Tripp's Wow Wow Favorite Lasagna

Tripp loves lasagna!  We tried gluten free lasagna noodles!  yeah!  Regular lasagna noodles hold up better for day 2 eating but these GF noodles work like a charm!  

Ingredients

1/2 pound sweet italian sausage (out of casing)

1 pound lean ground beef

1 small onion chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

32 oz Grandma's Sunday Sauce

1 tablespoons white sugar

1 tablespoon fresh basil leaves chopped

1 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

16 ounces ricotta cheese

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 pound mozzarella cheese shredded

1 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 box lasagna noodles

Directions

Moms Jobs:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• cook sausage, ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned. Mix with 16 oz pasta sauce.
• Chop basil and chop parsley into small confetti.
• Once Lasagna assembled, Cover with foil: to prevent sticking, either spray foil with cooking spray, or make sure the foil does not touch the cheese.

Tripp and Finn's Jobs:

• In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with egg, most of the parsley and basil (leave a little bit to sprinkle on top), sugar, 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, and 1/2 tspn salt.
• Assemble spread about 1 1/2 cups of Grandma's Sunday in the bottom of lasagna pan. Arrange 6 noodles lengthwise over pasta sauce. Top with Grandma's Sunday Spread with one third of the ricotta cheese mixture. Top with a 1/4 of mozzarella cheese. Spoon 1 1/4 cup meat sauce over mozzarella, and sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Repeat 3 layers, and top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. 

Bake in preheated oven for 50 minutes. Remove foil, and bake an additional 10 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.   Enjoy!!!!

Tripp and Finn in the Kitchen: Gluten Free Tilapia and Rice Stew Wake up Wednesday:)

My boys love this one!  This can be fast or slow- I like to buy the pre chopped carrots, onions and celery- and this makes it in a flash. Otherwise- the food processor makes it pretty quick and the kids love to dump the veggies in the chopper:)  Or you can just chop but be sure to chop in small pieces.

Ingredients
Chopped small
2 Carrots
2 Celery
1 Onion
1 Bell Pepper
1 Okra
1/4 cup fresh parsley
One large can diced tomatoes
1 tspn garlic
1/4 cup olive oil ( enough to swirl the pan)
1 lb tilapia
1/8 tspn cayenne pepper
1/4 tspn salt
1/4 tspn pepper
1-2 Package brown rice (I like the 10 min version)

Moms Jobs
Chop everything
Heat Medium to large pan
Swirl with Olive oil
Saute Veggies and garlic, salt and pepper 5-7 minutes medium low heat
Chop tilapia bite size pieces and add fish medium heat 7 more minutes
Add tomatoes and parsley 7-10 minutes on low
Boil Water and Rice
Drain Rice and cook 5 more minutes


Tripp and Finn
Measure 1/4 cup olive oil
Measure 1 tspn garlic
Measure 1/8 tspn cayenne pepper
Measure 1/4 tspn salt
Measure 1/4 tspn black
Tear up parsley and put in 1/4 cup

Dinner takes about  5-15 minutes to prep depending on veggie chopping and 30 minutes to cook.

Enjoy!!!

Until Next Time...

Mom, Tripp, and Finn

Tripp and Finn in the Kitchen: Gluten Free- Crockpot Tuesday!

Tuesday is a running day- quite literally- the boys play basketball on Tuesday and it starts at 4:30pm.  They both have to be picked up and in the gym by 4:30.  So we have crock pot Tuesdays because when we get home they are starving!

I fill my crock pot in the morning so this recipe is mom in the kitchen... or rather mom barely in the kitchen. :)

Tonight we had Shepard's pie- sure to delight the whole family!

Ingredients
1 lb ground chicken
1 can diced tomatoes
1 small onion chopped
2 carrots chopped
1/2 bag frozen peas
1/2 bag frozen corn
1/4 tspn salt
1/4 tspn pepper

Throw in your crock pot and slow cook low....

either peel potatoes and boil and mash or cheat like I like to do and buy simply potatoes in the package- no preservatives, just potatoes mashed!

Voila- dinner with just minutes of work!

Enjoy!

Until next time...

Mom, Tripp, and Finn

Tripp and Finn in the Kitchen: Gluten Free Fast Dinner Monday Mexican Chicken

Monday can sometimes be tough but I really like to start the week off right with dinner! This is a lickity split one...15 minutes!
 It's a version of a good friend of mine's Mexican Chicken.  Friends of ours love the atkin's diet- they do it almost every year after the holidays. This is their low carb dinner that you wouldn't even think of as missing out on anything!  It's got a little zest and a little spunk perfect for Monday and Football! 
So here we go...

Ingredients:
1 can Refried beans
1/4 Cup olive oil
1 tspn garlic
1 Container Fresh Salsa
4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts Chopped in bite size pieces
2 tbsn Cilantro
1 tbsn Parsley
Sour Cream
Monterrey Jack Cheese
8-12 Corn Tortilla Chips

This dinner is so fast that Mom can do solo but if your little one wants to help...

Mom:
Chop chicken
Saute garlic 1 minute
Add chopped chicken 7 minutes medium high
And then add re fried beans, salsa (reserve a few tspns for the topping) , cilantro, parsley and simmer for 5 more minutes and done!

Tripp and Finn:
Dump the olive oil and garlic in the pan before putting on stove. 
Open the salsa container
Count out the chips from the bag
Have them help you "create" the bowl... Add Monterrey Jack, Sour Cream, Salsa, and 2-3 tortilla chips crumbled.

Watch out football we are ready for you and dinner in no time!!!

 Enjoy!!!

Until Next Time...

