Salmon Tostadas and Mango Salsa

This was amazing! Both kids asked for more and I was more than happy to help!

 I'll jump right in!

You'll need salmon(I used 4 small fillets), mangos (2-3), red onion, corn, black beans, avocados, lime and/or lemon juice, salt, garlic (powder or fresh), chili powder and butter (or coconut oil ect). I didn't make my own tostadas, so I had a little bag of them ready to go!

Throw some butter in a skillet until melted. Mix in chili powder and garlic, or whatever seasonings you prefer. Place the salmon into the skillet and coat the other side(side facing up) with more seasonings. Wait for it to blacken on the side down, then flip. Then same on the other side. This does NOT take long.

BEFORE you start the salmon, about 45+ minutes ahead of time (if you have time, if not that is okay) cut mango into chunks, dice a small onion and place in a small bowl. Add in corn and beans (add however much you like), then add in a little salt and the lime/lemon juice. Place in the fridge. The longer it is in the fridge, the better it will taste!

Cut or mash an avocado or two.

Place some avocado on the tostada, then your hot salmon, then a LOT of mango salsa! The great thing about this is there are so many options for what to put on the tostada. Refried beans, fresh tomatoes or lettuce. You could even leave out the tostada and put it all on a nice bed of lettuce!!!

It is really so simple and I was surprised how much I loved the mango and salmon together!

BBQ Pulled Pork Soup

I'll keep this blog short and simple. BBQ Pulled Pork Soup. Very experimental. It is so good it doesn't even make sense.

1 pork loin (about a pound or more depending on how much meat you want in the soup)
1-2 C BBQ Sauce, I make homemade-Brown sugar, ketchup, mustard powder ect, but bottled would be great!
1 can/jar stewed tomatoes (12-16oz). I wanted diced, but I was out. DON'T drain.

I used a random variety of beans, all were canned this time, but dry beans prepped and ready to go would also work!
-chili beans(didn't drain)
-northern beans
-kidney beans
^Any beans would taste delicious!

Then seasonings. I have a hard time putting seasonings in my "recipes" because it is all a taste preference. I wanted a little more spice, but with two kiddos I had to keep it mild.
I added:
mustard powder
chili powder
paprika
garlic
onion powder
salt
pepper

I added a smidge of red pepper flakes but would have liked more!



I put everything in a slow cooker for the day. If you'll be gone all day, setting it on low would work great. Setting on high for 4-5 hours would also work well. I wanted mine really soupy so I added a little water, I had no broth on hand... that would have been preferred. Before serving, take out the pork and shred it then place it back in the slow cooker. I topped ours with sharp cheddar. I really think it added flavor and would not recommend leaving it out.

It took me 10 minutes to put everything in and then shred the pork. Too easy?!

Root Beer Short Ribs & A Catch Up

Once I get behind on something I just totally forget to keep up! After my last blog I ended up getting preoccupied with some other things and then we eventually found out baby #3 was on the way and since then I have been nauseous and have not cooked meals like I should have been! Shameful! I plan on doing my meal recipes a little different. I'll sum up what I did to just give more ideas. I recently received an electric pressure cooker for Christmas from my Nana. I have to admit... I am a total slow cooker gal. I could easily do every meal in my crock! But now that I have two toddlers and spontaneous sickness I tend to forget to throw in my meals in the morning. Example time! Yesterday I didn't do anything. I cleaned a little, kept the kids alive and showered. I planned on throwing the ribs in the slow cooker in the morning, making some mashed potatoes, maybe some gravy... you know, because I had all day. Didn't happen. 4pm rolled around and I was sitting on the couch... eating pickles... with no dinner even started. Thank goodness for my pressure cooker!!! Here's how it went down!


Root Beer Short Ribs

I had 2 packs of short ribs, which was about 8 ribs total. I have no clue on the pounds. They were already thawed so I tossed them in a frying pan with some butter and seasonings to crisp the sides. Then I put them in the cooker with about a cup and a half of root beer, garlic, onions, mustard powder... just seasonings that I usually use. They were in the cooker for 30 minutes. Done. Juicy, tender, fall of the bone, DONE. They tasted good as they were but I put them back in the skillet with some root beer and seasonings until they got a nice glaze on them. Yum. Yum. Yum. Please feel free to post a comment or leave me a message on my page with any questions!

