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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
What's for dinner?
I'm looking for new recipes or dinner ideas to try. Seems like we fall into a rut of breakfast for dinner, pizza, pasta, tacos... I have been using a crockpot cooking blog and finding stuff (2 out of 3 were successful, one was TERRIBLE!)
Any suggestions? I'm planning on making a monthly menu (more like a rough idea) so when we go grocery shopping tonight we don't wander around empty minded but with hungry bellies!
Re: What's for dinner?
Thanks for checking in! Maybe once I come up with an idea for dinners, I'll post it on my blog
It may help other people that are stuck like me!
She is totally a smiley girl! Thanks for the compliments. The one that you are talking about was when she first woke up, she was still in her pj's. Morning is her fave! She's feeling better but she still hates the bottle. My SIL said she had a really rough time the past 2 days taking it. DH has had no problems with her. He says he feeds her in the bouncy seat because that's the only way she'll take the bottle from her. I think she associates being cradled with nursing from me. Because if she's not nursing she hates being cradled. So DH suggested that to her for next week. I'm off now until Sat, so I'm sure Sat she will have a tough time again with it. Although to be honest, I'm glad she likes me best!!
How's Matty doing? I LOVE his eyes, they are so beautiful. Good thing he has siblings to protect him from the ladies!
2 weeks ago i made this amazing quinoa with moroccan winter squash stew-made a double batch super healthy and kept tasting better each day as the spices sunk in. i don't care for cooked carrots so i did not use, i soaked chickpeas then cooked for three hours and then added to stew but you could certainly use canned chickpeas, and i added sweet potato-my hubby and friends LOVED it.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/QUINOA-WITH-MOROCCAN-WINTER-SQUASH-AND-CARROT-STEW-233714
then this last sunday i made a curried red lentil stew which also was delish and worked really well for leftovers- for this recipe i again left out the carrots-added two different varieties of sweet potatos and also added two heads of cauliflower (just the florets) and of course doubled and a half the recipe. served over jasmine rice-been eating during the week for leftovers.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/CURRIED-RED-LENTIL-STEW-WITH-VEGETABLES-238088
hope that these are helpful curious to hear everyone else's recipes
I usually buy whatever hunk of meat is fairly affordable (e.g., pot roast, pork shoulder, whole chicken) that week. Then I go on Allrecipes dot com and search for crockpot recipes for that cut. I love that there are user reviews and tons of recipes to appeal to all tastes. Since I usually only cook the 4-5 star stuff, I've liked most that I've tried.
Most recently I did a surprisingly delicious Carolina BBQ shredded pork and served it on ciabatta bread with coleslaw. It was so different from my normal dishes, which was really the best part!
We try to eat as organically as possible and as low-fat/low-sodium/low-glycemic index as we can too.
The staples in our home:
--Quinoa and quinoa pasta
--Brown Rice and brown rice pasta
--small potatoes that we can bake or oven roast
--Tomato sauce (organic)
--Chicken stock (organic) - for making rice/quinoa or sauteeing without oil
--Cream of Mushroom soup (low sodium)...through rice in a casserole dish, top with chicken breasts or pork loin chops and add the cream of mushroom soup...bake in the over until the rice has fluffed up and the meat is cooked through...yummy casserole! Add steamed veggies and/or a green salad and you've got a meal!
--Pesto (organic)
--Olive oil for grilling/sauteeing
--other simmer sauces like curry, terriyaki, etc. (We buy the jarred kind and try to get organic as much as possible and lower sodium. Trader Joe's and the Archer Farms brand by Target have some great choices).
--Various seasonal veggie (fresh and organic, if possible)...asparagus, green beans, brussel sprouts, spinach, broccoli, squash
--Lean cuts of meat (chicken breast, ground turkey breast, pork loin, lean steak, fresh fish, shrimp)
--Beans (organic)...black, kidney, pinto, garbanzo, etc.
--various spices and seasonings..flavored vinegars, dried herbs, exotic spices...you'd be amazed how something like cumin can take a dish from blah to bam!
Basically dinner is one of the proteins grilled or baked, one of the veggies steamed or sauteed and one of the starches (or sometimes we skip the starch all together). Sometimes it becomes a one pot meal, like
browned turkey, spices (cumin, chili powder, garlic, black pepper, etc.), tomato sauce (organic/plain), black, pinto and kidney beans=chili
or
browned turkey, spices (oregano, basil, garlic, etc.), tomato sauce, zucchini, mushrooms, and brown rice/quinoa pasta = pasta italiano
Other nights it's just grilled meat (chicken, pork, fish...usually marinated or seasoned) with grilled/steamed/sauteed veggies and a side of brown rice or baked potato, etc.
Or you can brown the meat on the stove top or grill, broil or bake it, while your rice or pasta is boiling. Add the simmer sauce of your choice to the meat and throw in some veggies. Plate the rice/pasta and add the meat/veggie/sauce mix over the top. Dig in!
Easy and quick...and healthy....none of these take more than 20 minutes to make from start to finish (as long as the meat is defrosted). We almost always start with a fresh, green salad too.
You can keep things varied by mixing up the spices/seasonings you use as well as your meat, carb, veggie combos. Some are classics though like steamed broccoli and terriyaki beef over rice.
TTC/PG Blog | Mommy Blog
Sounds delish Alix! I don't care for cooked carrots either. Blech!
TTC/PG Blog | Mommy Blog
This might help - saw it on another board today (what's cooking? maybe?):
https://www.youvegotsupper.com/
You can sign up for weekly emails and they send you grocery lists - seems to be free too!
Since quinoa seems to be a theme today, I''l share that I just made a recipe the other night that turned out fantastic. If you have Trader Joe's, buy their organic quinoa (it's in a yellowy-orange box). There is a recipe on the back of the box for a stir fry that was soo easy, and surprisingly (for a how easy it was) very yummy!