And they ate it!!! Stuffed Peppers

Sorry for the gap in blogging. Getting Joseph adjusted to Kindergarten has been exhausting. But tonight is worth talking about.

I made stuffed peppers. I did not have all of the regular fillings, so I just stuffed it with what I have. So the peppers were stuffed with rice, turkey sausage (Italian), carrots, tomatoes, peppers, onion, garlic, thyme and white wine. I put a slice of mozzarella cheese on top and baked them over sliced tomatoes (which baked up really nicely). They cooked for 30 min at 350 degrees, and here is the real shocker....EVERYONE ATE IT...WITHOUT ANY COMPLAINT. I was floored, I almost didn't realize it until I cleared the plates. It felt good.

Yesterday I made lots of steamed babyfood with Sherimon Zucchini, carrots, and sweet potatoes. She was a great help!

I have also started making my own herbal iced tea.  I combined fresh dandelion greens with mint and two slices of lemon, and poured boiling water on top. After it steeped for a long time I put it in the fridge. It was good, a little bitter, but I liked it. I will experiment more

When in New Hampshire...

This weekend we went to New Hampshire to get away for vacation. It was fun, very full, but nutritionally deficient in many aspects. Hey, vacation is supposed to be an indulgence, but I actually let my family eat Ice Cream sundaes at Kellerhaus for dinner. (plus a few other unmentionables that come off a Diner menu)
So, Needless to say, aside from the excellent oatmeal, and the fruit I was able to squeeze in, this weekend was a bomb as far as feeding my family well. Tomorrow is another day. :)

Everything's-in-it Curry

It has been a while since I went to the grocery store. Last night I looked around to see what we had as options for dinner. i had some eggplants and apples left from my fair foods run, and one chicken breast. So I decided to work with that. I braised the breast with curry rub, then cooked up onions, eggplant, peppers, garlic, apples and rasins. I added some water, more curry and some cornstarch, then cut up the chicken breast and simmered it all together. Served it over rice, and cleaned out my fridge. It was really good, but it was a little spicy, so the boys ate left over chicken drum sticks, apples, and hommus and pita.
I did get to the store today. I was hoping to hop over to Fair Foods too, but of course, after I got home and Keith took the van for a Boston Project donation run, Nancy called. Bummer. Hopefully I will catch up with them soon. I did buy some crap I probably shouldn't have today, but I bought a lot of fresh and good things too. :)
I could not find jiccima. I was excited about using it in a salad I have a recipe for. Apparently none of the grocery stores in our area regularly carry it, but the lady at Stop and Shop is ordering it for me. I can pick it up on Thursday.

A weekend of Local Fare

This being a holiday weekend there was a lot of social eating. Our friends Kelly and Dan came to visit. We ate local Thai, they got beef patties from Taste Of Eden, and we went to Cafe Pompeii in the North End for Gelato. In between we did attempt to eat some healthy things.


I made a Chicken Soba with carrot, cucumber, scallions, cilantro and snap peas as fresh additions. We also had bok choi sauteed with celery, red pepper, chilis, ginger and onions. It was a very good dinner after a lunch of Jamaican beef patties.

We had a picnic lunch yesterday with the Malkemes. they brought chicken and hot dogs for the grill and a potato salad. I made a green salad, and a quinoa salad with peppers, onion, artichokes, parsley, and feta cheese. I did not have a lemon, so I just used some light Cesar dressing. Fun fact: Quinoa is a complete protien. We also had deviled eggs. (I am at the end of my food shopping week, I was grasping at straws)
For dinner I used all the left over sides, and cooked up some drumsticks which usually are Joseph's favorite, but he refused to eat anything. I did learn though that he only likes quinoa "roasted" or cooked. Good information for later. :)

I am going to try and find Jiccima this week. I have heard that it is good, and I would like to try it.

First Day of School with a Chance of Meatballs

Sooo, it's been a long few days without a chance to blog, so I will briefly summarize.
Friday: Went to Fair Foods and got TONS of veggies!!! i made 6 quarts of stewed tomatoes that I was able to freeze. That night I made braised chicken thighs in a stew of fennel, potatoes, onion, tomatoes and zucchini. Everyone liked that one.
I also make steamed zucchini, papaya, and eggplant for baby food, and froze it in ice cube trays for easy reheat later. The zucchini and papaya came out great. The eggplant was kinda gross because the eggplant skin was bitter.
Saturday: I made baked eggplant parm. I baked the pieces of eggplant instead of frying to lower the fat. It still had all the cheese, but I used the tomatoes that I had made. The eggplants were small, so they were a little bitter. I thought it was still great, but to quote Joseph. "Last night's dinner was real good, but this is horrible."
Thanks for the feedback man.
I also made an apple crisp for Keith. :)
So to solve the eggplant problem...Jason says that if I salt it and leave it in the colander it should help. I am going to try this since I am going to use the rest of the eggplant to make mousaka tonight.

Sunday was good by BBQ for Emily :,(

Joseph requested meatballs for his first day of school lunch. (what?) So we had whole wheat spaghetti and home-made turkey meatballs for dinner. I grated two carrots and a zucchini and sauted them with onion and garlic to add to the tomato sauce so everyone got some good veggies. We had a salad too. Everyone enjoyed this one, and Joseph ate 6 meatballs for lunch yesterday.

Speaking of lunch. School lunch is a new challenge for me. I am enjoying it so far, but the veggies came back un-eaten yesterday. I need to think of some creative ways to make sure he eats healthy things at school.

Yesterday was taco night. The boys love tacos, and I have found a great way to upgrade. I sauté a red and green pepper with a chili, onion, garlic and diced zucchini, then add lentils, stewed tomatoes, water, and fresh cilantro and spices. All of that cooks for about three hours, then I add canned black beans and we use that in our tacos instead of ground beef with the salt and preservative laden spice packet. We used hard shells, and had lettuce, fresh guacamole and cheese. That went over REALLY well, and it makes me happy to be able to serve a veggie meal that is so packed with good things and have it gobbled up.