Jack and Creed are not veggie lovers. Jack has expanded his horizons lately and will choke down a green bean or two as well as a piece or two of raw broccoli or carrot. Creed will claw at his tongue until every single piece is out of his mouth if any vegetable touches his lips except in two ways...
First up is the green smoothie. Almost every single day for lunch my crew eats homemade bread with freshly ground peanut butter from Kroger or HEB along with a green smoothie. Elizabeth is our master smoothie maker though she does have Anne Michal in training to be her backup person. The ingredient list is most often about half a blender of spinach fairly well packed down, 1-2 bananas, a handful of strawberries,3/4 a quart of homemade plain yogurt and a touch of sugar or honey. Occasionally they add some protein powder. This has been lunch for almost a month now, and they still cheer over hearing it is what is for lunch. Total win-win situation as it is a very well-balanced lunch!
The second is one of their favorite meals. We had it last night, and I thought I'd share it with y'all. it is from one of my favorite cookbooks, Family feats for $75 a week, by Mary Ostyn of the blog Owlhaven. She has more kids than I do so I know she at least knows a thing or two about feeding a crew! I don't think I have made anything from this cookbook that isn't good. There is a wide variety including a lot of ethnic foods. So, yeah, the recipe....Thai Wraps.I am not sure how Thai it really is, but it sure is good!
1 pound of romaine lettuce, swiss chard, or fresh spinach separated into individual leaves.
2 carrots, peeled
1 onion, peeled
3 cloves of garlic
1 rib of celery
1/2 cup minced fresh vegetable of your choice(tomato, cucumber, or celery...I use celery and mince it really really fine because I have a bunch of celery haters)
1 T olive oil (if using ground turkey)
2 pounds ground beef or 1 of turkey and one of beef...I can get away with 1 1/2 pounds for all of us
1/4 cup fish sauce or soy sauce ( I use soy or ...ahem...bragg's liquid aminos)
1-2 cups leftover rice (optional ( i usually add)
Wash your lettuce and set aside.
Shred carrots(I just dice them.) Chop onion and garlic, slice celery, and mince any other vegetable that you desire. (if your family loves veggies and you aren't trying to just get them to eat a few like me then you could add extra and a wide variety. You can also add leftover scrambled eggs.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat, then add beef and cook until browned.
Once meat is cooked through, remove it from pan using a slotted spoon. Add chopped, sliced, and minced veggies to skillet and cook in remaining oil over medium heat until soft, 5-7 minutes, stirring a few times. I like to add a bit of sesame oil at this point as it really ups the flavor and my people seem to love sesame oil.
Return to pan and mix with vegetables. Add fish or soy sauce. Add rice if using (if you have 6 kids I suggest you do ;-) ) Cook over medium heat a few more minutes, stirring until ingredients are well mixed and heated through. Serve by wrapping lettuce leaves around several tablespoons of the meat recipe.
Creed actually eats his in a tortilla, but he actually eats the carrots and celery and even knows they are in there!!! Jack eats his in either a tortilla or lettuce but if he eats it in a tortilla he adds lettuce! I guess this makes it a mexasian meal but it gets the job done!!! I actually ate mine last night on a big plate full of lettuce like a salad and it was so yummy!
Let me know how you like it if you give it a try!
P.S. Creed asked what was for supper and when I told him said, "And smoothies??? We haven't had them from a long time ago." They missed them at lunch today as we didn't have yogurt ready.
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