Cornbread Casserole

 I got this recipe from my roommate Erica in college.   It's so yummy and the perfect side to chili, soups, etc.  In college we used to make this as the main course and eat it with a salad and call it a meal! I still do that from time to time :) It's also super kid friendly.

It's a lot like a spoon bread in that it is super moist and you will need a spoon or fork to eat it. Sometimes I just cut myself a piece and put it directly in the bowl with my soup. Give it a try!

Cornbread Casserole

1 box Jiffy Corn muffin mix

1 (14.5oz) can corn (drained)

1 (14.5oz) can creamed corn

1/3 cup milk (or buttermilk!)

1 egg

2 T. sour cream (or greek yogurt)

1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese

optional add-ins:

1/4 cup chopped green chilies

cooked and crumbled bacon

Mix all ingredients (except cheddar cheese) in a medium sized bowl.  Spoon batter into 8x8 baking dish.  Bake @ 350 for 45 min.  Top with cheddar cheese and continue baking for 5 more minutes or until cheese is melted and slightly toasty.  Enjoy!

 

Spinach Parmesan Orzo

Pinterest has introduced me to so many new awesome food blogs! It's great!  This week I stumbled upon Life as a Strawberry.  A lot of her recipes are more gourmet than my family is used to (goat cheese, fresh clams, etc) but many are also simple to put together and would still be appealing to a family. I want to try her 15 min. pizza dough, New England Clam Chowder and her root beer pulled pork sandwiches! Yum!

Anyway, I came across her blog because of her recipe for Parmesan Spinach Orzo.  It looked so good in the picture and definitely tasted as good as it looked.  You can check out her original recipe by clicking here or follow my adjustments below. I bulked up the sauce, switched out the green onion and added extra spinach and garlic.

This recipe was super fast to throw together.  I served it with grilled chicken and Parmesan crusted veggies. (see my veggie recipe here) So start to finish the whole meal came together with about 15 min. prep! Perfect! This recipe was a side and was the perfect amount for the 9 of us (5 adults and 4 kids).  With just a little leftover for lunch the next day.  Everyone loved it and the kids (and Alex) didn't even complain about the spinach ;) Also, just an FYI the leftovers were awesome the next day. Give it a try!

Spinach Parmesan Orzo
2 1/2 cups whole grain orzo
3 T. olive oil
1 tsp. onion powder
4 cloves garlic (crushed or minced)
3 T. flour
2 1/2 cups milk (skim worked great!)
2 cups fresh spinach (chopped)
1 cup shredded parmesan cheese (plus enough for garnish)
salt and pepper to taste

Cook orzo according to package directions.  Meanwhile, combine olive oil, onion powder, and garlic in a large sauce pan.  (Large as in wide, not tall. Make sure the sauce pan is large enough that the sauce can spread out...this will help with thickening later). Cook until garlic is fragrant and golden brown.  Add flour and form a roux. Add milk slowly, stirring constantly, making sure to break up all lumps.  Once smooth, reduce heat and continue stirring until sauce is thickened (about 5 min.) Add chopped spinach and allow to wilt in sauce (about 1 minute). Once sauce is desired consistency add parmesan and salt and pepper.  Drain pasta and add to the sauce. Stir to coat.  Top with extra parmesan and serve immediately.

Product Review: Polar Fitness Watch

 

I haven't done a product review in a while and thought I'd share some info about one of my new favorite toys! Alex got me a Polar Fitness Watch about a month ago for hitting my half way point in my weight loss goals.  I was pretty excited! I had been wanting a heart rate monitor for a while and this does that and a ton more.

So the system comes with the watch and a chest strap.  The chest strap is what keeps track of your heart rate while the watch stores and displays the information.  This watch keeps track of your heart rate, duration of your workout, calories burned, and is an actual watch. 

This watch is super easy to use! There are five buttons that help you navigate through the different pages, start and stop your workout, change your personal information, etc.  It also has a light up feature and is waterproof.

When you are first setting up your watch, a setup wizard will help you enter information about yourself such as age, weight, height, etc.  Based on these facts the watch can calculate your optimal heart rate zone and can use your heart rate to figure out how many calories you are burning during a workout.  By keeping your heart rate within the zone you can also make your workouts more effective!  

It also lets you start, pause and stop your workouts at anytime.  This is a great feature for me since I have 4 kids and often get pulled out of spin class to change a diaper and such. With that feature I can pause my workout, change the diaper, and then continue on when I get back. At the end of the workout it will display a workout summary for you that includes duration of workout and calories burned.  You can also access more information about your workout including how many minutes you spent in your optimal heart rate zone.  Another great feature if your workouts are often interrupted. You can also store your last 10 workouts which will help you track your progress and make improvements!

