St. Patrick's Day "Green" Menu {Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and Dessert}

Here are three fun, green meals that will make St Paddy's Day more festive at home!

Breakfast: Green Banana Oatmeal Waffles
adapted from Mother Thyme

1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour

1/3 cup old fashioned rolled oats

2 tablespoons sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup milk

7 oz. (2 3.5oz cups) vanilla Greek yogurt

1/4-1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (optional)

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 medium ripe banana, mashed, plus an extra for topping

3 tablespoons butter, melted

green food coloring

maple syrup and softened butter for topping

lime flavored Greek yogurt for extra topping (optional)

In a large bowl stir together flour, rolled oats, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.  Make a well in the center of dry ingredients and add in milk, yogurt, chocolate chips, eggs, banana, butter, and a few drops of food coloring.  Mix ingredients together until blended.

Use quantity of batter per waffle maker instructions and cook until desired.

Top with banana slices.

Lunch: Avocado Egg Salad
adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod
2 hard boiled eggs, discard one yolk
1 avocado
1 tablespoon plain Greek yogurt (optional)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped green onion (optional)
1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

In a medium bowl, combine the hard boiled eggs and egg whites, avocado, Greek yogurt, lemon juice, green onion, and mustard. Mash with a fork. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Great served on soft bread, toast, in a wrap, or by itself. Keeps well for a few days.

Dinner: Green Chili French Fry Pie

adapted from Rachael Ray

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO), 2 turns of the pan

• 2 pounds ground turkey breast

• Salt and freshly ground pepper

• 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning

• 1 tablespoon ground cumin (a palmful)

• 1 onion, finely chopped

• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 small zucchini (optional) chopped
• 1 green bell pepper (optional) diced

• 1 15 ounce can white kidney or cannellini beans, drained

• 3/4 cup beer (one-half a 12-ounce bottle) or 3/4 cup chicken broth (eyeball it)

• 2 cups store-bought tomatillo (green) salsa

• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro or flat-leaf parsley

• 4 scallions, finely chopped

• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 2 pinches of cayenne pepper
• 1 28 oz package shoestring style frozen fries
• shredded cheese (Mexican blend) (optional)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees . Arrange the fries in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet and bake, tossing halfway through, until browned, 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the EVOO, 2 turns of the pan, in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil smokes, add the turkey and cook, breaking up the meat. Season with salt and pepper, the poultry seasoning and cumin; brown and crumble the meat for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the onion and garlic. Add the chopped zucchini and diced bell pepper and cook for 5 minutes more. Add the beans and stir to heat through. Add the beer and cook for about 1 minute. Stir in the salsa and simmer the chili over low heat. When the fries finish baking, stir the cilantro into the chili. Transfer the chili to a medium casserole (it should be filled to the rim) and top with the scallions.

Mix a teaspoon of salt with the chili powder and cayenne. Remove the fries from the oven and top with the seasoned salt and cheese if desired. Pile the fries on top of the casserole, evenly covering the green chili, and serve.

Dessert: Irish Creme Cake
from Betty Crocker

Cake

1

box Betty Crocker™ SuperMoist™ devil’s food cake mix

1

box (4-serving size) chocolate instant pudding and pie filling mix

4

eggs 

1/3

cup vegetable oil

1

cup Irish cream liqueur

1

cup sour cream

Irish Cream Frosting

1

cup butter, softened

4

oz (half of 8-oz package) cream cheese, softened

3

cups powdered sugar

1/4

cup Irish cream liqueur

1

teaspoon vanilla

Chocolate Glaze (optional)

4

oz bittersweet baking chocolate, chopped 

1/2

cup whipping cream

1/4

cup light corn syrup

2

teaspoons vanilla

1/3

cup sliced almonds, toasted

• Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pans). Spray 2 (9-inch) round cake pans with cooking spray.
•  In large bowl, beat all cake ingredients with electric mixer on medium speed 5 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally, until well blended. Pour batter into pans. Bake 35 to 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove cakes from pans to cooling racks. Cool completely.
•  In large bowl, beat butter and cream cheese with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low. Add powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating until blended. Add 1/4 cup liqueur and 1 teaspoon vanilla; beat until frosting is smooth and spreadable.
•  Place 1 cake layer on serving plate; spread with one-third of the frosting. Top with second layer. Frost side and top of cake with thin layer of frosting to seal in crumbs. Refrigerate 30 minutes. Frost cake with remaining frosting.
• (Optional)Place chopped chocolate in small bowl. In small saucepan, heat whipping cream over medium heat until bubbles form around edge. Pour warm cream over chocolate; let stand 1 minute. Stir with whisk until chocolate is melted. Add corn syrup and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Stir until smooth. Let stand 10 minutes or until thickened.
•  Pour glaze on top of cake, letting some glaze drip down side. Sprinkle almonds around edge of cake. Store in refrigerator.
• 

