Food…my love language

Hey there dear!

Thanks for joining me again!  I hope you are doing well and reminding yourself each and every day to give yourself some grace.  If no one has told you yet today, you are doing an amazing job and you should be proud of yourself!

Food is my love language!  I grew up with two parents who always had home cooked meals for us and weekends were set aside to try new recipes or use that good ‘ole grill.  What I remember most is eating together at the dinner table. This is something that has always stuck with me and something that my husband and I have made extremely important in our daily activities as a family.  Dinner time is that uninterrupted time to just sit down and be a family…bonus, we get to eat yummy meals as well! Our world is so fast paced (well not lately) and it seems we never take time to slow down and really experience family time.  Don’t get me wrong, there are days where I just tell the kids to fend for themselves because I am tired (I can do that with an eight and five year old), but honestly, cooking for my family is extremely relaxing to me. I find so much joy in preparing a healthy meal for us all to sit around the table and share.  We share more than the food; laughter, tears of joy and sorrow, stories, and so much more. The kitchen and dinner time are my favorite place and time of the day because it is when our whole world slows down for just a little bit and we get to connect without distractions. As I write this right now, I have already made my plan for dinner and I am so excited to get cooking so we can all sit down and just be family.

Today I wanted to share some recipes with you.  Normally I spend some time setting up a meal plan for the week, but with the current status of our country, planning for one week just doesn’t work out so well…we are trying our hardest to go to the stores as little as possible.  My menu for the day literally says, “whatever mom can come up with.”  So, I am going to share with you some of the recipes that are our “go to” recipes that EVERYONE in our family enjoys.

As I said, I usually plan and buy groceries weekly, so when we got back from our spring break vacation and found out that the grocery store was bare, I went into panic mode and had no idea how I was going to prep and plan to buy groceries for a month with the grocery stores very bare. My husband just started grabbing a ton of stuff off of the shelves (can you blame him), while I took a moment to process it and make a plan.  I tried to think of the things that we love having; warm bowl, shrimp tacos, chicken enchiladas, breakfast bakes, brats with cauliflower rice and veggies, soup, salads, etc. This is where I started as I walked around the bare shelves of the grocery store and tried to prepare my family for not only a months worth of food, but also food that would be healthy and we would eat.

Here are some of the basics that I grabbed:

• Meats:  chicken, italian sausage, ground beef, ground turkey, shrimp, tilapia
• Fresh food: sweet potatoes, spinach, lettuce, bananas, avocados, tomatoes, cauliflower, celery, asparagus, mushrooms, peppers, herbs, squash, apples, and lots of garlic
• Frozen food: veggies, veggie pasta, fruit, a few extra fun kid favorites (chicken nuggets, chicken patties, pizza, corn dogs, french fries) → Keep in mind that just because it is in the house doesn’t mean YOU have to eat it.  I had to get good at that as I tried to become a healthier person. These are typically options I give the kids at lunch time, while I have a salad or left overs.
• Dairy:  milke, yogurt, cream cheese, shredded cheese (parmesan is a MUST have in my kitchen), buttermilk (biscuits, pancakes), heavy whipping cream (soups, sauces)
• Canned food:  black beans, tomatoes (must have for homemade spaghetti sauce), beans for soup, enchilada sauce, canned fruit and veggies
• Carbs:  oats, tortilla shells, bread, bagels, english muffins, cereal, pasta…did you know they make chickpea pasta???  I didn’t for a while, but it is much healthier and it doesn’t really taste that different, especially to the kiddos.
• Snacks:  granola bars, almonds, crackers, popcorn, veggie straws…I tried to keep it a bit healthier here so I wouldn’t go for all the bad foods while stuck in the house

Needless to say, it is amazing how quickly the bill can add up when you are shopping for a whole month!  There are also a lot of things I already had at home: basic baking supplies, peanut butter, nutella, oils, etc, so if you don’t have some of these things, add those to your list as well.

Okay, let’s get started with some of our family favorites!

Shrimp Options:  Our son, Landen, loves shrimp, so we make it a lot in our house.  I love playing with different recipes and finding ways to bring more vegetables into our meals.

• Honey Garlic Shrimp

If you are in a pinch for time or you just realized that it is 6:00 and you have nothing ready for dinner, this is such an easy dinner to whip up for the family.  Best of all, it is healthy! I like to add a side of broccoli with this meal and sometimes I mix cauliflower rice with regular rice to sneak in an extra veggie.  

• Shrimp Tacos

This is by far our favorite shrimp recipe, but you can play with it and add whatever you would like.  I usually add some black beans and corn to this recipe. You could also go classic and have all of the extra topping for the traditional taco too.  I find this recipe to be great for the summer, it is super light and satisfying.

