Two new recipe finds!

It’s been ages since I’ve posted on food finds and this is partly how I save recipes I try and love (and often tweak!)  These are both healthy AND kid-friendly enough that I’m adding them into my rotation.  I’m always looking for ways to add in more veggies and nutritional punch so I’ve made notes where I have for each.  These are both from one of my favorite food blogs - Pinch of Yum.  

Creamy Kale Pasta 




Recipe link: creamy kale pasta
Notes:
1. I swapped whole wheat pasta and the flavor was still great.
2. I just use olive oil in place of butter. 
3. I didn’t add red pepper (for the kids sake) and did top with plenty of shaved Parmesan. Yum!
4. I’m thinking it would also be good with walnuts (offering a different nutritional bang than the pine nuts.) it’s amazing how the nuts add such a creaminess to the sauce! 
5. I found the sauce amount a little weak and would round up on all ingredients or just double the recipe and have some extra for leftovers.

Chicken meatballs with Peppers and Orzo





Notes:
1. I will use whole wheat orzo when I remake this.
2. I added more peppers and also want to include carrots next time.  I’ve also added chopped mushrooms and they worked well.  Even spinach would be a great stir in at the end. 
3. I only had turkey on hand and the flavor was great.  I made it again with chicken and actually preferred the ground turkey (but they were both good).  
4. I used marscapone for the orzo (I happened to have some leftover) but any cheese would taste great. Plus I added in a teaspoon-ish of ground Italian herbs.
5. The orzo would also be good with an additional veggie (frozen peas or broccoli quickly zapped in microwave comes to mind to try!) 
6. I used jarred Rao’s (Marinara) which is my go to store bought sauce.  It’s pricier but I often find it on sale and stockpile when I do.

My 3.5 year old and 14 month old (plus my husband!) gobbled these both up.  Although my toddler often pulls the super visible kale or spinach out of these types of dishes (which I’m ok with) he ate both recipes fairly well.  Given how many new recipes I’ve tried in the past year, whenever my husband says “ok this one is a winner!” then I’m all about saving it!  I don't know why it seems like a unicorn hunt to find healthy recipes that are relatively easy AND kid/semi picky husband friendly (he's not THAT picky but I'm always amazed at how many ingredients, tastes and cuisines he's not super into.. partly why I so want to expose my kids to so much while their palates are young!!)  Plus I'm on board with any recipe where I can find ways to further health-ify it or make simple ingredient swaps for variety. 

I also love how they both came together in roughly 30 min. (Although I did make the kale pasta sauce earlier that afternoon plus the longest part of the meatball one was rolling out the meatballs.) 

Let me know if you try either of them and what you think!  I’d also love to hear more ingredient swap ideas! 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Statin free success story!

Image
In my intro post I mentioned my husband Frank’s sky high cholesterol as one motivator for even cleaner living. Well it’s about 3 months later and he had his bloodwork rechecked. We both expected minimal change and maybe hoped at best for a slight improvement since we were trying to do it without prescription statins and were told by his doctor when it’s that high and it’s “genetic” that it rarely moves much without medicine.   When the nurse called saying the results showed “excellent improvement” and that the doctor said to “keep taking Crestor” my husband had to correct her and clarify that he never got the prescription filled and he’s only been adjusting diet, exercise, and lifestyle.  Despite his doctor’s doubts we opted to give natural ways of treatment a try for a few months and also added Nature’s Made plant based statin that was recommended in a healthy minded group I’m in (pic below.)     Well....I am literately blown away that in just 3 months he could...
Read more

Is peloton worth the hype

Image
I love to share about things I find and love - especially within the community of healthy minded moms.  So with great fanfare, I want to share a bit about what I think is my absolute favorite purchase of the last year.... my Peloton bike.  The Peloton name has been in the headlines a lot lately - from the marketing scandal to the volumes of people flocking to their bikes and treadmills with gyms out of commission.  Well I’m here to give you my take on the Peloton experience and if it's all it’s cracked up to be. I’m only six-ish months in as a bike owner but O.M.G. I’m going to pause... and say it again... OMG. I love my bike. I’ve never been shy to shell out some bucks for workouts or anything fitness-y but even I balked at spending $2500 ish on a bike, not to mention the $40 ish/month subscription to get all the classes and features.  We actually took the plunge just before COVID broke (and luckily escaped the month long waitlists now for people ordering!)  Fi...
Read more

Who, what... why!?!?

The idea behind this blog has been growing over the last few years and we'll see where it goes.  While I'm not sure how "clever" I am, "clean mama" was already taken from - surprise - a cleaning blogger.  From the time of my first pregnancy (or to some degree throughout my whole life!) I have found myself on an unplanned journey to "clean things up" in all senses of the word.  As I've navigated pregnancy, breastfeeding and now raising two little guys in a world overrun by parenting tips, mom blogs and product overload, it's blown me away how PRETTY.MUCH.EVERYTHING can be a source of harmful toxins.  I'm being slightly dramatic of course but striving for cleaner living for my family sometimes seems like an uphill battle.  I certainly don't do it perfectly and I don't do it all the time.  Yes my toddler eats Chik fil a nuggets from time to time (as do I!) and, yes, my infant plays some with Baby Einstein and Skip Hop branded toys....
Read more