Farmer's Market Coleslaw

Radishes Squared - Colored Pencil drawing by Nicole Caulfield

What happens when you go to the farmer's market to get radishes for a drawing? You get cabbage too and make coleslaw! These radishes and the baby cabbage I got at the Brattelboro Farmer's Market in Vermont are so yummy it is ridiculous. The radishes are Easter Egg Radishes and come in 4 pretty colors. 

2 cups shredded cabbage

10 radishes cut into thin slices

1 small container of chobani plain yougurt

1 tbs mayonaisse

1 tsp Splenda (or your choice of sweetener)

salt & pepper

Spinach Chickpea Salad

I don't know about where you live but we just had some really HOT days! & here in New Hampshire most people do not have air conditioning! My hubby came home from work the one day and I directed him straight to the freezer of Mealpods. There was no way I was going to cook!

Its cooler again but still perfect for refrigerator salad meals. This is a Spinach Basil Chickpea Salad adapted from the Mediterranean Chickpea Salad on My Recipes. Yum. This recipe makes about 4 servings so double it if you want leftovers in the refrigerator for the week.

1 15 oz can chickpeas drained and rinsed well

1 handful (about 1 cup loosely packed) fresh basil leaves chopped small 

1/4 cup olive oil

1 clove garlic minced

lemon zest of 1/2 a lemon

 4 oz mozzarella cheese cubed

2 cups cherry tomatoes quartered

1/2 bag baby spinach

salt & pepper

2 tbs fresh lemon juice

1. Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl to marinate at room temperature. 

2. Add in last four ingredients. Cut the sinach if you like or serve the chickpea mixture on top. 

3. Refrigerate covered. 

Father's Day Freezer Fill!

I have to admit that my freezer of Mealpods was down to the weird things... the recipes that weren't winners or that just were better fresh. So for part of my father's day present I emptied the frezzer and filled it with 3 recipes (48 pods total) that my husband loves.

Can't Fail Gluten-free Penne Pasta with Zucchini and Peppers

This is a no brainer recipe:

2 boxes gluten-free penne noodles
5 zucchini cut into thick chunks
1 cup diced sweet peppers
garlic powder
Italian Seasoning
1 tbs olive oil
1.25 lbs 90% lean ground beef (or other of your choice)
2 jars of the best marinara you can buy

The trick to this recipe is having the ratio of veggies to noodles high on the veggies.
I used 2 boxes of gluten-free penne pasta noodles and made a sauce with my favorite jarred marinara sauce. It is a local (boston) sauce company called Strega. I buy their marinara sauce at my local grocery store and I just love it. It is not an organic product but the ingredients are real foods. I actually love their ingredient label:

Italian peeled tomatoes, tomato puree, fresh basil, citric acid, sea salt, fresh garlic, extra virgin olive oil, crushed red pepper, love, respect.

Okay so to two jars of Strega Marinara I browned about a pound - a pound and a quarter of 90% lean ground beef. I also chopped up some big chunks of zucchini and peppers. I wanted the veggies to be really high in ratio to the meat and pasta so I bought a big bag of zucchini. I just cooked them for a little bit in some olive oil keeping them still crispy and added it and the meat to the sauce. Yum. I seasoned the zucchini and the sauce with some garlic powder and Italian seasoning.

I also made some meatlof cupcakes (how could I resist) which I posted before. Here's the link to the recipe which is a bit different than other meat cupcakes because there are folded egg whites in it as well as baking powder.

& my husband's all time favorite Mealpod and one that he made up himself Honey Curry Chicken with Brown Rice and Carrots. Here's the link to that recipe. Not the prettiest photo and I now make it with way more carrots and less rice to keep the ratios better.

Summertime Hours

Sorry for the lack of posts. It is the end of school here in New Hampshire and as a teacher and Mom it gets kind of crazy. I did take pics of a couple of things and will post soon! Sis is busy busy with summer activities already but I'll try and get her to post too.

I am thinking that for the summer our goal will be once a week posts.

