Let's Eat 8.24-8.29 2015!

I feel like we all get in a cooking rut and my hope is that these posts will help pull us out!  Trust me, I get knocked in the ditch when I'm planning out menus all the time !

If you haven't already - go "like" my Facebook page and lets start a conversation each week on good recipes we’ve had.  There’s nothing better than making something so delicious and then sharing it with others!

I want to warn you this week’s post is LONG!  So bear with me.  I promise to keep the proceeding week’s posts much shorter!

Let’s Eat

August 24-29th

Breakfast

School is back in session so we have two options for breakfast:

1.     Eat at school – free breakfast for all elementary students.

2.     Eat at home – because we are too lazy to get up early enough to make it to breakfast at school.

Guess what?  If you guessed number two you are the lucky winner of eating your breakfast at home tomorrow.

I get bored with having recurring dishes and I just assume everyone else does too.  So here’s how my week’s breakfasts are looking:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Waffles, eggs, sausage	Eggs, toast, grits	Muffins and yogurt	Waffles, eggs, sausage	Kid Pick

I can hear you – you just said, “I don’t have time for that!”  Well shut your mouth and keep reading! Let’s apply these options to nearly everyone….

Waffles – if you don’t have time to pull out the waffle maker then buy a brand you trust!  Eggo, Udi’s, Van’s whatever there are millions of brands of frozen waffles.

Eggs – they take NO TIME to make.  You can use a mug to make your scrambled eggs – just spray it with cooking spray break your egg into the cup and add in a tablespoon of milk, whisk it around and cook for 45-60 seconds in the microwave.  When it is finished “cooking” it will resemble an egg from McDonald’s in shape and texture.  Throw it on an English muffin and you just made the cheapest McMuffin EVER!

Sausage – you do know you can buy Johnsonville Links that are precooked?  Oh you didn’t?  Well you can and they are yummy.  I prefer a turkey option but I can tell you the Johnsonville Pork Sausage Precooked are really good!

Muffins – make them the night before!  But make sure you make them and not the bakery.  The ones you can make at home in 20 minutes are way better for you than the ones you purchase.

Another thing I take into account with breakfast planning is this….Snacking!

In a perfect world we eat five small meals a day, are satiated and look like Jennifer Aniston.  Well, the world is far from perfect and we tend to eat three large meals and then two large snacks and have to fight from being Jennifer’s polar opposite.

A good couple of rules of thumb for us adults– snacks are small & snacks are between meals.  Plan your snack 2-2.5 hours after breakfast and a 1.5 hours from lunch.  And no, a bag of M&M’s is not a snack choice but a DUMB choice. 

My daughter has lunch at 11:30 this year.  She’ll eat her breakfast around 7:30 and be ravenous by the time lunch comes rolling around.  Therefore I’m loading more protein and a few more dense carbs in her breakfast.  (Thanks to snack time being at the end of the day!)

My breakfast will be a lighter version of hers (don’t ask me about my bagel problem).  Why?  Because I’ll have a snack at 10am.  I didn’t want to blow money purchasing separate snacks for the kids versus the adults.  So here’s my snack outlook for this week:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Fiber One Bar	Peanut Butter & Celery	Carrots & Light Ranch	Trail Mix/Popcorn	Fiber One Bar

Fiber One Bars are, for me, a great option for the family.  The kids will eat them and not complain and I feel good that they are getting extra fiber in their diet.  Don’t forget you can get various flavors and appease nearly every palate.  Little Missy is all into the chocolate while I kind of love the streusals!  I have heard people say these bars make them extra gassey.  Look, they don't me but if you are a Fiber One Farter then pick another option like Cliff or Quest.  Just remember, don't eat them on an empty stomach (aka for breakfast).

I purchase the Jif to go and Hidden Valley Lite Ranch to go cups specifically for lunches that are packed for out of the home.  Don’t use those while you are home because that will kill your pocketbook.  Stick to scooping out portion control sizes from the regular canister.

Trail mix is a great snack as long as you try to steer clear of the ones chock full of candy.  Look for dried fruit options.  I’m a sucker for M&M’s so this is particularly hard for me.  (Am I craving M&M’s?  Seriously, that’s the second time I have mentioned them…hmmm)

Skinny pop! We love Skinny Pop in our home and I think your home will love it too.  You can buy a regular bag for about $3 or you can spend around $6 and get mini bags which are perfect for portion control and throwing in the book bag or purse.

