Spring Break Week

This week is Spring Break week here at our house. I don't know who is going to end up going completely crazy first, but it is going to be a close race. Hopefully the kids will have "died from boredom" before I will have completely lost my mind. 

We are a little bit at a loss for things to do more than usual since the kids involuntarily gave up all their video games. We have been a video game free family for almost a month now. It isn't so bad during the week with school and commitments and we have been able to keep busy on the weekends with spring yard work and nice weather, but this spring break week is going to be a real test of our ability to stand each other. 

It is hard being in close quarters with kids that just want to be entertained. My idea for "something to do" this week was spring clean the house. That was met with resounding disapproval. I am sure we will get some house cleaning done, but it surely isn't enough to fill their time. Plus, who wants to spend their spring break that way, I know that I especially don't. Fighting with kids over cleaning the house doesn't sound like much of an idea of fun to me. 

We have a little bit of a difficult time finding something that fits everyone's fun level because we range in kids from 15 - 2 years old. What fits the needs of our 5 year old does not fit the needs of our 15 year old for entertainment. I have been wondering if I have kids that don't know how to entertain themselves. Because they are always Being entertained by something or someone. 

So that is my goal for this week, to help my kids know How to entertain themselves and that they Can entertain themselves. We are going to start with some baby steps of what are somethings we can do to solve this problem when you are faced with not knowing what to do with yourselves. Thankfully there are a ton of internet resources that are super helpful for me as a parent in how to teach this to kids. 

Raising kids who don't get bored. 

21 ways kids can entertain themselves. 

Shrimp with Asparagus over Noodles

I was driving in my car today and hear a local radio station run an advertisement for a grocery store that has "fresh spring asparagus" on sale.  That decided dinner right there. I didn't know what I was going to make, but it was for sure going to have some of the ultimate early spring vegetable in it. 

I decided on Shrimp with Asparagus because I was feeling like something light (and I had to have a bag of shrimp in my freezer that desperately needed to be used. 

Ingredients

2 (12 ounce packet) udon noodles (This is an easy substitution, you can use linguine or whole wheat spaghetti)

2 tablespoons canola oil

1 cup small broccoli florets

1 cup asparagus, cut into 1” pieces

1 bell pepper, any color, thinly sliced

3 cloves of garlic, diced

1/2 lb. shrimp, previously cooked, peeled, deveined

3 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce

2 tablespoons oyster sauce

1/2 cup of water

2 teaspoons sugar or brown sugar

1 teaspoon sesame oil

3 green onions, diced

2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds

Directions

Cook the udon noodles according to package directions.

In a large skillet or wok up to medium-high heat, add the oil. Saute the broccoli, asparagus, bell pepper and garlic for 1-2 minutes. 

In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, oyster sauce, water, sugar and sesame oil. Add the shrimp and sauce mixture. Continue sautéing for another 1-2 minutes. Serve immediately topping with green onions and sesame seeds.

In a recipe like this the thing that ends up taking the most time (although Not a lot of time is the chopping) I had these veggies done before the noodle water was even boiling. 

 Toss the vegetables in for quick saute' and as soon as they reach their desired doneness, pop in your sauce and your shrimp to heat.  And dinner is done!

My very pickiest kid had three helpings of this.  I thought that I had made plenty because I was looking forward to some for lunch the next day, but he cleaned me out!  Never underestimate the amount of shrimp a teenage boy can eat.

Mango Blueberry salad with Cabbage

Today we have a delicious recipe that incorporates three of our four spotlight foods this month. Talk about winning the flavor lottery! This Mango Blueberry salad has Cabbage and a Lime Vinaigrette. It is so bright and refreshing, even the pickiest of eaters loved it here. 

You start with slicing your mangos. We had to cut a few extra because only about half the slices ones made it into the salad. 

Then we tossed it with a bag of chopped cabbage, cut snow peas,  and blueberries ( I would have liked a few more, but they were very pricey at the store.)

 Then that mixture got tosses with a head of chopped romaine lettuce. 

 A quick mix up of the dressing, oil, lime juice, mustard, and some honey.

Toss the whole thing together and it is done! Delicious and beautiful, I might add.

We added some rotisserie chicken to ours and it was a complete dinner.

Ingredients

Salad

1 cup (250 ml) salad greens cut into small pieces

1 cup (250 ml) shredded purple cabbage

1 cup (250 ml) shredded napa cabbage

1 mango peeled and cut into julienne or chunks

3/4 cup (175 ml) fresh blueberries

1/2 cup (125 ml) snow peas cut into julienne or left whole

1/4 cup (60 ml) shelled unsalted sunflower seeds

Dressing

6 Tbsp (90 ml) vegetable oil

juice from 1 lime

2 tsp (10 ml) liquid honey

1 tsp (10 ml) dijon mustard

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Salad preparation: In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and toss well.

