broccoli – Chocolate 'N Children

May 15, 2015May 14, 2015

First Food Friday

We’re trying out a CSA for the first time this year. I’m so excited! To celebrate, I’m going to be doing a Food Friday series on the blog every Friday.

I picked up my first box on Wednesday, so no recipes today since I haven’t had a ton of time to work with my box yet, but you’ll start seeing recipes and tips next week. So come back.

This week, I’ll just show you what’s in my box and my initial reactions to everything.

Lettuce, a whole giant head of it. Actually, it’s a bunch, not a head, because it’s not round. Anyways…we love salads at my house so we’ll have no trouble eating this up!

Broccoli, we also love broccoli – at least I love broccoli so I think everyone else should too. I did steam some for dinner Wednesday night and it’s delicious! There’s six little heads here. Come back next week to see what I do with all of it.

Strawberries, and they’re delicious! Also, they didn’t last past Thursday, we just gobbled them up. Someone did tell me that the tops are great in smoothies. So I’ve frozen them for later smoothie making. We’ll see how it turns out.

Broccolini, at least, I think that’s what it is. There seems to be a lot of leaf and not a lot of broccoli flower. I’ve seen so many recipes for this green but my local Kroger doesn’t sell it, now I get to try it!

There’s one other mysterious green leafy item that I think is carrot tops, I’ve also heard that these are very tasty and quite nutritious but I’ve never tried them. This could be exciting. If all else fails, I’ll just use my favorite greens recipe and it’ll be delicious.

These are some rather large green onions (also see the carrot tops in the bottom-left-hand corner). One per recipe should work great.

And last item, radishes. I haven’t had a radish since I was a kid. I sliced up the tiny one that you can see in the picture and ate it just to see how spicy they are. Not too bad, but I don’t see any of my kids or my husband eating them just sliced on a salad so I’m going to have to find a better use for them.

I’m so excited to have some new vegetables I’ve never tried before to cook with, and I’m excited to have some of my favorites like strawberries and broccoli, and not so excited about the radishes.

Come back next Friday to see what I make with all of this!

March 9, 2015March 7, 2015

7 Favorite Green Foods

In honor of St. Patricks Day, I’m going with a green theme for my foods. There’s no way I’m dying any food green, so you know, green eggs and ham are just out of the questions! However, here’s my top 7 favorite naturally green foods.

1. Lettuce – We all love salads! It’s a great way for me to get my family to eat green leafy vegetables. My favorite dinner salad is a good “cobb” salad. And I use “cobb” rather loosely, because I don’t usually make a traditional cobb salad. I make a salad with lettuce, 2 types of cheese, 2 types of meat (usually sliced sandwich meat and bacon bits), sliced tomatoes, and ranch dressing. Makes a great protein-packed dinner for hot days in the summer!

2. Granny Smith Apples – These were always one of my favorite apples as a kid. I also really like them in an apple pie, a nice tart apple with the sugar and such in an apple pie is so delicious! They’re also really good sliced up with some peanut butter.

3. Peas – My now 6yr old loves peas. They were one of her first finger foods as a baby and she still loves them to this day! I used to just pop a bowl of frozen peas with a Tbsp of water into the microwave for about 1 minute for an instant snack. These days, with three kids I have to make more peas so I just boil them on the stove with a little bit of salt and everyone loves them! I can put peas in just about anything and my 6yr old will eat it because it has her favorite vegetable.

4. Kiwi – I love these tart fruits as well (sensing a pattern here?). I don’t like the fuzzy peel, so I peel them, slice them into rounds and eat them with a fork. The best thing about this fruit? No one else in my family likes them so I get to eat them all!

5. Grapes – Grapes are such an easy fruit. You can take them to a party, pull out a few for the kids to snack on, or slice them in half and toss them in a fruit salad. I like my grapes nice and firm, once they’re squishy I won’t eat them so I have to eat them up pretty quickly when I get them.

6. Broccoli – Another favorite in my family. The kids prefer to eat broccoli with ranch dip which is way easier than the cheese sauce my husband prefers. This is probably the only green vegetable that everyone in my family will eat! I prefer to steam it on the stove and eat it plain.

7. Green Beans – My kids only like canned green beans because they’re softer than fresh or frozen. But that just makes my life easier, I’ll dump a can of green beans in a pan, add a clove of crushed garlic and simmer while I’m making dinner. All 3 kids gobble them up. (some nights I don’t get any, I’m going to have to start making 2 cans if I want some). Easy and healthy!

March 10, 2011March 10, 2011

Cooking Creme

I got my party pack the other day from House Party. It’s for the new Philadelphia Cooking Creme.

I decided to try out one of the recipes last night for supper, just to see what I think of the the cooking creme before my party. I tried out a Lemon-Broccoli Rick with Chicken. It was delicious!

The downside to the cooking creme is that it’s about $3 a container. I wouldn’t have tried it without receiving this house party. With my party pack I received coupons for 4 free cooking cremes, plus $1 off coupons for all my guests.

My opinion, cooking creme is delicious, and easy, and I think there’s a less expensive way to make a creme sauce for my food. But, I’ll probably start using these once or twice a month because they’re such an easy way to make a tasty meal with fresh ingredients. And with 2 little ones, I need all the help I can get!