Three more weeks of simple cooking!

If you are working on your simple cooking weekly recipe planning, here are our last 3 week's recipes (again, each week includes one fish recipe and one meatless recipe. And leftovers from all meals were turned into our lunches the next day - including for the 2.5 year old!)

Week 1

I am leveraging some of the goodies from our CSA box this week: carrots, broccoli, lettuce.

Pear struessel muffins, Once a Month Mom. with blueberries instead of the chopped pear and applesauce instead of the pureed one... YUM! We put most of these in the freezer and are doling them out for special breakfasts.
Meatloaf Cupcakes w/  mashed potato 'icing', modified from Cooking Light with a side of broccoli
Shrimp 'Fried' Rice, Weelicious (140 Fast, Fresh and Easy Recipes) - very similar to their Veggie Fried Rice recipe + peeled, deveined shrimp
Turkey Spanikopita Burgers, Rachel Ray (365: No Repeats) with a side salad for mom and dad, green beans for M (he's still not into the texture of lettuce...). Also always a surprise for guests that no, they will not even notice the spinach IN the burger. It's just yummy!
Veggie Bowtie Pasta Salad, Parenting.com. Use your favorite Italian dressing and you can't go wrong. I love all the veggies mixed in, too!
Veggie-filled Sausage and Rice, modification of my mama's savory, FAST recipe :)

Would anyone use it if I included the shopping list for the week, too?

Week 2

This week we leaned heavily on a new cookbook we received from a friend: Williams Sonoma: One Pot: Food Made Fast

Chicken Stew with Dumplings
Chicken and Vegetable Curry - made with zucchini and green curry... so not really spicy. Served with brown rice that I'd made the day before while we were eating dinner
Mustard-crusted salmon & potatoes (& Caesar salad for the adults, canned peas for M). This one actually didn't go over all that well with my crowd, if I am being honest. Too strong a mustard taste.
Cauliflower Mac and Cheese (from Eating Well When You're Expecting)
Mu Shu Pork Stir Fry. This didn't look like it was all going to fit in the pan... but as the cabbage wilted, I could add the rest. Surprisingly good!

Week 3

* bought a bag of spinach to add to 'beef' up the vegetable quotient of some of our recipes

Baked Shells (from the weelicious cookbook) (adding chopped spinach to the sauce). I couldn't find jumbo shells at either the grocery store or Super Target, so I just used whole wheat penne instead and sort of threw all the ingredients together (plus a few handfuls of spinach!) and baked for 20 minutes. It was still delicious! And the toddler ate every last bit of his without us doing acrobatics or bargaining.
Chicken and Kale Risotto with Pine Nuts and Bacon (using spinach instead of kale; from Start Fresh by Tyler Florence )
Taco Salad (from Eating Well When You're Expecting). Hubby said it: this is always so good. Never fails. We serve the toddler's with a side of green beans instead of on a bed of romaine.
Tomato-Ricotta Salata Spaghetti. Another regular in our rotation. We finally found our local CA grocery store is carrying ricotta salata!... and after three weeks in a row, this week they weren't. So I subbed goat cheese. Not bad.
Shrimp and Corn Chowder (& quesadillas made with whole wheat tortillas, Mexican cheese and chopped spinach; from Cooking Light) This is one of our favorite recipes to make. M loves shrimp (he's a southern boy at heart!) and the soup is SO savory!!! It's a quick and easy one to impress guests!!!

This Week's Recipes!!

Another easy, healthy recipe plan for the week! Includes one fish dish and two meatless dishes! And, yes, all except the tortellini and egg salad wraps became my 2.5 year old son's lunch for school the next day (and only because there wasn't enough left over)!

For the Tortilla Soup and Enchiladas, I bought a rotisserie chicken (split between the two recipes) to save even more time. Those things are money-savers, too!! $6-8 for two meals' worth of chicken!

Kale, Gruyere, and Sour Dough Strata, FitPregnancy (I can't get enough eggs in this pregnancy!)

