Stuffed Shells (High Tech Style)

Confession: After seven years, I finally figured out what some of the buttons on my oven are for! When we got the stove, I really liked all of the features that it had to offer. But somewhere along the way I got overwhelmed with other things and forgot all about them.

With my husband out of town and me left to my own devices, I've had to get creative in the evenings when it comes to fitting in baseball/swimming/guitar and dinner. Last night I left work at 5 pm and had to pick up both kids and be on the baseball field by 6 pm. What is a mom to do?

This mom packed some snacks for the kids to eat so that they weren't starving through baseball practice and then she came home to a meal that was ready to eat as she walked in the door. How did I do it? I prepped the meal the night before, stuck it in the oven as we left for practice, programmed my oven to start at a certain time (the "Start Time" button) and then programmed it to bake for 40 minutes ("Cook Time" button). It was so easy! Why hadn't I thought of this before?!?!?!?

I adapted this recipe from The Full Table. I loved the recipe because you do not have to cook the shells before you stuff them! They soak in the pasta sauce overnight and soften enough to be perfectly cooked after 40 minutes in the oven the next day. The recipe made 20 stuffed shells. I served 10 last night and then froze 10 for a later meal.

Make Ahead Stuffed Shells:

Ingredients:

1 lb large shell pasta
2 8 ounce blocks of cream cheese
1 small package of chopped spinach (I bought the frozen kind, defrosted it in the microwave, and pressed it through a cheesecloth to get rid of the excess liquid)
1 or 2 cloves of chopped garlic (I added 2, but my daughter thought it was too much)
1 egg
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Pepper to taste
2 jars spaghetti sauce

Directions:

1. Mix cream cheese, spinach, garlic, egg, mozzarella cheese and pepper thoroughly.
2. Spoon mixture into uncooked shells. Alternatively, you can place the mixture in a ziploc, cut off a corner of the bag, and pipe the mixture into the shells. I started this way, but it didn't work well with the shells that had only a small opening. I found that in those instances, a fork worked best.

If Cooking The Next Day:
Place stuffed shells in a baking dish (8x8 for half of the batch or 9 x 13 for the whole batch).
Pour spaghetti sauce over the top - be sure to cover all shells as this is how they will soften. (1 jar for half of the batch; 2 jars for the entire batch).
Cover baking dish and place in refrigerator overnight.
When ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350 and bake for 35 to 40 minutes. (I put the shells in the oven before we left for practice and set my start and bake times so that they were just finishing up as we arrived home).

If Freezing:
Place stuffed shells on a cookie sheet in the freezer until they are fully frozen. Then transfer to a freezer bag for storage.
When ready to eat shells, remove from freezer the night before.
Pour spaghetti sauce over the top - be sure to cover all shells as this is how they will soften. (1 jar for half of the batch; 2 jars for the entire batch).
Cover baking dish and place in refrigerator overnight.
When ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350 and bake for 35 to 40 minutes.

At first the proportion of sauce to noodles seemed wrong to me. I thought that there was way too much sauce. But after the shells soaked overnight, they absorbed quite a bit which gave them great flavor and made the sauce to shell ratio perfect. This is a dish that I will put on my go to list!

Turkey Meatballs in Garlic Sauce

We tried this recipe last night with steamed rice and veggies. As usual, the recipe is adapted from allrecipes.com.

Photo Courtesy of allrecipes.com.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 4 drops hot pepper sauce
• 1/2 cup finely crushed butter-flavored crackers (I used Ritz)
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 pound lean ground turkey
• 1 cup V-8 juice
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 2 garlic cloves, minced

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine the first seven ingredients. Crumble turkey over mixture and mix well. Shape into six meatballs. Place in a greased 9-in. pie plate. Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees F for 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the V8 juice, broth and garlic. Turn meatballs; spoon sauce over top. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F. Bake 20 minutes longer, basting every 5 minutes. Serve over rice.
   

