Eggroll in a Bowl

This is one of my new favorite recipes! I recently came across a local farm to table Facebook group, that allows you to buy great food straight from the farmers who grow/raise it. The Wandering Market has tons of different products and bundle options. In the winter vegetable bundle I ordered I received the largest cabbage I have ever seen in my life. No joke, this thing was the size of Bianca. I ended up making 3 meals from it, and adding cabbage to anything and everything I could, and I still had over half of it left.

I've never really cooked with cabbage (other than cabbage rolls, and even then I just eat what my mom makes) and had no idea what to do with our new bundle of joy. Good ole Pinterest gave me the hook-up with tons of great ideas, but I couldn't get the idea of an eggroll out of my head.

Eggroll in a Bowl
1 lb (5 links) of sausage
4 cups coleslaw mix (shredded cabbage and carrot also works great)
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1/3 cup soy
1/4 cup water
1t brown sugar
1t fresh ginger
sliced green onion for garnish

Remove sausage meat from the casing and brown it in a pan over medium-high heat. While the sausage is browning, combine garlic, soy, water, sugar and ginger in a bowl. Set aside. Once the sausage is cooked through, add the coleslaw to the pan and pour sauce over top. Cook until the cabbage is wilted but crunchy. Sprinkle green onions over top and serve.

I like to serve this with a grain of some sort just to make it a little more substantial. I really like faro because it's a bit of a drier grain and supposedly good for you, but rice would be just as tasty. We sometimes like to add a little hoisin sauce on top just to make it extra saucy.

Meal Plan - February 17, 2017

I'm really excited for the meals I have planned for the next couple weeks. I've been in a bit of a food slump lately, and finally made some time to track down some new recipes. New recipes can be a scaring thing because you never know what you're really going to get. Sure the photo looks beautiful but will it be good?

Well, we've already had a few of these recipes and so far we have some new family favorites!! I'll keep you in suspense about which meals they are until the next meal plan post.

Pork cutlets with mashed potatoes and veggies
Roasted chicken and veggies
Ham & Gouda Stromboli
Honey Teriyaki Chicken
Chicken Guacamole Tostadas
Spinach & Feta stuffed chicken
Chicken Enchiladas

I also have a few fun lunches planned. I don't normally plan lunches because we usually have sandwiches or leftovers. Roman, like almost every kid, loves McDonald's. Who doesn't really? Like most people I know that eating too much fast food isn't good for anyone, plus it isn't cheap! I usually make hamburgers for lunch a couple times a month so that he can still get his burger fix, but it's in a healthier way. I make my patties from scratch and like to stuff the patties with some mozzarella or cheddar cheese. Roman gets so excited when he finds extra cheese that all thought of McDonald's is gone!

My parents gifted John and I an Acti-Fry machine a few years ago for Christmas, and it's one of those appliances that I always forget to use. I thought it would be fun to give homemade sweet potato fries a shot. I'm not usually a fan of them, but I thought that maybe homemade ones would be better. So, I picked up a few sweet potatoes and we'll see what happens!

5 Days of School Lunches

Congratulations parents of school age kids! You have survived making lunch for half of the school year so far!! I'm sure you and the kids and getting sick of the same old sandwiches so I thought I would share some quick, easy and healthy lunches that are great for school lunches, or adult lunches!

If you've read my Preschool Snack post then you know how much I love packing lunches. Even though Roman isn't in school (other than the home preschool I've put together for him, we are still going to have a crazy busy fall. To save time, and my eardrums from Bianca's hungry/tired screams, I'm planning on packing bento box lunches for all of us during the week. I hate the panic or getting home from the library or playgroup at 12:15/12:30 and trying to get lunch on the table and kids fed before nap time at 1:00/1:30. We all know how impossible it is to get kids, especially babies, to eat when they are completely exhausted.

