Banana Chocolate Oatmeal Pudding

Seriously, banana, chocolate, and pudding all in one and for BREAKFAST???  Who doesn't love that? What kid wouldn't love that?

SUPER easy to make!  You can make this gluten free if you use gluten free oats.

I don't have exact measurements, I just like to dump.  And if you have leftovers, bonus, you don't have to cook breakfast tomorrow morning!  :D

I use a red pot for my oatmeal, so I fill it half way up with oats.

Then I added almond milk (mine is flavored vanilla) til its just over the oats.

A splash of vanilla, and cinnamon ( a good teaspoon to 2 for cinnamon) and add 4 mushy brown bananas. The cool thing here is you don't have to fully mash them because you will be putting this mixture in the blender!

Cook that until its soft and consistency you want it.

Here comes the fun part!

Pour about 1/2 cup milk in your blender.  Add half of the oatmeal in your blender and top with a handful of chocolate chips.  You can add more if you want, but that's all I added. Turn it on (after lid is on of course...!!!) and blend til desired consistency.  You may need to add more milk or oat mixture to blender depending on consistency.  Like I said, I don't measure because I know how much I use and how much my kiddos eat.  :)  But seriously this recipe wouldn't be all that bad to have leftovers in!

Pour into a bowl and top with chopped peanuts and dry oats.

This has a wonderful flavor of bananas, chocolate, and peanuts!  Thinking you could add some peanut butter to this, or sunflower or nut butter depending on allergies.

I don't give my kids chocolate for breakfast, so it's a rare treat!  I also figure, a few chocolate chips is better than a huge bowl of coco puffs, and if you give that to your kids, TOTALLY NOT judging!  I just chose not to give my kids that kind of cereal.  You do what is best for YOU and your family! :)

This completely filled them up while only using about 1/4 cup of chocolate chips.  The only sugar in this recipe is the chocolate chips and whatever is in bananas.

My kids def loved this and want it again!

Oats and banana and almond milk

In my Vitamix, but you can use any blender! :) 

Yum!!!

My kids were so excited to eat this that as soon as I said it's ready! Come and get it, the. RAN into kitchen and lined up! As you can see my youngest couldn't wait to get his hands on his breakfast! ;)

Pancake Puff

Wanted something a bit different, but yet still very easy, for my kids.

This fits what I wanted.

Bonus, kids LOVED it!

I mean you can't get much easier than this....

It will puff up too.  So don't flip out when it starts getting puffy!  :)  My daughter came to me running saying that it was over flowing!  Well, not quite....  ;)

I made a blueberry sauce to go over the top, I know at first it sounds really odd, but trust me, it's so good!  :)

Pancake Puff

2 tablespoons butter

3 eggs

3/4 cup milk

3/4 cup flour

2 teaspoons sugar

Place the butter in your pan (I used a Pampered Chef pie pan and a cast iron skillet-both work GREAT!) (a 10 inch pan, round is prob easier) and place in oven for 2-3 minutes or until melted.

Place rest of the ingredients in a blender and blend until mixed smooth and no lumps.  You can mix with whisk by hand, but putting it in blender is much better.  :)

Pour egg/flour mixture into your pan of melted butter.  Place in 425 oven for 16-18 minutes or until puffed and browned.

You can either dust with confectioners sugar, or put a fruit sauce on top.  We have used strawberry and blueberry homemade sauce.  Just pour how much ever fruit you want with a bit of sugar to make it a little sweet and cook until berries are soft.   (add some cornstarch if you want it a bit thicker...  Just take some sauce from the pan and whisk in some cornstarch.  Bring to boil and it will thicken up.)

Cut your pancake puff and pour some yummy fruit syrup/sauce over top, and enjoy!

Easy peasy and delish!  :)

Pizza Soup

Love that this can be either made 30-45 minutes before you need to eat, or slow cook in crockpot alllll day!

I wish I rememebered to put this in crockpot so I could smell is cooking all day, but I didn't. Like I've done for a whole week now... Forget to put supper in crockpot... I'm awesome. Haha!!! :)

Anyways, this is a super easy recipe and really doesn't take much work!!! I was able to put this together and help my youngest with his schoolwork! 