The verdict: We thought that the recipe was so/so. The sauce needed a little something extra - hot sauce maybe? I would definitely add more garlic to both the meatballs and the sauce. I'll try this again sometime, but it won't go into the regular rotation.

Tuna Melts

Just when activities seemed to be winding down, I went and signed the kids up for more. Brady will be starting his second round of swimming lessons and Madeline will be starting guitar lessons. To top it off, Madeline's t-ball season starts soon with Barrett as her coach. This translates to fast dinners that can be made mostly ahead of time.



This recipe certainly fits the bill, plus it's perfect for lent. Of course the recipe is adapted from this one at allrecipes.com.













Photo courtesy of allrecipes.com.

Ingredients

• 2 cans tuna , drained
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup finely chopped celery
• 1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
• 3/4 teaspoon red wine vinegar
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 pinch freshly ground black pepper
• 4 slices bread
• 8 slices ripe tomato
• 8 slices Swiss cheese
• paprika, for garnish

Directions

1. Preheat the oven broiler.
2. In a bowl, mix the tuna, mayonnaise, celery, onion, parsley, and vinegar. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Place the rye bread slices on a baking sheet, and broil 1 minute in the preheated oven, until lightly toasted. Turn bread over and toast other side for 1 minutes. Remove from heat, and spread with the tuna salad. Place 1 cheese slice over the tuna salad on each piece of bread, layer with a tomato slice, and top with remaining cheese slices.
4. Return layered bread to the preheated oven, and broil 3 to 5 minutes, until cheese is melted.

These were really good and very versatile. We actually used shredded cheddar cheese on some of the melts and I thought they were even better than the slices of swiss. Some of us had rye bread while other had wheat. Use whatever you have. We also decided that this recipe was a good start for other kinds of open face melts. I think that I may have a new go to meal!

I made the tuna mixture the evening before, so for dinner all I had to do were steps 3 and 4 which took about 5 minutes. I topped off the dinner with pre-cut veggies and ranch dip.

I've linked this recipe to The Ultimate Recipe Swap at Life As Mom.

Favorite Healthy Snacks

So, I live in a household of snackers. My kids graze all day long. As long as the snacks are healthy and they cover all of the food groups, I'm happy to let them graze. What they love: popcorn (recipe below for make your own microwave popcorn), homemade chex mix, fruit/yogurt smoothies, string cheese.

I'm not going to give you the recipe for Chex Mix; you can find it right on any box of Chex cereal. I highly recommend following the instructions for microwave prep as it takes 6 minutes instead of the 1 hr 15 minute oven method. My daughter and I made a big batch this past weekend. We only had two of the three kinds of cereal called for in the recipe so we improvised and added some Cheerios as a substitution. It turned out great!

We love us some popcorn in our house! I am way too cheap (and health conscious) to buy microwave popcorn. I buy the popcorn seeds in bulk at Winco and store them in the fridge. I used to cook the popcorn the old fashioned way by standing over the stove and shaking the pan until I thought that my arms would fall off. The kids do like to watch the kernels pop, but I don't like putting forth the effort. Instead, I make it in the microwave and here's how:

Make Your Own Microwave Popcorn:

1/2 cup popcorn seeds
1 teaspoon vegetable oil or olive oil or butter
salt to taste

In a bowl mix the seeds, oil and salt until the seeds are well coated.
Pour into a small brown paper bag.
Place bag into microwave (right side up - do NOT place the bag on it's side).
Microwave popcorn for 2:30 to 3:00 minutes or until the popping sound is longer than two seconds apart.
Open the paper bag slowly as the steam will be hot.
Enjoy!

If you want to be a bit naughty, check out A Thrifty Mom's recipe for microwave caramel corn! I could marry this caramel corn and live happily ever after - it's that good.

