Posts Tagged ‘what’s for dinner’

Super Food, Super Delicious!

Thursday, January 8th, 2015

My only food-related New Year’s resolution is “Eat less food from a drive-thru”. I’ve made drastic diet resolutions in the past and – not shocking – I’ve always failed. Always. If I’m not just throwing the whole thing out the window I’m busy trying to get around it somehow. (Well this ice cream is totally local and organic, which means it’s ok. It’s not like I’m eating horrible procesed candy from a bag…)

So “fewer drive-thrus” is a good goal. If I have to at least get out of the car and walk in to get my take-out at least it’s more likely to have a vegetable in it. I’m also menu planning again – maybe I’ll even get a What’s For Dinner post up! – and keeping the fruit bowl full. But when it’s lunch time and I’m standing in my kitchen and I realize I haven’t eaten anything that day and am suddenly STARVING, even a no-drive-thru rule doesn’t stop me from eating a pint of ice cream instead of real food. There has to be something easy and delicious right there.

eat smart wild greens and quinoa salad kit-8

(more…)

Basil and Cheese Egg Muffins

Tuesday, December 16th, 2014

I extended my AeroGarden giveaway so it ends TONIGHT! Quick, go enter! And if you’re still looking for an awesome Christmas gift for someone hard to buy for, you can use the code Digital20 for 20% off your order from the AeroGarden website. And a huge thanks to AeroGarden for working with me over the past few months and for sponsoring this post!

basil and cheese egg muffins

A few months ago when Linc was still super new and I wasn’t feeling much like leaving the house, my crazy babywearing friends (spoken with the utmost affection) agreed to have a meet-up at my house to show me how to use my new woven wrap. Since then, Friday morning playdates have been a regular thing. One of my friend’s 6 year old daughter described it as “All they do is drink tea and talk about wraps. It’s a total MomFest.” So obviously we call it MomFest now.

(more…)

What’s For Dinner: Easy Ravioli With Sausage And Tomatoes

Wednesday, May 21st, 2014

I was going to call this “What’s For Dinner: Stuff I Bought At Target” but my friend Amy pointed out some Targets don’t have as much food as others. Maybe your Target doesn’t have a frozen food section, or dried herbs, or the specific brand of tomatoes I like, or any sausage. I don’t want to get angry emails saying “I TRIED TO MAKE YOUR RECIPE BUT THEY DIDN’T HAVE RAVIOLI AT MY TARGET SO MY LIFE IS RUINED.”

You wouldn’t think people could get so mad over a problem easily solved (try the grocery store! Or even Walmart!), but then you’d remember this is the internet.  The most hateful comments I’ve ever gotten were about a tutu.

But back to food, since food is pretty much all I have left to enjoy at 32 weeks pregnant. Delicious, cheesy food.

Ravioli with Sausage and Tomatoes @bebehblog

A recipe that only takes a handful of ingredients that I can keep on hand AND children eat is the Holy Grail of dinners around here. I don’t even consider frozen ravioli cheating when it comes to “homemade” – if I didn’t get it from a drive-thru, we’re doing really well. (Have I mentioned I just discovered the joys of frozen meatballs and rotisserie chickens from the grocery store too???) Both kids ate the noodles, Caroline ate a ton of sausage and Evan pushed the tomatoes around on his plate. I added lots of red pepper flakes for my helping, but if you made it for grown ups you could use spicy sausage for even better flavor – the package I used was “garlic and cheese”.

Ravioli With Sausage And Tomatoes

1 24 oz bag frozen ravioli (cheese, spinach & cheese, whatever)
1 28 oz can Tuttorosso diced tomatoes
16 oz Italian sausage (whatever kind you like – if you buy precooked chicken sausage this would be even faster)
1 TBS dried basil
1 TBS dried oregano
Parmesan cheese
Red pepper flakes
Salt

Cook the ravioli according to package directions. Most of the time that involves boiling a pot of water and just tossing them in for a few minutes. In the mean time, cut the sausage into small/medium sized pieces and brown it in a skillet until fully cooked. Drain the sausage of most of the fat. Open the tomato can and drain about 3/4 of the liquid (If you want saucier tomatoes you can skip that step. Saucy!) then throw them in the pan with the sausage. Add basil and oregano, then salt to taste. Simmer the sauce for just a few minutes to let the sausage soak up some of the tomatoes. Drain the ravioli and you’re ready to serve! Top with cheese and red pepper to taste.