Creamy Tortellini with Bacon, Dream Dinners (side of red pepper strips and spaghetti squash - our first Dream Dinners taste! Look for my upcoming review)

Chicken Tortilla Soup, Weelicious

Not Your Mama's Tuna Salad, Rachel Ray (Pesto, Roasted Red Peppers, shell pasta + tuna = yum! This week, I swapped lightly sauteed carrot slices for the grape tomatoes)

Mexican Enchiladas, Weelicious

Egg Salad Lettuce Wraps, Fit Pregnancy (got some beautiful heads of Bibb lettuce in our CSA box this week! Served with toasted slices of our leftover Sour Dough!)

I can't find links to the egg recipes from Fit Pregnancy this week, so I am reprinting them below:

(From the Dec/Jan '13 issue of FitPregnancy)

Sourdough Kale Strata

2 tbsp olive oil
1 large finely diced shallot
6 cups kale, washed, deveined, and torn into bite sized pieces (about 1 bunch)
1/4 tsp salt
10 eggs
2 cups 2% milk
1/4 tsp pepper
4 cups sourdough bread (best with stale bread) torn into bite-sized pieces
1.5 cups shredded Gruyere cheese, divided

1. Heat olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add shallots and saute 2 minutes. Add kale and salt and cook another 2 mintues. Set aside.
2. Whisk together eggs, milk and pepper in a large bowl.
3. Coat a 9x13 in baking dish with cooking spray. Add kale mixture, torn bread and 1 cup cheese, Toss together and spread evenly over pan.
4. Pour egg mixture into the dish and top with remaining cheese.
5. Cover strata with aluminum foil and let stand 20 minutes (this allows the bread to absorb the eggs mixture) or refrigerate overnight.
6. Preheat oven to 400 F. (If dish was refrigerated  let it warm up at room temperature for a bit so it won't crack in the oven.) Bake 35 minutes, then remove foil and continue baking 15 to 20 minutes until puffed and golden brown around edges. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.



Curry Egg Salad Wraps

6 large eggs
3 tbsp nonfat Greek yogurt
3 tbsp light mayonnaise
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp curry powder
Pinch salt and pepper
1 celery stalk, diced
1/4 c finely chopped radishes (we used carrot instead)
2 tbsp finely chopped red onion
1/4 c sunflower seeds
1/4 c chopped fresh parsley (or dill, chives or cilantro)
8 large Bibb, Boston or butter lettuce leaves

1. Place eggs in a medium saucepan and cover with 1 inch of cold water. Bring to a boil over high heat. when water reaches a boil, immediately cover saucepan, remove from heat and let sit 12 minutes. Place eggs in ice water for 3 minutes to stop the cooking. When cooled, rinse under cold water to peel. Chop coarsely.
2. In a large bowl, stir together Greek yogurt, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, curry powder, salt and pepper until combined, Add chopped eggs, celery, radishes, red onion, sunflower seeds and fresh parsley and stir until combined.
3. Divide eggs mixture evenly among lettuce leaves (about 1/4 cup each). Roll up and serve.

Fresh Cooking for the Week - How to Simplify

Hoppin' John Soup & corn muffins

How can you work full time outside the home and still get good home-cooked meals on the table for your family most nights of the week? There are several options, but the one that works best for us is what I like to call IE Meal Planning.

IE = Industrial Engineering. This was my major in college - and grad school. The simplest way I've seen it explained is on a nerdy bumper sticker: "Engineers make things. Industrial Engineers make things better." So in case I haven't discussed this already on this blog, it kind of is my hobby to optimize everything, not just the traditional factory stuff the profession was born from. All aspects of life can benefit from the intersection of 'taking the easy way out' and 'doing it right'.

So you and I probably know at least half of the recipes our families make regularly by heart, but I still pull out the recipes for them each week, like a Kan Ban system to help me plan our meals (ok, I am boring you, right? My professors would be so proud, though!). Not only does this help me make sure I have all the ingredients I need, the instructions are still handy in case hubby needs to jump in and help out while we cook.

On Saturday or Sunday, I take requests from the family and pick 4-6 recipes for the week. I generally try to have at least one meatless day and one seafood day - and just enough servings to make dinners and lunches for all of us for most of the week (I admit I look forward to NOT cooking by Friday!). I put the pages on the cookbook holder (even for recipes out of books, I prefer to make a photocopy of the pages I'll use - just to accommodate this system. Is that OCD?). I review the recipes and add the ingredients we don't already have to the OurGroceries app (along with the stuff we need for breakfasts and snacks) and head to the store, reusable grocery bags and phone in tow.

