Turkey Meatballs

We love these meatballs at our house. They can top spaghetti or be put into a hoagie for a meatball sub. This makes plenty and I always freeze the leftovers in packs of 4 so Andrew can make an easy lunch or dinner.

1 1/2 lbs ground turkey

1 cup bread crumbs

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

2 eggs

salt to taste

1 Tbsp milk

2 jars of sauce, or use two cans of crushed tomatoes to make your own

Preheat the oven to 375.

Mix the ground turkey with the bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, eggs, milk, and salt. Form meat balls (about 28). I use a cookie scoop to get uniform size meatballs. Pan fry them to brown them (they will finish cooking in the over).

Pour some sauce in the bottom of a dutch oven. Lay the meatballs in a single layer and then cover with more sauce. Bake covered for 30 minutes. If you want to pump up the cheese factor, you can now sprinkle the top with mozzarella cheese and broil until bubbling. 

Serve over pasta or on hoagies and with any extra sauce.

Quick Cobb Salad

This salad is quick and easy to put together, as long as you are willing to do a little work in the beginning.

To make this lunch quick and easy, you need to have grilled chicken stocked up in the freezer. Spend one day marinating a big batch of chicken breasts and then grill them. Flash freeze them on a cookie sheet once they are cool and then bag them individually and store them in the freezer. I use a vacuum sealer for each breast so that all the air is out and I don't get any freezer burn. 

When you go to use the frozen chicken, just pull out one of the packages the night before. Then it will be thawed in time for you to use for your salad at lunch. Easy way to add that grilled chicken to your lunch!

I also keep my salad topping already prepared and read to go in the fridge. So my eggs are already boiled, cucumbers, etc.

Frozen grilled chicken breast, thawed and diced
Salad
Bard Boiled Egg
Cucumbers

Shredded Carrots
Shredded Cheese
Corn

Add everything to the bowl and top with some dressing. I go with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, a little salt & pepper, and some dried basil. Be careful with the dressing you pick. It can take a completely healthy salad and add tons of empty calories and fat.

Other good salad toppings: avocado, bacon, tomato, green onions, red onion, black beans, or even salsa as the dressing.

Smoked Chicken Tacos

We love to use our smoker and one of my new favorite things to make is smoked chicken. It doesn't take anywhere near as long as smoking bbq pork and the left overs can be used in may ways. This is Andrew's favorite way to make chicken tacos right now.

So you can either make or buy your smoked chicken. We keep it simple by brining the chicken over night in a sugar/salt/water mixture. The next morning I pat dry the chicken and sprinkle on a little bit of salt and pepper. Then smoke it for about 3 hours using hickory wood. Yum! This is what we did for our Christmas dinner this year and served it up with southern biscuits, green beans, & squash casserole.

We smoke at least two chickens so that we have leftovers for recipes like this. Enjoy!

8 oz can tomato sauce
1 tsp Chili powder*
Smoked chicken, about 2 cups

Drizzle the skillet with a little oil so the chicken doesn't stick with you heat it. Toss in the chicken and stir it around so it starts to break up a little. Add the tomato sauce and chili powder. Use your spoon/spatula to mix all the ingredients in the skillet and to break up and shred the chicken while it heats through.

Once it is heated, dish it into taco shells and top with shredded lettuce and cheese. It would also be good on nachos!

*A note about the chili powder. We use this salt free chili powder from Sprouts.

I bought it thinking it was, in fact, just chili powder, but it is actually a mix of spices which work really well for this recipe. You should be able to use a taco seasoning or something similar in its place.

Happy New Year! - Weekly Wrap Up

I'm going to sum up a couple weeks, since I didn't post last Friday.

So the first week of Christmas Break we went to McWane with Colin. He loves McWane but never gets to go since he is at school now. They had a train exhibit set up and both boys loved it. These boys never get tired of trains!

Memaw came for Christmas Eve and we decorated cookies after dinner. Santa also came around on his firetruck like he does every year. It is so exciting to hear the sirens and run out to see him riding on the top. If you ask Charlie what Santa rides, he won't say a sleigh. He answers with a firetruck. Ha! Charlie is also my kitchen helper. He wants to cook and stir all the time. I love it!

Christmas Day Memaw headed home to meet up with Uncle Will and Granny & Papa came to the house. I don't have a lot of pictures from Christmas Day. =( Santa has scaled way back over the years. Looking at old pictures, he went way overboard. So he pulled it in a made sure there were some fun gifts under the tree but didn't buy the entire Target.

The boys loved what Santa brought! It was a very Star Wars Christmas for Colin. He got the Ewok Village Lego set and some other Star Wars themed goodies. Charlie got an assortment of toys that interest him like a bus, a Mickey Mouse fire truck, a vet kit, and Magnaformers. My favorite gift was this tray from my mom. It looks so good on my kitchen table with flowers.

 This week Colin has been in Florida with Granny & Papa so it's just been the three of us. We've been lazy and hung around the house a lot. We did go to McWane again, this time with Daddy, and did breakfast at Edgar's. We tried the park one day but it has just been so wet and rainy. It was completely gross. I got my first Stitch Fix of the year and it had this really cute polka dot vest in it!

I found a new tea that I love at our bakery and I think Charlie may end up being a tea drinker too. He felt so big sipping out of a mug.

I got a coloring book for Christmas this year too. It is really relaxing to sit down with a coloring book, tea, and cookie. Who knew?

Colin comes home today and I'm looking forward to hearing how much fun he had!

Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins

Another Low FODMAP recipe for you. These are really easy to whip up and taste great. I will be making these even after I'm no longer sticking to such a strict diet.

