Monthly Archives: April 2022

Let’s make Dinner

Posted on April 28, 2022 by | Leave a comment

So some nights I simple have no desire to cook. Usually on those nights I end up creating a meal that I will have to work hard to recreate as I just grab and toss a bunch of things together. On this particular night I had a lb of ground beef defrosted and some leftover cooked rice from the night before( I had cooked it in homemade bone broth) and no clue what I was putting together. I decided I wanted to create a version of Spanish rice. I fried up my ground beef and seasoned it with taco seasoning, added some chopped onions. Then I found some frozen diced tomatoes in the freezer that I tossed into the pan and some bacon bits that were kicking around in the fridge. Now this wasn’t my childhood Spanish rice but it sure hit the spot on this particular night. Sometimes you have to just get creative and get some food into our bellies.

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Bow Tie Pasta

Posted on April 26, 2022 by | Leave a comment

Growing up this meal was served and still is served at most family gatherings. It’s simple and not everyones cup of tea but there’s something nostalgic about it for me. This is actually only the second time that I make it as it’s one of those meals that always taste better when Mom makes it. I tend to request this recipe when I visit my parents and it never disappoints me. The ingredients are simple and as long as you find your ground beef on sale or buy it in bulk pretty affordable. This meal has ground 1 lb of beef, 1 diced onions, 1-2 chopped garlic cloves, 1-2 sliced carrots and Bow Tie pasta that’s it. I’m excited that my kids are now asking me to make this meal and like it just as much as I do. Funny how a meal can bring up memories and comfort.

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Iced Coffee made Easy and at Home

Posted on April 23, 2022 by | Leave a comment

I am a huge fan of iced coffee, I drink it year round. The issue is it can get quite expensive to get an Ice coffee at a coffee shop. Also I need my coffee to also have some sort of health benefit and not just give me a caffeine rush. Last year or even possibly the year before my husband bought me a cold brew coffee pot like this one. But you don’t have to buy a cold brew coffee pot, you can actually just tie coffee grains in a coffee filter and soak them in water or just save your leftover coffee from the pot. How do I make my coffee have health benefits, well as you might know I have to eat a high protein diet since having weight loss surgery. So instead of adding coffee creamer and sugar I swapped then out for ready made protein shakes. The shakes I’ve been using are the Premier Protein ones, you can buy them at Walmart or Costco etc. I’ve made my protein coffees with the chocolate, vanilla and caramel flavours all turning out delicious. It’s incredibly simple to make. Grab a large glass or mason jar pour in protein shake, add desired amount of cold coffee, add ice. Then you have the option of making it fancier by adding whipped cream and caramel or chocolate drizzle. Let me know if you try it out 🙂

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Chicken Satay

Posted on April 21, 2022 by | Leave a comment

I absolutely love the beauty of where I live, however having moved from British Columbia to this small town I am missing food diversity. So what’s a girl to do? Source and find recipes for her favourite take out of course. Recently I was watching and episode of Pioneer Woman and I got so excited because she was making Chicken Satay. I am a huge fan of Red Drummond and I actually own all her cookbooks. Her recipes are flavourful and always have great taste. I set out to make this recipe the day after I saw it air. I was so excited to make this meal at home because I haven’t found a Thai restaurant that was close to our house. The closest one I found is about an hour and fifteen minutes which is a huge time commitment to get take out lol. The only things I changed from the original recipe is I couldn’t find chicken tenders so I bought chicken breast and sliced them instead and I baked them in the oven since it was raining the day I made them. Also there was extra peanut sauce so I made some rice noodles with peanut sauce to not waste any of it. I am sure that I’ll be testing more of the recipes in The Pioneer Woman cookbooks. I highly recommend you get any of her books if you can, you won’t be disappointed. Now I was so excited to try this meal I didn’t care much about my plating presentation so ignore that and trust that the flavours are all there.

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Turkey Meat Loaf

Posted on April 19, 2022 by | Leave a comment

Some days are busy and I want a delicious meal I can mix up earlier in the day and throw it in the oven about an hour before dinner time. I find this meal can be pretty budget friendly. I’m able to get ground turkey at No Frills or Atlantic Superstore in the 10$ section of the freezer for 10$. This meal is always a hit with everyone in the house and I usually double my recipe to have leftovers. I love a good ground beef meatloaf but find it can really flare my acid reflux while the turkey one doesn’t. I also find I can adapt this recipe based on ingredients I have. I can add either oats or crushed crackers, I can use fresh or dehydrate onions and parsley it’s great.

