Ratatouille!

Dinner tonight is the Garlic Ranch Chicken. And one of Josh's favorite side dishes is ratatouille! (If you want to get your kids to eat it, maybe try watching the Pixar movie Ratatouille before dinner?) When making this, I've always left out the eggplant. No, I had never tried it, but something about it just seemed repulsive to me. However, at my friend Megan's house, she made pizza out of eggplant! I'm always encouraging Elijah to try new things, and I really don't like being a hypocrite. So I tried it. And guess what? It was good! (I'll try to have the recipe for that on here before too long...) I do not have any eggplant right now, but that's because I'm just cooking for Josh & the boys, and I know they won't eat it. (I have to admit, this week, I've jumped on the juicing bandwagon lol.) Anyway, here's the recipe for Ratatouille. (For anyone who's trying to watch their weight by counting calories, there are 120 calories per cup... 12g carbs.)

Ratatouille

1 unpeeled eggplant, cut into 1/2-in. cubes
2 zucchini, cut into 1/2 in. slices
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
2 tomatoes, cut into fourths
1/4 c veg. oil
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

Stir all ingredients together in a skillet and cook over medium heat 12-15 min., stirring occasionally. Heat until zucchini is tender. Enjoy! :)

Pot Roast!

Dinner tonight is nothing special, just a pot roast. Pretty simple. No one in this house is a huge fan of pot roast, but when you're given roasts, what are you going to do? FIX THEM! Duh! :) This is an incredibly simple and pretty tasty recipe. If we'd had some zucchini, I would have fixed rattatouille to go with it. But that will just have to wait for another day! :)

Pot Roast

3 lb. roast
3 potatoes, cut into large chunks
1/2 onion, cut into chunks
1 pkg. dry onion soup mix
1 can cream of potato soup
1 tsp soy sauce
1/8 tsp celery seed
1/4 tsp marjoram
1/4 tsp thyme

Line a baking sheet with foil, but make sure the foil will be long enough to wrap around the roast. Place the roast on the foil and place the onion and potato chunks around the roast. In a small bowl, combine the soups, soy sauce, and herbs. Spread over the roast. Seal in the foil and bake at 300 for 4 hours. Enjoy!

Quiche!

We've been living on leftovers lately... Buffalo chicken, taco soup, sandwiches... When you're looking for affordable meals, eggs are always a good option! (And in this house, a popular one - even Elijah loves eggs!) So for dinner tonight, we're going to be having roasted potatoes and quiche. The fun thing about quiche is you can always make it different - you never have to do the same thing twice! Leave out onion, add pepper, use bacon or sausage instead of ham... So experiment some!

Quiche

3 eggs
1 1/2 c milk
1/4 c butter, melted
1/2 c baking mix (bisquick)
dash pepper
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 onion, diced
2 slices ham, chopped
3/4 c shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 tsp garlic

In a blender, combine the eggs, milk, and butter. Add the baking mix and pepper; cover and process 15 seconds. Pour into a greased pie plate. Add the bell pepper, onion, ham, and cheddar, and bake at 350 30-35 min. or until a knife inserted near the middle comes out clean. Let stand for 10 min. before cutting. Enjoy! :)

Taco Soup!

This past week has been absolutely crazy. Josh's grandfather died this past Wed., and the viewing was Fri., the graveside service Sat. And my pregnant friend that I made the dinner for, she ended up losing her baby. The funeral for that was Fri. as well. It feels like it's just been one thing after another. And Elijah has an ear infection. And Jonah and Isaiah are both teething... Ever feel like things are coming at you from all sides? But it's a new week, and hopefully things will be calmer this week!
Anyway, I hope you guys are enjoying the snow as much as we have! Elijah & Isaiah have had fun taking turns pulling each other in the sled, and they've been giving Jonah a ride as well. :)
On a cold, snowy day like today, what sounds better than a soup in the crockpot? Taco soup is one of my favorites! I got to use my new Pampered Chef products this morning when I was fixing it. I used the mix 'n chop when I was browning the meat and then the oven mitt is good for draining it, too. (Next on my list is the scoop 'n drain!)
Depending on where you get your canned foods, taco soup is a really affordable meal. I get most of our canned foods at the Super Dollar in Vinton, and most of the cans are around 40 cents each. If you go with the low-sodium cans, this can be a really healthy food as well!

