One of the challenges of having many children close together in age is that they all hit the teenage years at the same time. Now, three of our four children are boys and if you have any boy teens, you know that they are going through massive growth spurts and physical changes. That means that most of their day is filled with eating: breakfast, after breakfast snack, mid-morning snack, pre-lunch, lunch, after-lunch dessert, mid-afternoon snack, mini-meal, late-afternoon snack…and I could go on and on.

Needless to say, I had to find clever ways to extend our meal budget to feed them while still trying to provide a semblance of healthful foods.

One of the ways I did this was to have a “leftover” pizza night almost each week. Whenever we had any leftover meat, whether it was roast beef, chicken or even lunchmeat, I would quickly hover over it, claiming it as my own for tomorrow night’s dinner. In the same way that Gollum would huddle over “my precious,” when there was a lull in the dinner feasting, I would quickly swoop in with my arms, cradling the main course and say, “Dinner is over and I am saving My Precious for another meal tomorrow! Sure, you can have thirds, just not of this. Look…there are perfectly good string beans in that bowl over there!”

And I would wrap up and mark my hoarded meat for tomorrow night. [DO NOT EAT!! MOM’S]

Years ago, I started a list of meals made from extra beef or chicken for times just like this, when we had (forced) leftovers.

One of my favorites was Margherita pizza. It was inexpensive, fresh, easy-to-make, and delicious!

Here’s one I made recently using sliced roast beef.

The basic ingredients are:

Pizza dough (three small loaves)
Roast beef slices (about ½ pound)
1 large bag fresh spinach
3 Roma tomatoes, thinly sliced
½ onion sliced into slivers
2 tbsps chopped garlic
2 tbsps balsamic vinegar
2 tbsps olive oil
8 ounces goat cheese

For the pizza dough, I used one package of Rhodes frozen bread dough. Follow the package directions to thaw (it takes about 2 ½ hours at room temperature). When I have time, I make my own pizza dough. It’s easy and much less expensive. If you do a search on Pinterest, I’m sure you will find lots of recipes to choose from. You also can buy fresh pizza dough at most grocery stores, too.

Once your dough is thawed, oil two large cookie sheets. Preheat oven to 375 degrees (Note: depending on your oven and where you live, temperature may need to be adjusted.)

Take one of the loaves and split it in half, adding each half to one of the other two loaves. This will make two larger pizzas instead of three small ones. I find it is helpful to add some oil to your hands so that they don’t stick to the dough. If you use flour, it just makes the pizza crust dryer. Take each lump of dough and gently begin to stretch it out in the air with your hands. Hold one side at a time, allowing gravity to pull the dough down. As you move your hands across the edges of the dough, it should begin to more easily stretch out. Once it is about half the size of your cookie sheet, place the dough down on it and continue to stretch it out to form a large rectangle (it takes a little work, but it will eventually spread out). Repeat with the other ball of dough. Lightly cover dough with a towel until time to put toppings on.

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Don’t worry if your dough doesn’t stretch all the way to the edges of the pan. As it rises, it will.

For the toppings, add a little olive oil into a skillet, and heat to medium temperature. Add onions and garlic and saute’. Now add the spinach and sliced roast beef, stirring until the spinach has wilted.

Evenly distribute the meat mixture over the two pizzas. Add sliced fresh tomatoes. Now sprinkle balsamic vinegar over the top, then the crumbled goat cheese. Bake pizzas in the oven for 25 – 30 minutes until edges are browned and cheese just begins to get toasted on the edges.

If you want to cook both pizzas at the same time, you can place one on a top rack and the other on a lower rack of your oven. Then switch them after about 15 minutes of cooking. You just need to watch them more closely if you do this. I had to do it this way because my kids would go through both pizzas so quickly that I needed them to be done at the same time!

