Rice Krispie Treat Snake

My friend Heidi loves snakes and last night was her 30th birthday.  I found a snake strawberry shortcake on pinterest but it seemed too complicated and I couldn't afford to spend time on it and it maybe not turn out right so I searched for something else.

I found the idea for a rice krispie treat snake here- http://www.ricekrispies.ca/cgi-bin/rk_ca_2007/recipe.pl?id=12

I used mini marshmallows melted with butter, added vanilla and rice krispies. I sprayed olive oil on my hands and put spoonfulls on a pan one at a time and gradually molded them into a snake shape.  I used peanut butter to stick reeses pieces on it for the stripes, mini chocolate chips for the eyes, and fruit by the foot for the tongue.  .

Spicy Roasted Eggplant with Tomatoes and Cilantro

Yummly.com is a great website if you have not yet discovered it.  You can just type ingredients and it gives you recipes with those ingredients.  Have some stuff at home, but don't know what to make with it?  Just type it into Yummly and you'll have multiple options! 

That is how I found this recipe for spicy roasted eggplant with tomatoes and cilantro- http://www.yummly.com/recipe/Spicy-Roasted-Eggplant-With-Tomatoes-And-Cilantro-Epicurious

I was planning to make a Middle Eastern dish for an Iraqi family I know around Christmas time, but I ended up getting sick and not being able to.  Now I had eggplant, tomatoes, cilantro, & onions, but didn't want to make a difficult meal...so what could I do with them before they went bad?  I took them with me to my mom's house where I was going for Christmas break and put the ingredients into yummly and found this great recipe that I made when my brother and sis-in-law got there.

Full recipe is in the link- here's an overview:

Roast the eggplant.
Mash the pulp.
Saute onions.
Add 3 Tbsp ginger.
Add chopped tomatoes, cumin, paprika, coriander, & cayenne pepper.
Add eggplant & stir until thickened.
Remove from heat and stir in fresh cilantro.
Serve over rice (at least that's what I did).

If you follow the recipe, this is a spicy dish!  It would be easy to adjust your seasoning amounts to make it less spicy (or more) to your tastes though.

Smoothies

I love making smoothies.  Very tasty and a great way to get a lot of good stuff in you without even realizing it!  I don't have a regular protocol for my smoothies, it really just depends on what I have and/or what I remember to put in them.  I try to add spinach to all smoothies if I have it (very healthy and I promise you don't even notice) and flax seed.  I cut a bunch of bananas in half and have them frozen that I use sometimes (my bananas were always going brown before I used them all so I really like this!).  Sometimes I use a mixture of fruit and sometimes just one fruit.

This smoothie had 1/2 cup spinach, 1/2 cup blueberries, 1/2 cup black raspberries, 1/2 cup milk, 1 Tbsp flax seed, 1 Tbsp almond butter, 1 Tbsp honey, and 1/2 cup ice.  This was good but for my own taste preference I prefer a little less almond butter.  This is when I was counting weight watchers points so that's why I have measurements for everything.  Usually now I don't measure.

This smoothie was simply strawberries, milk, flax seed, almond butter, honey, and ice.

Like I said, my smoothies just depend on what I have at the moment and what I remember to put in them.  These are the only ones I have pics of but I've also used mangos, blueberries, the frozen bananas, red raspberries, peaches, etc.

Parfait

Got this general idea from the Simple Foods for Busy Families book as well.  I use plain greek yogurt and from there the ingredients vary.

This one included honey, cereal flakes, almond slices, flax seed, sunflower seeds, and tangelos.

This one has vanilla extract, honey, cereal flakes, almond slices, walnuts, pecans, banana chips, and raspberries.



Unique Grilled Cheese

You won't find this grilled cheese sandwich on any kids' menu!  Mixed greens, goat cheese, and strawberries.  I also added a tiny bit of a walnut balsamic vinaigrette.

Parmesan Crusted Chicken & Mashed Potatoes

I got this recipe from weight watchers- http://www.food.com/recipe/weight-watchers-parmesan-chicken-cutlets-185342.  If you are doing weight watchers it is only 4 points, if not, it still tastes good!

You mix parmesan cheese with Italian bread crumbs, paprika, garlic powder, pepper, & dried parsley.  I don't have dried parsley so I used fresh from my "garden" (I live in an apartment, but have some herbs & veggies growing in containers on my balcany).

Dip your chicken breasts in the mix so they are covered and bake.

I made this recipe with mashed potatoes (no picture).  I peeled my potatoes and boiled them along with a clove or 2 of garlic.  Once they were super soft I added some garlic infused oil and mixed & mashed.  Switched everything to a mixing bowl and added milk and used an electic mixer to mash everything.  I then added a dollop of sour cream and mixed a little more.  The sour cream made them taste extra great!

Sage Chicken Bonus

Here is a bonus to the Sage Chicken Breast recipe I posted yesterday.  I had leftover sauce and saved it and today I steamed broccoli, warmed up the sauce, and poured the sauce over the broccoli when I was ready to serve.  Seemed to be a good way to use up the extra sauce!