I find the hardest part of lunch is just deciding what the heck you're going to make. My trick? Keep a list of the go to, fool proof, most loved lunches on the side of the fridge. This way you can give it a quick glance and whip lunch up in no time. I keep mine right beside my grocery list pad so I can make sure that I always stock up on the lunch items I need when I do my bi-weekly shopping trip. On to the food!!

Day 1
Tuna with mayonnaise and green onion, crackers, cherry tomatoes and cheese. Roman loves tuna but when I put it between bread he just eats the tuna off of it , so I pair it with crackers instead.

Day 2
DIY snackables, or lunchables as they were called back in my day. Summer sausage, cheddar cheese, crackers, and pickles. Everyone loves lunchables but they are so darn expensive to buy in the store. You can cut up a whack of meat and cheese and store it in Tupperware containers for the week, then you only have to assemble them at night!

Day 3
Sandwich skewers (bread, cheese& ham), fruit skewers (strawberries, blueberries & grapes), green pepper, dill dip. This was one of Roman's favorite lunches, which is interesting because he is usually hit and miss when it comes to sandwiches. I guess it really is true that kids will eat anything on a stick. Just about everything, except the fruit, eventually ended up in the dill dip, but it also ended up in his mouth so that's a win!

Day 4
Pinwheels (cream cheese, deli chicken, cheddar & lettuce), grapes, carrots & dill dip. I really enjoyed this lunch and so did Roman, except for the lettuce. I thought the pinwheels would disguise the small amount I put in, but I was wrong, so I'd probably skip it the next time I make it.

Day 5
Corn dog muffins, apple slices, carrots & cheese. Corn dog muffins are always a hit with Roman. Of course the first thing he does is dig the hot dog out of the centre but he will eventually eat the muffin. When I make them again I think I'll dice the hot dog up and mix it into the muffin mix to make it harder to extract the hot dog.

Banana Nut Oat Bran Muffins

I love muffins. The problem I have is that most of the muffin recipes I love to gobble up are basically cupcakes, and usually have more chocolate than flour in them. As much as I try to convince myself that I'm making a smart choice by snacking on a muffin, I know I could do better.

This muffin recipe is loaded with good-for-you food and gives me the satisfaction of a muffin, without all the stuff I don't need. As an added yum factor I added a few tablespoons of the Epicure Cocoa Crunch Whole Food Sprinkle to the batter. You could also add mini chocolate chips or leave it out all together.

Banana Nut Oat Bran Muffins
2 1/4 cups oat bran
1T baking powder
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 bananas, mashed
1 egg
2T honey
1/8 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat over to 425. In a medium sized bowl, stir together oat bran, baking powder and brown sugar. In a smaller bowl, mix together bananas, egg and honey. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until combined. Fold in the walnuts and transfer batter to paper lined muffin tins. Bake for 12-15 minutes.

The density and the crunch of the walnuts make these muffins extremely satisfying. I love the Cocoa Crunch Whole Food Sprinkle from Epicure. They give the muffins just a hint of chocolate without completely overdoing it. There are also chia seeds in the sprinkles so even more added health benefits!

I also made some mini loaves for Roman and Bianca to snack on. Bianca can grab one and snack away, and they are the perfect snack size for Roman. Sometimes with regular muffins he eats half and is full. I feel bad for throwing out half a muffin so I become the garbage compactor. I will compact no more!

Meal Plan - February 3rd

This meal plan is an exciting one for us because we are getting some Hutterite chickens this week! They are by far the best chickens we've ever had. They are the largest chickens I have ever seen, bordering on small turkeys really. Whenever we get them I always make sure to roast a turkey one night and then I can use the leftover meat in other recipes, usually soup.

The Chicken lettuce bowls were amazing (the recipe will be coming)! Everyone liked them and I even ate it for 2 days straight for lunch and supper. Fried couscous with chicken was also delicious so it will be making a comeback in this meal plan! We didn't get to the Egg roll in a bowl from the last meal plan so that meal is moving over into this plan.

