Perfect Pancakes Recipe

Pancakes are one of my favourite breakfast foods due to their versatility. You can pair them with a variety of fruits (incorporated into them or fresh cut on top of them), add other sorts of mix-ins (chocolate chips, anyone?), or serve them plain. Real maple syrup is always a winner in our house, but sometimes my husband likes to use plain pancakes as the outside of a sandwich, adding some eggs, cheese, and bacon or sausage between it.

Better yet? They freeze really, really well. Make extras and freeze them in a huge gallon freezer bag, and you can pull some to toast or microwave for a quick, yummy breakfast some other time! For easier storage, put pieces of wax paper between the pancakes and don't freeze them until they've cooled down completely.

Anyway you look at it, pancakes are awesome.

Yes, I accidentally let one get a bit too brown. Oops! Still tasted good, though! You can see some of them have chocolate chips mixed in, others don't. 

Problem is, for the longest time we didn't have a good recipe. We tried recipe after recipe, and we finally stumbled across a winner. Actually, we stumbled across this recipe over a year ago. We've used it multiple times since then, and it's always fabulous. The only reason I never shared it before now is because I kept forgetting to take pictures!

(I apologize in advance for the quality of food pictures on my blog. I only have a cell phone camera to work with right now. I try to make the best of it, though!)

The following recipe was found on Allrecipes.com and is for 4 servings. You can change the number of servings you want on the website and it will do all the adjustments to the ingredients for you, though. I normally double the recipe, but if I'm freezing anything I triple it.

FLUFFY PANCAKES

INGREDIENTS:

• 3/4 Milk
• 2T white vinegar
• 1c all-purpose flour
• 2T white sugar
• 1t baking powder
• 1/2t baking soda
• 1/2t salt
• 1 egg
• 2T butter, melted
• cooking spray (or whatever you prefer to grease your pan)

1) Combine milk with vinegar in a medium bowl and set aside for 5 minutes to "sour" (aka: make buttermilk).

2) Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl.

3) Whisk egg and butter into buttermilk/soured milk.

4) Pour the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and whisk until smooth.

Fully mixed batter. Now is the time to mix in any extras like chocolate chips or berries!

5) Heat a large skillet over medium heat and grease. Pour 1/4c of batter onto the skillet, cooking until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip, and brown on other side.

Due to sodium restrictions Bobble has from previous medical issues, we use a sodium-free baking powder to help reduce the sodium content of the pancakes.

I like to use butter to grease my pan before cooking the pancakes, and I like to mix in chocolate chips or berries. I've also become rather fond of adding some cinnamon to the batter or very lightly sprinkling some cinnamon on them as soon as I put the batter in the pan. So yummy!

If you're in need of a pancake recipe, you should definitely give this one a try!

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff is responsible for the content of this post. The recipe is the Fluffy Pancakes Recipe from AllRecipes.com. All opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own.

Meatloaf with Lentils (original recipe)

I've been in search of a good meatloaf recipe for a while, and I finally gave up and made my own. It took a few times (trial and error!) to get the right ratios, but it's finally done and with pleasing results! It held together and tasted good to everyone (including the kids).

I am having trouble getting a decent photograph of it in a pan, though. Grease from the meat and having to use my old phone for these pictures certainly didn't help!

I served it with mashed potatoes and green beans, though the pictures seem to have disappeared from my camera. The last time I made it we served it with homemade potato wedges.

Meatloaf
1/3c milk
2 eggs
2t sage
2t thyme
1t pepper
1/2c dry lentils (cook before using)
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic
1# ground beef

Sauce
3T acv
2T brown sugar
1/2c tomato sauce/paste mixture (in lieu of ketchup)

Preheat oven to 350F.
Mix spices, milk and egg in large bowl.
Cook lentils, add to egg mixture.
Sautee onions and garlic in olive oil and then add to egg mixture.
Brown beef and add to bowl with mixture.
Mix well and place in greased loaf dish and add topping (mix all ingredients for topping together, then spread across top of meat mixture).
Bake for 1 hour.
Allow to sit 10 minutes before serving.

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff was not compensated for this post. This recipe is an original recipe.

Thursday Tips: Canned foods

Today's tip is one of those that might be one you already know, but it is worth mentioning in case someone didn't.