Taco Soup

1 lb. lean ground meat, browned (I use venison, but you can use chicken, turkey, or beef)
1 small chopped onion
1 can UNdrained chili beans
1 can UNdrained kidney beans
1 can UNdrained corn
1 small can tomato sauce
1 c water
1 large can UNdrained petite diced tomatoes
1 can DRAINED diced green chilies
1 pkg. taco seasoning

Mix all ingredients in a slow cooker. Mix and cover. Cook low 8 hours. Serve with sour cream, Mexican blend shredded cheese, and tortilla chips. (All optional, but makes it especially delicious!)

Brownies (Grain-Free & actually Healthy)!

WARNING! This recipe sounds completely and totally DISGUSTING! Now. I've gotten the warning out of the way! (And when you read the ingredients, remember, I warned you!) Josh's cousin actually passed this recipe along to me. I've been wanting to try it, but to be honest, it sounds so incredibly gross, I've put it off! But one of my friends is pregnant and bedridden, so the boys & I are taking dinner to her tonight. I would make regular brownies or cookies, but she's diabetic, and the last thing I want is to load a pregnant diabetic with sugar! So what better time to try these? Besides, what mom doesn't want to get her kids to eat more protein? I can't wait to see if Elijah will eat these! I've already tried a taste of the batter, and it was surprisingly good. I included a picture of the batter going in, so you can see that the texture actually is like normal, sugary brownies... Please, if you try these, LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK! :) (I'll let you know what I think, too!)

Brownies

1 can black beans (yeah... told you... disgusting!)
1/3 c melted butter
1/4 c cocoa powder
1/8 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 c honey (or artificial sweetener)
3 lightly beaten eggs
1/2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/3 c finely chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 8x8 pan. Place all ingredients except the eggs, chocolate chips, and nuts in a blender and blend until smooth. Fold in the eggs, chocolate chips, and nuts. Pour into pan and bake about 30 min. Let cool. Enjoy!







They actually aren't too bad. They're definitely not sweet, but since there's no sugar added, that's pretty much a given. The texture is just like normal brownies, and they taste more like they've got dark chocolate than milk chocolate. But Josh & Isaiah both like them (Elijah heard me talking about them, so he won't try them.) But PLEASE DON'T TELL JOSH WHAT IS IN THEM! If he knows, he won't eat them anymore! :)

Slow Cooked Venison!

I'm sure I've said before that we eat a lot of deer in this house. I will use the ground venison in just about anything, but I'm a lot slower to use the roasts. I'm just not that big a fan of deer roast because I think it tends to taste really gamey, no matter how much onion you use. But I found this recipe for venison that you cook in the crock pot, which is even better! I know there are a ton of venison roast recipes out there, but this is my favorite because it honestly does not taste like deer. It doesn't have any gamey taste, at least, when this is cooked right. If I don't measure the ingredients, I don't use as much, and it tastes gamey. But when I follow it, it turns out pretty well! I double the original recipe, so if you want to try the original yourself, cut everything in half. Also, the original calls for chile-garlic sauce, but I use the sweet chile sauce instead because it's less spicy (both are found in with Asian foods).

Slow-Cooked Venison

1 onion, diced
1 Tbsp minced garlic
3 lb. venison roast
1 c ketchup
1/2 c Worcestershire sauce
1/2 c soy sauce
1/2 c sweet chile sauce
1/2 tsp liquid smoke
2/3 c water
3 tsp salt
2 Tbsp pepper

Place venison roast in a slow cooker and sprinkle with the onion and minced garlic. In a medium bowl, stir together all other ingredients. Pour over the venison. Cover & cook on low until tender and no longer pink, about 4-5 hours.

Garlic Rolls!

I haven't made it to the grocery store yet for this week. Not really a problem, since we've still got meals for the next few days. But that means that I'm not making anything from scratch today - I'm just pulling out one of those dinners in a box - the lasagna kit for tonight. But I will be making garlic bread. The frozen stuff's good, but this is one of my favorite recipes! If you like cheesy garlic bread, I think you'll like this! :) The original recipe calls for a loaf of French bread, but we usually use rolls instead (Josh thinks it tastes better on rolls).

