Noe News is Good News

Spinach Chicken Nuggets

I don't know about anyone else, but I have been really struggling lately with getting my kids to eat vegetables!!! They used to love them when they were little- but I just don't think they like the texture. Joselyn will usually try them if we ask her to, but she spits them out. So I had to come up with a solution to feed them (and their daddy) vegetables.

While I was at Khol's one day, I found a recipe book near the registers for $5 called "deceptively delicious". It's written by Jerry Seinfeld's wife Jessica (with the help of some doctors and a nutritionist) and the idea is to puree vegetables and sneak them into foods your kids love such as macaroni & cheese or in my case tonight, chicken nuggets.

 

You all know I'm not a cook- I can follow a recipe pretty well but it's not one of my talents. It is, however, something I really want to work on. It really was quite the struggle as my kids are sadly not used to me making dinner- especially when it takes longer than 10 minutes to prepare. Landen hugged my legs screaming for attention which got Joselyn upset... and finally Adam had to take them on a walk around the block while I prepared dinner. This will definitely take some getting used to!

I've got to say my chicken nuggets didn't turn out this pretty, but this picture is from the book:

 

In fact, I bet they used the sweet potato puree for those ones because my chicken nuggets were green! I was a little worried the kids wouldn't eat them because they looked strange, but I just tried to get them excited that they were eating green chicken nuggets and it worked! They actually LOVED them and I felt so accomplished :) 

Here's the recipe!

You Will Need
1 cup whole wheat, white or panko bread crumbs
1/2 cup flaxseed meal
1 tbs. grated Parmesan
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1 cup broccoli, spinach, sweet potato or beet purée
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast or chicken tenders, rinsed, dried and cut into small chunks
1/2 tsp. salt
Nonstick cooking spray

1 tbs. olive oil

What to Do
1. Lay a large sheet of waxed paper or aluminum foil on counter. Combine first six ingredients on paper or foil, and mix well with your fingers.

2. In shallow bowl, mix purée and egg with a fork and set bowl next to bread crumb mixture.

3. Sprinkle chicken with salt. Dip chunks into egg mixture and toss in bread crumbs until coated.

4. Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium-high burner. When skillet is hot, add oil. Place chicken nuggets in skillet in a single layer, being careful not to crowd the pan, and cook until crisp and golden on one side, 3 to 4 minutes. Turn and cook until chicken is cooked through, golden brown and crisp all over, 4 to 5 minutes longer. (Cut into a piece to check that it’s cooked through.) Serve warm.

Serves 4

P.S. Some of you may remember my facebook status about looking for breadcrumbs... this is what I needed them for! And for those of you who don't know (although you probably do) they are in the flour aisle next to the stuffing!!!

Taco Soup & Easiest Yummiest Cobbler

I was talking to my mom on the phone today, Joselyn on my lap, when the topic of "dinner" came up. "You're making dinner?" my mom asked as she started to laugh. I laughed too... it's kinda uncharacteristic of me although I wish it weren't. "mom," I said, "I do make dinner sometimes you know".  Joselyn busted out laughing right at that moment.

But yes, I did make dinner tonight. A GOOD dinner, meaning not chicken with shells and cheese and microwaveable vegetables (although the Birdseye microwaveable vegetables truly ARE the best). It was planned and I had bought all the ingredients. No one has to know how easy it was, but I'll share it with you anyway because I want these recipes to be in my blog book. I've made this Taco Soup quite a few times and it's a family favorite already. It involves browning some beef and combining a few ingredients into the crock pot. It was perfect for tonight as the nice spring weather decided to take a vacation today leaving us with a chilly evening.

Slow Cooker Taco Soup

1 (16 ounce) can pinto beans
1 (16 ounce) can white beans or kidney beans
1 (11 ounce) can niblet corn
1 (11 ounce) can Rotel tomatoes & chilies
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (1 1/4 ounce) envelope taco seasoning mix
1 lb ground beef

Brown ground beef and drain
Combine all other ingredients into slow cooker - do not drain
add beef
Cook on low for 4 hours or high for 2 hours

Top with shredded cheese and sour cream and serve with tortilla chips

YUM YUM YUM.

Then for dessert... the easiest yummiest cobbler you will ever make and eat.

Cobbler

1 stick of butter or margarine (1/2 cup)
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
fruit

pre-heat oven to 350
melt butter in oven in the dish you will be using
while butter is melting, combine all dry ingredients and milk
add the mixture to the melted butter and stir
sprinkle on some fruit (I prefer something tart such as peaches, raspberries and blackberries- or the combination of all three!!

Sorry for no pictures... no good lighting whatsoever and it wouldn't have done them any justice.

Helping make cookies

Cook-ie: [kook-ie] - noun
1. a small cake made from stiff, sweet dough rolled and sliced or dropped by spoonfuls on a large, flat pan (cookie sheet) and baked.
2. one of Joselyn's favorite words - which she says very clearly and often
3. something that mom likes to make on occasion to make Joselyn happy

My favorite cookie to make is Oatmeal- I guess I feel like it's healthier because, well, oatmeal is VERY good for you. I would say I probably make a batch at least once a week- Adam likes them too and they are gone in a flash. Lately I have been letting Joselyn help me. She really enjoys helping and it keeps her occupied and tantrum free while I bake. For the first time the other day I decided I would see how she would do with a bowl of oatmeal to stir.

