Zesty chicken sandwiches!

Tonight is pulled chicken sandwich night.  I thought I'd switch it up a bit and do a zesty chicken sandwich on fresh homemade kaiser rolls.  I like my food to be zesty - and my life!  LOL. 

So here is how to make the chicken

You need
- crockpot
- 3 chicken breasts
- 1 bottle bbq sauce (I use chicken and rib)
- 1/4 cup pureed carrot and sweet potato
- 2 cubes of frozen spinach juice (remember this equals 1 full cup of spinach!)
- 1/2 cup of vinegar

Mix all sauce ingredients (thaw your purees if needed, and your cubes).  Put the chicken in a slow cooker and pour sauce over.  I had about 1/2 cup of sauce left over from my mixture.  So I popped it into a container in the fridge.  It would baste burgers perfectly for another dinner.

Cook on high for 1 hour, and then low for 3 more hours.   Take chicken out before serving and pull it apart with 2 forks.  Return to slow cooker and toss in the sauce. 

I am going to serve this with kaiser rolls.  My kids BEGGED for white bread today.  "Nothing weird mom - no germ or anything" they beg.  Okay, so I will make these buns primarily white.  Not fully of course - lol.  But hopefully they don't notice.

Here's what to do:

2 tablespoons active dry yeast

2 cups warm water (110° to 115°), divided

4 tablespoons sugar, divided

1/3 cup canola oil

2 teaspoons salt

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup wheat germ

1 egg white

2 teaspoons cold water

Poppy and/or sesame seeds

Directions

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water. Add 1 tablespoon sugar; let stand for 5 minutes. Add the oil, salt, remaining warm water and sugar and 4 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in remaining flour/wheat germ to form a soft dough.
• Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. This is where I use my handy dandy Bosch mixer!  Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
• Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide into 16 pieces. Shape each into a ball. Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.
• Beat egg white and cold water; brush over rolls. Sprinkle with poppy and/or sesame seeds.
• Put a shallow baking dish half full of water on the lowest rack in your oven. 
• Bake at 400° on a middle rack for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.
• Yield: 16 rolls.

Serve your pulled chicken over fresh buns with some raw veggies and enjoy! 

Sneaky Monday Meatballs II

Okay so it is meatball monday again!  Instead of doing BBQ meatballs, I happened upon a can of crushed pineapple!  What a fun way to start an awesome sneaky sweet and sour sauce!

Okay so here goes!  I used a box of frozen blue menu lean italian meatballs for this.  It has 64 meatballs in the box for $6.99.  There is very little fat on them and they taste good.  This is faster than making meatballs, which I do sometimes do but not this month! 

Sauce:
1 can crushed pineapple
4 tbsp of white vinegar
2 tbsp reduced salt soy sauce
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground ginger
sprinkle of hot dried pepper flakes
sprinkle of seasoning salt
1/4 cup of pureed broccoli/spinach/peas
palmful of sesame seeds (optional)
2 cubes of spinach juice
1 colored pepper cut in rough chunks (to be able to be picked out - lol)
a few extra pineapple wedges (optional)

Mix up all your sauce ingredients (not including the cornstarch or pepper chunks or pineapple wedges) in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Then add your pepper wedges and pineapple chunks. 

Meanwhile, pour your frozen meatballs into a slow cooker.  Turn on low.

Pour your sauce over your meatballs and continue to cook on low for about 4 hours.  This sneaky sauce has fruit (pineapple), veggies (broccoli, spinach and peas) and extra veggie power (the spinach juice that 1 tbsp is the same as 1/4 cup raw spinach leaves - so two cubes is equal to 4 tbsp which is the same as 1 entire cup of raw spinach leaves!)

What I like to serve with this is quinoa!   Have you tried it?  Most commonly considered a grain, quinoa is actually a relative of leafy green vegetables like spinach and Swiss chard.  It has a tasty, fluffy, creamy, slightly crunchy texture and a somewhat nutty flavor when cooked.  It is also extremely nutritious.  Not only is quinoa high in protein (6g of protein in 1/4 cup!), but the protein it supplies is complete protein, meaning that it includes all nine essential amino acids. Quinoa's amino acid profile well balanced, making it a good choice for vegans concerned about adequate protein intake, and quinoa is especially well-endowed with the amino acid lysine, which is essential for tissue growth and repair.  It also has 3g of fiber in a 1/4 cup. 

