Here in North Carolina we’ve had a little Fall tease. Highs in the 70’s, windows open, and it. is. awesome. Brady and I made the most amazing corn chowder and it was the perfect cool September evening meal. This chowder uses up lots of fresh corn which is still super cheap at the grocery store and readily available at the Farmer’s Market, but is rich and filling and warms ya right up! This meal was just the right balance of Summer meets Fall.

I mean, seriously.

This is my favorite kind of meal to make. Lots of chopping (for some reason I love to chop!), easy jobs for the kiddo’s to get involved in (lots of shucking!), and it all cooks in one big pot.

I use this thing every chance I get! Best birthday present (that I bought myself) ever. I named her Ina. #dork

End of Summer Corn Chowder

Ingredients

5 Ears of Corn
6 Red Potatoes
2 cloves of Garlic
1 onion
1 carrot
3 stalks of celery
1 box of Vegetable Broth
1/4 cup Heavy Cream
Salt & Pepper
About 1//2 teaspoon Cumin

Toppings:
Chopped Green Onion
Cheddar Cheese

Chop the onion, celery, carrot, and garlic.

Sautee the veggies in olive oil until just tender. Season with salt, pepper, and cumin.

Get your helpers to shuck the ears of corn and cut it off the cob.

Wash and chop the potatoes into bite size-ish pieces. No need to peel.

Add entire box of broth to the onion mixture, bring to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender (about 15 minutes.) Add corn and cook another 5 minutes.

Reduce heat. Once potatoes and corn are tender, use an immersion blender to smooth the soup out a bit. (Fun tool for kids to use!) We did it just a little bit because I liked some pieces to be a bit chunky. You could also transfer it to a blender if you don’t have an immersion blender.

Love this part- stir in the cream. Yum!

Give everything a couple minutes to simmer on low and then you’re good to go!

Top the soup with cheese and green onions and serve with something warm and bread-ish.

Brady enjoying the “fruits of his labor.”

Good bye Summer, hello Fall, in a bowl!

Every once in a while, we get Chris home on a Monday morning with us while he’s working from the house. We take those opportunities to do our “Kids Cook Monday” meals in the mornings and have a big breakfast as a family sitting at the table. Of course, I’m always a fan of “Breakfast for Dinner”, but this time around we did “Breakfast for Breakfast.” What a concept!

I recently found these new biscuits that were marketed as “Junior” size. Chris jokes that I’m the exact target that marketing teams salivate over, because I will literally buy anything that looks new or shiny. These biscuits looked new and shiny so I went for them. They are just a cuter little version of the normal Grands biscuits- and they were perfect for stuffing into a muffin pan and making the perfect 3 bite, portable breakfast.

Veggie Breakfast Muffins

Ingredients
6-8 eggs
About 1/4 cup milk
A dash of Salt and Pepper
1-2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
1 can of biscuits (I used Junior Size)
A couple handfuls of chopped veggies (whatever kind you like!)

Here’s how these little cheesy, eggy bites came together…

Grease a muffin pan with a non-stick spray. Pull apart your biscuits into two halves. (One half a biscuit goes into each muffin)

Press each half biscuit into the muffin tin. (You’ll have leftover biscuits to make another tray or just bake them up on their own.)

Whisk your eggs, milk, salt and pepper and then pour the egg mixture onto the biscuits. Your biscuits might float a little in the eggs, but that’s OK!

Get your favorite veggies prepped and ready.

Throw your veggies onto your egg mixture.

Top with cheese. Yummm….

Bake in the oven at 350* for about 13-18 minutes (until the eggs have set and aren’t wiggly.)

Nolan loves being in the kitchen. This was him watching the biscuits saying “hot, hot, hot!”

Fresh out of the oven!

Everything you need- protein, veggies, all mixed up with a cheesy squishy biscuit!

Our meal times are not fancy. In fact they’re usually quite loud and chaotic, but anytime we’re together in the kitchen and eating as a family, it’s all good!

We have been on such a smoothie kick here in the Smith household! It’s such a fun way to use up all that fruit that’s so ripe at the market these days. Plus, it’s an easy way to get the kiddos in the kitchen helping out with some of the “cooking.” Brady has been in love with smoothies for a while now, but recently Nolan has become addicted.  He takes them very seriously.

With back to school (pre-school for Brady) just around the corner, I wanted to try out an Oatmeal Smoothie recipe because it seemed like the perfect quick breakfast that can be taken in the car…for those days that we’re running late! This recipe is full of oats, fruit, and protein packed yogurt and skim milk. I can’t think of a better way to start the day!

Ingredients:

About a cup of chopped peaches (or whatever juicy fruit you have on hand)
About a cup of frozen berries (I had blueberries and strawberries on hand)
1 ripe banana
1 cup of milk
1 small container of Greek Yogurt (I used Blueberry flavored)
1 cup of ice
1/2 a cup of rolled oats (do not cook)

All you have to do is throw everything in the blender and blend until it’s smooth. This made enough for about 2 good portions. The oats give it a very thick consistency and make you feel so satisfied!

Smoothie ingredients (plus a little ice!) I love having frozen fruit on hand. Whenever I realize I’m not going to be able to finish up my fresh fruit, I throw it in the freezer for smoothies!

Nolan’s face while the blender is on. He HATES it!

Yummy breakfast to go!

And all is right with the world again.

The Smiths are just now venturing into the world of quinoa. Here’s what I’ve learned about this ultra healthy pseudo-grain. It’s great- when doctored up with lots of other flavors. So, that’s what we did this week! I recently found a recipe for a Thai Quinoa Salad. This inspired me to make a similar version with Brady. It has lots of veggies and the dressing has peanut butter in it! Which, admittedly sounds a little odd to me, but actually is quite tasty. There’s a lot of ingredients, but not a lot of work that goes into this salad. It’s colorful and crunchy and Brady described it as, “Yummy! Delicious!” (Future food critic, for sure.)

Perfect as a side dish (you can leave it outside at a BBQ without fear of going bad!) or as a salad on it’s own. Tons of protein and good for you stuff!

Ingredients:

Quinoa (about 3/4 cup)

Salad ingredients:
One red pepper (diced)
1/2 a cup chopped green onion
1/2 a cup chopped cilantro
2-3 cups of cole slaw mix with carrots
About a 1/3 of a red onion, diced (optional, I may leave it out next time!)
1/2 a cup of chopped cashews (I used lightly salted)

Quinoa and salad fixins.

Dressing ingredients:
1/2 a cup smooth peanut butter
3 tablespoons soy sauce
juice of one lime
1 Tbs. Sesame oil (optional, just a fun flavor!)
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 Tbs. red wine vinegar
1 Tbs. honey

Peanut Lime Dressing ingredients. Melt the honey and peanut butter for about 20 seconds in your microwave before whisking all the other ingredients in with it.

First we cooked up our quinoa according to package directions. Once all the liquid was absorbed, we put it in a bowl and let it chill in the fridge for about 10 minutes to cool off.

Then, have your kid clean up all the quinoa you spilled all over the floor…

While the quinoa was cooking, we chopped up our veggies. I would most definitely use less red onion next time. Or leave it out altogether!

While the quinoa is cooling in the fridge, start the dressing by microwaving the peanut butter and honey together. Let you kid (or husband) lick the spoon.

Whisk all the dressing ingredients into the melted peanut butter/honey. Taste for seasoning or consistency. You want it smooth, thick, but pourable.

Here’s what our dressing looked like. Yum!

Toss the veggies, cole slaw, cooled quinoa and sauce together in a big bowl.

Ta-Da!

May he always be this adventurous of an eater!