Ants on a Log

Remember these from childhood? They're really easy! I've created a new label and will try to add to the "super snacks" often, because I know sometimes great snack ideas elude me! I will try to add to this category often. This is one of my favorites. It's fun, it's easy, it's fairly healthy (OK, the peanut butter is questionable, but all things considered I'd say it's not too bad).

So completely simple that my 2 year old Bugs helped me make them. Simply wash celery and cut into 3-4" pieces, fill the crevices with peanut butter (or whatever nut butter you have on hand), and top with ants, I mean raisins. In this picture Bugs is topping the "logs" for me.

And for Roo, since she is too young for peanut butter, I give her whole raisins when we have ants on a log. And some graham crackers to go with them. Yum!

Super Easy Stir Fry

Today my husband woke up at 3 with errands to run (that's pm, since he works graves). Since Bugs missed him and wanted to spend time with him, I thought it would be a good idea (ha!) to run errands together as a family. I regretted that once I realized we were finally going to be getting home at 6 and Roo's bedtime is 7, and Bug's is 8. Not much time for messing around. Especially considering I didn't have a plan for dinner yet. Oops.

Anyway, I came up with stir fry as an easy and fast dinner for tonight's meal. And it was a hit!

Bug's plate, ready to go. Okay, okay, I admit it-- the chopsticks are a prop. She didn't use them. But then again, she's only 2!

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In your rice cooker (something I feel is an essential kitchen item), put in desired amount of rice and water and set to "cook." Or I suppose you could cook your rice conventionally if you must. Follow the instructions listed on your rice's packaging.

Cut four chicken tenders or one chicken breast half into small pieces. In a large skillet or wok, heat 2 or 3 T sesame oil on medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook through stirring frequently, 3-4 minutes. Add 2 T oyster sauce and 2 T soy sauce.

Add approximately 4 cups of frozen stir fry vegetables. I use the huge bags you can buy at Costco, mainly because they have the little corn in them and Bugs loves those. Plus it's cheaper to buy them in the huge bag. Add 2 t Asian seasoning (I use Essence of Emeril) and 1 t sesame seeds. For a regular stir fry, you would continue stirring, but because these are frozen vegetables it cooks faster if you cover for a few minutes until they are cooked through.

Serve over mounds of rice.
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Feeding a very young toddler like Roo is a difficult task sometimes. They have food sensitivities and sometimes have reactions. I do think my pediatrician's suggestion to take Roo to the emergency room for a rash over her mouth, chin and eyes was a little overboard, though. DH said she was probably covering her butt and didn't want to be held liable if she told me something different and there were serious consequences. Instead I ignored that part of her advice and just gave her Benedryl, like she suggested. The rash was almost gone within a few minutes of taking the food away, washing her hands, and giving her Benedryl. As a treat for enduring the medicine, we gave her watermelon for dessert. Yum! I was hoping as a pleasant side effect of the Benedryl, she would sleep soundly for more than 1 hour at a time, but since quarter to 8 when she fell asleep, she's woken up 3 times. Whoops, make that 4 times. Gotta go!

Cheater Chicken Noodle

I admit to having cans of Campbell's Chicken Noodle in my pantry. But those are strictly reserved for those days when I personally am so sick that I can barely function, let alone make a batch of chicken noodle soup.

For all the other times that I want chicken noodle, I make it from scratch, mostly. I am a cheater, really. Ideally, one would simmer a chicken in some water with vegetables and fresh herbs to make a lovely broth, then de-bone and cut up the chicken, strain the broth, and add more fresh vegetables and herbs and homemade noodles. But I'm running a home here. I have toddlers and a husband working night shift, so the kids have to be quiet all day long. I can't slave away in the kitchen for hours.

Obviously, we have had some cooler weather lately so I've been making soups for dinner a lot. I wasn't planing on making chicken noodle yesterday until my husband woke up with a sore throat. I wasn't 100% sure what I was going to make (I was thinking about a chicken pot pie made with whole wheat pastry, something I've never done before) but with him waking up sick sealed the deal on dinner. Fortunately my cheater version of chicken noodle doesn't take all day, only about a half hour or 45 minutes start to finish, and it's not fussy so you're not spending the whole time in the kitchen slaving away over dinner.

