Have You Celebrated Family Meals Month?

Are family meals a lost art? In our world today, with fast-paced lives, busy work schedules and extracurricular activities, drive-thru meals and takeout food have become the norm. What impact does this have on our kids, our families and ourselves? As the trend moves toward simplicity and convenience, let’s not overlook the fact that preparing and eating meals together stimulates communication, creates memories and establishes healthy eating behaviors that have a long-lasting impact.

 

Research shows that when families eat meals together on a regular basis, they have greater unity and closer relationships. Children in families who eat together are better adjusted to the pressures of society. These children are more comfortable and confident in their own skin. The long-term nutritional benefits for individuals who have grown up eating family meals are clear too. The percentage of family members who are overweight, or abuse alcohol or drugs, is significantly lower in families who eat meals together on a regular basis than those who don’t.

 

Historically, traditional family meals were part of an everyday ritual, like brushing teeth. Homemade meals were prepared from scratch, dinner was served at the same time every night, and family members had assigned seats. Lessons and wisdom were shared over the dinner table.  Children grew in their character, learning manners, self-discipline and gratitude.

 

When schedules are busy, and time is at a premium, there is still hope for the family meal. September is National Family Meals Month, which means it’s the perfect time to start making family meals a normal occurrence in your home. Here are a few tips on how to do it and some delicious pictures of the perfect family meal to make this month:

• Pick one or two days a week for everyone to commit to.
• Pick a recipe and side dishes the family can agree on. Choose foods from all food groups, and foods that vary in color, taste and texture, to increase nutritional benefit.
• Choose a recipe that allows for convenience. Slow-cooker meals, casseroles and grilled meats are all good ideas. Check out all Hy-Vee has to offer for fast, easy and healthy meals and try Cool's Mushroom Pizza Recipe below.
• Plan for conversation starters. For example, have everyone go around the table and say one thing they are grateful for, or share an interesting story from their day.
• Keep everyone in touch by turning the television off and having a “no phones at the dinner table” policy.

Cool's Pizza Stuffed Mushrooms:  Serves 4

All You Need:

4 portabella mushrooms, stemmed and cleaned

2 cloves garlic, minced

½ c. Italian or Balsamic Dressing                                

1 tsp. Italian Seasoning

½ lb. Italian Sausage                                                

½ c. Marinara

1 Tbsp. Olive Oil                                                                               

1/3 c. Parmesan, shredded

½ c. Zucchini, diced                                                                        

½ c. Mozzarella, shredded

½ c. Green Peppers, diced

All You Do:

1. Coat the mushrooms in dressing, and set aside.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  In a large skillet over medium high heat cook sausage for 3 minutes.  Add in the olive oil, zucchini, green peppers, garlic, and Italian seasoning and cook until meat is thoroughly cooked about 7 minutes.  Drain meat, and add in marinara and parmesan cheese.  Stuff each mushroom with ½ c. of meat mixture and cook in the oven for about 10 minutes. 
3. Take the mushrooms out and top with the mozzarella cheese and place back in the oven to melt about 10-15 minutes. 
    

~Crazy

Chicken Pizza Pie Pockets

Most nights I have a plan for dinner and then some nights I like to open up the fridge and see what I have in there and what new experimental recipe I can feed my family.  I found some premade pie crust in my fridge so I decided we would start with that.  I also had a opened jar of marinara and ground chicken so I decided to put it all together with some cheese and make dinner.  Turned out pretty well!

You only need a few ingredients and a couple seasonings (not pictured).

First you need to cook up the ground chicken.  It only takes about 8-10 minutes to cook. The chicken does need seasoning so I added some Italian seasoning and garlic salt.

When the ground chicken is cooked I drained off some of the water and added in the marinara sauce.

Next just mix it up and season to taste.  I ended up adding a little more Italian seasoning because I love extra flavor.

I then took the two pie crusts that had been sitting out for about 20 minutes and rolled them out on the counter top.

I sprinkled some Italian seasoning and garlic salt on the pie crust and got out my  "biscuit cutter."  I will tell you the hard thing about cooking in two completely different kitchens messes with me sometimes and I think I have one thing at home when actually it's something I have in my work kitchen.  For this reason I thought I had biscuit cutters at home that would work perfectly for this part of the recipe but instead they were at my work kitchen and I was home.  I decided to improvise and use the top of my burger press which worked well but they were just bigger.  Use whatever works for your family, just know that you will use 2 circles per sandwich, so make sure there is an even amount.