First "Message Monday" (and Meals)

Hey y'all! You're probably wondering if I forgot that today is actually Tuesday. I didn't forget, but I mentioned in my last post that I had some ideas for the blog to help me be more regular in posting. One idea is to re-cap what I learned on Sunday in a Monday morning post. Since I was without Internet all afternoon Sunday through yesterday, I decided to just go ahead with it today. I plan to also include some of last week's meals with the Message Monday posts.

On a side note, I am so relieved to finally have a planner again! I feel so much better putting my dates and tasks in writing. I had an Amy Knapp Family Organizer before, and I tried just using my phone after that. I don't know about you, but I tend to remember things much better if I write them down. I highly recommend these planners!

On to Sunday!

In small group Bible study, Ben read a passage from Leviticus where God gave instructions to His people to take a year Sabbath from working their land every seventh year. We talked about why God would give such instructions: it symbolized how he rested on the seventh day when he created the whole earth, and we also discussed how even today, wise farmers will let sections of their land rest every seven years to prevent using up all the nutrients in the soil. We looked back at the verses in Genesis where God gave his command for man to care for and rule over the earth. Ben shared that he learned from a Bible commentary that the original word used implied not just using up the earth, but actually making use of what we're given. In other words, man is not supposed to simply consume the fruits of the earth, but to make all our resources useful and try to preserve them. We had some discussion on environmental activism, and why Christians are sometimes accused of not caring about conservation. We concluded that generally (of course there are exceptions), that stigma is a false perception; that Christians do care, but Christ and His Gospel are our main cause. So... God taught me through that reading of scripture and class discussion that he really does desire for us to see the earth as a gift to be cared for, not taken advantage of. (So what if I cloth diapered my two kids and I recycle?) I was convicted that I can do much more to care for my God's green earth, and that He wants me to. 

Our pastor has been planning a "prayer experiment" that started yesterday. His sermon was on prayer, and revolved around Luke 11:9-10 which says, "Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened." 

Source

Our church is going to be praying individually and collectively over the next 40 days intensely, without considering any "loopholes" and waiting to see what God's going to do. I am so excited! The thing that spoke to my heart the most in the sermon was the original word that was used for the "asking" and "knocking." It meant shameless asking and shameless knocking! I never thought that I could ask God for something in that way! So we're praying, waiting, and expecting great things from God! I got to share a new song along with our choir yesterday too; it went right along with the prayer theme. It's called "Standing," and it quotes the old hymn "Standing on the Promises" in the bridge. The chorus says "We're gonna see what we're praying for. We believe every single word. Stronger than we've ever been, standing on the promises. We're gonna see the impossible. We release the supernatural. Stronger than we've ever been. We are standing on the promises."

Ben and I relaxed for the remainder of the Sabbath by backpacking in to the backcountry of the National Park, and camping for the night. We had the whole campsite to ourselves, and we had a great time. It is such a privilege to get to enjoy God's creation right in my back yard!

Here are some recipes for last week's meals:

Ham and broccoli calzones

Fish tacos with chipotle cilantro broccoli slaw (recipe coming soon for slaw)

Lemon chicken and asparagus

Morning glory muffins

Last Week's (QUICK) Meals

I tried two new recipes last week, and they were both successes. I hope you get a chance to try them out. All of these meals were quick too!

This was AMAZING! And it was easy too. I grilled some garlic marinated chicken to go along with it; my sister made a salad, and we had hot bread with balsamic dipping oil. Sooo good! (So good that I forgot to take a picture.)  ;) Recipe here. Tip: to make this even faster, crisp and crumble the bacon beforehand.

Grilled salmon and veggies with leftover artichoke-dill-kalamata whole wheat pasta salad. 

Frozen bean burgers from Earthfare with Alexia sweet potato fries. 

Buffalo chicken lettuce (chard) wraps with homemade blue cheese dressing and celery & carrot sticks. 

