veggies for lunch

yep...I did that yesterday...
...maybe I was feeling a little vegetarian...
just a little...

so I just decided to have some carrots...
and that was my lunch...carrots....

carrots wrapped up in some cake and frosting!

This was a leftover slice of one of our Easter desserts...
gotta have a carrot cake for Easter...
am I right?

we shall have cake for breakfast

 but it's practically like veggie oatmeal, so it's good...right...right?

so I had a huge zucchini from a friends garden...
and I needed to use it since it's been hanging out on my counter for about 2 weeks now...and then I was thinking I can make a nice healthy breakfast for me and the boy child...
...girl child spent the night at a friends house...
...Beau is still in bed....

when I'm making cake for breakfast I like to make it whole wheat so I feel better about feeding it to my kids...so this is what I do....
ready...major news break here...
when the recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups flour...
...I use 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour...
crazy amazing, I know...

blog tangent...as I was standing in my kitchen making cake breakfast I looked up at my cupboard and decided to share with you my beautifully organized life....

and then because I'm real...I decided I'd show you the other side of the same life...

blog tangent over...

and here is the recipe for the veggie oatmeal otherwise know as Oatmeal Zucc Coffee Cake....

Oatmeal Zucc Coffee Cake
1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1 1/4 c. oatmeal
1 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1/4 c. dairy sour cream
2 c. shredded zucchini
1/2 c. butter, softened
2 tsp. vanilla


crumb topping
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. oatmeal
1/2 c. flour
1/4 c. softened butter
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 9 x 13 inch pan. Combine all coffeecake ingredients at low speed. Put in pan.

Mix topping ingredients minus the pecans until crumbly. Sprinkle 1/2 of crumbs over 1/2 of cake...mix pecans into rest of crumb topping and sprinkle over rest of cake.
(my family doesn't appreciate the gift of nuts in desserts breakfast foods)

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cut into squares. Serve warm with coffee...or milk

cozy soup day

who doesn't love soup on a rainy day...

and even better, putting soup in the crock pot in the morning and letting the smells drift thru the house all day long....

I'm putting a batch of Crock-Pot Minestrone soup on, and cutting up extra stuff, going to run over to my friend Kim's house later this morning and put a batch into her crock pot also...

blog note...when taking a meal to a friend think outside the box...are they okay with you coming into their home and prep-ing the meal there?...would they be okay with you coming over in the morning and putting the meal in their own crock pot?

...this is a good easy soup that is full of flavor and tons of veggies...but mild that kids love it...
it's also easy to make on the stove top...and actual this was a stove top recipe that I changed into a crock pot one...
it's also a very versatile recipe to make vegetarian or to use what you have on hand...clean out the fridge and pantry on this one...

Throw Down-Clean out the Pantry Minestrone Soup
1 lb ground beef (optional, leave out for vegetarian or change to ground turkey or pork or sausage)
1 medium onion, chopped about 1/2 cup
1 clove garlic, grated or chopped
2 cups spinach, chopped (cabbage or kale can be substituted)
1 can broth (beef, chicken, veggie) or
     1 1/4 cup water and 2 tsp beef or chicken bouillon
1/4 cup fresh basil-chopped (or 1 tsp dried basil or Italian seasoning)
3-4 cups veggies
     chopped celery, sliced carrots, zucchini, squash, green beans (fresh, canned, or frozen), corn (fresh, canned or frozen) etc...don't count the spinach from above in the 3-4 cups or the tomatoes below
1 can chopped tomatoes, undrained
1 can beans, undrained-kidney (red or white), black, your choice
1 cup shell pasta (or whatever you have on hand, small tortellinis or raviolis also work)
salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan Cheese to top

1.  Brown ground beef in skillet with onion and garlic, drain and put into crock pot.
2.  Add all other ingredients except pasta and cheese...cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4 hours.  about one hour before serving add pasta to the crock pot and stir.  Soup is done with pasta is tender.
3.  Serve warm with cheese on top....and with fresh bread if you can!

all the stuff just thrown into the crock...pre-pasta of course!

this is so great on a rainy day like today...can't wait for dinner...I also threw a batch of French bread into my bread maker...

I highly recommend people use their bread machines...so many have them and leave them in the dark corner of their pantry or out in the garage, pull it out, dust it off and throw in a nice batch of bread....if you don't have one you can always find them at thrift stores or yard sales or on clearance sales this time of year.

