...that follows. ;)
Since reading that article last Friday, I've been thinking about all the canned/processed items that I frequently use in cooking and how I can replace some of them with fresh/whole foods. I don't have a ton of answers yet, but I'm more conscious of it and looking to make small changes wherever possible. For example, this week we had spaghetti with meat sauce and I was just cringing as I was opening can after can to go into my "homemade" sauce: canned diced tomatoes, canned tomato sauce, canned tomato paste. But seriously, I think I would be hard pressed to find a bolognese sauce (meat sauce) that doesn't call for "canned-something". Now, fresh tomato pastas are different and I have plenty of those recipes... but Craig wanted "spaghetti with meat sauce". So I think I'm just going to have to find a good recipe for making my own marinara sauce that uses only fresh ingredients... fresh tomatoes, fresh carrots, onion and garlic, etc. and then just make bigger batches of that to freeze. (I don't know how to "can" things yet. Hmm... maybe I should learn that.) We also had garlic toast with our spaghetti and I like to buy the Texas Toast brand of individual sliced garlic toast. It wastes less and I can make a slice for Craig and I (and sometimes Will) without making a whole loaf. But what I really should do is just buy a fresh baguette and toast a couple slices in the toaster oven before rubbing them with a garlic clove.
So... it's a work in progress. And I'm not always going to be perfect. But I'd really like to make a better effort. By the time I'd read that article last Friday, I'd already grocery shopped for this week so I wasn't going to change my planned menu.
Here is what was on our menu for this week:
1) Saturday: Another batch of Weelicious pumpkin waffles for breakfast. This time I didn't make the maple apple walnut topping because neither kid cared for it last time. Instead, we just had sliced, fresh apples on the side because I like the flavors of pumpkin and apple together. (We're going to try the pumpkin apple muffins soon too. I need to pick up about 4 or 5 more pie pumpkins from Fleitz's to cook and freeze for recipes! Did I mention how different the color is between canned pumpkin and cooked, fresh pumpkin? Canned is like an eery orange and fresh is more the yellow-orange like butternut squash. Hmm.)
Enjoying our Saturday morning breakfast... Yes, this is Will's face anymore when I ask him to smile. :)
Saturday evening we had friends over for dinner again and I made what is now my hands-down-favorite Weelicious (main dish) recipe: pulled pork tacos with guacamole. These are SO easy to make and SO, SO good! I didn't get a picture of our spread - we had a nice collaborative meal again with one friend bringing fresh salsa and another bringing ice cream pie for dessert - but here's an older picture of the pork roast before it cooks. You just mix together this herb rub and rub it on all sides of the roast. Then place in the crock pot and pour in a jar of salsa (or two cups fresh). Cook for 8-10 hours (read: yummy smelling house all day on Saturday!) and shred the meat while stirring in several spoonfuls of cooking liquid before serving.
Avocado heaven!
2. Sunday we had dinner at my in-laws for Kelly and Craig's birthdays. So we had beef stir fry with egg rolls, egg drop soup and fresh cantaloupe. Plus several dessert choices: strawberry shortcake, key lime pie and cupcakes! Yum! Will wasn't much interested in eating this night and it became this big production with everyone "getting him to eat"... I hate when mealtimes resort to that. I think: let him skip dinner! But then he doesn't get dessert and he needs to sit at the table to chat politely with us. And he absolutely MUSN'T be rude to the person who prepared the meal. We practice that at home too. We say "no, thank you" and not "I don't like it". But it was still a nice evening despite the meal debacle.3. Monday was my spaghetti with crock pot bolognese sauce. I made it Sunday night and Craig turned the crock pot on for me on Monday just before lunch time. I love coming home to an aromatic house. :) The recipe comes from an old Quick Cooking magazine from years ago and I don't have it in front me at the moment, but I will try to edit this post with the recipe this weekend. It has 1# each ground beef and sausage, a green pepper, an onion and about 6 cloves of garlic and then all those canned items I mentioned above. On the side I served a green salad and garlic toast.