Have you tried any new quick recipes lately?

Have you followed me on Pinterest yet? You can find most of my meal plan meals there.

Meal Plan Monday (6/30)

Curry chicken and veggies

Brittany's stuffed shells

Spinach quiche and pesto sundried tomato & broccoli quiche

White Chicken Chili

I know I don't always include recipes or links to the recipes, but you can find most all of my meal plan meals on my Pinterest boards. Just click the Pinterest botton on the side bar of my home page. If you are reading from a mobile device, click "view web version" to see the side bar.

Tips for Weekly Meal Planning {and last week's meals}

I'm a little late getting this out, but I guess it's better late than never. Recapping my meals from the previous week really helps me when I am having a brain block and cannot come up with any ideas for the upcoming week. Here's how I usually do my meal planning:

Start thinking on Sunday about what we want to have during the week and which nights I know that we will be home. It does not always happen, but I like to plan at least two meals with a couple of repeat ingredients. Spinach is an ingredient that I use often; for example in a quiche, and then as a side with another meal. 

On Sunday night or Monday morning, make a rough list of the meals that I have come up with, and then figure out if any of the meals will have large quantities of leftovers. If any of the meals will have big leftovers, I eliminate one meal and replace it with a leftovers night. 

On Monday morning, make a grocery list based on the planned-for meals. Then I take an inventory of what I already have on hand and eliminate from the list as needed.

Then I head to the store.

Here are last week's meals:

Veggie enchiladas

Grilled peach and prosciutto pizza

Click here for my best homemade pizza dough

Thai Basil

Recycled pic. I actually had the coconut soup with chicken. 

Ben and I also made a large batch of breakfast burritos for the freezer.

For Father's Day, I may Ben some of my homemade cinnamon rolls.

Definitely a new love in our house!

I also made a blackberry cobbler for the cookout that we had at Ben's parents after church. (Sorry, no photo.)

Do you meal plan?

Do you do weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or another way?

Sorry for the ghetto jpeg... I'm not very tech/blog savvy. ;)

Meal Plan Monday (6/9) and Scripture Memory

Happy Monday! I hope you had a great weekend!

Last week was fun in the kitchen. I tried one new recipe, and did some freezer meals to have on-hand for friends and family.

This was our line-up for the week:

Grilled honey lime chicken sandwiches with sweet potato fries (new for us)

slider bun topped with avocado, tomato, and salsa verde

Broccoli cheese soup (no photo of the soup, but I got a pic of the HUGE bowl of fresh shredded Gouda!!!) I doubled the recipe and froze half. 

Fish tacos on Trader Joe's whole wheat tortilla topped with avocado, spinach, and salsa verde

Smoked finger ribs with baked sweet potatoes, and green beans

Homemade fruit bar popsicles 

Homemade cinnamon rolls

These were AMAZING and simple to make!

Sneak peak into this week's meals:

Grilled chicken and veggie kabobs with blue cheese stuffed red potatoes

Grilled peach and prosciutto pizza 

Veggie enchiladas with Mexican brown rice

Goat cheese pasta with farmer's market inspired salad

It's a busy second half of this week, but I'm really looking forward to it! I want to do my very best for the Lord in every task and appointment. I want to devote myself to refreshing my memory verses this week, specifically Ephesians 6:11-18 and Romans 1:16-23. I encourage you to get in God's Word and memorize it. It will change your life! 

Meal Plan Monday

Happy Monday! I'm working on a couple of posts other than meal plans (I know some of you don't care about these), but those other topics take a bit more time for me to hash-out. So just bear with me, please. We have a fairly laid-back week this week, so cooking should not be an issue. Here's a glance back into last week's meals:

Last Monday was Memorial Day, and we were hiking most of the day. By the time we got back home, it was too late too cook, and I was too tired. So we ate leftover homemade pizza and I made a quick microwave quesedilla with some fresh avocado slices. The rest of our meals were great:

Warm steak and potato salad (Melissa D'Arabian)

Quiche: I made the usual spinach-mozzarella, but wanted to try something new on the second pie. I had been inspired by a Rachael Ray frittata recipe; so I made Brussels sprouts-scallion-feta quiche. I thought it was really good for a change. Ben liked it too. 

Indian spice curry chicken and veggies

This was my first time making Indian food. It was delicious, and Ben loved it too! (The curry powder was from a friend who is from India.)

