Italian Sausage Spinach Penne

What you'll need:

•1 bundle of fresh spinach

•1 roll of Italian sausage OR Italian turkey sausage

•half a box of vegetable penne noodles

•a can of diced Italian tomatos in basil and oregano. 

•mozzarella cheese

•optional: natural sea salt, pepper, parsley flakes, Italian seasoning, oregano, onion powder, garlic powder, Parmesan cheese.

What to do:

•fill a pan with water and bring to a boil  

•add in half a box of penne noodles. Be sure the water is above the noodles.

•while the noodles are boiling brown the sausage in a pan.

•check penne noodles and then turn off heat once they are done, drain the water off of noodles.

•chop up spinach (it will wilt down in size) and add in with the sausage. 

•once the spinach is wilted down and sausage is completely browned reduce heat, add in noodles and stir.

•add in about 1/2 a cup of mozzarella cheese or more if you like and stir.

•drain the tomatoes, add in and stir.

•optional: add in sea salt, pepper, oregano, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder and Parmesan to your liking.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Spice Latte

Since November is coming to an end I figured I would share this wonderful recipe I found on Pinterest. I followed the directions exactly and all I added was a touch of pumpkin spice creamer. Just like the lady says and I must agree DO NOT SKIP OUT ON THE WHIPPED CREAM!!!

Here is a picture of my yummy latte!

Here is the link! Hope you enjoy as much as I did!

http://prairiecottagerose.blogspot.com/2009/10/pumpkin-spice-latte.html?m=1

Yummy whole hearty beef stew

 

I ran across a yummy whole hearty beef stew recipe on pinterest that I wanted to share. It was delicious and easy. All you have to do is throw the ingredients in the crock pot and let it cook all day. Super easy recipe for us moms on the go! The only thing I done different was added about half another thing of beef broth and that was the only adjustment. Here is the link and I hope you enjoy!

 

http://www.familyfreshmeals.com/2013/10/best-crockpot-beef-stew.html

Lactation Cookies

Here is the recipe for some awesome lactation cookies and they are yummy too! I have no idea on the source someone gave me this recipe so no it's not my own and I do not take credit but here ya go!

 

Halloween lunch idea

 

With Halloween nearing soon I decided to throw together a little Halloween inspired lunch for the kiddos. 

Here we have:

•Monster applesauce. The container actually contained 'boo goo' I washed it out and reused it. Inside is natural applesauce mixed with green food coloring.

•Piranha goldfish. I thought piranhas sounded scary since the kids think of a fish with scary looking teeth. 

•Pumpkin mandarin oranges. Just use a sharpie to draw on the face. I used no sugar added mandarin orange bowls.

•Witch hat quesadillas. These are just 2 flour tortillas with cheddar cheese in the middle. I cooked it in a skillet. Quick and easy.

•Halloween themed fruit roll ups. These are actually trick or treater sized.

•Capri sun

The kids enjoyed their lunch and was excited to share the idea with their friends at school. 

Monster & Ghost Pancakes

The other morning I decided to try another Halloween themed pancake idea so I chose ghosts and monster blobs. They turned out better than the pumpkins.

 

 What you'll need:

•pancake mix (I used whole wheat)

•water

•no stick skillet or cooking spray

 

Here is a video I'm how to make these. Keep in mind that you need to let the outline darken before filling in and once you fill in be sure to fill in as fast as possible. 

 

 

Pancake art; Pumpkins

To kick off the start of October I thought that I would attempt pancake art for the very first time. I can't say that it turned out excellent but it was fun and the kids really enjoyed them and thought that they were neat and delicious of course.

What you'll need:

•pancake mix (we used whole wheat)

•some kind of squeezable bottle (we used an old pancake syrup bottle)

•water

•non stick pan

Mix up the ingredients for pancakes to the correct serving you'd like. Check out the video on my instagram (to the right) or use the link.

http://instagram.com/p/t3DCN1TdJX/?modal=true

Kid lunch idea

Broox is the child who is not a fan of bread but loves his meat and cheese so for his lunch instead of sandwiches he likes meat and cheese roll ups. For this I use 1 piece of turkey, 1 piece of ham, and slices of cheddar cheese. I open up the meat place cheese on it and roll it up very simple. For this lunch we used...

•simple truth ham

•simple truth turkey

•sliced cheddar cheese

•ritz crackers

•sugar free gummies

•fresh watermelon pieces

•all natural squeezable buddy fruits

•Capri sun

Quick and easy Breastfeeding breakfast/snack

I am not a big oatmeal eater and until now I don't think I had ate oatmeal since I was a child. I had read how oatmeal is great for breastfeeding moms and healthy too! Oatmeal has many health benefits ; it helps lower cholestoral, contains complex carbs, high in fiber and aside from that it helps with energy and can help your milk supply. I thought I'd give it a try again. Now, I've seen a lot of people posting about chia seeds so while in Kroger I stumbled upon Simple Truth Organic instant cinnamon and cranberry chia oatmeal. Incase you are not familiar with chia seeds here is a picture from www.authoritynutrition.com with some information.