In order to make the quinoa more nutritious (of course I have to meddle with it!) here is what I do:

- 1 cup quinoa
- 2 cups water
- 1/4 cup pureed cauliflower/zuchinni

I cook my quinoa in my rice cooker.  It is fast.  Pour the quinoa and water into the cooker and cook!  Once done, I add my pureed veggies and a bit of salt and pepper for seasoning (optional).  Mix and serve with your meatballs!  Sooo yummy!

To be extra veggie-ish I also will serve this with veggies on the side.  Today it will be raw veggies since I am sure my kids will at least eat one carrot stick - lol!

Enjoy!

Monday (spinach) Milkshake

To go with the kids Monday morning oatmeal bars I decided to throw together a chocolate milkshake.  They were so surprised and thrilled to wake up to this today!!

Okay so this is a stock photo, but looks close enough.  I am so OCD that I would NEVER let the shake run over the side.  LOL.  The thought of it is bugging me already!

Anyway...

Our oatmeal bars were jam packed with oatbran, oats, cauliflower/zuchinni and soymilk.  But I thought I'd like to get some spinach into them today.  The best way to get them to eat spinach is to get them to eat chocolate!  They downed these shakes like nobody's buisness!

Chocolate Spinach Shake

(this made 4 glasses)

- 4 cups of chocolate almond milk
- 1/4 cup spinach and blueberry puree
- 1 TBSP unsweetened cocoa
- 4 TBSP frozen low fat frozen yogurt (I spoiled the kids with a bit of real dairy today)
- 1/2 cup ice

Throw it all into a blender and blend until smooth!  Pour out and serve with a straw.  Like I said, my kids drank these so fast, and then told me "that was very good!" and "we should have this again!".

Mwah hahaha.

Sneaky Vegetarian Spaghetti

Sunday night is spaghetti night in the Eklund house.  This is a good meal for a Sunday, since I cook the sauce in my crockpot and it can go in before church so it is just simmering all day long.  Spaghetti is an inexpensive meal that serves lots too, so you can always bring someone home for dinner and have a great meal that pretty much anyone will eat - even the pickiest eaters!

Sauce:
1 can tomato sauce (680ml)
2 cans tomato paste (360ml)
2 cans of water (use paste cans)
2 packets of spaghetti seasoning (clubhouse)
2 tsp of minced garlic
2 level tablespoons of sugar
1-2 green pepper (largely chopped)
Palmful of oregano
¼ cup sweet potato and carrot puree
¼ cup green peas, spinach and broccoli puree
¼ cup zucchini and cauliflower puree
1 tbsp canola oil (keeps sauce from burning since there is no meat in it)

Add all ingredients into a Crockpot.  I largely chop the green pepper since my kids HATE green pepper but we like it, and I like the flavour it adds to the sauce.  Having them largely chopped makes it easy to pick out before you pour on your kids pasta – lol.  Turn Crockpot on low for 6-8 hours.  The sauce can optionally be turned on high for 3 hours if you will be at home.    


Pasta:
1 bag/box of pasta
½ cup of white bean puree
¼ cup cauliflower and zucchini puree
2 tbsp of vegan margarine (or butter)
¼ cup of water

Cook your pasta, drain.  In a small saucepan melt your margarine or butter.  Add your ½ cup of white bean puree, zucchini cauliflower puree, some salt and pepper and blend well.  Add the ¼ cup of water and blend again (the water makes the sauce thinner).  Then pour over your pasta to coat. 

The white bean paste combines with your pasta to create a complete protein!  It also adds fiber to a high carb meal, especially since my kids like white pasta.  The veggie puree in it adds extra veggies since my kids always want more pasta “with no sauce” after their first helping. 

Serve your spaghetti sauce over your pasta and sprinkle with a bit of cheese (or dairy free cheese in our case!).  Enjoy!

A little change of plans... Taco night tonight!

We were supposed to do ham and perogies for dinner tonight, but we have a birthday party tommorrow and they are serving pizza.  I didn't want to do real dairy two nights in a row (and pizza is way more of a spoil than perogies!).  So I made tacos tonight - much to my husband's approval! 

Here's our healthy taco recipe!