Smoothies: My son would love to have a smoothie every day for breakfast, lunch or dinner. I don't have a "recipe", but rather a method to my madness. Here are the key components: juice, yogurt, frozen fruit. In my blender I pour about 1 1/2 to 2 cups of whatever fruit juice I have on hand, I then add about 1 cup of whatever yogurt I have on hand, then add frozen fruit. The amount of fruit varies by how much I have on hand. I usually add 2 to 3 frozen bananas and half a bag of frozen strawberries. I've also added fruit from a can or jar. I just freeze the fruit on a cookie sheet the night before I'm going to make smoothies. It's a great way to use up odds and ends of fresh and canned fruit. Once you have everything in the blender, pulse it a few times to get the "juices" flowing and then blend on high until it is smooth. I'm getting pretty good at getting the right consistency so that they can be drank through a straw. If they turn out too thick, I just add some additional juice.

Do you have any favorite fast healthy snack recipes to share? Does anybody have a good one for granola or granola bars?

Yummy Chocolate Peanut Butter Treats

I am a HUGE (big big big) fan of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. I could seriously eat them until I make myself sick. While I don't have a recipe to duplicate that heaven on earth, I have a recipe that has similar tastes and is really easy.

This recipe is from my mom. Thanks, mom. I made these little babies for Christmas and they received rave reviews. You would never guess that they are so simple that my three year old has mastered this recipe.

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Treats

Ingredients:
Sleeve of Ritz Crackers
Peanut Butter
Milk Chocolate Chunks for melting (I generally use chocolate specifically made for melting. It can be found in the baking isle of your grocery store. Chocolate chips should work fine too.

Instructions:
1. Spread peanut butter on one Ritz cracker and top with another to make a sandwich. Use as much or as little peanut butter as you would like. I slather it on pretty thick since I personally believe that one can never have too much peanut butter. Prepare all of your sandwiches before going on to the next step.
2. Melt the chocolate by microwaving for a minute and then stirring. Repeat until the chocolate is fully melted.
3. Dip the cracker/peanut butter sandwiches in the chocolate. Shake off the excess chocolate and place on wax paper until chocolate is set.

I was planning a different post for tonight, but there is a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup sitting on my counter top and I've been fighting the urge to devour it for hours now.

Another Breakfast Recipe For The Freezer - Single Portions

I have become a big fan of preparing foods in advance and storing them in my freezer in single size portions. We use these items as our convenience foods in order to avoid fast food drive thrus. This allows us to eat healthier and save money.

I have frozen meals that I've prepared in advance before and that works great. But what happens if you just want a lunch size portion or a snack? Do you thaw the entire dish and hope that it gets eaten before it goes to waste? I have found that we really enjoy the flexibility of single size portions.

Previously I showed you how to make and freeze Breakfast Burritos. The next most popular breakfast recipe at our house is:

Blueberry Pancakes: This recipe makes 12 pancakes. You can omit the blueberries and serve plain pancakes or substitute another fruit in it's place.
Ingredients

• 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (if you don't have wheat flour or don't like it, just use 1 1/4 cups white flour)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 tablespoon butter melted
• 1/2 cup frozen blueberries thawed

Instructions

• In a large bowl mix dry ingredients.
• In a small bowl beat together egg and milk.
• Mix the egg/milk mixture, butter and blueberries into the dry ingredients and stir just until blended.
• Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat.
• Pour approximately 1/4 cup of batter onto the pan and brown on both sides.
• To freeze, let the pancakes cool completely. Then wrap either one or two pancakes in plastic wrap (I'm totally addicted to Press & Seal!) and then into a ziploc bag. Be sure to remove as much air from the bag as possible. I like to use a straw to suck the air out.
• To reheat frozen pancakes, remove from bag and plastic wrap. Set on a microwave safe plate in a single layer. Microwave for one minute to one minute and 30 seconds. You could probably reheat them in the oven, but I never have that much time.

My kids eat these pancakes for a quick meal or snack. Since we oftentimes eat breakfast in the car, this is a good grab and go item that doesn't make a big mess. When we eat them on the go, we don't top them with anything. They taste great on their own.

