Quinoa & Turkey Meatballs

This is a delicious spin on an old favorite.

I use quinoa instead of noodles since well, its healthier. That and Sophia will eat anything she thinks is "wice, mommy!" ..... so here you go!

You will need:

1lb ground turkey
1 cup quinoa, cooked
Your preferred marinara or spaghetti sauce
Cheese (optional)
1 egg
fresh parsley
fresh garlic (or garlic powder)

Mix meat, cheese, egg, and spices in a bowl. Divide meat evenly in to non-stick mini muffin tin (sorry, you can roll the meat in to balls too, but I don't touch raw meat!) Heat at 350 until done.

Heat sauce in a pan, pour over cooked quinoa, top with meatballs and cheese. If you're feeling really adventurous, you could spread the quinoa over a portabella mushroom and garnish with a stem of parsley!

enjoy!

Taco Salad {the family table}

Or non table, in our case. Yeah... we have to buy one for our new house! :)

Here's my most recent taco salad recipe. I'm always making new things in to tacos and taco salad... I can't help it, tacos are my fave food EVAH!

You'll need:
1 lb ground turkey
1/4c chopped fresh cilantro
1 c prepared brown rice
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
chili powder
cayenne pepper

Brown meat with cilantro, set aside. Add rice, beans, and spices. You may want to add 1/4c water and let everything simmer for a bit.

Put the mixture on top of a few chips, top with lettuce, tomatoes, all the toppings you desire!

I made some guacamole to go on the side, too.
1 avocado
juice from 1/2 lime
fresh cilantro to taste
sea salt
black pepper
cayenne pepper
tomatoes

smush everything, add tomatoes, enjoy!

Pizza Eggs

Raise your hand if you love pizza!! (great, I'll need to raise BOTH hands, and then I can't type!)
haha

So yeah, I am a pizza FANATIC. Honestly, who isn't? My kids love pizza, too. Last week I made them mini pizzas and mini calzones out of biscuits. They loved them.

Sometimes we do breakfast for dinner, but I get bored with normal breakfast. And... I always want pizza. So, I got a little (and I mean.. a little) creative in the kitchen to mix up our Brinner.

The kids AND husband both loved these eggs. 

You'll need:

a muffin tin (I used a silicone muffin mold, shaped like half-eggs)

eggs

pepperonis

mozzarella or parmesan cheese

Preheat your oven to 350. Crack one egg per muffin hole on the tin (mine held 8). place a single pepperoni on the top of the egg, then sprinkle with a little bit of cheese. Bake about 10 minutes, or until eggs reach your desired "done."

My Bento Wish List {back to school edition}

School bells will be ringing and summer will be over, before we know it. I have always loved "back to school" time, even as a kid, because I love fresh notebooks, new pencils, school clothes shopping, getting that brand new pair of keds hi-tops in black (can you tell I was a child of the early 90s? 1990-1996, kindergarten through 6th grade, I always started school with fresh keds and fresh LA gear).

Now I'm always super excited to take Olivia shopping for new clothes, shoes, school supplies... and most of all, BENTO GEAR!! Bento gear is probably my favorite. I order all bento supplies without her input, because I love the surprise she gets at lunch time each day.

Here are the items I will be purchasing for myself Olivia and Sophia's bento stash this 2013-2014 school year!

This great box makes me super excited. If you didn't know, our last name means Pear or Pear Tree in french. I find it totally fitting that my little Pie girls have pear lunch boxes! Snag your own Pear box here!

I love these little forrest friends! Andy and I watch Brickleberry and I could totally see myself making him a Daniel Tosh as the bear lunch! :) Get your forrest friends here!

I LOVE GNOMES!! No explanation necessary! Grab your gnomies here!

I love these leaves, and I have wanted them since I started bento in 2010. I'm not sure why I haven't ordered any yet? You can grab some here!

These adorable silicone baran sheets! Get your own set here!

You had me at peas in a pod. Silicone food cups available here!

All images courtesy BentoUSA.com 

#PastaSaladSunday

Happy Sunday, y'all!

I love Sundays. I love them because I'm excited for a new week to begin. I love church (however, we skipped this morning due to intense amounts of unpacking and little home repairs we needed to do). I love Sunday lunch!

So, I'm going to try to start something. Each Sunday that I can, I'll post a new pasta salad recipe. Pasta salad is super easy, delicious, and fun. It can be gluten free or regular. Its a fantastic dish to bring to your family's Sunday lunch, your church potluck, or an after church picnic with your family.

A couple of weeks ago, one of my offices had a potluck and a baby shower. My super sweet office manager, N, brought a pasta salad that was SO DELICIOUS (and perfect for my then-sore, newly-braced teeth!), I had to re-create it today.

Here's your first #pastasaladsunday recipe!

You will need:

1.5c uncooked corkscrew pasta
1/2c italian salad dressing
2 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp water
1/2c broccoli, chopped
1 small package cubed cheese
1 package mini pepperonis
1 tomato, diced

cook pasta, drain, set aside.
Mix dressing, oil, water, then pour over pasta. Add broccoli, cheese, pepperonis, and tomato. Toss to make sure everything is coated with the dressing mixture. Serve chilled!

Now, share YOUR pasta salad sunday recipes! :) 

I'm alive, I promise!

And, while I've been living, I've also been making bento!

Here's the dealio. I don't have a DSLR anymore, so bear with me as far as photos go. I plan to get another one soon, but I had a d7000 and I hardly ever used it. So, I sold it. I want to downgrade to a canon rebel or something. Professional photography is a thing of my past, and for family snapshots and bento pics, I don't need anything crazy!

So, without any further mumbling, here are a few bentos from last week!

a totally upside down, awful bento. This is when we just moved in to our home and had for real, zero groceries! crackers, lunch meat (snagged at walgreens a few blocks away), pb sandwich, dry cereal, pita chips. YIKES.

Puppies in a blanket

hahahahaha. All I can do is laugh about this one!!

I have been spending quite a lot of my spare time on pinterest lately. I mean, that is what you do when you have a new house to paint, decorate, and love, right? I thought so.

Well, when I saw these adorable puppies in a blanket (yeah, hot dogs wrapped in biscuits), I decided I would make them for dinner for the kiddos. ONLY I didn't repin, or even like the post. So of course I couldn't find it again.... Just these ridiculous photos of a weenie dog in a hot dog bun.

cute, yeah? 

I did find someone else's failed attempt on their blog, so I used that image as a guide.... of course I can't find that photo again or the link! UGH!

After my failed attempt (that still tasted delicious, according to the kids!), I found an awesome version here:

Kitchen Fun with My 3 Sons

I wish I had found this blog before I tried to make the others.

Ok... now, here's the moment you've been reading for.. my EPIC FAIL at puppy dogs!

HAHAHAHAHA

Seriously, they're so terrible! And thats ok, I know they are! I made a huge mistake using regular biscuits and not crescent rolls. They puffed up SUPER HUGE in the oven and stuck to each other. This little puppy is missing a nose for sure. The OP I tried to use had rolled the dough into strips and draped over the hot dog to make ears, and paws. I didn't do that. Anyway... I will probably try to do this again another time. With the right biscuit product.