Ground beef

Soft Taco Kit
½ cup pureed broccoli/spinach/peas
Dairy free cheese (or real cheese)
Lettuce
Salsa

Brown beef and drain.  Add pureed veggies and mix until evenly distributed (the meat will turn somewhat green – lol).  Then get your taco seasoning out of the taco kit.  Put it on the meat and add water as directed.  The seasoning will turn the meat back to a brown color.  Simmer until thickened.  Then I add about ½ the packet of enclosed taco sauce/salsa to the meat.  It gives the tacos some heat and truly masks any veggie flavour!  My kids love their spicy food. 

Spoon over warm tortillas and top with grated veggies, dairy free cheese (or cheese for you non-dairy intolerant people) and extra salsa… I stay away from sour cream as it is just extra mostly empty calories, but you could try adding subbing it with plain greek yogurt instead if you are a dairy eating family!

This meal cost me:

$3 for the lean ground beef

$2.50 for the Great Value Taco Kit
$0.50 for the pureed veggies
$0.25 for the salsa
$1.50 for the dairy free cheese
$0.25 for the grated lettuce

Total cost: $8.00 to serve a family of 6 a yummy Mexican dinner!  That makes it work out to about $1.33 per person :o)  The extra veggies hidden in the meat give a nice little healthy boost to the meal.  Especially for kids (like mine) who only want meat and cheese on their taco - lol!

 

Chocolate chip cookies!

Mmmm.... chocolate chip cookies!  They smell and taste so good that no one will know that they have sneaky healthy ingredients! 

Here is the recipe:

1/2 cup of butter/margerine
1/4 cup pureed white beans
1/4 cup pureed cauliflower/zuchinni
1/2 cup melted white chocolate chips
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
1 cup white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tbsp oat bran
2 tbsp wheat germ
1/2 cup miniature semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. 

Combine flours, oat bran and wheat germ with salt and baking soda.  Set aside.  In a mixing bowl, cream melted butter/margerine, white bean puree, and sugars until fluffy.  In a small saucepan slowly melt 1/2 cup white chocolate chips and then pour melted chocolate into the mixing bowl and combine with sugar mixture.  Add your cauliflower/zuchinni puree and egg and extra egg yolk and blend well.  Then mix in your flour mixture until combined.  Add the 1/2 cup of miniature chocolate chips until the chocolate chips are throughout your cookie batter. 

Scoop out in small teaspoon amounts and place about an inch apart on the pan.  Once the pan is full bake for 10-12 minutes until top of cookies are starting to be slightly golden.  Take pan from oven, and let sit on pan for an additional 3 minutes.  After the 3 minutes, transfer cookies to cooling racks. 

This batch made 83 cookies for me! 

I was able to cut down 1/2 the sugar, 1/3 of the butter and add a whole bunch of whole grains from my original (and favorite) cookie recipe.  And I have to say, that these turned out pretty darn yummy!

Popeye Eggs & bacon

I got the base recipe for this from my book The Sneaky Chef.  I can't do what they do though, since we are avoiding dairy.  So I altered it to work with us and with my budget! 

"Popeye Eggs & Bacon":

6 large eggs
2 frozen ice cubes of spinach juice (will write how to make below)
6 slices of whole wheat bread
salt & pepper
2 tbsp real bacon bits

Scramble the eggs with the spinach juice, salt and pepper and bacon.  Cook in your skillet.  Toast your toast and top with margerine (I use vegan which is casein free). 

Serve warm and enjoy!  Your kids won't even notice the spinach juice in the eggs and it gives such a nutritional boost. 

How to make spinach juice:
- 3 cups washed baby spinach fresh
- 1 cup water.

Bring spinach and water to boil, and simmer for 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes pour through a fine strainer and squish the pulp of the spinach with a spoon or spatula to get all juices released.  Freeze your spinach juice in ice cube containers, then once frozen move into a heavy freezer bag. 

This is extremely healthy and just a single tablespoon is the same as eating 1/4 cup of raw spinach leaves.  This has iron, calcium and digestive enzymes.  Super awesome!

(this meal fed my kids - I give each child 1.5 eggs and 1.5 slices of toast.  It keeps them full for the whole morning - and that is with hungry boy tummies!)

Piggies in a healthy blanket!

