Food Adventures

I have been adding some new recipes to our meals lately.  I felt like we were eating the same thing all the time.  I was bored.  Bored with cooking the same thing because I do like to experiment and try new things.  Bored with eating and serving the same things to my kids.

I have found Pinterest to be the best way to find new recipes.  Most of what I have cooked from there has been awesome.  I thought I would share some of them with you:

The first one I tried was Ham and Cheese Sliders.  The family was split on this one.  Half liked it, half did not.  The thing that makes this recipe is the sauce that you pour over the top before you bake them.  It does have mustard in it, which I loved, but some of my kids did not.  The next time I make them, I will do half with the sauce and half without.

Next, I tried Chicken Bowtie Pasta Salad.  I had such high hopes for this one.  I was disappointed. It was very time consuming with the prep involved.  I loved all the ingredients, but was disappointed with the sauce that was used on it.  My kids did not like it, and even I struggled to eat the leftovers.  It was better the second day than the first, but I won't go to the effort again.  I plan to try this version next.  I think I will like that sauce better.  I also liked the taste of the rotisserie chicken in the pasta salad, so I may substitute it for the cooked chicken.

Since I had some leftover rotisserie chicken from the pasta salad, I decided to use it in place of the ham in this Veggie Ramen Stir fry  recipe.  My family LOVED this.  It was easy.  It was cheap.  I think that I will continue to use chicken over ham.  I just don't think I would like it as much with ham.

I actually have a picture of the final recipe that I want to share.  It turned out delicious and my family loved it.

 Presenting:  Black Bean Quinoa Bowls

This was the first time I made quinoa (pronounced keen-wa).  It is a gluten free grain that Abby can eat and has lots of protein.  I decided to add some grilled chicken to this recipe because I knew it would fill everyone up more.  It was a lot like getting a Bowl at Chipotle.  Some of my kids put the ingredients in a tortilla to eat.  It was fabulous!!

I wanted to share one more handy dandy tip with you that I actually learned from my mom.  Whenever

we visit, she always lists out the foods that are available for the kids for breakfasts, lunches, and snacks at her house.  Rick LOVES that she does that because it empowers the kids to get their own food.  It  also prevents having to tell them over and over what their options are at meals when we aren't all sitting down together eating the same thing.  I resisted doing this for so long.  I don't really know why, other than to say, I just didn't want to take the time to do it, and I knew it would be ever changing.  

I decided to just make a template on the computer that I could add to and take away from.  I am adding to and marking off things on this list on the fridge until it becomes too marked up.  Then I will print a new one.  It is working really well.  Whenever we do "miscellaneous"(meaning find something for yourself) at our house, I can just direct the kids to the fridge rather than having to go over options 6 different times.   

Rick, you were right!  Okay, I said it.  I should have done this a long time ago.