Christmas is coming!

The countdown is on and Christmas will soon be here! There are so many things we love about the holidays- kids/grandkids coming home, the lights, the music, special services at church, and of course all the traditions of the season.

One tradition that we have had as long as I can remember is our Christmas morning brunch.  We always have two different kinds of breakfast casseroles; overnight sausage breakfast casserole (recipe from Bill's mom) and the second casserole varies each year.  This year I'll probably make the hearty vegetarian recipe that we had at Noah's birthday party. (You can add additional veggies.) Along with the casseroles we have cheese grits, a fruit bowl, and a couple of different kinds muffins (one is always blueberry and the other varies).  We look forward to great food and noisy laughter at the table.

Are you ready for Christmas? Do you remember the painting disaster in our living room? Well, we finally got that room repainted and it looks great.  Last weekend I asked Bill what he thought about repainting our dining room.  It opens to the living room and hasn't been touched up since we moved in the house. Soooooo,  we just had that room painted a beautiful color, Rosemary Sprig. In the meantime, Christmas is all over the living room floor and every one comes in this weekend. This is the first time we have been so late getting things up - but it will get done. No worries!

How can you go wrong?

In the midst of the weather changing we have been having more soups.  We love all kinds. I was in the mood for a corn/potato chowder.  I found two recipes that I liked and merged them together. It was scrumptious. I used The Pioneer Woman and Paula Deen's recipes. They are really close with slight differences; I used them both! Bill added bacon to his, I kept mine vegetarian. Either way, you have a winner!

So good!

Merry Christmas!

Just make it up!

Christmas is coming and life is getting crazy. We are busy putting up Christmas and painting our dining room. We generally do a hundred things at one time. That's usually when we eat whatever...whenever. Meal planning is easy to get tossed out of the window - it's just one more thing to balance. But we are making more of an effort to have a plan and not just "blow it" over the holidays.  Also, I'm still cleaning out the freezer to use up all our left overs.

This week I made some green chili enchiladas. I found some left over Mexican rice (that I had cooked a while back) and tortillas in the freezer. I had a bottle of green chili enchilada sauce and a can of whole black beans in the pantry.  Ummmm..I figured I could put it all together and make up some enchiladas. I grilled the tortillas shells and stuffed them with  rice and  cheese.  Sprinkled them with the green chili sauce and cheese and threw them in the oven. On the back of the black beans can was a recipe that was quick and easy.  I originally made it to serve as a side, but later decided to mash them up for refried beans. To serve, I put some black beans on a plate, set an enchilada on them, added some fresh green chili sauce, a dollop of sour cream and sprinkled some green onions on top.  Not to shabby if I say so myself!  Be willing to experiment! 

Another night I fried up some polenta and put spaghetti sauce over it. I bought some pre-made at the grocery store. You can buy it plain or with added spices/herbs. Polenta is an Italian dish and often times called "Italian grits".  That's probably a good way to describe it. You can make it either as a porridge consistency or more cake like.  It's used as a side dish, and a substitute for pasta, rice or potatoes.  Since I used the pre-made tube, I simply sliced it up and fried it in a very small amount of olive oil until it was crispy, served with the sauce.  I added a salad on the side.  That made a quick and healthy supper.

Don't beat yourself up if your eating gets off.   Get up the next day and try and do better.  There will be lots of special foods, candy and desserts during the Christmas season. Have a little....not a lot!

Yep! I put walnuts in it!

What do the following ingredients make?

SPINACH

EGGS

       


 

WALNUTS

Tonight we had a quick and easy meal that was great!  It was a Blue Cheese Spinach Frittata! I only deviated from the recipe slightly - I added salt/pepper, used regular eggs instead of egg beaters, and skipped the spinach salad.  Really - who eats spinach frittata with a spinach side salad?! We had an apple salad, but any fruit salad would have been good.  The walnuts were the surprising addition.  They gave a nice crunch to an otherwise soft dish.  Also, the two cheeses blended nicely together. Quick! Easy! Good!  What more could you want?

