Sunshine Salad

I found this cute recipe and had to try it with the girls.  They don't like cottage cheese (it's a texture thing) so I told them that they didn't have to eat it if they didn't want to.  To my surprise, they ate the whole thing!  Even the lettuce.  It made a great snack for them.  Hope you (and your kids too!) like it.

This recipe is for two servings

1 orange (or can of mandarine oranges)
1 8oz can pineapple rings (or tidbits arranged)
4 lettuce leaves
1 cup cottage cheese
2 maraschino cherries (or fresh cherries, pitted)


Peel and section the orange (or drain from can).

Open the can of pineapple and drain the liquid.

Place 2 washed lettuce leaves on each plate. Place 2 pineapple rings on top of the lettuce on each plate.

Place 1 scoop of cottage cheese on top of the pineapple rings (I use my Pampered Chef scooper that is great for cookies).

Place the orange segments around the cottage cheese to look like sunshine. Place a cherry on top of cottage cheese.

Memories

Cooking and food for me is something the evokes memories.  The smell of chocolate chip cookies baking reminds me of making them with my step-mom while growing up.  Banana bread makes me think of my dear friend (and co-blogger) Jen.  Pumpkin pie reminds me of my grandma and the lovely dinners that were had at her house over the years.  Making Rodeo Ranch Chicken Salad reminds me of my aunt who introduced me to that wonderful recipe on a visit home.  I remember going to Long Beach every summer and eating salt water taffy and ice cream from a wonderful restaurant (now closed).  One of my favorite memories of a trip to California was eating at a fancy (to an 8 year old) restaurant and getting to eat not only my chocolate mousse dessert, but my uncles too.

  Why was I thinking of this and decided to blog about it?  It made me think of the memories that I can start making with my little girls.  We make brownies together (in matching aprons lovingly made for us) and muffins.  The girls love the smell of food in the crockpot when we get home from church.  My older daughter loves her treat of going out with her grandpa weekly for lunch and an ice cream.  Sharing my cooking moments with the girls can help them have good memories too, and I can share my memories with them also.  I regret the times that I missed out not learning to cook with my grandmas.  They are from the generation that starts with a basic recipe and over the 60 years of cooking, they perfect it.  I never learned the special little changes made to make it "just right".  So I'm making notes now when I use a recipe that I will pass along someday.

My half-year resolution is to make some good memories this summer. 

Italian Breaded Pork Chops

Ingredients:
3 eggs, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons dried parsley
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
4 pork chops


Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In a small bowl, beat together the eggs and milk. In a separate small bowl, mix the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, and parsley.

Heat the olive oil in a large, oven-proof skillet over medium heat. Stir in the garlic, and cook until lightly browned. Remove garlic, reserving for other uses.

Dip each pork chop into the egg mixture, then into the bread crumb mixture, coating evenly. Place coated pork chops in the skillet, and brown about 5 minutes on each side.

Place the skillet and pork chops in the preheated oven, and cook 25 minutes, or to an internal temperature of 160 degrees F.  If you do not have an oven-proof skillet, you may cook the chops on the stove at medium-low.

How to be a "sneaky chef"

In my house I have a few eaters that are kind of picky and I've wanted to get us eating more healthy and it's been hard.  My two year old won't eat a whole list of things: pasta, rice, potatoes, beans, cooked veggies (except corn and sometimes broccoli), fresh veggies, cottage cheese, and so on.  You may be wondering what she does like after seeing that list.  Well she likes peanut butter and honey sandwiches, anything breakfast related (unless I try to put chopped veggies in the eggs), fresh fruit and smooties.  My husband doesn't eat as many veggies as he should and doesn't like whole grain.  So I've been trying out recipes that incorporate some of the more healthy items and it hasn't been working.  Then I was searching Amazon.com for cookbooks (last time I got 3 cookbooks for a total of $3.25 plus shipping!) and saw a title of a cookbook that said "Sneaky Chef".  I clicked on it and found the answer to my problems.  This woman (Missy Chase Lapine) has about 4 different cookbooks out that help you add protien, whole grains, veggies, and fruits to meals that your family loves already....and they won't be able to tell that the items have been added.  She has one book specifically for "man food" (chicken wings, alfredo pasta, meatball subs, potato salad, meatloaf, mashed potatoes, fancy french toast, ice cream), two for kids meals (recipes that adults like too), and one regular all around recipe book.

  She spends about 100 pages giving information on the benefits of healthy living, how to gradually add healthy items, and how to combine foods so you can lessen heartburn, increase the benefits of vitamins and antioxidants from fruits and veggies, and tells us which foods interact to increase digestion and absorbtion of nutrients and protein.
  Then she has a section of recipes for what you add-in to regular recipes.  Some of those include veggie/fruit purees (purple puree includes blueberries, lemon juice, water and baby spinach for smoothies, brownies, and cake), white bean puree (white beans and water to add to tomato sauce, egg salad, mashed potatoes, meatloaf), flour blend (white flour, whole wheat flour, wheat germ to make donuts, cookies, pancakes, muffins, brownies, cake), better breading (pulsed almonds, bread crumbs, wheat germ and salt to make fish sticks and parm chicken), and mashed bananas (for ice cream, muffins, and smoothies).

After that section she has the regular recipes with the add-ins.  I've tried about three or four recipes and my husband and girls didn't even know about the things I had added.  My favorite so far has been just to buy Stage 2 baby food carrots and add them to spaghetti sauce, Sloppy Joes and maccaroni and cheese.  We are getting extra veggies, but it's not noticable to the people that might object.  We've switched from white to whole grain bread and tortillas and the girls don't seem to notice at all.  Tomorrow I'm making smoothies for breakfast and we will see how the "purple puree" works out.  We get the V8 juice that is veggie and fruit mixed.  I still serve veggies as a side dish so they knowingly get vegetables, but I'm just adding extra.