A few things I’ve realized this week while we’ve been on the Daniel Fast:

• It seems like we center everything around food; meeting friends for coffee, getting together for the Super Bowl or even just watching TV at night when the kids are in bed.
• I’m having a problem with giving up coffee. We’re best friends. What can I say?
• The first three days I slept many hours and had headaches. Headaches are gone now and the naps have stopped. Hallelujah!
• We’ve been eating a lot of homemade french fries with homemade ketchup. This stuff is seriously awesome. We will continue to eat this after our fast is over. Probably with a cheeseburger.
• It’s all just food, right? It’s not a big deal. That’s what I keep telling myself. I’m learning some good self-control, which I need. And I have to say my Jesus time has been really good this last week (when I haven’t been sleeping!). He’s been showing us new things, changing our way of thinking, bringing us from glory to glory. It’s been amazing! And I know things will continue to get even better from here on out. Jesus is so good!

Okay. I’m about to bore you with my meal plan. You can go to a different blog now if you want. I won’t be sad.

Potatoes and rice, people, that’s what we’re eating. For being a “foodie”, I’m kind of boring.

As I started typing this week’s meal plan I realized it was pretty much the same as last week. (Told you I was boring!). So, if you’re really curious to see what we’ll be eating you can look at our meal plan from last week. I do have plans for eating a ton of this Mexican Rice, though. I can’t get enough of it. It’s that good! And a friend gave me some vegetarian chili, which is about to end up on top of some baked potatoes. Yum!

I hope everyone has a fabulous week!

– Jill

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This pizza idea came about a few weeks ago when Reinman and I were out to dinner. The place we were at had a Chicken Cordon Bleu Pizza on the menu, and my first thought was, “Yes! This is something that I need to make at home.”

I made it. We ate it. And Reinman said, “This is the best pizza you’ve ever made.” Granted we usually have pepperoni, so not sure how much you can believe him on that.

I have to say, though, that pizza was unbelievably good. With its garlic alfredo sauce, bacon, ham, chicken, peppers, onions, and three kinds of cheese it really had the taste of a chicken cordon bleu, which I love by the way. You can’t go wrong with this pizza.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Pizza

recipe inspired by a local restaurant

Ingredients:

• 1 lb pizza dough (I used 1/4 of this homemade pizza dough)
• alfredo sauce (I did half of garlic alfredo sauce from this recipe)
• 1/2 cup swiss cheese, shredded
• 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
• half a cooked chicken breast
• a couple bacon slices, cooked and crumbled
• a couple slices of ham, thinly sliced
• red onion, thinly sliced
• peppers, thinly sliced (I did some red and some yellow)
• parmesan cheese, grated

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. If you have a pizza stone put it in the oven while it’s preheating. If not, just use a pizza pan or a baking sheet.
2. Roll out your dough, and then transfer the dough to some parchment paper.
3. Spread your alfredo sauce on the dough. Then add your cheese.
4. Then add the rest of your toppings, and top with a little bit of freshly grated parmesan cheese.
5. Transfer pizza to pizza stone or baking sheet, and bake for 15-20 minutes or until pizza is golden brown.
6. Enjoy!

– Jill

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So… about these wonderful peanut butter, chocolate, oatmeal squares. They are my new best friend. They are good. They are healthy. (sort of).

They are the healthy counterpart to these No Bake Reese’s Bars that I posted back in January. One might even say they’re better.

And you know what’s awesome? These squares are basically sugar-free. The only sugar you get is from the dark chocolate. And we all know how healthy dark chocolate is, right?

So what you have here is a crunchy dark chocolate peanut butter bar that tastes like an adult version of a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. Plus, they’re like guilt-free. So, if you want to eat 10 of them, please do. The day I made these I’m pretty sure I ate half the pan. No lie.

So, go make these. Hand them out. Make some new best friends. And then come back and tell me how much you love them (and me). Thank you.

Crunchy Dark Chocolate and Peanut Butter Oatmeal Squares

recipe inspired by How Sweet It Is

Ingredients:

• 1 & 1/2 cups oats
• 1 cup crunchy peanut butter
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 coconut oil, warmed (mine was already liquified thanks to our hot weather)
• 1/4 cup honey
• 4 oz good-quality chocolate
• 1 T coconut oil, warmed

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix your oats, peanut butter, and salt. Add in your coconut oil and honey. Press into a 8×8 dish and stick in the fridge for a half hour.
2. In a small saucepan, melt your chocolate and 1 T coconut oil. Once chocolate is melted, pour evenly over squares. Spread with a spoon or spatula if needed. Place back in fridge for another 30 minutes, or until chocolate is hardened.
3. Notes: I would keep these in the fridge. My squares didn’t like the heat, and the chocolate would get all melty if left out too long. And in the original recipe, she melted her coconut oil in a small saucepan, and then added in her honey, and then mixed that in with the oats and peanut butter. I found that I didn’t have to do that, but if you want you can.
4. Enjoy!

– Jill

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Cheesy. Pasta-y. Hints of basil. A perfect summer side dish.

This was very easy to make, which is something I like. It was also very tasty (yes, another thing I like). My kids ate it up, and made a giant mess. I’m really trying to not worry about the food messes though. That’s why we have a dog, right?

