Weekday vs. weekend breakfast

Apple peanut butter oatmeal

I have no dinner items this week worth blogging, so I thought I’d focus on breakfast. I’m fairly regimented as far as breakfast goes. Minus the occasional fruit smoothie, I have a standard weekday breakfast and a standard weekend breakfast. Weekend breakfast is a slightly undercooked whole grain English muffin with a generous layer of nutella. Ahhhhh, nutella. I had nutella for this first time in my last this past fall and it was a love at first bite situation. Ironically enough, I bought nutella when Brett and I were first trying out “real oatmeal” for the first time. Brett was getting into mountain biking, and kept reading that oatmeal is the perfect pre-ride breakfast. So we decided to try it out. Brett was having a difficult time choking it down until we tried with the Peanut Butter Company’s dark chocolate dreams peanut butter. If you’ve never had this…try it! It has less fat and calories that the peanut butter we normally buy (Teddy’s all natural chunky) and fairly low sugar.

At any rate the chocolate peanut butter/oatmeal combo worked for Brett…until the day that Hannaford stopped carrying it. With options running out, I decided we would try nutella. Even though this chocolate hazelnut spread bills itself as “part of a healthy breakfast”, it’s obviously not the best thing for you. But it’s so incredibly delightful. So, when Hannaford started carrying dark chocolate dreams again, we decided to switch back. Three weeks later I decided I just couldn’t live in a house without nutella any longer – and it’s been a staple in our pantry ever since.

Because it’s not crazy healthy, I only let myself have it on weekends (or snow days, holidays, or any other reason I decide on the spot). I would have featured a picture of it right here, but one, it’s not the weekend and two, there’s no time for pausing to find a camera when there is a fresh English muffin with nutella sitting on the counter…”someone” (cough, cough, Brett) would eat it!

So back to the weekday breakfast.

Where this recipe came from

In our experiments with Brett’s perfect oatmeal, I found a combo that I absolutely love! The best part is that (on most days) I can go until 10:30/11 without a snack. For me that’s good! Here's a pic of the kind we buy...it's definitely healthier than the "white" Quaker kind and I actually like the texture better.

Making the recipe

I realize that anything involving a pan and the stove top might seem like a stretch for a weekday breakfast. Let me assure you that when Brett travels (which is most days lately), I’m getting myself and two young kids up, dressed, fed, ready for the day and out the door by 7:25. I’m not complaining, because I know most people have hectic mornings, but if I have time to make this oatmeal –then you can too (seriously, it’s not like I’m interrupting coffee time out on the veranda or something). This whole thing literally comes together in 5 minutes!

The results

Obviously, I think this is good if I eat it everyday! Adela loves it too…She’ll happily sidle up and share a bowl with me. Bodie? Not so much…you say oatmeal to him and he runs in the opposite direction.

The recipe

1 cup water

½ cup rolled oats (not the instant ones)

½ apple, peeled and large-chopped

1 heaping tbsp peanut butter

Sprinkle of cinnamon

Sprinkle of coconut

Heat water in small saucepan on high until boiling. Add oatmeal, apple, peanut butter and cinnamon.

Lower heat to med, med-high, stirring. Cook until desired consistency about 3-5 minutes. Top with coconut and serve.

**Special shout out to two of our favorite families that had baby boys today!! Congrats to Amy, Ray and Mya on baby Ryan and Amanda, Trevor and Everett on baby Charlie. So excited for you both...and I can't wait to get my hands on those babies!!

Baked chicken buritos

Baked chicken burritos

I just realized that this will be the first “Mexican” (or Chenail version of Mexican, which is more of a "southwest”) meal that I have blogged. In real life, we eat chicken/turkey, bean, rice combos all the time. In fact, it’s pretty much the only fast food Brett and I ever eat – you know the kind where you can see everything that’s in there and distinguish it? I realize that a fast food burrito (and no, I’m not talking Taco Bell – I mean Moe’s, Fresh City, Chipotle…in our area we have Hot Harrys), is not necessarily the lowest calorie option. But when you can eat a meal on the run that incorporates protein and veggies that leaves you full and satisfied– it’s definitely not the worst-case scenario.

Where this recipe came from

I took all of the flavors I love (and again, can distinguish) from my favorite take out burritos, wrapped them up and baked them. I love that baking these with a little olive oil gives them an extra crunch.