In the next installment of freezer meals, I'll show you some of our favorite muffin recipes. Muffins always freeze well and can be packed with fruits and even veggies to make them a healthy snack or breakfast.

This post is linked to Kitchen Tip Tuesday at Tammy's Recipes.

A Favorite Side Dish

I'm back. Did you miss me? Aw, thanks!

I'm getting back into the swing of things slowly by posting a short recipe today. I'll attach a photo later this evening.

When it comes to menu planning I generally don't have a problem choosing main dishes. It's the side dishes that get me. I tend to go back to my stand by dishes, can you say steamed broccoli, more than I care to admit. Now don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with steamed broccoli, but sometimes I need a change and want to spice it up a little. Sure I'd love to have the time to whip up fantastic elaborate sides that would knock my family's socks off, but it just doesn't happen. While we're trying to prepare dinner the kids are vying for our attention, so whatever we make has to have a short prep time.

Today I'm sharing with you one of our favorite side dishes. It goes together quickly, cooks quickly and doesn't need babysitting. I LOVE roasted veggies and when you pair them together with two of my other favorites (garlic and balsamic vinegar) you've got a recipe that I cannot resist.

Roasted Asparagus with Garlic and Balsamic Vinegar

1 pound fresh asparagus
2 garlic cloves chopped (I tend to add more, but this is the recommended dosage)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
drizzle of balsamic vinegar

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Snap the woody ends off of the asparagus by holding both ends and bending gently. The snap will naturally occur between the edible portion and the woody stem. Rinse the asparagus and dry completely.

Mix asparagus, garlic, olive oil, and salt & pepper together. I generally put them all in a baggie together and shake to ensure that everything is properly mixed and coated. Arrange on a baking pan (I use a cookie sheet lined with foil for easy clean up) in a single layer.

Roast in oven for approximately 12 to 15 minutes. Upon removal from the oven, drizzle with balsamic vinegar and serve immediately.

It's just that easy. To make the preparation even easier, I buy the pre-chopped garlic. This is can be a non-cutting board side dish. Less dishes is a good thing in my book!

Slow Cooker Meal We All Enjoyed

The weather on Saturday was AWFUL! It was cold and rainy. After braving the elements for a short while in the morning, we decided we needed a warm and hearty meal. I visited my old standby(http://www.allrecipes.com/) and found a recipe for slow cooker beef stew. It was divine! We all gave it a thumbs up except for the three year old who pronounced it "icky" because of the "veguble" he saw in it.





Slow Cooker Beef Stew (adapted from allrecipes)

Ingredients
2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch cubes
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 onion, chopped
2 cups beef broth
3 potatoes, diced
4 carrots, sliced
1 stalk celery, chopped
1/2 cup red wine

Directions:
Coat meat with flour and saute in olive oil with onion until browned (doesn't have to be cooked through). Remove meat and onion from pan and place in slow cooker. Add broth and wine to the pan and bring to a boil while you stir. Be sure to stir up the bits of meat and flour which will add a lot of flavor to your stew.

Pour the sauce into slow cooker over meat. Stir in the garlic, bay leaf, paprika, Worcestershire sauce, onion, beef broth, potatoes, carrots, and celery.

Cover, and cook on Low setting for 10 to 12 hours, or on High setting for 4 to 6 hours.

To this base recipe I added some veggies I had in the freezer (green beans and corn).

Also note that if you don't have the wine on hand (or you drank it last night) just add additional broth.

To accompany the stew we prepared this YUMMY fococcia bread found at www.joyinmykitchen.com. It was so easy to make. I made the 9x13 loaf and my six year old has eaten over half of it in the last day. She has it for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks.

Fried Rice

Barrett makes the BEST fried rice! He is graciously allowing me to share his recipe with you all. This is definitely a hit with our entire family.