Oh, Yeah...I signed up for that didn't I...

okay, so I'm a total planner...
so very organized that it's ridiculous!

okay, so I lie...

I'm one of those people that agree to do something and then forget until like 5 minutes before and then rush to get it done and usually stress my family out in the process!

so anyways, I signed up to bring a salad to a baby shower this past Saturday...
easy peasy....

Saturday morning...
doing a mini tri run thru
(oh, yea signed up for another one of those things and it's less than a week away now!)
and then the baby shower...that I signed up to bring a salad to...

hmmm...no lettuce in the house and no time to go to the grocery store...
how do you make a salad without lettuce...
what DO I have in the house...
a little spinach (very little, not even enough for a personal salad let alone a pot luck salad)
some onions...
can of black beans
and rice...

I posted on facebook that I was looking for a cold rice salad...and had some great friends post a few different recipes...none of them with what I had on hand, but with enough ideas that I was able to make a really delicious rice salad, one that will now go onto our dinner menu list...

I really don't have great measurements for this, it's all about taste and what you have on hand...

Spinach Black Bean Rice Salad
1 cup rice (uncooked)
1/2 cup onion chopped
1 clove garlic (grated)
2 cups water with chicken bullion or 2 cups chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbs butter
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1-2 handfuls of spinach leaves chopped
1/2-1 cup of chopped red or yellow peppers
lime or lemon (zest and juice)
mayo
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts or chopped almonds

1.  Sauté rice, onion & garlic in butter for about 5 minutes stirring constantly.  Add water and chicken bullion and salt and pepper, stir.  Bring to boil, simmer with lid on for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and cool

2.  Once rice is cooled, toss in beans, spinach and chopped peppers.

3. Mix juice of one lime or lemon (or more per your taste) and about 1 tea zest of same fruit and about 3/4 cup mayo, blend well into rice mixture.  Add more mayo and lime juice per taste, and salt and pepper.  Top with toasted nuts.

...so this is the recipe I used...I would have loved to use lime but only had lemon, and also wanted to add chopped cilantro but also didn't have any of that...
other things to add that would be good...artichoke hearts, broccoli, asparagus, cherry/grape tomatoes, feta cheese crumbles, crispy bacon pieces....

I was actually surprised how good this was, and the little that came home from the shower was devoured by the husband...

could i feed them cookies for breakfast?

YES...
Yes...
yes I can...

I NEEDED to make some cookies for a meeting at my house...
a meeting of triathletes...
and I was thinking just regular ol' cookies aren't the best thing to serve triathletes...
hmmm...so I got to thinking...
I have a few bags of shredded zucchini in the freezer (like a few 100 bags)
and then thought some more...
what if I added oatmeal to it?
...hmmm this is sounding healthier and healthier and more like something that should be served to triathletes!
so I hopped onto the world wide web and goggled "zucchini oatmeal cookies"
and thru the magic of the internet I found a few 1000 different recipes for zucchini oatmeal cookies

they turned out so very yummy and even better than serving them at my triathletes meeting was giving them to the kids for breakfast the next morning...
hey don't judge me...they had both oatmeal (a morning food) and zucchini (a veggie) in them...that is totally a breakfast cookie!


Zucchini Oatmeal Cookies
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
3 tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour (whole wheat or white)
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups zucchini, grated
3 1/2 c. oatmeal
2 cups dark chocolate chips (optional raisins would also be good)

Beat shortening, butter and sugar together well. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients together and add creamed mixture. Stir in zucchini, oatmeal, raisins and nuts. Drop onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350°F for 10-12 minutes.

blog edit...
just FYI...these cookies are so thick that they hardly change shape when you bake them....I'm totally okay with that, makes them nice and chewy...but you can squash them down if you'd like!

I made these again and served them at book club...I also put in dried cranberries, along with dark chocolate chips and raisins...they were loaded and YUMMY!

Taking a Little Artistic Liberties...or Cooking Liberties

Made a recipe last night for the first time...
The name of the recipe, right out of my favorite new cook book (thanks again Julie), The Dinner Doctor, is Meaty Ziti...I'm sure this recipe is great just the way it was written in the book...but I decided to use half the amount of meat in this "meaty" dish and then couldn't find any Ziti so I used Penne (whole wheat too), and I also couldn't find the called for "frozen creamed spinach" (think it a southern thing) so I had to make my own and it was double what the recipe called for...so rather than Meaty Ziti...I think I ended up with Creamy Spinach Penne...I will list both recipes for you...

