Fast Food

So I have been gone for awhile. I hope that doesn't happen often and that I will be able to post about once a week. Going ninety to nothing here lately has me inspired for this next post. What do I do when I don't have much time, and what do I do that's easy? I am sure that I will give you a post like this now and again because easy is often necessary. I'll give you a current list of things I've done within the past few weeks.

These ideas and ones like them are my attempt at not defaulting to the standard "easy" meals, such as Hamburger Helper, excessive amounts of PB&J, fish sticks, or frozen chicken nuggets. Please don't feel bad if any of these are staples in your household, but my goal here is to help people come up with alternatives to the norm. Because, let's face it, what the pre-packaged food industry has to offer us is nada in the way of nutrition.

Let's start with the munchkin. He is by no means a picky or light eater. This kid is a bottomless pit. I am always trying to come up with ways to satiate his appetite while not boring him or feeding him garbage. One of the things we do often is eggs. He thinks they are so great, my husband, as well, is a huge fan. I joke that without me it is all they would ever eat. Mostly because my husband can not cook ANYTHING else! We have omelets on average once a week on the inevitable night I forget to get meat out to thaw. Benjamin will finish a veggie/meat filled 3 egg omelet without blinking. Usually what I will do is always add some kind of  greens. For us it is usually kale or spinach. Our standard veggies are mushrooms, sweet peppers, green onions, tomatoes, and zucchini. There is always cheese involved. For the meat, I either use some carne asada steak that I can buy in very small packages for a couple bucks a piece and save for use with eggs, whatever leftover meat I have, or when we are indulging, bacon. If you've read my previous posts you've heard my schpeel on bacon. If you haven't yet, please do. Bacon is serious business 'round here.

Now, this is what munchkin lunches tend to look like. Usually raw, often meatless, with lots of fruits and veggies. This particular one is frozen raspberries, clementine slices, spinach leaves, frozen blueberries, organic Persian cucumber slices, cheese cubes, red pepper hummus for cucumbers, and one scrambled egg. He finished this one off fairly quickly and ate more of something else. If you attempt something like this my best advice to you is to pick lots of different colors. Not only will it be more appealing to your small one but will cover an array of nutrients.

So I am the picky one in my house, and I don't often find something simple for lunch very exciting. I am always wanting a big to-do with my food and that is not always very practical. I have to be excited about my food or I'll end up wanting to eat stuff that I don't need to be eating. This recipe has my heart right now, and I ate nothing else for lunch for a week at one point. There are two versions of it because of mine and my family's differing tastes.

 Please don't be scared if this looks weird. It is so simple and delicious!

Tomato and Mozzarella Salad

Ingredients:

1 tub of cherry tomatoes cut in half

1 block of real mozzarella cut into small cubes

Basil, fresh or in a tube (I use the tube basil for this recipe it is super easy)

Olive oil

Garlic powder

Salt and pepper to taste

1 Avocado diced (optional, at least for me)

Directions:

There isn't much to this. You want to use enough basil to evenly cover your salad mixture. You only need to pour a tiny bit of olive oil if you use the basil paste, but if you use fresh you will need more of the olive oil.

This recipe just needs to be eye balled and made to your taste. There is nothing to it.

Here is the version I make for the boys. They love avocados and I do not. So I make theirs with them for the added nutritional boost and it helps keep them full!

You can look forward to many episodes of easy dinner and lunch ideas. Let's face it, we are real people with real lives and it is not easy to always be a master chef on top of all things keep it wholesome. Keep your head up while we keep working toward that balance!