Meal Plan Monday: winter breakfasts

For this week's meal plan Monday I decided to share our breakfasts, because with all this snow many of us have been getting, cereal just doesn't cut it. I'm very fortunate to have time in the mornings to make breakfast, but I know not everyone does, so I've kept that in mind with this plan.

• Whole Wheat Banana Muffins (these will take about 45 minutes when you factor in preheating the oven, but only about 10 minutes of active prep. Making them the night before could be helpful.)
• Scrambled eggs and Toast
• Classic Pancakes with fresh fruit (These pancakes are ready to cook in about 5 minutes, so the amount of time these take to finish depends on your skillet size.)
• Homemade Instant Oatmeal (It has all the speed of instant oatmeal from a box, but much cheaper and usually healthier)
• Baked Oatmeal (This oatmeal will take about 45 minutes once you factor in preheating the oven, but only about 5 minutes of active prep. If that doesn't work for your morning routine, you can make it the night before.)
• French Toast with fruit, dusted with powdered sugar (Like the pancakes, the speed of these depend on the size of your griddle.)
• Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies (These cookies only take a couple minutes to throw together and only take 15 minutes to bake, so they should be ready to eat in about a half hour. I'll be using almond milk instead of coconut milk, because that's what I have, but you can also use cow's milk)

If you're looking for more breakfast ideas, check out my pinterest board.

What's your favorite warm and cozy breakfast?

Baked Oatmeal

We've been on a baked oatmeal kick around here. There's something about winter that makes me eager to start my day with some nice hot oatmeal. If you aren't so sure about eating oatmeal, try this recipe. This is the base recipe for the following variations: Nuts About Oatmeal Muffins, Oatmeal Pumpkin Muffins, Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies. I have been making this recipe for years now and have tweaked it a bit, but I originally found it on Mel's Kitchen Cafe.

Click here for a printable version.

 Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine 3 C oats, 1/2 C brown sugar, 1/2 C applesauce, 1 C milk, 2 beaten eggs, 1/2 tsp vanilla, 1/2 T baking powder, and 1 tsp salt.

 Mix thoroughly.

 Add 1/2-1 C raisins or any other desired add-ins.

 Place in a baking dish and about 20-25 minutes, until top is lightly toasted and does not look wet. Slice like cake or scoop it out into a bowl and enjoy!

Click here for a printable version.

What's your favorite comfort breakfast?

Sausage & Vegetable Stew

This is hands down my favorite soup (at least right now). Last time I made it we didn't have any leftovers and it was so sad. I even posted my lament on facebook.

Click here for the printable version.

 You'll need: 3TBSP extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt, 1 TBSP apple cider vinegar, parsley, 2 tsp minced garlic, 8 baby red potatoes, 2 parsnips, 4 medium carrots, 1 large red onion, 1 lb kielbasa, 2 TBSP paprika, and 3 T flour. (not pictured 4 C water and sour cream for garnish)

 Dice the onion.

 Heat oil, onion, and garlic in a heavy pot over medium heat until softened. This will take about 5 minutes.

 Stir in the paprika and 1 tsp salt. Then stir in the flour,

 and immediately stir in the water until there are no flour lumps.

 Chop up the carrots and parsnip to bite size pieces,

 quarter the potatoes,

 and slice the kielbasa.

 Add the carrots, parsnip, potatoes, and sausage to the pot. Add some salt, turn up the heat, and bring to a boil.

 Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 20 minutes.

 Uncover the soup and stir in the vinegar. This just helps to brighten the flavor, so if you don't have any, it's not completely required.

Serve garnished with sour cream and parsley and some crusty bread on the side (a baguette works well) Then enjoy every last bite!

Click here for a printable version of this recipe.

What's your favorite soup?

Garlic Roast Chicken with Root Vegetables

This is one of my favorite ways to cook a whole chicken. It's so simple and delicious all at the same time. I also love the flavor combination of these vegetable. If you've never had parsnips, this is a good way to start.

printable version

 you'll need: 3 parsnips, 5 carrots, 6-8 potatoes, 2 onions, 2 tsp minced garlic, plus liquid from the jar, 2 tsp broth base, 3/4 C water (not pictured), 5 lb roasting chicken, kosher salt, pepper, and extra virgin olive oil
Preheat oven to 400 F

 Combine the broth base with the water (or use 3/4 C chicken broth). Set aside.

 Cut the potatoes, carrots, parsnips, and onions into bite size pieces.

 Toss the potatoes, carrots, parsnips, and onions (reserving 1/2 of one onion for the chicken cavity) in a roasting pan with broth and 2 tsp garlic.

 Season chicken cavity with salt and pepper, then stuff with reserved onion. Place chicken breast side down, season with salt and pepper and brush with olive oil.

 Bake 30 minutes. Turn chicken over, season, brush with oil and some of the garlic juice from the jar, and continue cooking until fully cooked and juices run clear (about 1 hour).

Serve and enjoy!

If you'd like a printable copy of this recipe, click here.

Have you ever tried parsnip?

Meal Plan Monday: Full Menu: week of January 5, 2015

We are back to school this week. David starts his new school (the one we moved an hour away and gave away all of our animals for), Zeke and Quinn start at their new schools, and I am spending another semester online.