I was worried that the strap would be annoying but it really stays put and I often forget I have it on.  It's a very soft fabric and adjusts as big or as small as you may need. So far I've used this walking, running, weight lifting, in spin class, and doing insanity/various other workout videos. I've noticed a huge difference in my workouts by constantly monitoring my heart rate.  By staying in the middle of my zone I've been able to pace myself much better in spin which has resulted in a higher calorie loss! It's also helped me pace myself when running so that I've been able to build endurance.  When I started with this watch I could only run in 5 min. increments and now I've built up to running 2 mile increments.  I know that's not all because of the watch but it definitely helped!

So if you are looking for a great fitness watch I would definitely recommend the Polar Fitness Watch! Right now it's $61 on Amazon but often fluctuates in price so keep an eye out for some great deals!  

Phineas and Ferb Party How to

 So, a few months ago I announced I was going to start blogging about party ideas and then I've only done one.  Oops! So here we go! We did this for my daughter's birthday --which was last December...my how time flies when I'm neglecting my blog! She started out wanting a Hello Kitty theme but decided to change to a more gender neutral party theme so she could invite the fellas. Anyway, our family loves Phineas and Ferb and so she decided to give that a try! It was a lot of fun and pretty quick to pull together so I thought I'd pass on a few ideas! Enjoy!

 

The Food

First things first...the cake! Since we usually have a friend party and a family party I try and have quite a bit of cake to go around.  For the actual baking of the cakes I just use a plain old box mix.  (I prefer Duncan Hines with an instant choc. pudding mix thrown in for good measure) As far as decorating goes I used two of my favorite tricks.  For the Phineas and Ferb cake I used stars to make a picture and for the cupcakes I threw a bunch of candy on it to make it look like something. Bam and done! The directions for both are below.

Perry the Platypus Cupcakes

2 dozen baked cupcakes frosted blue

1/2 cup extra blue frosting

2 dozen blue airhead candies

Orange wedge candies or orange circus peanut candies

2 dozen cream wafers

candy eyes (you can buy these at some grocery stores, on Amazon, or at party city)

Frost cupcakes. Place extra frosting in a bag and attach a small round tip.  You can use this like glue to hold your pieces together.  Refer to the picture above and follow these directions. Begin decorating by sticking the blue airhead straight in the cupcake and the wafer at a slight angle behind it. Use the frosting to secure the two together.  Cut the orange wedge candy into small triangular pieces for the beak.  Use the frosting to glue the beak and eyes into place.  Repeat for each cupcake.

How to draw a picture on a cake

Now there's not too much to Phineas and Ferb so I just freehanded this cake but with more complex characters I use the tried and true method below:

1) Find a picture you'd like to use (any cartoon character works fine)

2) Print the picture and trace the lines in frosting. Use the same color frosting as you used on the base of your cake.   That way if it doesn't turn out you can just spread it back into the cake and try again!

3) Turn the picture upside down onto your cake and press lightly allowing the frosting outline to stick to the cake.  Remember that your picture will be inverted so it works better if  your picture doesn't have words on it. If you want to use one with words just hold your picture up to the window so it's see through and trace it on the back of the page.  That way when you flip it on the cake the words will be the right way.

4) Using a small or medium sized star tip and firm frosting fill in your outline with the colors that you need.  

5) trace the outline of the shapes in black as needed for depth.

6) Fill in the background with stars too...use any solid color to really make it pop!

The Activities

1) Pin the hair on Phineas. Just like it sounds! Draw or print a large poster of Phineas minus the hair.  Make up some hair using construction paper or tissue paper or yarn.  Each kid gets a turn blindfolded and has to pin the hair in the right place.  The person who is closest wins!

2) Where's Perry? Get a Perry stuffed animal and kids take turns being it.  Whoever is it leaves the room and the rest of the kids hide it.  Then the player comes back in the room and the rest of the kids yell "hot" or "cold" while they try to find it.

3) Busted!!This is basically red light green light only if you catch someone moving on a red light you get to yell Busted! Just like Candace :)

4) Whatcha Doin' ? For this game everyone stands in a circle.  You ask the birthday kiddo "Whatcha Doin" and then they think of an action like "swimming".  Everyone in the circle then pretends to be swimming in place.  Then the birthday person asks the kid to their right the same question and everyone pretends to do what they are doing.  Kids keep asking to the right and following the leader. If they get really good you can add actions onto each other so that they have to do them all at once like pat their head, rub their tummy, jump on one foot, sticking out their tongue! :)

Party Favors

I'm kind of over the giant bag of cheapo toys that your supposed to send home from parties now. I do think it's good etiquette to send each guest home with a party favor but I just don't think it needs to be a big expensive bag of stuff.  So I usually try and think of a little something to send home that goes with the theme.  Here are a few little ideas I had for this party:

-Little purple bows that look like Isabella's for the girls. (you could even make your own)

-magnifying glasses

- secret agent hats

- Perry the Platypus craft (they make themselves)

So there you go! Let me know if you've ever done a Phineas and Ferb party and add your ideas below in the comments for others to try.  I'll end with a picture of my cute little 4 year old...who is almost 5 now! Happy Birthday (8 months ago) little girl!