Once we got all the circles punched out, I put half of them in a greased sheet tray with the seasoning side facing down.  I then topped them with pizza cheese. Try keeping the cheese and ingredients in the middle of the crust so it doesn't come out of the pocket.

Then add the ground chicken mixture on top.

Add finally top with the asiago cheese.

When all the ingredients are in, top each one with another pie crust circle.  Again making sure the seasoning side is on the outside.  

**TIP: You always want to make sure you seasoning at every stage of cooking. **

Since we already seasoned the meat, we want to make sure the pie crust are seasoned well.  Putting the seasoning on the outside of the pizza pie pocket will wake up your tastebuds first, before biting into the rest of it.

Now it's time to crimp the edges to give you a little pizza pocket.  The best way is to use your thumb and pointer finger and just go around the entire edge, making sure you are getting the top and bottom pie crusts pinched together so that the insides don't  all come out.

You then want to cut two slits in the top of the pie crust and oil the tops with olive oil.  Pop the sheet tray into the oven at 425 degrees for about 14-16 minutes until the crusts brown.

Here's my two little helpers!  About 7 minutes into cooking they wanted to know what smelled so good, I told them dinner and they wanted to see. This is a typical image in my kitchen.  I love their curiosity. 

Since they were so excited for dinner I recruited them to help finish the meal while the pizza pie pockets were finishing cooking.  

Yea, the pizza pockets are done!  Look how good they look.

Paxton approves and asks me to make them again!

Hope you all try out this fun recipe.  

Chicken Pizza Pie Pockets

1 package (2 crusts) premade pie crusts

1/2lb. Ground chicken

1 1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning, divided

3/4 tsp. Garlic salt, divided 

1/2 c. Marinara sauce

2/3 c. Pizza cheese

1/3 c. Asiago cheese

Olive oil (to brush tops)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Take out pie crusts and let it come to room temperature, about 20 min.  In a medium skillet over medium high heat add the ground chicken with 1 tsp. of Italian seasoning and 1/2 tsp. of garlic salt and cook for 8-10 minutes.  Drain off excess moisture and add in marinara sauce.  Taste and season accordingly if needed. Set aside.  When the pie crusts are at room temperature, roll them out on the counter tops and sprinkle with the remaining Italian seasoning and garlic salt.  Take a cookie or biscuit cutter and cut out 12 to 16 mini crusts.  On greased sheet tray place half of the mini pie crusts  on it, with the seasoned side facing down.  Divide the pizza cheese, ground chicken mixture, and Asiago cheese equally between the pie crusts.  Top with the remaining pie crusts and crimp the edges.  Brush tops of each pie crust with olive oil and place in the oven.  Cook for 14 to 16 minutes until pie crusts have browned.  Remove from oven and serve immediately. 

Enjoy!

-Cool

Croissant Crazy

Is there anything better than the taste of flaky and buttery croissants?  Whether you are using it as a medium to get a lunchmeat sandwich in you stomach for a quick lunch or just cream cheese and jelly for a fast breakfast, how versatile croissants can be while being completely delicious.  What if I told you that the Hy-Vee Season's magazine came out with even more ideas to incorporate croissants so that you could enjoy them for every meal?

 

 

Lucky for you, if you don't live near a Hy-Vee and recieve this magazine than I have taken a couple pictures for you to enjoy croissants in maybe a different way that you have never thought of.

 

 

We had one of our Crazy Cool throw down's at work on Tuesday and we decide both decided because everything in the magazine looked so delicious and our croissants are amazing that the theme would be "Croissants."  Looking through the magazine the pictures just make you hungry.  I decided on doing the Mini Baklava Croissants because they were easy and sounded like a sweet treat for a Tuesday afternoon. 

The recipe was my kind of recipe, only 5 ingredients that most of the ingredients were already in the cupboard, and they only take about 10 minutes to prep the filling, and 10 minutes to warm up in the oven. 

I sliced the croissants in 3 layers, made up the nutty filling with walnuts, cinnamon, cloves, and honey, filled the croissants, and warmed them up.

Since we were feeding a crowd I made up 6 large croissants but I have included the recipe at the bottom of the page for any party you will be having.

 

Don't those look like a fun treat?  You could actually have time to have dessert during the week?  Or what a fun after school treat?

