

I like this recipe to start:
http://greensmoothiegirl.com/2009/12/01/here%E2%80%99s-the-green-smoothie-recipe-i-almost-always-use/

The best part is that if I fill up a 20oz cup, my husband will take it with him to work for breakfast! Yay!

Disney Shopping Bags

I found the PERFECT solution!

I purchased ten of these bags at the Disney store for $2.50 EACH!

They have a big wide base and aren't too tall. I'm loving these!

We have really gotten our shopping down! Since we fill a cart when we go, right before checkout, my son grabs a second cart (empty) and we push it through to the checker. Then we unload our cart and she has an empty cart to load (like Costco does). Then she doesn't have to stack all the bags on her shelf, waiting for us to unload. It is streamlined!

We keep our shopping bags in the backseat of the van. Then on shopping day, move them to the front seat so I don't forget to take them in. What a huge convenience and I feel good about reusing them. It makes hauling the groceries inside a lot easier, too.

UPDATE: 01/16/2013...I need to put "grocery bags" on the top of my shopping list so I don't forget to take them into the store!

Easy Chili and Cornbread

Super quick and easy chili and cornbread...the recipe was given to me by my friend Barbie who helped me see that I needed to actually cook for my family in the first place. That's what started this blog. I'm so grateful for her!

I make browned hamburger and put one pound ziplocs in the freezer when I can. Easy to add one pound ground hamburger to any recipe by pulling it out of the freezer. I like to use ground turkey in this recipe, though I use twice the amount of meat because turkey doesn't have the bulk/fat that the beef does, it is just more tender.

Phillip's Chili
1lb ground hamburger browned (I prefer more protein. I can add 2lbs turkey in addition because it shrinks, or another pound of hamburger for my carnivore family)
saute onion and garlic
3 cans black beans
3 cans pinto beans
1 can garbanzo
plus 1 can water
1 small can corn
30oz tomato sauce
1T coriander
1/4C chili powder
2t cumin
Bring to boil. Simmer 15 minutes. EAT!

Cornbread
I think I made the cornbread recipe on the back of the corn meal box but added a half cup of sour cream to make it more moist. I poured the batter half full into a large muffin tin. Add butter and honey. :)

UPDATE 01/12/2012: We are loving the cornbread (I did not add sour cream, it doesn't need it!) and I usually pour it into a 9x13 pan as the portions are too big in the muffin tin.

Salad System

I started eating a salad once a day starting in May of this year. Recently, I did some "salad evaluation" to make my salads more efficient. It seemed I was always running out of one thing, while another item went bad before I could eat it all.

Here's what I like on my huge salad. Yes, I weigh everything, every time so I know my calorie intake.

75g chicken breast (ziploc in freezer)
75g romaine (bag)
25g spinach (bag)
50g cucumber (pre chopped in glass container)
50g celery (pre cut in glass container-chop fresh daily)
50g red pepper (pre chopped in glass container)
15g red onion (pre chopped in glass container)
4 sliced snap pea pods (chop fresh daily)
50g garbanzo beans (glass container)
20g salsa
1 hard boiled egg
35g salad dressing (my favorite is Newman's Own Lite Balsamic)
7g unsalted Hoody sunflower seeds
10g sesame stix
5 craisins or fresh blueberries
This is about 400 calories, 30 protein, 30 carbs, 16 fat, 10 sugars, 9 fiber

Fills me up until dinner! I don't like it really cold, so I make it early in the afternoon and let it sit out for a bit before putting on the dressing and dry ingredients.

I decided to buy bag-o-salad and prepare chicken ahead and freezing the portions in ziplocs. Each day when I make my salad, I pull out a ziploc of frozen chicken and put it in my salad box for the next day. I have to pay attention to inventory control on the cucumber, celery, red pepper, red onion and snap peas, but that isn't too difficult now that I'm doing the grocery shopping.

The garbanzo beans last a few days, so I pour them into a glass container with a plastic lid. The hard boiled eggs are easy because I do several at a time. The salsa and salad dressing are easy along with the seeds, stix and craisins. I have a large plastic "shoebox" in the frig to hold all my containers. Making a salad everyday is EASY, just pull out the box! A little planning and refining have made having a delicious fresh salad everyday possible!

Mrs. Grocery Shopper

It is official. After five years, I have taken over the grocery shopping from my husband. He kinda came out of the blue and suggested it. I've been telling him for about a year that it would be okay for me to do it.

The first couple times was really difficult because I hadn't been grocery shopping for YEARS and I didn't remember where anything was. It has been a couple weeks and I'm doing really well! It doesn't take as long to get through the store, but I need to improve on our bag issue. I was thinking collapsible crates might work instead of shopping bags. I'm still thinking on that. The kids are a huge help and it looks like we've been going every six days or so.

UPDATE: 11/21/2012 I found the best solution for reusable grocery bags!

Camping Food

 

I've agonized over camping recipes as we just started being more outdoorsy. We got a camp stove this spring which allows us more flexibility. Here's what we did for meals this summer:

We eat dinner on the way to the campsite on Friday.

