Harvest Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup
This weekend has been a cook-a-thon for me in the kitchen. Rummaging around the pantry to cook up some last minute recipes and stocking our freezer. I started off with a simple Homemade Split Pea Soup than moved onto making crepes, pinto beans and a chicken and mushroom filling for a croissant recipe I have in mind. Looking in my pantry, I had one can of black beans left and a couple cans of pumpkin puree. I’ve been craving the idea of another pumpkin soup recipe and I found this one rather tasty. It’s amazing what delicious recipes you can create with just a few simple ingredients. It’s also another quick and budget friendly meal for the family. The combination of flavors is fantastic. Very healthy too.
Harvest Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup
Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, pressed
1 15 ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 30 ounce can pumpkin puree
1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes with juice
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon Spanish paprika
4 cups beef broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
Directions:
In a stockpot, saute onions and garlic in butter until translucent. Add black beans, pumpkin and tomatoes, stirring until combined. Add sugar, cumin, chili powder, pepper, paprika, beef broth and cream. Simmer on low heat for 20 minutes.
Recipe Note: This soup can be pureed in a blender or serve as is, garnished with chives, celery leaves or croutons.
As always, my quick and easy recipes for Busy Moms can be found on my website Noel’s Kitchen Tips.com.
Visit my new Amazon Kitchen Store for some of my recommeneded appliances, storage and kitchen needs along with some of my favorite cookbooks and aprons to help you with your family meal planning. For high quality kitchen tools for your kitchen, visit www. NoelsKitchen.com
Would you like to join our growing Family Cooking Club? Share recipes and tips with others? Join the Family Meals Matter Cooking Club on Facebook.
Split Pea Soup
This past grocery shopping trip, I decided to pick up a few new pantry items to make some new recipes and stock our freezer. Split Pea Soup is one of my Make-Ahead Meal Planning recipes. It’s delicious, easy to make and great on the food budget.
Split Pea Soup
Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon extra-virgin oilve oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 garlic clove, pressed
1 bag (2 cups) split peas, rinsed, drained and sorted
1 Tablespoon Spanish paprika, plus a pinch
1/4 teaspoon pepper
5 cups water
1 Ham hock
Salt to taste (if needed, I omitted)
Directions:
In a medium stock pot, saute onion and garlic until onion is translucent. Add split peas, paprika, pepper, water and ham hock. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 20-25 minutes. Remove ham hock and set aside. Using a hand blender, puree soup until it becomes a creamy consistency. Ladel into serving bowls. Garish with a pinch of paprika.
Recipe Note: Carrots and celery would make a great addition to this soup.
As always, my quick and easy recipes for Busy Moms can be found on my website Noel’s Kitchen Tips.com.
Visit my new Amazon Kitchen Store for some of my recommeneded appliances, storage and kitchen needs along with some of my favorite cookbooks and aprons to help you with your family meal planning. For high quality kitchen tools for your kitchen, visit www. NoelsKitchen.com
Would you like to join our growing Family Cooking Club? Share recipes and tips with others? Join the Family Meals Matter Cooking Club on Facebook.
Back To School Routines
How was your first week Back to School? One of the great things about summer vacation is the fact that as a kid, you get to sleep in, and families don’t seem to rush around as much. Now that it’s back to school time, daily routines need to be re-established. Kids aren’t the only ones who struggle with the back to school transition; adjusting to a child’s back to school routine and related events can be stressful for parents as well.
Routines during the first part of the school year can be a challenge for many families. Our family started a school routine early, so we are ready for a regular routine. Over the past few school years, I can tell you having a regular school routine can make it not only easier on you but on the kids too. So today, I thought I’d start off with some tips on easing back into those school routines.
Back To School Routines
Breakfasts that boosts ENERGY! is always a great way to start off the day. You can make some delicious breakfast meals for your kids; not only are they fast, easy, and nutritious, but my kids say they taste great too! Good choices would be cereal topped with fresh fruit (instead of sugar); eggs, toast and fruit; yogurt with granola; fruit smoothies; french toast and muffins.
