Real Food

So, I’m not a gourmet, by any stretch of the imagination.  However, I do try to cook a good meal for the family every night.  During the school year, the crockpot is my best friend.  My big dinner rule is that I am not a short order cook, and I only make one dinner.  If you don’t like it, that’s all there is. 

Every single day, Monkey in the Middle says “Mom, what’s for dinner?”

I respond with the answer.

He says, “But I don’t like that!”

Every…single…day.

However, come dinnertime, he usually eats it.  I give him smaller portions because he doesn’t have much of an appetite to begin with, but I want to help him be successful. 

Anyway, on this page, I’ll share with you some of the meals that I make, and any goodies we make along the way.

One disclaimer…I’ve recently be diagnosed with Type II diabetes, so I’m working on modifying our meals.  We used to eat a lot more pasta and white rice.  However, I’ve been trying to cut back on that, and have switched to brown rice.  I’ve also started using whole wheat flour, which makes our biscuits look like piles of dog vomit, but they taste just as good, if not better.

 So, again, remember, I’m doing the best I can.  The kids are growing and are healthy, so I figure I’m doing okay.

Cake Mix Cookies

OMG…are you kidding me with these things?

Chocolate chip cookies made with cake mix!

Just get a boxed cake mix, add 1/4 cup of water, 1/4 cup of oil and 1 large egg.  Mix together, add the chips, then bake at 350 for 15 minutes.  They are freaking ridiculously delicious!!!

Recipe Review 1.9.10

I usually use the recipe for Chocolate chip cookies that is printed on the bag of the ShopRite chocolate chips (same exact recipe as Tollhouse).  However, today, while baking some cookies, I decided to try the recipe on the back of the bag of Gold Medal Flour.  There were minor differences, like 3/4 cup of sugar instead of 1 cup of sugar, and different amounts of flour, as well.  The Gold Medal recipe called for more flour…hmmm…wonder why.

Anyway, the big difference was that the usual recipe calls for vanilla.  The Gold Medal recipe didn’t.  With the exception of amounts, all other ingredients were the same.  Yet, no vanilla.

The result?  These cookies are much crispier than the other recipe.  I like a chewier cookie.  However, if you like a crispy cookie, these are pretty darn delish.

Cavatelli and Broccoli

Here’s one that no one complains about.  Ever.

Get some frozen chopped broccoli.  Then, cook in in some oil in a frying pan.  Chop up some fresh garlic and throw this in with the cooking broccoli.  Let it simmer.  We like our broccoli and garlic a little cripsy, so I keep it on high for quite awhile.

When that is just about done, boil a pot of water.  Toss in some cavatelli and boil until the cavatelli rises to the surface of the water.

Drain the cavatelli and mix it with the broccoli, oil and garlic.

Serve.

Total prep time, including cooking: 10 minutes.

 Tony’s Pizza

This is a little something I like to call Tony’s Extra Cheese pizza. 

I slave over this for hours.  I can’t share the recipe because it’s a long, lost family secret.  It’s just something I know. 

Eat your heart out.  I know I do.

Chili

Chili is a favorite around here.  I make it with brown rice and biscuits. 

I use a ShopRite chili seasoning packet.  I brown one pound of ground beef, use two cans of diced tomatoes, one can of red kidney beans, one seasoning packet, mix it together and voila!  Dinner is served.  If I have browned ground beef over the weekend, I may toss it all in the crockpot before school.  Either way, the prep is minimal and the output is delicious!

 

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

This one takes about an hour to cook, so I do this primarily on the weekends.  It’s a big hit with the monkeys, and by adding the cream of mushroom soup, I’ve made it palatable for Real Man, as well.

Pre-heat the oven to 375.  Boil a pound of elbow macaroni.  While that is boiling, cut up a full block of cheddar cheese.  (We like extra sharp.)  You could also just buy a package of shredded cheese, but that is usually more expensive.  Cut or shred it yourself. 

When the macaroni is done (it doesn’t even have to be fully cooked…it will finish cooking in the oven) drain, then mix the macaroni, most of the cheese, and a can of cream of mushroom soup all together.  Put it in a casserole dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray.  Take the rest of the cheese and cover the top of the mixture. 

Then, take skim or 1% milk and pour it into the casserole dish until you can just see it peeking through the macaroni.  Too much and it’s soupy. 

Cook at 375 for one hour and serve.  Serve it with hot, creamy tomato soup and you’ll feel warm and full and happy.

 

Pork Chop Dinner #1

So, tonight we had pork chops.  These are a relative fan favorite around here, despite Monkey in the Middle’s consistent proclamations that he doesn’t like them.  I have two ways of making pork chops.  Tonight’s pork chop dinner included Shake-n-Bake.  Yes, yes…full of sodium, but we don’t eat a lot of sodium-full foods, so I think we get a free pass on Shake-n-Bake.

