A Week's Worth of Brekkies

A great way to get going on these cold winter mornings in is a hot bowl of oatmeal! I don't have time every morning to make a pot of good old fashioned oatmeal but I am not a fan of the prepackaged instant oatmeals, they just aren't the same. The oats have been so over rolled there isn't nearly as much fibre left in them as there should be and I can make my own flavours with natural ingredients.  If I want maple flavoured oatmeal, I will just add maple syrup!

My breakfast is happy to see me!

 I generally buy the generic brand of steel cut oats or multigrain oats and cook up a week's worth of oatmeal on Sunday afternoon or evening.  Follow the instructions on the box to cook up the oatmeal and divy the oatmeal out into single serve portions into bowls (with plastic wrap) or containers with lids if you have.  All you have to do in the morning is pop it into the microwave for a minute or two and you are ready for the day! (Or grab it to take to work, use the  microwave in the classroom/staffroom and let the kids watch you enjoy your oatmeal!)

Cook the oatmeal according to package instructions.





Here's where you can adjust the flavours to suit your mood:

• Switch out the water for another liquid such as juice, coconut milk, soy milk, milk....even tea

 
While cooking add to the pot the flavours of your choice:

• 1 chopped apple (keep the peel), handful of raisins, 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• handful of chopped dates (sweetness), shredded coconut,
• pumkin pie spices and smow pureed pumpkin
• chopped pineapple, coconut, and some rum extract (Do you like pina colodas?)
• a handful of chopped dried apricots, some chopped walnuts...
• dried blueberries

The possiblities really are endless, just use your imagination.
Today I felt like apples, dates, and cinnamon!

Lately I have been adding some frozen strawberries and a gulp of maple syrup before popping it into the microwave for 2 minutes.

Being prepared for the week ahead helps keep morning mayhem to a minimum.  Get up, get ready, have breakfast, and go.

One for each day of the week!! This batch has apples, dates, and cinnamon in it but I will most likely add some maple syrup and strawberries in the morning!  This really does save so much time in the mornings.

Mom?? Is There Anything To Eat Around Here?? Tales of A Hungry Teen

Taco Salad, salsa, & chips

 As I putter around the Little Kitchen getting my lunch containers washed and ready for tomorrow's lunch and pondering the much asked question "What should I make for dinner?"   I hear a key rattle in the lockset of the back door...next comes the click of the door handle turnings.  The door opens and in comes the plodding footsteps of my lumbering teen age son.  Sounding like the call of the wild I hear "Hello!?"  After a quick verbal exchange circling around our days, homework, and what's new, the big question he is dying to ask finally surfaces: "Do we have anything to eat around here?  I am starving!"....

Well, it has started again...my 15 year old son came home from school absolutely ravenous!! While this in not completely unusual, he was just that much more hungry than normal.  He exclaimed that he had eaten all of his lunch at school today and was still hungry.  Most days he comes home and has a snack.  No problem here.  Most kids (and adults) require a little snack to get them through to dinner.  However, he will come home, make a chicken ceasar salad or some other fairly decent snack.

We keep already cooked and sliced chicken breast in single serve portions in the freezer so he can just thaw them in the microwave.  While his chicken his thawing, he prepares his salad with already washed, dried, and stored in fridge romaine lettuce, dressing, some cheese, croutons...all the fixings.  Of course he still eats a full dinner with us later.  Even my son seemed confused by how hungry he was today.  I do try to keep the fridge and freezer stocked with items he can quickly assemble and eat.  This is especially helpful when he has a baseball practice or team workout!  Yes, that is correct, I said baseball.  I realize there is a thick blanket of snow on the ground right now but currently his team practices on skill develpment and strengthening indoors. (They will also get to travel far enough South on their spring break to play in the States where it will already be warm enough to play outdoors.)

Big pot O' taco meat

 Here is our new idea for this week of feeding frenzies!

• Cook up a big batch of taco meat and store it in the fridge.  Add your favourite taco seasonings.  This can also be stored in single serve (1/4 cup or 1/3 cup) portions and frozen for quick heating in the microwave.  Ideas for taco seasonings can be found here.

Taco meat for the week:

In batches, fry up a large family pack of ground beef, transferring cooked meat to a bigger pot.  While the meat is cooking, add some finely diced onions, garlic and green pepper.  (sneak in those veggies if you have to!)

Mix together in a bowl:

• 2 tbsp dried red pepper, crushed
• 2 tbsp onion powder
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• ½ tsp  kosher salt
• 1 ½ tbsp paprika

Start by using about 1 tbsp seasoning per pound of meat.  Taste and adjust seasonings. Add more hot peppers if you wish. 

