What's cookin lately

I realize i havent posted in a while. Owen is teething and is restless and i'm usually exhausted by the time i get "me" time. I wanted to re-cap some of the things i've been making lately. I can finally proudly say that i have been finding ways to use up my bountiful baskets each week. Its easy to get lazy and not cook, prep, or freeze everything and i always feel so bad about throwing it out. I dont have time to spend hours in the kitchen, and i dont like fussy, fancy, delicate food. I like simple, quick, easy to make and REAL food. My pantry stays almost completely bare of canned, processed, and packaged food with a few exceptions. I'm looking for an alternative to cereal that we can all enjoy, and of course i buy dry pasta and rice and bread etc. dont get me wrong, i freakin love me some oreo's, but we have decided that foods like that will be had only as treats on outings or special times.


 Here are a few of jesse's work meals:

I made this pasta salad today. We all love it! Noodles, olive oil, lemon juice, a touch of ranch, olives, cucumber, red bell pepper, and spinach. This is also great with chicken and onion added in! I made a stir fry of bell peppers, onions, and chicken and added some diced tomato at the end to accompany this salad. 

I made this a while ago and meant to post the recipe and i completely forgot. i made this up one day when i was needing to cook a HUGE napa cabbage. I cooked the cabbage, bell pepper, carrots, onion, and beef in sesame oil, and soy sauce. Then i added sliced mushrooms and a bit more soy sauce and some chilli sauce to add some heat. Served over rice and it was so good!! It was a ground beef version of twice cooked pork. 

on lazy days i sent jesse to work with a few sandwiches, some fresh veggies, and ranch and home made peanut butter. He eats the protein bar about an hour before his work out session. 

We got a crap ton of asparagus. This was another "oh crap gotta hurry" meal. Brookshires has these herb crusted tilapia filets and they're delicious!! Served with lemony herb rice and baked asparagus. I squirted a little lemon juice on everything. 

More baked asparagus, a couple of pieces of chicken breast, and  baked zucchini gratin-recipe to come! Jesse LOVED the gratin-recipe to come!