Roasted Sweet Potato and Veggie Burritos

When I visited my sister in North Carolina she took me out to Carrburitos for sweet potato nachos.  I know it sounds like a weird combination but it was delicious! I'm a huge sweet potato fan and ever since then I've been looking for a similar recipe. This one was definitely a keeper! Spicy and sweet and super yummy.  Plus it's a great meatless dinner option.

I was a little nervous that it wasn't super kid friendly but the results were mixed.  My two year olds both gobbled it up, my 4 year old would only eat the sweet potatoes, and my 6 year old ate everything but the sweet potatoes! It made me think of the nursery rhyme "Jack Sprat".  Anyway, I'm going to call it a success! My husband and I loved them too.  Plus they are very filling.  Give them a try and see what your family thinks!

I left the recipe mostly how I found it except I added chile powder and garlic and reduced the cheese. I also  added some guacamole because the avocado and sweet potato combo is what makes this meal so awesome in my book! Click here to take a look at my guacamole recipe.

Roasted Sweet Potato and Veggie Burritos
2 medium sweet potatoes (I could only find small so I used 3)
1 jalapeno (minced-seeds and all)
1 red bell pepper- diced
1 red onion- diced
2 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp. cumin
1 T. chili powder
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 can black beans (rinsed and drained)
1 lime- juiced
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar
6 whole grain wrap sized tortillas (I like Santa Fe tortilla company- carb chopper)

Prep all your veggies by dicing, mincing, etc. In a large bowl, toss veggies with olive oil and spices. Place evenly on a large baking sheet and roast for 35 minutes at 400 degrees or until sweet potatoes are tender.

Place cooked veggies back in large bowl and combine with black beans and lime juice.

Grease a 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Fill each tortilla with 1/4 cup cheddar cheese and 1/6 of the veggie mixture.  Fold into burritos and place in prepared baking dish.  Bake for 15 minutes at 350 or until tortillas are slightly crispy and filling is heated through.  Serve with guacamole!

Guacamole

 
Until I moved to New Mexico I didn't realize how easy it was to make guacamole! I love avocados and this recipe is quick and super fresh.  I usually make a double batch of this for parties but the recipe below is the perfect sized batch for my family. You can also click here to see my post on how to cut an avocado. Enjoy!

Guacamole (6 servings)
3 large avocados (pitted and skin removed)
1 large roma tomato (chopped)
1 T. jalapeno (minced)
2 T. red onion (minced)
1 tsp. minced garlic
1/4 cup fresh cilantro (coarsely chopped)
1/2 lime (juiced)

Place all ingredients in a bowl.  Squeeze lime juice over all of them.  With a metal whisk or potato masher combine all ingredients (leaving some large chunks of avocado).  Enjoy!

Honey Whole Wheat Bread (mock Great Harvest recipe)

I found this recipe online that has the same ingredients as great harvest honey whole wheat.  While nothing seems to compare to great harvest this recipe worked great and had my kids begging for bread all day!

Also, a quick side note.  I've started using Bob's Red Mill products which are pricey but super good.  I couldn't believe how fine the whole wheat flour was and the bread came out so smooth and soft.  Also, I've been adding ground flaxseed to a lot of my baking.  It adds a bunch of nutrients to the food without changing the taste or texture too much.  It can also be mixed with water and used in place of eggs.  I'm going to play around with that more since flaxseed is much easier to store than eggs and would be a great emergency preparedness item.

Anyway, back to the recipe. The directions I found for this bread were kind of weird so I tweaked them a lot and then added some sunflower seeds and ground flaxseed.  This makes three excellent sized loaves for sandwich bread and is dense enough that it will hold together when sliced thin.  It's also (of course) delicious sliced thick and topped with honey butter!  Enjoy!

Honey Whole Wheat Bread
3 T. yeast
4 cups warm water
2/3 cup honey
3 tsp. salt
1/3 cup ground flaxseed (optional)
1/2 cup sunflower seeds (optional)
10 1/2 to 11 1/2 cups whole grain wheat flour

Combine yeast, warm water, and honey in a large bread mixer. (I just used my kitchen aid with the bread hook attachment). Allow yeast to bloom for 5 minutes or until frothy.  Mix in salt, ground flaxseed, and sunflower seeds if so desired.  Add flour 2 cups at a time until all flour is well incorporated into dough.  I used about 10 and 1/2 cups but you might need a little extra.  Knead, using the dough hook attachment for 4-6 minutes.  Dough will be sticky but just barely pulling away from sides of bowl.

Cover bowl and let dough rise about 20 minutes.  Turn onto lightly floured surface and punch down (about 30 times). This is my 4 year olds favorite part! :)

Form into large rectangle and cut evenly into 3 loaves.  Place each loaf in greased bread pan.  Cover bread pans and rise about 30 min.

Bake @350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Allow to cool in pans 5 minutes and then remove from pans. Serve warm with honey butter or allow to continue cooling.