My kids LOVE hot dogs.  I don't know a kid who doesn't actually.  So I try to make them hotdogs a few times a month.  Well, we made it our Thursday dinner, so I have to try and make it healthy!  Here goes!

You will need a dozen hot dogs.  I buy Great Value chicken ones.  They cost me $1.27 at the store.  Can't find them cheaper than that - lol.

Then you need to make your biscut dough!

Here is the recipe!

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 TBSP oat bran

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon white sugar

1/3 cup shortening

1 cup organic unsweetened soymilk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Cut in the shortening until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Gradually stir in milk until dough pulls away from the side of the bowl.
2. Turn out onto a floured surface, and knead 15 to 20 times  
3. Then I put it into the fridge for a few minutes.  This is when I cook my hotdogs (I boil mine). 
4. Cut your hotdogs into pieces (I cut each one in half)
5. Take your dough out of the fridge.  Pinch off a ball and flatten gently (maybe make all your balls first to have enough for all the piggies).  Roll up around your hotdog pieces.  Place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
6. Once your baking sheet is full, pop it into the oven for about 7 minutes.  Turn pan after the timer goes and put in for another 5 minutes or until "blanket" is golden.
7. Let cool

Now there are a ton of whole grains and fiber in your piggies "blanket" thanks to the whole wheat and the oat bran.  But where are the veggies???  Time to get creative!
My kids LOVE to dip their pigs into yummy ketchup and/or mustard.  What's a hotdog without ketchup and mustard anyway???  So that is where you can get creative. 

In a small bowl whisk together 1/8 cup of ketchup with 1/8 cup of sweet potato/carrot puree.  In another bowl, whisk together 1/8 cup of mustard with 1/8 cup of zuchinni/cauliflower puree.  They can dip their way into their veggies and will never know the difference!  PLUS offer carrot sticks or other veggies on the side.

Here is the approximate cost for the meal:

$1.27 for the hotdogs
$1.00 for the dough (probably over estimating)
$0.25 for the ketchup with puree
$0.25 for the mustard with puree
$1.00 for the veggies on the side

Total cost: $3.77 to feed a family of 6.  That works out to be a meer 63 cents for dinner per person.  63 cents!  What kind of dinner can you get for so little?  AND my kids swear this one is their favorite!  LOL. 

Enjoy!

Monkey Pancakes (with carrots/sweet potato and banana!)

Good morning!  Wow!  It's Thursday already?  The time is just flying this week.  Today's breakfast is one of the kids favorites again.  Monkey pancakes!  My kids love them most because I shape them like little monkey heads - lol.  But that is part of the love cooked into the breakfast right?

Here is how to make them

1-2 bananas (I only had 1 this morning) mashed
1/4 cup of carrot and sweet potato puree
1 egg
1 tbsp of honey
1/4 - 1/2 cup of unsweetened organic soymilk
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup white flour
1 tbsp oat bran
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
handful of mini chocolate chips or carob chips

Heat up your griddle (make sure you spray it with oil to make sure that they don't stick).  Whisk together all of your ingredients, starting with the wet ones.  If the batter is too thick, you can thin it to how you like it with soymilk (which is why I gave up to 1/2 cup in the ingredients!)

Scoop out teaspoon size rounds, and add 1/4 tsp rounds for ears.  These aren't huge pancakes, I think that my kids got 8-9 each with this recipe and that is the 4 kids eating. 

I don't serve this with syrup or butter since they are great on their own and the chocolate chips give it a yummyness without all the liquid sugar of syrup! 

Here is a (albeit weak) photo of the breakfast.  I would have taken the time to take a better picture but the kids were impatient to eat!  LOL. 

There is not a hint of pancake left.  They love these.  I serve them with 1/2 cup fortified orange juice mixed with a 1/4 cup water OR a small fruit and a glass of water. 

Enjoy!

Teriyaki Chicken Stir Fry --- SOOO Yummy!

Wednesday's dinner is Chicken stir fry - Teriyaki Style!  Yum!   And there is ALL kinds of crazy sneaky-mama stuff in here!!!

So...what do you need?

