This week at work I got the opportunity to speak at a childhood obesity prevention workshop. We were highlighting the We Can! (Ways to Enhance Childhood Activity and Nutrition) program from the National Institutes of Health. If you have children, I highly recommend checking out the We Can! website. Anyways, they have a cookbook that I brought home and I am going to start trying some of the recipes. They are super healthy and kid friendly.
The first recipe was this Tomato Stuffed Quinoa. I ended up changing the recipe a little bit with the ingredients I had on hand. It was really yummy and looked so pretty! The cookbook says to use this as a vegetable side dish but since we are eating more vegetarian lately, it looked like a good stand alone meal as well.
Ingredients:
1/2 Chopped Onion
3 Cloves Chopped Garlic
1/2 Chopped Green Pepper
2 Tablespoons Chopped Parsley
Preheat oven to 350. Over medium heat, saute onions and garlic first then add the green pepper (or any other vegetables that you think would be good). Cook the quinoa according to directions and add to the mixed ingredients. Hallow the tomato and place the quinoa mixture into the tomato. Cook the stuffed tomato for 15-20 minutes or until soft. Serve immediately.
Yummm!
As some of you know, I am getting married to Sheena's brother in a couple months! This picture is from the cake tasting for the wedding. We tried every single one and afterward we had a headache from all the sugar! The top left plate was from a cake shop, the right plate was all cupcakes from a bakery, and the little plate is cupcakes from another bakery. I liked the strawberry shortcake (top left plate, bottom left corner) and then the vanilla cupcake (bottom right). Honorable mention goes to the cookie cupcake (top right). Final decision will be the strawberry cake in a small 8 inch round for us and the wedding party and then the vanilla cupcakes for the guests. They will all have pink flowers on top and match the cake of course! It was all so much fun! More wedding things to come...
Recently I was selected by House Party to host a sandwich party featuring Sandwich Thins. I had never tried these before and I wanted to use them in more ways than just having sandwiches. I thought about what to do for a long time and decided on three things. The first was roasted garlic with toasted Sandwich Thins, then I made Pesto Chicken Paninis, and Mini Cheese Pizzas. Everything was yummy. My favorite was the toasted thins with roasted garlic and I had quite a few people who loved the paninis.
Roasted Garlic with Toasted Sandwich Thins
2 Bulbs of Garlic
Sandwich Thins (I used four but you can make however many "chips" you want)
Olive Oil
Salt
Cut top off garlic bulbs and place in foil. Drizzle cut side with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Enclose in foil and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Just before garlic is done split the Sandwich Thins, brush with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt. Using a pizza cutter cut the thins into fours. Put in 350 degree oven and bake until they reach your desired crispness (I did mine for 10-15 minutes).
When done serve the toasted thins with the roasted garlic. Delish!
Pesto Chicken Panini (Not a great picture above but I was trying to show how good the insides looked)
Desired Number of Sandwich Thins
Prepared Pesto
Mayo
Chicken
Swiss Cheese
Spread pesto on one side of the bread and then spread mayo on the other side. Fill with chicken and cheese (Spinach would also be good to add but we didn't have any). Put inside of a panini press or George Foreman Grill. Cook until the cheese is melted and bread is toasty.
Mini Cheese Pizza (Didn't realize I forgot to picture these..bummer)
Desired Number of Sandwich Thins
Pizza Sauce or Pasta Sauce
Mozzarella Cheese
Split Sandwich Thins and spread pizza sauce on the bread. Top with cheese and cook in 400 degree oven until cheese is melted and bread is toasty.
There are so many other ways these Sandwich Thins can be used. Right now I am going to take the few we have left and fill them with peanut butter and jelly then freeze to make my own "Uncrustables." The only thing that would probably make me like them better is if the whole wheat white ones were available at my store. I know it isn't the healthiest but I do love white bread.
If you are interested in trying Sandwich Thins I have three $1.00 off 1 coupons left. Leave a comment with your email address and I will pick a winner on Wednesday, March 10th. They are good until 6/30/2010 so you have plenty of time to use them. Enjoy!
**These coupons were given to me by Oroweat to use at my house party. Oroweat did not pay me to have the party or this giveaway (I wish they had though-how cool would that have been?!?!) but did give me coupons to use for myself and guests of my party. I am sharing with you some of the leftovers.**
This week at work I got the opportunity to speak at a childhood obesity prevention workshop. We were highlighting the We Can! (Ways to Enhance Childhood Activity and Nutrition) program from the National Institutes of Health. If you have children, I highly recommend checking out the We Can! website. Anyways, they have a cookbook that I brought home and I am going to start trying some of the recipes. They are super healthy and kid friendly. 