Canned foods, especially those that are not able to be just poured out of the can, can sometimes stick. Some people pound on the bottom of the can to get the item to fall out, others will take a knife or spatula and help it out.

There is another way, and it's ridiculously easy.

Since I was going to use up some tomato paste, I figured I'd give an example!

Open up your can, then turn upside down and puncture two little holes in the bottom side of the can (using the can opener). This allows the pressure seal to release the contents, and voila! Can is empty!

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff was not compensated for this post.

Pumpkin Chili

I'm going to come straight out and say it: I was scared to try this recipe. I dislike all squash except zucchini and yellow summer squash. The only exception is pumpkin pie. I love pumpkin pie. While I will eat some squash I dislike (like spaghetti squash), I certainly try to avoid it. Still, I was super intrigued by this recipe from MOMables. Also, my whole family loves squash. I made this recipe already assuming I would dislike it.

With cheese sprinkled on top

The recipe was super simple to make, especially since we had a can of organic pumpkin on hand. Normally I avoid canned items, but we do keep a few things in the pantry just in case. Normally we end up using the foods as they near the end of their shelf life because we simply don't use canned foods frequently. That's okay, though. I'd rather have them around in case we do need them then be caught unawares!

Without cheese

The recipe is really simple.

We added 1 small onion and a can of pinto beans since that's what was on hand.

To my surprise, you couldn't taste the pumpkin. I was prepared to not like the meal. I have a super sensitive palate, and can taste pretty much anything... but not the pumpkin. It actually bothered me that I knew there was pumpkin in it and yet I couldn't taste it! Another thing that bothered me is the fact I couldn't taste the ground turkey as turkey. I wasn't upset by that since I actually have a strong dislike of ground turkey. I love ground beef, but I just can't get past the flavour of ground turkey. This dish tasted like regular (as in no pumpkin, and with beef) chili. Not too shabby! I added some greek yogurt atop my chili and then topped that with some cheese. Delicious!

This meal would have been delicious with some cornbread. Next time we are definitely doing this with cornbread!

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff was not compensated for this post. All opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own. 

Thursday Tips: Dry and Fresh Herbs

Fresh herbs are absolutely delicious, far tastier than dried. Some are even nearly impossible to over use when fresh, like basil. Basil, dried, can easily ruin a dish if too much is added. On the contrary, you could add an entire basil plant worth of fresh basil leaves to a dish and it won't be ruined (yes, I've tested this theory).

Freshly chopped dill

Dried dill

Sadly, fresh herbs aren't always an option, so dried herbs get used a lot, too. They cannot be used in the same proportion (as mentioned above with my basil example), so how much DO you use? Easy! Just add dry herbs in 1/3 of the amount called for in fresh.

1T of fresh = 1t of dried

Of course, opt for fresh if possible. When it's not an option, don't forget it's not a 1:1!

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff was not compensated for this post.

Shepherd's Pie

I have been looking for a good Shepherd's Pie recipe for a while, and finally saw one that grabbed my attention. I actually was hoping to make the recipe soon when I found the recipe in my inbox! (I am signed up for Serious Eats' newsletter, and it just happened to be Shepherd's Pie that day.)

I attempted to make the recipe as it was, but I lacked russet potatoes and fresh herbs, so I had to make a few adjustments. I mostly followed the recipe, though. Oh, I also used ground lamb instead of chunks of lamb. 

I must add: It was delicious! I don't think that there was enough potato for the top, and I also found the stew to be too liquidy, so I would probably add more flour (or less broth) next time depending on how it looked.

Stew:

• 1 1/2# ground lamb
• Fresh ground black pepper
• 2T canola oil
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 4 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 4 celery stalks, chopped
• 2T flour
• 4c lamb or beef stock/broth
• 3 large potatoes, peeled and cubed (roughly 2 cups)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1t dried thyme
• 1t dried rosemary
• 1t dried oregano

Mashed Potatoes:

• 3# potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1t salt
• 4 lg. egg yolks
• 1/2c unsalted butter
• 1/2c heavy cream

*Preheat oven to 450 near the end of step 5

1) Brown the lamb meat and set aside.
*If you are using cubes of meat, dry with a paper towel, season with salt and pepper if desired, and saute in some oil over medium high heat. Let the meat brown to the pan for several minutes before stirring (stirring too soon will cause them to release water and boil instead of brown).Turn over after about 4 minutes and let brown again, then remove from heat.