You could really put any ingredients you want in here, anything you want on your pizza! I just put in what I had! Feel free to add or take away anything you want, or don't like.

Pizza Soup

1 pound bulk sausage

1 green pepper

1 onion

1 jar of spaghetti sauce (I NEVER have pizza sauce! Never! I always use spaghetti sauce unless I'm making my cheeseburger pizza or BBQ chicken pizza... Then I make my own sauce...)

One big can of diced tomatoes (I buy these at Target b/c they have the petite diced tomatoes- perfect!)

1 pound mushrooms

Pepperoni

Olives

Basil

Oregano

Brown the sausage and pepper and onion in skillet (or if not doing crock pot, use a pot, I'm a one pot kind of girl, esp  now that I don't have a working dishwasher... Just the kids and I!!!)

Add the tomatoes, (rinse can out with water and add that) jar of spaghetti sauce (do the same, add water, about 1/3 - 3/4 jar full of water, rinse and dump in your pot.) Now add your mushrooms, olives, pepperoni, and spices to taste to your desire!

Add anything else you want. Anything you like on your pizza, add! :) 

You could do a veggie pizza soup too!

Let it cook til all flavors meld together, and if you added mushrooms, till they are soft. From start to finish, my soup was ready in 45 minutes. (Including browsing my sausage...)

Put soup in bowls and add a bit of shredded cheese on top. I only had cheddar, but a cheddar/mozerrella combo would be good as well! 

This was a hit! The kids gobbled it down! 

Add more water, or more sauce to make it as full as you want. Same with ingredients. If you need it to serve more, then just keep adding til your pot is as full as you want it! :)

Enjoy!!!

Brown the sausage, peppers and onions til completely browned...

All ingredients in pot, just need to add more liquid! 

Done and super yummy and easy!!! :)

Oatmeal Chia Pudding

Wow!! This is really good!!! I dislike oatmeal, with a passion, I've said that before, I know. ;) But this, this is really yummy and super bummed I only got ONE bite!!! :/ I mixed this up last night for the kids and was just hoping they would like it, not knowing how it would turn out. But knew they like cold oatmeal so this isn't that different, just added some chia seeds to make it kinda it thick!

Chia pudding is pretty good by itself, but these added ingredients just make it that much better! :D Let me know if you try it, add anything and how you like it! :)

I mixed this up in the Pampered Chef batter bowl...


Oatmeal Chia Pudding

2 cups oats (not instant)
6-8 tablespoons chia seeds (my measurements were used by a soup spoon which is a tablespoon ;))
3 soup laddles of homemade yogurt (or 3 small containers of vanilla yogurt)
Vanilla almond milk (I used Aldis brand)

Put all ingredients in bowl except for milk and stir to combine... I didn't measure the milk but I added it up to the 6 cup line. (I have half a gallon container and I used half of it!)
Stir to combine, cover and place in frig overnight!
Serve with fresh fruit or frozen berries...


You could totally added some cinnamon, cocoa powder (make sure to add pure maple syrup or honey to sweeten it a bit), chocolate chips...

You can really add anything and everything to this! The kids literally gobbled this down and they all were asking for more after they had seconds!! :) will make a bigger batch next time!! I really want to make it again tomorrow but we have to be out of the house by 6 am to head to Children's Hospital in DC to get 2 of my kids hearing aides checked... Maybe Thursday...? ;)

(I cooked each kid an egg to go with...)

Let me know what you think and how you like it! Let me know if you added anything! :)
I didn't add any sugar to this! :)

Crunch Wraps

I found this recipe on pinterest, and I am not sure of the link...
We all love tacos or anything that resembles tacos around here! Thankful the new additions love them as well! Thankful they eat everything I put in front of them! :)

Pretty simple ingredients and pretty easy assemble. I don't have measurements, and I've also used black beans... Will explain that way at the bottom so it makes sense! :)

Here's how I made these and they loved them!!!