I should interject here that 95% of our recipes are healthy, fast and tasty. Very few make the cut that take too much time or work and even those have to be earmarked for a Sunday evening when we have extra time. Fairly often a recipe for muffins or another snack will make the pile - but those have to be made on the weekends, too!

During the week, Daddy picks up from daycare (I do drop-off), so I can usually get an uninterrupted start on dinner. And most days the meal is in its final stage of cooking (or close to it) when the boys get home.

We dish out our plates, eat together, play a little, then its off to bed for the little one. After he's bathed and tucked in, we pack up the leftovers into our lunches for the next day (check that box on the To Do list!), wash dishes and still have some time to relax ourselves.

As an example, here are our recipes for this week:

Fish Sticks with Green Beans and Potatoes (from Tyler Florence's Fresh Start)
Hoppin' John Soup (adapted from this Parenting.com recipe, by swapping in a can of black eyed peas for one of the cans of white beans, and adding a cup of cooked brown rice)
One Pan Lasagna (from Tyler Florence's Fresh Start)
Cozy At Home Mac n Cheese (from What to Expect: Eating Well When You're Expecting, we use cauliflower as our veggie add-in)
Two Cheese Pesto Pizza (from Weelicious.com)
Pear Struesel Muffins (from OnceAMonthMom.com - but I'll be honest, we probably won't get to these until THIS weekend...)

(if you use MyFitnessPal, I can share the nutrition info I already input for some of the recipes below that don't provide it!)

more weekly recipes:

1 week
3 weeks' worth

Lunches: more single mom time!

I was a single mom for several days this week, so in preparation I made a big batch of the toddler pasta and therefore M had a fairly repetitive lunch this week...

toddler pasta (topped with Parmesan - I was feeling fancy!), rotisserie chicken, strawberries
steamed baby carrots, yogurt
diced mango, whole grain blueberry muffin (Real Simple)

toddler pasta, blueberries, rotisserie chicken
steamed carrots, yogurt,
whole grain muffin, strawberries

Chicken and Black bean Enchiladas (the toddler version skips the enchilada sauce, which is quite spicy, and tops with mild salsa instead), steamed cauliflower, yellow pepper, zucchini
pasta, kiwi, steamed carrots
yogurt, whole grain muffin

I love granola - Toddler Lunches

Short week, so only four lunches to share.

I do hate to brag, but good produce is really cheap on the left coast! We picked up cherries this week! Mmmm mmmm mmmm....

People: have you tried the weelicious granola bars yet? I am addicted to the chocolate chip version. M seems to be enjoying the dried fruit version, too.

Cheers Pizza!, halved cherries, peas and corn ("beh-ja-buls" at our house)
steamed carrot sticks (cut from regular-sized carrots) and yogurt
weelicious granola + apricot wedges

sausage and rice (and peppers and broccoli) and orange slices
watermelon and yogurt
weelicious granola and apricot slices

This was our super fast lunch that we put together after coming home from
a trip to the ER to have a rock removed from the toddler's nasal cavity...
1/4 turkey and cheese sandwich slices, steamed carrots, grape tomato halves, frozen peas
cherries and yogurt
granola and apricot wedges

leftover from our Memorial Day grilling:
grilled marinated chicken, grilled squash and zucchini, strawberry slices, Annie's Snack Mix
watermelon and yogurt
granola and apricot wedges

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Toddler lunch - home made fish sticks were a hit!

Happy Friday!

I have a fun recipe to share this week: Fish Sticks.

Not the frozen ones, but simple, healthy ones made at home - quickly. Both kid- and dad-approved.



rasperry summer salad (raspberries, grilled chicken, goat cheese, apricot dressing
 and green beans instead of lettuce) + rosemary crackers;
whole grain blackberry muffin + tangelo slices;
grapes, carrots and yogurt



Homemade Fish Sticks, quick whole wheat cheddar biscuits, frozen peas, apple slices;
whole grain blackberry muffin + apricot slices;
blueberry granola + yogurt

hard boiled egg, Annie's snack mix, cherry tomato slices, green beans, black beans;
blueberry granola, yogurt;
watermelon chunks, whole grain blackberry muffin

Not pictured: two days of the same recipe: cauliflower mac n cheese with our typical sides/snacks of veggies, yogurt, muffin and fruit!