Meat browned and set aside (in dish I later baked in)

2) Put the veggies in the pan the lamb was browned in, and stir. The veggies will release water while they cook and help remove the browned lamb from the pan. Scrape up any brown pieces from the pan with a spoon or spatula (leave in for flavour, though!). Continue to sweat the veggies for about 5 minutes.

3) Add in flour and let brown for around 2 minutes. Add in stock, then potatoes and spices. Return meat to pan and bring to a boil. As soon as it starts boiling, lower the heat to medium and simmer for 90 minutes, covered, until the meat is tender (if cubed) or until all veggies are done. Complete step 4 while this is simmering. When done, remove bay leaves and transfer stew into baking dish.

4) Boil potatoes until fully cooked, drain, then place back in pot. Stir for a few minutes over the heat to ensure they are dry. Add egg yolks, butter, and cream, mashing/whisking until smooth.
*Do this quickly, as the potatoes will become gummy and starchy if they cool too much.

5) Smooth mashed potatoes over the stew in the baking dish. (Or use a pastry bag and a large star tip to pipe the mixture over the top. I tried. I failed miserably at this.) Make sure to create a full seal across the top with the potatoes.

6) Place pie on top of a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil, and bake for 30-35 minutes (or until potatoes are browned and the filling is bubbly.) Let sit for 15 minutes, then serve hot.

I found this to be a bit more soup-y than stew-y when I made it, so I would cut back by 1/2c or 1c of stock next time, or just add more flour in step 3. It wasn't a big deal, I just drained a bit of the juice off and served. Absolutely delicious!

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff was not compensated for this post. All opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own. Recipe based off of Serious Eats' shepherd's pie recipe found here.

Broccoli Cheese Soup (from scratch)

One soup I've loved since a child is Broccoli Cheese Soup. It's always been a favourite of mine, and I was fortunate enough to discover, thanks to this recipe, that it is also one both of my children love. I stumbled across this Panera Bread copy cat recipe at Yammie's Noshery, but while I was making it discovered that I needed to tweak it to get a soup that I would like.

My biggest issue with most soup is the incredibly skimpy amount of vegetables in it. I fixed that. Below is my recipe, made multiple times and devoured by all!

Broccoli Cheese Soup
Based on this recipe from Yammie's Noshery

1/2 stick of butter (1/4c)

1/2 of a medium yellow onion, chopped

2 cloves minced garlic

1c of milk

1c of heavy cream

3c chicken stock

1/4c corn starch

1/4t nutmeg

2 bay leaves

2c chopped carrots (roughly 4 carrots)

4-6c broccoli florets (an entire bunch + some more if you desire)

3c shredded cheddar cheese

Pepper to taste

1) Sautee onions and garlic in butter over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until tender.

2) Add the milk, cream, and stock.

3) Combine corn starch with a bit of water (or a bit extra broth) and stir until fully dissolved. Add to the pot.

4) Turn heat to medium low and add in nutmeg and bay leaves, stirring until thickened.

5) Add in the vegetables and allow to simmer until tender (roughly 30 minutes).

6) Remove bay leaves and stir in cheese until fully incorporated.

7) Serve.

This will have an excellent flavour, especially if you use homemade chicken stock. There will be no need to add any salt while cooking (or after it is served), as there is plenty of sodium in the cheese, and, as I mentioned already, there is no lack of flavour.

This recipe is easy to make, and a crowd pleaser. Definitely a win in our household! I really need to remember to make bread bowls next time, though! I don't have images of the children eating the food because I was too busy stuffing my face. The leftovers go quickly, too!

This recipe claims to serve 4, and I could see it feeding 6 adults good sized servings. If you are serving with bread bowls, I'd think it could feed 8. You will easily have leftovers to get at least one more meal out of it for 4 adults, though.

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff was not compensated for this post. All opinions are my own and may differ from your own. This recipe is an adaptation of one found at Yammie's Noshery.

Loaded Potato Soup

My kids and I are huge fans of potatoes, though hubby isn't the biggest fan. Still, I had to try this loaded potato soup when I saw a recipe for it. Even hubby thought it sounded good, so that was a perk.

