Ravioli Review

The kids liked them! They both cleaned their plates for lunch today and said that they were good. I'm so glad because my son is extremely picky and I was nervous about him liking them but he scarfed them down!

Sauteed Veggies

Asparagus is one of the newest vegetable we've been experimenting with and tonight I just sauteed it with some red and orange peppers, red onion, and garlic. Sprinkled a little parmesan on top and it was pretty tasty.
And these...YUM! They are definitely not healthy for you but they are oh SO yummy! Add water, bake, and top with melted butter and garlic salt to the top. Plus they're cheap. I think they're $0.88 where I shop.

This was our dinner tonight, plus lasagna and bananas. Not too bad, health-wise, other than the bread.

Applesauce

This was a full, unopened, jar of applesauce. And this is how much was gone after my daughter ate some for a snack! At least it's all natural unsweetened applesauce.

Maybe applesauce is a good thing to try making homemade?

Homemade Granola Bars

I found this recipe over on Lynn's Kitchen Adventures and have made it twice already since last week! They are that good.

I've made a few changes though and will list what I do after the recipe.

1/2 c butter
1/2 c brown sugar
2 Tb honey
2 Tb corn syrup
2 1/3 cups quick cooking oats

Grease an 8x8 pan. In a pan on the stove combine the butter, brown sugar, honey, and corn syrup. Stir constantly over medium heat until butter melts, sugar dissolves, and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and add oats. Stir well until oats are well coated. Spread mixture into 8x8 pan. Bake at 350 for 22 minutes. Cool 5 minutes and cut into bars. Cool for about 1 more hour in the pan. Then remove bars.

If you wait to cut and remove bars from the pan until the pan is completely cooled, the bars will be very hard to remove.

They aren't the most healthy thing to eat with all the sugars and corn syrup but at least you know what's going in them and you could add to them to make them a little better, like nuts or dried fruit.

Here are my variations:

--I've added chocolate chips and coconut after I get the oats coated well. The chocolate chips will melt but you still get a really nice chocolate flavor and a bit of chocolate here and there. The coconut added a little extra sweetness but I don't think you need very much because my first batch seemed a little too sweet (if that's possible!)

--An 8x8 pan doesn't last very long so I doubled it last time for a 9x13 dish. However, trying to make it a little more healthy I only did 3/4 c butter (instead of 1 cup), 3/4 c brown sugar (instead of 1 cup), and not quite the 2 Tb of corn syrup. I'm still playing around with measurements.

--They are pretty crumbly. Maybe I need that extra corn syrup and butter but they still tasted really good and if you press them into the pan before you bake them they stay together okay. I'd rather have less calories and sugar and have them a little crumbly...depends on how you like them.

--Another personal decision: the first batch I baked for the directed 22 minutes. However the edges got really crunchy and we like our granola bars more chewy. The second time I made these I only baked them for 18 minutes and they were much better.

--I don't know if it really matters when you remove them from the pan. I've waited longer than an hour and it was fine.

--When I remove them I put them in a little square of plastic wrap and wrap them individually. It makes it easy to grab and eat and it's something easy for the hubby to pack for work.

I'd love to hear if you try any additions that turn out yummy!

Menu Week of March 24-30

I usually do my menus from Friday to Thursday. I'm a day late since I just started this blog but thought I'd share anyway.

*Shrimp Scampi, garlic toast, fresh pineapple
*Eat Out--Chipotle
*Lasagna, asparagus, garlic biscuits, fruit
*Chicken Pot Pie, fruit
*BBQ Teriyaki Chicken and Smoked Sausages, some potato probably, fruit

Leftovers/Fend for Yourself the other nights. Bradley's on his own Tuesday so that'll probably be pizza for him.

Share your menus if you wish!

Homemade Ravioli

I forgot to take pictures as I was doing this, something I'll have to get used to because I enjoy step-by-step pictures.

This is my first homemade ravioli. I didn't really measure anything so it's kinda hard to give an exact recipe but here's what I did.

Brown about 3/4 lb of sausage (or whatever meat, if any you choose to use.)

Mix together an egg and half of a large cottage cheese. I added garlic powder, basil, oregano, a dash of salt, and pepper.

Take a wonton wrapper, brush with egg wash, place a small teaspoon of filling in center, then cover with another wonton wrapper. Press sides to seal and put in a pot of boiling water. Boil 2-3 minutes. Remove, cut off extra wonton wrapper if you don't want all that dough, then dip in bread crumbs.

Bake in oven at 375 for 20 minutes or so. Turn over and bake another 10 or 15 minutes, or until desired crispness.

I'm going to freeze these in individual servings for the kids' lunches (hopefully they like them!) Sorry the recipe is disorganized. I'll do better at writing down an exact recipe as I get used to doing this. I didn't think they tasted too bad. Not sure I like the sausage in them but we'll see what the kids' verdict is.

Our First Garden

We started our very first garden this year. Hopefully this will be a way to get my kids eating more fruits and veggies and a way to save a little moolah.

Here we have red peppers, corn, lima beans, carrots, onion, and watermelon. We're going to do strawberries as well but will buy plants for those. I think I started my seed a little late. Probably should have planted these a few weeks ago but hopefully it will be okay and we'll get some little seedlings to plant outside. I think we're doing a 10x10 raised bed. My husband thinks one big bed is fine rather than doing multiple smaller ones. Anyone have any info on that? Not sure if it matters.

And here are our raspberry bushes. I think I'm most excited about these! Maybe because of my childhood memories of picking raspberries everyday at my Yiayia's in Montana when we visited every summer. I'm just hoping it becomes a fun summer tradition for my own kids.

Welcome!

Welcome to our family food blog. I'm a mom of two kids, married to a wonderful husband, and we're trying to eat healthier. I'm experimenting with more homemade foods, a garden, new recipes, and whatever else I can think of to get away from the processed, pre-packaged foods.

I am hoping to do this not only so that we eat healthy but to teach my kids what it means. My husband and I are both mid-western people, meat and potatoes were our thing. We've changed dramatically, trying new things, but still have way to go.

I've been thinking about this for awhile now and am not sure that I really need one more thing to do, but I think keeping track of what works, what doesn't, what we like and don't like, and the recipes together in one place might be beneficial.

After watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution this week (my kids will never eat school lunch!) I took a look at what I've been feeding my kids: chicken nuggets, ravioli, spaghetti o's, hot dogs, fish sticks, mac and cheese...UGH! That's horrible! It's just that we're usually gone to the gym and playgroup activities all morning and by the time we get home the kids are starving and I don't have the time, or rather don't take the time, to make something homemade or more healthy. It's much easier to have the food in the freezer/fridge and just nuke it and eat it. But I don't feed myself that way so why do I feed my kids that way?

So after thinking over the last few days I'm going to at least try to do better. I'm hoping to find more homemade recipes for the foods they like and find a way to make them so that my picky kids will eat them. I'm also going to be working in new things for the family as a whole, not just my kids, so stay tuned and I hope you enjoy the journey with the Naves!