Ingredients:
8 mushrooms (shitake would be authentic but we usually use crimini because they're cheaper) finely chopped
3 tbsp oil (either peanut or evoo)
2 eggs, lightly beaten with a pinch of salt
4 scallions (white and green parts) thinly sliced
1/4 cup minced carrot
2 large cloves garlic minced
Pinch of red chile flakes (optional)
1 tsp minced peeled fresh ginger (Barrett tries to sneak in quadruple this amount, but the flavor is then too strong. Can you tell he loves ginger?)
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
3 cups cooked rice (we use jasmine rice but you can use plain white or brown rice instead; we also cook our rice in chicken broth for extra flavor)
1 cup cooked meat diced (you can use pork, beef, chicken, shrimp, ham, etc. We generally use bbq pork from the deli section of the grocery store)
1/2 cup frozen peas defrosted (sounds like an oxymoron)

Directions:
Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a wok or large skillet over medium heat. Pour in eggs, swirl the pan so the egg forms a large thin pancake. Lift the edge of the egg to allow any uncooked egg to run to the center. As soon as the egg has set, turn it out of the pan onto a cutting board. Cool, cut into 1 inch pieces.

Wipe out the pan with a paper towel and heat the remaining oil over high heat. Add the scallions and carrots and stir fry for 1 1/2 minutes. Add the mushrooms, garlic, chile if using, and ginger and stir fry for 1 minute more. Add the soy sauce, sesame oil and rice and stir fry for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the meat, peas and reserved egg, cook, stirring until heated through, about 2 to 3 minutes.

Can garnish with sesame seeds and scallion.

Note that the meat and vegetables used are suggestions for traditional fried rice, but you could use whatever you have on hand that needs to be used up. Enjoy!

Smoked Sausage, Kale and Potato Soup

My family in Minnesota has a bunch of snow on the ground - and I'm jealous! I decided to pretend that we were having the same weather here in Portland and made a batch of Smoked Sausage, Kale and Potato Soup to warm me up.

This is a very simple recipe that can be made fairly quickly. The sausage really gives the soup a good flavor.

Ingredients:

4 ounces smoked fully cooked sausage (such as kielbasa or hot links) sliced into rounds. I use the Hilshire Farms Kielbasa.

2 3/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth

3/4 pound small red skinned potatoes, thinly sliced

1 cup dry white wine (may omit and use additional broth instead)

5 cups thinly sliced trimmed kale leaves (about 3/4 of medium bunch)

1/4 Tbsp caraway seeds, lightly crushed

Directions:

Saute sausage slices over medium-high heat until beginning to brown, about 3 minutes.

Add chicken broth, sliced potatoes and white wine and bring mixture to a boil.

Reduce heat to medium, cover and simmer until potatoes are almost tender, about 10 minutes.

Add kale and caraway seeds to soup. Simmer soup uncovered until potatoes and kale are very tender, about 10 minutes longer.

Season soup to taste with salt and pepper.

Note: You can use any kind of greens you have on hand with this recipe. Tonight we used mustard greens, and thought that it was just as good as kale.

Linking this recipe over to Mouth Watering Mondays at A Souther Fairytale.

Turkey Pizza Burgers

Tonight I was in the mood for pizza, but we had turkey in the fridge so I combined the two. This recipe received a thumbs up from all four of us. My daughter, who has never ever taken more than one bite of any burger, ate HALF of hers. That is the highest honor a recipe can receive.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground turkey ( I used extra lean ground turkey breast)

1/4 cup pizza sauce (you can use store bought or try out this recipe from my friend Cara's blog)

2 cloves minced garlic

1 Tbsp Italian Seasoning

1 Tsp Fennel Seed

Mozzarella Cheese shredded

Mix the turkey, pizza sauce, garlic, Italian seasoning, and fennel seed together. Divide the mixture into four patties. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, if desired.

I grilled my burgers on my George Foreman grill for eight minutes. You could also pan fry or broil your burgers until they reach 160 degrees.

After burgers are cooked top liberally with shredded mozzarella cheese and let rest for a few minutes.