2 1/4 cups rolled oats

1 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp pure maple syrup (don't use that Aunt Jemima stuff - use the real thing!)

2 eggs

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

4 Tbsp almond butter

1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (I use lactose free milk)

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (I usually leave this out, but good both ways)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and then grease or line a 12 count muffin tin.

Process the rolled oats in a food processor until it becomes very fine. Add all the other ingredients, except the chocolate chips, until it's smooth.

Add the chocolate chips and gently stir into the batter. 

Fill the muffin pan and back for 22 minutes, or until light golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

*The original recipe has you process all the ingredients at once, even the oats. My food processor must not be that strong because it didn't get as smooth as I had liked. If you have one of those amazing blenders then you can probably just add everything at once and get a great result.

*Source

Gluten Free Herb Rolls

Starting at the very end of September I was having really bad stomach pain. I couldn't eat much of anything and my stomach burned non-stop. Thinking my NSAID had given me an ulcer or gastritis, I was advised to stop them and started lots of different acid reducer and blockers. One of the other things my GI doctor had me do was start at Low FODMAP diet. Google if your interested in specifics, but it cuts out a lot of things that could possible irritate my stomach. It hasn't been awful but the few I miss are gluten/wheat, dairy, onions, & garlic.

In December I had a scope and my stomach look absolutely fine. No ulcers or irritation. Just to be safe we checked my gallbladder and pancreas and other organs around there. They were perfect. So we assume I have GERD.

Anyway, my Dr asked me to stick to this diet for a while longer to see if it helped me with any of my symptoms. So you may start to see some recipes that I label Gluten Free, Lactose/Dairy Free, or Low FODMAP and that's why.

So here's my first one: a gluten free dinner roll. I found these on Pinterest and even Andrew liked them. They graced the Thanksgiving dinner table and will be on the Christmas dinner table as well. Enjoy!

1 1/4 cup milk (I used lactose free milk)
2 Tbsp butter
2 1/4 tsp yeast (or 1 packet)
1 1/2 Tbsp sugar
1 cup tapioca flour
3/4 cup brown rice flour
3/4 cup potato starch
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp xanthan gum
2 tsp salt
1 tsp each dried rosemary, thyme, and sage
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 large eggs

Grease and rice flour a regular 12 count muffin tin.

Combine the milk and butter in a microwavable bowl and heat until it reaches 110-120 degrees. In a mixing bowl combine the yeast and sugar. Whisk in the heated milk/butter mixture then set to the side while it proofs.

In another bowl combine the tapioca flour, brown rice flour, potato starch, baking powder, xanthan gum, salt, and dried herbs.

Once the yeast is proofed (about 10 minutes), mix in olive oil and eggs on low speed. Slowly beat in flour mixture. Beat on high speed for at least 1 1/2 minutes until very well combined.

Scoop the dough into the muffin cups. Wet your finger tips and gently smooth out the top of each one. Use kitchen scissors to snip the dough in each cup in half, then in half again so you have quarters.

Brush the tops of the with a small amount of olive oil so the plastic wrap doesn't stick. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

To bake, preheat the oven to 350. Bake for 28-35 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Brush the tops with melted butter. Let cool in the an for 5 minutes before moving to a wire rack to finish cooling.

The recipe also says you can leave in the fridge for up to 24 hours before baking, but I've only ever done it overnight.

*Source

Weekly Wrap Up

Today is Friday and the last day of school before Christmas Break! I am so excited to have 2 weeks where I don't have to pack lunches or get up kids at 6:30 in the morning!

Charlie and I started the week with a visit to the McWane Science Center. We are members but do not go enough. I need to make this a priority in 2016. They have a trainexhibit right now and I need to take Colin before it's gone. Charlie absolutely loves the Itty Bitty Magic City. His favorites place seems to be a tie between the water tables and the pretend vet. He loves dogs so he always gives them a bath.

That evening we headed to The Club for the Jingle Bell Buffet. We got a picture with Santa and ate a delicious meal. Charlie is still scared of the man in red, but Colin was all about it. He did as why Santa looked differently than on the train ride the week prior. So I think we will only be seeing Santa once a year from here on out.

Mid week Colin had his class Christmas party. He has the best Kindergarten teacher ever. I really do love her. She keeps us involved by having a class Instagram account and we can see what they are doing throughout the day. She has made my first year as being a room mom very smooth and I would not hesitate to do it again for Colin's future classrooms!

His class made gingerbread houses followed by a treat. It was so fun seeing how differently each kid decorated their house. Some were chaotic and some were orderly. And all were messy. =) It was so fun.

This weekend Grandpa is coming in from Florida and we are having Christmas with him.

Wrapping Up 2015

Ok, so I didn't do so hot on updating the blog through 2015. In fact, not including this post, I did it all of 2 times. So 2016 will be the year I get back on track. I really think this will be the year. =P Wish me luck!

Since I didn't update in 2015 enough, here is a look at our year through some of my favorite pictures. They are in no particular order so here is a quick list of what we did this year. You can match the event. Ha!

• Disney Cruise
• Trip to Chicago
• Trip to Florida with a trip to Legoland!
• Colin turned 6 and started Kindergarten. I'm one of his room moms.
• Charlie turned 2 and started Mothers Day Out.
• We did lots of home improvements this year. We remodeled our basement bath, finally finished painting the interior of the house, got new carpet, removed some trees and got sod out front. It looks like a different house than the one we bought!
• Did a train ride with Santa!
• We visited Old Town Helena for a lot of First Fridays.
• We visited The Club a lot this year for Easter, 4th of July, the Jingle Bell Buffet, and many family nights trough the summer.