New snacks and food combos plus From Scratch Weekends Info

I have a few pics that I haven't gotten posted yet, so here is what I did to enjoy my left over tortellini from scratch.  Some I can't believe it's not butter spray and black pepper.  It was fantastic.

To warm up the other day I made some hot chocolate with skim milk and reduced sugar Hershey's syrup.

I am working at the school all week, so I have been packing my lunches.  This was my super lunch from yesterday.  Gotta love leftovers.  I added a laughing cow cheese, kiwi and an apricot.

Ok, so on to my new and delicious snacks and such.  I added some of this yummy PB to a choc rice cake...

and the result was heavenly.  This is my new snack after the gym.

This was my breakfast from over the weekend.  It was so good I had it both days.  This is oat meal, frozen strawberries (which get heated with it so they are not so frozen) and a spoonful of TJ's almond butter.  So yummy!

Ah, so I took a little of this...

Added some (frozen, but thawed) strawberries and cherries...

Then topped it with a crushed one of these...

To make this amazing dessert.  You can't even see the yogurt anymore with the rice cake on top.

QUESTION: Any new favorite snack or food combo that you just can't get enough of right now?

FROM SCRATCH WEEKENDS:  The idea came to use when we wanted to make some tortellini's at home.  We googled for recipes and had a hard time since most called for prepared store bought tortellini.  Then there was a post on Yahoo! Answers where the person asked for a recipe from scratch and got a response for a sauce from scratch and tortellini from the store, so the original author then had to clarify.  I thought FROM SCRATCH would imply just that, but it means different things to different people.

So, our idea is to cook one FROM SCRATCH meal over the weekend.  For us this will mean as from scratch as possible, so bread, pasta, whatever.  As much as from scratch as possible.  At some point we will have to draw the line since somethings we may not be able to make.  I plan to make any bread we will use for the meal from scratch and anything else that is within reason.

So my challenge is for everyone to jump on board with from scratch weekends and spend time in the kitchen making a real home cooked meal.  Some of you do this all the time already, but I know that from scratch means varying things for all of us.  So what I propose is that on the week you step it up from your current kitchen experiments.  Whatever from scratch means for you, that's what I want you to aim for.  Try to make everything from the basics as possible.

I think and hope that we will get to do this most weekends.  As this is the first of the new year, well practically, I think we can get 40 meals in over 40 weekends.  With 52 in the year I know that some weekends will be a wash.  I plan to travel and have family here so I do not want to over commit to something.  With Ryan as my partner I also hope the time spent in the kitchen will decrease since 3 hours seems like a lot, but Ryan and I have a good time in the kitchen and get to enjoy our success for not only dinner, but as leftover meals too.

Good luck!  I wish all of you success with FROM SCRATCH weekends, if you accept my challenge.  The main thing is to have fun and enjoy yourself, so no stress and if you mess something up, no worries...order a pizza!  I want everyone to learn and enjoy themselves and the company the share in the kitchen.  Happy cooking everyone!

16 comments:

MelissaNibbles said...

Good luck with your challenge!
I love your simple tortellini!

Anonymous said...

I love mostly any food topped with peanut butter. So delicious! Lately, I have been snacking on KIND bars. I might have to try that chocolate rice cake with the pb..chocolate and pb is the ultimate combo!

Unknown said...

i always love nutella...but this time of year i do like a peppermint bark! its all on sale!!

FoodFitnessFreshair said...

That's a great idea...I'm going to conjure up something to make from scratch today. Yay for Crazy Richard's PB!

Abby (Abbys Vegan Eats) said...

I used to be able to polish off a package of those choc rice cakes in like 2 days... soo addicting!!

I just saw your Indian from scratch post and am blow away! Everything looks amazing! :)

Mari said...

Yums that dessert looks so good! I just discovered Popchips! They are soooo good =)
And Pineapple Chobani! AMAZING

Gina; The Candid RD said...

I'm really going to try to do this with you, but I'll admit I'm not much of a "from scratch" gal! I just don't have the kitchen space to do many of the things you do (bread, pasta). Seriously, you should see our hole of a kitchen! But that's no excuse, I will try really hard to do this :)

Favorite new combination/snack: My steel cut oats, with peanut butter and frozen blackberries!

Rachel Lauren said...

We've been doing crock pot chili's lately. On Sunday I made a black bean sweet potato chili which turned out so good! Finished the last of it for lunch today.

Steamed and mashed sweet potato with mushroom soy, sweet fire ginger hot sauce and sea salt. and sweet potato/black bean chili....sweet potatos aren't knew though. I think I have been eating them about every day for a few years now.

Ginger hot sauce is from here: http://www.graciesginger.com/ yea Baltimore companies!

Nutritious is Delicious said...

Gotta Love Leftovers...so true!

Interesting Challenge! I would totally be in it to win it, if I was at home! haha

Andrea@WellnessNotes said...

Great challenge. I make lots of things from scratch, but I know I could challenge myself some more! :)

Julie said...

mmm i've been all about the peanut butter on wasas with raisins lately :) and melted laughing cow on veggies!

Anonymous said...

Good luck with the challenge! I'm so excited to read and see all about it! Take lots of pics : )

My current snack craze is homemade granola. YUM!

Emily said...

Such a good idea to make a from-scratch meal! I rarely buy pre-packaged meals, but I often don't "cook." I eat hummus on tortillas and salad more than anything! I like your challenge. I want to try to cook one meal from scratch each week if I can!

Astra Libris said...

Your chocolate rice cake and PB combo sounds heavenly!! As does your oatmeal... Oh my, oh my, so lovely!

My current favorite food combo sounds so strange - a spring greens salad topped with fat free strawberry yogurt! I promise it's delicious, though... :-)

I'm super, super excited about your from scratch weekends! I'm with you! :-)

Naomi(Onefitfoodie) said...

YUM!!! chocolate rice cake with PB looks SO GOOD!!! I am craving one now. such a good idea to throw it over some vanilla yog. I loev PB on strawberries its sooo good! just dip it in the jar :)

teh challenge sounds so fun!!

sophia said...

Hee hee, I'm So excited for your From Scratch weekends. Can't wait to see what you cook up!

I love cottage cheese with honey and TONS of sunflower seeds these days. And cashews. Just by the pound bags. Crunch, munch!

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