Plan and pack a healthy lunch As a family go shopping and teach your kids how to pack a healthy lunch. It’s great to involve the kids about making the right food choices. This will also establish healthier habits and lifestyles for the whole family.
Plan your kids schedules This will allow the kids day to be smoother and they won’t forget things. Plan a way for them to remember homework, lunch and backpacks each day. Allow half an hour break after school for a quick healthy snack, unwind, than help them get started on their homework before dinner time.
After dinner, the kids can relax, have play time, shower and read a book before bedtime. Rember, during dinner is a great time to re-connect as a family and ask how your kids day went.
Being aware of what is on the school calendar can also help you plan and organize your schedule accordingly–without any last minute hassles.
So what kind of things do you do to ease your family back into the school year? I would love to hear them! I am always open to new ideas.
First Day Of School:A Fresh New Start
Today is an exciting new day! I’m not sure who’s more excited us or the kids. Both our kids start school today-our son, is now a fourth grader and our seven year old daughter is now a second grader. Our two older kids have started a whole new world of adulthood and another year of teen age years in high school. Our oldest son, just turned 18 yesterday. He has become a very talented young man. He will be attending junior college while working part time and practicing with his band. Awesome talented group of young musicians. Their name…The Dehlingers. You can find them on Facebook, My Space and YouTube. They have another concert this weekened at Unity Music in Santa Rosa, CA. Concert tickets are $8.00, so if you’re in the area go check them out. Our oldest daughter, a sophmore juinior( my heart wishes she was still younger) in high school, is transitioning into more rigorous classes, has become a very talented young girl exploring music and has the love for drawing. How times flies!
Our two younger ones getting ready to leave for school:
Now that the kids will be away from the house and at school for the day, I want to be sure they have nutritious snacks and a healthy lunch. Their lunch today consisted of a turkey and cheese sandwich, apple slices with a peanut butter dip, a frozen yogurt tube, pretzels and a juice.
If you’re looking for lunch ideas, try a tasty twist to that grilled cheese sandwich. This Grilled Cheese, Ham and Apple sandwich is something your kids are sure to love!
Grilled Cheese, Ham and Apple Sandwich
Ingredients:
8 slices of bread (we enjoy whole wheat)
8 slices of Cheddar or American cheese
8 slices of ham (deli-sliced works perfectly)
1 Granny Smith apple, thinly sliced
Honey mustard
1 Tablespoon butter, melted
Directions:
Melt butter in the microwave. Preheat skillet over medium heat.
Using a basting brush, lightly brush outer slice of bread. On inner pieces of bread, spread honey mustard. Place buttered side down in skillet and add cheese, ham and apple slices. Top with another slice of bread and lightly brush butter on top.
Grill until lightly brown and flip sandwich. Repeat with remaining slices of bread, cheese, ham and apple.
Definitely a classic sandwich. How could kids not give this sandwich 5 stars?
As always, my quick and easy recipes for Busy Moms can be found on my website Noel’s Kitchen Tips.com.
Visit my new Amazon Kitchen Store for some of my recommeneded appliances, storage and kitchen needs along with some of my favorite cookbooks and aprons to help you with your family meal planning. For high quality kitchen tools for your kitchen, visit www. NoelsKitchen.com
Would you like to join our growing Family Cooking Club? Share recipes and tips with others? Join the Family Meals Matter Cooking Club on Facebook.
Breakfasts That Boosts Energy:Kid’s Breakfast Burrito
Kids always love foods wrapped in a tortilla. It’s easy to make, portable and freezable. I always make a huge batch on my meal planning day and freeze. The kids can grab, heat for 40-60 seconds and go! Perfect for the days when you’re running late!
Kid’s Breakfast Burrito
Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon butter
8 eggs, beaten
¼ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
6 10-inch regular flour tortillas (wheat tortillas is also a good option)
Filling:
½ cup grated Monterey Jack or Cheddar cheese
1 tomato, diced
½ cup onion, diced
¼ cup green or red pepper (mixture of both is colorful)
1 cup bacon or sausage, cooked and drained
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
½ cup salsa
Optional Ingredients:
Black olives, sliced
Mild green chiles, diced (adds a little kick)
Avocado, thinly sliced
Chives
Directions:
Over a bowl, crack your eggs. Using a whisk, whisk together the eggs, salt and pepper until the yolk and egg whites are mixed together. Set aside.