Fish Stick Recipe

(adapted from from Cooking Light's)

 

Ingedients

1/2 c panko

1/2 c bread crumbs

1 pound skinless Pacific cod or other firm-fleshed white fish fillet

1/2 teaspoon salt, divided

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (we used whole wheat) 

1-2 large eggs, beaten

Cooking spray

1/4 cup fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth

2 cups frozen green peas

1 tablespoon butter

8 mint leaves

Preparation

1. Cut fish into 16 (3 x 1-inch) pieces; pat dry with paper towels. Sprinkle fish evenly with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Place flour and egg in separate shallow dishes. Dredge 1 fish finger in flour, shaking off any excess. Dip fish in egg; dredge in breadcrumbs. Repeat procedure with remaining fish, flour, egg, and breadcrumbs. Arrange coated fish on a cooking-spray-coated broiling pan. Bake at 425° for 8 minutes or until desired degree of doneness, carefully turning once.
2. Bring chicken broth to a simmer in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in peas; cover and cook 2 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in butter, mint, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Place pea mixture in a food processor; process until smooth. Place about 1/3 cup pea puree in the middle of each of 4 plates. Stack 4 fish fingers on the puree. Serve with lemon wedges, if desired.

(note: our toddler preferred the whole frozen peas for dinner instead of the mushy ones, but I enjoyed the minty version in the recipe!)

Quick whole wheat biscuits (we used all whole wheat flour, regular milk, and added 1/4 - 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar to the batter before baking!)

Toddler lunches this week - breakfast for lunch!

So we got some feedback this week from school that Mason is no longer interested in his cereal bars. He eats half and throws half. We will no longer be including those, I guess... one less prepackaged thing probably isn't bad.

Also, in talking with another parent at school, he asked, "Are you the family that packs the eco-friendly lunches?" Maybe. I'll take that as a compliment!

So, here are this week's lunches (and a few from last week - sorry I forgot to share)! Perhaps this lends some inspiration to your shopping this weekend.

mini-frittata (see recipe below), half a biscuit, steamed carrots, frozen peas, cherry tomato halves
yogurt and cereal bar,
Weelicious granola, orange slices and raisins

turkey slice, cheese slice, rosemary crackers, cherry tomato halves, raisins
Rise and Shine Muffin, yogurt
Weelicous granola bar, strawberries

leftover black beans and rice, steamed carrots, leftover chicken (from our bike-to-chick-fil-a kids' night), cherry tomato halves
Rise and Shine muffin and yogurt
Annie's snack mix and stawberries

peanut butter and honey sandwich, pear sticks

mini-frittata, half a biscuit, steamed carrots, orange slices, cherry tomato halves
mango and cereal bar
Weelicious granola and yogurt

taco salad toppings, steamed carrots, shredded cheddar, Annie's snack mix
1/4 blueberry bagel and yogurt
Weelicious granola and orange slices

taco salad toppings, steamed carrots, cherry tomato halves, cheddar slivers, Annie's snack mix
mango and yogurt
Weelicious granola and orange slices

Mini-Frittatas

(modified from a parenting.com recipe)

1 c chopped mushrooms

1 c chopped red pepper

10 large eggs

1 tsp salt

shredded mozzerella (about 3/4 cup)

Preheat oven to 350. Saute mushrooms and pepper. Coat a muffin tin with cooking spray. Divide the veggies evenly among the muffin sections. 

Whisk the eggs with the salt, and pour into muffin tin, dividing equally. Top each well with some cheese.

Bake for 15 minutes or until puffy.

Serve with tater tots!

Toddler Food - Mexican Recipe!

In case you need inspiration for your weekend market trip... recipes links are at the bottom!

I was just scrolling through some of the older recipe posts and getting re-inspired for my own grocery trip!

