Oven-Roasted Beets

My love used to be brussel sprouts but after having them a couple times a week my husband and I got tired of them. Now my new love is roasted beets. When eating out if a salad had beets in it that is what I was getting, it beat any other dish every time, so when the kiddos were at Oma's for the night and I actually had time to watch tv and it wasn't Peppa Pig or Mike the Knight, Guy, my roasted beet super hero, was making roasted beet and bacon kale salad. By the way that is also the day I discovered sauteed kale! It is easy and the beets taste phenomenal!


I get the organic beets from the store because they are always much larger. Trim off the greens and cut off the top and bottom. Double wrap in aluminum foil, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle some Kosher salt over them. Seal them up and bake in oven at 425 degrees for 1 hour and 20 minutes. You know they are done when you can stick a fork through them. Peel and enjoy!

Since my husband doesn't eat them I sliced them up and stuck the left overs in the fridge for a salad the next day!

Coconut Brown Rice and Watermelon with Feta

 Last night we had an amazingly good, healthy, dinner! I also found a good recipe to use up some of my sweetened coconut flakes that I had left over from some cupcakes I made awhile back. It sounds odd, coconut and rice but if you have ever had the chance to try sticky rice, a Thai dish, then you would totally see the two coming together in a delicious symphony. This rice is more of a side dish without such a sweet flavor but yummy! My husband even liked it! Another hubby favorite is the watermelon with feta and mint. Super easy to make and it is that season again for watermelon. I'm jumping up and down with excitement, you just can't see. ^-^. That's my jumping face. I love anything with watermelon! 

Coconut Brown Rice

I got this recipe off of the site skinnytaste.com. Love that website for some good, healthy, goodness. This is what you will need:

1 C uncooked brown rice

1 C coconut milk (I used the carton)

1 1/4 C water

1 tsp grated fresh ginger*

1/4 tsp salt

2 tbsp sweetened grated coconut flakes

3 tbsp chopped cilantro

1) In a heavy saucepan add coconut milk, rice, water, ginger, salt, and coconut; bring to a boil over medium heat.

2) Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until liquid has evaporated, about 40-45 minutes. Remove from heat and keep covered for 10 minutes. Fluff with fork and stir in cilantro.

Also what is great about this rice is you can mix in any vegetables, meats, or tofu to make it a main dish. Tonight I mixed it with baby portobello mushrooms that I sauteed in sesame seed oil and butter.

Enjoy!

*To keep your ginger fresh just pop it into the freezer and cut off knobs as you need them for cooking, who uses a whole ginger root at a time... not me!

Watermelon and Feta

For this salad just cut up 1 small seedless watermelon, add a container of plain feta, chop up some fresh mint and stir it all together. I also added a dash of Kosher salt. Yum!

My adorable kids at the new Elephant exhibit at the zoo!

Easter

It's been awhile since I have done a post I've just been so busy and stepped up my running so super exhausted as well. My kids Easter was filled with a dangerous amount of candy. My neighbors, in-laws, and parents went wild when it came to the "Easter Bunny." I'm not exaggerating, 8 baskets and 5 zip lock bags full of chocolate, gummy bears, and jelly beans, also 6 chocolate bunnies to go along with that. Next year I plan on Easter outfits, movies, and books for this Easter Bunny to kindly donate to my children. All the candy is hidden in closets throughout the house and I really have no idea what we are going to do with all of it.


Getting back to food! I made the most adorable candy coated ducks and strawberries ever for my kids baskets, of course they didn't live up to all the store bought candy so the adults munched on those, but they were delish. I also plan on trying different colors and shapes for other holidays.

Ducks

This is what you need:

1 bag yellow candy coating (get at local craft store)

1 bag pretzel twists

small tube black frosting gel

candy coated orange sunflower seeds (I used left over orange candy coat from my strawberries)

1) Melt candy coating 1 minute in the microwave at 50% power, stir, then return to microwave for 30 seconds at a time on 50% power, stirring after every 30 seconds until candy is all melted.

2) Spoon melted candy over pretzel, stick into freezer until hardened, about 10 minutes.

3) When hard add the nose and eye.

Candy Carrots (aka strawberries)

This is what you need:

1 container strawberries

1 bag orange candy coating

1) Melt candy in microwave same as above.

