Colorful Monday #5

Oops. With the holiday, it's felt like Sunday all day and I nearly forgot. This is our last Colorful Monday. The plan was to do this for one month. It has been great fun and I'm pretty sure that this entire household is more conscious of color when they fill their plate now. Most all of the meals would qualify as "colorful" now.

I'm positive Big Sister understands. When picking up toys and crayons one night last week after Big Sister had gone to bed, Mommy found this drawing left on the sofa. Lesson learned!

Colorful Monday #4

I stopped by the store on my way to Baby Sister's house this morning. It's kind of fun to grocery shop when you're mainly looking for color. It's almost like choosing paint colors for your palette.

I'm not always feeling so artistic by suppertime, though. By then I just want quick and easy. You can cut the vegetables up earlier in the day so at supper time there is minimal work.

Now that I had supper under control, it was time for Baby Sister's breakfast. But with a twist. It was time to give the sippy cup a try. Maybe. She had to think about this whole thing first.

And we spent some time just playing with the empty cup. We made up games that did get a few giggles so that the new cup wasn't scary.

And then the big test--I poured a little formula in it. And she did a great job drinking from a cup. I just couldn't get a photo while I was being the sippy cup cheerleader!

So here is tonight's supper. When time is short, choose a simple menu--grilled chicken (stove top grill pan), corn-on-the-cob and Oven Roasted Vegetables. When I looked through my cookbook this morning to find something "colorful", the Oven Roasted Vegetables page was the dirtiest page in the book--which means it's the one I've used the most. I'm going to give you the recipe from the book, but you can really use any combination of vegetables you like. Or what you have on hand.

Oven Roasted Vegetables

1 medium zucchini, sliced
1 medium yellow squash, sliced
1 red bell pepper, sliced into strips
1 yellow or green bell pepper, cut into strips
1/2 lb. fresh asparagus, cut into bite-size pieces
1 red onion, cut into wedges
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Toss vegetables with oil, salt and pepper in a bowl. Spread in a single layer in a large cookie sheet with sides. Roast for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are lightly browned and tender.

NOTE:  Do not line the cookie sheet with non-stick foil. The vegetables will not brown. (Guess how we know this.)

 Oh....Baby Sister didn't want to be left out of the color game we've been playing. Another new thing for her high chair tray. She is not a fan of the puffs though. Could be two new things at breakfast was one thing too many.

Colorful Mondays #3

I've been an advocate of filling your plate with colorful foods for a long time, way before we started the Colorful Mondays thing. And it's been fun to hear Big Sister chastise her mom a little bit if the dinner plates are lacking something green. How many times do you hear a 10-year-old ask for more green foods? She and I had fun looking at these food color charts to find foods she has not tried yet.

Big Sister and I went to the grocery store last night to buy ingredients for tonight's dinner. And while we were there, we saw these colorful foods in the freezer. We were ahead of the marketing geniuses!

Tonight's pasta (we don't use the word "casserole" around here) is quick and easy. And it's so, so good. Plus, I can mix earlier in the day and have it ready to slide into the oven when everyone gets home. It started with a recipe on the Betty Crocker website. We made it several times and kept changing it to match what was in our kitchen. (I never did find smoked mozzarella in my store) until we ended up with this recipe. And we stopped when we got to this version. Feel free to change it again to suit you!

Baked Penne with Tomatoes, Mozzarella & Spinach

3 cups uncooked penne pasta (9-oz.)
1 can (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes with oregano, garlic & basil, undrained
1 cup refrigerated Alfredo sauce (I use a 10-oz. container of Buitoni)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
fresh baby spinach (about half of a 5-oz. bag)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 2-1/2 qt. casserole with PAM. (This is one size smaller than a 9x13.) Cook and drain pasta as directed on package. In a 2-qt. saucepan*, heat tomatoes to boiling. Reduce heat to medium; cook uncovered about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add Alfredo sauce to tomatoes. Add cheese and stir until melted. Mix tomato sauce and pasta. Add in a big handful of fresh spinach and stir. Pour into casserole dish.

Bake, uncovered, about 30 minutes, or until hot in the center.

