planning my thanksgiving menu...

i am going to attempt to stay as close to our traditions as possible, while making things as healthy as possible. looking for recipes without so much butter and sugar added. as i find them, i'll be posting here so we can get this blog moving again!

one thing of which i'm sure...we will be having our second annual "pie a week" event, in which we make two pies for thanksgiving dinner, then make a pie a week, every week, through the holidays.

that's a wrap...

i have been eating wraps at school this week. i have been trying to make sure they are healthy, which i guess i made some good choices since i did lose two pounds this week!

i always start with a whole wheat wrap (not sure why, but i have found that whole grain wraps actually have less fiber than whole wheat). sometimes i spread hummus, fat free sour cream, or plain yogurt on it, sometimes i just leave them plain. i have been stuffing them with a variety of items including: baby spinach, spring salad greens, portabella mushrooms, low-fat turkey or chicken from the deli, etc. i have also found that flavor is added with different seasonings, which help to make them super yummy too!

the sky is the limit as to what you can wrap...depending on what kind of food you love, you can always do it in a wrap. love mexican food? think cold tacos. slather on some sour cream, bean dip, or salsa. sprinkle in some meat (or not), cheese, spring salad, black olives, diced tomatoes, onions and avocados...wallah! pure yumminess! you can basically take any kind of ethnic food you love and modify it to make it healthy and wrap it up to take it with you for lunch. to add some healthy sides, just add some cut up veggies in a baggy to munch on, a piece of fruit, and maybe a few almonds (flavored, or not).

as i come up with new wrap ideas, i will share them and let you know what new combos i have come up with!

raw blueberry tartlets modified...

i recently got an email from SELF that had a recipe for these blueberry tartlets. i bookmarked the page for several days before actually getting around to trying them. i modified the recipe, and didn't want to mess with making little tartlets. i didn't have orange juice (or zest) in the house, so i just went with lemon juice. now that the fruit concoction is sitting in my fridge, i wish i had substituted honey for the brown sugar, but oh well. instead of making little "tartlets" i decided to put the "crust" mixture in a pie plate and make one big tart instead.

everything is currently sitting in the fridge for a couple of hours before i put it all together. will come back and update how the family likes it...and maybe post a picture if i remember to take one!

*****update*****
the blueberry tart turned out super good! hubby's not big on blueberries, so he skipped trying it, but the kids liked it. doing it in a pie plate was okay, but the "crust" came apart as i was dishing it out...single servings might be best, but it was definitely yummy!

healthy cookies and brownies...

last night i made "whole wheat oatmeal dark chocolate chip cookies" using this recipe. i didn't have molasses, and i added more flour because they were too wet, and i think i should cut the cinnamon next time.

that said, my kids loved them and wants me to make them again.

on a similar note, i made these brownies that jillian michaels made with a family on one of the episodes of losing it a few weeks ago. it's highly recommended by our family too...kids want me to make it again also!

bierocks and kolaches...

boy do those words take me back!

a friend of mine, who also is one of my former teachers and 4H leaders, posted that she had made bierocks last night. my mouth started watering. as people began to comment on her post, someone else mentioned kolaches, which began a whole new discussion...and my drool began to intensify.

since my kids don't have the pleasure of growing up in kansas and eating these fine, baked delicacies like i did as a child, i have decided that they need to be introduced to them. so i went on an internet search for recipes and we'll be trying both of them soon, especially now that i am once again the proud owner of a bread machine! i'm making a list of needed ingredients and plan to have a baking day this coming week...pictures to come too!

this recipe for bierocks looks amazing (and easy), and then i found a recipe for kolaches that comes with a great tutorial and information too.

bierocks were so common when i was a child that i remember my mom taking me to a restaurant in wichita to eat them when i was in preschool. when i entered school in a small rural town, i was surprised that they made them for school lunches in our cafeteria (though they were bland and we always drowned them in ketchup whenever possible). i don't think i have had a bierock since 8th grade now that i think about it.

kolaches were a staple at the sumner county fair, and from what i understand, they still are. i remember spending tons of time running around at the fair as a kid, riding the rides, submitting 4H entries, and hanging out with my friends. but the thing that sticks out in my mind is the smell of the kolaches baking... they had all kinds too! some of the fillings included pineapple, apricot, prune (yes, prune...and they were good too!), and poppyseed. the tables would be full of rows and rows of kolaches, just waiting for someone to come sink their teeth into and melt in your mouth! row upon row of little gem-topped pillows of dough...the thought of them just makes my mouth water and gives me a twinge of homesickness...if only i had a pair of ruby red slippers that really worked...sigh...

welcome to katee's korner kitchen...

here i will share the foods our family is eating, recipe links, healthy tips, etc.

we love to eat, and i love to cook...we are trying to be healthy, but i'm sure we'll splurge at times too!