Quinoa Pizza Crust

Like usual I am a little behind. Too many leftovers to use ;) A few days ago I made a BBQ chicken pizza on a Quinoa crust! It was good. If you go to Google and type it in, I'm sure you will find a ton of different ideas of how to do it.   Here is how I did it and what I should have done differently! :)

So I made the quinoa according to the package. I used one cup of dry quinoa. When it was close to being done I took it off of the burner and used my immersion blender to blend it all up. I should have blended it up more, that's my first fix. Adding a little extra water would be my second fix. I made it a little too thick. I added salt, basil and garlic to the mixture. I heated up a large round skillet pan and pressed the "dough" into the pan. And my final change would be a thinner crust. Next time I will turn it into 2 pizzas. I cooked it until crispy on both sides and then added BBQ sauce, pulled chicken and mozzarella. I kept mine on the stove but it could easily be thrown in the oven for a few minutes. I really liked the pizza, other than my needed changes. My toddler loved the pizza. My husband, he spit it out. I told you I would be honest. Here are a few reasons why I think he did. He doesn't like quinoa. It was far too thick. And finally, he got home a couple hours after it was made and the sauce had soaked into the crust and it was a horrible texture. My next piece of advice would be to eat it fresh! I will be making this again. My mixture should have been thinner like pancake mix and it was like  bread dough. If you take these changes into account I'm sure it will be a great recipe for you!

Check back later for my 2 week meal plan!!!

Taco Chicken Chili Stuffed Peppers and More!

I haven't posted in a bit, but I've been cooking some delicious meals! I mentioned this blog is more for planning and meal inspiration than it is for full recipes. With that being said, here we go! This weekend I made a roast in the slow cooker, with onions and carrots and a cup of water. I added a little seasoning of choice and that's it! A very simple and filling meal. We also ate roast at my moms and she puts an onion soup packet in with her roast, which is also super good.

Then I had a large ham I needed to use. Guess what I did with that!? Yep, slow cooker. I will never make a ham any other way ever again. I put about a cup of apple juice in with it and that was all. Juicy. Juicy. Juicy. I made some green means and caulimash to go along. I steamed my cauliflower then mashed it up with a little butter, salt and pepper. Awesome meal!

The next day for lunch(was going to be for dinner, but we couldn't wait) I made a huge Cobb Salad with SOME of the leftover ham. Eggs, avocados, pepper jack cheese and tomatoes!

(I posted that picture on my Facebook page, check it out!!)

Last night I planned on making a southwest type of stuffed pepper. As I was throwing black beans into the pan I decided to add more beans and turn it into a chili. After the peppers were stuffed I had chili leftover for the 3 of us for tonight or even for a lunch! They were great!

Taco Chicken Chili Stuffed Peppers
30 min total

28oz can diced tomatoes
15oz can black beans, drained
15oz can chili beans, drained
1 large chicken breast, uncooked
1 cup corn
4+  green or bell peppers (depending on if you want leftover chili)
1 tsp: Chili powder
2 tsp: Cumin
1tsp: Paprika
Salt
Pepper
Shredded cheese if desired.

Preheat oven to 350. Place chicken and tomatoes in a pan. Cook until chicken is done. Shred chicken. Add rest of ingredients (except peppers) and stuff into 4-6 peppers. Place in baking dish for 20 minutes or until peppers are cooked to liking. Top with cheese if desired.

For leftover chili I always top it with cheddar cheese and sour cream!

Chicken&Veggie Pastaless Lasagna

This is a more time consuming recipe. It's really great and filling, it is just a little more "detailed."  I would love to give you my prep time but I typically cut a veggie, pick up my baby, cut another veggie, get my toddler a drink... You get the idea.  It's NOT a hard meal to make. Just allow yourself some time to cut veggies and cook a chicken breast!