I used the large size of the Mission brand tacos for this.

Place a taco on counter and add a layer of ground beef or turkey or black beans that have been seasoned with taco seasoning.
Then add some shredded cheddar cheese, or liquid cheese... Like the salsa queso (sp?) stuff. :)
Next you are going to add some crunched up tortilla chips, some sour cream and lettuce.
I didn't have any tomatoes or I would've added those. :)
Next you will fold a little of each side up over the goodies in the middle and go all the way around.
Heat up some coconut oil in the skillet and fry til golden brown on each side. I did folded side down first. Then flipped over.
They are sooooo good and so much healthier than the ones you buy at Taco Bell!! ;) it doesn't take too much work to put together either! ;)

Ingredients needed to make crunch wraps:

Big size flour tortillas
Seasoned beef, turkey or black beans
Cheese of your choice
Crunched tortilla chips
Chopped lettuce
Sour cream
Chopped tomatoes

It all depends on how many you want to make for how much meat, etc you will need. :)

Enjoy and let me know how you like them!!! :)

ps I think my pictures are out of order, again... Sorry... I make them in order and BAM, they are out of order.... :/

Sloppy Lentils

If you are following my other blog you know I'm all about monthly menus and saving money!
I tried something new. We had a little extra money so I asked my hubs if he cared if I tried something new. Buying extra for the end of the month and doing some freezer meals.
Before we brought home 2 extra kids I would spend right at or under $100 a week on groceries which included toiletries. Now we are spending a bit more because well, they are kids and eat more than a younger child would! ;)
I tried to plan out a few meals but it was kinda hard and wasn't fully recovered from jet lag yet. So it didn't fully work... ;)
So this month I actually got going and planned everything out and was ready! I spent right about $350 for all the food and toiletries we needed. Now, almost 2 weeks later we are still fine with food and I still have extra stuff! I did buy about $25 worth of food bc I was low on eggs, bread, tortillas, etc...
I still have meat and food in my freezer for meals and I'm still preparing food for the freezer! Woot!!!
I didn't have time to prepare everything in one day, there just isn't time for me to do that yet. But hoping next time I can get my kids involved and helping bc I know they would LOVE to do that!

Ok, onto the recipe... I made a big recipe of this, I bought 2 bags of lentils and cooked them. I wanted to make sure I could get atleast 3 meals out of this! I was able to get 2 sloppy lentil meals and one where I'll take the lentils and reheat and add over rice!

I spent maybe $6 on all ingredients and will get 3 meals out of it for a family of eight! How sa-weeet is that??? I will need to buy 2 packs of buns for the one that is in the freezer, and will make sweet potato fries again.

Here's how I made it, but just remember, this is using 2 bags of lentils! ;)

Sloppy Lentils

2 bags of dried lentils (cooked, will explain how I did it)
7 8oz cans tomato sauce
1 can tomato paste
10 cloves garlic minced
1 green pepper finely chopped
Worcestershire sauce
Pure maple syrup
Pink Himalayan sea salt (you can use regular sea salt or salt..)
Pepper

Cover 2 bags of rinsed lentils with water and bring to boil. Once it reaches boil, turn heat down and simmer 45 minutes.
Drain and sauté the garlic and pepper in a little bit of coconut oil. Then dump the sauce and paste in pot and stir really good. Add Worcestershire sauce, maple syrup, salt and pepper to taste... Add lentils and stir to combine. Simmer for 30-45 minutes.
Serve on bun, in a tortilla or over rice.
I made roasted veggies and sweet potato fries to go with this!

I wanted to add an onion to this but I miscalculated how many onions I would need... ;)

Super healthy and soooo easy to make!!! :)

Vegan CHEEZZEE Sauce

I have this REALLY awesome friend who is letting me borrow a REALLY COOL cookbook!  She is vegan and we've talked a bit...   She sent me a message asking if I would like to look at it and I was like uh yeah!  :)  I LOOOOVE this book!

