Weekend just FLEW by!

What's with the weekends feeling like they don't last long these days??  And STOP it with the polar vortex already!  It's dropped a million degrees in the last two days and I'm not impressed.

My kitchen was warm as anything today, as I had my first encouter with a grease fire.  Needless to say I almost crapped my pants, but I put it out quickly and all was fine.  But my heart on the other hand, it had a major work out.  Took a while to calm down after that!

Made a lot of food today!

First up was putting a pork loin in the crock pot for some good old fashioned pulled pork!  Served on a bun.  And yummy all around!! 

This is my own recipe so here goes.

Crock Pot Pulled Pork

1 pork shoulder roast, or pork loin, or really any kind other than tenderloin
1 cup of BBQ sauce of your choice
4 tbsp mustard
2 tbsp garlic powder
Freshly ground pepper

Put your pork roast in the crock pot and cover it with all of the ingredients.  Cover the crock pot and cook on low for 10 hours.  THAT'S IT!

When the time is up, shred the pork!

Next up was the recipe that caused my grease fire!  Combination of high heat, oil, and chicken fat.  Not impressed!  Anyways the recipe turned out great in the end, but I'm not sure based on the anxiety it caused me that I will be making it again :)

Maple Mustard Baked Chicken Thighs with Potatoes

Next up was a favourite around here that I haven't made for awhile - chicken, leek, mushroom pot pie.

It always turns out great and is full of flavour!

If you search my site for chicken, leek, mushroom pie you will find the picture of the recipe I clipped years ago!

Our fourth meal of the week came from the freezer, and my mother in law made it, so I don't have a recipe for you :) 

Lastly, ended off the day making a batch of pizza pinwheels which I have posted earlier on the site. 

Nighty!

Sunday Soup Kitchen Partner's in Cooking!

So today was AMAZING and sooo much fun!  Cooking with a friend made it easier, different, and we ended up with TONS of food for our freezer!

In total we spent around $100 between the both of us and made all sorts of goodness for only $50 each!  I can't believe the amount of food I went home with :)

There are many important factors we had to keep in mind to make this go off without a hitch:

1.  Organization
2.  High quantity of food
3.  Grocery list completed in advance
4.  Groceries purchased in advance
5.  Recipes printed/on hand
6.  And for me - loading everything up in the car to bring to her house!

We each purchased our own groceries for two meals each that we were going to make, and double, and bringing enough stuff from our pantry for banana bread chocolate chip muffins, and I bought the fixins for a batch of pizza pinwheels for our kids.

When I showed up on her doorstep I had to take a picture of all that I came with because it was beyond ridiculous.  The hubby asked me where the heck I was going with all that stuff!  Used every single thing in my baskets/bags.  We had so much fun prepping, chatting and catching up, and cooking up a storm in what was only 4 hours in total!

So we made two slow cooker meals which we got prepped and in the crockpots right away as they both took 4 hours on high to make.  Perfect timing with everything else we were making while those meals were on the go.

I made a white bean chicken chili was was easy, and smells divine!  The only thing I did in advance prior to getting to her house, was dice the chicken in advance.  Side note:  I HATE touching raw chicken.  Biggest pet peeve ever!

http://www.hamiltonbeach.com/white-chicken-and-corn-chili.html

My friend made a delicious squash and chickpea curry that made a huge batch as well and tastes YUM!

http://www.canadianliving.com/food/quick_and_easy/slow_cooker_squash_and_chickpea_curry.php

So while our meals were cooking in the crockpot we began our other recipes.

My friend made a ridiculously yummy stuffed meatloaf.  The recipe is from a cookbook which I forgot to take a picture of, but here is a recipe link that is similar to the one she made:

 http://www.food.com/recipe/mushroom-stuffed-meatloaf-59160

She used a combination of ground beef and ground chicken.  I can't wait to try it out this week!  We didn't cook it, just wrapped the meatloaf in tin foil to be cooked whenever we want to make it.  I have one in the freezer and one in my fridge :)

Next up I was working on a blackbean, corn, and red pepper salad with a lime/cilantro vinaigrette.  We each tried a bowl of the finished product - to die for!  I've placed my baggies of the salad in the freezer to use at a later date :)

http://www.onceuponachef.com/2010/08/black-bean-salad-with-corn-red-peppers-avocado-lime-cilantro-vinaigrette.html

After we finished up these recipes we made some of Miriam's Sunday Soup Kitchen staples:  Banana bread choco-chip muffins, and pizza pinwheels.  Her kiddies taste tested the finished product and they were a hit!  Into the freezer they all went!

We were so impressed with all the food we made, and we've made a pact to keep this up once a month, get together, cook, and share some laughs all while filling our freezer for our families.

This last pic made my day - the complete batch cooking!

And remember, it only cost us $50 each - AMAZING.

Happy cooking to all my peeps!

Bento style lunches for the kiddies!!

I've never been that creative at lunches for my first born since she entered school. With my second just having started JK this year I decided to be better with their lunches. Ive always been good at ensuring they are healthy and include most of the food groups, but other than that, it was just a standard boring lunch box. I decided this year to strive to make lunches for my kiddies that are fun as well as healthy!

I've been inspired through Pinterest and Instagram at all these cute little lunch box ideas that I really already had the tools for at home but was just to lazy to try. A friend of mine on Facebook has been doing them for her kiddies and posting these adorable pictures. She inspired me to do better :)

Some may wonder what "tools" are you talking about Miriam?? It's just a lunch?!  Well let me tell you what tools are useful in creating cutesy lunches. 