I tweaked the recipe some, especially since it didn't give a guesstimate weight for the potatoes and potatoes vary in size, but there are still some recommendations I would make different than what I did. Please see recommendations at the bottom of the recipe.

This is the recipe as I made it:

Loaded Potato Soup
variation of this Momspotted recipe

• 3# golden potatoes (peeled and cubed)
• 1 medium onion chopped
• 4 cloves minced garlic
• 1t pepper
• 4c chicken stock
• 1.5c heavy cream
• Shredded cheddar cheese
• Crumbled bacon
• Dried chives to garnish

1) Add potatoes, onion, garlic, chicken stock, and pepper to crock pot. Cook on low for 7 hours.

2) Add heavy cream and puree using an immersion blender. Cook on low for another 30 minutes.

3) Add desired toppings and enjoy!

Don't mind my ancient, burned-up counter top. It's on the "replacement" waiting list!

RECOMMENDATIONS:

- First, I thought this tasted good, but more like onion than not. I would strongly recommend using have the amount of onion, or even completely omitting the onion in the soup and just using chopped green onions atop the soup as a garnish.

-Another alternative would be sauteing onion slices and adding them to the soup as you puree (to add a different flavour), or dicing the onions, sauteing, and adding as a garnish on top.

- The cheese on top was good, but I really think it could have used some cheese inside the soup, especially with omission of the onion.

I would recommend something more along these lines:

Loaded Potato Soup

3# golden potatoes (peeled and cubed)

1/4c chopped onion (or complete omission of onion)

4 cloves minced garlic

1t pepper

4c chicken stock

1.5c heavy cream

2c shredded cheddar

Garnish

Shredded cheddar cheese

Crumbled bacon

Chopped fresh green onion

Greek yogurt or Sour cream

Same instructions except I would add the 2c shredded cheddar after pureeing the soup, stir well, and let cook another 30min on low. 

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff was not compensated for this post. All opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own.

Lamb Kofte

We love to eat all sorts of foods here, and the kids enjoy the variety of flavours. When we found some lamb on sale at the local grocery, we went in search of a new recipe. We've used lamb before, but we wanted something different.

I came across this recipe for lamb kofte, and we decided to give it a go. It's basically Turkish meatballs, and was to be served on a flatbread.

We tweaked the recipe a bit due to availability of ingredients and Bobble's dietary needs (low sodium).

Lamb Kofte

Yogurt sauce:

• 1c greek yogurt
• 2T tahini
• 3T fresh lemon juice

Köfte:

• 1.5# ground lamb
• 2T dried mint
• 1T dried minced onion
• 4 minced garlic cloves
• 3T paprika
• 1T ground cumin
• 1/2t sea salt
• 1t ground black pepper
• 1/4t cayenne pepper

-----------------------------------------------------

• Flatbread or Na'an
• 2T olive oil
• 2 onions cut into 1/4" to 1/3" slices

Yogurt Sauce:

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Refrigerate until needed.

Kofte:

1) Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2) Mix together lamb and spices (up to the dashed line in ingredient list) in a large bowl. Roll into 1 1/2" meatballs and arrange on lined baking sheet.

3) Preheat oven to 300F. Tear a piece of foil about the size of a cookie sheet and set on counter next to stove. Heat large skillet (medium-high) and add flat bread or naan to pan, one at a time, cooking until browned (~2min per side). Set bread on foil and continue until all are heated. Wrap in the foil and place in oven to keep warm.

4) Add 1T of oil and onions to same skillet and sautee over medium-high heat until golden brown (~8min).

5) Place cooked onions on one side of a large baking dish (like a casserole dish), and place in oven to keep warm.

6) Add 1T of oil to same skillet (same heat) and sautee half of the meat balls until they are cooked through (~7min). Place cooked meatballs in other half of baking dish in oven to keep warm, and repeat with remaining uncooked meatballs (adding oil if skillet dries out).