For now I will leave you with a colored pencil drawing I just finished: "Berries Squared." :-) Off to fill up the freezer with my husband's favorite meals for Father's Daywhich I have posted before. Maybe I'll share them with you again if I have time to photograph while I cook.

Broccoli Chicken Salad

This recipe is from 2 sources. 

One this amazing looking broccoli salad I found on Pinterest made by Eatyourselfskinny.com  http://www.eat-yourself-skinny.com/2011/03/sweet-broccoli-salad.html

The other inspiration was my sister's chicken salad recipe my Mom, Aunt and I kept on making Sis make for us. We even made her make it in our hotel room in Hawaii a couple of years back. :-)

Okay in my recipe - mix together in no certain order:

cold cubed cooked chicken breast

broccoli floret (just the tree top part)

red grapes

chopped walnuts

red onions

craisins

your choice mayonaisse or greek yogurt or coleslaw sauce

1 tbs splenda sugar replacement 

a teensy bit of cumin

You may notice I did not include any amounts. That is because I was so darn hungry I just winged it by sight. I tried to have more broccoli than anything else and I used only a little bit of mayo. I suggest adding it a tbs at a time until you like the looks of it. I like mine pretty dray as you can see. 

Easy Kielbasa Skillet

Easy Kielbasa Skillet

Prep Time: 10 min                

Cook Time: 20 minutes            

Yield: 6

INGREDIENTS:

14 oz kielbasa, sliced into rounds

1 lb mini red potatoes, sliced into wedges

1 medium onion, cut into half moons

½ cup chicken broth

2 tbsp coconut oil

DIRECTIONS:

Precook potatoes in oven or microwave until soft, but not mushy.

Slice kielbasa into small discs and brown in skillet, then remove.

While kielbasa is cooking, slice potatoes into wedges and onion into half moons. 

Add coconut oil and heat, then add potatoes and onions and brown until they are slightly crisp. 

Add kielbasa back to skillet, then pour broth over everything and simmer for 20 minutes

Allow to cool, then portion for freezing.

· 

Nutrition:  305 calories, 23g fat, 631g sodium, 15G carb, 2g fiber, 10g protein

nutrition information estimated at Livestrong.com:

http://www.livestrong.com/recipes/mealpod-easy-kielbasa-skillet/

Mini Zucchini Meatloaves

So, I disappeared for awhile, my guess is that no one really noticed.  My sister likes to pretend it matters, though.  My daughter's activity schedule has gotten just a bit out of control and my evenings are no longer my own.  My work filter does not allow for posting on blogger, except during a 1 hour window at lunch, which lately has not been used much for lunch.  All of a sudden, every part of my life has been busier!


This is, of course, exactly what mealpods are perfect for.  Just because I have been super busy, does not mean that I have been eating badly.  I try and keep at least one week, if not two weeks of lunches frozen as mealpods, so I am covered in cases of circumstances that don't allow for my usual Sunday cooking schedule.


So, almost three weeks ago, I made a bunch of mini zucchini meatloaves and I've been enjoying them greatly.

Mini Zucchini Meatloaves

Prep Time: 10 min                

Cook Time: 45 minutes             

Yield: 4

INGREDIENTS:

16 oz ground beef

1 cup zucchini, grated

¼ cup onion, grated

2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped finely

1 tsp fresh oregano, chopped finely

¼ cup Parmesan cheese, grated

¼ cup feta cheese

1 tsp salt

½ tsp black pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350˚

Shred the zucchini and grate the Parmesan cheese and onion before starting to mix the beef.

Mix all ingredients in a bowl being sure everything is distributed evenly.

Portion into mini loaf pans and cook for 45 minutes. 

Allow to cool, then portion for freezing.

Nutrition: 356 calories, 20g fat, 813g sodium, 5G carb, 2g fiber, 39g protein

nutrition information estimated at Livestrong.com:

http://www.livestrong.com/recipes/mealpod-mini-zucchini-meatloaf/