In between stirring and grabbing a handful to stuff in her mouth, she took a spoonful of oatmeal and threw it on the floor making a BIG mess. I was about to get  upset with her, but thought what the heck. She's having fun and I could just have her help me clean it up. So that's what I did.

When I was ready for the oatmeal, we swept up the mess on the floor and added it to the batter.

Just kidding. We didn't put that oatmeal in the cookies. Do you really think I would do something like that?

Anyway, here is my favorite Oatmeal cookie recipe that I use EVERY time. It's the best. I like them chewy so I only keep them in the oven at 350 for about 7-8 minutes. They come out PERFECT. Oh, and I NEVER use instant oats. ALWAYS old-fashioned.

2 sticks butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups oatmeal

optional: chocolate chips, raisins, nuts, craisins etc.

If I couldn't mess these up, I doubt YOU could

I was craving something pumpkiny today, so I finally decided to try out this recipe I found a few weeks ago for some pumpkin muffins. They were SO easy to make and incredibly delicious!! This recipe is definitely going to be left on the fridge for plenty of future uses. Even Joselyn couldn't get enough of them!!

PUMPKIN MUFFINS

1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup pumpkin (I used Libby's pumpkin mix)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 tsp pumpkin spice (thanks mom for letting me 'borrow' this- I finally used it and can bring it back)
1 1/4 cup + 1 tbs Sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

Put oven in middle position and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Put liners in muffin cups.

Whisk together pumpkin, oil, eggs, pumpkin-pie spice, 1 ¼ cups sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl until smooth, then whisk in flour mixture until just combined.

Stir together cinnamon and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar in another bowl.

Divide batter among muffin cups (each should be about three-fourths full), then sprinkle tops with cinnamon-sugar mixture. Bake until puffed and golden brown and wooden pick or skewer inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.

Cool in pan on a rack 5 minutes, then transfer muffins from pan to rack and cool to warm or room temperature.

Easy deliciousness!

Today was a lazy day... originally we had a family reunion to go to in Corbin but a few things came up and we ended up staying home...in our PJs...watching movies all day. It was absolutely wonderful. We haven't had a day like this in a while. I even made pancakes for breakfast! Joselyn got to enjoy little pieces of un-syruped pancakes as well. It's a very rare morning that I actually make pancakes or anything else fancy for that matter, but a lazy PJ day like today just seemed perfect for them.

A little but later on in the day, though, Adam and I were craving something sweet. We only had a few select ingredients because we were too lazy to go to the store of course, AND we were still in our pajamas. So I did a search for brown sugar, flour, oatmeal and cocoa powder and came accross this food blog. She had a recipe that she had made up that ended up in a cookbook! WE had to omit a few things such as the coconut, chocolate chips and nuts, but it still turned out perfect in my opinion. AND OH SO EASY. They are kind of like brownies but they are so ooey-gooey inside. They are hard enough on the outside though to keep it all in. Not overwhelmingly chocolatey although I bet you could add more cocoa and they would be. Anyway, I'll stop my rambling and give you our modified recipe: (one day when we have all the ingredients we will try it with ALL the ingredients!

1 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 Tbl. cocoa powder
1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick)
1 can condensed milk

Pre-heat oven to 350
Grease square pan

Mix all ingredients together and pour into pan... bake for 25-30 minutes.
Inside will SEEM too gooey at first but it hardens up a little bit in a few minutes... although it does stay gooey enough to be absolutely delicious!
Oh- and we sprinkled the top with a little bit of powdered sugar!

If you ever give this a try let me know what YOU think, too!!

Microwaveable Lime Bars

As you know, I don't claim to be the best cook in the world. When I was on my mission, however, I had to learn how to cook SOMEWHAT... and one of the things we always made was Lime Bars. (lemons were hard to come by) 2 out of the 3 places that I lived in Thailand didn't have ovens so we had to learn to bake desserts in the microwave. We had recipes for microwaveable brownies and even cookies. One of my favorite things though was making Lime Bars. LOVE them. I was really craving some, so yesterday when we had the missionaries over for dinner I made some... just like I did in Thailand! They were a hit! I promised my sister Amaree I would post the recipe, and thought I'd pass it along to everyone else too. They are SO easy to make! (And you can take that to heart because it is coming from ME)

*Lime Bars*

1/2 c. butter
1/4 c. powdered sugar
1 c. plus 2 tbsp. flour
3 eggs, beaten
1/4 tsp. salt
1 c. sugar

1/4 c. Freshly sqeezed lime juice (or lemon juice)
1/2 tsp. baking powder
Powdered sugar

Cream butter and powdered sugar. Add 1 cup flour. Pat dough 1/8 inch thick into 12 x 8 inch glass baking dish. Microwave on high 3 to 4 minutes. Rotate dish 1/2 turn after 2 minutes. Cool. Mix beaten eggs, salt, sugar, lime juice, 2 tablespoons flour and baking powder.

Pour mixture over crust. Microwave on high 6 to 8 minutes. Rotate dish 1/4 turn at two minute intervals. Garnish with powdered sugar!