Meal Spiel

My kids have been taking turns this week. Being sick. Which means, we have been at home a lot more than usual. And it has also led to me cooking more than usual. Because it's cooler outside and we haven't had to rush anywhere.... and we have been in our pajamas until noon... I became a little bored and decided to cook.

I am not the kind of girl that looks forward to cooking.  If I'm going to make a mess, I would rather make a mess that leads to a paper plate sunshine, or teaching Annette a new word, or Charlie a new shape.  And to feed myself, I would rather eat cheese dip and hot sauce, or leftovers, or enjoy the results of my husband's tasty cooking. However, I usually don't need to eat cheese dip every other meal. Meaning, I must cook/put food on the table at least 2 times a day (breakfast and lunch for me and the kids) and also cook dinner about twice a week. Isaac usually cooks 2 other nights. Not because I beg him to or anything, but because he actually likes cooking. I'll ask him to blog about that later for all those that might be sceptical of a husband who likes to cook.  The rest of the week we end up eating leftovers or eating out or at one of our parent's house. Another reason I love living in town with our parents:)

So here are a few of the things that this non-cooking-lover-mother has made lately. Things that actually turned out yummy enough that I am actually thinking I might look forward to cooking them again. I know there are other moms out there like me (I won't name any names:) that lean towards the easier meals, so maybe some other people will want to try these recipes. Although easy is a relative word. Stouffer's lasagna is easy. Spaghetti using Prego is easy. So, I won't say these are easy, because before I started eating less carbs and cooking to lower cholesterol,  my old definition of easy would not have include chopping veggies or having to use more than one cooking utensil. BUT, these are pretty easy... I think. And remember, I don't like cooking that much.

Bruschetta Omelette 

We make omelettes a lot at our house, which I've said before. The downside is that you have to clean a pan and get several ingredients out of the fridge, but the upside is way too good to not make 'em several days a week. (PS. Omelette seems to be spelled two ways on the web, omelet and omelette. I like omelette better:)

The other day, I was out of turkey and ham and sausage and mushrooms and spinach and any other ingredient I usually put in our omelettes, but was still desperate to make an omelette. All I saw in the fridge were the remaining ingredients from making bruschetta the night before for a get together. I started getting that resourceful itch again....and thought that I I might try putting the basil and cherry tomatoes and mozzarella balls into the omelettes. It was out of desperation, and without a recipe, but the result was AMAZING!! I would make these all the time if I had basil growing at my house. I've tried. They say it's easy to do, but I have killed several potted basil plants and have just about lost the confidence I need to try growing it again.

The steps I used to accidentally make a yummy bruschetta omelette:

I halved and cooked the tomatoes in a dab of extra virgin olive oil until they were kind of soft. Took them out of the pan for a second.
Then, I poured in the egg whites (I buy the liquid egg whites in the big tall carton for easy omeletting.)
Then added the basil, and a little shredded cheddar cheese (so it would look a little more familiar to the kiddies), and put the tomatoes back in, and at the end I added some halved balls of mozzarella.
Flipped the whole thing in half  and flopped it on a plate.

I loved it and the kids even loved it. Although, they did eat around the tomatoes.

The Whole Enchilada Chicken Soup

Who knew it would be so yummy to put pumpkin and enchilada sauce in the same soup?????
Isaac's mom made this for us the other night and I have not been able to stop thinking about it. It is so super low in calories and it was so so yummy. While I was eating it at her house, I told her there was some flavor I couldn't put my finger on. When she told me it was either the pumpkin or the enchilada sauce, I was way surprised and interested.

She told me the recipe was from this Hungry Girl website, which was new to me. I'll be adding this to my other favorite cooking sites; Allrecipes.com, and Kalyn's Kitchen.

I made this soup today with what I had on hand. I only had a red enchilada sauce seasoning packet instead of the green enchilada sauce which the recipe calls for. I followed the directions on the packet I had, to make my own enchilada sauce. It tasted a little different, but not much. I do prefer the green enchilada sauce though, for when I make it again.

The kids loved it as much as me!

 The true sign of a good soup:)

I love when other people share their family friendly recipes on their blogs. If I know the momma of 2 or more kids can whip it up, and it was worth their time and effort, it makes me much more likely to give it a try myself:)