Foody Friday - Quicky Healthy

Oh, crazy Fall. It is here. This was my schedule today:

8:45 Corene at school (1st day of Kindergarten, WOOHOO and BOOHOO, all at the same time!)

Go home and clean up, play with the kids, wash and put away 2 loads laundry

11:30 Pick Corene up

12:00 Celebratory lunch of Jimmy Johns (YUM) with Aunt Sarah and Uncle Bernhard.

1:30 Well child doctor visits for Corene and Ava. No shots, phew.
This appointment was with a new pediatricians office, so we were there for 2. hours.

4:00 Corene's 1st Irish Dance Class.

5:30 Impromptu invitation to go out with Sarah and Bernhard again for Chinese (DOUBLE YUM), where in a family trip to the bathroom, Taz threw himself down, with utmost drama, face-first on the floor of the bathroom (for no apparent reason, it seems this is what Taz's do for fun in dirty public places). When I peeled the boy off the floor, I noticed a big wet mark right there on the floor of the bathroom that was the size and shape of a TONGUE.

I did a little bit of dry-heaving for good measure before I toted him OUT of there.

**INSERT BLUSH BELOW**
7:00 Trip to Dairy Queen to satisfy bribery employed in dance class to help motivate certain child to be brave and go out on huge dance floor and dance, when the teacher was a man (this is a very big deal in our world), and all the other kids in her class were twice her size (I'm guessing age 16, 12 and 12). She did it, was brave, and... um, earned herself a sugar bomb. Not to mention that in 60 minutes of bravery, she fell in love with Irish dance. I'd say the 57 grams of pure unadulterated sugar was worth it.

Hopefully she won't completely crash tomorrow in day 2 of Kindergarten.

Hopefully I won't completely crash on day 2 of Kindergarten, and, like, forget to go pick her up.

Now. Y'all. This is not a typical day. Oh no. The food of 3 different eating establishments entered my mouth today. That is nigh unheard of in my world. I've had my eat-out quota fulfilled for quite some time.

I need some good, fast, healthy, recipes to make, because although I won't have a crazy marathon day of firsts like today very often, our schedule will be plenty full of running around, and not so full of time to spend in the kitchen. So we need recipes!!

Recipes like this, compliments of Cousin Kathie in Denver:

Put chicken (I use skinless boneless breasts, but you could use a cup of leftover cut-up chicken) in the crock pot. Add a can of black beans, a cup of frozen corn, and a cup of salsa. Cook on high 3-4 hours o low 6-8 hours. Serve with cheese in tortillas or over rice.

Pizza: use halved bagels, french bread, pita bread, etc. Spread that leftover spaghetti sauce on. Add cheese and whatever toppings you have on hand. Or use leftover cooked chicken and BBQ sauce with cheddar cheese. Bake in oven till cheese bubbles.

Or this one, which sounded too good to leave in my comments, from Becky in Columbus (the wife of my childhood BFF's brother, and who also happens to be my brother's childhood BFF's wife. Got that?) :

Veggie Quesadillas

sliced veggies - peppers, onions, mushrooms
black beans - drained and rinsed
sliced green onions
white cheddar cheese or pepperjack
hot sauce
whole grain tortilla wraps
salsa & sour cream for toppings

1. saute chopped veggies (peppers, onions, mushrooms...whatever veggies you've got or like)
2. assemble quesadilla - sauteed veggies, black beans, sliced green onions, desired amount of hot sauce & cheese.
3. cook quesadilla in skillet or in George Foreman grill.
4. garnish with salsa & sour cream if desired.

***if you have leftover grilled chicken, throw it in for a little extra protein

When I'm short on time but want a healthy delicious meal, I usually either:

• Make this type of "Jenny creation" meal, basically pasta, pesto, tomatoes, spinach, cheese, and whatever else calls my name. This is a weekly staple at my house.
  
• Freezer meal, something that I have made previously and frozen (this will be a FF theme soon, a theme near and dear to my heart).
• or a crockpot meal (I use this more in the winter), something I can assemble in the morning, and basically just scoop out when it's time to eat.
• Buy a cooked rotisserie chicken from the grocery store and put it in the middle of the table and give everyone a fork. I'm kidding. But, that's not a bad idea, eh?
  

Here is a recipe that is easy to make, with one caveat: you must make your own meatballs, and for me this is much easier to do ahead of time. So I don't follow the recipe completely, I put pre-made, homemade, frozen meatballs in the broth. Or, if you don't mind MSG, use the premade ones from the grocery store. Although, homemade ones taste 10,000 times better. You just have to put the time in to making them ahead.

ENOUGH rambling.

Albondigas (Mexican meatball soup)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 quart water
• 4 carrots, sliced
• 2 small potatoes, diced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 1/2 cups salsa, medium or hot
• 2 beef bouillon cubes
• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
• 1/3 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs
• 1/3 cup milk
• chopped fresh cilantro
  

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large stock pot, bring water, carrots, potatoes, onion, salsa, and bouillon cubes to a boil. Reduce to a medium simmer, stirring occasionally, approximately 10 minutes.
2. Mix the beef, breadcrumbs, and milk together in a bowl. Form into 1-inch meatballs, and drop into boiling broth. Once soup returns to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low.
3. Cover and cook 20 minutes, or until meatballs are no longer pink in center and vegetables are tender. Serve with sprinkled cilantro for garnish.

I'm banking on the fact that THOUSANDS of you are going to come out and share your culinary wisdom with me, so I will explain the rules on how to play:

• Write a post on your blog with a recipe you love, including a link in your post to A Latte Talk.
• Come here and link with Mr Linky to your blog (write your name AND the name of your recipe in parenthesis in the name line). Enter the URL of your actual blog post, not the general blog URL.
• Leave a comment!

That's it, piece of cake and lots of fun.

Happy Foody Friday!