Pinterestly Productive!

Sometimes you just really get caught up in pinning things on Pinterest, and then you never check out the links or do anything with them. Or am I the only one like that?

At any rate, I cleaned up my boards today and got a little bit more organized. And in the process I found some yummies to try out! I decided last-minute to head to the store so I could make some of them TODAY! Am I a crazy head or what?

So here's what we made today, and I have plans for tomorrow as well.

First off, banana chips. My picky 1 yr old doesn't like bananas (seriously, kid?), and I think it's a texture issue because he gobbles up banana chips at nursery every week. I talked to some of my friends there who like to dry bananas, and got a little jealous that I don't have a food dehydrator. But then I found a pin on Pinterest for baked banana chips, and figured I could do that. Here's my response, without having tested them on the Roobster yet. They are kind of a pain to make! Bananas are a mushy mess. You have to turn them over every half hour as they're baking, and the first two or three times they're just sticky and messy and a spatula won't work so you end up using a spoon and your fingers...ugh. But they're tasty, and the half hour between turns is nice. So we'll see how he likes them and maybe I'll make them again. I was trying to do some math in my head without knowing how much a bag of banana chips costs at Wal-mart, but I'm pretty sure they're cheaper by about $2 to make at home. And that's with my estimate of them costing $2 at Wal-mart. Bananas are cheap.

Bananas are kind of the theme lately, I guess. They're great in smoothies, they're the base of most fruit salads, I love them lately in granola, and I guess you can make ice cream without sugar! At the store today strawberries were really cheap, so I bought 8 lbs. No big deal. So we decided to make strawberry banana ice cream popsicles. They were ridiculously easy to make, and the 3 yr old loves them. Reuben isn't that into cold things yet, but he liked to come over and lick mine every chance he got. I'm hoping that this will be a solution to my ice cream fix lately...I think I've had it 4 times this week, simply because my April health challenge ended and I haven't started another one so my accountability is gone. Needless to say, I've lost and then gained the same 2 lbs in the past 8 days. It was kind of depressing to find that out this morning, so I'm swearing it off again today, but I am going to try making another frozen banana treat as soon as the hubster gets home. This one is basically non-dairy, no sugar chocolate ice cream. I'm not sure how it will turn out. What I'm finding with these banana-as-sugar recipes is that they all just taste like banana. Which isn't bad, but if you're expecting ice cream it can be a little disappointing. I think it's going to be one of those transitions where you just have to learn to enjoy the flavor, which is how I came to love many of my favorite veggies, so I think it's doable. So we'll see how that goes.

Did I mention I bought a lot of strawberries today? I found a recipe for strawberry and watermelon lemonade that I think sounds AMAZING and summery, and I've been feeling the summer vibes all week, so I thought it would make a great addition to our Saturday dinner. I am anticipating nothing but refreshing deliciousness. Although the recipe does call for sugar. You gotta indulge a little bit, right?

Speaking of dinner, I'm thinking about trying this simple soup made from sweet potatoes and cauliflower. I absolutely LOVE sweet potatoes, and so does Reuben, and this will be the second dinner this week that my parents will be able to participate in according to their diet rules :) I've been trying for one a week, so two will be extra great. Especially since the first involved grilled chicken, and this one will be entirely vegetarian :)

So those are my weekend experiments. I decided not to full-out blog about each one because they are not mine and I haven't adapted them at all yet. So I'm basically just giving a shout out to the bloggers who came up with them :)

Veggie Pancakes (yummier than they sound!)

I found something intriguing on Pinterest the other day...shocker, I know.

My daughter hates green food. She used to eat spinach, and she'll have the occasional carrot, but if it's green she just KNOWS it tastes yucky. Kind of like how my 11-month-old KNOWS what candy looks like, even though he's never had any. I've spent the last several months trying to find ways to sneak veggies into my child, and some things have been more successful than others.

THIS is successful! She loves them! And they're pretty easy to make.

Here's what I did:
1. Boil a sweet potato. The way I see it, the size doesn't matter. You need about 1-2 cups of potato, and if you end up with more you can just put it in the fridge for a yummy smoothie later :)
2. Start up the food processor, and add the ingredients!

