One Pan Chicken and Veggies

I learned this recipe from my mother.  It is easy and very yum.  You can always adjust the amount of ingredients you need.  This is for our family of six.

3 thawed chicken breasts
6-8 red potatoes sliced thin with skin left on
2 cups frozen long green beans
1 onion sliced in long thin strips
Bag of Frozen Corn
Packet of french onion soup mix
I take my biggest Cast Iron skillet and pour a little olive oil in it.  I take a napkin and smooth it all over the pan, sides included.

• Cut chicken into strips and place in skillets sprinkle some salt and pepper or seasoning salt on the chicken (Med heat)
• Brown chicken on both sides (about 2 minutes wort
• Throw Potato, then green beans then corn on top of chicken
• Top with sliced onion and french onion soup mix
• Turn heat to low-med and put a lid on top.
• Let cook for about 45 minutes to an hour

Serve with brown rice if you want.  We don't eat this with anything else and we are always satisfied.

Breakfast

When I am making eggs and candian bacon really quick in the mornings I just start my skillet on med heat, spray a little olive oil and first cook my canadian bacon. Really it just needs to be warmed up so it doesnt take long at all. When that is done I spray a little more olive oil and crack my eggs.  They cook in about 2 minutes.  As soon as I put my eggs in the pan I put my bread in the toaster.  It pops out seconds before the eggs are done.  Ten minutes and you have got a nutritious yummy breakfast.

Crockpot Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Here is the link   http://thehungrymomma.blogspot.com/2010/11/grandpa-branhams-peppered-pork.html

Basically, it is just a pork loin roast and a Jar of sliced banana peppers. I get the 6 dollar one for my family and the smaller jar of peppers.  Put the roast in the crock pot and pour the rings over it...juice included. Let it cook all day and then when you are ready to eat, shred it in its juice.
Toast your whole wheat hoagies with a little olive oil on a skllet and put shredded meat on them.
I also add a handful of the raw cole slaw cabbage mix for a little crunch.  This is an awesome quick meal. My family LOVES this!

Crockpot Black Bean and Chicken Soup

3 Chicken Breast (froz or un)
1 tsp garlic salt
3 tsp dried onion
3 tsp taco seasoning
3 chicken bouillon cubes
1 Can black beans...drained
1 Can pinto beans...drained
2 Cans Italian seasoned Diced Tomatoes
1 quart water

• Put Chicken Breasts in crockpot
• Cover with spices
• Add beans, tomatoes and water
• Add bouillon cubes
• Let cook all day
• Pull chicken out and cut or shred
• Put chicken back in pot
• Serve with a mini handful of crushed Tortilla chips

Weekly Menu 2

Family Menu Week 2 

MONDAY

BREAKFAST

• Eggs
• Canadian Bacon
• Whole wheat toast sweetened with agave
• Banana
• Almond Milk

LUNCH

• Whole Wheat Pita with Turkey, avocado, spinach and bell pepper
• Celery Sticks
• Orange
• Water with Emergen-C

SUPPER

• One Pan Chicken and Veggies
• Brown Rice

TUESDAY

Breakfast

• Yogurt, Granola and Blueberries

Lunch

• Whole Wheat Italian Pasta Salad
• Carrot Sticks and Hummus
• Water with Emergen-C

Supper

• Crockpot Black Bean Chicken Soup
• Whole Grain Tortilla Strips

Wednesday

Breakfast

• Whole Wheat Toast with Organic Peanut Butter
• Banana
• Almond Milk

Lunch

• Whole Wheat Turkey Tortilla Wrap
• Broccoli and Carrots with lowfat Ranch Dip
• Water with Emergen-C

Supper

• Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Marinera Vegetable Meat Sauce
• Garlic Long Green Beans

