Favorite Summer Meal Ideas

A new favorite for our daughter-tacos with green leaf lettuce (fresh from a farmer's market) as a shell!

Some Other Summer Faves:
Bruschetta Chicken
Asian Turkey Wraps
Crockpot Soup
Crockpot Thai Curry
Grilled Veggies
Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Fruit Salad
Kale Salad

Here's last year's 4th of July Meal at our house-simply and yummy!

We also do lots of simple grilled chicken, steaks, chicken sausages, beef or turkey burgers (without a bun, topped with veggies) with salads and vegetables!  A few of those are crockpot recipes because they are simple and ready when we get home from the park or pool, plus they don't warm up the whole house like baking in oven!  Happy 4th of July!

Crockpot Chicken Marsala

With the busy Summer months beginning, I have been using my crockpot a lot since we have been busy swimming, going to parks, and hanging out!  Monday at our house is gymnastics night so it's my crockpot night!  This is a quick and easy recipe that tastes super yummy and you can add whatever veggies you want!  I am also thinking you could add rice or pasta to make it more filling and go farther!

2-4 frozen chicken breasts
3 Tbsp. brown rice flour
1 cup organic chicken stock
1/2 cup marsala cooking wine
Chicken seasoning, Salt, Pepper, whatever you like to season (just make sure it is without msg)
Sliced carrots
Asparagus cut into bite sized pieces
Sliced baby bella mushrooms
(you can use whatever veggies you want, these were all available fresh from the farmer's market, except the mushrooms which were on sale at the store this week)

1.  Place the wine, chicken stock, rice flour, and seasoning in the crockpot and stir sauce well.
2.  Add veggies and chicken breasts.
3.  Stir together and cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 8 or more hours (I usually do low for the first 6 hours, then switch to warm for another 2-3 hours since I am home on and off throughout the day).
*If you were to add rice or pasta, I would add the last couple hours so they don't get too soggy!
4.  This turns out almost creamy and the flavors blend so well!  Enjoy!

Granola

This was a first for me, I have never ventured to make my own granola cereal.  I have never been a big cereal fan, and most are so unhealthy that breakfast at our house is usually a smoothie of some sort, oatmeal for my daughter sometimes (filled with berries or nuts), and an occasional day of omelets or gluten-free pancakes.  But, I do enjoy granola sometimes, though buying organic granola in a box is expensive and you hardly get any in the box (plus it's contains hidden sugars).  So, I looked online for hours to find a recipe I liked and did not find one so I made it up myself.  I hope you like it!

3 cups organic oats (gluten-free if you prefer)-not quick cooking oats
2 cups nuts (I used raw almonds and pecans)-I lightly food processed them so they were in pieces
2/3 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 cup organic raisins
2 scoops MILA chia seed (about 1/4 cup)
2 Tbsp. cinnamon
2/3 cup pure maple syrup
2 Tbsp raw honey (I maybe did not need this but my 4 year old was helping me make it and she said honey would be good so I added a bit and it was yummy)

1.  Stir all ingredients together in a large bowl until mixed.
2.  Spread on a large cookie or baking sheets.
3.  Bake at 300 degrees for 45-60 minutes or until browned, stirring every 10 minutes.  The granola will crisp up more as it cools.

My husband was eating this by the handful, but I enjoyed it for breakfast the next day with a splash of almond milk, and my daughter liked it too.  This was a perfect example of a great recipe to make with your child, my daughter can be a creature of habit but she loved this (mostly because she helped make it).  This was a sweet and hearty way to start the day without eating refined-sugar filled boxed cereal!