Poppy Seed Chicken

Image courtesy of allrecipes.com

2-3 large chicken breasts (about 5 cups)
small container of sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 sleeve ritz crackers
4 tbsp - 1/2 cup melted butter (depending on how much you like, I used 4 tbsp)
1 tspn poppy seeds

1. Cook & chop chicken into bite sized pieces.
2. Stir in cream of chicken soup & sour cream together. Add 1 tspn poppy seeds and stir.
3. Add in cooked, chopped chicken and stir to mix together.
4. Put crackers in a ziploc bag and smash away.
5. Pour melted butter into bag and shake to coat all the cracker pieces.
6. Pour cracker/butter mixture on top of chicken mixture. If desired top with more poppy seeds.

Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes until hot and bubbly.

Thanks Shannon for the great recipe!

Hadley turns 2

Hadley turned two on Saturday. We had a simple party at home & she had the best time.

Hadley is talking more and more, and will repeat almost anything she hears. She has started putting simple sentences together and understands so much. We love that she says, "help YOU please!" when she needs help with something. I guess she hears us say do you want us to help you, and hasn't figured out how to say, "help me."

She loves doing anything her big brother does. She follows him anywhere, and looks to him to know what to do. She loves books and coloring. She loves to draw so much that she found a pen and colored our ottoman for us. Thoughtful, I know.

She is scared of the vacuum...not just when it is on, all the time. Sometimes we pull it out just to keep her out of places we don't want her to go. I know, we are horrible, but it's a cheap guard to keep her out of the kitchen when we are doing hair cuts.

She is sweet and a cuddle bug, and even though she has started showing her 2 year old side from time to time, she is a calm personality in our house. We can't imagine our life without you Hadley Kate!

Mexican Pozole with corn & feta

This was delicious! It is the perfect recipe for later in the week after preparing the Golden Potato Chowder with ham as it uses up the rest of your ingredients, but still provides a different tasting meal.

2-4 cups frozen corn (or 1-2 can corn)
1 tsp ground cumin, divided
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 small yellow onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 poblano peppers, ribs & seeds removed, chopped (or chopped green bell pepper)
3 cups chicken broth
2 oz sun-dried tomatoes (not packed in oil) chopped (or reg. tomato chopped)
1 lb. spaghetti squash, skin & seeds removed, cut into bite sized cubes
2 tsp chile powder
3 oz feta cheese (atheno's sun dried tomato)
1 green onion, minced
cilantro, minced

Directions:
One: Heat 1 tsp oil in a large pot on medium for 1 minute. Add onion & green pepper and cook for 3 minutes. Stir in garlic, and cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Two: Add broth, 1 cup water (if using canned corn, just pour the whole can, undrained and skip the cup of water), corn, tomatoes, squash, chile powder. Add 1 tsp cumin, and increase heat to high. When soup comes to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

Three: Spoon soup into bowl. Use a fork to break up the squash into fine strands. Top with feta, green onion, & cilantro.

This recipe was really easy, once I tackled the spaghetti squash. You can chop everything up earlier in the week and just combine all the ingredients for an easy dinner.

Clean Eating Magazine

My mom gave me a subscription to the Clean Eating Magazine.

This month had five healthy dinner recipes for under $10 a piece. I'll be trying them out this week and posting the recipes.

Golden Potato Chowder

This is so good, I wish I would have taken a picture! This is a white creamy soup, with bite sized chunks of vegetables.

Ingredients

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 small yellow onion, chopped
2 large carrots, peeled and cut into bite sized slices
8 oz white mushrooms, cut into quarters
3 cups chicken broth
1 lb. spaghetti squash, skin and seeds removed. Cut flesh into small bite sized pieces.
1 1b. redskin potatoes, cut into cubes
2 tsp dried sage (or parsley & basil)
6-8 oz. ham, cut into cubes.**
1/4 skim milk
2 oz. light cream cheese

(The recipe calls for the healthiest options, but I used what I had on hand, which was not low fat milk & cream cheese. Use what you have.)

** Ham - I had a slab, cut at a 11, of Prima Della Honey Ham.

Instructions:
1. Heat oil in a large stockpot on medium heat for 1 minute. Add onion, carrots, and mushrooms. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Stir in broth, squash, potatoes, and sage. Bring soup to a boil on high heat, then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in ham and heat through.