Making the recipe

Ok, so I LOVE spicy food. Love love love it. Before having kids I could take it or leave it, but during my pregnancy with Bodie I had to have it ALL the time – as in, I would go through an entire jar of sliced jalapenos per week. Anyway, while my urge for all things spicy has settled down, if I’m having something that “works” with spicy, I go for it. Since I was making this dinner for the whole family, I just topped mine with Tabasco and called it a day. In a previous lifetime though, I would have added crushed red pepper and Tabasco to the chicken filling.

Also, I committed a cardinal sin while cooking this dinner…I forgot to add the cheese inside the burritos. As I told Brett (which felt like telling him I had totaled the car), he suggested I add cheese to the top. So I did and shoved these guys under the broiler. The problem is that I don’t use my broiler for melting cheese often and once I caught a whiff of the burnt cheese, it was too late. Luckily I topped my burritos with salsa, so the picture looks less terrible. Lesson learned…NEVER forget the cheese!

The results

It took some coaxing, but the kids ate these! Phew! Having sour cream available for dipping definitely didn’t hurt, but tortilla, rice, beans, chicken, tomato was consumed…I was a happy lady!

The recipe

1 ½ cup chicken stock

¾ cup brown rice

3 tbsp olive oil, divided

¾ - 1 lb chicken breast

1 tsp chili powder

Salt and pepper

2 cloves garlic, minced

½ onion, chopped

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

¾ can of diced tomatos with jalapeno

½ cup sour cream

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (or whatever kind you like)

Whole grain tortillas (this made 7 burritos,but you could get more of less depending on how much you fill yours up)

Preheat oven to 425. Heat chicken stock in a small saucepan over high heat until boiling. Add rice, knock heat to low and cook until tender, about 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil over med heat in a large skillet. Cut chicken in bite-sized pieces, toss with chili powder, salt and pepper and add to the pan. Cook about 5 minutes, until the chicken starts to brown and add onion and garlic, stirring.

Once chicken is cooked through and onions are soft, another 3-4 minutes, add drained black beans, ¾ of the can of tomato, (As you know my husband has an aversion to :large chunks” of tomato, so I had to process mine in the food processor before adding), sour cream and rice. Stir together and heat through.

Put a generous amount of filling down the center of each tortilla, wrap the ends and roll it up.

Place, seam-side down, in a baking pan coated with cooking spray. Repeat with remaining tortillas. Brush remaining olive over the top of the tortillas and spring with garlic salt.

Bake for 20 minutes. Serve with sour cream, diced avocado or salsa.

Soup and dippers for one

Butternut squash soup with apple and spinach quesadillas

So, I'm going to take a page out of Maryea's book at Happy Healthy Mama and blog a fall soup. This is one I actually make quite a bit, but since I've only blogged 20 or so recipes and two of them have been about butternut squash, I've been saving this one.

Pretty much this is a lame dinner week at the Chenail household (unless you'd like me to blog ANOTHER veggie pasta?) I didn't have my creative hat on during my routine Saturday Hannaford trip. Therefore, the house is full of a bunch of staples and nothing that I would call fun...so here we are a big bowl of hot squash - YUM! (Somewhere my husband just threw up in his mouth)

Where this recipe came from
Ummmm....I cooked frozen squash in a pan one day - voila! The quesadillas though, are a collection of flavors I had in a panini out for a work lunch one day. the panini was actually spinach, apple and brie -but I swapped cheddar and mozerella since I didn't have any brie (PS...the brie was fab - so if you're shopping before making this one - or happen to have some on hand (do people "keep" brie in the house?), go for it!

Making the recipe
The squash cooks quicker that you would think, even when it's right out of the freezer. That means this is one that could be whipped up in less than 15 minutes!

The results
I had intended to serve the soup to the kids as a dip for quesadillas. And I was about to go easy on myself and make one spinach apple quesadilla and one plain cheese for the (likely) event that they wouldn't eat the spinach apple. While I was making dinner, however, Bodie moseyed on over asking for bowtie pasta. For some reason, he is recently obsessed. At any rate, we had leftovers from last night (bowtie pasta) which he happened to see in the fridge (ooops), and I couldn't find an excuse for why he couldn't have them. He also spotted the package of tortillas and asked for a round one (i.e. he wanted to eat it out of the package). So, I compromised....I heated up a tortilla, cut it into squares, and served them to the kids with cheese, pasta, cucumbers and the apple. For me - dinner was delightful!