In a medium skillet, cook bacon or sausage. Drain any excess dripping. Let cool and crumble bacon or chop sausage. In another skillet over medium heat, melt butter. Once the butter is melted, pour eggs into skillet. Using a *Silicone spatula, scramble the eggs until they are no longer runny.
Meanwhile, to make the tortillas easier to work with and keep them from tearing, warm them for a few minutes on the rack of a 250 degree F oven or microwave for 30 seconds.
In a small bowl, mix softened cream cheese and salsa. Take a tortilla and lay it on your cutting board. Spread cream cheese and salsa mixture over tortilla. Scoop your filling ingredients onto tortilla and spread evenly. Top with shredded cheese.
Fold over the top and bottom edges of the tortilla so they meet in the middle. Roll the long edge of the tortilla up until it meets the opposite edge. Continue with remaining tortillas.
Serve with additional salsa.
Recipe Note: To freeze, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, than foil. Label and freeze.
*This kitchen tool is available at www.NoelsKitchen.com
As always, my quick and easy recipes for Busy Moms can be found on my website Noel’s Kitchen Tips.com.
Visit my new Amazon Kitchen Store for some of my recommeneded appliances, storage and kitchen needs along with some of my favorite cookbooks and aprons to help you with your family meal planning. For high quality kitchen tools for your kitchen, visit www. NoelsKitchen.com
Would you like to join our growing Family Cooking Club? Share recipes and tips with others? Join the Family Meals Matter Cooking Club on Facebook.
Easy and Quick Egg Salad Sandwiches
A creamy, zesty and flavorful egg salad sandwich your whole family will love!
Easy Egg Salad Sandwiches
Ingredients:
12 eggs, boiled, cooled and peeled (click HERE to learn how to boil the perfect eggs.)
1/3 cup light mayonaise
1/4 cup light ranch dressing
1 Tablespoon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt to taste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dill seasoning
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon cumin
Directions:
In a medium size mixing bowl, mash eggs with a *Mix ‘N Masher or *Mix ‘N Chop tool until egg white and egg yolk is combined. Add remainer of ingredients and stir until well combined.
Cover and place in refrigerator for 20 minutes to an hour. Serve egg salad on homemade sandwich bread, in pita pockets, on a bagel or on a tortilla. Serve with lettuce and sliced tomato.
This recipe takes approximately 10 minutes to make and would make a perfect school lunch sandwich. Our kids love it!
As always, my quick and easy recipes for Busy Moms can be found on my website Noel’s Kitchen Tips.com.
Visit my new Amazon Kitchen Store for some of my recommeneded appliances, storage and kitchen needs along with some of my favorite cookbooks and aprons to help you with your family meal planning. For high quality kitchen tools for your kitchen, visit www. NoelsKitchen.com
Would you like to join our growing Family Cooking Club? Share recipes and tips with others? Join the Family Meals Matter Cooking Club on Facebook.
Busy Mom’s Back To School Tips
Back To School Tips
| Buying School Supplies |
- Take inventory on what leftover school supplies your kids have from the previous school year prior to shopping.
- Stock up on paper, pens, pencils, markers, crayons, glue sticks, ruler, rubber bands, scissors, index cards, etc. (browse through store ads and make a list of what’s on sale.)
- Most stores set up displaying school supplies a month and a half before school starts. Shop ahead for the best selection.
- If paper or notepads are on sale, stock up and save the extras for later in the year.
- Store Named Brands tend to cost less. Cut your cost on school supplies by buying store brand.
- As with buying groceries, also shop with a list so that you don’t overspend and only buy what is needed.
| Cleaning Out The Closets |
- Children grow throughout the year. Go through their closets and donate clothes or school that no longer fit.
- Spend at least one day helping your children organize their closets, select where their school clothes will go and separate out the “play” clothes.