Last semester I ended up being too busy to post many recipes, so this week I am going to take the pictures for many of the recipes I'd like to share over the next couple months. If there's one you'd like to see sooner as opposed to later, let me know in the comments below.

Breakfast:

• chocolate chip muffins
• Baked Oatmeal
• Easy Old Fashioned Pancakes
• Ham & Cheese Corn Muffins (recipe coming soon)
• Speedy Oatmeal (recipe coming soon)
• cereal w/ fruit
• french toast

Lunch:

• Cauliflower Mac & Cheese (recipe coming soon)
• Chicken and Sweet Pepper Quesadillas
• Black Bean Quesadillas (recipe coming soon)
• Tuna Salad Sandwiches
• Peanut Butter and Jam Sandwiches
• Spinach and Black Bean Taquitos
• leftovers

Dinner:

• Garlic Roast Chicken w/ Root Vegetables 
• Burritos
• Stromboli made with 100% whole wheat pizza crust
• Asian Chicken Salad
• Sausage and Vegetable Stew
• Slow cooker Meatballs with rice and broccoli
• Spaghetti w/ side salad

Snacks/desserts:

• popcorn
• fruit
• vegetables w/ dip

What recipe are you excited to see?
this post is linked to orgjunkie.com 

Merry Christmas plus an Easy Holiday Treat

I love this time of year and am happy to report that I aced my classes this semester. Why I thought that going to school full time and paying attention to my family would be easy, I don't know. Next semester I'm only going half time so that I can spend less time being the crazy lady that is always worrying about the status of her grades.

If finishing up my classes last week wasn't enough, my family decided to move too. We've known about the move for awhile, so it's not like it was last minute. The hardest part about moving was having to give up our animals since they aren't allowed. Fortunately, a family friend close to our new home has a little farm, so we still get to see him when we go over there. The animals have actually been gone since before Thanksgiving and I miss the fresh eggs. The move has gone mostly smooth so far, aside from a little stomach bug that we're currently passing around. 

If you follow me on instagram, you may have seen the pictures of our simple Chritmas craft treat. The treat is super quick and easy.

Christmas Tree Pretzels

Ingredients:
1 part green candy melts
2 parts almond bark
pretzel rods
mini candy coated chocolates

Melt candy melts and almond bark together over a double boiler or in a chocolate melter (affiliate link to the one I have). You can just use one or the other, but i prefer the consistency of the 2 put together
Place pretzel on wax paper covered flat surface.
Drizzle melted candy across the pretzel as desired and decorate with mini candies.
Allow to dry completely -about 15 minutes and enjoy!


Wishing you and yours a healthy and happy holiday!

Snow Day Recipes Round-up

It's the time of year for snow days. My kids already had one last month during my $300 grocery experiment, so I had to go to the grocery, but normally I like to stay home and get some comfort food going. I've compiled this list of snow-day recipes to give you some ideas and so you can get the ingredients into your pantry.

Breakfast:

Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

Oatmeal Pumpkin Muffins

Finnish Oven Pancake (from Farm Fresh Feasts)

 Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole (from StockpilingMoms)

Lunch/ Dinner:

 Tortellini Soup (slow cook)

 Loaded Potato Soup (slow cook)

Simple No-Boil Pasta Bake

Taco Soup (from Neat Nest Organizing)

White Chicken Chili with Corn (from Letters From Sunnybrook)

Super Easy Biscuit Recipe with No Shortening (from Thrifty Jinxy)

Snow days usually say yummy treats to me, so here are some easy treats that the kids are sure to love.

Cheerio Treats

Easy 3 ingredient Maple Syrup Pancake Mix Cookies (from Mama Likes to Cook)

3 ingredient peanut butter cookies (from Poems and Quotes Finder)

Jan Hagel cookies (from Once Upon a Time in a Bed of Wildflowers)

Loaded Potato Soup

I absolutely love this soup. There's nothing like a warm soup after a long cold day and this stuff is practically addictive. I've modified my recipe quite a bit over the years since I first started making it, so this is the most up to date version. We actually had it for dinner last night and I'll be eating leftovers for lunch today. To see my first two versions, check out my old site here.

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For this recipe you'll need:
3 T butter
2 stalks celery, diced
1or 2 medium carrots, diced
1 medium onion, diced
4 C chicken broth or stock
1 1/2 C milk
32 oz frozen diced potatoes (did you know you can make your own?)
1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
1/2 C bacon pieces + extra to garnish
1/4 C chives, thinly sliced + extra to garnish
sharp cheddar cheese, shredded, to garnish

 Place butter, carrots, celery, and onion in slow cooker on high heat and allow butter to melt and veggies to soften (about 30 minutes). Then add broth, milk, and potatoes and reduce heat to low. -If you don't have time to wait for butter to melt, either saute everything on the stove first or just add all ingredients and cook on low.

Anywhere from 5-10 hours later (at 5 hours the veggies will be a tad al dente and at 10 the potatoes will be falling apart- I prefer the consistency of everything at 8 hours) add the softened cream cheese and allow to set 10-15 minutes before stirring in. The higher quality the cream cheese the better it will melt and become part of the soup.
Stir in 1/2 C bacon pieces and 1/4 C chives just before serving.
Serve garnished with cheese, bacon, and more chives.

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Do you have any recipes that have evolved over the years?