Simply Mel(Formerly Mama Monoblogs)

Recipes I've Been Enjoying and A Food Post.

I must have been hungry when I thought up the content for this post. Since I have some "recipes" I wanted to share with you, I figured I'd make this post all about food!

Recipe 1: Iced Coffee- The Cold Brew Method.

For those of you who enjoy a nice cup of iced coffee in the summer time, this recipe is for you! I love iced coffee and I don't like to spend money every time I want some. I found this recipe online and it involves cold brewing. Apparently Starbucks uses this method for their iced coffee. I've made it a couple of times already and I really enjoy it.

For this method you will need:
Two large pitchers(glass preferably but plastic is ok too. You will see why I say two pitchers as you read on. This is my idea not the original recipe's)
A coffee strainer/filter.
Dark roast, ground coffee. (I like French or Colombian.)
To wait patiently 8-12 hours for this to brew

In one pitcher add 4 1/2 cups of water and stir in 1 cup of ground coffee.It will be a thick, dark sludge. Stir gently as well as you can. Let sit on the counter, room temp for 8-12 hours. I covered my pitcher with something just in case.
After brewing time is done poor the coffee sludge mixture through the strainer/filter into the other pitcher.
 (aha! See? The first time I did this I had no other pitcher to pour this into so I had to settle for a large Tupperware container)
You may want to do this twice to make sure you get all the coffee grains out.
Now you can put the pitcher into the fridge.
Pour a glass, add sugar and creamer as you like, and drink up!

* I double this recipe as this one only makes about half a pitcher full and I drink two glasses a day.
** You can also play around with this recipe and add more coffee, less coffee, more water or less water so the flavor comes out to your desired strength.

Recipe 2: Melissa' *BSTCA Wrap.

*Bacon(Turkey) Spinach  Cheese Avocado

Start out with some fried turkey bacon

Mash some avocado on a wrap. (Preferably a whole wheat one but I was all out)

 

Add some nutrient rich baby spinach

 

Some turkey bacon

Some tomatoes and salt.I forgot to photograph the shredded cheddar cheese so we'll pretend that's the next step.

 Then roll it all up in the neatest wrap possible. Mmmmm....delicious!

 

Then you also hope that your wrap doesn't start tearing like mine did!

 

While we're still on the subject of food...have you ever tried the Kettle Brand potato chips? They are HEAVENLY! And I'm totally addicted.  My favorite flavor is the Sea Salt and Vinegar. Once you try this brand you will never want to go back to any other brand's SS&V chips. They pale in comparison. And these chips are natural and better for you than other brands. Well, as healthy as a potato chip can be! If  I'm going to eat potato chips then I might as well eat the best ones for me. Their "Lightly Salted" ones are also amazing.

In other food news, Madelyn has become quite the broccoli and corn on the cob lover. I can't believe my eyes! I can add those two items to my list of veggies my kids will now eat. Katelyn is still fighting it. She still asks at every meal  "Are we having begables? I DON'T LIKE BEGABLES!!" But she'll also eat carrots and broccoli. She says she likes corn on the cob but never really eats it. Madelyn attacks her corn on the cob with gusto!

It seems I have a vegetarian and a meat eater on my hands. Katelyn will usually go for whatever meat I put on her plate and most usually the carb of choice that day. Madelyn, on the other hand, refuses the meat but will usually eat the carb and her fruit. I have started putting raisins and different kinds of nuts on her plate and she eats those really well. Katelyn won't touch nuts but Madelyn seems to love them. So I'm hoping Maddy is getting some iron and protein with her raisins and nuts.

Well, now that I've finished this post I'm even more hungry!

Shout Out To Keurig!

I love coffee. I drink it in the morning. I drink it in the afternoon. Sometimes I drink it at night. And mid-morning. Because my husband knows this he bought me a Keurig Single Brew coffee maker over a year ago for Christmas.

   

I have lovingly used this machine every day since. It has brewed me some pretty incredible cups of coffee. All in about 30 seconds. Since I love this machine so  much I decided to bring it with me on our trip to Texas. Once I got here it brewed one cup of coffee and then started making a horrible grinding noise and then quit working altogether.

