A change of plans...

So the reason I haven't been posting since before Thanksgiving is that I'm out of picture space!  I've messed around with it a bit but I don't want to spend money on more space which seems to be the easy solution.  So instead, I'm moving the blog to a Facebook Page!

I think (hope) this will work really well because it will allow me to share links and update with photos quickly.  I can share pics of meals as they're happening... at least in theory. :)

So...My thought is to start updating the recipe page on the blog (which I haven't done in, like, FOREVER) with pictureless recipes when needed but for everything else it will just be on the Facebook page.

Let me know what you think of my plan.  Is it Good, Bad, You've got an EVEN Better Idea...?

And go ahead and hop over and "like" the new page:

www.facebook.com/KindaHungryKid

I hope to start adding stuff today!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Yes that is a turkey pressed out of butter!  My sister had an extra one and is letting me take it to the Hub's family for Thanksgiving, along with some rolls, my FAVORITE cranberry salad, and a green salad (yet to be made).

Now, I'm about to start celebrating a day with family.  I hope everyone has as nice a Thanksgiving as I expect to have. :)

Vegetarian Turkey?

Thursday may be Thanksgiving but we've already been to our first feast!  My mom's side of the family always gets together the Saturday before Thanksgiving.  There are a LOT of us which makes for a good time!  In addition to eating we visit, play games (Catch Phrase anyone?) and run around outside.  It's always a blast. :)

And it's always a pitch-in.  This year I brought a Sweet Potato dish and a veggie tray with hummus.

When the Hubs first say my Veggie Tray he said, "Why is there a big cucum....Oh, it's a Turkey! That's great!"  It included some lettuce as a base, sweet peppers, broccoli, carrots and cucumber.  I attached a bit of sweet pepper to the cucumber as a beak with a cut off toothpick. :D

The Basil-Lime Hummus I made was 1 can of chickpeas drained & rinsed, 2 lime cubes (frozen lime juice from an ice cube tray), olive oil, ground flax seed and dried basil all mixed together until smooth.

For the Sweet Potato dish I used my recipe from last year but instead of 5T Maple Syrup I used about 3 T Whipped Cinnamon Honey, and instead of flour I used oatmeal and just chopped it up with the nuts.

I may not eat meat, but my plate was FULL!! Twice.

Fruit Salad, Cranberry salad, Sweet Potatos, green beans, sweet potato fries, and raw veggies with Hummus.

And for those who want to see Kai's new do...

On Sunday we broke one of our rules...

We started decorating BEFORE Thanksgiving!!  Oh My!!!

But no one's coming to our house this year and this way we can enjoy the day after without as much stress.  There's still quite a bit to do and we're not turning the lights on until the day after but yes, we're decorating early.  Don't judge. :)

School Lunch Wrap Up Wk14

Here's this weeks lunch wrap up.  Click below to see the previous weeks.

Week One

Week Two

Week Three

Week Four

Week Five

Week Six

Week Seven

Week Eight

Week Nine

Week Ten

Week Eleven

Week Twelve

Week Thirteen

MONDAY: Left over Broccoli Quinoa Soup topped with nutritional yeast and avocado.

- She didn't eat much at school and the thermos lid wasn't on straight so it leaked in her back on the way home.  Once home I heated up a new bowl and she ate that. :)

TUESDAY:  Left over Nachos - chips, spinach, sweet peppers, cheese, chicken, black beans & corn, plus a side of Kiwi.

- She ate some at school and some when she got home, finishing everything except for the black beans and corn.

WEDNESDAY:  Oatmeal with cherries, peaches, chia seeds, flax seed, cinnamon and a drizzle of honey.

- She ate it all (Oatmeal's one of her favorites!)

THURSDAY: Jellly, chia seed & nutritional yeast sandwich, Sweet Peppers, Kiwi.

- She ate ALL. OF. IT.

FRIDAY:  A Supreme personal pizza from Pizza Hut topped with nutritional yeast.  Her class was having a Pizza and Pajama party.  I spaced ordering her the school lunch (Friday is pizza day) and time got away from me so we picked up a fast food pizza instead of me making it from scratch. :(
- She ate 3/4 of the pizza.