The recipe(s)
*Note: as the title indicates, this made one (plus a little) serving. Feel free to multiply as needed (although if your family is like mine - a serving for one works just fine!

Butternut squash soup
1/2 bag frozen butternut squash (peeled and cubed)
1 - 1 1/2 cup chicken stock (depending on how thick or thin you like your soup)
2 tbsp milk or half and half
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1 tbsp honey
salt and pepper to taste
sprinkle of crushed red pepped (if desired)

Put a small saucepan over med high heat and add squash.

Cook, stirring until the squash begin to soften, about 5-7 minutes. Add chicken stock and cook for a few more minutes.

Use an immersion blender to process until smooth (or transfer to a blender if you don't have an immersion blender). Add milk and all spices. Stir together and serve.

Apple spinach quesadilla
1 tbsp olive oil
1 whole grain tortilla
1/4 box frozen spinach, defrosted with all liquid squeezed out
1/4 apple sliced thin
2 tbsp shredded cheddar
2 tbsp shredded mozzarella

Heat olive oil in a skillet over med heat. Put tortilla in pan and layer spinach, apple and cheese over half of the tortilla.

Cook for 2 minutes. Flip "un-topped" tortilla top over the "topped' side. Cook for 2 minutes, until browned. Flip tortilla to the other side and cook for another minute or two until fully browned and cheese is melted. Serve warm!

Snow day = soup day

Thai chicken noodle soup

Despite the title of this post, I really don’t want to get into the weather. Yes, the snow and cold this year is ridonkulous, but I’m tired of talking about it, thinking about it and dealing with it. It’s winter…it is what it is.

What I do want to talk about is what this recipe made me think of as soon as I started eating…college. Don’t worry, I’m not getting into anything crazy here – but if you can’t look at a noodle soup (amongst other things) and not be transported back to college –then you didn’t have the same experience that I did. Ahhhhh, the Cup O Noodles. My roommate…scratch that - my best friend, cousin and roommate, Amy and I ate a LOT of these freshman year. So much in fact that I’m beginning to think that the salt I ingested from those noodles that first year had a lot to do with my “freshman 15” weight gain (and suddenly feel slightly better about it). Just thinking back to filling up that hot pot, opening up that lid (just the tiniest amount) and letting those bad boys cook…well, it’s almost enough to bring a tear to my eye!

Where this recipe came fromI pretty much threw together all of the flavors I associate with thai food – a little heat and some sweet. I wouldn’t go so far as to call this “real thai”, but it worked for me.

Making the recipeSoup is great for cooking everything all in one pot. I didn’t have any cilantro or scallions on hand, or I would have added them. I used parsley instead, but I definitely think that the cilantro would have been better. Use whichever you like better…or none at all!

The resultsI loved this. I pulled some pasta and veggies out on a plate for Bodie since he’s not the biggest fan of soup. He loved that he got to have chopped peanuts in his pasta, which made it crunchy (note to self…add chopped peanuts to meals when appropriate). I gave Adela a bowl of soup and she did a really good job with it…until I caught her dumping out the broth on her placemat (Another note to self: don’t take your eyes off Adela during dinner). In the end this one was great and easy for me to have a dinner I loved and be able
to make enough modifications for the kids to eat it without an argument...yeah!

The recipe*Note: I made enough for me and the kids for dinner – which would probably be about 2 adult servings. Increase amounts as needed, but remember it’s soup – put as much “stuff” in there as you like!
2 tbsp olive oil
2 chicken breasts (I used 2 large thin sliced ones), diced
½ cup carrots, cut to the size and shape you like
1 cup sliced mushrooms
3-4 cups chicken stock
2 scallions, chopped (I didn’t have these – but I would have used them)
¼ tsp. Ground ginger
¼ tsp. Chinese five spice powder
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 lime
1/3 package of buckwheat sobo noodles or angel hair pasta (My sobo noodle package had 3 bundles, so I used one. Any thin pasta would be fine too)
2 tbsp parsley, chopped (or cilantro)
¼ cup peanuts, chopped
Pinch of crushed red pepper

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over med heat. Add carrots, and cook for 2 minutes. Meanwhile mix chicken with ginger, Chinese five spice powder, salt and pepper. Add to sauce pan and brown for 5 minutes or so.

Once chicken is mostly brown, add mushrooms. Cook 4-6 minutes more until chicken is cooked through and mushrooms are getting tender. Add honey, soy sauce, lime juice and chicken stock. Stir and turn up heat to high. Once the soup is boiling add sobo noodles/pasta.

