a corn chowder soup challenge

did i include enough pictures for you?!  HA!

we invited the kids to join us in cooking our september food ambassador challenge recipe but alas, the kids just wanted to play.  and that's just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes.  christina and i sure had fun picking herbs from her garden, tossing back a glass of wine and cooking up some soup together on a lazy friday night:)  

here is the fabuloso corn chowder recipe that YOU MUST MAKE!  why?

#1 inexpensive ingredients.

#2 it is easy peasy & FAST to make = key for school/work nights.

#3 we ALL loved it!

the only thing we changed? we used gluten free flour and swapped out the cow's milk and used 4 cups organic rice milk + 1 can of trader joe's light coconut milk to make it dairy & gluten free.  it was really really good.

breaking news: abbie has put in an official request to the mullies test kitchen to make this over and over again.  i was so happy i broke out in a jig.  

the last three pictures are my saturday left-over soup bowl (i hogged it to myself).  i jazzed it up with a little buffalo hot wing sauce and fresh avocado.  oh.my.word.good.

christina's garlic bread: broil buttered/oiled bread, simply rub a little garlic over the top.  

i save the "butts" of our Udi's sandwich bread - no wasting here!!  thanks to christina, i'm officially converting from my "garlic salt method" to the "real garlic rub method".  the best part? the kids can totally rub the garlic on the "butts" next time!  talk about laughing in the kitchen together... hee hee!!

each month our food revolution lake county team is going to try and get together and tackle the ambassador recipe challenges.  miss briana had a wedding this time around (boo) so she couldn't make it and we're sure looking forward to blowing up next month's recipe together!  it may not always work out with our cray cray schedules, but that's our goal!

thanks food revolution for inspiring us to make that tasty, easy soup.  i'm going to try this minestrone soup next, as it looks ahmazeballs (don't forget to check out out all their wonderful library of recipes on the right side bar)... meal planning here i come... yes please!

xoxo

ps

did i mention we multi-tasked while we were chowdah cookin...

christina's butternut squash tip of the day:

"Slice it up, toss it in a little evoo and roast it on a silpat for 20 min at 375 degrees.  it takes so much less time in the oven, not to mention way easier getting the tough outer skin off."  

yea baby yea.

and then she turned it into this last night... butternut squash gnocci and pork with a balsamic fig glaze.... ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh and the crowd goes wild!!!!

zucchini saves labor day - cookies - salad - lasagna - oh my

that's it, i'm sold.

zucchinis are totes.

i made three recipes over the weekend with these bad boys.

first came the cookies - and i made em TWICE.

second came the salad instagram inspo from my northern wisconsin neighbor and fellow food amabassador, the lovely Thippi Flickenstein.

third came the metamorphosis of her salad into my lasagna.  i love transformers.

there is nothing better than stretching some fresh produce, saving some bucks and your meal planning sanity.  i hope you think these recipes are the cat's banana hammock too.

gf oats.  but i didn't have enough!!!!

so how about some quinoa flakes?  can you believe they make this stuff into flakes and flour!?  you can get either in bulk at whole foods.

my sugar sugars.

dough deliciousness.

three thumbs to the SKY!!!!!  mac is really playing it cool.

you must check out the original recipe and see what i did to it.  i didn't plan on changing it.  but when i went to collect my ingredients, i simply did not have enough so i improvised and swapped out a few more... oh yea, my kitchen=art class.

totes zucchini cookies
adapted from two peas in their pod's zucchini cookies

2 c gf flour blend
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sea salt
whisk up together in a bowl until combined.

8 T coconut oil (softened like room temp butter)
1 c coconut palm sugar
1/2 c organic sugar
cream together with a stand or hand held mixer.

2 lg pastured and organic eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 c shredded organic zucchini
add above ingredients into creamed sugar and coconut oil.

1/2 c gf old fashioned oats
1/2 c unsweetened coconut flakes
1/2 c quinoa flour or flakes
dump the flour blend/soda/sea salt and the above ingredients into the bowl and mix until well combined.

3/4 c mini chocolate chips (enjoy life brand)
yea, don't forget these:)

preheat oven to 350 degrees (i used my convection setting).  Bake for 8 min.  if you use normal oven setting, prob 12 minutes... just check it before you wreck it.

so then came this sweet facebook post from Thippi and i whipped up her little dream boat on labor day.