You can serve these however you wish. The original recipe shows them on a flatbread, dressed with the sauteed onions, yogurt sauce, and muhammara. I didn't include the muhammara in this post, though you can find it in the original recipe. I cannot tell you my thoughts on it since we could not find pomegranate syrup, and hubby tried to make it with what he thought was a clever substitute. He thought we had some cranberry pomegranate juice and figured that would be close enough to make his own syrup with. First, I think that sounds gross, and isn't what the recipe called for. Second.... it was cranberry grape juice, not pomegranate. He didn't read the label.I think that the muhammara my hubby made was gross, but it also was made all sorts of wrong. I don't know what it would have been like if it had been made as the recipe called, but I'm not a fan of sweet things with savoury things anyway, and pomegranate syrup sounds sweet to me.

The kids loved the meal, and so did hubby. I loved it without his attempt at muhammara, and ate it without that. Hubby originally served the flat bread cut into pieces to dip in sauce, but then realized it's much better all held within the flatbread. We didn't use naan, but we both agreed it would have been fabulous on naan.

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff was not compensated for this post. All opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own.

Broccoli Cheese Soup (from scratch)

Broccoli cheese soup has always been one of my favourite dishes, but I had never tried to make it until the recently. I had been searching for a good recipe, and finally found one close to what I wanted. A few alterations later and voila! Broccoli cheese soup!

The majority of the time spent on this dish is the prep time. If you prep your veggies before hand, this is a super easy meal.

This meal is not one I would consider to be "low sodium", but it is low enough to where Bobble could still eat it without worry of nearing his daily allowance. It is definitely low sodium compared to store-bought broccoli cheese soup (campbells has 1,640mg sodium in one cup, but the can is 1.25 cups, so that can has 2,050mg of sodium) or restaurant soup (AppleBees has 1,490 mg of sodium in one cup)!

All sodium content will vary depending on the brand and amount of ingredients used, but the two main sodium-laden ingredients would be chicken broth/stock that is store bought, and the cheddar cheese. Noah Brothers makes an organic chicken broth (low sodium) that is 140mg per cup, though I'd recommend just making your own with leftover chicken bones and not adding any salt.

Assuming you used store-bought broth/stock, the recipe will be approximately 3,035mg sodium for the entire dish. Assuming you eat this as the meal itself, without any other dishes, you should be able to feed 6 people from this recipe.

This dish comes out to about 500 mg of sodium per person if you feed 6. Again, this can vary. Please check your labels if sodium is a concern for you!

I also want to add that the whole family enjoyed the meal. Not only did the kids happily eat it, but hubby actually said this was the best broccoli cheese soup he'd ever had. He then instructed me to write down exactly what I did so I don't lose the recipe. Now if only everything I made evoked that sort of response!

Broccoli Cheese Soup
adapted from this recipe from Yammie's Noshery

Ingredients:

1/2 stick of butter (1/4 cup)

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup of milk

1 cup of heavy cream

3 cups chicken stock

1/4 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

2 bay leaves

2 large carrots, chopped

2 heads of broccoli

3 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Pepper to taste

Directions:

1. On medium heat, cook the butter, garlic, and onion until they become tender.
2. Add milk, heavy cream, and chicken stock.
3. Mix the flour with a little bit of chicken stock (or water) until there are no clumps, and add in to the mixture on the stove.
4. Add in nutmeg and bay leaves. Continue cooking over medium-low heat until mixture thickens 
   
5. Add carrots and broccoli to the mixture and allow to simmer until tender. 
   
6. Remove bay leaves from pot and add in cheese, stirring until fully incorporated.
7. Add pepper to taste.

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff was not compensated for this post. All opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own.

Spaghetti Squash Pizza Bake (LS, Original Recipe)

With a new diet requirement (low sodium), I find myself having to come up with alternatives to lunch for Bobble's school. He eats really clean at home, but the preschool doesn't really want the parents sending lunches since they have to make sure it would meet certain dietary requirements. I find this rather frustrating since I feel that they are not well versed in nutrition. In all fairness, that's not their job... their job is to teach 3 and 4 year olds, not know what veggies have what vitamins and minerals. Either way it goes, now we find ourselves making his lunches and attempting to keep it similar to what the kids at school are eating because literally everyone else has the same thing.

I saw a "spaghetti pizza bake" on the menu, and I have no idea what that is. I can only assume it's spaghetti with sauce and some cheese (maybe other toppings?) baked on top... or mixed in. Here was my version that I made for lunch that day, filling an 8x8 pan. (We set some spaghetti squash and sauce aside for a separate bake and to use sauce on pizza later in the week. Original amounts to include the other bake and pizza sauce would equal a full spaghetti squash, 5 tomatoes, 1 can paste, a whole serving of chopped pepperoni, and 1/2 tsp. salt.)