We went out for Mexican on Friday night and had lots of leftovers, which we saved for our late Sunday night dinner after church. Ben had the Cuban sandwich and I had chicken fajitas with house-made corn tortillas. Yum!

I am doing some freezer meals this week to have on-hand for my close friend who is getting very close to her due date with her third baby boy and for my mom, who is having surgery next week. I will be making breakfast casserole, broccoli cheese soup, and a chicken dish (haven't decided yet). I will probably also make some muffins for each of them when the time comes. 

Our menu at home this week will look something like this:

Grilled honey lime chicken sandwiches with sweet potato fries

Broccoli cheese soup

Fish tacos

Something in Ben's smoker for the weekend

Do you have any homemade freezer meals that you love? With chicken?

Do you like to venture out and try new cuisines? or do you stick with what you know?

Bible Study Update and (last week's) Meal Plan

I'm about 20 years behind, but I just starting reading Francine Rivers' Mark of the Lion series. Oh my! It is such a great story! I have a hard time putting it down sometimes. I'm on book two, and I can't wait to find out what happens. It's such a beautiful story of faith and unwavering devotion to God.

Have you read any Francine Rivers stuff?

Speaking of unwavering devotion to God, Ben taught an amazing lesson yesterday morning about self-examination. He talked about how we all want to know why we do the things we do in reaction to our circumstances, especially the sinful ones that we regret. There are many excuses that we can come up with for why we respond negatively to life, but if we are believers, then we should be able to look internally (not externally) for a solution. And that solution is always the process of self-examination led by the Holy Spirit, which leads to confession of the particular sinful response, which should prompt repentance (turning away from), which should bring us back into worship and closer fellowship with God. Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to "Love The Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength." If we say that we want to obey this command, then we must own-up to our sins, big and small, seen and unseen. 

It was a very convicting lesson, and I am proud of Ben for teaching so obediently.

Last week's meal plan was extremely random. I made several things that I do not make very often, and there were not any repeat ingredients between any two recipes. It's rare that that happens. Here's what we had:

Brittany's sweet potato and black bean chili

Pulled pork BBQ sandwiches with broccoli slaw and baked beans

Eggplant zucchini bake (Rachael Ray)

Homemade pizza

Some lunches were:

Leftover chicken tortellini soup from last week

Veggie sliders

I feel like I get in a lunch "slump" a lot. Do you have any lunches that you are enjoying lately?

Meal Plan Monday (on Tuesday 3/20)

We got hit with the stomach bug last week! It staggered through the kids and Ben, and we are still seeing lingering symptoms. I've somehow been able to avoid the bug so far. We did still manage to get a few good meals in last week, despite the madness...

Spinach quiche (click here for tutorial on my easy homemade pie crust)

Grilled marinated chicken tenders with homemade mac n cheese and French green beans

Leftover quiche

Mug brownie for a late-night treat

Summertime chicken tortellini soup (made with leftover grilled chicken tenders)

These leftovers were great for soothing sick tummies all weekend. 

The kids helped me make batch of these mini muffin corn dog bites to freeze. As it turns our, they don't like corn dogs! Oh well... they'll make good snack or lunch for me.

Here's a little pre-view of our eats for this week:

Sweet potato and black bean chili
Crock pot BBQ sandwiches
Eggplant Zucchini Bake
Trader Joe's black bean burgers
Indian spice curry chicken and veggies

I hope these meal plan posts inspire you to try some new stuff for your family!

What are some new recipes you've liked lately?

Weekend Re-cap and Meal Plan Monday

Hey y'all! I hope you had a great weekend. Ours was busy, busy! Ben was out of town Thursday-Saturday, which makes things seem crazy no matter what. I had choir rehearsal Thursday night for our Palm Sunday/ Easter Cantata which we presented yesterday (Sunday) morning in both services. Friday morning, we had the PEP Moms spring luncheon, which was super-fun! Our speaker was a master gardener, and she helped us make some one-pot herb gardens. She even gave us some recipes to use our fresh herbs in! It was lots of fun, and the food was great too.

I tried to do my 20-mile training run on Saturday morning, but my start time kept getting delayed! I finally started a little after 11:30, and it was brutal! The high temperature was somewhere in the low 80's, and I am not used to that! I basically walked the last 5 miles, but at least I covered the distance. :( The marathon is only 19 days away!!! I also got just a little sunburn...

