Farm Box Soup Noodles

Thanks to Living Social and my friend Erin, I signed up for monthly delivery from Farm Fresh to You. Logan is starting "people food" this month and I thought it would be so amazing to have farm fresh organic produce for him to eat, add the delivered-to-your-door element and I was head over heels!

Our first delivery came on Feb 3 and there was SO much produce I was stunned- you really get a TON for your money from these peeps!
Nate and I decided to play Farm Box Iron Chef and see how many items we could use in one meal for dinner.
We also noted, neither of us had really had chard before...I've had it once, maybe twice, but never bought it and never cooked with it myself.

What else do we have in the casa to work with?

1 container of Trader Joe's Chicken Broth
1 package of Chow Mein Noodles
Hard boiled eggs
garlic, butter, olive oil, salt n pepper
siracha

What we used from the farm box:
1 bunch of leeks (rinsed WELL and chopped)
2 purple top turnips, chopped
4 red potatoes, chopped
1/2 a bunch of chard, chopped
1 head of broccoli chopped

What we did with it:

In a large pot add 1 T butter (we use yogurt butter) 1 T olive oil over medium heat.
Add the leeks & garlic- saute til fragrant, about 2-5 minutes
Add the chicken broth 1/8 tsp (a couple little squeezes) siracha, salt n pepper and bring to a boil- reduce to a simmer add the potatoes & turnips- cover and simmer 15-20 minutes
meanwhile cook noodles according to package directions- but take them off the heat and drain them a few minutes early so they are a little aldente- you want  them to finish cooking in the broth and absorb the soupy goodness.
Add the broccoli, chard and noodles to the simmering pot and simmer another 5 minutes or so until potatoes and turnips are soft and noodles are fully cooked.
Chop a hard boiled egg and serve the noodles with veggies and broth with the egg on top!!

Parm Pop

My husband always tells me I am "over informed" to a fault- you know, how the internet can be your best friend and worst enemy all at once. For instance- I haven't eaten chicken in a month because I read some horrible article, I know, I'm crazy- and I LOVE chicken!! What the heck!?!
I try to focus these bouts of "TMI" by only freaking myself out by things I can DO something about- while I was pregnant with Logan I read about the BAGS that microwave popcorn come in are woven out of pure sin or something like that. Of course I saw somebody bust out paper-bag popcorn that very same week via PINTEREST so I pinned it and we've been brown-baggin' it ever since!
Cheaper, easy as can be and less "sin" or whatever the stupid bag was made of.

I do have to say my microwave has a "popcorn" button that may be a sensor setting- so you may have to experiment with timing- I just press the same button I did when we were makin' the other stuff.

This weekend we got Horrible Bosses in our Netflix- so made some Parmesan cheese popcorn to go with it!

1 brown lunch bag
1/3 cup popcorn kernels
about 1-2 T butter or olive oil- you can use either- we used olive oil this time
Parmesan cheese (dry, crumbly- ala Trader Joe's in this case)
Salt

add the kernels to the bag with about 1 T of oil or butter (I eyeball this, we use Brummel & Brown yogurt butter so it's soft- and it's like 2 tip-of-the-butter-knife dollops- with the olive oil I just drizzle some in- toss the kernels around a bit to coat)
Fold the bag closed
I think you cook it for the same as a normal sized bag of microwave popcorn- try a little less you can always add a few 20-30 second increments till you get the timing- better to under pop than burn it!
Once popped, put it in a large bowl add a big pinch of salt and few small spoonfuls of parm & toss- you can also add a small bit of melted butter or olive oil at this point too.
Perfect date night at home~

Green Smoothie 3

Ahhh, yes- time to get even more veggie with it! Add some zucchini!! A "Naomi" smoothie, we'll call it!!

This weeks green machine came out a little muddy because I added black berries- this was funny to me because for the past few weeks my husband's boss has been grossed out by his every-day-slime-colored-breakfast habit- when I saw this one take a turn for the "browner" I laughed thinking what would be made of this!

This weeks mix:
1/2 zuchinni
1 banana
1 handful frozen pineapple
1 handful frozen mango chunks
1 handful black berries
BIG handful spinach
handful chopped kale- spine/stem removed
8oz cold filtered water
8oz non-fat plain Greek yogurt

Great balls of....OAT BALLS!

A friend of mine made these not too long ago and I'd been dying to try em ever since!
Now I've made them twice and added my own tweaks to the recipe. These are easy, delicious and a total must-have in the fridge at all times!! Especially if you have kiddos around, I wish I'd been making and stocking up on these when we first brought Logan home....they are a good eat-with-one-hand food!

