Copy Cat

Lesson #2. When buying chick peas look closer at the cans!

To many spices? Who knows!

Some would say we have to many seasonings. I would say we don't have enough! We LOVE flavor!

Kid Approved Chicken w/Pesto

Pete's Pesto Chicken

By: Peter

(Serves: 4)

Instructions:

- 2 Chicken breast (boneless, skinless) trimmed of fat and butterflied, making 4

- Heat 1 tsp of olive oil 

- Place chicken in pan

Season to taste with:

- fresh ground black pepper

- ground sea salt

- italian seasoning

- paprika

- Do this to one side of the chicken breast.  

Cook about 3 minutes on 1 side and then flip and spread 1 Tbsp Pesto 

over entire piece.  Cook for about 3 more minutes or until done. 

Another new family FAVORITE!!!  Thumbs up from the kids! 

Pork is good!

Smoked Paprika Pork Tenderloin

w/ Succotash

From: Clean Eating Cookbook 2

(Severs 4)

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp olive oil, divided

1/2 tsp smoked sweet paprika

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp sea salt and fresh ground black pepper

1 lb pork tenderloin, trimmed of fat, sliced into 12 medallions

1/2 medium white onion, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 cup frozen corn, thawed and drained

1 cup frozen lima beans, thawed and drained

2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

Instructions:

In a medium bowl, mix 1 tsp oil, paprika, cumin, and 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper.  Add pork to the bowl and mix until pork is well coated.

Heat 1 tsp oil in a large saute pan on medium-high.  Add onion and red pepper and saute for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring frequently, until onion is softened and translucent.  Add corn and beans to pan and cook for 3 more minutes, stirring frequently, until warmed.  Transfers mixture to a bowl and toss with cilantro and remaining 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper.  Set aside and keep warm.

Carefully wipe pan with paper towel. Return pan to stove to and heat remaining 1 tsp oil on medium-high.  Add pork to pan, working in batches if necessary, and cook for 2 minutes per side for medium doneness or 3 minutes per side for well-done.

To serve, scoop 2/3 cup corn-bean succotash onto each plate.  Top succotash with 3 slices pork tenderloin and about 2 tsp pan juices!

Enjoy! This meal so far has had the most FLAVOR!!! Makes me want some right now! 

Hummus, it's for eating!

Ok so lets just say I was not a fan of hummus, I mean I just didn't want to eat a dip made from what? Chickpeas, what the heck is that. As you can tell I might have hated beans and peas as a kid. But now as a parent I am willing to at least try stuff for the sake of the kids. If they see mom or dad trying new foods they are more willing to do so. So I sucked it up one day. I grabbed one of The Works chips and dipped it into the garlic hummus and..... It was actually great! Can't believe I was so scared to try it. It's times like this I like to remember a saying our kids say, "try it, you might like it". So lesson #1 for me, try it you might like it!


Garlic hummus and The Works chips are a huge hit at our house now!!

Silky Smoothie aka Princess Pony Protien Smoothie

Our 4 year old son wanted to name the smoothie so here it is:

Princess Pony Protien Smoothie

1 banana

1 peach

1/4 cup blueberries

1/4 of avocado 

1/2 cup Very Vanilla Silk

1 TBLS brown rice protien powder

6 oz coconut yougurt (strawberry flavored)

Enjoy, they loved them this morning!!!

Bring it on Game

    So today we were discussing with the kids how our diet is going to change...again, and they started to freak out about all the things they're never going to have. You know, cupcakes with frosting, chocolate chip cookies, brownies and gingerbread cookies, which they never liked anyway! So we fired up our favorite search engine and said "Bring It On"! A game that all cool parents do when in the back of their mind they're saying "Crap! I can't answer that!" 
   Frantically I started searching for gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar free chocolate chip cookies. In the split second it took to load the results panic really set in. The kids might win! Then BAM! Score one for the parents! Chocolate chip cookies bookmarked. Bring it on! Everything they threw at us,  BAM! Points for the parents! Let's just say the kids went to bed happy. Good win. Keep an eye out for recipes.

Hero Tip #1

Here is a little tip I used when making the Flank Steak w/ Spinach and Garlic last week.......http://damnititsnotgross.blogspot.com/2012/11/flank-steak-roll.html. While making the meal I realized that again I didn't quite read the whole recipe through before making the meal. I do this a lot... :).   I needed a rack for the steak to rest on in the pan while baking, and well I didn't have one.  So in the moment of panic I thought to myself ok load all 4 of the kids up and run to the store.  But then I started to run through scenarios of all the kids at the store by myself (running wild, hiding on shelfs, reaching for all the food that are banned from the house while telling everyone I starve them because they don't get candy anymore), then I reached for the foil and made my own rack. (see photo below). Thank you Aluminum Foil you saved the day!!! 

Pumpkin Sausage Penne - -

New Favorite in our house! This dish had everyone joining the clean plate club!

Pumpkin Sausage Penne

from BusyGirlHealthyLife

For Recipe follow link below---

http://busygirlhealthylife.com/pumpkin-sausage-penne/

Instead of using Whole Wheat Pasta, which is not a big hit in our house yet (we are trying), we used Veggie Penne Pasta!

Hope you enjoy this dish as much as we did!!!  There is also a cookbook on http://busygirlhealthylife.com/  which will be joining our kitchen in the future!

The "In the head happy dance"

One of our proudest moments so far has been when our four year old says, "More Lima beans please." Oh yes!! All we wanted to do was jump up and Happy Dance!! But we'll settle for the "in the head Happy Dance" so we don't scare him from trying things again.