Saturday AM:
scrambled cheesy eggs (I scramble the raw eggs and put the liquid in a double ziploc in the cooler)
bacon

Saturday Lunch:
peanut butter & jelly sandwiches
apples
carrots
chips

Saturday Dinner:
macaroni and cheese (bring a splash of milk and chunk of butter and strainer)
hot dogs
canned chili

smores

Sunday Breakfast:
oatmeal (just add water)
hard boiled eggs (boiled at home, put in ziploc bag in cooler)
blueberries
brown sugar

Same Lunch again on Sunday:
peanut butter & jelly sandwiches
apples
carrots
chips

Snacks:
polska kielbasa (pre-cooked, just unwrap and slice)
cheese slices
crackers
apples
blueberry bagels
cream cheese

Eat out on way home Sunday night if we aren't home yet.

Dan Dan the Broccoli Man

Not only do the kids EAT their food now, but they help COOK it!  My son makes the meatloaf (about once a month) and helps with the broccoli along with helping cook breakfast, lunch and dinner most days.

This is insanely delicious and I'm too embarrassed to admit how often we eat this roasted broccoli!

A few handfuls of broccoli, washed and dried
some olive oil
some garlic
some lemon juice
some salt and pepper (or better yet, Montreal Steak Seasoning!)

Mix it all up. Line cookie sheet with foil. Bake at 425° for about 12 minutes. The more olive oil, the better!

After about a year and a half of cooking dinners and eating dinners together every night together at the table (except for those fun nights of eating pizza in the living room while watching a movie!), we've finally established new patterns. I just realized while updating this blog, that we don't have ANY (A N Y) complaining anymore. Dinner is served and "you get what you get, so don't make a fit". How grateful I am to have made it through the child training that should have been done when the children were toddlers. Better late than never. (I wrote about the complaining in a post here).

Cranberry Orange Chicken Casserole and Roasted Broccoli

I love the flavors!

Mix frozen vegetable medley (carrots, corn, peas, green beans) with cream of chicken soup and some sour cream, put in 9x13 pan. Put cooked chopped chicken breast over the mixture. Prepare box of stuffing (if it takes 1 1/2 cups of water, make it 3/4C water and 3/4C frozen orange juice concentrate). Toss into the stuffing some craisins and chopped pecans. Spread the cooked stuffing on top of the chicken and bake. YUMMY! (I think it would be even better with two boxes of stuffing).

Morning Shopping

So much has changed since my last post. One of the big things is that I'm eating more salad! The other is that I am doing the shopping now...and in the MORNING, no less!

I've been really bored lately with the menu, so I've been getting some recipe books from the library to spice things up a bit. My son ASKED for me to make meatloaf this weekend, yay!

New Shopping Day

Grocery shopping on Sunday evenings just haven't been happening the past two months...it worked fine over the summer but with darker evenings, we just aren't getting John off to the store. So we're trying something new...Monday and Thursday nights.

I'm still using my same planning but I admit, I need some new recipes! Or maybe just high carb, high fat, high calorie meals would be more tasty!

Cranberry Chicken Bake

This turned out delicious! We used my mom's fresh cranberry/cherry sauce from Thanksgiving over chicken breasts and baked it. Superb! The kids LOVE the crescent rolls, so I've been doing those every now and then. Super tasty meal!

Who IS This Person?!

I am notorious for bringing pre-packaged foods to potlucks and social eating events (nothing home-cooked EVER)...mini-muffins, packs of cookies, bags of caesar salad, grocery store deli veggie trays...you name it. But in this new cooking life as a cooking diva (ha!), I found myself searching online for "halloween party food ideas" the other day. That was definately strange but even stranger...I DID IT. I collected ideas and selected a few and produced a robust result of FRESH, HANDMADE FOOD for this costume party with friends.

I'm in SHOCK.

Here's the photos to prove it! It is astonishing exactly how much I've changed...not to mention the satisfaction I had taking my creations to bless my friends. The apple smilies, mummies (lil' smokies in crescent rolls-yum!) and candy corn veggie tray (a small pumpkin held the dip but isn't in the photo). Since I've been allowing TIME to plan and prepare as a habit, it wasn't really difficult to put this together...what fun!

And that's me as a Lego brick and my husband as the real Buzz Lightyear! What a fun costume party!

Herb Roasted Salmon

Oh.my.word. Second dinner in a row that was SO tasty...and I quote Daniel, "The salmon is wonderful".

WHAT?

Huh, were YOU talking to ME?

I am still in shock. The boy doesn't like much and usually asks, "how many bites do I have to take"? HE ATE IT ALL! SALMON!!!!!!!!

The TSG Citrus Dill seasoning is awesome PLUS I added a smidge of my new favorite food "Newman's Own Low-Fat Sesame Ginger Salad Dressing". Insane, it is so good I could drink it!

So I made some notes on the recipe for next time so we can duplicate this one!