Dressing preparation: Combine all ingredients in a container with a lid. Shake until well combined. Pour desired amount of dressing over salad and toss well.

Note: You can easily turn this salad into a complete meal by adding chunks or slices of cooked chicken breast. Simply add chicken to salad ingredients and toss well with dressing.

Sour Cream Enchiladas - S.O.S. Style

We absolutely love enchiladas at our house. Anyway they come we love to eat them. 

Last night we had Sour Cream Enchiladas made with green chilis. They are so creamy and delicious and good. As I am writing this, I am feeling so glad there are leftovers sitting in the fridge. 

I used S.O.S. mix to make these.  I like knowing exactly what it in it, instead of cream of mystery soup, and I like the control it gives me over my recipes. 

Here is the recipe book for S.O.S. mix.  There is even a recipe in the booklet for Chicken Enchiladas (pg 14)

The first time I made my S.O.S. mix I followed the directions exactly. As I had made it more times I have become a little experimental and left out the italian seasoning, tried taco seasoning and added more onion.  It is a really amazing mix to add to your pantry and I sure you will love using it just as much as I do. 

Soup or Sauce (SOS) Mix
* Ingredients
 2 cups powdered non-fat dry milk
 3/4 cup cornstarch
 1/4 cup instant chicken bouillon (regular or low sodium)
 2 Tbsp dried onion flakes
 2 tsp Italian seasoning (optional)

* Directions
 Combine all ingredients in a resealable plastic bag, mixing well.

* Yield
 Equal to 9 (10.5 oz) cans of cream soup.

* To substitute for 1 can of cream soup
1. Combine 1/3 cup of dry mix with 1 1/4 cups of cold water. Whisk until  well blended.
2. Cook and stir on stove top or in microwave until thickened.
3. Add thickened mixture to casseroles as you would a can of soup.

* Storage
 Store in closed plastic bag or air-tight container until ready to use. It does not have to be refrigerated.

Lettuce Wraps

A fun meal we like to have at our house is Lettuce Wraps. They are so popular at restaurants and in the food world and for good reason. They are super delicious, easy and you can put practically anything in them. They are meal that you can make extra healthy really fast. 

The ones we made happened to have an asian flare to them. We added chicken, stir-fry sauce, bamboo shoots and water chestnuts then topped them with rice noodles. The kids felt like they were eating something extra fancy and I felt like they were getting an extra serving of veggies. 

You can make Lettuce wraps your own way by filling them with taco filling, burger fixings or keep it original and do asian style. Lettuce makes a great outside wrap for almost any kind of sandwich or wrap. You can really boost your servings of veggies that way, and feel like you are trying something a little different. 

Happy Wrapping! 

Chili Lime Potatoes

 Potatoes can be a great dollar stretcher in your food budget. Plus an added benefit is that most kids love to eat them.   We had a twist on breakfast for dinner last night and we made Chili Lime Potatoes.  We ate them with fried egg sandwiches and most of kids ate an entire vegetable serving of ketchup.

These potatoes are super flavorful. We made ours a little extra spicey and left the cilantro out.  They are really easy to make, the hardest part is cutting your potatoes to a uniform size.

 Toss them into a bowl and add your seasonings and oil. 

Spread them out in one layer on a baking sheet. We ended up having to use two baking sheets for all the potatoes we ended up making. 

Then bake them in your oven until they reach your desired done-ness.  Sometimes we make them a little crisper than we do other times. It all depends on who ends up watching them while they are in the oven. 

They were delicious and we ended up having just enough for the little ones to eat them again for lunch today. Gotta love that cook once- eat twice rule.

Start your change with menu planning

Have you been making small changes lately?  Have you been working towards making yourself happier and healthier? Are you taking charge of food instead of letting food be in charge of you?

I am always trying to make small changes in my life. From making new changes to trying to keep going with changes that I have already made. It is always a growing and learning process. And that is a good thing, it means we are always moving forward, always trying to get better. Even when I sometimes fail or take a few steps back, I remind myself that the only way to truly fail would be to give up.

Things have been a little sketchy around here lately. Getting sick took a lot more out of the family that I realized and it has taken quite a while to try and get everyone healthy and back on track. The very best place that I have found to start is with meal planning.

If you haven't done it before or had much success with it, then meal planning can seem really intimidating and overwhelming. But you really just need a piece of paper and something to write with. If you want, here is a really simple template to help you get started with planning. The trick is just to sit down and do it. That is the very hardest part.