The Fresh 20 Night #1

So I heard about this meal planning service from my sister whose friend has been on it for many months now and really loves it. She claims that they have really started saving money on groceries, wasting less, and looking and feeling healthier. I looked it up and immediately became intrigued. It looks quite simply like the answer to my "I'm so sick of figuring out what is for dinner" prayers. And it looks pretty darn healthy and right on track with my wanting to eliminate as many processed foods as possible. Plus now with the addition of our Vitamix, anything seems possible. I know, I know, we are crazy. So before I commit to it fully, I decided to sign up for the free week and do it exactly as they plan it out and make my decision at the end of the week. I picked the vegetarian option as we eat mainly veggie in our household and the classic plan was way too meat heavy for us. Plus, I feel as a vegetarian (mostly) I need to venture out and prepare and eat more foods at home that I would never consider (parsnips). We need to break out of the stir-fry, pasta, pizza rut we are in. And it is 2014, a new year, why not?!?! So I gave it a go. I printed my week off, headed to the store on Sunday and got my week full of dinner ingredients.

Night #1 - Lemon, thyme, potato pancakes with homemade applesauce and plain greek yogurt, with sauteed brussel sprouts. It was easy to prepare, made from scratch and pretty darn good. I'm already ready to sign up for 3 months. I loved not having to think about what was for dinner, and it felt really balanced and healthy. The ingredients and flavors went together perfectly. And it was something I would never ever think about making. Miles ate the brussel sprouts and Tim cleaned his plate and had seconds. We also had some pancakes left over for lunch today.

Fresh 20 Meal #1

Tuna Noodle Casserole

Sunday night comfort food, that's what I was thinking about all day, so I whipped up a 'made from scratch' tuna casserole that I found on www.skinnytaste.com .  Funny because, I have never made tuna casserole before, besides cooking some egg noodles and mixing them with a can of cream of celery soup and not even adding any tuna.  After I found this recipe I decided to give it a try. My kids both frowned and said "I don't like this" before I even told them what it was. After Miles tried it he ate the whole thing and well Evie, she never tried it so that's that.  But I really liked it, it hit the spot and I'll definitely make it again. And no canned soup needed! The only changes I made was I used only one can of tuna and vegetarian no chicken broth (by Better Than Bouillon). I also just used olive oil spray instead of the butter cooking spray listed. I think this recipe would even be great without the tuna if you are not a tuna fan and like creamy noodles and mushrooms. Yummy!

Skinny Tuna Noodle Casserole
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes 
Servings: 6 • Size: 1/6th • Old Points: 6 pts • Points+: 8 pts
Calories: 318 • Fat: 7 g • Protein: 27.3 g • Carb: 34.3 g • Fiber: 3.6 g    


Ingredients:

• 6 oz no-yolk noodles (Ronzoni Healthy Harvest, or brown rice pasta for gluten free)
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 medium onion, minced fine
• 3 tbsp flour (gluten free use rice flour)
• 1 3/4 cups fat free chicken broth
• 1 cup 1% milk
• 1 oz sherry (optional)
• 10 oz sliced baby bella mushrooms
• 1 cup frozen petite peas (thawed)
• 2 (5 oz) cans tuna in water, drained (I used albacore)
• 4 oz 50% reduced fat sharp cheddar (I used Cabot)
• butter flavored cooking spray
• 2 tbsp parmesan cheese
• 2 tbsp whole wheat seasoned breadcrumbs

Directions:

Cook noodles in salted water until al dente, or slightly undercooked by 2 minutes. Set aside.

Melt the butter in a large deep skillet. Add onions and cook on medium heat until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the flour and a pinch of salt and stir well, cooking an additional 2-3 minutes on medium-low heat 

Preheat oven to 375°. Lightly spray 9 x 12 casserole with butter flavored cooking spray.

Slowly whisk in the chicken broth until well combined, increasing heat to medium and whisking well for 30 seconds, then add the milk and bring to a boil. When boiling, add sherry, mushrooms and petite peas, adjust salt and pepper to taste and simmer on medium, mixing occasionally until it thickens (about 7 to 9 minutes). Add drained tuna, stirring another minute.

Remove from heat and add 1 cup reduced fat sharp cheddar and mix well until it melts. Add the noodles to the sauce and mix well until evenly coated. Pour into casserole and top with parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs. Spray a little more cooking spray and top and bake for about 25 minutes. Place under the broiler a few minutes to get the crumbs crisp (careful not to burn).

Mr. Banana Face

Miles and Evie have this little beat up baby book that we got out of a Little Free Library, that has a picture of a face made out of fruit, mainly a banana.  Miles is obsessed with it lately so I started making these...

I mean look at how happy it makes him.  

He will eat these little fruit faces up so quickly. His sister on the other hand always wants one but never finishes them. Usually it is Miles who is not the best eater. I guess this is a big deal to me because I have NEVER made a fun face or any sort of picture out of food in the 4+ years that I have been a parent. I guess the little extra effort does make them want to eat the food on their plates!

Merry Christmas...

New recipes made this weekend:

Garlic Feta Hummus

Garlic Feta salad dressing

Greek Chicken

Chocolate Dipped Pretzels

Spinach Artichoke Dip

Great holiday weekend....walked to the creek this morning with family and let Oscar run wild. Miles was in the sled and not a fan of the snow or cold. Cinnamon rolls one morning, blueberry pancakes the next. It was a perfect snowy white Christmas with my little family. These are the moments I never want to end. Miles opened his 2 presents from Santa and a handful of presents from my family on Christmas Eve. He has gotten really good at opening presents and letting out a big "wooooow" after he gets it open...then tosses the present aside to tackle the next.

He also enjoyed his time with Auntie Kay Kay jumping off the ottoman in our living room and entertaining her with all of his new toys.