Keep at a boil until noodles are cooked through. Add parsley. Serve topped with chopped peanuts and crushed red pepper if desired.

A new family fav...the rice bowl!

Sausage and peppers rice bowl

So my friend Mindi has been doing the whole “eating for your blood type” thing for a while now. It’s been really working for her – she’s feeling and looking great! I’ve sort of been blowing it off for myself though until this past weekend. Mindi and I did a ski lesson together (hello…check off a New Year’s resolution) while the boys snowboarded. Afterwards we got some food and a few beers, the topic came up again. For some reason Brett rattled off his blood type - AB- (is this really something people know about themselves, like their phone number?) and the next day she sent me a ton of info on what he should be eating/avoiding. As an FYI – beer and meat were on his “avoid” list. So needless to say Brett will not be participating! :)

Luckily I had some old maternirty paperwork filed, so I dug it up to see what my blood type was. I’m O+ (which I will now never forget) and it turns out I’m supposed to avoid gluten and dairy…awesome. More specifically it said that wheat makes me gain weight. The silver lining is that beer and wine are on my “OK to eat list.”

As Brett said, “It’s like reading your horoscope. You don’t know if it actually applies to you, or if it’s just general enough to apply to everyone.” OK, so I, like Brett, am not going to start the regiment. But I did find the concept sort of interesting. It definitely inspired me to branch out a little and look for ways that I could replace wheat in my diet with other things. Because as I believe, it’s all about balance.

Where this recipe came from
So Monday night I had planned to do sausage and pepper subs for dinner. After reading about the gluten thing, I decided it might be fun to turn these into a rice bowl.

Making the recipe
Brown rice take FOREVER to cook, so keep that in mind when you are planning this. I started the rice before I cut up all the veggies and sausage.

The results
This turned out to be a suprising success!! I didn’t mix the rice/sausage mixture together for the kids – but they both ate it! If Brett was home, I would have had to cook the sausage/veggies separately, but since he wasn’t I was able to cook everything together. Much easier. I’ll definitely be looking for other ways to incorporate rice bowls into our dinner routine!

The recipe
NOTE: Since I was cooking for just me and the kids, I did half of what I would normally do. If you’re cooking for 4, I would double this.

1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup brown rice
1 tbsp olive oil
2 links chicken sausage (I used the sweet italian flavor - but use whatever you like), chunked
1/4 red pepper, chopped/cut in strips...whatever you like)
1/4 green pepper, cut the same way
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 scallion, chopped
shredded mozzerella cheese for topping
salt and pepper

Heat chicken stock to boiling in a small saucepan. Add rice, lower heat to simmer and cook until tender, about 40 minutes.

Meanwhile heat olive oil in a skillet over med heat. Add pepper and onion. Cook for a minute or two and add sausage. Cook a few more minutes and add garlic. Continue cooking until vegetables begin to soften - about 8-10 minutes. Add scallion, salt and pepper.

Once the sausage and veggies are browned mix with sausage and check seasonings. Top with mozzerella cheese.

Eggplant rolatini, deconstructed

Eggplant Rollatini, deconstructed

Between the cold and snow, cranky kids and Brett being away – last week was feeling like a long one. How that happens when you only log 3 days of work, I don’t know – but there you are anyway.

When the weeknight crazies start to get to me I change the circumstances. Do something different and fun. I decided that we had earned a movie-dinner. As a general rule – we eat dinner at the dinning room table, not in front of the TV. Sometimes though, for sporting events or pizza night or something, I set up the kids little folding chairs around the coffee table and we pile around the TV for dinner. Thursday night called for such a drastic event. I made the kids quesadillas (because they’re not messy) with flax seeds and tofu “hidden” inside (I ended up pulling out all of Bodie’s tofu) and popped in Cars (somehow that movie never gets old). The results, everyone relaxed and enjoyed the evening…mission accomplished!

Where this recipe came from

I though I deserved a treat as well, so I wanted something comforting and yummy. I had an eggplant in the fridge and since we had calzones the previous weekend, I decided to pull together one of my favorite restaurant meals…eggplant rollatini (I know, I’m wild!). I’m not actually sure if I had the correct ingredients, and I definitely didn’t assemble this in the right way – but I threw together what I had and it was AMAZING!