To me this seemed like something I could eat every morning to help me with breastfeeding, have energy, feel fuller longer and to be healthy. I bought some and decided to add my own touch. I added some fresh strawberries, blueberries, apple pieces and cooked it all together. Once it was ready I topped it off with some Simple Truth organic vanilla yogurt. This was a yummy treat that would be good any time of the day!

What you'll need:

 

•1 packet simple truth organic cranberry & cinnamon chia oatmeal.

•2 strawberries

•8-10 blueberries

•10 apple pieces

•water

•milk 

•organic low fat vanilla yogurt

1- pour oatmeal in bowl, cut up your fruit and add it in. 

2- add water just enough to soak the oats/fruit but not drown them.

3- I cook my oatmeal for 2 minutes but depending on your microwave it may be less. I cook them until all the water is absorbed and they are fluffy.

4- I add a little milk to cool it off and to make it a little more soupy as the water is usually completely soaked up after the microwave. Do as you please for the consistency you desire.

5- stir it up and top it with some vanilla yogurt. It kind of reminds me of a hot pie/cobbler with vanilla Icecream.

 

Hope you enjoy!

Raffertys Potato Soup

I have always loved my granny's potato soup for as long as I can remember. It was one of my favorite dishes. One day she made a new recipe and it was to die for. She told me it was the homemade version of Raffertys potato soup which includes bacon and cheese! Now, I have never had their potato soup so I'm unsure how it compares but I must say this is one of my favorite fall/winter dishes and it is approved by Broox my youngest child. This is my own recipe as the original does not call for anything lite or fat free. I tried to make it a little healthier.

What you'll need:

• 2 packages of fat free cream cheese

• 16 oz finely shredded cheddar cheese 

• 1 can fat free cream of mushroom

• 1 can fat free cream of celary

• 1 package of low sodium bacon bits 

• about 6 good size potatoes

• 1 onion

• stick of butter

• 1 cup of milk

• salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic salt

1- peel your potatoes, cut them up in cubes, place in strainer and rinse.

2- put the burner on medium heat, fill a soup pan about half full with water. Once boiling add in potatoes.

3- boil until they are soft. You don't want them too soft as they may mash up in the soup.

4- once done place them in strainer.

5- slice up the onion 

6- in a soup pan add in half a stick of butter and 2 packages of cream cheese and the sliced onion. Stir them until melted.

7- once melted add in cream of mushroom and cream of celery. 

8- once everything is creamy and mixed up good add in the potatoes and the milk. Add more milk to get the consistency you like.

9- add salt, pepper, garlic salt, onion powder to flavor for your liking. 

10- add in the package of bacon bits and half a cup of cheese stir together. 

11- you may top it off with more cheese and more bacon if you'd like.

We enjoy corn bread as a side to this dish. Hope you enjoy!

Kid lunch idea

We tried out a new lunch idea today! Broox loved it and said he got full.

•turkey pepperonis 

•lite mozzarella string cheese

•sugar free gummies 

•strawberries

•blueberries

•small serving of cheezits 

•danimals yogurt

•Capri sun

I used cupcake liners to separate the fruit and cheezits.

Cinnamon Banana Almond Butter Pancakes

I posted a recipe before that was pancakes made with bananas and eggs. I personally was not a big fan of this but I did enjoy the banana taste in them so I decided to come up with my own concoction even though I'm sure it's online or in a recipe book somewhere.

What you'll need:

•whole wheat pancake mix 

•almond butter

•1 ripe banana

•cinnamon

•vanilla extract

•mixer

•cooking spray 

•lite or sugar free syrup 

1- mix up the batter as instructed on the back of the box for how many pancakes you'd like. this recipe is for about 10 pancakes.

2- slice banana and drop into batter.

3- sprinkle cinnamon on the top to your liking. 

4- using a teaspoon that you'd eat with fill it with vanilla extract and dump into batter.

5- with the same teaspoon scoop out 4 good size scoops of almond butter and add to the batter.

6- with mixer blend everything until no banana chunks are left.

7- use cooking spray on your pan, pour batter to the size of pancake you'd like

8- flip pancakes until a golden brown, repeat last 2 steps until batter is gone

 

These were absolutely wonderful and had my house smelling so good! Assuming you use a very ripe banana it will have an awesome flavor to it. This was a big hit in my household and we all enjoyed. We topped it with some lite syrup and ate them up. If you have some left overs put them in baggies and freeze for a quick breakfast some other day!

Healthy Lunches

As you know I'm trying to come up with some new healthy meals so I thought why not get creative with the kids lunches and make them neat and packed with foods they like yet also healthy. I have one child whom is a picky eater and one whom is a big eater he loves to eat. 

