Veggies are delicious in so many ways

Ive been enjoying this cooking time with my kids so much for many reasons. One of the things that makes it fun is the challenge and having that challenge pay off in the end. I like recipes that make me try new seasoning and new ingredients. This recipe is no different. I had my kids choose the recipe to make like i do every week. They chose Roasted mixed vegetables with garlic and herb sauce.

Here is the recipe:

This recipe was different because it asks for rosemary and thyme sprigs. Ive never used those before but was excited to try.

Here is our adventure:

My oldest doing her usual favorite thing...cutting veggies

and now she has an audience

Parsnips...thats another new ingredient for us

Some potato prepping

Starting to add the veggies to the pot

Almost there. All the veggies my oldest chopped are in the oven to cook

This was the only herb and garlic cheese we could find so the kids got to unwrap them hahaha

Cheese and milk mixture cooking on the stove while the veggies cook in the oven. The rosemary made the house smell so amazing while cooking

Here is my finished product.I didn't have any fancy dishes for the sauce so I used a soup cup. 

The food smelled so amazing that we couldn't wait to dig in. It tasted just as good as it smelled and that was before I dipped the my food in the cheese sauce.

Rating time!!!!

My girls rating: 3/3 ate their food in record time. I've never seen them eat so fast in my life. So its safe to say that they approved of the recipe

My rating: I think I ate mine in record time too and went back for second. I highly recommend this dish for anyone. It takes about an hour to make and its even good enough for my picky kids

My dads rating: My father tried some too and he really liked it as well.

So there you have it. What are you waiting for? Make this for you and your family. It looks good, smells good, and its easy to make. And don't forget to share my blog with your friends who are trying to learn to cook or want some new recipes. When I started I was about as inexperienced as they come but now I'm learning more and more each week. Thank you all for reading.

Huevos Rancheros just sounds fancy

This week we decided to mix things up a little and do a recipe that seemed more breakfast like. This week we chose to make Huevos Rancheros. I'm not sure if that is a breakfast item but it has eggs so...close enough right?

This was definitely a unique experience for me for the fact that I had to learn to poach eggs to do this one. I love learning new things and so do my kids.

Here is our recipe:

As a beginner cook I had to use videos to help me learn to poach the eggs. It such a neat way to cook them and I never really looked into it before. My kids like the way it looks while cooking too.

Here is our adventure:

I couldn't find all the ingredients at my local store for the recipe so I substituted other things as we went along. Like different kinds of peppers and I used Sunflower oil instead of veggie oil.

Here is a pepper that we chose that wasnt too spicy so my kids could eat without their faces melting off

All the chopped up veggies (thanks to my oldests awesome skills)cooking on the stove

Poaching an egg for the first time

While things are cooking my children start placing tortillas on the plates

Here was one of my prettiest looking ones we made. Turned out great

Bonus photos!

My oldest wanted to poach an egg too so I taught her and supervised the process

adding the egg into the water

Overall it was a really neat recipe and I'm really excited to say I know how to poach eggs now haha. My oldest daughter is really into cooking and its really fun to not have to cook alone. And I cant help but think that this weekly cooking idea I had is doing a lot more for their future and mine than I originally thought.

Rating time!!!!

My girls rating: 2/3 of my girls ate them up and my oldest suggested maybe a little less cayenne pepper next time. My third daughter is being picky about her food so she didn't vote

My rating: I have to agree that we need to cut back on the cayenne next time but it was yummy!

So all in all this recipe was fun and a great learning experience for my children and I. It took me out of my comfort zone and taught us a new style of cooking eggs that we never knew before. This weekly cooking project keeps getting more and more fun and I can't wait until next week. 

AS for now I'm about to head out with my kids to have some fun. I'll see you for our next adventure

Delicious Double feature

Last weekend was kind of crazy so I failed to post our recipe from last week. It will be added to this weeks. Last weeks recipe was something I've definitely never heard of. It was Fusilli pasta with spicy tomato salsa. It is an interesting twist to any pasta I've ever tried.


Here is the recipe:

And this is was our adventure:

My oldest doing her favorite part which is playing with knives ... should I be worried?

Ingredients coming together

Pasta addition

Bubble bubble

Looks yummy yummy. Finished product.

It was a fun and interesting adventure with alot of laughs and kids going "mmm it spells so good!"

Rating time!!

My girls rating: 3/3 thought is was ok but didn't like the salsa too much.

My rating: I really enjoyed the food and the process.  The Salsa was pretty sweet from the lemon juice but it mixed well with the rest of the ingredients. I'm going to keep this recipe handy.