Making the recipe

This was definitely a make it up as you go situation, but it was super easy. I layered everything in a baking dish and popped it in the oven. Instead of separately cooking eggplant and then doing a lot of cheese and eggplant layering, I tried mixing the breadcrumbs with the cheeses and using that as a topping. So easy and so good!

The results

Bodie wouldn’t go near this and Adela had one bite. I thought it was delicious…I would definitely make this again!

The recipe

1 eggplant, sliced horizontally into ½ inch slices (I left the skin on)

½ cup tomato sauce

½ cup grape tomatoes

Olive oil and balsamic vinegar for drizzling

Salt and pepper

2 cloves garlic

½ cup whole wheat bread crumbs

½ cup part skim ricotta cheese

½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 375. Spread the tomato sauce to cover the bottom of a square baking dish. Top with a layer of eggplant slices and drizzle with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Repeat with the remaining eggplant (My eggplant fit into two layers) and top with tomatoes. (I used what I had - but you could dice a regular tomato or used a drained can of tomatoes.)

In a medium size bowl, mix garlic, ricotta cheese and breadcrumbs. Spread over the eggplant and top with mozzarella cheese.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Breakfast (and a winner) for dinner

French toast sticks with berry dipping sauce

So lately dinner successes have been few and far between. Either I spend a lot of time and energy cooking something no one likes (see yesterday's post) or I'm tired and throw together some kid food and call it a day. Literally, all week I've felt like eating a bowl of cereal for dinner. I don't know if I'm a little creatively spent or need some extra sleep or a little from column A and B. Anyway, last night I found myself pushing chicken nuggets (frozen, gasp!) on the kids (that for some reason they weren't interested in) and just felt like I was saying "I know you already ate all of your apples, but finish your processed junk meat or no sugar as a reward."

Obviously that's not what I said, but I may as well have. I felt like I was yet again struggling with dinner - this time a "kid food" and they weren't even eating. So, I decided that tonight things were going to be different. Instead of forcing an uber-healthy, but not kid friendly dinner or making something I didn't feel great about  - I was going to make something healthy that I knew the kids would love. Enter breakfast for dinner!

Where this recipe came from
My super sister-in-law (I actually have two super sister-in-law's...soon to be three) Jen gave me this great cookbook for Christmas...Williams Sonoma cooking with kids (or something to that effect). Bodie and I were looking through it the other day to come up with new things to make together and we came across french toast sandwiches that were cut into shapes with jelly in the middle. He got super excited, so I put this on the soon-to-make list. I didn't feel like bothering with the cookie cutters tonight, so I decided that I would take the elements (french toast and fruit) and make my own twist.

Making the recipe
This one was pretty fun to make. I decided to toast the french toast after I cooked it to give it more of a crunchy texture. It definitely helped make these more stick-like. For the sauce, I pretty much put all of the ingredients in a pot and let it cook. The consistency was slightly thinner than what I was hoping for. It was more drizzle-sauce like and less dipping sauce, but it still totally worked. I think I would cut back on the water next time or omit it all together.

The results
Ding ding ding...we have a winner!! Bodie actually said "this is my favorite dinner." I almost cried :) This was the first dinner in I don't know how long where I didn't have to tell the kids to eat...not once. I'm really feeling like next to my wedding day and the birth of my two children this was one of the best days of my life (just kidding...sort of!). The kids had fun eating it and it was a REAL dinner (or breakfast). YEAH!!

The recipe(s)
French toast sticks
6 slices of whole grain bread
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp honey
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
olive oil

Heat olive oil over medium heat. Whisk eggs, milk, honey, cinnamon and ginger in a medium-size bowl. Dip each slice of bread in egg mixture, turning. Cook over medium heat until browned and flip.

Cook on the other side until browned. Remove from pan and cool for a minute. Cut into strips (I cut each bread slice into 4 "sticks"). Put on a foil-lined backing sheet and put in the toaster oven or regular oven at 375 for 5-10 minutes.

Serve with the berry sauce.

Berry sauce
1 package (16 oz) of mixed frozen berries
1/2 cup water (if you want a thicker sauce, cut this in half or omit)
1/4 cup orange juice
2 tbsp honey
juice of a half lime or lemon (I used lime because I had it...but lemon would be great too).

Mix all ingredients in a small saucepan over med-high heat. Let simmer for about 10 minutes.

Use the immersion blender to process, or transfer to the blender and process until smooth.

I had a lot of berry sauce left over...I'm planning to mix with vanilla yogurt and some granola!!