Quick tips for busy families

Speaking of busy families, it has been AGES since I last blogged.  Such is life...
I am back :)

Today I would like to share a couple of little tricks that I have developed over the months while I have been on hiatus from blogging.

1) The Crock Pot.  I received a new crock pot (my request) for Hanukkah.  It is awesome and I plan on devoting a whole post to some of my favorite crock pot recipes in the future.  However, my main use of the crock pot these days is to help me avoid going through boxes and boxes of "mac n cheeze" (powdered orange stuff poured over noodles).  
On Sundays I make a large crock pot of mac and cheese.  I use the ingredients I want and I know what is really in there - and there is NO powder involved (except actually a little mustard powder, but that is another story).  I end up with enough mac and cheese to make the kids happy for a whole week.  Because my little one goes to a school that requires vegetarian lunches, I frequently send mac and cheese in the thermos so I can reheat from the crock pot for lunches and dinners and it makes things SO simple!

2)  Pre-wash fruits.  Fruit does not need to be washed immediately before you eat it.  For example, as pictures below, you can remove all the strawberries from the plastic container, rinse the container, put a paper towel in the container and put the berries back in.  This way you can pull from the already washed and dried berries to put into school lunches.

3) Muffins.  I frequently make one batch of muffins: banana, strawberry or blueberry.  I will send a muffin with a piece of cheese for my older daughter's snack at school.  Again, I know what ingredients have been used (your choice - organic, non-organic, whatever, but at least there aren't preservatives and other crap)!  I can send a muffin for the little one for lunch (again, it's vegetarian) along with some protein like cheese or something with egg.

(not sure why this picture is insisting on being upside down)

4)  And finally - make your own uncrustables!  This is another example of knowing what your ingredients are and feeling confident that you are sending good ingredients for lunches!  You can use this sandwich sealer:

http://www.amazon.com/Wonder-Sandwich-Sealer-Decruster-Colors/dp/B004M5J1NG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397345041&sr=8-1&keywords=sandwich+sealer.

You can make pb&j, pb&nutella or even lunch meat/cheese sandwiches.  For the non meat/cheese ones you can make several and freeze them and just pull them out of the freezer in the morning!  So simple!

I hope these tips help your busy lives!

-R

More things that I love

So, this is like a true "ah-hah" moment as Oprah would say!

These cheese wrapping papers allow for amazing freshness when storing cheese blocks, even cheap supermarket cheese!

If you buy cheese, buy these!!!

http://www.formaticum.com/products/cheese-paper

Quinoa frittata - YUMMMMMMY

Well, it's been quite a while since my last posting and I apologize.

Today I made something delicious (by all accounts) and I wanted to share!

Quinoa frittata!

YUMMMMMY!

Ingredients:
Crust -
1 cup of dry quinoa (cooked in accordance to directions)
Some grated gruyer cheese (I didn't measure, but if I guess, I think it was about 1/3 cup of grated cheese)
Some salt and pepper

Filling -
8 eggs lightly beaten
Sautéed veggies (I chose about 3/4 cup of diced zucchini, 1/2 cup diced onion and 1/2 cup of diced mushrooms)

4 ounces of goat cheese
Herbs ( I used fresh basil from the garden and some fresh tyme from the garden)

Instructions -
Cook quinoa as instructed
Grate cheese
Mix cooked quinoa and cheese with some salt and pepper (go with your gut - don't measure!)
Press the mixture into a pie crust until it is crust - shaped

Bake in an oven that was preheated to 400 degrees for about 15 minutes or until just slightly brown (SLIGHTLY!)

Remove from the oven.

Mix eggs, satueed veggies and herbs together and pour into the baked crust.

I then put the goat cheese - kind of flaked it onto the egg mixture with a fork.
For decorate purposes I placed some purple basil leaves onto the top and baked it until the egg seemed set.  I think this took about 25 minutes, but honestly I lost track of time...

Eat while warm.
Yummy - really yummy!  Crispy healthy quinoa crust and delicious, healthy filling!

Enjoy!!!

Things I Love - MV Sea Salt

I love Martha's Vineyard.  I was born on the island, thanks to my parents owning a gallery there for 3 summers. 

This has always been a source of great pride and joy for my brother (who was born on the island 2 summers after I was) and me. 

This summer our family will be vacationing there in June which is a departure from our August vacations of recent summers. 

Recently I was listening to The Splendid Table and there was a caller who is the owner of the new Martha's Vineyard Sea Salt: http://mvseasalt.com/.  She sounded like a lovely person, plus she was asking about the pairing of salt and wine - PERFECT! 

While I don't totally understand all the details of harvesting water from the Atlantic Ocean and turning it into gourmet seat salts, I love the idea and I completely support a local MV company! 

I look forward to seeing the MV Sea Salt stand at the West Tisbury Farmer's Market and/or the Oak Bluffs Open Market!!!

New segment: Things I Love

I am taking the opportunity today for a rare "me day".  Of course, this doesn't mean that I am not thinking about my kids, and family, simply that I am doing that without interruption on the train to NYC :)

I am taking the opportunity to crack open the spring 2013 copy of ChopChop magazine.  I used to read this magazine, but the craziness of life is such that I fell off of that particular wagon a while back. I was reminded about it this past weekend and then found a FREE copy sitting in the workroom of my clinic yesterday.  What are the chances?

