February 29, 2012

Menu:
Very veggie mini meatloaf
Mashed roasted cauliflower and turnips
Mandarin Oranges


 Very Veggie Mini Meatloaf:
-one acorn squash
-one onion, finely chopped
-3 cloves of garlic
-one carrot, finely chopped
-one red pepper, finely chopped
-bunch of collard greens, finely chopped
-2 tbs thyme
-1.5 lbs dark turkey
-1.5 lbs light meat turkey
-2 eggs, whipped
-1.2 tsp ground clove
-tbs soy sauce
-tbs rice vinegar
-1 c bread crumbs
-2 tbs tomato paste
-Salt and pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 350.  Cut the acorn squash in half and place in a baking dish, cut side down, in about an inch of water.  Bake for about 45 minutes, until the squash can easily be penetrated by the fork.  When cool, scoop the flesh out and set aside. 
Heat 2 tbs olive oil in a large pan or dutch oven.  Add onions, garlic, carrot, red pepper, and collards.  Saute until the onions are translucent and the house smells amazing which is about 15 minutes.  Set aside to cool down.
In a small mixing bowl, whip the eggs and add to it the tomato paste, soy sauce, vinegar, cloves, and thyme.  In a large bowl, mix the dark and light meat turkey with bread crumbs and the mixture from the small bowl.  Add the sauteed veggies and half of the acorn squash.  Mix well.
I put them in small muffin tins and baked for about 35 minutes.  You can also easily put the mixture into loaf pans or larger muffin tins and just adjust the cooking time.

The veggies cooking before being made into meatloaf

-

Little Mini Meatballs

Mashed roasted cauliflower and turnips:
-2 tbs olive oil
-one head of cauliflower
-2 turnips
-salt
-pepper
-1/2 to one cup of milk (depending on how thick you want the mash)
-half cup of veggie broth

This is so amazing.  Pre-heat the oven to 425.  Cut up the turnip into 1/4 inch slices and the cauliflower into small size chunks.  Toss with olive oil and sprinkle with a little salt.  Roast the vegetables for about 15-25 minutes.  Just check on them at 15 minutes and check back every few minutes to make sure that they do not burn.  The edges will be browning.  After removing from the oven, place the veggies in a saucepan.  Add 1/2 cup of milk and a 1/2 cup of veggie broth.  Heat on medium low until warmed through.  Use immersion blender to mix.  If the mash is too thick, just add more milk to suit your tastes.

February 22, 2012

I am not posting until today because I didn't actually roast the vegetables until this morning before school so that they would be super fresh.

The menu:
Roasted broccoli and cauliflower
Brown rice cooked in vegetable broth
Kiwis

Roasted broccoli and cauliflower:

• large pieces of vegetables
• olive oil
• salt
• lemon
• Parmesan cheese

Heat oven to 425.  Toss the veggies with olive oil and sprinkle them with salt.  Put them in the oven.  Bake for about 20-25 minutes (depends on the size, so check on them).  They will start to brown and caramelize on the edges.  Take them from the oven and squeeze some lemon juice on them (I used half a lemon).  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

I chose to make roasted veggies for the kids because it brings out the sweetness of any vegetable.  We eat all kinds of roasted vegetables at our house.  I  made roasted cabbage wedges last night!  I really think that roasting veggies is a great way to get kids to try new things because the vegetables are sweeter and I always add a little cheese too.  There are no rules for roasting and you can be really creative.  At home, I add whole garlic cloves but I wasn't sure that the kids would like it so I omitted it for school lunch.  I also add basil or other fresh herbs sometimes.  I find that fresh basil is good with broccoli and cauliflower.  Fresh rosemary, thyme, and/or sage are great with root vegetables such as potatoes, turnips, and rutabagas.  This is a very simple way to make veggies and requires very little other than cutting the vegetables.

Kale takes about 10 minutes
Broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, beans, and cabbage take anywhere from 20-30 minutes
Root veggies take anywhere from 40-60 minutes

Here are some pics of the awesome eaters:

Atom is HILARIOUS in this picture!

