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).

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!

Beef Burgundy-No Crockpot!

Well shiver me timbers, I can still taste this DELICIOUS meal just looking at the pictures! The turkey bacon is insanely delicious and flavored the pan right away. I added a little olive oil and garlic and tossed in the meat, then the can of tomatoes and let it simmer then tossed fresh carrots and frozen peas on top...WOW, this turned out SO GOOD without the crockpot! I didn't have mushrooms but who cares because the flavor was outstanding! The TSG seasoning that goes in here is incredible! We all enjoyed the tender meat!

This TSG recipe was prepared in June (read about it here) and it wasn't anything like this because I cooked it in the crockpot (aka-boiled meat). I used BEEF bouillon instead of chicken tonight...wonder if that made a difference, too?

Lean & GREEN!

Since I started a diet, I've been food focused and inspired to post. This has become of our favorite recipes. This is "Dijon Chicken & Broccoli" from Stacey Hawkin's Time Savor Gourmet cookbook. I LOVE how GREEN it is! Cook up the broccoli in her garlic oil with her special seasoning. Put aside. Then cook the chicken with garlic and sauce of soy sauce and dijon mustard. Let all simmer together, yummy! Sometimes I thicken the juice with a little cornstarch for a "gravy" feel. Super yum!

UPDATE: We didn't like the spinach in it...it is best with just the broccoli and chicken...next time!

Asian Pot Roast

This TSG Asian Pot Roast is outstanding! Sarah loved it and ate it all, asking for seconds. She rated it a 7. John rated it much higher. I used the TSG Lemon Flavored Oil to fry the frozen stir-fry vegetables and tossed in some tomatoes and orange bell pepper I had in the frig. This would have been great with asparagus, too. John ate the roast, stir fry veggies and a salad with Drew's Sesame Orange dressing that was surprisingly tasty for being so healthy. I want to use it as a marinade for chicken someday soon.

I made Uncle Ben's rice (which I hate but it was fast) and molded it in a little bowl. It really helped me eat less rice! Later while putting the dishes in the dishwasher-(I run a load of dishes every night before I go to bed no matter how full or empty-this has helped me as I've been learning to cook)-I noticed a new bag of brown rice tucked under some other stuff by the toaster! Oh well!

Turkey Taco Salad

This is a TSG recipe and I was supposed to serve it over lettuce but we didn't have any. Not sure how that happened. So it is ground turkey and spices and John LOVED it! I simply served it over a huge portion of the Costco frozen green beans. I think I made macaroni and cheese that night for the kids. John asked for me to make this again he liked it so much. Super easy and healthy!

UPDATE: 10/07/11-We now call this "Turkey Fry Up" and have it quite often!

Chicken Alfredo Pasta Bake

This turned out awesome and everyone LOVED it! I made an alfredo sauce, boiled up the very BEST whole wheat pasta spirals, cooked up some chicken and tossed into a 9x13 and baked it. I used parmesan regianno (Real Food for Healthy Kids recommends this cheese in a lot of their recipes) and heavy cream in the sauce, I wanted to DRINK it!