This magazine is amazing.  It highlights the importance of healthy food, but even more importantly it reminds us how important it is to involve our kids in the cooking process!  By getting our kids into the kitchen they learn to understand nutrition, but also learn to respect the effort it takes to pull together all the meals that we parents prepare on a daily basis!

My six year old always says "food tastes better when I make it myself". Well, I couldn't agree more!!!

In addition, ChopChop magazine is endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics :)

Go to chopchopmag.org to subscribe for $14.95 for four issues.  You and your kids will be happy you did!!!

Snack time - the intersection of Real and Realistic

A few mornings ago I saw a great post from 100 Days of Real Food. As you loyal followers of my blog know, I'm more about realistic than real, but sometimes the two can meet in a happy place!!

I struggle a little with what I send for snack for my six year old. The little one gets snacks provided at daycare, which I think are mostly carbs and real snacky stuff, but I don't ask too many questions about that...I take it as a gift - one less thing I have to do!

For my six year old, I have to either send both morning snack and lunch or just morning snack and she buys lunch.
On days when the older one is buying lunch, I feel a little more pressure to send a healthy snack, in case lunch is made of crap!

Examples of snacks that I send:
Yoplait Greek yogurt with granola
Whole wheat bagel with cream cheese and fruit salad
Fruit salad and a Stonyfield yogurt smoothie

So, back to the post that I saw on the 100 Days of Real Food Facebook page. 

What a great idea!  Warm, delicious, made-from-scratch oatmeal in a well constructed thermos that will keep it warm. 

Here is the recipe:

Oatmeal

Serves: 1

 

Ingredients

• ⅔ cup milk (any variety will do but we use whole milk at our house)
• ½ cup plain rolled oats (I get ours out of the bulk bins at Earth Fare)
• Big dash of cinnamon
• Drizzle of honey
• Small splash of pure vanilla extract
• As many raisins as your heart desires …also, good with nuts on top

Instructions

1. In a small pot over high heat warm up the milk.
2. As soon as the milk starts to bubble drop in the oats, stir once, and turn the heat down to low.
3. Let the oats simmer for 2 – 3 minutes. You can stir it a couple times if you’d like.
4. Once the oats have soaked up most of the milk add the vanilla, honey, cinnamon, raisins, and mix everything together. Take off the heat and serve or store for later in a Thermos.
   Tip: My daughters like their oatmeal a little “soupy” so I usually try to catch it before all of the milk has been absorbed by the oats. You could also add a little extra cold milk at the end, which will help cool it down for little ones as well.

Of course, you could also use a nice organic instant oatmeal packets if you don't have time for the steps above.  Can always add some fresh fruit on top!

Here's another idea for oatmeal, thanks to Pinterest (I LOVE PINTEREST!!!):

Gluten-Free (Or Regular) Baked Oatmeal Casserole
Total Time: 50 minutes
Serves: 6

Ingredients
2 cups gluten-free rolled oats (of course, you could use regular rolled oats if no gluten issues)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup walnut pieces
1 cup raspberries {any berries work}
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
2 cups milk
1 large egg
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 ripe banana, peeled, 1/2-inch slices

Make this on Sunday and use it all week long for breakfasts and snacks!

YUMMY!!!

 

And, for the thermos...
Our friends at 100 Days of Real Food performed an analysis of thermoses. 
You can read their full blog post here:
http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2012/11/26/how-to-use-thermos-food-jars/

I just ordered 2 insulated food jars from amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Thermos-Funtainer-10-Ounce-Hello-Kitty/dp/B0017IJSSO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368040335&sr=8-1&keywords=hello+kitty+thermos

So, I think that once these Thermos food containers arrive I am going to send warmed up mac and cheese, soup, oatmeal...or on a really REALISTIC day: good ol' fashioned spaghettios!!!

Bon appetit!

Easy Monday Night Dinner

Monday is my long day.  This means that I drive an hour to and from work to a satellite location of my clinic and hubby picks up the kids (unless I get out early).  Not only is it a long day, but it always gets longer the minute I walk in the door and start getting the "mommy, mommy, mommy" demands that come with my arrival!

Last night I walked in the door at 6.  The kids were already snacking because they always come home from school STARVING despite the fact that they are well fed all day!
They asked for dinner immediately so I turned on the oven to cook some dinosaur-shaped all white meat chicken nuggets and threw a sweet potato in the microwave.

I opened the fridge...what to make, what to make?

I gathered the following ingredients:
organic mesclun mix
2 persian mini cucumbers
bacon
gorgonzola cheese
eggs

also pulled together: craisins, croutons.

Hard boiled 5 eggs and cooked 4 pieces of turkey bacon.
This is what resulted:

Quick Cobb Salad!

Voila!

As an aside, I threw croutons and some light Caesar dressing on top.

By the way, if I had thought ahead, I could have hard boiled the eggs the day before which would have saved me 20 minutes in food prep.  Next time...

Bon appetit!