Thursday Dinner Winner

Last week I made White Chicken Chili.

I forgot to take pictures of the chili that I made, but the picture provided in the blog above is a good one! 

I absolutely LOVED it. It is an excellent recipe and very tasty. It is definitely one that I will make again. The only thing that I will change when I make it again is that I am going two puree to cans of white beans instead of one. So, I will use 3 total cans of white beans instead of 2. We loved how the pureed beans thickened the chili ... but both Rich and I found that we were wishing it were just a bit thicker.

The children did not love this recipe. Martin eats everything without complaining. He's always been an excellent eater. He did say it wasn't his favorite. Jonathan seemed to like it the most of all the children. Aaron had a difficult time with it, but he has a difficult time with just about every thing! (He's come a long way, though!)

Rich and I both loved it, though. We have found that the children warm up to new things after they've had it a few times. So, we'll definitely be having this again! 

Healthy Alternatives - Sloppy Joes

I have a vague memory of sloppy joes. It seems like I may have had it once or twice as a child - but my memory, vague though it is, was not at all favorable.

However, I stumble upon an online conversation about sloppy joes, and started thinking that I could totally make that into a yummy whole foods meal. I had a feeling that sloppy joes could be a very kid friendly meal. So, I took on the challenge ... and this is what I came up with. I have only made it once, however, so tweaking will come. On this particular night, I made homemade spelt/hard white buns, *organic corn, and **grass-fed beef with onions and the "special sauce".

The sauce:

1 Cup of ***organic ketchup (we happen to think Heinz is the best there is)

1 1/2 heaping teaspoons of prepared mustard

1 Tablespoon of raw apple cider vinegar

1/4-1/2 teaspoon of powdered garlic

1 heaping Tablespoon of BBQ sauce (the kind with NO HFCS)

I threw in a little bit of filtered water to thin out the sauce a bit.

I sauteed 2 lbs of grass fed beef with minced onion (1/2 of a small onion chopped finely)

I mixed up the sauce seperately and added it to the sauce when the meat was done browning.

What an incredibly easy whole foods meal!

Also, I chose to make sloppy joes on a day that was already a planned breadmaking day. So, it didn't require anything more of me than usual. Because freshly baked buns are so incredibly awesome . . . I would only make this meal on a day that I am already making bread. I always make two loaves at a time. So, I divide the dough in half, and knead it into a loaf. The other half I use to make about 14-16 buns.

This would freeze well - for those of you that do freezer meals - you can make this ahead and freeze it!

The children loved it! SCORE!!

*organic corn - has not been genetically modified

**grass-fed beef - cows that have not been given antibiotics, hormones, and eat a diet of grass and hay as opposed to corn and soy.

***organic ketchup uses evap. cane juice instead of HFCS

Granola Bars - homemade - delicious

I have been trying to come up with a "healthy" granola bar for at least 3 years. I've made lots of different varieties and used lots of different recipes, and was never happy with the results. I finally discovered a recipe that I thought I could tweak to make it both healthy and delicious!

Here is the recipe:

Larissa's Granola Bars

1 cup brown sugar (I mix up my own using evaporated cane juice and molasses)
1/2 cup butter
2 Tbsp. honey
1/2 cup. *natural peanut butter (or natural almond butter - it's great both ways) *natural does not contain sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 egg
1 1/3 cup flour (I use either spelt, soft white, or kamut)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup rice crispies (I use brown crispy rice cereal - which contains no high fructose corn syrup)
1 1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup finely chopped almonds
1 cup chocolate chips (I use 60% cacao, dark)
1 cup coconut (unsweetened)

Mix 1st 6 ingd. together. Mix dry ingd. together, minus chocolate, coconut. Add to wet mixture, fold in remaining ingredients, press them down firmly into the pan into an 11x15 greased pan and bake @ 350 for 20 minutes or so. You should cut them while they are warm.
You can use pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds instead of almonds for variety. You could also add a cup of raisins or dried fruit if you like that sort of thing. You could use raisins for an oatmeal raisin type of granola bar. Add about a teaspoon or so of cinnamon if you do that! Every person in my family loves these bars, in fact, Rosalie starts squealing with delight when I pull them out!
And I happen to know that they really are great - because they got the seal of approval from Rich.