This can easily be vegetarian by omitting meat and adding other veggies instead.

Spaghetti Squash Pizza Bake
2c. Spaghetti Squash (cooked and scraped out to be noodle-like)
3 Tomatoes
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 c. tomato paste
1/2 serving turkey pepperoni chopped up (or chopped peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, etc. for a veg. dish)
1/4 lb ground beef (browned) (or more chopped veggies for a veg. dish)
1 1/2c. shredded mozzarella
Fresh Basil to taste
Dried Oregano to taste
Coconut Oil to grease dish

1) Shred cooked Spaghetti squash and then put in a greased 8x8 dish

2) Blend tomatoes, paste, basil, and oregano. Add in chopped pepperoni, ground beef, or any veggies you want to use.

3) Mix sauce and spaghetti squash together, and top with mozzarella.

4) Cover with Aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes at 350F.

5) Remove foil and bake another 10 minutes. Serve hot.

This whole dish would contain roughly 1,000 mg. of sodium, so a generous serving of 1/4 of this whole dish would only be at around 250mg for the meal!

Please keep in mind that the sodium content can vary GREATLY from brand to brand, so (obviously) check your labels. To replicate this recipe exactly, the specific brands I used (other than general items like ground beef or spices) were:

Boar's Head turkey pepperoni
Happy Farms Mozzarella (Aldi brand)
Friendly Farms Tomato Paste (Aldi Brand)

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff was not compensated for this post. All opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own. Post contains affiliate links.

Sausage from scratch (LS)

With Bobble being on a sodium restriction, I have to try my best to make things he enjoyed to where he can have them. Sausage is one of those things. You can't buy premade sausage and expect it to be low-sodium, so I've had to try my hand at making my own and tweaking it. I use this recipe for sausage patties (or sticks) and for crumbled sausage atop pizza. You can make it using Turkey, Chicken, or Pork. The following is made with pork.
 

Leftovers (Hubby and I didn't eat any this time, or there wouldn't have been any patties left)

These were already chilled when I took a picture. Sorry!

SAUSAGE
1 1/2lb lean ground pork (chicken, or turkey)
2 cloves crushed garlic
1T dried parsley
1t paprika
1/2t dried sage
1/2t (pink himalayan sea) salt
1/2t fresh ground pepper (I prefer a mix of peppercorns, but black pepper works, too)
1/4t dried minced onion
1/4t oregano
1/4t thyme

Simply mix all of the above and fry it up. I like using my ceramic cuisinart skillet so I don't even need to use any oil, though you can add a bit of olive, canola, or sunflower oil to fry it up if you need. (While I love sunflower oil, please be aware that it will burn faster and splatter more, so keep an eye on it!)

A serving size is supposed to be 4 oz, and will be approximately 265mg of sodium. There are supposed to be 6 servings for 1 1/2 lbs of meat. While it might not sound like a lot, when you're making sausage patties (mini, toddler sized) and you get 6 of them for less than a 1/6 of the mixture, you realize that they aren't getting that much sodium. Of course, the actual serving size would depend on how you prepare and serve it. The amount of sodium in the entire recipe above is 1590mg, so you can figure out the amount per serving for your house.

I made 8 mini patties (2 went with Bobble to school, Squiggle ate one for breakfast, so you see the 5 left over) and crumbled the rest to go in a tortellini dish this evening and on pizza tomorrow night.

** I cut the amount of salt down to 1/4t and everyone still loved the taste, so that brings the entire recipe down to about 1,055mg for the entire batch. We tend to use half of the batch (~528mg sodium) for ground sausage on a pizza, and either freeze the other half or make patties/sticks out of them **

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff was not compensated for this post. All thoughts are my own and may differ from your own. Post contains affiliate links.

How to make Spaghetti Squash

 
How to make a spaghetti squash:

1) Wash squash off!
(You should wash all fruits and veggies off before cutting into them, as the knife will bring bacteria from the outside of the veggie into the flesh. This is especially important if you're eating the fruit or veggie raw, and one of the reasons Cantaloupe can be such a big cause of illness like e. coli.)

