College Food

Michael will not be gaining the freshman 15.  If he is lucky he will maintain his pre-college weight.  Eating while on campus is a challenge.  It often isn’t healthy & the choices aren’t what he’s used to having at home.

I am glad that he can come home on anytime he wants and join us for meals.   That just isn’t feasible most of the time though.  When he moved on campus he took some basic foods with him.  Peanut butter, eggs, rice, oatmeal, cereal, salsa, chips etc.  The house where he lives has a kitchen where he can make his own meals if he wants. 

Things we’ve learned about eating on campus

1.  The food at the dorms is fried or cheesy.  Neither of which he appreciates very much.

2.  Eating out is cheaper than dorm food.  But you have to be careful what you choose in order to get full.  Favorites are a bread bowl & soup or Mexican w/ lots of vegies, beans & rice.

3.  Eating out or at the dorm takes time out of the day that you may need to use for class or studying.  Food needs to be fast & easy.

4.  Making sure you get 3 meals a day is IMPORTANT.  If you don’t eat then you get tired & can’t think to study.



Goal for Christmas Break

Identify & make some easy food to stash in his freezer/fridge or pantry for him to be able to fix in a fast & easy way. This will be one of his Christmas gift(yeah!).  Two recipes we have identified already are Sloppy Joes & Quesadillas.

Neither are hard to make but usually you make them for large groups.  A regular batch divided in to single serving portions will likely last at least a month or two.  These will also cost significantly less than a meal at a restaurant or at the dorm.

Both are easily reheated in the microwave which makes for a fast easy meal.   I am going to be scouring my recipes for other easy & quick recipes.  The week between Christmas and New Years should be a great time to make up some meals for Michael & perhaps for easy lunches here at home too.

Chicken Quesadillas

8 small or 6 medium Wheat Tortillas
3 cups shredded chicken
1 cup salsa
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar or Monterey jack cheese
1/2 cup sour cream

Mix the ingredient except for the tortillas in a large bowl.  On one tortilla spread about 1/4 cup of the mixture.  Place another tortilla on top & press firmly.  Heat a skillet or griddle and cook the quesadilla for 3-4 minutes on each side.  Serve with more salsa & sour cream if desired.

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Tasty Tuesday at Beauty & Bedlam
Tasty Tuesday @ Beautiful Mess

Molasses Cookies

We love cookies!  Oatmeal, chocolate chip, snickerdoodles, sugar cookies, peanut butter.  They are all our favorites!   The above saying about the dark side gets repeated A LOT around here.

For several years my hubby has mentioned molasses cookies & I just shied away from them because I knew I didn’t like them—selfish of me I know.  The molasses cookies that I had didn’t have a very good flavor, almost bitter.  However we did a pretty low key Father’s Day this year and one of the gifts we gave to the daddy in our house was a batch of molasses cookies.

Can I say I WAS WRONG!  I love these cookies!!  I will say they are not as sweet as say chocolate chip, however, that is okay by me.  So if you need a classic spice cookie then this one may just be the one to add to your collection.

I went to a cookie exchange last night so this is all that is left from the batch I made yesterday.  Now we do have a wonderful collection to choose from for the next few days as we bake our goodies for Christmas.  However when I went for a cookie to have with my tea this morning guess what I chose?  One of mine!  They look crisp but they are actually pretty chewy which I really like in a cookie!

Molasses Cookies

(48 cookies)

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup Spectrum vegetable shortening(palm oil)

1/2 cup molasses

1 large egg

2 1/4 cups whole wheat or white wheat flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp salt

1/4-1/2 cup granulated sugar

Combine brown sugar and shortening in a large bowl; beat with mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy.  Add molasses and egg; beat well.  Lightly spoon flour into a measuring cup; level with a knife.  combine flour and next 5 ingredients(through salt), stirring with a whisk.  Add flour mixture to sugar mixture; beat at low speed just until blended.  Cover and freeze 1 hour.  Preheat oven to 375.

Place granulated sugar in another bowl.  Lightly coat hands with cooking spray.  Shape dough in to 1-inch balls.  Roll ball in sugar & place on greased cookie sheets.  Bake at 375 for 8 minutes.  Let cool for 5 minutes & remove from pan.

Try not to eat them all at one sitting—they are addicting!  Enjoy!

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Bloggy Progressive Dinner--Desserts!

Fight Back Friday

@ Food Renegade

Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

  @ At the Well

Friday Finer Things: Bible Quizzing

Addicting

Exciting

Challenging

It will change your life when you pour God’s word in to your life.

Have you ever heard of Bible Quizzing?  There are ministries all over the US.  We are part of Bible Quiz Fellowship nationally & locally Summit Bible Quizzing.

What is ‘Quizzing’ as it is commonly called?

One definition

Bible quizzing is a game that motivates Christian youth to study the Bible by making it fun and involving a group of teens.

The Basics

Kids memorize a portion(usually a chapter) of scripture.  At a quiz they are asked to quote a verse from their portion or they are asked to answer a question. 

The quizzers are sitting on pads that link to a quiz set which lights up.  Whoever jumps fastest—lights up and they get a chance to answer. 

Teams are formed of 7 quizzers.  5 members of the team are in at one time.  20 points are awarded when the question is answered correctly. 

5 questions right?  Quiz out!  3 answered incorrectly?  Error out

We’ve been part of this wonderful organization for 9 years.  My oldest has memorized large portions of the New Testament. 

The next two are working hard this year on the book of John.  Last night I listened to Chapter 5 from Elizabeth.  She quoted word for word each verse out of order. 

There were only two small mistakes. 

It doesn’t get much better than that.

Interested in find out more?  You can find a local ministry at Bible Quiz Fellowship.

Linked up at

Amy's Finer Things

Bloggy Progressive Dinner: Sausage Quiche Squares

My favorite thing about Christmas is that we don’t have a huge dinner.  We lay around in our pjs and have cereal(from Santa) for breakfast.  So I get to enjoy Christmas too—just being with my family and not spending the day in the kitchen!  Yeah!  We make this all year too--it is my 8 year old sons favorite egg dish.

If Santa doesn’t bring you cereal then you might want to have this quiche ready to pop in the oven.   It can be made ahead of time and frozen.  Just put it in the refrigerator the night before & then bake for 30 minutes instead of 15-20.  If you pair this with cinnamon rolls & it is a breakfast that gets thumbs up from kids & adults alike.

Sausage Quiche Squares

1 lb sausage—cooked—I use turkey sausage

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 cup Monterey jack cheese

1/2 cup chopped onion

10 eggs

1 Tbsp chili powder(use it all it isn’t spicy!)

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1 small can chopped green chilis

Mix eggs & spices in a medium bowl.  Layer sausage, onion, and cheese in a 9x13 casserole dish.  Pour egg mixture over sausage.  Sprinkle chilis evenly over eggs(or leave one side without chilis for kids/adults who don’t like them).  Bake on 375 for 18-22 minutes.