2) Dip completely dry strawberries in candy and stick in freezer until hardened.

3) Keep these in the refrigerator.

See no joke, oh and I forgot to add to all of that the baskets the kids got from Oma and Papa, so that would make it a grand total of 10 baskets!

Kid Friendly Whole Wheat Pancakes

Pretty much every morning my kids ask for pancakes and I used to buy the Buttermilk mix at the store, god forbid if I ran out. So what is the logical thing for a mom to do??? Look up a easy recipe that I can have the ingredients on hand to quickly whip some up, also the great thing is they only eat about two so the rest I can freeze. Another plus about the recipe I found is they are whole wheat and taste better than the buttermilk mix I get, also I know exactly what I am putting into my little one's bellies. I got the recipe from skinnytaste.com and since this is the first time I have made them I would like to discover a way to make them a little thicker. They don't look as attractive as the store mix but I guarantee you they taste great! Here is what you will need:

2 C whole wheat flour (I used white whole wheat flour)

4 1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

2 drops agave nectar

2 large eggs

2 C + 2 tbsp milk

2 tsp vanilla

1) Mix all the dry ingredients together.

2) Mix wet ingredients with dry until all lumps are gone but don't over mix.

3) Spray pan and cook over medium heat until bubbles form, flip, then done. Repeat with remainder of mix until done. Enjoy!

Hot Well Dunes

Once again we had a successful camping trip. Kameron had a blast and so did we! I tried some new recipes, some worked, some did not what-so-ever, but all I can say is we ate well and played hard. I love going to the Hot Well Dunes, it is a beautiful spot and has great camp sites with shade and water. It was a little on the toasty side for the hot springs guess I will just have to wait until next year for those but we really didn't have much time for sitting and relaxing with all the riding we did.

Kameron loved playing in the stream that ran through our campsite.


So the campfire popcorn didn't work and let me tell you my son and I were pretty disappointed. We will have to find another way of doing it because popcorn on a camping trip is pure genius, especially for our family, we are popcorn lovers! The campurritos were perfection, I actually wish I had made more. My husband, son, and our good friend enjoyed these greatly. 

Campurritos

These breakfast burritos were super easy to make. The morning before we left I threw these together, you could even do it the night before you leave and put them in the fridge. What you will need:

Bacon/Sausage (I used bacon)

8 eggs

5 small potatoes

foil

2 C shredded cheddar cheese

6 large tortillas

1) Peel the potatoes and cut into chunks. Boil until potatoes are tender.

2) While potatoes are boiling, cook bacon. 

3) Dispose bacon grease and scramble eggs, cook in pan that you cooked bacon.

4) After you drain potatoes, chop bacon into pieces, and pour all ingredients into a large bowl and mix together.

5) Lay large tortilla on a piece of foil, pour some of the mixture onto burrito and wrap. Wrap with the foil then refrigerate.

6) When it's breakfast time place over hot coals until warm. Enjoy!

Unfortunately other than steaks, portabello mushroom burgers, hot dogs, and asparagus over the hot campfire, I didn't try any other campfire recipes this time like I had planned. Happy camping to you all and you better hurry the season is warming up quickly! Oh before I forget... I also made some of the best oatmeal bar cookies hand down that I wanted to share! Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Bars. They are perfect for picnics or camping.

Butterscotch Chocolate Oatmeal Bars

I got this recipe two Christmases ago and they have become a favorite! They are easy to make, transport, and non messy. Here is what you will need:

2 C all purpose flour

1 1/2 C brown sugar

1 C quick-oats

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 C melted butter

1 C semisweet chocolate chips

1 C butterscotch chips

1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk

1) Pre heat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray.

2) In a bowl mix flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and oats. Stir in butter.

3) Press 3 C of the mix into baking pan and cook 10 minutes.

4) Remove pan and sprinkle evenly with chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and sweetened condensed milk. Then sprinkle the top with the remainder of the oat and flour mixture.

5) Bake an additional 30 minutes. Very important that when you remove it from the oven, before cutting the bars into squares you let the pan cool completely. I usually bake them at night and let them sit over night before I cut them up and remove them from the pan.

Enjoy!