I also make a LARGE batch so feel free to half this if you want to just give it a try~

2 cups rolled oats
1 cup crunchy peanut butter* (see note on PB if you want my two cents...)
2/3 cup honey
1 1/2 cup flaked coconut
3/4 cup ground flaxseed
1 cup dried fruit (I favor cherries or blueberries so far- if you're using anything larger chop it up first)
(optional): 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Put it all in a large bowl- mix with sturdy wooden spoon until well combined- refrigerate 1 hour (or more)
Roll into balls
Store in sealed container in fridge for up to 2 weeks

*note on peanut butter- there should only be TWO ingredients in peanut butter:
Peanuts and salt
or just peanuts
It's worth the time and effort to "stir" and refrigerate the good stuff- an easy way to nix some preservatives and such from your food!!

Green Smoothie 2

As mentioned in the last post I'm on a mission to get more fruit & veg into our lives via green smoothies for breakfast! YAY!
In the interest of, well, keeping it interesting, I switched it up a little this week! (ok, I know it looks the same as the last one...but promise there's new stuff!!)
Here's what's in this weeks smoothies:

1 banana, chopped
1 handful frozen chopped mango
1 cup chopped pineapple (this time I used frozen pineapple from Trader Joes so there was nothing canned involved- like that much better!)
1 handful blueberries
1 handful chopped kale (center stem/spine removed)
1 handful chopped baby spinach
1 cup non-fat greek yogurt, plain
1 cup cold, filtered water

Also, to save even more time I made ziploc baggies with the chopped banana and other fruits- then all I had to do was add the greens, water & yogurt- blend & serve!
(I layer in this order, not sure if it makes a difference or not...- frozen fruit, broken up, yogurt, greens, water- lid- blend)

Not only did this save time but the smoothies were frostier and we both liked the taste/texture even more :D
We're gonna stick with this recipe for the whole week, next week I'll be adding zucchini & switchin it up again- stay tuned...

Going Green for 2012

I've always cared about the environment, I like playing outside!! This post, however is about making smoothies...GREEN ones...
As mentioned in my last post, I am loving all the interesting, amazing stuff you can find on PINTEREST. In 2012 I'm going to be getting lots "pinned" and updating you guys on what I find that I actually make & love!
I'll do my best to keep it interesting & add my own recipes too, as I have in the past (can you believe this blog will be FIVE years old this year?!? I can't)
So I figure, what's the use of all my pretty pinboards if I'm not actually MAKING the stuff?? This seemed like a good place to start;
A smoothie.
With spinach! Easy enough to make in less than 15 minutes (a must with a very energetic 4mo old over here) and its goooood for ya! Nice.
My dear friend Naomi always rocked the green smoothies so I knew it be good tasting too.

Via pinterest here's the recipe:
2 bananas, peeled & cut into pieces
1c. Pineapple*
1c. Nonfat plain Greek yogurt
1c. Filtered water
2 big handfuls of baby leaf spinach
Blend & serve- makes TWO 8oz smoothies

I like this because I can make them the night before each blender full makes breakfast for me and for Nate that's just waiting for us in te frige the next morning!

The second week I made em I added a handful of blueberries!
Got a new recipe to try for next week, with a super easy time saving tip that make it possible to whip these up in less than FIVE minutes! Stay tuned & follow my findings on pinterest

Good Stuff- Easy Chicken Noodle Soup & Pintrest!

Well, our little dude is officially THREE MONTHS OLD! How did that happen? Everyone tells you how fast it will all go- and once you get into it, it's more than true- time = ZOOM.
Of course it's also the armpit of cold & flu season which is EXTRA magical when you have a newborn. We're staying well and relentlessly washing hands over here, but the other night my husband was a little congested and using stuff I had on hand I made us chicken noodle soup for dinner - it was so freakin quick, easy and good that I had to post it!
You can use rotisserie chicken from the grocery store OR any leftover turkey you may have on hand after a holiday meal!

In a big stock pot melt 1-2 T butter.
Add 1/2 a white or yellow onion (chopped), 2-3 stalks of celery (chopped), 2 carrots (chopped).
Saute until the onions are opaque- like 5 minutes.
Add 32oz low-sodium chicken broth, 1 tsp oregano, 1 tsp basil (aprox measurements- just shake some in!) a pinch of chili flakes, salt & pepper.... and cook, stirring occasionaly on med-high heat for about 10 minutes- until it boils....meanwhile- boil water in a medium sauce pot and add 2 cups uncooked corkscrew pasta to boiling water to par-boil. Only let it boil for about 6 minutes- so you can finish cooking it in the soup and it can absorb the chicken broth goodness.
Drain the pasta and add it and 2 cooked grocery-store rotisserie chicken breasts (shredded)- to the boiling soup pot, let boil about 4 minutes- until pasta is tender.
Ladle into bowls to cool, serve with some yummy crusty bread and feel better SOON!!

As my updates are a little few and far between these days, you can also find me on PINTEREST now for daily ideas and inspiration! (It's easier to do that with one hand while nursing a bebe!) I'll add this little reminder to my updates through December so you can click the link below to find me and follow along! If you are not on Pinterest but would like to be feel free to email me your email and I will send you an invite!

Sweet Life Kitchen (Beth Griffin/ Our Sweet Life) on Pintrest