Its called Vegan, on the Cheap by Robin Robertson

I'm not sold on soy, infact, we don't do any soy products, just b/c of everything with Skylar.  She wasn't able to eat or drink any milk products, so being the mom that I was, didn't do much research, and went ahead and did what my doc told me to do...  Give her soy...  Gave me all kinds of papers how it was safe and no cause of estrogen, etc...  Well...  After a year of reading and research, I switched to Rice milk and took soy out completely!  Now, to each his own and decisions...  This is my decision and if you are ok with soy, then that's fine.  I'm not judging, just my personal preference.  After doing some different reading on the topic, and talking to friends on both sides of the fence on this topic, this is what I decided.  :)  Seriously, not judging anyone!  :) 

So...  I wanted to make this the other night but didn't have any nutritional yeast, which I did have some and it was all gone!  :(  So the kids and I made a trip to Whole Foods and got some, along with some different rice and black quinoa!  :)

I'm not goona lie, the night I wanted to make it, I was PUMPED and ready to try it...  The next night, not so much...  I was thinking, this is going to be disgusting, I can't do it.  Even though all 4 of my kids were WOLFING it down like nobodies business!  Then my oldest said, hey mom, this cheese tastes different..  I said oh yeah?  Well, ok guys, it's isn't the "REAL" cheese you are used too..  This is a more healthy cheese, it's safe for people who can't have milk stuff to eat this.  But it is good right?  So then I took bite and swallowed  and thought, wow, this is good!  Of course I made sure I added the EXACT amount of salt and garlic, I don't normally measure my ingredients, but that, I made sure it was exact!  ;)

I don't think I could eat it by the spoonful, but mixed with some homemade salsa, it would be REALLY good with chips...  or over top rice and beans...  ;)

I don't know if I will win my hubs with this, but in moderation I bet he will be ok with it and eat it with other stuff, like in tacos, etc.... ;)

Super easy to make...

I'm still learning on what is vegan and what's not, I think I am getting it confused with gluten, etc... ;)  I'm also to tired to remember much right now!  Been a CRAZY 3 weeks!  ;)

But I made this cheese, and then used our new volcano rice, and had already mix up mashed pinto beans with olives, onions, cumin, and salt together, then had spinach and the cheezzee.
So it was hard taco shell, volcano rice (which I am so buying more!!!  :)))  The kids LOVED it and plus its fun to say, I had volcano rice! ;)), then the bean mixture, spinach and cheezzee!  SOOO good!  The kids all ate 3 tacos, well, except my little one...  ;)

Ok, enough blabbering, here's the recipe....

Cheezzee Sauce


2/3 cup nutritional yeast
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/4 teaspoons salt (I used my pink sea salt)
1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 cups plain unsweetened soy milk or water
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon yellow mustard


In medium saucepan, combine the yeast, cornstarch, salt, and garlic powder.  Turn heat to medium and whisk in milk or water. Cook, sitrring until the sauce thickens.
Remove from heat and add, oil, vinegar, lemon juice and mustard. It's now ready to use. If not using right away, refrigerate sauce in a container with tight-fitting lid, where it will keep for several days.

*I didn't measure my cornstarch, so it was much thicker after it cooled!  Looked more like pudding!  haha!!  :)
I didn't have fresh lemon juice so I used my stuff from frig...
Also used my homemade apple cider vinegar...
And I used water...  I thought about getting hemp milk or almond, but wasn't sure how that would taste with the cheezzee...  I prob will get almond milk to try it next time!

I do have left overs and plan on using it today for lunch!  With some veggies I think!  :)  Maybe mix in some salsa to go with some pretzels or chips?  ;)  Or on top of a rice cake!
The possibilities are endless!  :)

I got my nutritional yeast for $8.99 a pound, but I only got 2 bucks worth, which was WAY more than the container sold for the same price!  Um, let me do the math here folks!  ;)
Let me know if you try it and how you like it, or what you eat it with!  :)
I also recommend the volcano rice!  ;)

Seriously though, get over the fact that it isn't real cheese, it really is good!  And if you never had ever tasted cheese, you will never know!  But really, I do like it!  :)  Again, prob not by itself...  but def will be eating those leftovers!  :)