- 2 chicken breasts
- 1 cup of rice
- 1 bag of Califonia style mixed veggies
- 1/2 bottle of teriyaki sauce
- 1/4 cup pureed cauliflower and zuchinni
- 1/4 cup of pureed broccoli/peas/spinach
- 1/8 cup pureed broccoli/peas/spinach
- 1-3 heaping tbsp pureed white beans
- 2 tbsp vegan margarine or butter
- splash of orange juice (calcium fortified)

To make the chicken
- cut up chicken in tiny bite size pieces.  There is no reason that we would need more than 2 chicken breasts in the stir fry.  If I was feeding a family of 4, we would only use 1.  People eat too big of servings of meat in my honest opinion.
- heat oil in a large wok and cook until finished.  I usually cook them until they are slightly browned.  Then add a splash of teriyaki sauce to the chicken and toss until evenly coated (barely - just a light coating not a sauce)
- set aside

To make the rice
- put rice in a rice cooker, 1 cup of rice to 2 cups water.  I make this much so that we have some left overs to make a fried rice or to throw into a soup.   Cook it.  Can take up to 45 minutes, so be prepared and have it started first.

To make the pasta (my kids hate rice)
- cook up enough pasta for your kids
- heat up 2 TBSP of butter until melted.  Add about 1-3tbsp of white bean paste (start low and see how high you can go later - lol).  Mix that together and add about 1/4 cup of water to thin out.  I usually add about 1/8 of a cup of pureed broccoli/peas/spinach to get some funky color.  Add some salt and pepper or other seasoning.  Then toss over cooked and strained pasta. 

To make the stir fry sauce
- pour 1/2 a bottle of teriyaki sauce into a measuring cup
- add 1/2 cup pureed veggies (I used 1/4 cup cauliflower/zuchinni and 1/4 cup broccoli/spinach/peas)
- add a splash of orange juice to thin out and mix well

So then put it together.  Steam up your bag of mixed veggies along with the finished chicken in the wok until done.  Then pour your sauce over the wok mixture and toss evenly.  Serve over hot rice or pasta.  You can add sesame seeds for garnish if you feel like being fancy!

Here is the cost breakdown

The chicken breasts cost $5.00
1/2 bottle of teriyaki sauce - I used The Keg Teriyaki Sauce - $1.75
The Veggies were $2.50
The vegan margerine was about 10 cents
The rice was about 15 cents
The pasta was about 25 cents
The purees were about 75 cents

Total worked out to be $11.00.  Divide this by the 6 eating people in our family and it works out to be $1.83 per person.  This will leave left overs (for lunch boxes!).

Enjoy!

Lunch time!

Wednesday's lunch is Lipton soup with purees again.  You can find the recipe in a previous blog post!  We have that 3 times a week.  Mmmm..  I love the smell of warm soup!  What are you having for lunch? 

Dino Egg Breakfast (with sneaky oat bran!)

My kids LOVE Quaker Dino Egg oatmeal.  It is the instant stuff that tastes yummy and has little candy eggs that turn into dinosaurs in it when you add the boiling water.  It also, though is somewhat healthy, has been processed quite a bit.  I much rather feed them homemade oatmeal with rolled oats or large flake oats, but they refuse to eat it.  That is one battle I just don't feel up to at 7 in the morning. 

So once a week they get a dino egg oatmeal bowl.  The box has 8 packets, and for now it lasts us 2 weeks since Benjamin doesnt eat yet.  But to get in some extra fiber I have to be sneaky.

Here is my morning oatmeal recipe fix:

- 1 package dino egg oatmeal (can use any flavour)
- 2 TBSP oat bran
- 1/2 cup boiling water
- splash of organic unsweetened soymilk

Mix oatmeal and oat bran, add boiling water and stir.  Add soymilk (optional).  I use soymilk to cool the oatmeal off and add a little hit of nutrition as well.

Not only is oat bran a great form of soluble fiber and lowers cholesterol in adults and children, but preliminary studies suggest that beta-glucan, a type of soluble fibre in oats, may have immune-boosting properties.  And your kids will never know its in there!

Here is the nutrition:

Oatmeal alone
- calories 150
- sugars 12g (yikes!)
- protein 3g
- fiber 2g

Oatmeal with Oatbran:
- calories 210
- sugars 12g (no extra thankfully)
- protein 5.5g
- fiber 4g

The cost works out to be:
$0.38- 1 package of oatmeal
$0.10 - 2 TBSP oatbran
$0.10 - splash of soymilk

Total cost for one serving is: 58 cents


Now the total calcium is 35% in your oatmeal, and another 2% in your oatbran.  I still like to boost that so I serve 1 glass of Tropicana Calcium enriched juice.  1 glass to me is 1/2 cup juice and 1/4 cup water mixed.  The calcium in 1/2 cup is about another 15%.  That takes your breakfast to 52% of your child's daily calcium intake.  When you have a dairy restricted diet that is a nice number to see in a single meal!