*I do like to use a non-stick saucepan for this. The melted cheese is pretty sticky.


One day I'd like to actually try the original recipe. Jessica has made it several times and says it delicious.

Baby Sister likes bright colors in her dish, too.

Apples, carrots & sweet potatoes--all homemade.

Colorful Monday #2

The bad thing about making proclamations and promises is that you are honor bound to do what you proclaimed to the world. And more importantly, to your ten-year-old granddaughter. So I will to do this today even if Colorful Monday comes the day after a Mother's Day celebration which came the day after a big family wedding and we are all tired. But I don't think I promised the entire dinner plate would be colorful. It's just that we are trying to add new foods and new combinations of foods to our meals. Bright colors usually means fresh. And that doesn't necessarily mean hard to prepare.

Thankfully, I saw a parfait recipe last week on MyRecipes.com and thought I'd save it for a busy day. I really didn't think I would need it the second week of the month. Fresh blueberries and oranges are beautiful together. Blue and orange are opposite colors on the color wheel. Wonder if an artist thought up this simple dessert? Here's my version of the one I found:

Blueberry-Orange Parfaits

1-1/2 tablespoons of sugar (or to taste)
1/2 teaspsoon grated orange rind
2 (7-oz.) containers reduced-fat plain Greek-style yogurt
2 cups fresh blueberries
2 cups fresh orange sections (about 2 large oranges)
1/4 cup toasted wheat germ

Mix sugar and orange rind with yogurt. Layer 1/4 cup berries, 2-1/2 tablespoons yogurt, and 1/4 cup orange sections in a parfait glass. Repeat layers. Sprinkle a tablespoon of wheat germ over each glass and serve immediately.

Confession time... I loved the parfait. It was a very fresh and light dessert. The Greek yogurt was rich and creamy and tasted much more sinful than it was. I would make it again in a heart beat. Maybe even with granola for breakfast. But Big Sister told me blueberries and oranges weren't on her list of favorites. So she made her own dessert.

Her color choice? Black and white...

I really need to explain this Colorful Monday thing to her one more time.

Colorful Mondays

I was hoping Mommy was cooking supper last night. And I think she was hoping that I would. It may have been a bit of a contest to see who would give in first. It was me. I had just run a few errands and walked back into the house right at supper time. Mommy was feeding Baby Sister and Big Sister was hungry.

Remember the show, Doorknock Dinners, that was on Food TV in the late 1990s? A chef would show up at someone's house and make dinner from only what was already in their refrigerator. That's close to where we were last night.

The first thought was to cook squash and onions. There was fresh squash that Mommy had bought to make baby food. And she bought too much. But we couldn't find an onion. So I went into serious "Mimi mode" and told them dinner would be on the table in just a few minutes. I found grape tomatoes that I had bought for a salad today. And a container of cut green onions left from tacos Mommy had made over the weekend. That was a good start. I did have one package of chicken tenderloins. And my can of House Seasoning is always on the shelf.  (House seasoning:  Mix 1/4 cup salt, 1 tbsp. black pepper & 1 tbsp. garlic powder. Store in an air-tight container, such as an empty spice bottle.)

I started heating the pans with a little oil in them. While the pans were heating, I quickly sliced the squash, threw it into one pan and sprinkled liberally with house seasoning. While it cooked, I put the chicken tenderloins in the other pan--again with another good dose of house seasoning. Then I cut the tomatoes in half and when the squash was nearly tender, I added the tomatoes to that pan and cooked for just a couple of minutes more and then stirred a good handful of green onions into the vegetables. By now the chicken was nice and brown, too.

And somewhere in the middle of all this, I slid a pan of frozen rolls into the oven and steamed some fresh broccoli. Thankfully it was a bag of pre-cut so that was quick. Dinner was on the table in under 20 minutes--a very good dinner.

Then to get Big Sister to eat this hodge podge, I announced that for the month of May, we would be having "Colorful Mondays" to see how many colors we could get onto one plate! She loved this crazy mix of vegetables. She asked if we were having blueberries for dessert.

The only trouble with making proclamations like this is that now I have to think of three more "colorful dinners."