The beauty of this “recipe” is that it can be so easily modified. You can change the meat to chicken, ground beef or shredded pork. You can leave the meat out altogether. You can swap the spinach with sweet bell peppers, mushrooms, olives, or whatever veggies you have on hand. You can add pizza sauce. You can change up the cheese with mozzarella or cheddar. One of our family favorites is to use shredded chicken, add barbecue sauce, and top with cheddar cheese. You can go Tex-Mex by adding salsa instead of pizza sauce.

I like to add spinach on most of my pizzas because once it is cooked down, it is almost invisible among the other toppings. But it adds a great boost of nutrition.

Have fun experimenting with the combinations. You will be extending your food budget and making something that is always fun to eat!

The post Quick Gourmet Pizzas from Leftovers first appeared on Sherri Seligson.

We have four children in our family – three of them are boys – and once they hit those teenage years, I had quite a challenge keeping them fed. In fact, if we couldn’t find one of our sons, it was very likely we would find the lower half of him sticking out of the refrigerator or the pantry. If you have boys, you might want to stop putting money in a college fund and instead save for their teen food consumption. I’m just sayin’…

Well, whether you are having guests for lunch or you are packing a “light snack” for your son and his friends, this is an easy, delicious, and inexpensive way to do it.

I recently found these amazing ciabatta rolls at the local WalMart grocery (not a super center, just a grocery; but the super centers may carry them as well). They are so delicious. For subs, I particularly like the onion and poppy seed rolls. I buy two packs which will make 12 individual subs.

First, lay out a bunch of paper towels on your work surface and separate the buns. If you keep them lined up, they will be easier to fill.

Now for the condiments. You can certainly add what you like here, but I spread a thin layer of real mayonnaise on one side of the buns and then add my “secret ingredient” on the other side.  A while ago, I was introduced to this delicious submarine sandwich dressing. Well, I usually don’t like to buy pre-made dressings because they always have ingredients that I cannot pronounce, and they are pretty expensive. So I saved the container and figured out how to make my own.

One half cup each of red wine vinegar and olive oil. Add 1/2 tsp each of dried oregano and salt plus 1/4 tsp pepper. Shake well and drizzle on bread.

Now add the fillings. I like to use turkey and swiss cheese or roast beef and provolone. Then a slice of tomato and lettuce. It feels like you are dealing cards on game night!

Once all the fillings are doled out, close the sandwiches and wrap them up. I like to use aluminum foil because it holds together well and keeps the moisture inside. If you don’t want your food to touch the foil, you can place a sandwich on a piece of paper towel first. But before we wrap them up, here’s one more look at this yumminess!

Gorgeous!

Now wrap them up, and they are ready to bring on a picnic or wherever your day takes you. Carry them in a cooler so they will stay fresh.

One more look!

The post Subs for an Army first appeared on Sherri Seligson.

I wanted to share one of my family’s favorite ways to have meatloaf. It is a healthful way to prepare this traditional American meal using lots of fresh and tasty ingredients. And when this dish is cooking in the oven, be prepared for a stampede from the household as its amazing aromas filter around the house.

One time, we had it for dinner when one of my son’s friends was eating with us. As he was eating, he would slowly chew each bite and mumble, “MMmmthere’s cheese in it-mmm-there’s cheese.”

I am not kidding about the way this makes your home smell, too. We’ve had delivery guys at the door capture a whiff and begin to linger, asking more about what’s in the oven.

And the best part, you can easily double or triple this to freeze some for later meals.

The recipe does not originate from me, but came from my sister-in-law, Cindy, who found it somewhere else. I would love to know the original source so I could give appropriate credit (leave a comment if you know), but as with most recipes, my sister-in-law changed a few things and then I changed a few things, so it may not resemble the original recipe much at all!

Well, here it is! Enjoy!

2 lbs. ground beef
¼ cup minced fresh parsley
1 cup bread crumbs (gluten free, use 1 cup almond flour)
4 oz. feta cheese, crumbled
4 garlic cloves, minced (don’t worry, everyone else will have garlic breath, too, so it’s all good)
2 large eggs
1 cup minced fresh green onions
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. black pepper

Preheat oven to 375˚F. Add all ingredients to pan.