Seriously: try the granola bars. They are really easy, and I made half the batch chocolate chip (for myself! so addicting!) and the other half with raisins/dried cranberries/diced dried apricots for M.

shrimp and corn chowder, wedge of veggie quesadilla, apple slices
weelicious granola (with dried fruit instead of chocolate chips), granola
blueberries, carrots, cereal bar

fish'n'grits, steamed broccoli and carrots
Weeliciouis granola bar and yogurt
kiwi and cereal bar

cauliflower mac n cheese, steamed veggies, edamame, blackberries
tangelo slices, cereal bar
Weelicious granola, yogurt

shrimp and corn chowder, veggie quesadilla wedges, apple slices
yogurt and weelicous granola
strawberries, steamed carrots, turkey slice

Meatloaf cupcake (mashed potato 'icing'), steamed carrots, diced tomato, blackberries
tangelo slices, cereal bar
yogurt, weelicious granola

Shrimp and Corn Chowder (Cooking Light)

Chocolate Chip Granola Bars (Weelicious.com)

Pecan Crusted Trout (Cooking Light)

Cauliflower Mac N Cheese (What to Eat When You're Expecting)

Meatloaf Cupcakes (Cooking Light Santa Fe Meatloaf)

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Toddler lunch!! Spanikopita Burger Recipe

One of our favorite recipes is included this week: Spanikopita Burgers. I still haven't found the best way to introduce these, because I know the idea of spinach is a turnoff to so many people. Let's just say, the skeptics who've tried it have loved it... so you will love it, too.

Spanikopita burger (see recipe below), corn, blueberries, half of a Rise and Shine muffin;
Plain yogurt, steamed carrots
cereal bar, kiwi

Cauliflower Mac n Cheese, edamame, steamed carrots, blueberries
yogurt, cereal bar
Toddler Trail mix (Annie's snack mix, Mom's Best Naturals Toasted Cinnamon Squares, raisins, diced dried apricot)

OK... this one is sort of embarrassing... but it was a single mom night... and if you read one of those posts...
half-eaten piece of Cheers! Pizza, a quarter of a Spanikopita burger, green beans, halved cherry tomatoes, blueberries
Rise and Shine muffin, frozen peas
yogurt, diced mango

Spanikopita burger, half Rise and Shine muffin, halved heirloom cherry tomatoes, corn
Yogurt, orange slices & craisins
cereal bar, diced mango

Spanikopita Burger (adapted from Rachel Ray's recipe)

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 red onion, 1/2 chopped, 1/2 thinly sliced
• 10 oz box frozen spinach, defrosted
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 pound feta crumbles
• 1 1/3 pounds ground chicken or turkey
• 1 tablespoon Montreal Steak Seasoning by McCormick)
• whole wheat buns

Directions

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. To one side, add the olive oil and butter. When melted add the garlic and onion. Transfer the onions and garlic to a bowl to cool. Return pan to heat.

Wring the defrosted spinach dry (we squeeze in in our hands). Separate the spinach as you add it to the bowl with cool onions, garlic and season with oregano. Add in feta crumbles then chicken or turkey, grill seasoning and. Mix and form into 5-6 patties, 1-inch thick. Raise heat on pan to medium-high. Add patties and cook 6 inches on each side.

Top bun with cooked burger. We like to lightly toast the bun and add regular mustard to ours! Enjoy!

More Toddler Lunches

I apologize for the scarcity of posts lately, as we have been moving and traveling the past couple weeks. But for the few lunches I have packed for my little one, here are some highlights!!

Veggie pasta, orange sections, hard boiled egg (Easter leftovers!!), blueberries;
cereal bar, kiwi
yogurt, Gerber's toddler banana cookies (an Easter basket gift from his Gigi)

The toddler version of tonight's dinner: A summer salad with chicken, almonds, strawberries, goat cheese, homemade apricot-Dijon dressing, and (canned) green beans instead of lettuce!
Admittedly, the goat cheese didn't go over all that well (you should have seen the face he made!!) but it was worth the try. Everything else I was very confident he would enjoy.

look familiar? more veggie pasta, orange sections, hard boiled egg, blueberries
strawberries, yogurt
cereal bar

Sausage and rice, blueberries, (multi-colored) heirloom cherry tomatoes, yogurt-covered pretzel
steamed carrots (funny looking because they are made from REAL carrots, pulled right from the ground!), yogurt
cereal bar, kiwi

the packed-lunch version of the summer salad:
strawberries, almonds, rotisserie chicken, (canned) green beans, Annie's Snack Mix
steamed carrots, raisins (from his Easter eggs!)
cereal bar, yogurt

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Toddler Lunch Equipment

SoYoung lunchbox

I had a couple of friends ask about what I was packing these toddler lunches in, and I realized that I never posted a complete description, so:

The lunchbox we use is by SoYoung (not the cheapest one out there, but its got a cute design and its pretty roomy- fits our stuff perfectly.). I bought it on Amazon. They also make 'cooler bags' which may be a better fit for bottles or depending on your containers. I love the bird and bicycle designs on those, and the robot or rocket would be cute on the lunchbox, too. And the giraffe!- though since its pink, so that won't fly at our house.