Thippi's cucumber OR zucchini salad

2-3 lg organic cucumbers or zucchinis sliced, halved or quartered
1 pint garden cherry tomatoes halved
3 T fresh basil roughly chopped
3 T fresh mint roughly chopped (thanks becky for sharing your garden with me!!!)
3 T fresh parsley (i didn't have any)
1/2 c capers (oh just add as much as you want)
1/4-1/2 red onion thinly sliced (ditto)
1/2 c each evoo & balsamic vinegar (i think... i honestly just eyeballed it so you can do that too!!)
s&p to taste

mix it all up.  dunzo.

and then when you have leftovers... chop it up all nice and fine and make some lasagna!!

freshly chopped organic spinach.

blurred spinach lines.

here is the lasagna recipe inspo from ohsheglows.com.

before you get all crazy on me and freak out, i too would have slapped you across the face if you told me to make a lasagna without cheese.  so here's the dealio: i still top mine off with some really great italian imported sheep's cheese called cacio de roma (it acts just like mozzarella) and perhaps a little romano, maybe manchego... oh yes please.  goat and sheep's cheeses are the only dairy we have in the house nowadays and we use as little as possible... kinda like sugar:)

do i miss all the cheese in my life?  i truly love it so.  and here are the reasons we aren't a big cheesy family anymore:

#1 i do not miss my zits.
#2 abbie prefers a cheese free and cow's milk free environment.
#3 mac has an intolerance to cow's milk (he is fine with goat and sheep).
#4 tommy loves the cheese we buy.
#5 this rabbit hole i like to read about on the milk debate.  oye.

poor chris.  he still loves my "old" lasagna and really misses it.  he says this one gets sort of close... thumbs up and sideways from my four love bugs.  my mother and father-in-law came over and shared this dish with us too!  mary is a big fan of zucchini (yes!) and larry i love you for eating it and it was a big complement when you said, "it's not bad lindsey!"  i loves you for eating my new all veggie and gluten free creation.

so there you go.  if you have a reason to knock out or limit the cheese in your life, this is a way to go.

or, simply use your own tried and true recipe and add in the zucchini and spinach.  here is the lasagna recipe that i used to make.

no matter what lasagna floats your boat, go get your apron ON!!  it's your from scratch lasagna creation, and you make it the way YOU WANT:)  i hope i gave you some inspiring ideas!

...sorry i forgot to take a picture of the finished creation.  this place just gets too busy sometimes:)

ps

i couldn't resist.  my green smoothie looked like our lake:)  so gross but sooo good.

and you MUST bookmark this handy definitions list compiled by kidsorganics.com.  i sure did.

annoyed by hearing "gluten free" yet?  HA!  here's mark sisson's take on the gluten free trend.  

hangin onto summer's last breaths.  cheers babycakies.

xoxo

hot mamas and papas - a whole fish fry

real men rock.it.hot in kid aprons.

captain america showed iron man how to fry a whole fish and it was a huge hit.

the kids could not believe there was a real fish in our house.  it went something along these lines:

tommy:  ewwwwww, is that an eyeball mama??l!  i don't want the eyeball.
abbie:  gross, we are going to eat a real fish!?  i don't want the eyeball!!!!
mac:  omg, cool!!!!!  do i have to eat the eyeball?!!

it's part of the disconnect we have from our food source.

bring on the food education - this was a 1st for the mullies kitchen!

kurt and christina found this red snapper at our local mariano's grocery store.  it was so much less expensive to buy the whole fish vs have it filleted (that word just doesn't look right... filleted...)

we had some celebrating to do: christina applied and was officially accepted as a new mundelein food ambassador!  yea baby yea!  welcome to the global ambassador team my dear!!!!

seasoning with s&p.

kurt's fish seasoning plate:
sliced lemons
freshly chopped parsley
minced garlic
sliced red onion.
s&p
evoo

can i get a what what!?

look, it's my homemade ketchup as a salmon marinade!!!

prepping the zucchini for the grill:
evoo
s&p
oregano

freshly picked green beans:
evoo
3-4 whole garlic cloves
s&p
roughly chopped almonds (those didn't make the pic, sorry!)

preheat your oven at 375 degrees and roast em for 15-20 minutes (we didn't have enough room on the grill)

our whole red snapper, halibut filets and salmon.

apron man love!!!!

can't you just hear the them sizzling on the cast iron!!!
shrimp
ghee
s&p

we also roasted up some onions and peppers (simply dressed with evoo and s&p) on the grill.

all gone GONE GONE GONE GONE GONE!!!!!  i cannot believe how better abbie is at trying and eating new foods... never in a million years would i have that thought my little girl (who used to... ehem, puke at the table) would be cleaning her plate like this today.  oh this food change is worth every.stinkin.whine baby and it's actually working!  albeit slowly, my kids' palates are actually changing...

let's just take a moment and bow our heads... cue the music and DANCE!!!!!

cuz i'll have have at least one or more of these "tongue-out-yucks" tonight i'm sure.  

would my family order and eat a plate full of veggies yet?  um, no, not a chance:)  

goal=someday... and i'm trying to take it slow.  patience young grasshoppah!

splish splash, processed food is takin a bath!

i hope your labor day weekend is long and lovely and full of real good food and friends.

cook it UP!!!

xoxo