Chicken lettuce bowls
Homemade pizza
Roasted chicken with potatoes and veggies
Chicken soup
Chili
Tacos
Toasted pasta
Fried couscous with chicken
Egg roll in a bowl

Organization: Bathroom Vanity

It's been awhile since I did an organization post and it's not because I haven't been organizing. I keep forgetting to take before photos so I was wasn't going to post about my projects, but I decided it might still be helpful to see how I organize different areas. I'm still in a major purge phase and I'm loving watching all the stuff leave the house. I feel like the house is finally starting to keep itself more tidy, which means I must be getting close to having just what we need in the house!

Okay, so this is the bathroom that I use to get ready every day. This is literally all the storage there is in this room. As you can tell from the weird paint job (we replaced the vanity after we painted) this room isn't quite finished. I had planned on waiting to organize this room until it was done, but it was just getting to the point that it wasn't functional anymore, so I couldn't wait any longer.

This isn't the first time I've attempted to organize my medicine cabinet. I think the go to method is to line up your products in pretty rows on the shelves in the cabinet. Sounds great right? Wrong! You know the first time you pull out that deodorant from the middle of the row that whole thing is coming down. Then you end up shoving everything back in there because you have other things to do. Solution? Utensil drawer organizers! I found these clear ones at Dollarama and they fit perfectly onto the shelves.

I tried to group like items together, so in the bottom tray are all my cleansers, makeup remover, scrubs, and razors. On the middle shelf are my hair things, and on the top shelf is a random package of wax strips. As I look at this photo now I know for a fact I could probably throw those bad boys away because I don't remember the last time I used them....

On this side I have all my moisturizers, lip balms, toothbrush, cup and toothpaste on the bottom shelf. In the middle is my selection of deodorants (I know, it's excessive, but I was trying out some aluminum free ones), perfume, Beauty Blender and the cleanser for the blender. The top shelf houses all of my face masks. The bottom shelf is a prime example of why the trays are a must have. All of those tiny containers are standing, laying, stuffed and shoved into that tray, but it still looks organized because it's all in one spot and not falling out of the cabinet!

I'm so proud of this drawer! The back story; I have a makeup problem. I LOVE makeup! I love wearing makeup, and buying makeup and possessing makeup. I had eye shadow in every color of the rainbow and blushes in every hue of pink. Half (or more) of which I never or rarely wore. So I took some time on my bathroom floor and really looked at what I used on a regular basis and what I never touched. I packed up all the things I knew I wasn't going to use and let my friends root through the box and take what they wanted. Was the stuff I gave away expensive? Yes, but keeping it in the drawer didn't keep the money in my pocket.

So this is what I'm left with! I found these plastic containers at Dollar Tree and they fit perfectly into my drawer. The top bin has all my eye products like brow pencils, mascara, liner, etc. Under that is a bin of brushes, a bin for blushes (I love me some blush), and a bin for face products like foundation and powders. There are a couple small eye shadow palettes at the front of the drawer, two stuck in with the blushes, and my two larger palettes at the back of the drawer. The kids love digging through this drawer when I get ready so it doesn't always look this nice, but it only takes me a few minutes to put it back together even when they completely destroy it.

This last drawer is a bit of a hodge podge of things. One of these bins is filled with lipsticks, and the other is nail products. The mess in the back of the drawer are my makeup bags for travel as well as my brush roll.

Yup I went there, I'm showing you under my sink. I feel like this is a no-fly zone in most bathrooms, but the bins make all the difference. All my brushes and combs are in one bin, and all my hair products and tools are in another. No more searching for a comb in the morning and when I'm done I just toss it into the bin! And at long last I don't have my flat iron cord wound around every bottle in the cabinet!

Finally I have found a solution that has kept my vanity clean and organized! I promise that if you use bins and baskets to organize your vanity, you will only have to do it once and it will stay organized! What's better than a self cleaning vanity? Well, obviously a self cleaning toilet when you have a little boy learning to aim. If I figure that one out I'll be sure to share it too.

To see more organization posts, click here.