 

 

After I picked my croissant recipe of choice, Anne looked through the magazine and saw something that caught her eye.  Two of her favorites put together on a croissant?  Could this even be happening?  It was basically a caprese salad pizza?  Fresh ingredients like a caprese salad, but toasting the croissant and adding a little local Gino's pizza sauce and this was a hit.

 

Yes there is a couple more ingredients but it was ohhh so delicious.  All you need is some croissants, and cut them in half.  Toast the croissants in the oven at 350 degrees for about 5-8 minutes.  Then you just add a small amount of pizza sauce, fresh mozzarella cheese, halved cherry tomatoes, little bit of fresh basil, and top with olive oil and freshly cracked salt and pepper.  Yup, it's as easy as it sounds and not only would this be filling enough for dinner but it would be the perfect appetizer for a party. 

 

 

Well how adorable are they?  They are even more delicious than they look if that's even possible!

 

 

So as we took our two recipes to the customers, we had a winner, Anne's Croissant Pizzas won the majority of the votes.  Even though I'm not a good loser, I knew that the pizzas were absolutely amazing and I was a super big fan of them.  I will definately be putting them on my family's menu next week.

 

 

In case you need some other creative ideas for croissants take a look.  Croissant ice cream cones?  Blackeberry parfaits?

 

Or even a omelet breakfast sandwich?  YES PLEASE!  I will take them all!

 

Enjoy your week with croissants!

 

-Cool

Love Your Food Friday!!!

          

I love food. And I mean all kinds of food. I love healthy food, not-so-healthy food, my mom's food, my dad's food, my elementary school lunch, Cool's food. Just love it all. 

So my question to you today is:  Do you love the food you eat? 

If you cannot sincerely answer yes, then there is where the struggle begins. With the start of 2015, I bet one of your resolutions involve food. Whether it is to eat healthier, plan meals or having dinner with your family, something is on your list. 

I am a firm believer that you can taste the love in food. If it is made with love or you are surrounded by love when you eat it, it's taste better and really fulfills you. These are 2 very important things about eating. 

So why am I talking about loving food so much?  When you really enjoy and love the food you are eating, it builds a good relationship with you and what you eat, resulting in feeling healthier and happier. For example:  pizza is my favorite food. If I decide to have pizza, I am going to pick my favorite restaurant or I want my parents to make their homemade. If I bought a frozen pizza that is just so-so in my eyes it leads me to overeat and not feel satisfied. I don't feel the love. 

Once I figured this easy simple secret, I don't have out of control cravings, I don't overeat and I don't struggle with my weight as much. All very healthy bonuses. 

So to start the new year, before you take a bite of the food you eat, ask yourself "Do I love this?" If the answer is no, put it down, walk away and find the love. 

~Crazy

     

Finally It's Friday! Pizza: A Little Slice of Healthy

As a dietitian and lover of food, I am often asked two things:  what is my favorite healthy food and what is my favorite not-so-healthy food?  The best part about it?  It’s the same food. I LOVE PIZZA.  

Pizza comes in all shapes, sizes and flavors.  It can be easily found in the frozen department of your local grocery store, in slices at your favorite convenience store or easily delivered right to your front door. The thing that excites me the most about pizza is I can have the best of both worlds. It can taste delicious and be healthy. 

Why Pizza is Healthy

Pizza can be a very healthy food because it can have almost all the food groups in one dish and achieve balance to your meals. This is why choosing quality and high-nutrient ingredients is a must to increase the health factor of your pizza. Pizza is loaded with vitamins and minerals (tomato sauce and vegetables), calcium (cheese), protein (lean meats) and fiber (whole grain or whole wheat crust). 

Dine-in or Carryout

Yes, you can have healthier pizza when dining out and without changing much of the flavor. When ordering, here are some healthier pizza tips

• Crust. Ask if a whole grain or whole wheat option is available. If it is not, always choose the thinnest crust option to keep your starch servings in check. 

• Extra sauce. Always choose a tomato-based sauce and ask for extra sauce. Pizza sauce is a great source of the antioxidant lycopene that helps keep our cells happy. 

• Load up with vegetables. Many restaurants offer a long list of vegetable options for pizza. I recommend choosing a vegetable pizza as your base and then adding the protein you like.

• Less cheese, please. I love cheese, and cheese is a very important component on pizza, but a pound of cheese is not necessary. I recommend choosing mozzarella cheese and ask if you can have half the regular amount of cheese on your pie. 