Lunch, Lunch, Lady

I have this weird love of food and making meals.  I get excited about making my daughter’s lunches.  I know it is strange.  Maybe it is something my late Mamaw passed down to me – she was a true lunch lady at my middle school.  Of course that was back in the stone ages when the lunch ladies could actually make the food from scratch or semi scratch.  Today they government sends them heat and eat and threatens them not to add seasonings.  Oops did I say that?  Look, I love lunch ladies and that’s all you should gather from this paragraph.

This week I found a blog post from Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom that I couldn’t stop going back to look at.  So I decided it was bread from heaven and I needed to use it as my blue print for my girl’s lunch this week.  I also think I will be enjoying this stuff too.  Here’s the link!

Of course all kids are different and I had to make some adjustments:

• No salami, we’ll do ham.
• Tuesday’s tostadas will not include the beans but instead ground turkey I’m saving from the meal the night before.
• Thursday we will do the mini pizzas but I like to make them on English muffins or bagles instead of the chips.
• Friday will be subbed with Sunday’s meal.

Ahhhh flexibility is the secret of life I tell you!

We’ll also put in some milk but have water in the lunch too.  My kid is iffy on milk but it is important as she’s growing!

Dinners…  I mean it is the real reason you visited today right?

This week we’re eating some dang good food.

Tonight we’re having meat loaf, asparagus, and creamed potatoes.  I’m saving some of the ground meat for lunch on Tuesday.  That way my daughter can have tostadas!

Tomorrow is my son’s birthday and he will be three. I like to cook whatever the kids love for their birthday dinner but this year we are going out!  Little Man said he wanted spaghetti and meatballs so we're going to celebrate his day at a local Italian restaurant!

Tuesday’s dinner is going to be grilled pork chops, corn, and roasted red potatoes.  That my friends is good eating.  Also, pork chops are on sale in my area this week at ALL the grocery stores.

Wednesday night we’re having homemade chicken tenders, green beans, and mac and cheese for the kids.  Total kid friendly night, right?

Thursday, my crock pot will be doing the dirty work as it makes Mongolian Beef.

Friday I plan to celebrate a successful start to the school year by having the kids pick the dinner they want to devour.  The kids tend to want chicken noodle soup, not kidding.  I always keep a few cans of Progresso's Lite Chicken Noodle Soup on standby.  They prefer it over the regular condensed soup.

Saturday is my husband’s choice unless he is at a Fantasy Football Draft. 

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Out for the Little Man's 3rd Birthday!	Pork Chops, corn, roasted red potatoes	Homemade Chicken Tenders, green beans, and mac n cheese	Crock Pot Mongolian Chicken	Kid’s Choice! Maybe we’ll order out?  Or maybe we'll have chicken noodle soup!

What I’m baking this week?

Nothing, we should have plenty of birthday cake around here for the next two weeks!

Have a yummy week, friends!  See you tomorrow with Monday, May I!

Tasty Tuesday

With the start of school you have several decisions to make.  You have to decide on supplies that are necessary and just what your kid is begging for.  There's the decision on clothing - buy now or later?  How you'll help them with homework you don't even understand.  What to keep on the agenda and what to squash.  And the one item that is always right there in your face....

What to eat.

In our school district elementary kids get free breakfast if they are at school in time to actually eat it.  I'm a big supporter of free breakfast in schools.  Many kids are so rushed in the mornings that they don't get food in their tummies.  Other kids just don't have food to eat in the mornings.  Even though I question what the child nutrition department says is good for the kids to eat I still support their initiative to make sure kids are fed breakfast.

Breakfast is essential to your metabolism and your brain.  You should know this, I know this, we all should be totally aware of the critical need for breakfast.  It doesn't matter if you are five months old or one hundred and five years old; you have to eat breakfast.

Optimally, breakfast is eaten within thirty minutes of getting out of bed.  I know what its like to wake up ready to eat (me) and to wake up with a person who can skip it all together and not eat until 11:30 (spouse).

For those of you like me, who can get up and eat your breakfast with no questions asked, here are some yummy breakfast options....

Hungry Girl Muffins
I love these and have blogged about them a few times.  All you need is a can of pumpkin and a devil's food cake mix.  These are carbs so you'll need to add some protein to the mix.  Try a greek yogurt cup or whip up an egg.  Muffins really can't sustain you because they lack protein.



