Slow-Cooker Pork

There's not much to it! I use Pork Shoulder (sounds gross, as I type it, but it is tasty), and just throw it in the Crockpot on low for about 8-10 hours, or less. You know it is done when it just pulls apart. I knew some people were coming over last night, so I pulled out one from the freezer, and threw it in there just as it was. I cooked it for about 5 hours, and then poured a jar of BBQ Sauce over it for the last three. Served with rolls, it makes great sandwiches! You could also make it into Carnitas by using some sort of salsa, or into a more Asian-tasting dish using a different sauce. Super easy!

thai chicken pizza

made this thursday night. d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s.

i'm using the extra peanut sauce over whole wheat pasta with most of the same ingredients (+some red cabbage) for a thai chicken pasta tonight.

ingredients:
1 trader joes pizza crust (i used whole wheat)

fixins
1/2 lb (or so) mozzarella cheese
green onions (or red if that's what you have)
grated carrots
chopped peanuts
chopped cilantro
bean sprouts
chopped or pulled chicken (if you have it, but this would be just as good vegetarian. i happened to have roasted a few extra chicken breasts on monday for meals through the week)

for the peanut sauce
2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
2 tablespoons soy sauce (i didn't have any so i used teriyaki sauce!)
1-2 cloves garlic, minced or chopped
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon brown sugar
juice from half a lemon (can be less, depending on your tastes)

while the pizza crust is coming to room temp, i chopped/grated all the toppings, and let the chopped chicken sit in a bit of the sauce for a few min. roll out the dough (as thin as possible works best, to make sure it cooks through), brush on some peanut sauce, pile on cheese + everything else and bake at 450 for 10 min or so.

a pizza stone is great, but a sheet pan works too-- helps to put it in the oven while it's pre heating so that it also gets hot. obviously this would be great with a simple green salad, but since q was asleep and scott wasn't home for dinner i paired it with a glass of white wine and some tv :)

Snack Attack

In my "spare" time, I occasionally read this blog. Here is a good post on healthy snack options for the little tykes (and us). Most interesting, however, are the other ideas that readers posted. Banana Dogs? I might have piqued your curiosity!

http://mycharmingkids.net/2011/01/snack-attack/#comments

Baby Poop Pasta

I thought this would be appropriate for my inaugural post. Tonight I made what I affectionately called baby poop pasta (well, at least in my head). I told the kids it was veggie pasta. My husband wasn't home for dinner tonight, which was probably just as well. This recipe is adapted from a fun toddler cook book that helps parents figure out ways to sneak veggies into their kids diets. It was actually quite tasty. It would have been tasty looking if I had left out the kale, but since the entire point was to empty out my veggie drawer to prep for our farmers' market trip, in it went. I really love the idea: cook up a bunch of good veggies with tomatoes, blend it up, and serve it as a tomato-ish sauce over pasta. The recipe below is tonight's version based on what I wanted to use up. One of these nights I post the actual recipe. This was just so much more fun to post!

Ingredients:
olive oil
1-2 cloves garlic
2 leeks (sliced about an inch into the green)
2 shallots (sliced)
2 carrots (sliced)
1/2 bunch black kale (stemmed)
4 tomatoes (skinned and chopped - I would have used more, but this was all I had)
basil
oregano
salt and pepper
Parmesan cheese
1 package rice pasta from Trader Joe's

Begin heating pasta water. Saute first 6 ingredients over medium heat while skinning and chopping tomatoes (plunge in boiling water for 30 seconds and then in ice cold water for 30 seconds and then slip off skin). Once other veggies are tender, start cooking pasta and add tomatoes and seasoning. Simmer for three minutes or so. Transfer to food processor or blender. Try not to puree the crap out of it (or into it?) like I did. My eldest has texture issues, so I had to get it pretty smooth. Serve with Parmesan cheese.

Believe it or not, my kids loved it (I know, I know, I need to come up with a better way to feed pasta to my youngest).

Easy Peasy

Can't get much easier than this! I saw this idea on another blog, and am going to walk to Trader Joe's with the kiddos as soon as Ben gets up from his nap. Obviously, I'll have a better recommendation tomorrow, but really, how can you mess it up? Cook pasta, drain, and while it is still hot, mix in this Sun Dried Tomato & Pesto Torta (found near hummus in refrigerator section) for some creamy yumminess. Throw in some chicken, shrimp, or extra veggies and you've got an awesome meal. I plan to steam some broccoli on the side.

egg bapp

i have two kinds of meals in my cooking repertoire: husband-is-home-meals and husband-is-out-of-town-meals. really, the only perk to mark traveling so much is that i don't have to prepare such big dinners for us every day. i cook something easy for the boys and i snack on whatever they don't finish for my own dinner. as mark is currently out of town, this is what we're eating for dinner tonight:

my brother and i used to call it "egg bapp" growing up. bapp means rice in korean. it's like the korean casserole, where you can throw anything in the bowl and mix it up. a lot of my friends throw chunks of stir-fried spam in the rice (koreans are big on spam, but i convinced my mother to stop buying it when i was a teenager because hello, have you seen the gelatin in the can?).

i usually keep it simple and classic with just egg, rice, soysauce, and a little butter. and then i roll the egg rice mixture into small squares of seaweed for like a mini sushi roll for the boys. this way, it's an easy finger food dish for the boys and i eat the rice leftovers straight from the bowl.

i always have some rice in the rice cooker (half brown/half white) and so when i want to make this meal, all i have to do is fry up an egg, cut up some seaweed, and i'm done. dinner in under 3 minutes. sometimes i'll steam some broccoli florets and chop them into the rice mixture.

ingredients:

a bowl of rice

a small pad of butter

one fried egg (sunny side)

teaspoon of soy sauce

seaweed

my 15 month old will eat 12 of these and my almost 3 year old will eat about 20. what's not to love about this dinner?