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Begin by pouring 2- 1 quart boxes of chicken broth in a soup pot set on the stove at medium heat. Begin dicing 1-2 stalks of celery, 2 carrots, and 1 medium onion and add to the pot. Once those are added, you can season with a little salt and freshly ground pepper, add a little rosemary, thyme, and parsley (maybe a half teaspoon of each dried, a little more if you're using fresh, either fresh or dried are fine, though I usually prefer to work with fresh herbs). Once the vegetables are just starting to get tender, open up a 14.4 ounce can of chicken chunks (I told you this was cheater chicken noodle! I suppose you could use freshly cooked if you wanted to) and add it to the soup, breaking it up with a spoon as you stir it in. I get my chicken from my church's cannery, but I know they sell canned chicken in grocery stores as well. Finally, add 1 or 2 cups of egg noodles, depending on how much you like noodles. I usually go with 2 cups because my kids and my husband all love noodles. I use Country Pasta's Homemade Style Egg Pasta instead of conventional egg noodles. They have a much better bite to them and regular egg noodles simply will not do anymore. Simmer your soup until the pasta is cooked.

Serve with fresh bread or crackers. Don't expect leftovers (we never have any).

Minestrone Soup

Minestrone soup is simply a thick Italian soup made with vegetables. And it is also one of my specialties. You know it's good when your two year old says, "Mom, this is delicious!" Every morsel of food placed on Roo's tray was devoured. Bugs asked for seconds. Sweet hubby was disappointed that the girls and I ate all the leftovers so he was only able to have one serving.

This is one of those meals that I can make in a hurry when all else fails. I always keep cans of diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, kidney beans, and boxes of pasta (I typically use Barila Plus because of the added nutrition and whole grains) in the pantry, and bags of Italian vegetables in the freezer. I usually stock up with three or four bags when I buy them so I have plenty on hand for those days when I don't feel like thinking about dinner.

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Bring a pot of water with a pinch of salt to a boil. To it, add approximately 4 ounces of pasta. Cook until al dante. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a soup pot on the stove set to medium, drizzle in 2 T olive oil and add 3 cloves garlic, minced (I use jarred garlic, though "real" chefs and foodies will argue that fresh tastes much better-- I can't tell the difference personally). I then sprinkle in 2 t Italian seasoning (McCormics) and a pinch of rubbed sage. Once the room starts to smell garlicky, pour in two 15 oz cans of diced tomatoes (you can use Italian style if you like) followed by two cans of water and an 8 oz can of tomato sauce. Add 1/2 t celery salt and bring to a boil. Add one bag of Italian Style frozen vegetables and bring back to a boil. Drain and rinse one 15 ounce can kidney beans and add the beans and the cooked pasta to the soup.

Serve with crusty bread and freshly grated Parmesan cheese. I like making the bread fresh and grating the cheese at the table.

Fresh fish

I am married to a fisherman. That means a lot of tasks left to the wayside during fishing season. It also means a lot of fresh fish for dinner. On Saturday he caught a 4 1/2 pound largemouth bass, and we didn't have an opportunity to cook it up until tonight. It was delicious.

DH prepared it by filleting the fish and placing in a foil-lined pan, and made a sauce of mayonaise, soy sauce, and garlic. He covered the fish and placed in the oven set at 375 for about 20 minutes.

To go with our fish, I made a rice pilaf. It's quite simple and delicious, so I make it a lot. For some reason, I can't imagine anything as a side dish with fish besides rice.

Rice Pilaf

2 T butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups rice
salt
pepper
3 cups chicken stock
handful of frozen peas
2-3 T pine nuts

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter on medium. Add the chopped onion. Once the onion begins to become translucent, add the rice and stir on the stove for one minute. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Cover and let simmer for about 20 minutes. When the rice is cooked, add the frozen peas. The heat from the rice will warm the peas quickly, so there is no need to place over heat. Add the pine nuts, to taste.

Making pizza healthy

When you think of healthy, nutritious foods, pizza is probably not on the list. But when most Americans think pizza, they think of those grease soaked pies covered in 5 different meats, with the only vegetables being soggy mushrooms and black olives.

But, pizza can be quite nutritious! It's so easy to make it at home, from scratch. Yesterday we had some minor construction done in our house, with my DH and my dad doing the work. Around 10:30 I started making the dough.