I was very distraught over this.

I called Keurig's customer service line three times. They gave me instructions on how to fix the problem every time. I was told to descale it. De-scaling, apparently, solves most issues with  a Keurig coffee maker. Minerals and other water junk can build up in the coffee maker and cause all sorts of problems. You're supposed to de-scale every three months.

I didn't know this. I had never tried to de-scale the thing. I knew I should have read the user guide. But seriously, who ever reads the user guide??

Then I called customer service to tell them the machine wouldn't even let me de-scale it and they told me that I had waited way too long to de-scale it. I admitted that this was true. They also said I was just a "little over warranty". So I'm thinking they are either going to tell me I have to mail the thing in to get fixed for a fee or that I have to buy a new one. So, I was pretty pleasantly shocked ,to say the least, when the lady on the other end of the line told me she would mail me a new one- for FREE!!! Then she went on to tell me that I need to de-scale this one every three months.

"I will certainly do that!!!" I happily told her. "Heck, I'll de-scale every day!"

Ok, I didn't say "every day" but that's what I was thinking. I received my new coffee maker today via Fed Ex and it is beautiful!

I am now and forever a huge fan of Keurig and their wonderful customer service. I encourage you to buy one if you are a coffee fanatic like me. You won't be disappointed!

 

Something I'm Trying

So, I got this idea from one of my favorite bloggers, MckMama, over at My Charming Kids. I was reading her advise on how she gets her small children to eat so well and so healthy. Katelyn is very picky(as I'm sure I've mentioned many times before) and acts like I'm poisoning her every time I offer her something a) new b) green or c) that isn't shaped like a chicken nugget. She will very reluctantly take a tiny bite of everything off her plate but only after much threatning, cajoling, gentle guidance. She also will take a bite and then down it with chocolate milk. I really wish she would just stop and actually taste some of the food I offer her because then she would see that it actually tastes good! She automatically assumes the healthier foods are going to taste terrible. Now, my once great eater Maddy is also spitting out most vegetables I offer her and seems to be getting more particular about what she puts in her mouth. She's not as bad as Katelyn but still, it's frustrating! So anyhow, MckMama says that she offers her children only healthy food and offers them many choices on their plates at once. She gives them little bits of many different healthy foods. This way they can choose what they want to eat off their plate and they are still eating healthy food. I'll show you an example of what I understood her to be saying with what I offered Katelyn and Madelyn a few days ago. I didn't offer as many choices as MckMama does but you'll get the idea.

Madelyn's plate of food for lunch

Katelyn's plate of food for lunch

As you can see they both have basically the same stuff. Madelyn still can't eat all the stuff Katelyn can( raw carrots, apples with skin etc) so I improvise. I would usually offer Katelyn the meat and veggies first and then end with the fruit(which she loves and would only eat if I let her) But now I offer both girls at least two choices of veggies and fruits and maybe two "proteins". They usually don't have problems with the carb I offer so I don't tend to offer two of those choices. I don't put a lot of anything on the plate. I know it looks like that in this picture but it wasn't. Trust me. Whatever is not eaten I serve again at snack or the next meal so I don't waste food. Plus, the portions are so small sometimes that if they ate well and took a bite or two I feel it was worth it so I just toss the scraps. This method seems to be working better. Katelyn and Madelyn do tend to eat the fruit, carb, cheese  and meat first but Katelyn is much more open to trying the veggies. I offer them consistently at lunch and dinner. She seems to be getting used to the fact that she is required to eat her veggies. They will not be going away anytime soon. Plus, she also doesn't get to leave the table until she takes at least two bites of vegetable. It's not taking her as long to comply now. I can't really insist that Maddy eat anything  specific right now since she is still a baby but I keep offering a variety of vegetables to her and I think she will eventually eat them better. She still eats more of a variety than Katelyn does so I'm not too worried. I usually  "cook" more for dinner but still apply the same principles. I don't cook a lot of different things but I do keep a lot of raw veggies and other things around that are ready for me to just add to whatever it is we are eating that night. Anyway, just thought I'd share my new idea.