The kids enjoying the food...

Yum.  Yum. Indo style chicken and rice.

MMM...collards, rice, squash, and kiwi

February 15, 2012

Menu:
Sweet potato, carrot, and kale soup
Snap peas
Mandarin Oranges

I thought that this week could be an orange and green week.  The soup is full of vitamin C and fairly sweet so it's a pretty easy soup for little ones to like.  I just saw snap peas that looked good so I thought that it might be a fun fresh veggie for the kids to eat and "prepare" themselves by picking the ends of off.  Lastly, I thought that the oranges were delicious so I think that the kids will love them too.

Sweet potato, carrot, and kale soup:

• 2 tbs olive oil
• one red onion, diced
• one shallot, diced
• three large carrots, cut into small pieces
• three sweet potatoes, cut into small pieces
• half a bunch of kale, stems removed cut into pieces (any kale will do, I used Lanciato)
• 6 cups vegetable broth
• tsp sage
• tsp coriander 
• salt and pepper to taste.

Heat olive oil in dutch oven (or large pot).  Add onions and shallots.  Cook for about 5 minutes until the onions are soft.  Once soft, add the carrots, sweet potatoes, kale, and vegetable broth.  Cook on medium or medium high until the vegetables are soft. Add sage and coriander.  Use immersion blender to blend vegetables until they are to your liking.  I make it so the soup is really thick and the veggies are completely mixed together with very little chunks.  If you don't have an immersion blender, just put the soup into a food processor or blender.
I eat this alone or if you want to add protein add a tbsp or two of cottage cheese or greek yogurt.

February 8, 2012

So sorry that this is late in coming up.  I need to get prepared earlier in the future so that everyone knows what is coming up.

The meals that I am making are always inspired by a food that I find at the Farmer's Market that looks delicious.  This week, it is collard greens.  They are in season, look so beautifully green, and are super nutritious.  I decided to make this week's meal, vegetarian instead of cooking the greens in ham shank which is what I often do.  I wanted to make something that the kids could eat over brown rice since that seems to be a crowd-pleaser.  I am making some carrot sticks for those who might refuse to try some delicious collards.  The carrots come from our favorite farm at the Farmer's Market, Gathering Together.  They are our CSA provider so we try to buy from them outside of the CSA season too.  I recommend them.  Their farm was really flooded a few weeks ago so now they mainly have root vegetables. The collards came from another farm as did the local kiwis which were being sold 10 for $1!!!

Menu this week:
Collard greens over brown rice
Buttercup squash with apples
Carrot sticks
Kiwi 

Collard Greens

• 2-3 tbs olive oil
• small onion, chopped
• one small red sweet pepper, chopped
• one small yellow sweet pepper, chopped
• 3-4 cups vegetable broth
• a bunch of collard greens
  
• 1/4 cup coconut amino acids
• 1/4 tsp smoked paprika

Clean the collards.  Cut the stem out of each leaf, stack them up, and cut them into 1/2 strips.  Set aside.  Heat the olive oil in a dutch oven on medium heat.  Add onions and cook until clear.  Add the peppers and cook until soft.  Add the remaining ingredients.  Cook on medium heat for about 30 minutes or until the collards are soft. 
Serve over rice. Or eat on it's own as a side dish!

Buttercup Squash with Apples

We also grabbed this squash at the market and I thought that the kids would like it with some cinnamon and maple syrup. They are really similar to sweet potatoes and are full of Vitamin C.

• one buttercup squash, cut in half
• 2 tbs butter
• one apple, chopped
• tbs lemon juice
• cinnamon
• 2 tbs maple syrup

Toss the chopped apple in lemon juice and throw them into the squash.  Put a tbsp of butter on each half.  Sprinkle with cinnamon.  Pour maple syrup onto each half.  Bake at 400 for about 40 minutes or tender enough to pierce with a fork.

Kiwi.  I was so excited about this find.  Perfect to share with the kids!