FoooooooooD!

I've been feeling pretty uncreative in the kitchen lately and have wanted to make some healthier things that the kids like as much as we do. Renna (who is two) is pretty sensitive to any kind of spice or sauce and since I was the same as a kid I really understand. Certain things would make my tongue feel like it was burning, like.. on fire. Cinnamon gum was completely out for me.

I got an idea on Sunday at potluck when I had a stir-fry veggie/sausage dish made by Heather Shaver (so I was told) and it was just so fresh and flavorful it made me feel good. So when I got my own ingredients the basic idea was to cook some meat and then throw veggies in (lots of color!) and let the veggies just cook in a little water and the juice from the cooked meat. Hence, the kids would like the "no spiceness" of it and actually, it didn't need anything more. (The meat that I used was turkey ham and then turkey bacon... the turkey bacon was cheaper and I didn't have to bother with tons of hot grease to pour out of the pan, but you could use any meat or mushrooms instead or just veggies... or more meat.. you get the idea.)

I'd picked up a few things at Walmart for just such a mean when I saw the "Mandarin sauce" for not very much and it didn't have MSG or High Fructose corn syrup. (It does have sugar, but a little sugar isn't a big deal and the drizzle over the veggies was probably much less than the amount of sugar I'd put in a cup of tea.)
The other thing that is super yummy for this meal is the whole wheat linguine to act as the chow mein noodles... I picked up that idea from Rachel Ray.

I call this quick and easy recipe the "Rainbow-veggie whatever-kind-of-meat steamed stir-fry with whole-wheat-linguine and mandarin-sauce drizzle" OR the RVWKMSSFWWLMSD.

That's right folks! AND it's so quick that you can make it even before you say it's name.

Definitely a winner. I should write a cookbook. ;]