2) Slice squash in half long-ways and scoop out the seeds.

3) Place squash in a wax-paper lined dish, cut-side down, and bake for about 45 minutes at 350F, or until inside is tender enough for a fork to easily slice through to the peel.

4) When cooled, take a fork and scrape/rake the inside of the squash. This will release the squash in long strands, much like spaghetti.

Voila! You've made a spaghetti squash!

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff was not compensated for this post. All opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own. Post contains affiliate links.

Crock Pot Lamb Roast & Sauce (original recipe)

The other day I saw a whole lamb roast marked down for quick sale (due to date) at the local grocery. We had them cut it and wrap it into 3 separate roasts for us, each weighing a bit over 2.5 lbs. The mark down price brought it out to be roughly $3.25/lb, and that's not bad at all! Of course, we can't eat that much considering we are a family of 4, and only two of us eat any decent-sized serving, so we froze two and made one that night.

We paired the lamb with this delicious veggie pilaf, and it was a great combo! The kids both ate well, and Bobble even begged for more lamb and dressing.

Sadly, I didn't think to take a picture when it was in the crock pot, or even on a full plate of food. I grabbed a dish after the meal was over, set it up for a picture, and then put it away. We were stuffed!

CROCK POT LAMB ROAST

• 1 lamb roast
• 1 onion (chopped)

Sauce (all ingredients are to taste, not measured):

• Juice from lamb*
• Red wine vinegar
• Heavy Cream
• Lemon
• Parsley
• Sage
• rosemary
• thyme
• Salt
• onions from roast

*Leave enough juice to use with pilaf if desired

Instructions:

Spread onions across bottom of crock pot.
Brown lamb roast on stove and then place on top of onions.
Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

When roast is done, remove from crock pot and set aside.
Take onions from crock pot, some juice, and other ingredients listed for the sauce, and put together in a bowl. None of it was measured, but there was roughly 2T of cream and approximately 2t of lemon. Just add to taste.
Blend with immersion blender.

Slice lamb and serve with sauce.

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff was not reimbursed for this post. All opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own. Post contains affiliate links.

Baked Veggie and Grains Pilaf

This is a nutritious side dish that will go with any meat. We paired it with a yummy lamb roast, but it would be delicious accompanying anything. You can also add different veggies into the mixture like eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, and more.

 

Rice and Veggie Pilaf
Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon Butter (or oil)
1 Onion, chopped
3 ribs celery, chopped (or 4 smaller ribs)
1 chopped bell pepper (red, yellow, or orange)
1 ear of corn (cut kernels off)
4 small to medium sized carrots (chopped)
1 medium zucchini (chopped)
3/4 cup millet
3/4 cup quinoa
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups stock of choice (use veggie stock to make vegetarian)

** Use oil instead of butter and veggie stock to make the dish vegan

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
2. Heat butter or oil in a skillet over medium heat; cook and stir vegetables in the hot oil until softened, about 10 minutes.
3. Mix veggie mixture, millet, quinoa, stock, and salt together and put into an 8x8-inch casserole dish; pour in stock. Cover dish with aluminum foil.
4. Bake in the preheated oven until grains are tender and have absorbed all the liquid, about 30 minutes.

We made this to accompany a lamb roast, so we did the stock part a bit differently. We had 2c of chicken stock that needed to be used, so we used those 2 cups, 1/2c of the juice from the lamb roast, and then pulled a 1/2c of frozen chicken stock from our freezer.

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff was not reimbursed for this post. All opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own. Recipe was an adaptation of this recipe. Post contains affiliate links.

MOMables Ingredient Substitution List

MOMables has numerous recipes for all sorts of dietary preferences and restrictions. My family has been trying out a lot of the gluten free recipes, but we don't have any sort of restrictions in our diet. If we did, it is nice to know MOMables has resources like their Ingredient Substitution List available.

Even if you don't have any food allergies to worry about, this list is super helpful. Surely you've encountered the problem of not having enough (or any) of an ingredient for something you wanted to (or already started to) make.

Did you know that it's not always a cup for cup substitution when using wheat-alternative flours? We didn't... until we tried making something and used a full cup of coconut flour in place of all-purpose flour. WOW was that dry!

MOMables has 12 options for an egg substitute. TWELVE!