• If you like meat on your pizza, I recommend ham or Canadian bacon, chicken, shrimp and beef as leaner options. These are usually going to be the healthiest proteins on the menu. 

• Skip the Parmesan and add the red pepper flakes. The red pepper flakes add more flavor to each slice, which will encourage you to eat less. Also, the heat from the pepper may increase your metabolism. 

At Home

At home, the healthier pizza possibilities are endless!  You can get creative and try new flavor combinations. Please include all the tips for when you are dining out for pizza and add these:

• Making your own sauce. Pizza sauce can be high in sodium, so why not make it from scratch? There are plenty of no-salt-added canned tomato products available, and you can adjust the flavor by adding your own herbs and spices. 

• Herbs and spices. Adding flavor to your pizza is important because the more flavor it has, the less you need to eat of it to be satisfied. Dried herbs likes oregano, basil, parsley, red pepper flakes and fennel have antioxidants similar to fruits and vegetables. 

• Choose flavorful cheese and use less!  When choosing a cheese, choose ones with richer and stronger flavors. I enjoy using parmesan, blue and goat cheese instead of mozzarella. The more flavor, the less you need. 

 

 

Butternut Squash and Prosciutto Pizza

 

4 tablespoons of olive oil, divided

2 cups of butternut squash, cubed (frozen or fresh)

2 tablespoons of agave nectar, divided

2 teaspoons of chili powder, divided

2 teaspoons of cinnamon, divided

1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg, divided

4 slices of thinly sliced prosciutto, cut into large pieces

½ large red onion, sliced thinly

1 tablespoon butter

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 -12 inch pre-made whole wheat pizza crust

6 ounces of shredded Fontina cheese

¼ cup walnut pieces, toasted

6-8 fresh sage leaves

 

1.       Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray. Place cubed butternut squash on the pan. 

2.       Combine 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 tablespoon agave nectar, 1 teaspoon of chili powder, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/8 teaspoon of nutmeg. Mix with the butternut squash and roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until tender. 

3.       Warm butter over medium heat and place onions in the pain. Sautee onions until they form a nice brown color on the edges, about 15-20 minutes.

4.       Combine the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 tablespoon agave nectar, 1 teaspoon of chili powder, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/8 teaspoon of nutmeg with salt and pepper to taste. Spread this mixture over your whole wheat pizza crust. 

5.       Place the roasted butternut squash on the pizza crust, followed by the onions, cheese, prosciutto and toasted walnuts. 

6.       Cook the pizza according to the directions on the pre-made pizza crust. 

7.       Before serving, top the pizza with fresh sage leaves and enjoy!

~Crazy

 

 

From the Kitchen Friday: Kids Eat Right

August is a busy month of getting in last minute vacations, shopping for school supplies, and enjoying the last days of summer.  It is also the month celebrating Kids Eating Right. Kids Eat Right is a national campaign starting in 2010 offering resources and information to the public to encourage nutritious and healthful eating amoung children and families. This campaign is near and dear to my heart because it's helps everyone eat healthier but in a creative and delicious way. 

We all love kids and we all want them to be healthy and happy. But many of us just don't where to start when getting creative in the kitchen, finding easy recipes and inexpensive ways to shop for these kinds of foods. This campaign helps with all of these things. I will use a lot of the great recipes from the website on this blog and I hope you check out this great resource: 

http://www.eatright.org/kids/

 

You really do not have to spend a lot of money and you don't have to spend hours in the kitchen to have foods kiddos enjoy. Another thing to get kids interested  in the foods they eat, is to get them in the kitchen and cooking!  Have a day where your kids help make dinner every week. Have a day each weekend that the kids are involved in family snack time. And it can be all ages. Young children can help you stir or pour and older kids can be your sous chef. 

Cool and I love to do cooking classes for all ages. Look for our monthly cooking class starting this fall, bring your kids and start eating right! Get the kids into the kitchen and whip up this delicious and easy recipe this weekend:  

Easy Fruit Pizzas

1 package of Blueberry Belvita Cookies

1 6-ounce vanilla Greek yogurt

20 fresh blueberries

1/4 cup low-fat granola (I like Bare Fit Vanilla Almond)

Evenly distribute yogurt onto the 4 cookies. Place 5 blueberries on each cookie and then sprinkle with granola. 

Yum. Have a great weekend!

-Crazy