At 11, I realized I forgot to add yeast. Whoops. Not a big deal. I tried adding it to the breadmaker at that point, but it wasn't incorporating the yeast very well, so I decided to knead it in by hand. It only took a few minutes and then I popped it back in the breadmaker to knead for a few more minutes. It had an hour left on the timer and I didn't have that kind of time at that point, so I took it out and did a "quick rise" in the microwave.

To do a quick rise, take a microwave safe bowl and lightly coat with cooking spray. Place the dough in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Fill a cup with some water and place both the dough and water in the microwave. Set your microwave to 20 or 30 % power and microwave for 2 minutes. Allow it to sit for a few minutes and repeat until the dough has risen adequately.

Here's my sister's recipe for pizza dough. I use freshly ground white wheat. I simply place all the ingredients in the breadmaker and add more flour if necessary. I start by adding about 2 cups flour then adding the rest. To bake, I always preheat the pizza stone and just before adding the pizza, I sprinkle on a little cornmeal so it won't stick. I really like the taste of the cornmeal on the bottom of the pizza, too. My sister has instructions for handmixing:

1 c. warm water

1/2 t. salt

2 t. olive oil

About 1/4 c. vital wheat gluten (If you’re going to use whole wheat flour)

2 1/2- 3 1/2 c. flour (I use freshly ground white wheat flour)

1 pkg instant yeast (2 1/4 tsp)

Mix warm water, salt, olive oil and about a cup of flour. Mix on high for one minute. Add yeast. Mix on high for one more minute. Add enough flour to make a nice dough that’s not too sticky. Knead for about 9 minutes. Let it sit for a few minutes while you’re finishing chopping up all your toppings. Put it on your pizza stone or pan or whatever, put on your sauce, toppings and cheese and bake for about 15-20 minutes at 450. If you let it sit for about 10 minutes before you bake it, it rises really nicely.

I also made a really easy pizza sauce that I will be using again and again. I used to use spaghetti sauce, but this is way cheaper and very simple. All I do is take one 15 ounce can of tomato sauce. To it, I add about 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning, 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon onion flakes, 1/4 teaspoon onion powder, a heavy pinch of salt, a few grinds of pepper, and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes. Adjust as necessary, it isn't an exact science! In fact I just dumped them in and when it tasted right, I was done. That simple!

And of course toppings are the really fun part. The healthiest thing to do would be to cut up loads of vegetables to top your pizza with, and use meat and lowfat mozzarella sparingly. Of course, with the crust being whole grain, it's a lot easier to justify double peperoni!

Quinoa

Oh, how I love thee, quinoa. My favorite seed. One of my favorie dishes is Quinoa Tabbouleh, which I first found in the Seattle Times food section. I've made it several times for potlucks and it is always a huge hit. It is also vegetarian and gluten free, so it is sure to please almost everyone.

Except for my two year old, Bugs. "Mama, I don't like quinoa. It has un-juns in it." But at least my Roo likes it! At least, I think she likes it, based on the mess she made. Oh well, I will keep making her eat it and not offering her anything as a substitute, and eventually she'll like it.

For my version, I don't rinse the quinoa before hand. Virtually all the quinoa sold in the US is sold without the bitter coating on it. I also don't dry it out on paper towels after I've finished cooking the seeds. It is messy and takes too long. And it tastes fine without it. I also use bottled lemon juice. I'm positive fresh would be much tastier, but frankly I'm not a gourmet cook and I don't have that kind of time, so bottled will do just fine. I do grow a few herbs, and one of the herbs I grow is mint, so I use that fresh from the garden. Currently that is the only garden herb I have available, but eventually I'm going to have cilantro and parsley as well. Yum!

When serving to Roo, I take out the toasted pine nuts, since they are a choking hazard for infants. I give her a bowl and a spoon and let her go at it. For clean up, I have found that letting it sit on the floor a while helps make clean up so much easier. I know, sometimes it's hard to let a mess just sit there, but it is nearly impossible to sweep up moist quinoa.

Quinoa is a South American seed grown in the Andes, and has been a staple there for thousands of years. It is highly nutritious, being high in protein, with almost all the amino acids that one needs in a healthy diet. It's also high in magnesium and iron, and a good source of fiber. It is fast and simple to prepare, and can be prepared in a variety of ways. You can cook it as you would rice (2 cups liquid to one cup quinoa, and it should soak up all the liquid after about 15 minutes of simmering), grind it into flour, or even sprouted to make it even more nutritious.