Fajita Night

Last night was Fajita Night. I know the thought of fajitas without cheese and sour cream and well... tortillas seems a little depressing, but I am pleased to announce that this dinner came complete with my husband making that happy sound that husbands make when they are eating something delicious. He loved this meal so much he had three helpings!

I am going to tell you a little secret.... ready? I don't cook with onions. I HATE onion. The only time I use it is if I really want the flavor, and if that is the case I usually use the onion whole and then remove the onion before serving the dish. So, when you look at any recipe I post feel free to add onion if you are an onion person. 

Here it is! 

                                         Paleo Fajitas with Sauteed Mushrooms and Sugar Snap Peas

Fajitas

Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast- Sliced in Strips 

Sliced Green, Red and Yellow Pepper

(Onion if you so desire)

1 Tbsp Olive Oil or Coconut Oil

1 tsp Garlic Powder

Salt

Pepper

Fresh Romaine Hearts

Heat oil in a large skillet. Add chicken, sprinkle with garlic powder, salt and pepper. Cook until chicken starts to brown. Add Peppers. Cook until the chicken is cooked through and veggies are your desired consistency. Then serve in a fresh romaine heart with some of your favorite fresh salsa. EASY!

I filled this dinner out with some sauteed fresh mushrooms and sugar snap peas. I heated about a tablespoon of Ghee in a skillet, added 1 clove of minced garlic and the veggies to the hot skillet. Then I sprinkled it with a little steak seasoning to add zip. Yummy! 

Tune in tonight to check out of Friday Family Fun Night! We are going to embrace our nerdy side and "boldly go" where no dinner has gone before. Have a fabulous Friday!

Spider!

Today's afternoon snack is nothing fancy, but it is fun and it is healthy! We made spiders. You can use this idea with pretty much any food you have in the house. I'm telling you, if you present it in a fun way, even the vegetables get eaten!

Our snack today included:

2 Slices of smoked summer sausage
8 thin slices of Celery
8 Blueberries
2 Cherry Tomatoes

Ta-Dah! A snack that everyone thinks is super fun... and took almost no time to put together.

                                        

Please tune in tomorrow evening for our "Friday Family Fun Night!" I will give you a clue... we have been watching some old episodes of "Star Trek".

Sticky Finger Fun!

Continuing on with our after school snack theme of the week, this one is very simple and gets a 100 point review from my picky six year old. It is your classic Apples with Peanut Butter, but jazzier!

"Jazzy Apples"

1 Thinly sliced apple
1 tsp fresh honey
1 Tbsp Almond Butter
Coconut Flakes
Raisins

Thinly slice an apple and spread it out on a plate in one layer. Melt your almond butter in the microwave for about 30 seconds, or until it is easy to drizzle over the top of the apple slice. Drizzle almond butter and honey, and sprinkle coconut flakes and raisins over the top. This took me about 2 minutes to put together and not one spec was left on the plate!

"Brought to You by the Number 4!"

Today's after School Snack is brought to you by the number 4!

My kids come home from school everyday starving! This is an important time to give our kids something nutritious, delicious and fun to eat. In my experience, if I give the kids something sugary or otherwise unhealthy they are hungry again before I've cleaned up the dishes from the first snack. So, embrace the after school snack! Make it fun, and take the time to sit and talk with the kids about the day they have had.

Today's snack includes:

4- Pineapple Piggies (Pineapple Chunks wrapped in Bacon)
4- Banana and Almond Butter Sandwiches
4-Raisins
4- Cherry Tomatoes
4- Blueberries

Presenting snack with a numbered theme presents a fun opportunity to talk about basic arithmetic as well. "I had four cherry tomatoes and I ate one. Four take away one is three" or "Four bananas plus four pineapple piggies makes eight"! These things can be fun. Happy Snacking!

Green Smoothies

Happy Monday!

Monday mornings in my house are so stressful. I feel like I say "hurry up!" and "It's time to go" about one hundred times before 9 AM. Getting out the door seems to be an impossible task, so eating a healthy breakfast needs to be fast and fun.

"Green Smoothies" have become a staple food in our house. When I was first presented the idea of a green smoothie I was very resistant. "Spinach in my smoothie? You have to be kidding me". Well, I tell you now, these are AWESOME!

What you need:

1 1/2 Cup of Vanilla Almond Milk
1 Banana
1 Cup of Fresh Spinach
Handful of frozen fruit (your choice!)  Strawberries, pineapple, mango, blueberries, raspberries etc.
Add some fresh fruit too! I like to peel a "Cutie" Clementine and toss that into my smoothie!

