Four Star Menu

I’ve been camping with my hubby, kids and another family for about two years. I always thought, the menu when camping, would be limited to hotdogs and S’mores.
I still feel that I’m a novice at the whole thing but I did feel brave enough to suggest a few menu choices for this past trip.
We’re usually out on an adventure during the day, so lunch happens away from camp. Here’s what we had for our dinners and breakfasts this time around.

Friday Dinner: Chicken tenders, Mac-n-cheese and veggies.

Sat Breakfast: Sausage, eggs and cheese on an English muffin.

Sat Dinner: Pizza Roll.

Sunday Breakfast: Pancakes and Bacon.
Sunday Dinner: Lasagna and Salad.

I’m still amazed. Our menu at home doesn’t always look this appetizing.

Before we left for the camping trip, I made a few things ahead. The mac n cheese recipe I found here.

I altered it slightly, here’s what I did...

More than a half of a box of elbow macaroni; cooked.

An 8 oz. block of white cheddar shredded.
About a ¼ cup of parmesan cheese.
2 T. of milk (could have used a little more I think)
And 2-3 T. of butter.

In a bowl, combine the cooked macaroni and the shredded cheese. Transfer this into a foil pie pan then place pads of butter all around the top and poured the milk over. Then I sprinkled a little extra cheese over the top and covered with tin foil.

 

When ready to cook, place on fire or hot grill. We put ours into a Dutch oven and used the hot coals to heat.

 

It was really good! I think next time maybe a little more cheese and maybe some more milk to give added creaminess. With the chicken tenders (Fully cooked, bread, frozen- they just need to be heated through) some cut veggies and t6here was plenty to feed the 9 of us.

For the pizza roll I used this recipe. It is also was made in advance and frozen to be cooked on a campfire. I made two rolls and we finished the cut veggies left from the first night.

The lasagna was made in the Dutch oven with no-boil noodles (the kind that doesn’t need to be boiled ahead of time). That with a bag of spring mix salad and we had another balanced meal. Yummy!!!

Another successful camping trip full of wonderful memories for the kiddos!

Purple Cauliflower

I’m always looking for a new way to introduce a healthy food for the kids and add something interesting to the menu for me. I have never been a huge fan of cauliflower so I don’t think I’ve ever really tried to give it to the kids. It’s white, how nutritious can it be? Ok, so it’s got folate, vitamin K and vitamin C going for it and some dietary fiber but that’s about it.

So during my weekly run to the grocery store this week, I saw some purple cauliflower. I thought for the color alone it was worth a try

A quick search showed me that ….

The nutrients found in purple cauliflower are similar to those found in common white cauliflower. However, purple cauliflower will provide you with a couple of other nutritional benefits. The purple color is due to the presence of a subtype of flavonoid compounds called anthocyanin, which may help to regulate your blood lipid and sugar levels and body weight, as well as help to lower your cancer risk. Additionally, purple cauliflower contains a compound called glucoraphanin, which is also found in common green broccoli. In your body, glucoraphanin can be converted to compounds with anticancer properties.

(Well, there is your health and science lesson for the day)

I wanted to keep it simple when it came to cooking, just to see how it would be received. I know growing up the only way I would eat cauliflower was if it were smothered in cheese sauce. (Remember the key word here is “healthy”… no cheese sauce)

I went for a simple roasted veggie recipe. 

Clean the head and cut off all florets. I cut each one at least in half so that there would be at least one flat side to rest on the baking sheet.

Once cut, I tossed them in a bowl with plenty of olive oil.

Spread out on a cookie sheet and bake in a 425 oven for 10 minutes. Flip and put back in for an additional 10-20 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. (I added a little Romano cheese. That’s ok, it was just a little and no cheese sauce!)

Family review was better that I thought I would get. They all liked it and said they would eat it again. I'll take that!

Recipe and Review

As part of my annual fresh start to the year, I’ve been trying new recipes and attempting to eat healthier. Not an easy task I might add. I’m a junk food junkie, this time of year hubby feels tubby and starts his rant about eating fewer carbs (while I could live on pasta alone) and three kids = at least one picky eater per meal.

Fipping through my “Light” Recipes cookbook I found a stuffed shell recipe that I thought I could pass by my critical crew.

Here’s the recipe…

You’ll need

1 cup coarsely chopped mushrooms

½ cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 T margarine (I used butter)
16 oz. fat-free cottage cheese
10 oz. frozen chopped spinach thawed and drained
½ egg beaters (I used 1 egg)
24 jumbo pasta shells cooked and drained
1 jar spaghetti sauce

Sauté the mushrooms, onion and garlic, season and remove from heat.

In a bowl, mix cottage cheese, spinach and sautéed ’shrooms n onion mixture then pour beaten egg over the mixture and blend together.

Now spoon the mixture into shells. Cover the bottom of a baking dish with sauce then fill with stuffed shells and cover with the remaining sauce. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes or until hot.

Here’s the review…

Easy enough to make. About 30 minutes to prep the dish and the 30 to 40 for it to bake.

I got a few eye rolls and a little grumbling as the kids sat down at the table. Once they got past the first bite it was all good. 2 out of 3 gobbled it up, the oldest is not a fan of sauce or of mushrooms. Hubby came home with sushi (here’s why) so He didn’t want any shells (Until he saw the “I worked at a meal and you’re not going to eat it!?!?!?” look on my face).

Overall, everyone gave me the approval to make it again. Next time, I would use fewer mushrooms and chop them smaller. It was a nice filler to the mixture but the texture was a little distracting.



Too many green things

Zucchinis are nice and I can’t wait for them to start coming in but then you have to get creative fast.

Here is one of the ways I get the kiddos to eat these green things.

Cut the ends off. Using a potato peeler, I start peeling lengthwise in long thin strips of zucchini that look like fettuccini noodles. I keep going all the way down to the seeds. That part gets tossed out.

Then just heat it up quick in a large pot with some pasta sauce and you have a healthy carb free side dish.

Garnish with some grated cheese and chopped basil. Add a grilled chicken breast and you have a great summer meal.

If you want some more yummy ideas, check here and here.

What do you do with your zucchinis???