Honey Siracha Zoodle Bowl

One of the first things most people seem to do when they start a diet is to cut carbs. This is inherently problematic for me - I LOVE pasta. I could eat pasta every day. It's a fairly regular part of our diet. Sure, you can buy whole wheat, protein packed, or even pasta made with veggies - but it's still not the greatest food choice. As far as Weight Watchers points go, it is most certainly a bad choice. I purchased a spiralizer over a year ago, but I've only recently started making zoodle bowls. If you haven't heard of them already - zoodles are noodles made out of zucchini. You can actually use a spiralizer to make a ton of veggies into noodles. I have lots of these recipes saved. My first few zoodle recipes weren't a hit and I really didn't get what all the fuss was about, but the bowls I've been making lately have been superb. The last veggie noodle bowl I posted was actually a cold cucumber salad, topped with honey siracha salmon.

What I've learned is that there is two tricks to zoodle bowls. First, I prefer to peel my veggies. You can totally make zuchinni noodles with the skin on, but I don't think it really hits the spot as far as a noodle replacement goes. Again, personal preference. The second trick is to drain your zoodles. Generously salt them, and place them in a strainer for a good 20 minutes. This will get a lot of the excess fluid out. You'll be shocked by how much water is left behind.

I've been looking recipes that allow us to branch out some. I'm usually willing to eat all sorts of food when I am out to eat, but rarely try to make anything even remotely exotic at home. This Honey Sriracha Chicken Zoodle Bowl from Almost Super Mom most definitely fit the bill.

I followed the recipe, but I cheated a bit: I used already cooked chicken... Using already cooked chicken, specifically Costco rotisserie chicken makes every recipe cook a tad bit faster. I cut out marinating, and cooking the chicken. I did cook it in the marinade sauce. I suppose it would have a more intense flavor, if I had marinated and cooked raw chicken, but it tasted delicious, and ease of cooking really matters in my world. Click here for the recipe and give this one a try.

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Cooking With Kids

I spent the day with two of my grandchildren yesterday while their parents were at work.  Iris, the youngest at 8 months, requires constant supervision when she is awake since she is trying hard to master walking (already!).  She is also a lightning fast crawler and is fascinated with all the things she isn't supposed to get into, especially her big brother's toys.

Her big brother, Augustine, (3 years old) looks forward to our special one-on-one time when Iris goes down for her morning nap, and yesterday we made toddler muffins.  These muffins are a great way to up your family's consumption of veggies, since you can add a large array of whatever you might have on hand into a delicious and portable treat.  (Pureed baby food works great.)  We used butternut squash, grated carrots, an over-ripe banana and raisins to the basic mix including whole wheat flour and oatmeal.  I intended to add some diced apple, but forgot it until the muffins were already in the oven. Augustine helped beat the eggs, add the cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and vanilla, then mixed in the dry ingredients.

The next chore was greasing the muffin pan with coconut oil, and he really got into that (I followed behind him to soak up the puddles of coconut oil with a paper towel). After the pan was ready, he carefully plopped a spoonful of batter into each cup of the muffin pan.  Some of the muffins ended up bigger than others, but he was in charge!

Once the muffins were in the oven, we played with his matchbox cars until the timer went off, and then the hard part was waiting until the muffins were cool enough to eat.  It was almost lunch time, so while the muffins were cooling, I assembled some cheese, sliced an apple, and scooped out a spoonful of peanut butter to complete a somewhat balanced lunch.  He ate two of the muffins and wanted a third one, but I insisted he finish off what was on his plate if he was still hungry and reserve the rest of the muffins for after nap time.

He was very proud of his muffins, and the first thing that both his Daddy and Mommy heard when they came home was about his muffins.  He had just gotten up from his nap when his Daddy got home, so Daddy was fortunate enough to be offered a muffin still on the cooling rack.  Mommy wasn't as fortunate, being offered a well-handled muffin as soon as she came in the door.

This was a win-win for both of us. Augustine is notorious for being picky about what he eats (as are most kids his age), so this got him excited about eating a generous portion of fruits and veggies (he was on his third muffin when I left, and I have no idea how many more he ate before the day was over).  We also had a great time doing a project together, and talked about measuring ingredients in cups and teaspoons.  A bit messy, but well worth it!

I am thinking that since I watch the kids once a week, I might have to line up a cooking project for each week.  We did roasted sweet potato rounds last week, and maybe we will do oatmeal cookies next week. The hardest part for me is resisting sampling too many of the of the end results.

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Cauliflower Mac & Cheese

Look at this creamy goodness

I confessed sometime ago that I don't eat enough veggies. I've found found over time that, if cooked right or a certain way, I do like more veggies than I initially thought. I just don't know what do with veggies! When I was pregnant with my first, I craved cauliflower, unfortunately it was the mini-steamer pack kind covered in cheese....not the healthiest of sides, but certainly not the worst.

Cauliflower can be used as a substitute for some starchy foods including mash potatoes, potato salad, rice and Kayte even uses it for pizza crust! (According to Wikipedia) Cauliflower is low in fat and carbs, but high in fiber, folate, water, and vitamin C. All this had me fairly sold - then I saw this  droolworthy Buzzfeed  post on ways you can use cauliflower to cut carbs. I picked some up on my next costco trip!

I wanted to make something I knew our toddler would gobble up, and after a recent cold spell, I wanted something warm and comforting. I settled on this cauliflower mac & cheese from ShockMunch. Then I made the laziest version of it possible.

The recipe starts by cooking macaroni, and steaming the cauliflower. I don't own a fancy steamer, but I do have some of these awesome Ziploc Zip n Steam bags. Just throw your veggies in there with some water, and pop in the microwave for the appropriate amount of time as listed on the bag! Next the recipe calls for blending the cauliflower with sauteed onion and garlic. I used onion powder, and some Johnnys garlic powder instead and just threw it in the blender. Add milk and blend. Pour the mixture into a pot with cheese and stir until melted. Combine with the macaroni and you are done!

Creamy cauliflower with melting cheese

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