Pulled chicken sandwiches

Tuesday's dinner is pulled chicken sandwiches with raw veggies.  This meal takes a bit longer to make since you are making homemade crusty rolls to go with it.  This not only saves you money, but tastes WAY better!

Here is the recipe:  Tuesday's Pulled Chicken Sandwiches with homemade crusty rolls.

Crusty roll ingredients:

- 1 cup warm water
- 1 tbsp active dry yeast
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp shortening
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 egg whites
- 2 cup white flour
- 1.5 cups whole wheat flour

Combine warm water, yeast and sugar and let sit for 5 minutes, until the yeast has proofed.  I do this in my Bosch mixer.  You know it is ready when it is thick and foamy!   Then add your shortening, salt and whole wheat flour and beat until smooth.  Add your egg whites and mix well.  Then add in your white flour to form a soft dough.  Knead until smooth and elastic (about 6-8 minutes).  This dough will be stiff.  This is where the Bosch mixer comes in handy!  Then place in a greased bowl and flip once to grease the top.  Cover and let rise until doubled (about an hour).  Punch dough down and divide into 12 pieces (or 24 if you want small buns).  Shape into balls and place 2 inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Allow to rise until doubled (about 30 minutes.).  Now you want to place a large shallow baking pan filled with water on the lowest rack in your oven.  You will bake the rolls on the middle rack at 425 degrees F for about 10 minutes until the rolls are golden brown.  Check after about 8 minutes though in case your oven cooks fast!  Set rolls out to cook on a rack and once cooled, I usually place in a bag or in a tea towel lined bowl and cover until dinner.


Now for the pulled Chicken part!

- 3 chicken breasts
- 1 bottle of chicken and rib sauce
- 1/4 cup zuchinni/cauliflour puree
- 1/2 cup carrot/sweet potato puree
- 1/4 cup spinach/peas/broccoli puree

Once your bread is on the kneading process in your mixer (if you have one), get out 3 chicken breasts that are thawed and place in a slow cooker.  Cook naked chicken on HIGH for 1 hour in the slowcooker.  Meanwhile, in a seperate bowl mix purees and sauce until well mixed.  After an hour, pour over your chicken breasts and turn down to LOW for about 3 hours.  Once cooked, take the chicken out and use 2 forks to pull it apart.  Return to slow cooker and mix with sauce.  (If you are not at home, you can simply combine all and put in slowcooker on lowest setting for 8 hours.) 

Serve over your fresh rolls.  I usually cut up some raw veggies to be enjoyed with this meal.  Tonight we are going to have cucumber, celery and carrots.  Just pick some veggies that you enjoy and if your kids balk at them at least you have comfort that the chicken sauce has pureed veggies in it!


The approximate cost of this meal is:

$7.00 for the chicken breasts
$1.50 for the BBQ sauce
$1.00 for the 1 cup of pureed veggies
$1.00 for the raw veggies
$0.50 for the homemade buns

Total cost: $11.00.  This fed our family of 6 (7 - but Benji is just a nursling) perfectly!  So this makes each serving cost $1.83.  Can't beat that price for a filling meal!  This fed us each 2 sandwiches and a bunch of raw veggies.  We had water to drink. 

Enjoy!

Macaroni with Soymilk

Tuesdays lunch is Macaroni with Soymilk!  It also has some sneaky veggies in it.  My kids LOVE macaroni (as most kids do) but we are trying to avoid dairy.  This meal is not dairy free, but it has considerable less dairy than normal macaroni!

Here is the recipe:

1 box of Kraft macaroni (a plus if you can get whole wheat macaroni)
1/4 cup of carrot/sweet potato puree
1/4 cup of soymilk

You don't need to use any butter or margerine since the pureed veggies are added.  The soymilk adds a great boost of nutrition as well :o)  The only dairy is in the "cheese" packet that is included in the macaroni.  Since my kids aren't dairy allergic (only an intolerence) I don't notice much of an effect from this lunch :o)

This meal costs
$1 - macaroni (on sale)
$0.25 - puree
$0.25 - soymilk

So $1.50 for 5 servings.  (Double the recipe for a larger family)  That works out to be 30 cents per person for lunch!