The second recipe is one we made this week. We decided this week we would make more of a dessert like treat to mix things up. We chose a recipe called "classic Flapjacks"

Here is the recipe:

Here is our adventure:

My oldest prepping the pan for later

My middle child adding the Demerara sugar to the pot

adding the golden syrup

Now the oats

mixture put into pan that was prepped by my oldest kiddo

Kids couldn't wait until I took the picture

They smelled soooooooo good.

Rating time!!

My girls: 3/3 thought they were "amazing" and had seconds and thirds

My rating: I think they turned out alittle gooey but tasting awesome. Definitely a treat recipe worth saving

We had so much fun making them as usual and I thank you all for reading along with our adventures. I have another crazy weekend so Ill catch you all next week for another fun adventure

Hotchpot..or at least that is what it was supposed to be

As Anyone can imagine, its not easy planning things out with three daughters who are all completely different from each other. This time I let my pickiest eater choose the recipe from the book. She decided since our state is going through 1 of its many winter weather rotations...that soup would be perfect. She picked out a recipe called "Winter Hotchpot" . I checked through the ingredients and as luck would have it I already had most of them. All I needed was some kind of bacon, some veggie stock, and some leeks. "This will be an easy trip" I believe was the words I used. Little did I know that those words would be taken as a challenge by my kids. I could almost see them look at each other and nod as they formulated a plan to make this trip not be so easy.  Well long story short , it took 3 times longer than I wanted it to. The bright side? The hard part was over.  Now it was time for the fun part where I make memories with my munchkins. And since my kids are picky, the Winter hotchpot became chicken and rice soup because they wanted chicken instead of the bacon and we couldn't find barley so we used rice.

Here is the recipe:

Here is our adventure:

I always try to get a picture of my oldest cutting up stuff because its her favorite part. This time I missed most of it but I got her going at the garlic.

Poor garlic never saw it coming. 

All the ingredients heating up

My middle child loves pouring things in

The start of the yumminess 

Finished product. Not too shabby for a Hotchpot gone chicken noodle

Made the house smell fantastic and was the perfect meal for the cold day.

Rating time!!

My Girls rating: 3/3 slurped it all up and said it tasted real good with alittle extra salt and pepper

My rating: I really enjoyed it even though I went alittle crazy with the rice... maybe next time Ill actually measure it

My dad had some too and he really liked it. He said this and the Minestrone I made before reminded him of when mom used to make soups. And as any cook would agree... there is no compliment higher than being compared to mommas home cooking. So I guess you can say I'm gaining more than just amazing memories with my children. 

This Minestrone is no phony

This weeks recipe  is one I think a lot of people would be familiar with. We chose if from the cook book I've been using for recipes for the last few weeks. As you can tell by my less than creative title that this weeks recipe was Minestrone. Since the weather has been harder to predict than the winning lottery numbers, we decided a soup would be just what we needed to shake off the cool air.


Here is our recipe:

We didn't use all the ingredients do to pickiness of my children.

Here is our adventure:

I started sizzling up some bacon because...well bacon

My Oldest helper did her usual and cut up the carrots, onions, and garlic.

All the veggies got to relax in the sauna for alittle bit

My Middle child adding the yummy broth

My youngest wanted to help...shes adding peas

Bubble bubble...ITS ALIVE!!!

Looks amazing doesn't it? Toot toot

(that was me tooting my own horn...if you didn't figure that one out)

This was a fun one because we had quite a few laughs while making it. I saw my daughters laugh as they all fought back tears from the onion cutting. My middle child was way too excited to finally add the chicken broth to the recipe. And my youngest ran in and out of the kitchen as she fought an inner battle with herself between the part of her that wanted to help with the recipe and the part that wanted to watch television. The recipe won for a few seconds when she found out that she could add the peas to the soup.

Rating time!!

My girls rating: 3/3 thought it was yummy when they added more salt. They finished their bowls and then asked for more later in the day

My rating: I thought it was delicious and had several bowls myself. But what I enjoyed more is the fun we had while making it. 

So overall this recipe was a win. Out of the whole experience, the thing I loved the most was the fun we had while making it. As time goes on we will forget what the recipes were like. We will forget the taste of the food and we will even forget about the small things we did throughout making it. One thing that we will never forget is the time we spent together and the fact that they were happy moments. When my kids grow older and they get new interests and start hanging out with friends there is one thing I know they'll know for sure. They'll know that I want them to be part of everything I do in life. Because it's really not about the recipes, its not about the taste of the food , and its not about all the small things we did throughout. Its all about showing my children that I love them.