Bagels & Fruit
Here's the deal with bagels - you can put anything on them.  Fruit sounds good but you can also do veggies (broccoli, tomato, etc).  Or you can power it up and add on some egg and Canadian bacon.



Breakfast Pizza from Southern Bite

This is one of the most popular breakfast recipes I have ever seen.  They actually serve a derivative of it in our local school system.  This has the protein and carb power to get you through the morning and have you not quite so ravenous during lunch block.

Lunch

Have you ever heard the little ditty that goes:

Eat a breakfast fit for a king
A lunch fit for a prince
And a dinner fit for a pauper

?

That is a nice rule of thumb but not everyone's activity level is the same so you have to tweak that a little.

I don't eat monster breakfasts, lunches or dinners because I snack.  If you are snacking then you need to watch your meal sizes too.  Now, if you are only eating three meals a day and you aren't very active then keep that little rule of thumb poem in mind.

Now let's build a healthy lunch....



I really like this choice sheet for lunches.  You can, of course, tweak it so that there are options your family likes on it.  Don't forget your kids need dairy and to make sure you have a dairy option in their lunchbox (unless they are allergic, of course).  A good rule of thumb:  1 protein, 1 whole grain, 2 vegetable options, 1 fruit, 1 dairy.



Bento Boxing is a great way to pack lunches for kids and adults.  I just think that it is more practical for your middle school, high school kids, and adults.  If you haven't got into Bento yet then I highly advise you to check out Glory's Mischief as to how to properly create a Bento box.

Pesto, Mozzarella, Baby Spinach, Avocado Grilled Cheese!

I found this recipe and cannot wait to add it to my lunch box this year.  I'm not real sure my kid would be thrilled to open this up (and smell it) but as an adult I'm screaming sign me up!

Snacks

Technically, we're to eat 5 small meals a day and call it a good food day.  None of those meals should consist of McDonald's, fried anything, be all brown or white, or have no nutritional value.

Your snacks shouldn't be that way either.

Snacking is important so don't treat it like its super fun time with food.

One of my favorite POWER snacks.

When I get to work in elementary schools I am so baffled by what kids bring in for their snack.  I see potato chips, candy, calorie laden cookies, and my personal favorite....Little Debbie.  Parents seem to think that it is a kid and the snack doesn't matter.

Ummmm.

I studied nutrition in college and when I see parents giving their kids pure junk for snack time I want to slap somebody!

A treat and a snack are two totally different animals - you cannot exchange one for the other.  A treat is your fatty, calorie heavy, sugary snack (for me Swiss Cake Rolls).  A snack is going to power you up until you get a meal.  It has things like: protein, fiber, vitamins.  Generally, its calorie content is less than 200 calories.  (I try to pack ones less than 150 calories,)

These are pretty good and I have found kids like them :)

Snacks are things like: nuts, protein bars (but be smart about those), fruits and veggies (where veggies are a much better choice), whole grains, a cheese option (cheese whiz does NOT fit this mold), and even jerky!

The purpose of a snack is to give you sustained energy for that brain to work efficiently.  It fills the tummy and feeds the brain.

When I buy snacks I do something a little strange - I pretend I am diabetic.  What could a diabetic have?  Chances are my Swiss Cake Rolls are out.  Instead, I'm looking at celery and a tablespoon or two of peanut butter.  You think that wouldn't fill you up but I dare you to try it.



Speaking of that - your mind plays a HUGE role in your snacking.  If you go into a snack saying this won't fill me up then you're right.  You are psyching yourself up to fall for the idea that 8 celery sticks and two tablespoons of peanut butter will not fill you up.

Your mind can be mean.

If you will change your thought process and realize that actually it just may you'll be surprised when it does.

Of course you have to drink when you snack.  Water, water, water.

Nothing will fill you up quite like downing that 16 ounce bottle of water.  Just note that you'll need to have another 16 ounce bottle awaiting because in about 40 minutes you'll be wanting more!

Snacks to buy:
*Trail Mix
*String Cheese
*Fresh fruit and veggies (apples, carrot sticks, celery sticks, pears, olives, etc)
*Single serving Skinny Pop bags (we LOVE these)

OK guys, I'm off my soap box on nutrition and back to school today!  What tips do you have?  Do you have a healthy breakfast, lunch, or snack to share?  Please, please do!!!

Here's to a delicious and nutritious school year!