BLUE CHEESE SPINACH FRITTATA

I am a .....

......guinea pig! I hope you appreciate the extra mile we are willing to go for you! Ha! Ha! This week I had a list of new recipes to try. Tonight it was the Butternut Squash Penne recipe - WHAT A BOMB! We tend toward Mexican and Italian type foods, so I thought it would be good to try a plain, basic recipe. It was super easy to make but it wasn't good.  Basically, it was pasta, butternut squash, nuts and seasonings.  (Butternut squash is mild tasting, often compared to sweet potatoes.)  It was such a disaster that I contemplated if it had any redeeming value. I actually put some in a bowl and tried to "doctor" it.  I wondered if I could treat it as a pasta salad, so I added some Italian dressing, red bell pepper, onions, cheese chunks and black olives.  Still no success - I then added a small mixture of mayo and Dijon mustard.  It is in the frig chilling.  My best suggestion is - don't try it!  Well, you're welcome, we'll be glad to be your guinea pig any time!!  Hopefully, the rest of the week will be more rewarding!!

What a waste of pasta!

Shaved chocolate on top of
chocolate cheesecake

We went completely off the grid today with a HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE.  A listener stopped by WAFT to say "thank you." He appreciated the ministry of WAFT, knew we loved all kinds of recipes and brought us one of his specialties!  It was to die for!! I figured there were enough calories in it so I opted to skip lunch.  Sorta sad to come home to the pasta flop! I supposed I could eat another piece of cheesecake to take the place of dinner!

Well, you know what they say, "You win some, you lose some!"

What's for supper?

I love days when I can get menus planned and some prep work done for the week to come! Menus first, shopping second. Here are a few recipes on our agenda this week:

Slow-cooked Two Bean Chili
Blue Cheese Spinach Frittata
Butternut Squash Penne
Black Eyed Pea Fritters
Along with some basic favorites like mac/cheese; spaghetti; greens, potato salad and cornbread.

I started the weekend off by cooking a pot of black beans which has a multitude of uses. I plan on making some refried beans, use some in chili, etc.  Bill grilled some pizza crusts for a quick lunch this week.  I had planned on making some savory waffle bread for sandwiches, only my waffle maker gave up the ghost.  I'll need to run to town and get a new one. My recipe calls for a waffle batter mixed with sun-dried tomatoes and  Italian seasoning.  They are easily frozen (be sure to double bag for freshness).

My friend and partner in eating healthy, Kerry, had a great idea.  She plans on cleaning out her freezer and using all the things she has already frozen before the first of the year.  I went and looked in my freezer and decided to do the same thing. By using the food I had left over, it will keep it from getting old or freezer burn. I found some veggie lasagna so we finished it up along with a spinach salad.  I love spinach salads - super quick and easy.  (Spinach, green onion, boiled egg, sunflower seeds and a mayo based dressing.) I also found a bag of cooked beans and rice and some corn shells.  In the pantry, there is a bottle of green enchilada sauce...anyone hear enchiladas calling?!

Lots of great veggies!

Hot cornbread and chili

I made the Two Bean Chili today!  Surprise - it has BBQ sauce in it! Oh, so good!  Along with cornbread and salad on the side. Side note, I found a lot of gluten free products at Big Lots.  Particularly, Bob's Red Mill products.  They were cheaper than the grocery store and in date! I like to make big patches of whatever I am cooking to freeze.  That way, on busy days, there is always something to eat!

Bill's prize!

My prize!!

I found some fun products at the grocery store, while Bill hunted junk food. I was so shocked to find a chocolate cookie that was AMAZING at Walmart.  They are gluten free and in the cold section by the crescent rolls and rolls of cookie dough.  They actually had several gluten free products.  I had to at least try one of them. :) I don't eat a lot of cookies, but it is nice to have some on hand (or in the freezer when a chocolate craving hits).

Juicing is still our breakfast of choice. Vegetarian meals still #1.  Now, to be completely "clean" in our eating. Good foods = Happy bodies!