We constructed our burgers on Orowheat sandwich rounds. They are thin, 100% whole wheat, only 100 calories and very yummy. They sort of have the appearance of a thicker pizza crust. I broiled the buns until they were toasted and then rubbed them with a garlic clove.

We topped the burgers with more pizza sauce, a bit of mayo, and some of our favorite pizza toppings: tomatoes, mushrooms, black olives.

This was a very fast, satisfying, delicious and healthy meal. It gave us so much energy that we went directly to the park afterwards to soak up the last hour of sunshine for today.

Broccoli Beef, Fajitas, Crockpot Apple Cake

We have set a goal for ourselves to eat in more often. It will help keep our eating and spending habits healthy. I'm all in, but Barrett sometimes needs coaxing.

In order to make this adventure more fun for all of us we've started "restaurant nights". This is where one member of the family picks out what they would eat if we were going out that night. I then find a copycat recipe and try to recreate the restaurant meal - only a healthier version.

This weekend we visited a pizzeria, a Chinese "restaurant" and a Mexican "restaurant". Here are the recipes:

Pizza: Since the goal is health, I went with a whole wheat no rise crust that I saw on Sno White's blog. I also borrowed the pizza sauce recipe from my friend Cara's blog. The pizza dough recipe has a yield of two large pizzas. I made one large for Barrett and I, and then two smaller pizzas so that the kids could each top their own. We used turkey pepperoni, yellow peppers and mushrooms.

Chinese Broccoli Beef: This is a recipe that I adapted from allrecipes.

INGREDIENTS

1 small onion sliced
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 (10.5 ounce) cans beef broth
2 tablespoons white sugar
4 tablespoons soy sauce
1 pound boneless round steak, cut into bite size pieces
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh ginger root
2 clove garlic, minced
4 cups chopped fresh broccoli

DIRECTIONS
In a small bowl, combine flour, broth, sugar, and soy sauce. Stir until sugar and flour are dissolved.
In a large skillet or wok over high heat, cook and stir beef and onion 2 to 4 minutes, or until browned. Stir in broth mixture, ginger, garlic, and broccoli. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat. Simmer 5 to 10 minutes, or until sauce thickens.

I served this with steamed rice. To make my steamed rice more flavorful I use chicken stock instead of water.

My kids love to eat this meal (and most anything) with chopsticks. I ordered the cutest animal training chopsticks for them.

Fajitas: I won't give you a whole recipe for fajitas since it is rather straight forward, but I will give you my spice mix for taco/fajita seasoning. Once you use this, you'll never use one of those packets again!

Ingredients

1 teaspoon paprika
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon minced onion
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground oregano
1 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon chili powder

Directions
Combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl.
To prepare the meat filling for the tacos/fajitas : In large skillet, brown 1 pound ground beef, chicken, turky, shrimp, etc.
Add spices& seasoning and 2/3 cup water; mix thoroughly.
Bring to a boil; reduce heat to low, and cook, uncovered, 7 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Crockpot Fat Free Apple Cake: Yummy! I again borrowed a recipe from Sno White. Follow her directions and enjoy! I love baking in the crockpot, what a novel idea. We set about our Sunday activities and then enjoyed this when we got home.

One last note. I read about a cute idea that I'll be trying with the kids soon. We will be making "menus" by cutting pictures out of the weekly grocery ads and pasting them onto construction paper. The menus can be further decorated to suit your childs creativity. The kids love to play chef to Barrett and I by "cooking" up goodies for us in their play kitchen. These menus will be perfect!

What a weekend!

Welcome back to Monday everybody.

We had a very busy weekend. The kids had two birthday parties, I had a bridal shower, and Madeline had a soccer game all on Saturday. Sunday we took the kids to Sunday School and caught up on grocery shopping. Needless to say, the weekend went by VERY fast.