So, here it is... !

Chicken&Veggie Pastaless Lasagna

2 medium sized zucchinis, sliced lengthwise, thin
1 small/medium eggplant, sliced into circles
2 cups of sliced mushroom
4 parsnips, pealed and sliced thin
2 cups fresh or frozen spinach
1 chicken breast (uncooked)
1 jar of spaghetti sauce (or homemade)
2 cups shredded mozzarella

Preheat oven to 400. Salt and drain the eggplant and zucchini. Let sit. Put sauce and chicken in a pan and cook over low heat until chicken is cooked. Shred chicken. Place a little bit of sauce into a 9x13 pan and spread it out. Layer parsnips on top of sauce. Next place eggplant on top.

x

Place mushrooms on next, followed by half of the sauce and chicken mixture. Place spinach on top then the zucchini on top of that.

Pour remaining sauce mixture on top. Cover with mozzarella and place in oven for 40 minutes. Take out and let sit for 10-15 minutes.

Will be saucy!!! That's okay!
I have done this with sweet potatoes instead of the eggplant and it is JUST as good. :)

Kielbasa Soup

Mmmm...kielbasa soup! I had 4 venison kielbasa's that I've been wanting to try in a soup and it was AWESOME! And simple. I was really considering beans for this soup but then I realized that not much is better than meat and potatoes.

Kielbasa Soup
  Slow Cooker: 4 hours on high or 6 hours on low

3-4 Kielbasa's, chopped
2 Cups Carrots (I used organic baby carrots and cut them in half)
32oz Chicken Broth (I used organic chicken broth, but veggie broth would be good too!)
2 Celery Stalks, Chopped
4-5 Small/Medium Potatoes, cubed
4 Cups Water
1 Small Onion
1 tsp: Chili powder
Salt and Pepper to taste
Parsley as garnish

Put all of the above in a slow cooker. I know, it's so complicated!! ;)

2 Week Plan

I've been pretty busy! We just got some baby chicks and we are helping to make a coop for them so my time has been devoted to that! Luckily I freeze any large amounts of leftovers so I always have a quick and yummy dinner waiting for me. If you don't do that, please start! I freeze little portions for a quick lunch... Okay, I freeze everything,

So back to the point of this post. We did manage to get groceries done Saturday. My meal plan is below. Remember, I do change it up a lot if produce needs to be used or if we aren't home for dinner.

Monday: Kielbasa Soup
Tuesday: Pastaless Lasagna
Wednesday: Maple Roast w/ Carrots
Thursday: Ham(in the slow cooker), Caulimash and Green Beans
Friday: Ham Cobb Salad
Saturday: Freezer Meal
Sunday: Leftovers
Monday: Stuffed Peppers
Tuesday: Breakfast
Wednesday: Spinach Quinoa Pizza
Thursday: Stuffed Meatballs
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: Chicken "Who Needs Noodles" Soup
Sunday: Shopping


My weekends I usually have leftovers or freezer meals. Chances are we aren't home so I don't like to plan a good meal for those days. Tonight in Kielbasa Soup! I have some venison kielbasa and I'm not really sure of my plans as far as what I want to put in the soup, but I need to get that in the slow cooker now!

Breadless Chicken Nuggets and Carrot Fries

       Prepare for a whirlwind of confusion when you start reading about tonight's dinner! Okay, it's not that confusing. Guys, just because we put breading on something and fry it up, does not mean that's the only way for it to be a finger food. So can't a girl make some awesome chicken nuggets, without the extra stuff, and still eat it with her hands? Well...I did. Now the cycle of confusion continues...    I. Made. Carrot. Fries. I'm not a carrot fan, unless I cook them in a brown sugar glaze of course! I did it though! I cut up big carrots, put them in the oven disguised as fries and I loved them! I made some honey mustard sauce(equal parts honey and Dijon mustard) for the chicken and I started to wonder what I should dip the fries in.... Duh! Obviously ranch dressing(organic). Hello!! Where has this been all my life!?!