- She ate it all. :)

What I'm Loving...

I have yet to focus!  So, I decided to call this post "What I'm Loving" and throw everything into it.  Maybe next week I'll be back on track...except Thanksgiving is next week so I wouldn't count on it. lol!

1.  Pumpkin Spice Kefir.  OMG this stuff is good!  I was walking around Georgetown Market and saw this on sale so decided to give it a try.  There's also a Gingerbread flavor that I'm thinking will be perfect to enjoy once the tree's up!

2. Oatmeal.  If there's a better breakfast I've yet to find it!  And last time at the grocery I found frozen cherries in the frozen fruit area.  Cherries + Chocolate = Happiness!

3. Omelette fails.  I've made exactly one successful omelette in my life.  BUT a veggie omelette failure makes the BEST Egg-Veggie scramble.  On days when I know lunch will be lacking in the veggies these scrambles are awesome.

4.  Pumpkin Seeds.  Remember how I joined Kai's class trip to the apple orchard/pumpkin patch?  Did I even talk about that?  Anyway, we (I'm being nice there - I did all the work because Little Miss Clean Hands WILL NOT touch pumpkin gut) carved a turkey into the side of a pumpkin and then roasted the seeds.  I just love having roasted pumpkin seeds to munch on. :)

5. Popcorn Snack.  I was at Walgreens and saw that they had a bag of dried fruit - peaches, pears, prunes, apricots...  So I bought it and mixed some dried fruit with plain popcorn, nutritional yeast, and pecans.  Oh. So. Good.   

6.  Chocolate.  On the third I joined some girlfriends for a Chocolate Walk to benefit the Humane Society in Brown County.  32 stops with samples of chocolate.  2 wine tastings.  I'm pretty sure I would have had to walk HOME to burn off all the treats but who cares!  It's delicious and basically trick or treating for adults!

Options!!!

There was even an option for dogs (frodo got a treat)

Ice Cream & Hot Cocoa were also tasted!

I came hope with a bag full of samples left over so all week we've been treating ourselves to fudge bites, cookie bites, brownie bites, etc...  It's now all gone (except for a peppermint chocolate bar in the freezer that I'm saving for a TBD Christmas dessert).

7. Nachos.  They're still a go to meal in this house hold.  I tried toasting the chips with some cheese.  It was ok but I don't know that it was necessary.

Frozen Corn + Cooked Black Beans + Lime Juice = an excellent topper!

Oh Nacho Bar... I love you. :)

You make the BEST plates!

Even Kai loves you!!

8.  Frozen Yogurt.  Kai and I had Frozen Yogurt for dinner last night!  I took her to get her hair cut but the Cookie-Cutters I usually go to closed in April (who knew?), so I drove up to a different one.  That one had an hour wait!!  So Kai and I took the 5:30 appt and decided to waste some time by driving a few blocks down to YoJoy where we had 2 coupons for a free cup!  That became our dinner.  Then we walked around Target and bought Apple Pears/Asian Pears to round our meal out.  Some times you just have to smile and enjoy the little things.  Eventually we headed back and Kai got her hair cut off - now she is rocking a short little bob and is super excited.  :)

Broccoli Quinoa Soup

The other day I made a HUGE batch of this soup and I LOVE it.  Of course, I love just about every soup so I don't suppose that means a whole lot, but it really is good. :)

Kai wanted to help me make the soup and her favorite veggie is Broccoli so I knew we'd include broccoli - all other veggies would be "hidden".

So, I always start with sauteed onion, and then I decided to add some cauliflower that I had in the fridge.  That along with a Large can of diced tomatoes (with the juice) and a large spoonful of minced garlic all simmered with the lid on until the cauliflower was soft. 

Kai's not a big fan of seeing onion, cauliflower or tomato in her food lately so once everything was soft I blended it until smooth.  That's my tip of the day... If your kids/spouse doesn't like a particular food try just putting it in a soup and blending it.   Out of sight, out of mind. :)

Once I had the "broth" I added quinoa, frozen broccoli and some Veggie Broth and let that simmer until the quinoa and broccoli were cooked.