•   Cut up favourite toppings for tacos and taco salads (peppers, shredded cheese, onions, tomatoes, pickeled peppers).  Store the toppings in baggies or containers and place them in a basket in the fridge.  Keeping everything in one basket makes it easy to take that basket out, assemble your taco, salad, or other food item.
• Add a package of taco shells or flour tortillas to the basket.
•  
• Store the taco meat next to the basket.
•  
• Store a big bunch of pre washed lettuce on top. 
• Let your teen make a taco, taco salad, or even a danged quesadilla for snack or for lunch.

basket o' toppings with flour tortillas

  The salsa was made with a little help from Epicure.  It is a simple, easy way to make salsa.  I use a can of no salt added diced tomatoes, some diced peppers, diced onions, and the Epicure spice mix....voila!  Tasty salsa to go with taco week.

My son's taco wrap, chips and watermelon

What do You Mean You are STILL Hungry???? Some friendly neighbourhood tips on feeding a hungry teen.

Keeping enough food in the house to feed a rapidly growing almost 15 year old boy is tough.  Not only can it be expensive but it is a never ending job.  After school snacks are more like a first dinner.  Snacks after baseball practice have turned into just another meal.  I swear he would eat in his sleep if he could. When I tell you that my boy is a big guy, what I mean is that he is tall.  He towers over me.  If I need something from the top shelf, which is waaay out of my reach, I just call my son.   At the tender young age of 14, he is already over 6 feet tall....he doesn't get that from me.

Between baseball workouts, growth spurts, and his seemingly bottomless stomach, we have been looking for ways to keep him full.  Lucky for us, our son will give anything a try and is not a picky eater.  He loves sandwiches.  Actually, I think that is an understatement....he LOVES sandwiches.  The only problem with sandwiches is that deli meat is not only expensive but it is loaded with nitrates, sodium, and any number of other additives.  Lucky for us, today was grocery shopping day!

Today while shopping, outside round roasts were on sale.  We snagged a nice size roast for little money, rubbed it up with flavour and slow roasted it in the oven.  We will slice it up with the deli slicer and voila: sandwiches for lunches and snacks.  Of course it does take a little more than a great deal on a roast to feed a ravenous teen ager for a week.

Since I do enjoy baking and my son enjoys eating the results of my baking, yesterday I had a bakery day in my kitchen.  It really is a perfect match. I made a double batch of honey seeded buns and a double batch of pretzel rolls.  Both of these will help keep the food costs down for the week.  He can make a quick bunwich (or 3), have a piece of fruit and get on with his day.

 Tips for feeding hungry teens:

• Shop the sales!  Buy a roast or chicken or which ever is on sale and plan the weeks lunches and snacks around that.
• Cook your sale meat items to your liking and slice.  The kids will be more likely to use it up if it is already sliced and easy to access.  
• Freeze excessive amounts in 1 or 2 sandwich portions for easy thawing and sandwich making.
• bake your bread or buns at home, if possible.  If not, keep the freezer stocked with:
• buns
• tortillas
• pitas
• flatbreads
• anything to make a sandwich or a wrap
• keep a basket in the fridge with approved sandwich fixings (helps keep kids away from things you are wanting to use for other meals):
• mayo
• mustard
• cheeses
• dressings or spreads of choice
• washed lettuce (also great for salads on the go) I like to buy the giant bag of prewashed lettuce to keep on hand so my son can make a quick cesar salad.
• keep another basket with pieces of fruit or other pre portioned snack items that are solely for the purpose of snacking and lunches.  Ours tends to include:
• apples
• oranges
• baggies of carrot sticks
• yogurt cups
• baggies of other cut fruit (melon, pineapple)
• baggies of grapes, cherries

(These baskets are also a great way to get teens to make their own lunches for school.  Just keep them stocked and get input from the kids so you know what to buy)

 
Peppered Roast Beef

Pre heat the oven to 250 degrees F. (This temperature can change depending on what type of roast you have purchased.  Some roasts cook up better in a low temperature oven.)

Today I used an outside round roast.  Take it out of the fridge to come to room temperature while you assemble the rub.

Make a rub to season the roast.  Today I used:

• 2 tbsp black pepper (fresh ground)
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste)

Rub the pepper mixture all over the roast, don't miss any part of the roast.  This rub will make a nice peppery crust on the outside of the roast.

Place the roast in a roasting pan, stick in a thermometer, and cover with foil.

Roast in the oven until medium on your thermometer (or medium rare, if that is how you like it).

Allow the roast to cool before you slice it.  This not only allows the juices to redistribute but allows the crust to settle on the roast.

Slice to desired thickness and start making sandwiches!!