Cookie cutters (big and small, metal and plastic)

Sandwich cutters/presses

Silicone baking cups (Wilton sells some great ones and I bought mine at Michaels with a 40% off coupon to boot!)

Rolling pin

I started searching for some better lunch boxes that had compartments, were spill proof, and durable.   Then I found these amazing containers! Easy lunch boxes. 

You can check them out here:

www.easylunchboxes.com

I ordered mine from Amazon and they were less than $20 for a pack of four! I could even do a bento lunch for the Mr.  He would be horrified!!

With all that in stock I was ready for the first day of school!

And so it began!

My daughter loves pizza wheels which I've provided the recipe for in my previous post. They're a hit, easy, and healthy! My son much prefers train sandwiches!

I've also experimented with these fun carrot hummus sushi roll ups for my daughter and they're a fan fave as well. Check them out below. So easy!

Carrot Hummus Sushi Roll Ups:

Any bread of choice

Hummus

Grated carrot

Take your rolling pin and flatten the bread as best as you can. It makes it easier for rolling them up. I also cut the crust off too for a cleaner look.  Spread some hummus on the entire piece of bread. Place grated carrot on half of the slice of bread. Roll up the bread starting at the end with the carrots. Slice it into sushi pieces and voila!  Delicious and healthy and fun!

I've had some fun with various fruits and my cookie cutters too. Check out the watermelon they had last week!

I'm going to continue trolling Pinterest, Instagram, and the web for the pics from other mamas our there that love to make fun lunches!

Double batch cooking today?!

So today was a little tricky for Sunday Soup Kitchen.  My husband was out golfing for the day, and I set out to do double, that's right DOUBLE, batch cooking!  I'm not going to be able to do any cooking next Sunday, so I had to do two weeks worth of cooking today.

It's brave, very brave, and I was praying that the kids would have a good day and be okay with being cooped up in the house so this mama could cook like a mad woman today!  Thankfully the kids were amazing!  Quietly playing, eating, and I took some time to go out with them to the toy store too!  When their dad got home they got almost 2 hours of outside time too.  They were pretty great today :)

So today I accomplished the following :)

• 4 loads of laundry
• Chicken a la King
• Chili (double batch)
• Slow Cooker Cilantro Lime Chicken (double batch)
• Garlic Soup
• Pizza Pinwheels (double batch)
• Funfetti Gooey Bars

First thing I did when I got up this morning was throw this great mixture in the crockpot.  Cilantro Lime Chicken.  I kind of modified this recipe from one's I've found on Pinterest so here goes:

About 5 chicken breasts
One can black beans
2 cups of frozen corn
1/2 of a red onion chopped up
2 garlic cloves minced
1 cup of chopped cilantro
The juice of 2 limes
About 1/2 cup of chicken broth

Seriously, just throw all of that in the slow cooker on low for 8 hours and don't look back!  It turned out delicious and we're going to have it for dinner tomorrow night served on tortilla wraps with shredded lettuce, cheddar cheese and sour cream.

Chicken a la King is a fan favourite around this house.  It's such an easy recipe I found years ago in a Presidents Choice Insider's Report that came in the local paper.  I modify this and use lactose milk (for the lactose intolerant in me) and I usually serve it over Tenderflake Puff Pastry Patty Shells.  You can find these in the frozen section of your supermarket near the pie crust and frozen berries.  The kids LOVE them!

Here's the recipe link for this great dish:

Chicken a la King

It was cold outside today and I had ground beef in the freezer.  Easiest recipe (also a cheap one in terms of ingredient cost) is chili!  My youngest isn't always a fan, but he eats it even though sometimes he's pretty angry about it!  I modify chili all the time, there's so many recipes out there!  Today I used chickpeas and white kidney beans, celery, carrots, garlic and onions.  If I had not just used up all the mushrooms in the previous recipe I would have thrown those in there too.

Here's a great chili recipe:

Easy Chili

I volunteered at work to bring some goodies in for a colleagues baby shower this week so I wanted to get that out of the way today instead of during the week.  Found this gem of a recipe on Pinterest and they turned out amazing!

Here's the link:

Funfetti Gooey Bars

I've been making pizza pinwheels for the last couple weeks for my daughter who loves them in her lunches!  My son, not so much a fan.  In fact I can't even get him to sniff it!  They're super easy, but somehow today they got all screwed up.  I think because I sprayed the pan with cooking spray.  NOTE:  Don't do that!

Here's the recipe:

2 sheets thawed puff pastry
6 tablespoons of pizza sauce
Grated cheddar cheese
Ham, or other meat of choice

Roll out the pastry, spread the pizza sauce over it, top with shredded cheese and the meat of your choice.  Roll it up and cut it into even rolls/slices.  Place it in the oven at 350 and bake for about 10-15 minutes.  Follow my advice so you don't have the mess I had today.  Don't spray the pan with cooking oil!

Oh, and wanna know an awesome surprise that I got today too?!  My mother in law knows the way to my heart - she showed up with two Shepherds Pies, and two HUGE batches of delicious chicken with bell peppers, onions and grape tomatoes served over brown rice!  Into the freezer it all went.  My freezer makes me smile right now :)

Alright, this mama's bagged so I gotta head to bed to catch some zzzz's before the work week starts again tomorrow!

Happy Cooking!