Mix with your hands until everything is just combined. You may want to remove your rings for this; you can see that I forgot.

I usually keep my rings in this adorable tiny tagine given to me by my friend, Maggie. It is a safe place to keep them while I’m cooking (If I remember to do it).

Mold into two loaves in a 13 x 5 inch loaf pan. Don’t press them into the pan. The juices will run out more freely this way, and you will be able to remove the cooked loaves more easily onto a serving platter.

Bake at 375˚F for 1 hour. Note that baking times may vary depending on your oven. We had an old dinosaur of an oven until recently, and I had to bake this recipe for 1 hour and 15 minutes in it. Just keep a close watch after 1 hour.

Remove from oven and let sit for 10 minutes (it will continue to cook inside) before slicing. Enjoy!

NOTE: If you double this recipe, mold the two extra loaves and place them onto a cookie sheet that has parchment or wax paper on it. Cover them in foil or plastic wrap and put them in the freezer for a few hours. Then you can remove them from the cookie sheet and put them into a freezer bag for later use. I like to take the frozen loaves and put them directly in a crock pot (before it is turned on). Then I let them cook on low for the day – you can even throw some carrots and potatoes into the pot, and dinner is DONE!

The post Recipe – Mediterranean Meat Loaf (gluten free version, too!) first appeared on Sherri Seligson.

]]> https://www.sherriseligson.com/why-do-comfort-foods-make-us-feel-so-uncomfortable/ https://www.sherriseligson.com/why-do-comfort-foods-make-us-feel-so-uncomfortable/#comments Wed, 18 Dec 2013 09:46:40 +0000 http://www.sherriseligson.com/why-do-comfort-foods-make-us-feel-so-uncomfortable/ As the holidays approach, it is a constant battle for moms to balance preparing healthy foods for their families and providing fun, comfort foods that are special. Why are these two food categories at odds? Comfort food = buttery, sugary, chocolatey, rich, cheesy, and yummy. Healthy food = dry, grainy, unflavorful, bitter, cold, raw, yucky. […]

The post Why Do Comfort Foods Make Us Feel So Uncomfortable? first appeared on Sherri Seligson.

]]> As the holidays approach, it is a constant battle for moms to balance preparing healthy foods for their families and providing fun, comfort foods that are special. Why are these two food categories at odds?

Comfort food = buttery, sugary, chocolatey, rich, cheesy, and yummy. Healthy food = dry, grainy, unflavorful, bitter, cold, raw, yucky.

Is that really how it has to be? I know that I am always battling in my mind when I make a meal: Do I make a veggie and quinoa salad as a side dish or Grandma’s amazing scalloped potatoes? The first is good for you and tastes OK, but the second is rich, creamy, delicious and takes me back to when I was a child and the world was safe, fun, simple and warm. Now that’s comfort!

This internal battle in my head is even more noticeable at Christmas and especially more prominent now that we have a son with Crohn’s. I just can’t serve that cookie without a pang of guilt. And if I serve the rich, yummy stuff, I feel badly that I am not giving my family the best food for their bodies (even if they LOVE it!).

But look at the comparison again. It isn’t just the taste that makes comfort food so comfortable. It’s the feeling it gives us. It brings us back to our childhood – a time when we didn’t have responsibilities, when we didn’t have to worry if things were good for us or not. (That was Mom’s job!)

Comfort food is not necessarily unhealthy food…it’s the yummy food we were served when we were kids, during a time in our lives when we were free to just trust what was served to us. No worries. No responsibilities. Comfort.

So maybe if I focus on providing delicious food that is also healthful, then my kids will equate those foods with the comfort of being home, being safe.

That is what I’m going to be searching for in foods: delicious, warm, and fun. Is that too much to ask? Am I going for the proverbial wanting of my cake and eating it too?

Yes, I am.

But I am determined to find a cake that will be good for us, too.

The post Why Do Comfort Foods Make Us Feel So Uncomfortable? first appeared on Sherri Seligson.

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