Enjoy!

Chocolate Pancakes with Spinach!

Well its Tuesday morning!  I was planning on being up early and getting right to breakfast so we could start our day on time.  Well that didn't happen.  Benjamin was up 4 times last night and fussy to boot.  He has slept through the night for the last month and a half, so last night was an oddity that I was not prepared for.  Yawn.  Stretch.  Well lets get cracking.

Tuesday morning is Chocolate pancakes.  One of the kids most favorite breakfasts.  One of my favorites too!  Here is how to make them:

- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- 4 TBSP of liquid honey
- 2 tsp of pure vanilla extract
- 4 TBSP of unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup pureed spinach and blueberries
- 1/2 cup white flour
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup wheat germ
- 1/2 unsweetened organic soymilk (plus extra to thin if needed)
- handful of mini chocolate chips (or carob chips)

Mix eggs, honey spinach/blueberry puree and vanilla well.  Add cocoa, salt, baking powder and blend.  Add the white flour, wheat flour and wheat germ, lightly blend.  Add soymilk and mix, adding more soymilk if needed to thin to the proper consistency.

Scoop pancakes out by tablespoons and cook on a griddle (I love my cuisinart griddler for this!).  Pancakes are ready to be flipped when bubbles break through.

Serve warm (no need for syrup since the pancakes have chocolate chips!).  These are great room temperature too as a big chocolate cookie for lunch boxes!

Make sure to pair these up with a piece of fruit.  My kids never argue eating fruit and that will up the vitamins and fiber as well (not that these teensy pancakes aren't full of fiber and vitamins).  My kids drink water with this breakfast since they are having a piece of fruit they don't need fruit juice as well.
Enjoy :o)

Veggie haters

Just in case anyone wondered why we sneak veggies in everything...

This was our attempt to eat asparagus tonight.  There were actual tears. 

Monday Meatballs & Quinoa

Monday night is Meatball night at the Eklund house!  I honestly think this is the kids favorite night.  What kid doesn't love meatballs?

Here is the recipe for our meal plan on Mondays

Monday BBQ Meatballs & Quinoa

1 box of pre-cooked meatballs (or about 60 small homemade meatballs)

Homemade BBQ Sauce
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup pureed zuchinni/cauliflower
- 1/3 cup pureed carrot/sweet potato
- 6 oz tomato paste (1 small can or 1/2 large can)
- 1/4 cup sodium reduced soy sauce
- 1/4 cup white vinegar
- 1/2 tsp of garlic powder
- 1 cup loosely packed brown sugar
- 1-2 tsp of spicy peppers (dried)

*blend sauce and pour over meatballs in slowcooker - turn on to LOW for 4 hours*

For the Quinoa
- rinse off 1 cup of organic quinoa in cold water (use a fine mesh seive)
- put quinoa in a rice cooker
- add 2 cups water
- *optional* add 1 tsp seasoning (such as chicken stock, etc...)

The Quinoa will take approximately 15 minutes in the rice cooker.  If you do not have a rice cooker - then you can do this on the stove but read your quinoa package for directions.  You might want to invest in a rice cooker since they are cheap and they rock!

Then choose a frozen veggie side dish.  Today I think we will have frozen asparagus spears!  Don't worry too much if your kids pick at the veggie option since you know that the BBQ sauce for the meatballs has 1/2 cup of pureed veggies in it as well!  You sneaky mama!

Approximate cost of this meal:

$6.99 - box of meatballs
$0.50 - pureed veggies (I estimate that each 1/4 cup costs about a quarter but I really think that is estimating high)
$1.00 - tomato paste, ketchup, vinegar, seasoning
$0.50 - sugar
$1.00 - 1 cup uncooked Quinoa (I paid $10 for a 4lb organic quinoa bag)
$3.00 - bag of frozen asaparagus spears

Total cost: $12.99 feeds a family of 6 (with some leftovers).  That works out to $2.17 per person.  Pretty good for a healthy dinner!!! 