• 1-2 cups cooked sweet potato
• 1/2 cup (ish) milk

 

• 1 (small) handful spinach (if you do too much, they come out green)

 

• 1 banana

 

• 1 cup zucchini (I didn't have a fresh one on hand, so I used leftover frozen zucchini and it turned out just fine)

 

• 3 eggs

 

• 1 cup quick oats
• Dash (or two) cinnamon

 

• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2-1 Tbsp sugar

Let it all mix together until well-blended and smooth, like pancake batter.

4. Cook 'em up just like pancakes. Easy peasy! If you have more batter than you currently need, it keeps well in the fridge until the next time you want some.

I added mini chocolate chips for my 3 yr old, and she tops them with syrup. My 11-month-old eats them plain, and I enjoy them that way as well. I'm also a crazy head who tops pancakes with applesauce, and I think these would taste good that way as well :) 

Spinach Pasta

Whenever I don't know what to make for dinner it ends up being this yummy, easy, and super-quick pasta dish. There are only 4 ingredients aside from the pasta, and it's a pretty healthy pasta dish. One thing to say right away is that pasta is not as unhealthy as people tend to think. The problem comes in what type of sauce you decide to douse the complex carb IN. Pasta itself is actually pretty good for you as a necessary carb. But when you drench it in creamy cheese sauces you add so much fat that you're setting yourself up for failure in two ways: 1) The salty, cheesy flavor is addicting, convincing you to eat more and more and more, and 2) Obviously, you're going to gain unwanted weight. Which is why I love this dish: It's not a cheese sauce, and it has spinach in it!

Here is the easiness:
1. Brown 1 lb mild Italian sausage. If you're like me, you'll have to defrost it first. The key here is to not start the pasta until the meat is partially browned, so don't jump too quickly to get your water boiling if your meat is still sitting in the microwave. Once you've got it all chopped and sizzling, then proceed to step 2.

2. Boil water for the pasta, and cook it up. This recipe works best with about 16-18 oz pasta, so adjust accordingly. I usually get Radiatore pasta, because the shape is ideal for holding the sauce, which is more runny than thick. The original recipe called for Penne, but honestly just do whatever you like and it will taste good. I wouldn't recommend Spaghetti-ish noodles, though. Hopefully you will time things perfectly so your pasta will be done by the time your sauce is. If not, just drain it and put it in a serving dish. A BIG serving dish, because you're going to have to stir the sauce in, and I always make a mess.

3. While the past and sausage are still cooking, grate up some mozzarella cheese. We didn't have any last week and used marble cheddar (or whatever it's called in America, I always forget), and it did not taste as good. Use mozzarella.

4. In case you've never cooked with ground sausage before, this is what it should look like when it's done:

Once the sausage is browned, add 3 cans of Italian-style diced tomatoes. Last time I made it I ended up with just regular tomatoes, so I added some of my trusty Italian seasoning, which worked just fine.

5. Once the tomatoes are bubbling, add 1 bag of spinach and cover. You might want to chop the spinach first, as it will spread over the pasta better that way. You'll need to stir it in eventually, but just let it wilt for a few minutes before trying that out.

6. Once the spinach is wilted and the sauce is stirred up really good, add it to the drained pasta in your serving dish. Stir that up really good, and you're ready to go!
7. Serve the pasta, then top it with the mozzarella while everything is still hot.

Voila! Easy peasy, right? My family HATES spinach. They love this.

Shameless plug for the asparagus co-starring in this dish. Asparagus is so good!! Especially when it's free! If you have easy access to it, or if you see it for less than $2/lb, steam it up and add it to any dish for some super low-calorie deliciousness!

Some info on asparagus: Asparagus is majorly alkaline, which is awesome. Most of the foods we tend to eat are acidic, and our bodies will balance our pH however it needs to. That means that if we eat a lot of acidic foods and not enough alkaline foods, the body will leech needed nutrients and substances from itself to balance the pH. This is how you can end up with deficiencies of nutrients that you're actually eating. It's also why our meals should be balanced with fruits and vegetables, most of which are alkaline. Anyway enough about that. I'll have to find a video to post later with a better explanation.
6 spears of asparagus have 20 calories. In my mind that means it's a way better diet veggie than celery, because it taste so much better but still takes more calories to eat than it contains.
It's a great source of folate, vitamin C, and potassium. Also a great antioxidant. It just plain tastes AMAZING!