Contact The School Office - For younger children ages Preschool-Kindergarten, find out what immunizations are needed prior to school starting and contact your pediatrician to make the necessary well-child checkups.
- If your children are attending a new school, find out what registration requirements are needed. Or if they are continuing with the same school, are there any new registration requirements.
- Most schools will make it a point to have classroom schedules and teachers names up on the gym bulletin board. Make it a point to walk with your children to their classrooms prior to the start of school. This helps the younger children tremendously.
- Review all school paperwork sent home the first day of school. Contact your designated emergency contact people and make sure numbers haven’t changed.
- Make sure to go over school policies and procedures with your children.
Getting Ready Ahead Of Time - Plan your week’s menu in advance. Make school lunches the night before.
- Help your children lay out their school clothes the night before.
- Set up a spot in the kitchen, dining room or entry way for back pack, shoes, jackets or any other items that may need to go with your children to school. This will save you time in the morning and your children won’t be hunting around for missed items.
Bedtime Rituals - Keep to a regular schedule for dinner, homework, bath time and play time. If your schedule was off during the summer, adjust it back to “school time” schedule 3-4 weeks before school starts.
- Help children get up in time by getting them to bed on time. Children need at least 8 hours of restful sleep.
The Morning Of School - Set your alarm clock to ensure everyone is up on time and you have time to get yourself ready. Make sure you are ready before your children are.
- Simplify your morning routine. If you have everything organized the night before, your morning should run smoothly.
- Make your mornings fun by interacting with your children. Ask them what will be going on that day in school. How will they be spending their time after school? One important thing I have learned when getting children ready is the TV is a HUGE distraction. Keep the TV OFF.
These are just simple tips to help you get started and prepared for the school year. In my next few posts, I’ll share with you breakfast ideas that BOOSTS Energy, so stay tuned……
As always, my quick and easy recipes for Busy Moms can be found on my website Noel’s Kitchen Tips.com.Visit my new Amazon Kitchen Store for some of my recommeneded appliances, storage and kitchen needs along with some of my favorite cookbooks and aprons to help you with your family meal planning. For high quality kitchen tools for your kitchen, visit www. NoelsKitchen.com
Would you like to join our growing Family Cooking Club? Share recipes and tips with others? Join the Family Meals Matter Cooking Club on Facebook.
- If your children are attending a new school, find out what registration requirements are needed. Or if they are continuing with the same school, are there any new registration requirements.
Babes For Boobs:Making Strides Breakfast Kick Off
Making Strides Breakfast Kickoff
It won’t be long before our team joins thousands of breast cancer survivors, supporters and volunteers for the annual Making Strides Breast Cancer Walk on October 17th. This will be my first year in the walk. Joining me in the walk will be my oldest daughter who is turning Sweet 16 the same day as the walk. It will definitely be a day of celebrating!
Yesterday, one of my teammates and I attended the kick off breakfast in Roseville, CA. At the breakfast, there were approximately 100 people representing corporate sponsors, team leaders, individual fund raisers and cancer survivors. Each speaker told their story of triumph over the disease or why they chose to get involved.
Bonnie, one of my fellow teammates
Once we signed in, we were able to visit a few of the resource tables for information, pamphlets, enter a raffle and the Discovery shop table where they were selling purses as part of the Power of the Purse Cancer Research Funding campaign.
Babes For Boobs
We are proud to be a part of a successful kick-off and are looking forward to walking in October.
I am also pleased to announce that $2 from every A Busy Mom’s Guide To Family Meal Planning E-Cookbook purchased will be donated leading up to the event. But most of all we would love your participation in the walk. Join our team, Babes For Boobs on the day of the walk and have some fun while helping a great cause!
Click on the link HERE for the location nearest you or you can simply donate in support of my participation, by visiting my personal page. Together, we can save lives from breast cancer! We’ve raised $295 to reach our team goal of $1000! Visit our page often to view our team status.
Together, we can make a difference!