       Back to the chicken. How does it get so much flavor without the yummy breading? Two words, people. Bacon. Grease. There, I said it, but before you close this page let me explain myself. Bacon is a good food, in moderation like everything else. If you buy it local and/or organic, you don't have all the nasty chemicals in it as you would get on the shelf. After I make bacon I put the grease in a mason jar and use it as an oil substitute in my cooking. Don't believe me? Check this out: http://www.healthstartsinthekitchen.com/2013/06/14/oh-for-the-love-of-fats-and-bacon-grease/

Now that we've got that covered, here's our dinner! :)



Breadless Chicken Nuggets and Carrot Fries

30 min cook time

I'd suggest cutting up the chicken and carrots before hand but it isn't a long process if you're not able to!

6 Carrots, peeled or scrubbed well
2lbs of chicken (2 or 3 breasts)
Bacon grease or oil of choice
EVOO
Chili powder

Cut carrots into carrot sticks/fries. Drizzle in EVOO and season with chili powder.

 Place in 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes or until crispy. While carrots are baking cut chicken up into "nugget" size pieces. Add bacon grease and a teaspoon of chili powder to a skillet over medium heat. Add nuggets. Cook nuggets until golden on the outside and cooked in the middle. If you let the nuggets sit for a minute it will absorb the juices in the pan and glaze the nuggets.

I made a honey mustard sauce for the nuggets (equal parts honey and Dijon mustard) and I had some organic ranch dressing to dip the carrot fries in.

Buffalo Pork Chops and Cucumber Tomato Salad

Tonight's dinner was great! Buffalo pork chops and cucumber tomato salad. It sounds like a summer meal, but this "warmer" weather made me really want some tomatoes! I do have to say I should have let the salad sit a bit longer to really soak in all of the flavors. It was still refreshing though! For the chops I had 4 medium ones, boneless. I had every intention of using fresh mozzarella but I had some pepper jack cheese I needed to use up and it worked perfectly! When I was making it I realized how easy it would be to substitute barbeque sauce for hot sauce and put some provolone on top! Next time...!

 

 We only need to feed three of us. Usually I make a decent size dinner because we love leftovers for lunch. This meal made about three or four servings so we will have no leftovers. It can be easily doubled! So here it is!

Buffalo Pork Chops:
20 min total

4 Pork Chops
Cheese of choice
Hot sauce of choice
1tsp Chili powder
1tsp Red pepper flakes
EVOO

Drizzle EVOO in a pan over medium high heat. Add red pepper flakes and chili powder. Let EVOO heat up and add the chops. Cook like regular pork chops, a few minutes on each side or until cooked thoroughly. A few minutes before they are done drench them in hot sauce (as much as you please). And top with cheese. Place lid on pan until cheese is melted. Eat. Eat. Eat!



Tomato Cucumber Salad
Serving 3

1 Medium/Large Tomato
1 Mini cucumber or 1/2 of a large
1 Small onion
1 Tbsp EVOO
1 Tbsp Apple cider vinegar
fresh garlic

Cut up tomatoes, cucumbers and onions thin. Add to small bowl. Add in EVOO, vinegar and garlic. Mix well. Let sit in fridge for a few hours. Add pepper if desired.

Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie

So I'm a few days behind, but honestly we haven't been home to eat dinner. I did manage to make some sweet potato shepherd's pie in the slow cooker yesterday that will make great leftovers or a meal this week! It's a little more "work" than most of my slow cooker recipes. I had to brown the ground beef first, but, it's worth it!

 So I don't have much of a recipe for this one... (hey, I warned you.) But it's pretty simple, I browned up a pound of ground beef, threw it in the slow cooker with a small 8oz can of tomato paste. Then I added some frozen veggies. I used green beans, corn and peas. Anything would taste great in it though, spinach, kale, lima beans... you get the idea. And then some seasonings for taste. I sprinkled in some chili powder and some basic salt and pepper. I steamed 3 small/medium sweet potatoes, mashed them up and threw them on top. I didn't add butter or sugar because I think they are just sweet enough for this meal! I had it on low for about 6 hours, but it was done way before that and it wasn't even close to overcooking if it needed to go longer. This would also make for a quick easy oven meal as well! :)

So I think the only meal I missed was the tuna spinach casserole, which I may add to my next meal plan instead!! Tonight I'm making Buffalo Pork Chops. I have green beans as a side dish, but since we just had them, I may switch it up a bit!