Ravioli with Sausage and Tomatoes @bebehblog

It almost seems too easy, but I promise the tomatoes + sausage make a delicious combination. I’m a big fan of the Tuttorosso brand (they actually sent me a few cans, but I already had a dozen in my pantry) and they’re easy to find – look for the green and yellow labels. Technically this should serve 4, but if you are hungry or pregnant I’d say only 2 grown ups plus 2 kids.

Although right now I am fully confident I could eat the entire thing entirely by myself.

What’s For Dinner? Volume 12

Friday, April 26th, 2013

It’s What’s for Dinner! I’m hoping resurrecting this feature will encourage me to cook more. I like cooking. It’s better for me and my family than the pizza/fast food/frozen stuff cycle we’ve been on while E’s schedule was totally crazy. Even if I’m not making intentionally diet-friendly recipes there are definitely more vegetables in these than in a #2 from McDonalds (large size, with a Diet Coke). So here’s what we’ve been eating for the past week:

1-Lightroom Edits1

Dragon Noodles – Budget Bytes (A++++ Will make again (and again and again and another million more times.) It’s too spicy for the kids so I have to make them something else but it is totally worth it.)
Pesto Shrimp Skewers and Malt Vinegar Oven Fries – SkinnyTaste and BabyBabyLemon (my fries were delicious but not photogenic)
Korean Beef – Lizzy Writes (I added sriracha, so of course it was delicious)
Baked Hummus and Spinach Dip and Homemade Whole Wheat Pitas – Naturally Ella and Budget Bytes (E had work so I was just feeding myself and the kids, so hummus was a perfect choice)

1-Lightroom Edits2

Cheeseburger Quesadillas – Skinny Taste (she made hers with buffalo meat, but I used my delicious grass-fed cow)
Greek Salad with Beef Kebabs – ripped out of Rachael Ray’s magazine (salad was delicious, kebabs were a little meh but BOTH kids ate a ton of meat and cucumbers)
Summer Vegetables with Sausage and Potatoes – Skinny Taste (yummy)
Crockpot Beef and Pepper Tacos  – I made this one up! See below for the recipe…

crockpot beef and pepper tacos

Crockpot Beef and Pepper Tacos
Serves at least 4, with leftovers

1 Beef roast, 2-3 lbs
Bell peppers, various colors, sliced
1 onion, chopped
1 jalapeno, chopped (or more, to taste)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 T chili powder
1 T garlic powder
1 tsp cumin
1/2 T salt
1 tsp paprika
Black pepper
Red pepper flakes, to taste
2 cups beef broth or stock

Mix the spices together in a small bowl and rub them all over the roast. Put the roast in the crockpot and surround it with the peppers, onion, jalapeno and garlic. And 2 cups beef broth (more or less, depending on the size of your crockpot – it should come up about half way on the roast) and then put the lid on. Cook on low for 5-6 hours or until the beef is fall-apart tender. Shred it up and put it on a plate for serving. Put the cooked beef and peppers in tortillas with lettuce, pico de gallo, and avocado. I put hot sauce on mine too, since it was good but a little boring – I love spicy! Caroline liked it though, so mild was definitely a good choice.

crockpot beef and pepper tacos

I made the pico de gallo too. I win at dinner this week.

So, have you tried any really great recipes recently?

We Bought A Cow

Monday, March 4th, 2013

We bought a cow. Well, part of a cow. We split half a cow with some friends so we ended up with one-sixth of a cow. Well, one-sixth of a cow post-chopping up, so it’s not like I have a whole bunch of hooves in my downstairs freezer (although we did send my friend Erin home with a rather large bag of bones). The cow came from a very nice small family farm in rural Pennsylvania where she ate grass and wandered around fields and lived as happy of a cow life as she possibly could have until she came to live in my stomach instead.

I have very high hopes for my cow, although I’m sort of nervous to DO anything with the meat. Is it a crime to put stuff on it? Should I just barely cook the steaks and eat them straight up? Also, I’m going to need some ground beef recipes besides taco salad and spaghetti with meat sauce (although I’m pretty sure E would be fine with 30 nights of taco salad).

IMG_1523

Since my freezer is huge, this doesn’t look like an overwhelming amount of food but it is…a lot of meat. Really, I could use ANY recipe for beef, since I’ve never cooked/heard of some of these cuts before. It turns out when you’re getting a large part of a cow you get stuff like “farmer’s steak” which Google isn’t really helping me with although it looks sort of like a london broil? I’m just scared to ruin what should be REALLY GOOD FOOD.

I’ll let you know in 6 months when we eat it all if I think this was a good $400 investment, but I’m pretty sure the answer is already YES.