Here’s what I use for my meatloaf(this makes 1 loaf I tend to double it more often then not)

Ingredients

1 lb of ground beef

1/4 cup ketchup plus 2 tbsp (the 2 tbsp is for the top)

1/3 cup or crushed crackers or oatmeal(I prefer oatmeal as it makes it more moist)

1/4 cup minced onions ( I tend to cheat and use dehydrated onions for this)

1 egg

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp of parsley (I prefer fresh parsley because it packs a punch but dried works just as well in this recipe)

salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything except 2 TBSP of ketchup together. Either push into a loaf pan or shape into a loaf on a cookie sheet. Top with remaining ketchup and bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes.

I’ve even in the paste made these into muffins and topped with mashed potatoes or mashed sweet potatoes to make them a little more fun.

I hope you give this delicious recipe a try and let me know what you think.

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Easter Cooking!

Posted on April 17, 2022 by | Leave a comment

Well today is Easter and of course that means we got in the kitchen to make some traditions and memories. This year is the first year we made some hot cross buns for Good Friday. I wish I could take credit for the recipe but this is the one I used from a new website I discovered from the East Coast. You have to go check him out lots of delicious recipes I am dying to try.

We also made some No Bake Egg Nests. The kids and I found the recipe here for these. This was such a fun and messy activity to get the kids involved in. I used a larger bag of chow being noodles so mine aren’t as chocolate covered as the original recipe but it was delicious none the less.

We made and decorated some sugar cookies with friends but gobbled them up before taking a picture. However I think my favourite Easter bake was tonights meal. It consisted of lamb, green and yellow beans, stuffing and crescent rolls. The best part of this meal is there will definitely be leftovers. My lamb was roasted in a 450 degree oven with chopped garlic, potatoes and seasoned with lemon, thyme and basil spices. It was an easy meal to put together and the lamb was so tender and flavourful. Lots of chatter and laughs were shared over this meal. Here’s a picture of one of the plates.

So I hope all of you have had a great Easter and made some great family memories in the process 🙂

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Nachos for the Win

Posted on April 14, 2022 by | Leave a comment

I love love love a quick lunch that all the kids will eat without complaining. A fun and simple meal I like for when I’m too tired to cook is Tacos or Nachos. Especially if we have some leftover taco meat in the fridge. The best part is the kids can get involved and spend some one on one time with me.

I don’t really follow a recipe for this one just throw some taco meat with whatever I have on hand. Salsa, peppers, onions, olives when I am baking the nachos and topped with some green onions and sour cream and avocado once it comes out of the oven.

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Banana muffins

Posted on April 12, 2022 by | Leave a comment

Some mornings are just more rushed then others and I don’t have the time to make a big breakfast. I do however still want the kids and myself to get something quick that is high in protein. That way we don’t get halfway thru a homeschool lesson and disrupt learning time to grab some food.

On the night before I know we have a lot going on the next day I tend to whip up a batch of these protein banana muffins. I found the recipe on the Kodiak Cakes website. Here’s a link to the recipe I used. I did adapt it for my family as we have nuts allergies so we use cow’s milk instead of the almond milk.

The best place I’ve found to pick the mix up in my area is at Costco since it’s a huge box for a decent price. So this recipe hits a bunch of marks for me. It’s budget friendly, high protein, filling and comes together fast. I always double the recipe so I can freeze a bunch for later on in the month. It’s one of my mommy hacks. If I am baking muffins, quick breads, waffles or pancakes.

So if your a busy parent or even just a busy person in general try these muffins out for a snack, breakfast or dessert you won’t regret it.

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Focusing On What I can

Posted on April 11, 2022 by | Leave a comment

So over the past year there’s been a lot going on. If there’s something I realized is that you can’t control everything. But also there are some things that I can control. And one of those things happens to be my passion.

What am I talking about you might be wondering. Well cooking of course. In a world that doesn’t always make sense, one constant is we need to eat and feed our families daily. My hope of to dust off this blog and share the meals I’m preparing. There will be a variety of high protein, budget friendly and everything in between. So let’s start this journey up one more time shall we. I am hoping to post at least twice a week and if I post more then that will be an added bonus. Check back tomorrow for what I’ve been cooking/feeding my family.

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