What are your thoughts?

Healthy Recipes For The Picky and Finicky- Penne, Chicken and Broccoli

I am going to start a new series of blogs titled " Healthy Recipes for the Picky and Finicky" . I will post recipes that I  have/already use or find that work well for my family of "picky and finicky" eaters. If you would like to find a recipe that was posted a while back  just click on the "picky and finicky recipe favorites" tag and it should take you to all the recipes with that label. If you would like to share one with me feel free to e-mail me the recipe and I will post it and give you the credit for it. The only criteria is that it has to be healthy, and have mostly natural ingredients in it. I say "mostly" because as you will see as this blog goes on and if you read this post, I'm not a 100% organic and natural cook. I'm just doing the best I can with what is available to me at this point in our life. Now, as many of you with children know, "healthy eating" and "toddlers"(or even older children for that matter) is usually an oxymoron. Children usually don't like or want to eat anything with a lot of bright colors in it, unless they are  eating M&M's . I am working on helping my children not only tolerate or "take just one bite" but truly love healthy, natural foods. And trust me, young children are watching everything you eat. You may get away with thinking they won't notice that you opted out of the green beans but are forcing them to take "two bites" before they leave table.(Are you listening my dear hubby??) For whatever reason, it seems like once my children hit one year they are suddenly allergic to anything that's good for them. Maddy used to eat anything I put in front of her and devoured peas and ice cream alike. Now, the veggies get tossed on the floor before they barely hit her highchair tray. Katelyn can spot a vegetable in her food no matter how small and then works hard at picking it out. She even tries to pick the larger "grains" out of the 12 Grain Bread I've been buying. So, getting both of them to enjoy, like, tolerate good-for-you food is an ongoing battle. To top it off, I've got a husband who has the eating habits of a spoiled toddler. So, we are " food training" him as well. He will force down broccoli, corn on the cob and whole green beans and that is it when it comes to vegetables. He doesn't eat fruit and will hardly touch any kind of dish that has several ingredients in one, a la casserole style. He doesn't like beans,lentils or rice and no sauces of any kind unless it's pasta sauce. So, as you can see, I have my work cut out for me. If you have finicky eaters in your home join the club. I'll do my best to pass on some tasty, healthy recipes that work for the whole family. I'll let you know how my family likes it. Oh,and I will be posting recipes that Mike may not have liked at times.  Not everyone is as picky as he is. LOL

Here is my very first recipe in this series. This is a "to taste" type of recipe since I don't have any real measurements for it. This is my own variation on a couple of this type of dish that I've had and loved. My family, especially Mike, loves this dish.

                                                   Penne, Chicken and Broccoli.

Box of Penne, Rigatoni or any kind of pasta you like.( I like whole wheat penne).

Bunch of fresh Broccoli( frozen works too,but fresh just tastes better)

Italian Dressing

One pound or so of chicken breasts (depends on how much chicken you want in this dish)

Parsley,  roughly chopped, to taste

Olive Oil to taste

Salt to taste

Butter to taste

Parmesan Cheese to taste(freshly grated is delicious!!)

Optional- minced, sauted garlic or garlic salt

1. Marinate chicken breasts in Italian Dressing for at least an hour, more is better.

2.Saute, or grill the chicken breasts until done.

3. While chicken is grilling/sauteing, boil the amount of pasta that would be good for your family. I usually do almost a whole box and we eat the rest of the dish the next day as leftovers.

3. Chop the broccoli into spears and steam until soft but not soggy. They still need to have light crunch to them.

4. When chicken is done cooking, cut it into cubes.

5. Combine pasta, chicken and broccoli in a large pot. Add Olive Oil to taste and about a Tbsp. of butter. Mix well until all ingredients are well coated but not drowning in Olive Oil.

6. Add parsley and garlic or garlic salt(if desired). Stir until well mixed..

7. Add grated Parmesan cheese to taste and leave some left over in a bowl so individuals can add it as they like.

8. Add salt to taste, if so desired.

*The picture above is not of this dish. It was the best one I could find-LOL. I will hopefully be posting some of my own pictures of the recipes I make.*