Monday's Lunch: Lipton Noodle Soup with Purees

My kids like Lipton noodle soup.  I like it because it is cheap - only 62 cents a package.  Our big(ish) family needs to cook 2 packages - but it still only works out to $1.24 for lunch for 6 eating people.  That works out to about 20 cents a person for lunch.  I can work with that!

BUT Lipton noodle soup is totally unhealthy!  White noodles in high sodium broth.  Hmm... how to fix this?   Each serving of soup has 70 calories, 2g of protein, 0 fiber and 0 calcium.  This does not bode well for my kids staying full and being healthy. 

Lets add some purees to it!  Here goes, I use 2 packages of soup and add:

1/4 cup of pureed zuchinni/cauliflower
1/4 cup of pureed carrot/sweet potato
1/4 cup of pureed broccoli/peas/spinach
1/4 cup of pureed white beans (navy beans)

So that is adding 1 full cup of purees to the soup.  It still looks like soup.  It still tastes like soup.  So what are the nutritional benefits?

The zuchinni/cauliflower adds: 14 calories,  1.2g of fiber, 1.1g of protein and 27mg of calcium
The carrot/sweet potato adds: 25 calories, 1.2g of fiber, 0.5g of protein and 14mg of calcium
The broccoli/spinach/peas adds:  26 calories,  1.8g of fiber,  1.9g of protein and 23mg of calcium
The white beans adds: 124 calories, 5g of fiber, 7.5g of fiber and 77.75mg of calcium.  White beans also binds combines with the pasta to create a complete protein out of this normally no protein, high carb soup.

Total Calories per serving - 93.6 (was 70 - Lipton soup alone)
Total Fiber per serving - 1.2g (was 0 - Lipton soup alone)
Total Protein per serving - 3.4g (was 2 - Lipton soup alone)
Total Calcium per serving - 17.7mg (was 0 - Lipton soup alone)

The total cost for my soup works out to be this:
$1.24 for the Lipton Soup
$1 for the purees (approximate)
$0.25 for the extra noodles
_____________________
$2.50 for 8 servings = 31 cents per person

Still think you can't have healthy and quick meals for cheap???

So here is my recipe:

2 packages of Lipton Soup
1/2 cup extra soup noodles (optional)
1/4 cup of pureed zuchinni/cauliflower
1/4 cup of pureed carrot/sweet potato
1/4 cup of pureed broccoli/peas/spinach
1/4 cup of pureed white beans (navy beans)
8 cups of water

Bring to a boil until noodles are tender.  Serve hot.

Monday Morning Oatmeal Bars

Well its Monday morning and here is the recipe for my 'Monday morning Oatmeal Bars' that is on my meal plan!

This serves up a big family well (makes a 9x11 pan full) or you can 1/2 it if you want.  They freeze excellently as well, and hold together nicely (for your husband to drive to work with or to go in a lunch box!)

Ingredients:

2 eggs
1.5 cups of quick cooking oats
1.5 cups of porridge oats (with oat bran, wheat bran & flax seed)
*note can use 3 cups quick cooking oats if you dont have porridge oats*
1/2 - 2/3 cup sweetener (honey, brown sugar, etc...)
1 cup organic unsweetened soymilk
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup pureed veggies (I used 1/4 cup pureed carrots/sweet potato and 1/4 cup pureed zuchinni/cauliflour) OR you can use applesauce
3 tbsp flour (I use organic spelt or whole wheat)

optional additives: handful chocolate chips/carob chips, mashed banana, raisins and/or chopped nuts

Directions:
Combine eggs, pureed veggies and sugar.  Add baking powder, flour, salt and cinnamon and blend together well.  Add oats and soymilk, blend.  Add optional ingredients and do a final mix.  Then pour into a greased 9x11" pan and spread evenly.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes.  Allow to cool for 5 minutes and cut into squares. 

Enjoy!  It takes about 45 minutes from start to eating, so I usually start this before the children wake up for our morning bible study, so when we are finished they have a nice wam breakfast.  I usually serve this with one glass of calcium enriched orange juice (cut 1/2 with water). 

Our Weekly Meal Planner for January 2012

Here it is!  In all its glory - lol.  This is our weekly meal planner for January 2012.  I will post the recipes to each meal as we go through the month so that everyone can see how easy it is to make healthy, veggie FULL meals that even the pickiest children will eat. 

(you can just click on the photo to bring it up in a larger photo)