 

The containers I use are made by Sassy, and are BPA-free. We were handed down one set, and found another at Kohl's, but I found them available on amazon  and am sure you can find them at Babies'r'us, BuyBuyBaby, Target, etc., too. Weelicious.com recommends (and offers discounts on) some metal 'laptop lunch' containers.

I like using these containers and lunchbox, combined, because it makes packing lunch feel like a coloring book: I pack a lunch, coloring inside the lines, and ta-da: lunch is packed.

What do you use to pack your kids' lunches?

Toddler Dinners (including a super-fast option!)

I was a single mom for a couple of nights this week. The first night, we had leftovers, which took a lot of pressure off for the evening. The second night, however, I didn't plan so well. In fact, I thought Daddy was going to be home in time to help with dinner/kid management, so I had actually planned to make a totally new meal. But I was wrong. I started to make one of our favorite, 20-minute meals: Cauliflower Mac n Cheese (recipe at the bottom of this post). However, with the help of my toddler this was taking much longer than usual, and I had to bail about halfway through, when it was 6:30 and I still was nowhere near close to getting something on the table. So I pulled out a piece of bread and a slice of cheddar and got started on a half a grilled cheese sandwich. Somehow this cooked perfectly, and landed on a plate with a few steamed carrot sticks (a staple in our fridge) and a handful of (still) frozen peas. AND HE ATE THE WHOLE THING. Our guy has been boycotting dinners this week (except cheese and milk), so I was glad to see him gobble this meal, and ecstatic that he ate the bread and veggies, too! See the photo of a couple minute in.

I wanted to include a few photos of other lunches we have packed this week, constructed of leftovers:

The entree here is the guts of an enchilada (see recipe below), torn half a whole wheat tortilla, cubes of steamed sweet potato, strawberries, blueberries, mango, kiwi, a yogurt-covered pretzel; Snacks: yogurt and granola; applesauce (in the container) and toddler trail mix (pretzels, raisins, craisins, diced dried apricots)

Cauliflower Mac N Cheese, strawberries, blueberries, cherry tomato halves, steamed carrots, yogurt -covered pretzel; Snacks: yogurt, frozen edamame (in a Dora single-serve pack - full disclosure, most of these came home...); halved grapes, fig cereal bar

Cauliflower Mac N Cheese

(based on a recipe from What to Eat When You're Expecting)

8 oz whole wheat macaroni

1 small head of cauliflower, chopped into bite-sized pieces

2 tbsp butter

1.5 tbsp whole wheat flour

1 cup milk

1/2 cup shredded Gouda

1/2 cup shredded cheddar

1 cup shredded mozzarella

1.5 tbsp wheat germ

1.5 tbsp Parmesan

Start cooking macaroni according to package directions. Meanwhile...

Steam cauliflower. Meanwhile...

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Whisk in the flour for a couple minutes to create a rue. Add the milk and simmer until slightly thickened. Remove from heat and stir in Gouda, cheddar, mozzarella until smooth. Add macaroni and cauliflower, and stir to coat.

Mix together the wheat germ and Parmesan.

At this point, if you like baked mac n cheese, like grandma makes, you can transfer the mac n cheese to a baking dish, top with the wheat germ/parm and bake on 350 for 10 minutes. We usually can't wait this long and dish it right up, and sprinkle the topping right on our bowls.

For more veggie sneakiness, we have tried stirring in peas or sauteed kale. Broccoli would be an easy swap for the cauliflower. And chicken or beef or edamame would be an easy addition if you feel like you need more protein.

Easy Enchiladas

(based on a recipe from my friend Shelley)

10 oz canned chicken

1 cup black beans

1/2 cup shredded cheddar

1/2 cup salsa*

1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt (or sour cream)

7-8 whole wheat tortillas

1 can enchilada sauce*

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine chicken, beans, cheese, salsa and yogurt in a bowl. Scoop even amounts of filling into tortillas, and roll into tubes. Nestle the tubes side-by-side, touching, into a baking dish. Pour enchilada sauce evenly over the tubes. Sprinkle a little more cheddar on top.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes.

