What I Ate: St. P Edition

Welcome to Wednesday! I'm rounding up my St. Patty's Day eats today for What I Ate Wednesday and linking up over at Clean Eats, Fast Feets. I've really been loving these posts because it's fun to look back on and also forces me to up my game a little bit on what I'm eating. By the looks of it, I'm not getting nearly enough green veggies, so my plan is to work on that for next week! Yesterday was great because we also managed to eat dinner together as a family, something we've been working on. It's a work in progress, but when it all comes together and happens, it feels really special. Let's get to it!

breakfast: oat bran w/water, sweetener, 2 tbsp PB2 & 1/2 sliced banana. there's really just no way to make this look pretty.

mid-morning snack: the remaining half of banana from breakfast

lunch: penelope and i made this awesome lemon chicken orzo soup on sunday and so i brought some leftovers. i wish i had some greens in this soup, but i didn't have any at home to throw in. next week for sure!

snack: someone brought in these amazing nougat treats for the office and so i had half of one. then i went back for the other half.

dinner: beer braised corned beef in the slow cooker + carrots + cabbage (ok so a tiny bit of green!)

snack: irish soda bread!

So all in all, not a terrible day of eating - everything was delicious! Looking back, I wish I had incorporating a bit more healthy veg, but all in all, I'm happy that I meal prepped on Sunday so that I had plenty of goodies for the week!

What have you been eating lately?

Grasshopper Pudding Cups

 

You know something crazy is going on when I get two recipe posts up in one week! That crazy thing is that Penelope has been loving cooking lately. Our weekends have been filled with food prep and some of my very favorite moments from this past weekend were spent with P sitting on our kitchen island helping me cook. I will happily cook all the time if she is into it.

And amazingly, there's been a shift lately. I've noticed that when Penelope helps cook, she is then excited to eat the finished product. This is music to my ears since we've certainly had our rough patches with getting her to eat in the past. In fact, the last two weekends she's helped make soup and then would proceed to eat two full bowls of it. I'd call that a major parental win and I'm hoping that this keeps up!

On Sunday morning, P wanted to make something so I thought we'd try some instant pudding. I only had the powdered sugar free fat free kind which really wouldn't be my first choice of desserts to feed my child but it's what we had and we had a lot of fun making it together. I decided to make these grasshopper puddings and dye the vanilla pudding green for St Patrick's Day, and then I thought this would be a great 'recipe' for Baby Talk Tuesday since it's so easy for kids to help. And watch the mystification on their face when the pudding turns green. Penelope was positively enthralled.

Grasshopper Pudding Cups
1 pkg instant vanilla pudding
1 pkg instant chocolate pudding
4 C fat free milk
1/4 tsp peppermint extract
4-5 drops green food coloring
Whipped cream topping, if desired

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the vanilla pudding mix and 2 cups of milk. Add food coloring and whisk for 2 minutes until it thickens.

In another bowl, whisk the chocolate pudding mix and remaining 2 cups of milk until it begins to thicken. Add peppermint extract and continue whisking until 2 minutes have passed in total.

Let both bowls of pudding soft set in the refrigerator. Once set, layer the pudding into individual cups or a large trifle dish. Top with whipped topping and enjoy!

Kid-approved tasks:
Pour pudding mixes into bowls
Help pour milk
Help whisk
Lick whisk --->I told Penelope this is why being the chef is awesome because you get to lick the bowl.

So that's it. I wouldn't even call this a recipe, just getting creative with my kiddo in the kitchen. And it's simple and fast enough that you could totally squeeze this in tonight for St. Patrick's Day!

Enjoy!

Do you have any plans for tonight? I have a corned beef slow cooking in beer at home and will be adding some cabbage, carrots and potatoes when I arrive home! And of course, a little Irish soda bread on the side!

PS: chocolate stout mini cakes/chocolate stout cupcakes/irish oatmeal cake/favorite beer braised corned beef + cabbage

Mediterranean Egg Salad

It's Monday again. Bleh.

At least this week, we aren't fighting daylight savings...though I had an epiphany yesterday when my mom and I were talking about the trials and tribulations of daylight savings. I noted that last week, I just felt totally thrown off, unhappy and kind of depressed. In fact, one night, I came home, put pajamas on immediately and told Shaun that I just needed to go to sleep (right after Penelope went to bed). My mom said that she always feels a little blue during the spring forward week. I never knew this was a thing, and maybe it's just us, but now I'm curious if this is in fact a thing, like seasonal depression? I can fall back like a champ (my mom and I agreed it's the best day of the year), but something about springing forward just doesn't sit well with me. Anyone else feeling blue over the last week?

In any event, and on an unrelated note, can we talk about egg salad for a moment? I always forget how much I love egg salad. When it comes to hard boiled eggs, I can take them or leave them. They are typically relegated to those weeks when I'm going relatively carb-free, they usually smell unpleasant, and I really just don't eat them unless I have to. Egg salad, on the other hand, is another story. I usually make mine with an egg white to yolk ratio of 2 to 1. I love it with just a tiny bit of mayo and dijon mustard and a lot of salt for good measure. Served open faced on toast, what is better than that?

But then I saw this Mediterranean Egg Salad last week on Living the Gourmet. Talk about turning up the volume on a potentially dusty classic. As part of my Secret Recipe Club assignment for this month, I knew I had to give the Mediterranean Egg Salad a try. I'm so happy I did.

I really loved this version. No mayo, no mustard. It's still just moist enough and the added flavors of lemon juice, capers and red onion made this a truly special lunch. I left out a few of the ingredients that the original recipe called for (anchovies - because anchovies - and sundried tomatoes because I just forgot to buy them), but I hope you try any variation of this recipe. I think it might be my new standard. I could never do Catherine's unbelievable photos justice, but I hope she knows how thankful I am for this beautiful recipe and how much I enjoyed perusing her blog, chock full of tempting recipes!

 

Mediterranean Egg Salad

*Adapted from Living the Gourmet

7-8 hard boiled egg whites + 3-4 yolks

1 stalk celery, finely chopped

1 Tbsp capers + 1 Tbsp caper juice

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp paprika, divided

2 tsp olive oil

juice of 1/2 lemon 

1/4 red onion, thinly sliced

large lettuce leaves (romaine, bibb)

bread, if desired

Combine the hard boiled egg whites and yolks in a bowl and roughly chop. Gently mix in the celery, capers + juice, salt, pepper 1/4 tsp of paprika, olive oil and lemon juice. Serve atop lettuce leaves or toasted or crusty bread. Garnish with red onion slices and the remaining 1/4 tsp of paprika. 

Devour promptly.

While this is a dish casual enough for Sunday lunch on a warm spring day, I also think this would make a great party appetizer on tiny toasts, made into deviled eggs or on teeny lettuce wraps! Thanks Catherine for this lovely recipe!

Do you like egg salad? How do you make it?

Do you ever suffer from the daylight savings blues?

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