Anyway, here is what dinner looked like tonight:

The pork chop is, I hope, easily identifiable.  Real Man, Monkey Girl and I all have a whole pork chop.  The boys each get half a pork chop.  If they want more, there are always one or two left over that real Man takes for work, so there is extra if needed. 

You can also see the brown rice.  My kids have inherited my rice-a-holic tendencies.  This pile of rice is way too big for me, as even brown rice isn’t great for a diabetic.  However, it beats white rice on the glycemic index, so there you have it. 

My Mom used to cook pork chops in applesauce in the crockpot.  I tried this once, early in our marriage.  Real Man and I basically opened the top of the crock, closed the top of the crock, and went out for pizza.  However, I remember loving the taste of pork chop and applesauce together (aside from the Little Rascals’ line “Pork chops and applesauce…ain’t that swell?” said in the 20′s gangster-speak voice).  So, we have a little applesauce out when we have pork chops.  Someone wants it, great.  If not, no biggie.

The pile of dog vomit on the plate is a whole wheat biscuit.  Doesn’t look like much, but my kids would eat these for breakfast, lunch and dinner if I let them get away with it.

Finally, we come to the veggie.  My kids are in a cucumber phase right now.  The reaction of my kids around cucumbers these days is similar to that of fans at an Elvis or Beatle’s concert.  There are tears, there are screams.  There is even some fainting.  So, we’re currently having cucumbers every night.  Eventually, they’ll say “Ugh, cucumbers again?” at which point I’ll pull out the corn or beans or asparagus that I also serve.   Yet, for now, while they are digging the cukes, I’m serving them up.

So, there you have it.  Total prep time for this dinner, including the biscuits, about 5 minutes.  Cooking time would be approximately 25 minutes, depending on how well you like your pork cooked.  (The Shake-n-Bake box says 15 minutes.  That makes me nervous.  I’m a well-done girl on just about everything I eat, so I’d go for an hour, but then we’d be eating hockey puck pork chops, so 25 minutes is my compromise.)  I make this in the summer, and I also make it during the school year when I’m working.  Not a bad meal for a working mom.

London Broil

Tonight, I made London Broil.  Simple.  I marinate the meat in Italian Salad Dressing for a day.  Then, turn on the grill to medium heat.  I cook it on each side for 15 minutes.  (Truthfully, I like to cook it a little longer, as I’ve already explained, due to my extreme distaste for seeing any pinkness in my meat.  However, my family doesn’t agree…so I eat the end pieces, which are usually less pink.)  Brown rice, we’ve already discussed.  Green beans…get fresh and cook ‘em or get the frozen microwave-in-the-bag veggies, which taste just as crisp and good as the fresh and don’t have the sodium of the canned.  I did not make biscuits tonight, as we had leftover biscuits from last night, and by the time I got around to putting food on my plate and taking this picture, the kids had already eaten their biscuits.  Prep time for this dinner was maybe 3 minutes to pour the marinade and poke holes in the meat.  Cooking time for everything was 30 minutes.  Hard to beat that kind of prep and cooking and everyone eats what’s on their plates!

 

Pasta With Meat Sauce

 

For this meal, I usually cook up a family size pack of sausage on the weekend, when I have a little time.  I cook the sausage at 350 degrees for 20 minutes on one side and then flip for 20 minutes on the other.  Once that is done, I cut up the sausage into little discs and divide the pack in half.  I freeze one container of them and put the other in the fridge.  Then, I’m ready for the next time with prepared sausage.

If there is time, I also make meatballs.  For the meatballs, I use 1 pound of 93% lean ground beef, 1/2 cup of italian bread crumbs, 1 egg, some milk, pepper, garlic powder, chopped onion, and italian spices.  Mix it together, shape into balls and cook at 425 for 15 minutes.

Last night, there wasn’t time, so I simply browned the ground beef, chopped it up and put it in the sauce that way.

Anyway, in the morning, I dump all the meat in the crockpot with two jars of pasta sauce.  I add garlic powder, pepper, and italian seasonings.  It cooks all day.  When I get home, I make pasta and biscuits and we’re set!

Total prep time is about 30 minutes, if you are just doing the sausage and browned beef and biscuits and pasta.  If you are making meatballs, add 15 minutes because you’ve got to up the temp of the oven to cook ‘em.

Beef Stroganoff

 

Still in the cucumber phase, obviously.  Biscuits, no surprise.  Only difference for tonight is that I was out of whole wheat flour, so I used white. 

The stroganoff is way easy to make.  I brown a pound of 93% ground beef.  I mix in two cans of cream of mushroom soup.  I boil egg noodles (usually use whole wheat).  Mix it all together.  Voila!  Dinner is served.  Total prep & cook time: 15 minutes.