The fun thing about smoothies is that anything really works. My kids love smoothies because they can choose what goes into it. Even if your kids insist they don't want the spinach, throw it in there anyway. They will never know! Green smoothies are like fruit and vegetable ninjas, the perfect way to sneak some extra nutrition into your kids and give them 3-5 servings of fruit and vegetables. It's a total win.

Cilantro Lime Chicken Salads

Why spend money at a restaurant or fast food place for a salad when it is simple to make your own better salad at home? There is no reason! We enjoyed this salad today for lunch and the entire family really enjoyed it. 

                                                      "Cilantro Lime Chicken Salad"

3 Large Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts

2 tsp Olive Oil

1 Lime

1 Tbsp Dried Cilantro 

Finely chopped fresh peppers 

Chop chicken breast into bite sized pieces. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a skillet. Add sliced chicken. Sprinkle with Cilantro and squeeze half of a lime over the chicken. Today I had just a few pieces of Red, Green and Yellow Peppers left over so why waste? I chopped them up and added it to the chicken. Adds nice flavor and extra veggie nutrition. Cook on medium heat for about 10 to 12 minutes stirring occasionally. The lime not only adds amazing flavor, it also makes the chicken very tender. 

Now, we chose to serve this today on top of a delicious fresh salad including:

Lettuce

Spinach

Sugar Snap Peas

Cucumber

Avocado 

Black Olives

Lime wedge

1/4 Cup of Fresh Salsa

This was EASY and DELICIOUS. 

Want to change it up a little? Why not serve it as tacos in a lettuce wrap? Same concept, different presentation. Enjoy! 

Family Fun Friday- Pirate Edition!

Ahoy Matey! Happy Friday! In our house, weekends are time for fun and family. To get the weekend off to a proper start, today is "Family Fun Friday." From the moment the kids got home from school we have been embracing our theme of the day- PIRATES!

I stopped by our amazing public library and stumbled upon a new children's book "Pirateria" by Calef Brown and added another from our own collection"How I became a Pirate" by Melinda Long. There is nothing like reading a few wonderful books to my children to get in the spirit of the afternoon! Along with our stories, we made our own pirate hats. We happen to already have several sheets of pirate stickers that I picked up at the dollar store, add to that a few crayon towers, markers, and a roll of brown painters paper and we had ourselves a wonderful time. By the way, painters paper is an awesome, and inexpensive thing to just keep around the house. We use it for many of our art projects.

I know, I know. This is a food blog. But, eating right can still be loads of fun! Why not make our meal a fun event for the kids? I now present to you our "Family Fun Friday Shipwreck Feast!"

                          "Pirate Meatballs on the Beach with Pirate Ships and Seaweed"

"Pirate Meatballs" or my daughter called them "Dead Pirates!"

1 pound Lean Ground Turkey
1 c. very finely chopped mix of green, yellow and red pepper
1/4 c. very finely chopped carrot
1 egg
pinch (Yes, a pinch. I don't actually measure it) of each, Thyme, Oregano, Garlic Powder
1/4 tsp each Salt and Black Pepper

Serve with organic spaghetti sauce and don't forget a few pirate swords (found by toothpicks)

This is easy. Throw everything into your stand mixer. If you don't have a stand mixer than throw it all in a bowl and mix everything together with your hands. Shape mixture into small balls. In a skillet over medium heat, cook the meatballs. I threw some simple marinara sauce in with the meat balls as they cooked. Cover and let cook about 5 minutes, then gently turn the meat balls over with a spoon and cook another 5 minutes.

Want to know a secret? You can do this all ahead of time! I actually prepared the meatballs while my youngest took his nap and then loaded them into my crock pot on low so they would be ready when we were ready for dinner. These also freeze well.

"Sand" (Cauliflower Rice)

Take a large head of fresh cauliflower and finely chop or whirl through your food processor until it resembles rice. Place in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 3 minutes. Stir and repeat for another 3 minutes or until the cauliflower is soft. Salt and pepper to taste.

"Seaweed"

Take a carrot peeler and "peel" zucchini and yellow squash into long strips. Sauté in a skillet with some Ghee (purified butter) and salt and pepper until cooked. Serve as seaweed.

                                                                    "Pirate Ships"

I used Apple Slices and Clementine slices, but this can be done with any fruit you have that can be boat shaped. Add a toothpick with a cleaver little flag and you have yourself a pirate ship. Easy. This was probably my kids' favorite part of the meal.

Have a Wonderful Weekend!