Do-It-Your-Self Salads

This is one of my kids' favorite meals. It's simple, easy, healthy, and doesn't require you to heat anything up.

This is the idea.

Fill up a large salad bowl with a mix of your favorite salad greens, washed and dried. I use romaine and spinach.



Wash, chop, and prep your family's favorite salad toppers, ie: avacado, tomatoes, carrots, edamame, olives, or whatever you like.



Scour the fridge for whatever else would be nice as a topping, like lunch meat (chopped), leftover meat, hard boiled eggs, shredded cheddar cheese, feta, frozen peas, ...?





Scour the pantry for croutons, nuts, or dried fruit like craisins

Put each topping on a plate and set the salad, toppings, and any salad dressings you have on the table.

Make sure the kids wash their hands first.

Then, let them make their own salad on their plate and allow them to use their hands to create it. This is so much fun for little ones!

Enjoy!

Keilbasa Skillet Supper

This is a little bit of a last minute, emergency invention, based on my family's German roots. This is super inexpensive and really easy to make. Our kids like it too, so it's a great family dinner. Now that Aldi sells all-beef kielbasa for 2.29, it's become a staple at our house. I had high hopes to get a picture posted, but last night I was worn thin and multi-tasking the whole way. I'll try to post a picture soon.

This feeds a family of 6 with enough for Daddy to take to work for lunch the next day.

1 large onion, halved and sliced into wedges
1/2 5lb. bag of potatoes, peeled and cut into medium sized chunks
1 lb. kielbasa sausage (smoked sausage ring), sliced
3 T. olive oil (or more)
salt and pepper to taste
1 c. water (if needed)
1 can bavarian style sauerkraut (opt.)

Peel and cut all veggies. Heat oil in large skillet or comparably sized pot. Sautee the onions and potatoes until the potatoes are mostly tender. Season with salt and pepper. Don't overdo the salt as the sausage is salty. Add water (if dry and sticking to the pan) and add the sausage. Cover the pot and let simmer until potatoes are tender. Serve with warm sauerkraut and a tossed salad.



Okay, so here's A picture. Of course, it's me making dinner and there isn't a picture of the actual dinner... I think it's enough to say that I was able to make dinner while managing a 6 month old and three other children. Notice Jonathan's head? I strapped him on my back with my new Mei Tai Baby sling and he passed out while watching the light on the ceiling. He loves to crane his neck back. Poor thing. Anyway, here's to more posts and more fun with this blog! :)