Garlic Rolls

1 c mayonnaise
2/3 c grated Parmesan
1 Tbsp milk
8 dinner rolls, halved
minced garlic
1/4 c shredded cheddar
1/4 c shredded mozzarella
1/4 tsp paprika
garlic powder

Turn oven to broil. In a small bowl, mix mayo and Parmesan cheese. In a sauce pan, stir together the cheddar, mozzarella, milk, and paprika, stirring constantly until cheeses are melted. Add the mayo mixture to the cheddar mixture, again stirring until the Parmesan is melted. Lightly toast the dinner rolls in the oven, then spread the cheese mixture on the rolls. Sprinkle with minced garlic and garlic powder. Broil in oven 2-3 min., until golden. Store any unused mixture in the fridge in an airtight container. Enjoy! :)

Baked Pineapple!

Dinner tonight is a pretty simple meal. Ranch chicken (recipe already on this blog), bowties in alfredo sauce, green bean casserole, and baked pineapple. I have to admit, we don't eat like this every night! Usually we have a main dish & maybe one side. But the good thing about slow cooker meals is when you want to make some for a friend, too, you can just add some more in! And since we're already taking some friends some chicken, I figured we may as well make a whole meal out of it tonight! (I know Josh & Isaiah will at least be glad!) This is my first time making baked pinapple. I've had it before, but never made it. Still, though, it's a simple recipe. Surely it can't be bad, right?

Baked Pineapple

2 (20 oz.) cans undrained crushed pinapple

2 c sugar (although I ran out of sugar, so mine's going to be 1 c sugar, 1 c splenda)

4 eggs, beaten

4 Tbsp cornstarch

butter

cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350. Mix first 4 ingredients and then pour into a greased 9x13 pan. Dot with butter and sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake for approximately 1 hour, until golden. Enjoy! :)

Meatloaf!

So who out there's a fan of MEATLOAF?! Yeah, I know. I'm not that big a fan, either. But you do what you've got to do when you're trying to cut back on your grocery bill. Meatloaf's a really affordable and filling meal to make! And this is actually a pretty good recipe for it, too. Early in our marriage, Josh asked if I could fix his mom's meatloaf. So I got the recipe, and that's the kind I've been making ever since. Elijah won't touch it, surprise surprise. (He actually gags when I make him try new foods. Anyone else have that trouble with their kids??) It's been a while since I've fixed this, but I think Isaiah will eat it as long as I give him ketchup, too. (Ketchup. Sigh. Messy anyway, but much more so with a cast!!!)

MeatLoaf and Sauce

Meatloaf Sauce:

1 small onion

1 can tomato soup

1 can water

3 Tbsp brown sugar

5 Tbsp ketchup

salt & pepper to taste

Mix sauce ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, and cook 5 min.

Meatloaf:

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef (we usually use venison, though)

1 c bread crumbs

1 chopped green pepper

1 small can tomato paste

1 egg

Mix all of the meatloaf ingredients in a baking dish, and add about 1/4 c of the sauce as well. Mix well. Bake 1 1/2 hours at 350 and serve with remaining sauce. Enjoy! :)

Elijah stuck to his peanut butter sandwich. But Isaiah enjoyed it so much, he had 3 slices! :)

Chicken Pot Pie!

My goal was to be better and more consistent with posting on this blog. HOWEVER... where would I even start? Jonah's had bronchiolitis and we were having to do breathing treatments. Jonah, Isaiah, and Elijah all had ear infections, one after the other... Isaiah had been super sick, ear infections, sinus infection, virus... and now he's got a broken arm. So consistency? Not even close! I'm sorry about that! But what can I say? Family first!
Anyway, all that aside, dinner tonight is Chicken Pot Pie! Josh's response? "I don't like chicken pot pie." That's the first I've heard about it! But I've made this before, and he liked it. I told him he can like it or not, but he's going to eat it! So we'll see how that goes. :)
This recipe is from my friend Kim, and it's super easy. It's also really yummy! Let me know what you think! Two quick side notes about the chicken... First, if you're pressed for time, you can always just use a can or two of chunk chicken. Also, if you're going to go ahead and boil/chop chicken anyway, if you want, you can just go ahead and double it and save it for another chicken recipe. We're trying to cut back on our grocery bill some, and one way we're doing that is by eating a LOT of chicken...

Chicken Pot Pie

3-4 chicken breasts

1 1/3 c chicken broth
1 c self-rising flour
1 can cream of celery soup
1 c milk
can(s) peas, carrots, corn, etc.
medium onion, chopped
2/3 stick butter

Boil & chop chicken. Combine chicken, broth, cream of celery soup, veggies, and onion, and place in 11x7 or 9x9 baking dish. Mix flour and milk and pour over chicken mixture. Dot with butter. Bake at 400 for 45 min. or until dough is browning. Enjoy!