3. (During last few minutes of cooking soup) In a small pot on low heat, add milk and cream cheese. Cook, whisking constantly, for 1 minute or until mixture is smooth. Ladle 1 cup soup mixture into milk mixture and whisk. Pour milk mixture back into stockpot and stir to combine. Serve immediately.

Note: Spaghetti Squash - When spaghetti squash is cooked, its fibers naturally separate and look like short strands of golden spaghetti, or shredded cheese.

The Verdict: This was really good! Adam ate a whole bowl. Of course he thought the squash was shredded cheese, so that helped! Good flavor & filling.

Sausage Lasagna

Image & Recipe courtesy of Johnsonville.com

12 lasagna noodles, cooked

1 pkg. (16 oz.) Italian Ground Sausage

1 medium onion, chopped

1 Tbsp. garlic, chopped

1 container of chunky pasta sauce

1 container (15. oz.) Ricotta cheese

1 egg

2 cups shredded Italian cheeses

3 cups fresh spinach, chopped and packed

Prepare noodles according to package directions; drain and set aside.

Sauté Italian sausage, onion and garlic in a skillet until sausage is browned; drain.

Add pasta sauce to the sausage mixture and set aside.

In a medium bowl, blend ricotta cheese, egg and 1/2 cup of Italian cheese and set aside.

Coat a 9 x 13 baking dish with non-stick spray and spread 1 cup of the sauce mixture on the bottom.

Top with 3 lasagna noodles.

Spread ¼ cup of the ricotta cheese mixture on the noodles and layer on 1 cup of the sauce mixture.

Sprinkle 1 cup of the spinach and ½ cup mozzarella cheese.

Repeat this whole process 3 more times starting with the noodles; top with remaining shredded cheese to finish.

Bake uncovered in a 350°F oven for 45 minutes until hot and bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

My substitutions:
I use a 9 x 9 inch pan because I don't think there is enough sausage for the larger size. I would get two packages of meat in you need more servings. I use about 8 noodles and half a container of pasta sauce for the smaller size. A 9 x 9 pan yields 6 generous sized portions.

Find the original recipe here.

Kitchen Time Savers

Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches -
Did you know you can freeze peanut butter & jelly sandwiches? I make a big stack on the weekend & freeze them. You can pop them into a lunch box, and they are ready to eat by lunchtime! You can set them out on the counter an hour before lunch and they will be ready. You can do the same thing with meat & cheese sandwiches, but I don't add any vegetables or condiments until after it is defrosted. It makes making school lunches so fast!

Onions -

I hate chopping onion. I dread anything that makes me cry. Instead of chopping them every week, I buy them in bulk, and finely chop them with my food processor. That way I tear up less often, and it makes cooking faster on busy nights. I've tried several different techniques for freezing, and this works the best.

These two containers hold 4 medium sized finely chopped onions.

1 cube = 1 oz.

2 cubes = 1/4 cup

4 cubes = 1/2 cup

7-8 cubes = 1 onion

(these measurements are the same for broth recipes below)

Once frozen, keep them in a ziploc bag in the freezer.

Anytime you need to onion in your cooked recipe, just toss them in! Easy!

Chicken/Vegetable broth:

This is not so much a time saver as a money saver.

Chicken Broth: Reserve your broth from cooking chicken by placing a colander over a glass bowl. Line the colander with a folded napkin. Slowly pour the broth into the colander. (Go slow, or it will pour out the sides of the colander, instead of just the center.) The napkin will strain the broth for you. After it collects & cools in the bowl you can pour it into ice trays and freeze.

Vegetable Broth: Use any of your vegetable peelings and boil with water on the stove top. I made a small 4 cup portion (equivalent to two cans of store bought broth.) I used a lot of I use celery, carrots, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, & parsley flakes vegetable peelings, and just covered them with water. You can use the scraps & peels because they have a lot of nutrients, and they won't be in the final broth. I boiled it for 15 - 20 minutes and then strained in a colander lined with a napkin. You can keep your peelings in a bag in the freezer until you have enough to make a broth.

Click here for some other suggestions.