Parmesan and Basil Orzo

recipe from Tasty Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 3 T butter
• 1 & 1/2 cups orzo
• 3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
• 6 T fresh basil, chopped
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. In a large skillet,  melt butter over medium heat. Add orzo and saute for a few minutes, until the orzo starts to get golden brown.
2. Add the broth, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes, or until all the broth has absorbed.
3. Remove from heat, add the basil and Parmesan and salt and pepper.
4. Enjoy!

– the Jilb

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I’ve been trying to find a good whole wheat cinnamon roll recipe for what seems like forever. I finally found one.

The past whole wheat cinnamon rolls I’ve made were too doughy or too heavy. Not these. They were pretty much perfect. Plus, they’re made with healthy things like whole wheat flour and honey. I also tried to cut down on the frosting, and what I got was more of a butter river than an actual frosting. Not that I’m complaining.

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls

recipe slightly adapted from Heavenly Homemakers

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 1 cup warm water
• 2 T yeast
• 2 tsp honey
• 2 & 1/2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup honey
• 4 tsp sea salt
• 8 cups whole wheat flour

For the “Innerds”:

• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar and 1/2 T cinamon, mixed

For the frosting:

• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 3 T milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1-2 cups powdered sugar, depending on the consistency

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix the 1 cup warm water, yeast, and 2 tsp honey. Stir this together and then let it sit for a few minutes.
2. Melt 1/2 cup butter in a large saucepan. Add 1/2 cup honey, 4 tsp salt, and 2 & 1/2 cups milk. Heat to 120 degrees. Pour milk mixture into yeast mixture, and stir. Stir in flour, 2 cups at a time, adding more if you need it.
3. Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes, or until elastic-y and smooth. Put it in a bowl, cover it, and let it rise for 1-2 hours or until doubled.
4. Punch down dough and get all the bubbles out. Cut the dough in half, setting one half to the side.
5. On a well floured surface, roll the dough into a nice big rectangle, about 1/4-inch thick.
6. Using a pastry brush, brush half of the melted butter over the dough, and then sprinkle half of the cinnamon/sugar mixture of the butter.
7. Roll up the dough, and cut into thin slices, about 1/2-inch thick.
8. Place rolls side-by-side in a baking pan.
9. Repeat process with other dough.
10. Allow dough to rise at least 30 minutes.
11. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
12. While rolls are baking, whisk together frosting ingredients, and frost rolls after they come out of the oven.
13. Enjoy!

– the Jilb

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Umm… so, these are amazing. Really, really tasty. We love pancakes in this house, but when you have to make pancakes for 6 people and those people will eat as many pancakes as they have fingers, making them doesn’t always sound that fun. So, I came across this recipe for pancake muffins, and knew right away that we had to try them out.

These Pancake Muffins were a giant hit. And it wasn’t just because I threw in some chocolate chips. Okay, maybe it was. Chocolate makes everything better.

I should mention these do taste like a pancake in muffin form. And I made them mini because anything small is so cute. Plus, I feel better eating three or four of something smaller, than eating even one normal-sized muffin.

Mini Whole Wheat Pancake Muffins

recipe slightly adapted from Baked Bree

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 T sugar
• 2/3 cup buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 2 T pure maple syrup
• 2 T butter, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4-1/2 cup chocolate chips (sometimes I do a 1/4, sometimes I do 1/2 depending on how chocolatey I want things)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a mini muffin pan and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together your flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and sugar.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together your buttermilk, egg, maple syrup, butter, and vanilla extract.
4. Pour your wet ingredients into your dry ingredients and mix until well-combined. Mix in your chocolate chips.
5. Put about a tablespoon of muffin batter into each mini muffin cup. I usually get around 18-24 muffins depending on how much I fill them.
6. Bake 15-17 minutes or until muffins are golden brown, and spring back when lightly touched.
7. Enjoy!!

– the Jilb

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I’ve got a really fun recipe for you all: Mac and Cheese Bites!

They’re kind of putzy to put together, but as a fun little thing I think making these every once in awhile would be fun.

The kids gobbled them up, and really who can blame them? Tiny, cheesy, handheld bites of macaroni ? Oh, yum! So, if you’re looking for something different and fun to do for dinner, give these Mac and Cheese Bites a try. You’ll love them!

Mac and Cheese Bites

recipe from FoodandWine.com

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. of pasta (I used shells)
• 3 T butter
• 4 T flour
• 1 & 1/2 cups of milk
• 4 cups of cheese, shredded (I used a mix of cheddar, swiss, and mozzarella)
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• non-stick spray

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray a mini muffin pan with a non-stick spray, and set aside.
2. Cook pasta until al dente. I cooked mine around 6 minutes. Drain and set aside.
3. In the same pot you cooked your pasta, add your butter. On medium heat cook your butter until it’s melted, and then whisk in your flour. Continue whisking for 2 minutes.
4. Whisk in your milk, and keep whisking another 5 minutes or until milk starts to boil.
5. Add in your cheese, and mix until your cheese is melted.
6. Take your cheese mixture off the heat, and mix in your egg yolks, and paprika.
7. Mix in your pasta, and mix well or until everything is combined.
8. In a small bowl, mix your breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese together.
9. Using a tablespoon, spoon your mac and cheese into the mini muffin pan cups. Press down on the tops of the mac and cheese, and then sprinkle a little breadcrumb mixture on top of your mac and cheese.
10. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.
11. Let mac and cheese bites cool at least 5 minutes before taking them out of the muffin cups. Then use a spoon to carefully lift the mac and cheese bites out.
12. Enjoy!

– the Jilb

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