Banana Ice Cream?!

I'm sure everyone knows about banana ice cream. Today I decided to make some for the kiddos and myself and it was super yummy! As long as you freeze the bananas long enough, it's pretty fool proof. I blended up 3 bananas I had frozen in the freezer from yesterday. I gave the littlest just plain banana ice cream, nothing added. I made my toddler some peanut butter and myself some chocolate! I need to experiment more to see what else would go well... It's really just an excuse to eat more delicious treats. :) I usually add about a tablespoon of peanut butter for the PB banana ice cream and a couple tablespoons of coco powder to the chocolate banana ice cream. EASY.

3 bananas frozen overnight



JUST the bananas blended! Creamy!

Plain Banana, Peanut Butter and Chocolate!

Pulled Pork Over Coleslaw

Fridays are usually a pretty "quick" dinner for us. Yesterday I threw a pork butt in the slow cooker with some seasonings, pulled it apart, added some homemade BBQ sauce and cooked it a little longer. We are trying to reduce our gluten intake so we ate it over homemade coleslaw, which in my opinion, is soooo much better than a roll! It definitely isn't a super healthy meal but it could be way worse!

I don't have much of a recipe. But the next time you make pulled pork, PLEASE try it over coleslaw. :)

First one up!

So I've considered doing a "food" blog for a while now. I'm personally not much of a recipe follower but I do make my meals off of ideas, so maybe that will help inspire you, or you can just follow exactly what I do. ;)   I typically do my grocery shopping on Sunday. I sit down with my white board, paper and Pinterest and plan! I try and find 10-12 meals and usually that lasts us for 2 weeks (leftovers are great in this house!). After I shop I try and write what days I plan on cooking what meals. That can always change though depending on how my produce is holding up, if I forgot to thaw something out, ect.  I try REALLY hard to make healthy choices for all my meals and I think I do a decent job but sometimes I take the shortcut, bad for you way. Now that the intro to how it works around here is done, I can give you a brief idea of what we had for dinner tonight. Also I will leave my plan for the rest of this week and next. :)

Tonight I made some awesome Southwest Spaghetti Squash Boats! (recipe below) It was seriously the easiest thing to make! I decided to microwave the squash since I was pressed for time, which took about 10 minutes. Don't forget to poke holes in it, or it will explode! While that was cooking, I cut up a couple green peppers and threw them in a pan with the sauce, corn and black beans. Then I added some cumin and red pepper flakes for a little zing! By the time that was done so was my squash! Easy! I told you! 


Not the cutest picture!

Southwest Spaghetti Squash Boats

Prep and cook time: 20 minutes

1 smaller sized spaghetti squash
2 green peppers
1/2 bag of frozen corn (or canned whatever you prefer)
1 can of black beans
1 jar of organic (or not) spaghetti sauce
1 tsp of cumin
Red pepper flakes if desired
Fresh mozzarella for the top

Cook spaghetti squash. Mix green peppers, corn, beans, cumin, red pepper flakes and sauce in a pan until hot. After squash is cooked, shred out the "noodles" and combine with the sauce mixture. Add the mixture back to the empty squash shells. Top with some fresh mozzarella and you're done! Hey, did you realize there's no meat in that boat? Neither did my carnivore husband... So filling!




So my schedule!

Friday: Pulled Pork over Coleslaw
Saturday: Tuna & Spinach Casserole
Sunday: Leftovers
Monday: Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie
Tuesday: Buffalo Pork Chops with Green Beans
Wednesday: Chicken Nuggets with Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce and Carrot Fries
Thursday: (Made ahead) Frozen Lasagna
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: Sweet Potato Pasta with a Cheesy Tomato and Sausage Sauce