Monday, May 28, 2012

2012 Week 22

Happy Memorial Day Weekend to everyone!  We are celebrating in Vail with a few friends.  The weekend has been full of kids and food and fun.  There are four families here sharing a townhouse at the Ritz, and we split up the meals so no one is having to cook the whole time.  Scott and I were in charge of breakfast and we made these delicious egg boats.  I loved that everyone could take a slice or two and that we could make some vegetarian and some with meat.  This was perfect with a fruit salad and (lots of) coffee.
Bike riding on the path in Vail!
Anyway, on to the meals for the week!
Sunday - Dinner with friends
Monday - Easy grilling.  Probably whatever we have on hand.  Black bean burgers are a freezer staple around here.  One of those with some green chilies and melted cheese on top is a perfect dinner with a salad.
Tuesday - Easy homemade pizza for dinner after driving back from Vail.  I buy the fresh dough at the store and we always have something to put on the pizza!
Wednesday - I never got to the homemade pesto last week.  So, I'm going to try again this week.  We have spinach from the CSA and arugula from our garden that both need to be used.
Thursday - Fish tacos on the grill.  We grill the fish and then made rice and beans and a spicy coleslaw.
Friday - Sesame tofu stirfry, finally using up all those veggies!
Saturday - Roll ups.  The Pioneer Woman did a post on roll ups the other day.  Now, of course, I can't get them out of my mind.  I'm thinking they would be perfect for a picnic dinner and a movie in the park!

Friday, May 25, 2012

Oh my

As the kids and I were in the store today, Little Man spotted a bag of Andes Baking Chips, you know, the mint chocolate kind.  Well, since I had just seen an episode of Giada's show where she made these incredible double chocolate cookies with mint chocolate chips, I was game.  Little man threw them in the cart and I made the cookies pretty much as soon as we walked into the house!  Let me tell you, these are amazing.  Just be sure you have a large glass of milk on hand, these babies are rich!

Here is the link to Giada's recipe.  Below is my version of the recipe, which is doubled and adjusted for high altitude.



Ingredients

  • 12 oz of chocolate chips
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 2 cups flour
  • 4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
  • 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 and 1/3 cups sugar
  • 4 eggs, at room temperature
  • 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • One 10-ounce bag of Andes mint chocolate baking chips

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325º F. Line your baking sheets with parchment. Set aside.
In a small bowl, combine the chocolate chips and butter. Place the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and stir occasionally until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.
In a medium bowl, sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs, 2 tablespoons water and vanilla extract. Gradually add the dry ingredients. Fold in the cooled chocolate. Stir in the chocolate mint pieces. Chill the dough 10 minutes to firm slightly. Drop cookies by the rounded spoonful on to the cookie sheet.  Give them some space, they will spread.  I was able to get 8 on each sheet.
Bake the cookies 12 minutes. Bake until the cookies are slightly puffed and dry looking with some small cracks on top, but don't let them over bake.  Cool the cookies completely on sheets (they may deflate slightly as they cool).

Sunday, May 20, 2012

2012 Week 21

Good, beautiful morning!  This weekend was our town fair and this morning was the hot air balloon launch.  Although noone wanted to wake up early with me and go see the balloons lift up, we all watched them fly over the house with our jammies on.
And since we were all staying home, we needed some yummy breakfast to go with the beautiful sights.  I found this recipe for strawberry muffins that turned out so well.  I'm thinking that they would work with any fruit, and also a squeeze of lemon juice.  They were perfect with some bacon (for Scott and the kids) and a homemade latte!

If we get any cool days this week, I'm all over this Chili Verde from Giada.  The veggies in it look sooo yummy!  But really this is just a way for me to save the recipe, I think this week is going to be warm (no complaints from me!).

Lastly, our CSA starts this week!!  Yay!  I am so excited.  We are supposed to receive - hakurei turnips - green garlic - walking onions - broccoli raab - baby kale - arugula.  Dishes this week will definitely be focusing around these yummy new veggies! 

Anyway, on to the week's dinner plan...
Sunday - Grilled hot dogs and brats with the neighbors (veggie ones for some of us!)
Monday - Tacos by request.  I'm thinking traditional, with all the sides.  I make them with veggie crumbles from the freezer section.  Add a little taco seasoning and a little water and sauté for a few minutes.  So good.
Tuesday - Panini's on the grill sound super yummy.  I've been thinking about an arugula, mozzarella, tomato panini, with pesto.
Wednesday - I'd like to try a kale and walnut pesto, still looking for recipes.  Maybe with a fruit salad.
Thursday - It's supposed to be super hot, I'm thinking some cold salads...
Friday - Grilled veggies (broccoli raab and walking onions), grilled salmon and a nutty couscous side.
Saturday - We will be in Vail with some friends for Memorial Day weekend, so dinner will be out I'm sure!

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

A few good dinner ideas...

I was just looking through headlines today in the paper and saw this one "Going Vegan; Family Style."  Intriguing, no doubt.  The article had some good recipes at the end...

http://www.denverpost.com/food/ci_20622622/new-vegan-fare-makes-an-animal-free-diet?utm_medium=facebook

Monday, May 14, 2012

2012 Week 20


The garden is planted and even though it's going to be weeks before we are eating anything from it, I'm inspired for a week full of garden fresh veggies!
Sunday - It's Mother's Day and I have a swim meet all weekend.  So, dinner's up to Scott.  He's mentioned something about crabcakes, corn on the cob and parmesan fries.
Monday - Green noodles (pesto) with grilled tofu and a carrot salad (still looking for recipes...)
Tuesday - Grilled portabello mushrooms, steak for Scott and a big green salad.  I also want to try this herbed flatbread recipe from Giada
Wednesday - Black pepper salad with Asparagus and Romano and grilled salmon
Thursday - Chinese noodle salad with sesame dressing
Friday - Taco and Margs night.  I'm thinking of those chipotle black bean and yam tacos from a few weeks ago.
Saturday - It's Little Man's birthday party today!  The little prince himself has requested pizza and cupcakes (try not to be too surprised!)

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Toddler Snack Ideas

We have the pleasure of providing Little Man's class with snacks this week and I'm a bit worried.  I want to do something that's fun, healthy and easy for the kids to have at school.  Any ideas?  I need to come up with ideas for two snacks a day for two days.  One of those needs to be a birthday treat, but I'm going for something less sugary and more fun! Of course, I've been scanning Pinterest and I've found some good ones.
Like these butterfly snack bags
Or these pretzel, chocolate, goldfish yummy-looking things

Update: We made both of these and they turned out super cute!
 Here are the butterfly snacks that were such a hit!  The kids all loved them.
and...
These little bites of chocolate and pretzel are super cute in Little Man's fav color blue!



Sunday, May 6, 2012

2012 Week 19

My in-laws are here this week and it's little man's birthday on Wednesday, so it's going to be a very fun week!
Sunday - Eat out with the in-laws
Monday - Spaghetti and salad.  With Bobby Flay's yummy garlic bread.
Tuesday - Food truck night.  Something easy for the kiddos, but I'd like to try something new.
Wednesday - Little man's choice!  As of today it's going to be homemade pizza...
Thursday - Grilled salmon, a yummy green veg, and a fruit salad
Friday - My mom is staying here with the kids, so I'm going to make some homemade mac and cheese earlier in the day for them to have
Saturday - Dad's night with the kids...