Busy Mom’s Guide To Back To School
From School Safety Tips, To School Lunch Ideas, Get Helpful Back-To-School Tips, Advice And Recipes To Start You Kid’s School Year Off Right!
Are You Ready Moms!
It’s Back To School time….are you ready, Moms? If you’re anything like me, you’ll be asking yourself, where has the summer gone? I’ve spent the last couple of weeks preparing tips, recipes and helpful to-do-lists to help busy moms like you be prepared to make this another fun school year. What better way to prioritize getting ready for back to school than a simple checklist. If you start early, you can easily tackle the list a few weeks prior to school starting.
I know just how difficult it can be at time to get your kids ready for school, making sure they have breakfast, make school lunches and even getting yourself ready for the day. As we move into the school year, over the next few weeks, I’ll share with you my energy-boosting breakfast recipes, that surely will make your kids feel ready for their day.
Busy Mom’s Guide To Back To School
We know that most children are in school for at least six hours. They are bound to get hungry after breakfast or lunch. A lot of our children tend to spend more time socializing and playing during their breaks than they do eating. To ensure your kids have a healthy and quick snack, I’ve pulled together some quick snack recipes to help give your children the energy he or she needs to participate in the classroom and concentrate on learning.
How will your child be carrying these delicious snacks? Say goodbye to the traditional paper bag lunch and trade them in for lunch boxes that are eco-friendly. In this month, you’ll learn how to quickly prepare lunch meals for your children that are healthy, affordable, easy and stay green at the same time!
And lastly, I’ll share with you some back to school safety tips to help protect your children from the most frequent kids of school-related injuries by following practical, proven tips.
Grocery Stores like Raley’s, are also offering extra savings for families like this Raley’s Kids Lunchbox.
Spend $10, Get Raley’s Kid’s Lunchbox Net weight 13.5 oz. from Raley’s Deli FREE with coupon. Limit 1
Here’s to another great school year!
See you in the kitchen!
As always, my quick and easy recipes for Busy Moms can be found on my website Noel’s Kitchen Tips.com.
Visit my new Amazon Kitchen Store for some of my recommeneded appliances, storage and kitchen needs along with some of my favorite cookbooks and aprons to help you with your family meal planning. For high quality kitchen tools for your kitchen, visit www. NoelsKitchen.com
Would you like to join our growing Family Cooking Club? Share recipes and tips with others? Join the Family Meals Matter Cooking Club on Facebook.
Healthy Snacks On The Run
This morning I woke up feeling energized and refreshed after a relaxing weekend. This week, it’s back to the office and kitchen with a busy schedule.
Having that busy schedule, means I need to make sure I keep up my energy eating healthy snacks in between meals.
Fresh fruits and vegetables are always a healthy snack. Apples, carrots, celery, mangos, blueberries, kiwis and pomegranates are all great. These can also be made into juices or smoothies, of course.
Aside from fresh fruits, I also like to choose organic dried fruits and nuts. These can be purchased individually or in trail mixes. As with other foods, there is a wide variety of quality when it comes to things like dried fruits and trail mixes. When I do my grocery shopping, I look for dried fruits and nuts that are on sale so I can make my own trail mix.
One traditional snack food I enjoy that is not usually considered healthy is popcorn. Popcorn can always be a good snack food, if it’s popped naturally and is not topped offr with an artificial butter substitute. Start with organic popcorn, pop it either using an air popper or a traditional popper or pan, using a healthy oil such as canola or sunflower. Top moderately with sea salt and, if you need the butter flavor, a small amount of organic butter or, better still, clarified butter.
These are a few healthy snack food ideas that I enjoy, do you have any favorites?
As always, my quick and easy recipes for Busy Moms can be found on my website Noel’s Kitchen Tips.com.
Visit my new Amazon Kitchen Store for some of my recommeneded appliances, storage and kitchen needs along with some of my favorite cookbooks and aprons to help you with your family meal planning. For high quality kitchen tools for your kitchen, visit www. NoelsKitchen.com
Would you like to join our growing Family Cooking Club? Share recipes and tips with others? Join the Family Meals Matter Cooking Club on Facebook.
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