Madeline also got her ears pierced on Sunday. This was her second attempt, and this time she actually went through with it. She had a smile on her face the whole time. She was a bit nervous before the procedure, but was able to watch somebody else have it done which seemed to calm her. She says that she didn't feel anything and that there was no pain. She has been very good about not touching them and making sure that I clean them often. That's her above, proudly showing off her new jewelry.

Tonight we're having Belgian waffles with strawberry sauce and scrambled eggs. We attempted to healthify the waffles by substituting sugar free applesauce for the oil. Here's the recipe for the waffles adapted from my trusty ol' Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook that my grandma gave me when I moved out on my own:

1 c white flour

3/4 c whole wheat flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 3/4 c skim milk

1/2 c sugar free applesauce

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, slightly beat the eggs and then add in the milk and applesauce. Add wet mixture to dry mixture. Stir just till combined but still slightly lumpy.

Add one cup of batter to preheated and lightly greased waffle iron. Bake until they are done to your liking and then remove with a fork.

We topped them with strawberry sauce which consisted of a cup of frozen strawberries, 1 tbsp water, and 2 tsp sugar. I cooked it on medium heat for about 20 minutes and then mashed up the bigger strawberry chunks to thicken the sauce. Serve the sauce warm over your waffles.

Enjoy your Monday.

Make Ahead Burrito Wraps

Tonight was soccer night - again. I love watching my daughter play soccer and I love watching my husband coach, but it totally messes with my schedule. When you get off of work at 5, have to be on the soccer field at 6, get home at 7:30 and want to have the kids in bed by 8 there isn't much time for things like dinner and breathing.

I've resorted to fast dinners that we can eat either on the go or when we get a spare moment. I stumbled upon a new stand by that totally fits the bill - make ahead burrito wraps. Of course I got the recipe from http://www.allrecipes.com/. Thanks for turning me on to that website, Cara, it's kept my family well fed.

The recipe makes a large batch of 20 burritos. I wrap them individually in saran wrap and then in a ziploc baggie. They work well for a quick healthy lunch or dinner. My kids even like them, which is hard to come by.

INGREDIENTS
2 cups uncooked brown rice
4 cups water
2 (15 ounce) cans black beans
1 (15.5 ounce) cans pinto beans
1 (10 ounce) can whole kernel corn
1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes and green chiles

1 chopped onion

1 chopped green pepper
20 (10 inch) flour tortillas
1 pound shredded pepperjack cheese

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon cumin

DIRECTIONS
Combine rice and water in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 35 to 40 minutes, or until tender. Remove from heat, and cool.
Place black beans and pinto beans into a colander or strainer, and rinse.

Saute onion, green pepper and corn in 1 tbsp olive oil. Add chili powder and cumin to pan. When soft, remove from heat and cool. Add diced tomatoes with green chilies to the veggie mixture and toss to mix. Transfer to a large bowl, and mix in rice and cheese.
Divide the mixture evenly among the tortillas, and roll up. Wrap individually in plastic wrap, place into a large freezer bag, and freeze. Reheat as needed in the microwave for lunch or snacks. I find that 1 1/2 minutes works great for defrosted burritos.

Barrett's famous tuna casserole

Tonight we had a favorite of ours - Barrett's famous (in our house anyway) tuna casserole. This is Madeline's favorite dish - she requested it for her birthday dinner. You all probably have a similar recipe in your files, but I'll give you ours. BTW, it tastes a lot better than it looks in the picture!

12 oz whole wheat pasta ( I like to use a short pasta like penne, bowtie or shell)

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 soup can of milk

1 cup peas (either frozen or canned is fine)

Sliced Mushrooms (amount to your liking - again either fresh or canned)

2 cans tuna

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook noodles to al dente according to package directions. When noodles are done, drain well. Mix together soup and milk. Add peas, mushrooms, noodles and tuna to soup/milk mixture. Pour into a casserole dish and bake for 30 to 40 minutes - until the sauce is thickened. Top with cheddar cheese and bake for another 10 minutes until cheese is melted. Enjoy with a salad and your favorite veggie.