Mom, Tripp, and Finn

Tripp and Finn in the Kitchen: Gluten Free Brunch- Frittatta and Green Beans

Sunday is a big day for us to hang with family and friends.  This Sunday we made a household favorite when I was growing up- frittata.  Or as we called it at my house fretta.  The fun thing about frittatta is you can add whatever you want- traditionally at my house- we had sausage, peppers, potatoes, and mushrooms.  At my favorite diner, they have sausage, peppers, onions, mushrooms, broccoli, pepperoni, potatoes and mozzarella cheese.  Any way you make it, you can't go wrong- guaranteed delicious!  For our veggies, we  made green yellow and green beans instead of traditional salad today.

So here we go:

Ingredients- this serves 8-10

Frittata
6 potatoes
6 links Chicken Sausage
1 bunch Fresh Broccoli
2 Green Peppers
2 Small Onions
8 Oz Bacon
Mozzarella Cheese
24 Eggs
1/4 cup Olive Oil
4 Tspns Fresh Minced Garlic
salt and pepper 1/4 tspn each
1 tbsn Fresh Parsley

Green beans:
3 lbs Fresh Cleaned Green beans
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes with basil
1/4 cup Olive Oil
3 tspn garlic
1/8 tspn salt
1 tbsn fresh parsley

Moms Jobs:
Chop vegetables or put in food processor or bullet slicer and little ones can push button
6 Potatoes
2 Green peppers
2 Small Onions
Fry (I like to use my family size electric skillet for this)
Olive oil, garlic, onions until softened, add sliced chicken sausage links, broccoli.
In meantime, in larger fry pan- fry 8oz bacon crumble and then add to frittata
Wipe out pan and add green beans, olive oil, garlic, sprinkle parsley and crushed tomatoes on top- cover and heat on medium for 10-15 minutes until beans are still a little crunchy. Lower heat or take of heat and let sit.
Get back to Frittatta and boys are ready to help...

Tripp and Finn Jobs:
Break eggs and whisk
Add salt and pepper, and sprinkle parsley
Add eggs to frittata mixture.
Cook eggs  and if you have cheese lovers add mozzarella cheese or you can do what we do and do halfsies...half cheese and half not- the boys are not huge fans of cheese.

This is sure to be a crowd pleaser...

Until Next Time...

Mom, Tripp and Finn

Tripp and Finn in the Kitchen: Gluten Free: Pizza and Game Night

Tripp and Finn in the Kitchen: Gluten Free: Pizza and Game Night: "Happy New Year!!! I hope everybody had a great new years eve! We had a lot of fun! Our night started out by making pizza. ..."

Pizza and Game Night

Happy New Year!!!
I hope everybody had a great new years eve!  We had a lot of fun!  Our night started out by making pizza.  Pizza is one of my favorite things to make with the kids!  Mostly because the options are limitless.  Tonight we decided to serve: BBQ Chicken, Pepperoni, and The Works.

We have been exploring gluten free pizza shells.  Our favorite to date- Udi's was sold out.  So we tried something new tonight- and loved it!  We tried Nature's Hilights which we found in the freezer section of Whole Foods.  At first we were a little leery of the shells because the shape is pretty imperfect.  However, if you like crispy pizza, the texture is one of the best we've tried!

So here we go...

Ingredients:
Nature's hilights brown rice pizza shells
Tomato Sauce or pizza Sauce
Bbq Sauce

1/2 a pepper- any color

1/4 cup fresh spinach

Red onion
1 Chicken breast
1 Chicken Sausage link
Pepperoni
Olive Oil
Garlic
Oregano
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese
Monterrey Jack Cheese
Mozzarella Cheese


Mom's Jobs
Preheat oven to 450
Chop the following and place in small bowls:
Chicken Breast
Red Onion
1/2 pepper

Saute chopped chicken
Saute Chicken Sausage link (trick to getting crumbled- de-case chicken sausage put in pan with water and use your spoon to mix with water and crumble)

Tripp and Finn Jobs:
Pour bbq sauce in bowl
Pour tomato sauce in bowl

After toppings are prepped, on to the fun!!!  Top the pizza!!

Create an assembly line on your kitchen table or island, and put a shell in front of each child.  They are in charge.

Tonight Tripp wanted  to create the bbq chicken, Finn chose pepperoni, and Mom made the works.

Now to the creating, let's assemble: (one of the fun things to do with the kids is make designs on the pizza- silly faces, footballs, whatever they come up with..)

Tripp: BBQ Chicken:

Spread BBQ Sauce, Sprinkle Chopped Red Onion, and Sauteed Chopped Chicken,  Sprinkle with BBQ Seasoning (we like Bone Sucking BBQ Seasonings- but there are a lot out there) Parmesan Cheese, and Top with Monterrey Jack Shredded Cheese, and fresh Parsley.

Finn: Pepperoni Tomato Pie Pizza:
Drizzle Olive oil  on each pizza shell, sprinkle 1/4 tspn chopped garlic, and then top with Tomato Sauce, Sprinkle with oregano and Parmesan cheese, and top with pepperoni.

Mom: The Works:
Drizzle Olive oil  on each pizza shell, sprinkle 1/4 tspn chopped garlic, and then top with Tomato Sauce, Sprinkle with oregano and Parmesan cheese, and top with mozzarella cheese.  Follow with Chicken Sausage, Onions, Peppers, Spinach, and Pepperoni.

After the creating is finished, bake in the oven for 12 minutes or until the edges are a golden brown.

Cool and slice.

Now on to the games!

We love the wii but decided on some of the oldy but goody board games for the evening: Monopoly JR, Star Wars Trouble, and Apples to Apples Family Edition.  All worked out great- Apples to Apples was a little hard for age 4 and under but in teams they liked hoping their card was picked!

Happy New Year!!!!

Enjoy!!!

Until Next Time...

Mom, Tripp , and Finn