Thursday

Breakfast

• Oatmeal sweetened with Agave Nectar
• Almond Milk

Lunch

• Hot Mozzerella Pita
• Organic Rice Chips
• Water with Emergen-C

Supper

• Salmon Patties
• Steamed Broccoli
• Healthy Mac and cheese

Friday

Breakfast

• Eggs
• Canadian Bacon
• Whole Wheat Toast

Lunch

• Chicken Taco Salad
• Apple
• Water with Emergen-C

Supper

• Oven baked Pork Chops 
• Steamed Broccoli
• Honey Glazed Carrots

Saturday

Breakfast

• Whole wheat pancakes with agave nectar 
• Banana
• Almond Milk

Lunch

• Chef salad 
• Fruit
• Water with Emergen-C

Supper

• Crockpot Chicken Rice Soup

Sunday

Breakfast

• Protein Bar
• Fruit

Lunch

•  Crockpot Pork Roast Po boy sandwiches on whole wheat Hoagies
• Celery sticks

Supper

•  Spinach and Canadian Bacon Quiche
• Fruit

Scoping out the local health food stores Part 1

Today I had about 30 minutes of leisure time without children so I pulled into a little local store here in Norman called The Earth.  It is located on flood in between Main and boyd.  If you know me well, you know that I can chill with any type of person and enjoy myself whether you be the president, homeless lady on the corner, skater, rocker, mom of 12 or grandma of 97 yrs old.  Well, I said all of that to say I really liked the people here.  Very laid back (kinda like myself) a little hippiesh (so my mother would say) and just real.  I love the way this store smells.  Kinda a mixture of coffee, herbs, incense and dry goods. 

Here is what I discovered:  Great produce!!! Yay!!  Reasonable prices on it too!  They have more in the refrigerated section.  They try to buy as much as possible from local farmers and it all looked so so yummy.

They have a great selection of dried beans, rice and oats!  You purchase them by the pound.  This corner made me happy because it looked like something out of an old pioneer movie.  You scoop the beautiful beans out yourself and pour them in a bag.

They offered steel cut oats sold by the pound.  I have yet to try them because they take about 1 hour to make and usually mornings I am rushing around so much Im not sure I would have the brain power to make these.  I have heard they are worth the wait of cooking time though!

Look at how beautiful these red beans were!  I could smell the cornbread cooking when I saw these...Oh wait...Im trying not to eat cornbread anymore!

On the North side of the store is a giant wall filled with shelves that have every kind of spice you could ever imagine on them.  You can purchase these spices by the ounce.  AWESOME!!!

They do carry the whole wheat pastry flour I need to make my banana bread.  It is a little pricey at $6.99.

The coffee looked and smelled great.  I can't wait to purchase some when my current package is empty!

Loved this hole in the wall place and can't wait to return with my pocketbook next time!

Portion control for kids

If you have kids like mine they are always hanging on you saying,"I want a snack, I'm hungry or Give me something to eat before I die."  Well they also want to play in the street and pick up scorpions but if course we don't let them do that.  So why do we give into overfeeding our children so easily!  Well, lets be honest. It is easy to just hand them a sleeve of Ritz crackers and say"Here ya go, be happy."  "Whining be gone."  It works.  Problem is we are encouraging them to eat excessively which can eventually lead to cardiac disease, diabetes and insecurity.  We have got to learn portion control.  My kids are always HUNGRY when they get home from school so I try to pop a snack into them within minutes of walking through the door. They will continue to eat whatever you give them until finally an adult stops them.  These are a couple of things I try to do to make sure snack time doesn't count as 1,000 calories (which is the amount your child should be having for an entire day).

• Snack time is like Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.  We don't watch TV and eat. We sit at the table, eat discuss events of the day or go outside and have a small snack picnic
• I always try to give them a piece of fruit with some form of protein and whole grain so that they fill up faster and stay fuller longer
• It is a snack so try to keep it below 200 cals
• Healthy is not 100 cal snack packs.  That's fine if that is all you have but remember there is absolutely no nutrition in a packet of crackers or cookies so your child will be hungry again in 10 minutes
• I only offer water at snack times.  Alot of times the kids will come home dehydrated and grumpy.  Water is awesome!  It makes them feel so much better!

I remember as a teenager coming home from basketball and eating 2 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and a quart of chocolate milk.  I couldn't figure out why I still had a belly even after running 5 in 1's for hours a day.  Well now, after birthing 4 kids and getting over the 30 mark I am 3 sizes smaller than I was in high school.  The key: Nutrition and Portion control
I have researched many sites and they are pretty consistently the same.  Here is one site that shows you how much your child should be eating a day.  ( My kids do eat a little more veggies and fruit than they suggest but I think my kids are above average in their activity levels too).  I would love to hear from you and see what your kids portion sizes are like and if that is working for  them or not!http://pediatrics.about.com/od/nutrition/a/0508_food_prtns.htm