Yummy Yummy Lunch

We had a great lunch Saturday!

Everyone was home,
we were working on some big projects
and I needed something "cleanse" appropriate.

We had some leftover
Roasted Rainbow
so I made the easiest soup EVAH!

We also had Chicken Sundried Tomato Panini's
which were DELICIOUS-

I didn't take a picture of just the panini, this is right before I put the 2nd piece of bread on

I didn't put my chicken on bread,

and it was delicious for me-
I was just glad to have chicken back in my diet again :)

Easiest, Yummiest Lunch ever!
And I got kudos from my kids for
it looking and tasting better then
the trendy restaurant in Dallas they went
to last weekend-
Not bad for a quick lunch fix!

The Panini

Brown and coarsely shred chicken breast
1/3 cup sundried tomatoes with oil
Spinach
fresh grated Parmesan Cheese

Brown the chicken, coarsely shred.
Place the sundried tomato in a food
processor and pulse the tomatoes.
Mix in with chicken. Add the spinach
and cook until the chicken is slightly
softened. 

Brush a small amount of olive oil
on bread (I used sourdough) and put on a
panini press. Top with chicken mixture, and
top with Parmesan cheese. Grill to toasted.

Enjoy

Roasted Rainbow Soup

6 cups chicken stock
leftovers from Roasted Rainbow
salt, pepper as desired

Heat 6 cups chicken stock in a large pot.
Remove half of the chicken stock and
place in a blender or food processor with
half of roasted vegetables. Pulse until
nicely pureed. Repeat with remaining
veggies and chicken stock. Return to
pot and heat thoroughly if needed.
Top with croutons or toasted Brioche bread.

Roasted Rainbow

Honestly, if possible,
I would love to live on a working farm-
where I could grow everything I eat.
I am pretty sure, if I lived on a farm,
I would eat this meal All the time!!

In all honesty,
there is a flaw to this dream-
actually several flaws-
that make me quite certain,
I will never live on a farm!!

First and foremost,
I don't like to touch dirt,
so I would need someone else to
grow the food I eat
and Second,
I kill EVERYTHING I try to grow anyway.
Bad combination-

But I love these Roasted Vegetables,
they are yummy,

flavorful,

the beets before they get mixed with the veggies

and sooooooooo easy.
I have seen versions of this recipe traced to
Ina Garten, our great Barefoot Contessa,
my dear friend at The Organic Kitchen
and many others,
here is my simplified version.

Roasted Rainbow

This is too easy to even call a recipe!
Take your favorite root veggies-
carrots, potatoes, beets, shallots,
add some more of your favs,
butternut squash, brussel sprouts, zucchini,
and mix them all together in a
9x13 baking dish.
Drizzle with olive oil,
sprinkle with your favorite herb-
basil, rosemary or parsley
and some sea salt.

Bake at 375 for about 45 minutes.
I like my veggies a little more on the
al dente side, so you decide what works for you.
When I am using beets,
I like to boil the beets first to soften them up
a bit before mixing them with the other veggies-
otherwise, I find they just don't get cooked
as much as I want them.


We honestly eat this as a meal during the early
fall months, no meat, no bread-
just yummy tubers
Enjoy!!

Pumpkin Shakes

I'm actually trying to decide how I feel about
this shake!
Is it healthy, not really, because it has ice cream,
but that is a dairy product,
and it does have pumpkin,
isn't that a member of the squash family-
and isn't it really hard to get kids to eat squash?

Well my kids LOVE this shake,
so in the fall, I tempt them to do their homework
with the promise of a pumpkin shake as an
after school snack.
Hey if Bill Cosby can do Chocolate Cake
for breakfast, I can do
Pumpkin Shake for snack.

Pumpkin Milk Shake

Two scoops vanilla ice cream                               4 TBSP. canned pumpkin

1 c. milk                                                                        2 TBSP. maple syrup

2 TBSP. caramel syrup                                            1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Combine in a blender. Top with whipped cream and a dash of nutmeg or cinnamon for added appearance.