We had a huge family cook-out at my mom and dad's on Saturday evening, and it was lots of fun. My kids love playing at my parents' house; they have lots of property and lots of toys. I enjoy it too because I can let them have lots of freedom compared to being in our subdivision. Rush also got to go with my dad and my grandfather ("Papaw") to their garden while I was running. He helped them plant yellow squash and zucchini, and he rode the tractor and played in the dirt. It makes me so happy when my kids get to experience things like that with their grandparents. I hope that Rush has a love for home-grown foods like my dad and papaw. It would be awesome if one day he was running the garden!

Ben got home around midnight on Saturday, and I had to get up for early service on Sunday morning. I was almost late to church, which would have been a disaster since my solo was the opening song! But I made it just in time. Whew! The service was so sweet and spirit-filled. [The link will not be up on the church website yet, but if you're interested in watching it, check in about a week.] It was a great Sunday all around! We even got to take dinner over to my sister's house before the evening service! If you like salmon, you MUST try this recipe. It was the perfect spring meal: strawberry feta salmon wraps!

On to last week's meal plan. Like I said, it was an odd week, so the plan probably would not fill a four-person family's normal weekly meal plan. But life is life. You've gotta roll with it. 

Shrimp tacos with Mexican fried brown rice and hominy (recipe for the rice coming soon)

Southwest stuffed sweet potatoes with shredded slow-cooker salsa chicken

Tortellini 

We even had take-out one night. Very rare for a week night. It was a nice break from the norm, and I was so excited to eat it that I did not take a picture. I had crab cakes with snap peas and mashed potatoes, and Ben had petite pork chops with spinach maria. 

I also made morning glory muffins. The recipe made 6 regular sized muffins and 24 mini muffins. I sent the regular-sized ones with Ben on his trip. 

This week should be a bit more normal. I am so excited to celebrate my Savior this Sunday! Happy a happy holy week!

Weekend Re-cap and Meal Plan Monday (3/31)

It's Monday! I hope you had a great weekend! Ours was a little nuts-o, but still a fun one. 

We ended up going on a last-minute double date night with my sister and her husband on Friday night. Thanks to my mom and dad for babysitting on short-notice. 

I got up early on Saturday for my 18-mile marathon training run. The forecast was calling for a chance of rain all day, but it held off for the entire run! I was really grateful, but also annoyed, because I had to run with my rain jacket tied around my waist. Overall, the run went really well. I did a short yoga stretching session later in the afternoon, and I think that helped with soreness tremendously! Ben went to the dodgeball tournament fundraiser in the afternoon, and he had a great time. We went to his dad's birthday celebration that evening. 

Sunday morning, Ben did a great job teaching about suffering, trials, and temptations in the lives of Christians, and how they are really the only way for us to mature and increase our faith. The thing that stuck out the most to me is the point that even in blessings, trials and temptations can be produced; because when we are cruising along all jolly and fine, we can be tempted to become lazy in our faith, complacent, and even fulfilled by our state of "good". So often, this has happened to me, and when I fall into one of these states, I am so shocked when I realize that a bad attitude has crept in, whether it be self-destructive thinking, being critical of others, being jealous of others, being obsessed with my own happiness and contentment, etc., etc. I drift just far enough away from my dependency on Christ that I freak out. (The old song "Throw Out the Lifeline" comes to mind.) But the Holy Spirit helps me (us); he gently reminds me of my need for full reliance and intentional pursuit of God in all situations: good or bad, happy or sad, peaceful or crazy, smooth or unorganized. I cannot let the blessings of life blind me to my need for Him all day, every day. I bet you can relate to this too. 

We went to Dollywood all afternoon before evening church service. Needless to say,, the kids were exhausted last night when we finally came home! :)

Well, on to the meal plan. I haven't posted one of these in quite a while, but I'm doing it a bit differently. This is actually our meal plan from last week with some pictures and some recipes. Maybe it will give you some idea for a new meal for your family. 

Spinach tortellini with broccoli and marinara (recipe coming Thursday in my Munchkin Meals post)

Spinach quiche

Pulled pork sandwiches with slaw, roasted potatoes and mushrooms, and cornbread muffins

Homemade pizza

Brittany's Sweet potato and black bean chili

Check back in later this week for Munchkin Meals hosted by Brittany.

Have a happy Monday!!!