I highly recommend checking out this list, and bookmarking or pinning it while you're at it! It's a great thing to have on hand!

Enter for your chance to win a 3 month subscription to MOMables and get more great recipes like this one!

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff was provided with a trial to MOMables in exchange for a review. This did not sway my opinion in any way. All opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own.

MOMables Chicken, Bacon, Slaw salad (GF)

After making a delicious whole roasted chicken to accompany my MOMables Zucchini Au Gratin, I had a good deal of chicken left over. Probably about half of the chicken, actually. I found another recipe that called for leftover chicken and it sounded great, so I went for it.

Chicken, Bacon, Slaw Salad! It looked great, but I knew the kids wouldn't eat a salad. Not that they wouldn't like the ingredients, more like it would turn into confetti. I decided to make it into wraps (gluten-free wraps, at that!) and see how it worked.

We threw the stuff together for the chicken salad, left the bacon in strips, and assembled the wraps. I sliced sections of one of them (already held together with toothpicks) for the kiddos. I removed Squiggle's toothpick before serving it to her, though.

Another MOMables win!

This was not a free recipe, but you can find many good recipes on the MOMables pinterest page.

Bobble and Squiggle ate all the chicken, bacon, and some of the wrap. The slaw, as predicted, was tossed around more than consumed.

Hubby and I both enjoyed our wraps, and we definitely plan to make it again! We added a bit of shredded cheddar to the wraps. Avocado would have been great, too.

Enter for your chance to win a 3 month subscription to MOMables and get more great recipes like this one!

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff received a trial to MOMables in exchange for reviews. This did not sway my opinion in any way. All opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own.

MOMables Spinach & Mushroom Stuffed Turkey Breast

The following is a guest post and does not reflect any opinions of Thoughts of Fluff. The reviewer (Tarah) was not compensated for their post. The following was not a free recipe and will not be shared in the post.

I might just be the poster child for poultry, but one thing I haven’t really experimented much with in the kitchen is turkey. Sure I have made turkey meatballs, but otherwise turkey has always seemed limited to being roasted for a nice big holiday meal. While I’m not opposed to that, because yum, it is nice to break the stigma and introduce turkey as a non holiday meal every once in a while.

One of the biggest problems in cooking turkey is that it is easily cooked to a way too dry state, but the MOMables Spinach & Mushroom Stuffed Turkey Breast recipe has got that issue covered nicely.

Probably the best part about this recipe is how simple the ingredients are, so it is highly likely that you’ll have most of the ingredients already on hand. My turkey was moderately frozen still when I went to make dinner, not bad but not conducive to pounding it out flat, so instead I opened it from the top and stuffed it. That, and the fact that I used skinless turkey are the only changes I made to the recipe.

Now I am not really the biggest fan of cooked spinach, but this I can eat happily. I paired the turkey with some linguine, which can still be gluten free if you opt for it, and used the juices as a ‘sauce’. The end result was the best I can hope for: I enjoyed eating it, and it inspired me to be flexible with it for future meals.

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MOMables GF Zucchini Au Gratin

I had been eying this MOMables recipe for a while, and finally had the opportunity to make it. I followed the suggestion of serving with a whole roasted crockpot chicken, and made a whole chicken in my crockpot to go with it. One of the quickest and easiest meals imaginable!

I made my mixture:

Chopped my zucchini:

Baked while I made my topping mixture:

.... and this is where it stopped being super quick and easy. It WOULD have been had I had almond meal like I thought I did. I apparently did not have any, so I grabbed my mortar and pestle, then ground up almonds until it was really fine. Otherwise, it would have been super quick and easy!

Sprinkled that on top and baked again.

VOILA!

Seriously easy, and very yummy! The kids both loved it. The only complaint hubby had was I missed a few pieces of almond and so he got some tiny pieces of almond he had to chew. ( wah. )

Want the recipe for yourself? Mastermind Laura Fuentes (the mom behind MOMables) also had this recipe for free on her other page: Super Glue Mom. I have provided both recipes for here so you don't have to dig for the non-gf recipe if you would prefer to have that.

Enter for your chance to win a 3 month subscription to MOMables and get more great recipes like this one!

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff received a trial to MOMables in exchange for reviews. This did not sway my opinion in any way. All opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own.