Serve!

*To really make this toddler friendly, use a mild salsa, and look for a non-spicy enchilada sauce (unless your little one likes heat. We couldn't find our usual brand, and the replacement was still hot, so we only served him the guts, with pieces of dry tortilla.

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Toddler lunch ideas, part II



Wednesday



For Deborah:

This series is dedicated to pasta salad. Not the kind with mayo or oily dressing, but a kid friendly one, that is flexible to include whatever veggies you have leftover in your fridge. I got the idea from an article in Parenting magazine published about a year ago. They were actually discussing (er, advertising) products for a greener lunch, ie. reusable containers and cutlery, but they were displaying said hardware with food, and shared the recipes. I didn't like all the aspects of the pasta, so I made some modifications, and this week I had some extra veggies on hand that I steamed up and snuck in.

 My version is as follows:

2 c cooked whole wheat rotini

1/4 to 1/2 cup chicken or vegetable broth

1/2 c cherry tomatoes (this week I swapped the tomatoes for red pepper and zucchini that I had leftover and steamed with the carrots below, then diced)

1/2 c frozen peas

1/2 c steamed baby carrots, sliced

salt and pepper as needed



Tuesday



I let the pasta cool in the broth for flavor (instead of the butter the original recipe called for), and then mix everything together. Voila. That's it. Then pair it with a protein and a fruit side, and you have lunch!

Monday -

Lunch: veggie pasta salad, hard boiled egg, strawberries and kiwi;

Snack: blueberries and apple cinnamon cereal bar (Sprouts market brand);

Snack: grape tomatoes + feta cheese



Monday



Tuesday -

Lunch: veggie pasta salad, leftover spanikopita burger (see below for recipe - we LOVE these... and its got sneaky spinach in it!), mango;

Snack: YoToddler yogurt;

Snack: Strawberries + blueberry yogurt

Wednesday-

Lunch: veggie pasta salad (with some leftover quinoa mixed in), turkey lunch meat, half a slice of cheddar cheese, grape tomatoes;

Snack: YoToddler yogurt, blueberries;

Snack: fig cereal bar, strawberries



Thursday



Thursday -

Lunch: veggie pasta salad, hard boiled egg, mango

Snack: apple cinnamon cereal bar, YoToddler yogurt

Snack: whole grain raspberry muffin (see our Valentine's day post for the recipe)

Rachel Ray's Spanikopita Burger (just zero in on the burger, we pair with our own sides... but don't forget the buns!!)

Toddler Lunch Ideas, part 1



Monday

In case you are struggling with what to pack/make your toddler, I wanted to share some ideas. It includes a mix of things I 'cooked' and things that are pre-packaged. We usually try to buy organic when we can but healthy and sometimes just handy, is good enough. I try to include a fruit or veggie in each snack and one of each with lunch. Please share your ideas, too!!

To get the conversation started, here are a few we packed this week:

For Monday

Lunch: 3/4 of a mini-whole-wheat-bagel pizza with peas (the recipe from weelicious.com), apple slices, steamed baby carrots, and milk

snack 1: yogurt + blueberry flax granola (blue container)



Tuesday



snack 2: cereal bar + clementine, peeled (yellow container)

Tuesday-lunch: leftover homemade whole wheat macaroni & cheese & steamed cauliflower (a recipe we loved from What to Eat When You're Expecting) , hard-boiled egg, halved cherry tomatoes, clementine sections, milk; snack 1: peach cubes + cereal bar; snack 2: yogurt + blueberry flax granola

Wednesday

Wednesday-

lunch: leftover stuffing from our stuffed peppers (from this month's Real Simple), steamed carrots, apple slices and milk; snacks 1& 2: mix and match a hard boiled egg, string cheese, simply baked potato chips, mixed blueberry granola and raisins.

Thursday -


Thursday



lunch: turkey, cream cheese, spinach roll up (on a half of a tortilla), frozen peas, raisins; snack 1: apples + steamed carrots; snack 2: cereal bar + plain yogurt mixed with blackberries

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