Do you think I got away with this (requested!) meal without any complaints??? Nope! Craig was disappointed that I chose Barilla Plus noodles instead of the unfortified white variety. Seriously. They're not even wheat or whole grain like I would prefer! So, once again, I ask: would anyone like to volunteer to feed my husband?? It's not difficult... just give him fast food for lunch every day and then think of something fried, processed or saucy for dinner and he will love it! :) That is, as long as there's nothing whole grain or too-vegetable-y in it. Anyone?Okay, moving on to:
4) Tuesday: I packed Will's lunch for preschool with: 1 slice of homemade honey wheat bread cut in half, a few tablespoons of toasted pumpkin seeds (protein), a cup or so of strawberries and a snack baggy of red bell pepper and cucumber slices. He came home with about half the pumpkin seeds left. Not sure why, but he really likes the honey wheat bread we made together and will eat it even plain! He doesn't really eat regular bread hardly ever except for the occasional grilled cheese. So making a couple more loaves of this is on my list of things to do!
We had leftover spaghetti for dinner on Tuesday.5) Wednesday was an easy meal. Not because we were in a hurry, but because it sounded good. I had tortillas I wanted to use up and I hadn't made quesadillas in awhile. So... that was dinner. Easy peasy. I pulled out the quesadilla maker, spread some refried black beans on a tortilla, sprinkle with cheese and press! I made enough for the kids and I (Craig won't eat them with the beans) and enough for me to pack in my lunch the next day. I think Craig had leftover egg rolls from Sunday. Sheesh. At least I cut up a pear for him to have with his fried dinner. The man does like his fruit. Here's my plate:
And Will's:
Will only ate one of the triangles. Sophie loved them though! A girl after my own heart.
And Will's:
Will only ate one of the triangles. Sophie loved them though! A girl after my own heart. 6) Thursday was another fast meal... this time because I grocery shopped and didn't get home until 6:00. Scrambled eggs with diced ham and cheese for Craig (who complimented - whoa!), Will (who nibbled) and Sophie (who scarfed again). I had a few bites - eggs are not my favorite.
And then to go with my few bites of eggs, I made myself an open-face avocado-tomato sammie. I ate these constantly when I was pregnant with Will - they are one of my favorites. Usually I have some sort of fresh, crusty bread, but this night I just used regular sandwich bread. I toast the bread, drizzle with olive oil, top with sliced avocado and tomato, then sprinkle with fresh ground sea salt and cracked pepper. Mmm, mmm, mmm! Then Will got extra tomato slices with his eggs and Sophie got avocado dices with hers. Craig got plain toast with butter. Everyone was happy.
Also at the store tonight I picked up some vanilla ice cream (it's rare that we're out of ice cream) to go with another serving of our pumpkin cake with cider caramel sauce. Oh my gosh... so good. That cider caramel sauce would be good just to drizzle on ice cream if you didn't want to make the cake too.
7) Friday will be more spaghetti leftovers. Hey, it made a lot! What can I say? ;) Next time around I'll freeze half... But then again, hopefully next time I'm making a new recipe with homemade marinara.
And then to go with my few bites of eggs, I made myself an open-face avocado-tomato sammie. I ate these constantly when I was pregnant with Will - they are one of my favorites. Usually I have some sort of fresh, crusty bread, but this night I just used regular sandwich bread. I toast the bread, drizzle with olive oil, top with sliced avocado and tomato, then sprinkle with fresh ground sea salt and cracked pepper. Mmm, mmm, mmm! Then Will got extra tomato slices with his eggs and Sophie got avocado dices with hers. Craig got plain toast with butter. Everyone was happy.
Also at the store tonight I picked up some vanilla ice cream (it's rare that we're out of ice cream) to go with another serving of our pumpkin cake with cider caramel sauce. Oh my gosh... so good. That cider caramel sauce would be good just to drizzle on ice cream if you didn't want to make the cake too.
7) Friday will be more spaghetti leftovers. Hey, it made a lot! What can I say? ;) Next time around I'll freeze half... But then again, hopefully next time I'm making a new recipe with homemade marinara.So... I'm curious. What kind of meal planner are you? Are you a "What's for dinner tonight" kind of person? Or a "What's for dinner this/next week" kind of person? Or do you make up a monthly calendar like my aunt used to? Do you grocery shop weekly? Biweekly? Several times a week? What are your scheduling stipulations with meal planning and do you have fussy people to accommodate? I'm always curious how other people handle meals. Makes me feel like someone else out there is in the trenches of chaotic family meals with me. :) Always trying to make them less chaotic, more organized and better accepted. Right?
Happy eating, friends!