And that was it!  Kai and I enjoyed ours with some Greek Yogurt, Nutritional Yeast, Sunflower Seeds and Avocado.

Breakfasts

Last week was CRAZY!  On Monday I subbed at Kai's school, on Tuesday I joined Kai's class field trip, on Wednesday I ran errands which included getting the oil changed in my car (which took an hour!), on Thursday I joined my cousin for my second spin class, on Friday I subbed again and then on Saturday I joined some girl friends for the "Chocolate Walk" in Brown County.  That was all in addition to my normal day-to-day activities of working and keeping house. :)

Because of my odd schedule everything's a bit of a jumble from last week.  So rather than trying to recap I thought I'd just focus on our breakfasts.  

We had oatmeal nearly everyday.  It's a favorite of both Kai and mine. :)

For the most part mine were topped with PB2 (or peanut butter), Dark Chocolate "BetterStevia" (or you could use cocoa powder & sweetener) and Coconut Manna (or coconut butter..not oil)

Kai always likes hers with frozen fruit (bonus, it cools the hot oats)...

Now on days when I know we're going to have veggie-lite lunches I like to try to pack them into our breakfast, which doesn't work well with the oatmeal.  Instead I make veggie egg cups...

I start by nuking some frozen veggies...

Then, if I have some made up, I put quinoa in the bottom of some ramekins   (I do like to make a batch of quinoa early in the week and then just add it to meals throughout the week for added protein)

Top that with the defrosted veggies...

Whisk a couple of eggs and pour them over the veggies & quiona...

Then, since I'm always running late in the mornings and baking takes way too long, I microwave it until the egg is set 1-2 minutes....

Kai topped hers with cheese and I used Nutritional Yeast.

And that's how we do breakfast!  :)

 

School Lunch Wrap Up Wk13

Here's last weeks lunch wrap up (I'm running REALLY behind, lol).  Click below to see the previous weeks.

Week One

Week Two

Week Three

Week Four

Week Five

Week Six

Week Seven

Week Eight

Week Nine

Week Ten

Week Eleven

Week Twelve

MONDAY:  2 Pot-Pie Cups reheated from the freezer & an orange.

- She ate it all. :)

Also, I subbed on Monday so I took a Salad in a Jar: Spinach, carrots, sweet peppers, Nutritional yeast, avocado, sunflower seeds, feta & balsamic vinaigrette.

TUESDAY: Field Trip Day!  PB&J Sandwich, sliced sweet peppers & an orange.

- She ate it all. :)

WEDNESDAY: Broccoli & Quinoa with nutritional yeast & parm cheese, a left over bite of PB Rice Krispies treat from McAlister's Deli, an orange.
-Again she ate it all. :)

THURSDAY: WW Ritz Crackers, Sweet Bell Pepper, Orange, Tuna Salad (tuna, greek yogurt, avocado & dijon mustard)
- Once again she ate it all. :)

FRIDAY: Macaroni, broccoli & edemame with pasta sauce & parm cheese.
- And once again she ate it all. :)

Cauliflower Soup

How do you feel about creamy potato soup?  

Well this soup has all the same notes but no potatoes or cream.  I saw a Cauliflower Soup on line yesterday and thought, "Ah-Ha! A use for the head of cauliflower in the fridge!"  :) 

The base of the soup has 4 ingredients... Onion, Garlic, Cauliflower, & Veggie Broth.

I started by sauteing 1/2 an onion.

Then I added a BIG pile of minced garlic.

Then I added about 3/4 Head of Cauliflower.

And broth.

Topped with a lid and let simmer for about 40 minutes.

Once the Cauliflower was soft I removed the lid...

And used the immersion blender...
(or you could carefully pour it into a blender)

Until it was nice and smooth.

Once in a bowl I decided I needed some protein...

So I topped my soup with some cooked quiona (I try and make a large batch to keep in the fridge and use through out the week) and some nutritional yeast. :)

And then I dug in...

The batch was enough for a bowl for lunch and then a bowl for dinner.  At dinner I added some left over veggies in addition to the quinoa and nutritional yeast.  It was REALLY good.  I'm going to have to add this into my soup rotation.  :)