The Dinner Doctor's Meaty Ziti
1 lb ground beef round (or my sister-in-law suggested adding Italian sausage)
1 can crushed tomatoes, or 1 jar of marinara sauce
1 clove garlic- crushed
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
8 ounces ziti
1 package (9 oz) frozen creamed spinach, thawed
1 package (2 cups) pre-shredded mozzarella cheese

1.  Preheat oven to 375
2.  Brown ground beef in large skillet, 4-5 minutes.  Stir in tomatoes, garlic, oregano, and basil.
3.  Spoon 1 cup meat sauce on bottom of 3-quart casserole dish.  Arrange the ziti in an even layer on top of the sauce (no need to pre-boil the pasta, but check the done-ness before toping with cheese in step 4),  Pour the remaining meat sauce over the ziti.  Spread the creamed spinach evenly over the top.  Cover the baking dish with foil.
4.  Bake the ziti until bubbling, 30 minutes.  Remove the baking dish from the oven and carefully remove the aluminum foil and set aside.  Scatter the mozzarella evenly over the top and re-cover the dish with the foil.  Let the ziti rest until the cheese melts, 10 minutes.  Serve warm.

Creamy Spinach Penne

1/2 lb ground beef 

1/2-3/4 jar of marinara sauce (depends on how much sauce you like)

1 clove garlic- crushed

8 ounces Whole Wheat Penne

1 recipe Creamed Spinach (recipe follows)*

1 package (2 cups) pre-shredded mozzarella cheese

1.  Preheat oven to 375

2.  Brown ground beef in large skillet, 4-5 minutes.  Stir in Marinara sauce and garlic 

* I made the creamed Spinach at the same time that the ground beef was browning, so not really more time, just a few more steps.

3.  Spoon 1/2 meat sauce on bottom of 3-quart casserole dish.  Arrange the Penne in an even layer on top of the sauce (no need to pre-boil the pasta, it will cook in the oven with the marinara sauce, but check the done-ness before toping with cheese in step 4),  Pour the remaining meat sauce over the Penne.  Spread the creamed spinach evenly over the top.  Cover the baking dish with foil.

4.  Bake the Penne until bubbling, 30 minutes.  Remove the baking dish from the oven and carefully remove the aluminum foil and set aside.  Scatter the mozzarella evenly over the top and re-cover the dish with the foil.  Let rest until the cheese melts, 10 minutes.  Serve warm.

Creamed Spinach

3 TBS butter

4 TBS flour

1 tsp salt

1 cup whole milk, cream or half and half

1/2 cup fat free sour cream

2 TBS butter

1/4 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup water

1 package chopped frozen spinach, thawed

1.  Melt  3 TBS butter in small saucepan, stir in flour and salt until creamed together, slowly add milk, increase the heat, stirring constantly with whisk until mixture is thick and smooth.  Remove from heat and set aside.

2.  Melt 2 TBS butter in med saucepan, add onions and cook until transparent.   Add spinach and water to pan, lower the heat, stir until all warmed through, add white sauce and sour cream.  Heat through

....

Okay so when I made this I used about 16 oz of Penne (didn't look at the box, oops) so there wasn't enough liquid to completely cook all the pasta in the oven, but I will read the directions and boxes better next time and I'm sure it will turn out better...but the family loved it anyways even with a few not-so-done Penne's here and there...

And don't worry about the "S" word...the spinach was a nice mild flavor.  I think spinach has gotten a bad rap over the years, but it's such a great vegetable that you can sneak into so many different dishes.

I also think I'm going to add this recipe (or both, the Meaty Ziti and Creamy Spinach Penne) to my make and take meals that take to families with new babies, or that have someone in the hospital, or whatever.  You can make it all ahead of time and refrigerate it for 3-4 days before baking it...what a perfect thing to hand over to someone needing a meal...just don't forget to give them a bag of shredded cheese to top it at the end.

Also, first time I've ever made a creamed spinach, it was so yummy, I'm going to make it again with fresh spinach and serve as a side dish, I was licking the pan after I put it into the Penne dish!...might use some pearl onions rather than chopping up an onion...maybe topped with some crispy bacon crumbles?!?!

Serving options for this meal...French Bread...the meat, dairy, pasta, and vegetables are all in the dish, so no need to make anything else.  Maybe a nice big salad.