Fancy Rice 'n' Beans

every now and then i like to try to use up what's in our pantry and freezer. this is one of those weeks. and, since gar has seen the light and realized that we don't need meat in every. single. meal (how was i vegetarian for the first 2 1/2 years of our marriage?!) it has made this cleaning out task even easier. noel LOVES rice and beans so i always have a can of some type of beans on hand; i know, one of these days i'll buy the big bag of beans and make them from scratch. we also had an avocado and a little guacamole that needed to be used up.

so, ingredients:
-mexican rice: saute 2 cups rice in 1/4 cup oil, add 8 oz. tomato sauce (i only had tomato soup which worked fine, and 4 cups broth (i had to use bullion cubes). bring to a boil then reduce heat and over for 15-20 min.
-black or pinto beans (i actually only had chili beans so i used a potato masher to mash them to make them like refried beans)

fixin' ideas: (we only had spinach and avocado)
-chopped up lettuce or spinach
-avocado
-olives
-cheese
-tomatoes
-salsa
-sour cream

i also made some quesidillas for the side. all in all i'd say it was 30-45 min. to prepare and cost $5 or $6 total.

Pampered Chef Chicken Broccoli Braid

I'm going to do a hybrid of this since I had broccoli from my Farm Fresh To You organic delivery and lots of shredded cheddar cheese from a big Costco bag in the freezer (You know you can freeze cheese, right???) When it's on sale, I buy a lot and then save it for recipes.

Since this will slice up into little sandwiches, maybe it will be a hit with Sosi!

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked chicken, chopped
1 cup broccoli, chopped
1/2 cup red bell pepper, chopped
1 garlic clove, pressed
4 oz. (1cup) sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tsp. all-purpose dill mix
1/4 tsp. salt
2 pkgs. (8oz. each) refrigerated crescent rolls
1 egg white, lightly beaten
2 tbls. slivered almonds

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375F. Chop chicken and broccoli using food chopper; place in 2 qt. batter bowl. Chop bell pepper using 5" utility knife; add to batter bowl. Press garlic over vegetable mixture using garlic press. Shred cheese using cheese grater and add to vegetable mixture; mix gently. Add mayonnaise, dill mix, and salt; mix well using scraper. Unroll 1 package of crescent dough; do not separate. Arrange longest sides of dough across width of 12" x 15" rectangle baking stone. Repeat with remaining package of dough. Using roller, roll dough to seal perforations. On longest sides of baking stone, cut dough into strips 1 1/2 inches apart, 3 inches deep using a pizza cutter (there will be 6 inches in the center for the filling). Spread filling evenly over middle of dough. To braid, lift strips of dough across mixture to meet in center, twisting each strip on turn. Continue alternating strips to form a braid. Tuck ends under to seal at end of braid. Brush egg white over dough using pastry brush. Sprinkle with almonds. Bake 25-28 minutes or until deep golden brown.
Substitute 1 tsp. dried dill weed for The Pampered Chef Pantry All-Purpose Dill Mix, if desired.

Yield: 10 servings Approximately 410 calories and 27 grams of fat per serving

Brown Rice and Stir fry Veges

In the morning I make 2 cups brown rice mixed with one cup white rice in the rice cooker.

During nap time I chop/dice/slice/wedge pretty small

mushrooms
onions
peppers
celery
apple sausage
grilled chicken from Costco
and anything else you want to throw in...
stir fry 5-10 minutes at the end add hoisen sause to taste.

Blueberries and pomogranite seeds for dessert

The Beginning

My friends and I are always asking eachother the question, "What are you making for dinner?" We meet up for playdates, and the time runs away from us. All of a sudden, it becomes obvious that we need to hurry home and try and wrestle up a substantial meal for the toddlers and hubbies in our lives. Oh yeah, I need to eat too! For some single/married friends without kids, it's hard to work full time, and have the energy to go grocery shopping, make a big meal, and pack up the leftovers for lunch the next day.

Not only is it hard to work outside of the home (in some cases), get some down time for yourself so you don't suffer from stress-related illnesses, be a good wife, take care of the kiddos, keep the house in order, but also put a home cooked tasty meal on the table most nights??? Sometimes it feels impossible! God bless Trader Joe's.

In my case, if I don't plan out my meals well ahead of time, and start the prep work by nap time, we have Grilled Cheese for dinner once again. I'm always wondering what others are making at their houses. It's hard to find meals that please everyone in a household, so I would love to add some new ideas to my repertoire. Ideas for sneaking veggies into the diet of a toddler? Something simple and fast, yet delicious? I'm all ears!

Do you have any recipes/ideas that meet these criteria? If so, let's share. Nothing fancy. Just post your recipe, and any quick observations/notes along with it. If you want to include a picture, even better. But there's no pressure! This is a one-stop shop for easy dinner ideas for families.

Who are we kidding? We'll turn into Julia Child in our 50's once the kids have moved out and we no longer have puzzle pieces and dried up playdough littering our homes.

What are you making for dinner tonight?