WFMW: Dinner Time and the Working Mom

Good day to all you incredibly stressed, lacking in time mom and dads out there! (can you see me waving, try using your imagination if that isn't shot). So yes, here is another installment of Dinner Time and the Working Mom (parent). Its hard to take myself seriously posting these meal ideas up here because I mostly don't know what I'm doing....I tend to make a lot of things up in the kitchen, just throw this and that together.

For instance last Sunday I took a turkey ham (much cheaper and less fat then real ham) and stuck it in a casserole dish with some cut up carrots, potatoes, cauliflower, onion and about 3/4 cup of water. Stuck it in the oven for about an hour and look, quick easy and yummy! I added crescent rolls to this with some honey and the whole meal was complete.

That same day I did an all day simmer of Split Pea with Turkey Ham soup. This is SO easy to make, OMG. It's crazy how easy it is. I usually just buy some chicken stock if I don't have my own...and who am I kidding, when would I ever have my own?? Ok, I did once, but that was a fluke. So chicken broth works fine, I prefer the low sodium kind especially since I put Turkey Ham in the soup which is salty on its own. As you can see I also put carrots in it, but that is mostly because I think it's so pretty!
I just buy a BIG can of stock, pour it in with the peas and let it cook all day. I gage the soup periodically adding water if I think it seems too thick, a sprinkle of Thyme and I understand Bay Leaf (2) adds to the soup nicely. And, for you hot nuts out there- a couple dashes of your favorite hot sauce actually really adds something nice to the flavor. When I had this for lunch I used someones green garlic hot sauce and it really gave it a nice slight kick with added flavor. Just something to think about.

Also last week I made Lasagna, which Boogs absolutely LOVES. He eats more servings than his daddy on nights I serve this.

When I make this I usually just grab a big tub of cottage cheese-24 oz (small curd), throw in a cup of Mozzarella cheese, one egg and blend well. But today to try to get a little extra veggies in the boys I added Spinach. Yum Yum Give ME SOME! Mix that thawed/fresh or whatever kind of spinach in and you're halfway there.
I'd also recommend that you start browning your meat then put the white concoction together. You don't have to use ground beef, you can use soy crumbles (mimics ground beef), ground turkey or no meat at all. I used meat. Layer that on Oven Ready Lasagna (dude, you don't even have to cook the noodles! How easy is that?) and throw in the oven for about 45-60 min.

Here you see my little helper pretending to assist me. He LOVES to cook even though he doesn't get to help out much. This day I gave him some spices with lids on and he spent a good 5 minutes pretending to shake various this or that on top. I'm certain he's destined to be a great famous Chef! Watch out Iron Chef, here comes my Boogs!!
And here is the finished product. Of course the cheese on top isn't that even, but what do you expect with a 2 year old helping. I made this meal directly after dinner last Wednesday night and let it cook while JimmyEW and I snuggled. Now I had Thursday's meal and lunches for Friday!

In our last installment Charissa suggested the much loved Breakfast for Dinner. This meal is especially popular with JimmyEatWorld since he would eat Breakfast for every meal if he could. However I've had much issue getting Kiki to eat eggs. He always refuses, tells me he doesn't like them and turns his little snotty cute nose up. Well you know what? Daycare Daddy told me he eats eggs over there so in front of Kiki I asked Daycare Daddy how he makes his eggs and when I made these I told Kiki I was following Daycare Daddy's instructions. Which I wasn't lol. But Kiki did eat them :)

I just mixed about 5 eggs with some soy milk and stirred rapidly (what would that be called? Whip? Whisk? I haven't had Home Ec since 7th grade). I added some Tastefully Simple Spinach and Herb Spice, a little salt, a little pepper, chopped onion, some chopped Turkey Kielbasa and shredded cheddar cheese and VIOLA! An egg concoction Kiki will eat!

Trying to be healthy I instructed JimmyEW to purchase Turkey Kielbasa (which I prefer anyway having grown up in the Cult with the "You will die and go to hell so don't touch that OREO" rule). So JimmyEW agreed however he managed to sneak in what he called "real pork sausage" so his unclean meat juices got all over my turkey. Poor turkey. Good thing I'm not in the cult or I wouldn't have been able to touch that meat.

mmmm....sizzle sizzle....

This is me smiling dorkily blissfully in my apparently unstylish character T-shirt as I make JimmyEW his pate. I usually get all their food together while he gets their drinks.
This is JimmyEW's plate (notice the Pig). I also added the amazing Apple Cinnamon pancakes I talked about last issue. This time, thanks to JimmyEW's prodding, I added much more apple. These truly are DE-LISH!

"Well Sassy, thanks for all this help with dinner but what do I do for lunch? And can I mention I'm tired of listening to myself get fatter?" Glad you asked, me too! So this is what I'm doing for lunches this week.

First, I know I have issues getting all my fruits and veggies so I decided if I can't eat them then why not drink them? This V8 Fusion is a full serving of fruits AND veggies PLUS its light. And I have to say, it's good. At least the Peach Mango is good, and this may be the only flavor that comes in light, not sure. "But Sassy, I can't drink my lunch. I need substance. What do I do?"
Well, so do I. This is what I did. I took two tortilla shells heated for 15 seconds so their soft, spread each with a table spoon of hummus. I have Garlic and Chive which I don't like much (I bought it by accident). Notice the Carl Buddig lunch meat...I have NO idea who this guy is so it skeezed me out a bit. I asked JimmyEW if he was a football player or something, he just looked at me like I was weird.I took two tortilla shells heated for 15 seconds so their soft, spread each with a table spoon of hummus. I crumbled cauliflower on top of the hummus, stuck in some lettuce and a few slices of turkey. Doesn't that look yummy? Two of them equal 1 serving and was about 190 calories and 9 grams of fat depending on how much meat you use. Not bad, add a cup of Split Pea soup and you can eat just one and save the other for the next day.

Now that I've given you some good food ideas for dinnertime meals, someone help me out with some quick easy diet versions of foods you love for lunch. I can do lunch time and the working...person :)

AND NOW for someone who actually knows what they're doing, go visit Jen at A2eatandwrite for What's Cooking Wednesday! And go check out more Works for Me Wednesday tips at Rocks in My Dryer!