The first lunch is 

Grapes

1 boiled egg cut in half without the yolk

Natural applesauce

Ritz crackers 

Veggie/fruit Capri sun

Jelly rolls on whole wheat bread

The second lunch is

Grapes

1 boiled egg cut in half without the yolk

Natural applesauce

Ritz Crackers

1 can of Tuna in water with a little lite mayonnaise

Jelly rolls on whole wheat (smaller portion since he has tuna)

Veggie/fruit Capri sun 

•to make the jelly roll I cut the crust off of the bread, lay the bread on a paper towel, take a glass cup or a rolling pin and flatten the bread, spread on jelly/peanut butter/almond butter/Nutella whatever you prefer and then roll up the bread, slice the big roll. 1 slice of bread will make 4-5 smaller rolls.

These were a big hit with my kids they loved the entire meal. Although, you may want to warn your kid(s) that the boiled eggs will smell awful during lunch time! My oldest was embarrassed and didn't eat his eggs until he got home, haha! 

Enjoy!

Leftover suggestion

This morning as I was thinking what else could I make for breakfast besides my normal parfait, I remembered I had low sodium bacon and ham left over from the pizza bake I then checked the fridge where I found eggs, cheese, fresh peppers and onions so what's a girl to do?! Cook a yummy omlet! 

Healthy pancakes and parfaits

My family is definitely not what you'd call healthy eaters but we are trying to test out new stuff and slowely switch over ingredients to low fat, reduced fat, no fat, whole wheat, organic...okay you get the picture im sure. Anyways, I ran across a recipe that used only 2 main ingredients for pancakes. I found it on a blog and I wish I could remember which one so I could share. If I come across it again I will add it in this post. Although I wasn't sure I'd like it since it was compared to the texture of French toast (not a fan) but I figured I'd give it a try. 

•1 ripe banana 

•2 eggs

•pb2 (organic section)

•cinnamon

•natural almond butter

•low fat butter

•sugar free syrup 

1.mash up banana until there are no chunks 

2.add in 2 eggs and mix in with banana. Now make sure it's good and mixed together or you will get more of an egg taste and not the banana.

3.add in a dash of pb2 & cinnamon, mix all of that in with banana and eggs.

4.put stove on a little before medium heat

5.grease your pan with non sticking spray 

6.cook pancakes in pan, flipping until evenly golden brown on both sides 

7.take off pan and spread some almond butter & regular low fat butter on them then top with sugar free syrup.

Now, I will give my honest opinion I was not a fan of these. They were not bad and if you like French toast then I'm almost positive that you will enjoy these. The texture and the taste both remind me of French toast which I am not a fan of. My boyfriend did like them. So, I'd say it varies person to person but don't try this recipe expecting to taste a real unhealthy pancake! Now for the parfaits which I whipped up myself.

•low fat organic vanilla yogurt

•nut of choice (I used pecans)

•blueberries 

•strawberries

•banana 

•organic granola

•organic honey

1.using a regular table spoon (the spoon you eat with) scoop 4 scoops of yogurt into small cup

2.add about 5 nuts, 7 blueberries and 4 banana slices on top of yogurt

3.top with granola and drizzle with honey 

4.repeat steps 1-3 but this time instead of blueberries slice up 1-2 strawberries.

This is a great healthy breakfast idea. I eat one daily! Not to mention nuts and bananas are both fatigue fighters. I usually eat what's left of my banana after I finish my parfait.

Enjoy!

Pizza Bake

It's hard for me to find a meal to cook that both of the kids like, well more like Braxton. Braxton is my picky eater, so when I do find a meal that includes meat and that he likes I feel as if I have accomplished something. Now when all 4 of us enjoy a dish I've made I feel like super mom or something. With tht said, the other day I ran across a meat lovers pizza bake recipe on a back of a box. So I thought I'd give it a try. I will include the original recipe but I will also tell you what I used to make it a bit healthier.

My ingredients were:

•8oz (half a box) of organic whole wheat rotini noodles

•1 lb. of Italian sausage

•4oz low sodium diced ham cubes

•8 strips of precooked low sodium bacon crumbled

•3.5oz pepperoni

•2 14oz organic pizza sauce

•mozzarella and sharpe cheddar cheese as much as you prefer

•onion powder, garlic salt, oregano, parmesan, salt and pepper.

1.preheat oven to 375

2.cook the rotini until soft 

3.cook 1 lb. of sausage in a frying pan

4.in a big bowl add in the noodles and sausage

5.separate pepperonis and add in, then add in the ham

6.crumble the bacon, add into the bowl

7.pour in the 2 cans of pizza sauce and add your preferred amount of cheese.

8.sprinkle a little onion powder, garlic salt, oregano, grated Parmesan, salt and pepper to your liking for flavor

9.once all is in the bowl stir it up well to make sure ingredients are spread around the bowl evenly. I usually stir for about 1-2 minutes

10.cover the top with more cheese 

11.put in oven 15 minutes and voila ready to eat.

I included some pictures of my own dish. I hope your family enjoys it as well.

*corn and/or breadsticks makes for a good side with this dish*