Chicken Options:

Chicken is such a friendly option to cook with.  There are so many different recipes that you can play with.  We typically use chicken at least twice in a week and no one seems to know that it is the same meat because you can play with so many flavors!  Here are some simple and easy recipes that you can use.

• Cauliflower Chicken Fried Rice

This has become a new family favorite as well.  I used to always make this with brown rice, but lately I have been using cauliflower and no one notices the difference!  It is another quick and easy recipe that I assure you the whole family will love!

 

 

• Broccoli and Bacon Cheddar Chicken

If you like baking things in one dish for a quick and easy clean up, this is a great choice.  Our kiddos love this meal and I do believe this is the meal that we got the kids to actually like broccoli!  Give it a whirl.

 

Italian Sausage Options:

Italian Sausage is one of my favorite meats to indulge in.  It adds so much flavor to any meal! I am only sharing one recipe here, but try it out with your spaghetti or lasagna meal next time.  It will elevate the meal and surprise you with a change to the classics.

• Sweet Potato and Sausage Quinoa Bake

You guys this one is THE BEST!!!  I am sharing all the goods with you! The recipe says that it is a breakfast bake, but we have it for dinner instead.  Again, this is another great way for kids to get those veggies in! It may look a little weird when you cook it, but the flavors are outstanding!  We had a friend over for dinner and I made this meal. He stared at it and said, “ummm okay, let’s see what Bobbi delivers this time, this one looks unique.” He couldn’t stop raving about it all night long.  Sometimes food that looks unique and interesting (and lets just be honest, not appealing to the basic burger and fries meals) can bring you more joy than you ever imagined!! I use ground italian sausage for mine as a tip. Give it a shot, I promise it won’t disappoint.

Soup Options:

Soup is my absolute favorite choice, especially throughout those cooler days and in Minnesota we have months and months of those days!  Check out this recipe and some of my other soup recipes in my recipe tab on my website.

• Cozy Autumn Wild Rice Soup

This soup is kindof a throw it all in type of soup.  The best part is that you don’t need meat for the soup, so you save money on your weekly grocery visits.  I had a sizable handful of kale for this recipe as well. I love adding kale in my soups because it takes the rough texture away and adds an immense amount of health benefits to your meal. This one will bring your body so much warmth and have you asking for seconds!

Bread/Breakfast/Snack/Dessert

• Chocolate Banana Bread

Just saying this name makes my mouth water!  Honestly there is no other banana bread that we have fallen in love with (if you family has a favorite, share it with me) like this chocolate banana bread.  If you want something quick for breakfast, this is a great choice. Need an after school snack, I’ve got you with this one! Have a sweet tooth? Heat a slice up and add a little peanut butter and your sweet tooth with for sure be tamed.  

Honestly, I buy bananas every week and they always turn quicker on me.  This used to upset me, but now I get excited because then I can save some in the freezer for a healthy smoothie later on or I can whip up this yummy recipe.  Seriously you HAVE to try this one!

Grilling Options:

• Grilled Beer Brats and Veggies

For those of you Grill Masters, here is a great option for your typical brats.  With the weather being warmer, well at least it was the last two weeks, we love to whip out the grill again and brats are a must to start off grill season.  The thing is, brats can get really boring if you have them all summer in the typical fashion. Instead of wrapping your brat in a bun and having chips on the side, marry it with some brown rice (or cauliflower rice) and top it off with some cooked; mushrooms, onions, peppers, asparagus, and sweet potatoes.  This will add pops of spice and sweetness married with the traditional beer brat flavor. Plus it is so much healthier and again you get your veggies in! I don’t have a recipe for the whole meal (I kindof just threw this one together once), but here is a cauliflower rice recipe that you can use for multiple meals.

Through this strange time in the history of our country, remember to slow down and take a step back to realize what is most important to you.  Food really can bring so much joy to your life in so many ways. Take time to set aside just one meal a day to sit down together as a family and enjoy not only the food, but the company and the amazing memories that you will make.  I am hoping that you can test your cooking skills with some of our family’s favorite meals. I know that after cooking three meals every single day, you are probably running out of ideas, so hopefully these can bring some bright and new classics to your dinner table as well.  Let me know if you try some of these out and share some pictures of your meals or your family enjoying a meal together.

As always I leave you with a prayer.  I pray that God be with each and every one of you.  I pray that He helps you to find joy in this challenging time.  I pray that he gives you courage to try something new and maybe make it a new constant in your life.  I pray that God is with all of you and your families and that He helps you to find comfort in the small things.

Now get cooking!

-Bobbi