Mom, the Lunch Lady

With the start of 2022 tomorrow, I thought I'd take the time to look back at the past year and share the 10 Most Popular Recipes of 2021. This year has brought a lot of new recipes, experimentation with healthier options and tons of baking. Keep reading to see what everyone has been enjoying from my blog. Do you have a favourite? This top 10 post has always been a favourite of mine to write. Even when I first started blogging 12 yrs ago, I always enjoyed looking back and seeing which recipes my readers seem to gravitate towards. Would it be desserts, or savoury dishes? Healthy or Indulgent? I never get tired of seeing which recipe has been a hit, at the end of each year. I am often surprised as to what recipes are a hit, many times you guys surprise me and a recipe that I didn't really anticipate being extremely popular, takes off and has thousands of views. While other recipes I'm sure will be a total winner, fall flat. So, it's always fun to see what y'all are int...

 This super easy Goulash recipe, is made more healthy by using ground chicken breast and whole wheat noodles. Cooked in a rich tomato and veggie sauce, this comfort food classic comes together in only 30 minutes! Jump to Recipe School for us here in Canada, starts on Tuesday! I've been busy prepping my cafeteria to welcome students throughout the day. It has been exhausting work, but I am ready to get back to a job that I absolutely love! The return to work has left me thoroughly exhausted, with LONG days, that start early and end sometimes late. I don't remember being this exhausted from work, pre pandemic. LOL.  As a result, I've been struggling with cooking dinner. I tried a meal prep delivery service, which we enjoyed, but sometimes found the portions small for the price. The kids have been great and have cooked me dinner a few days over the last few weeks, and thanks to simple recipes such as this Goulash Recipe, we can still eat healthy, in a short amount of time. Whi...

 Healthy baked oatmeal is the perfect breakfast to make for the week, or for Sunday brunch. Super simple to put together, flavours can be changed to use in season fruit. It'll keep you full and going all morning long! Jump to Recipe Last week, I took a much needed break. A break from everything. From working out, from counting points, from blogging and social media. I had a set back with my IBD and it took me about 4 days to finally start feeling better. That meant eating horribly, avoiding any fruit and vegetables. Instead of stressing about it, I decided to just take a break, still being mindful of portions. Having enjoyed a free week, I am ready to get back on track. While I did take a break from blogging and social media, I was still in the kitchen, enjoying cooking for my family, without telling them to not eat this or that ,until I've taken photos. One early morning I had a craving for baked oatmeal, so made this apple pie version, before the rest of the house came to lif...

The perfect summery twist on cinnamon rolls, this 2- ingredient dough is stuffed with fresh picked strawberries and topped with lemony cream cheese glaze. Jump to Recipe As I mentioned in a previous post, the kids and I went strawberry picking and came home with 12 litres of strawberries. I used 4 litres to make some jam, 4 more litres for baking and we enjoyed 4 litres over the course of the week. The kids snacked on fresh strawberries while participating in online learning, and I topped my overnight oats with berries every morning. We just couldn't get enough of the sweet juicy berries! While we enjoyed the Hawaiian Strawberry Tart , I posted last week, I wanted to use the strawberries in something more Weight Watchers friendly. The great part of being a foodie and being on WW is the creativity I use, to make low point desserts that I can enjoy and not feel deprived. These fresh strawberry sweet rolls are the perfect example. Many people LOVE cinnamon rolls, but have you ever had...

 Tender ground chicken is bursting with sweet and savoury flavours of the Orient. Topped with crisp Asian slaw and spicy Asian cucumber, this is a fantastic and filling low carb meal. Jump to Recipe Summer is here and with the warmer weather, my food tastes have changed. I crave lighter meals, that aren't carb heavy. Things like salads, grilled chicken wraps, kabobs and delicious lettuce wraps. As I continue on my Weight Watchers journey, I am learning how to make healthier versions of foods I love and still enjoying some not so healthy foods as well. It's all about balance and I love that Weight Watchers gives me the tools I need to eat a balanced diet.  I've learned that if 95% of my diet is healthy food and the occasional 5% is indulgent foods, I do not feel deprived. I am never hungry and never short on calories, thanks to a large list of 0 point foods to choose from. I'm not really a calorie counter (who the heck has time for that?), so tracking my foods using my d...

Tex Mex chicken and zucchini rice bowls are a hearty, colourful and healthy meal, that is quick to assemble. They are a perfect example of a healthy meal, without sacrificing taste! Jump to Recipe Last weekend was a long weekend here with Victoria Day being this Monday. Since it was a long weekend my SO decided to use up some vacation time to add a few days to our weekend. So we packed up the car and spent 3 nights at his family's cottage. It was a super fun weekend, but we all came back exhausted from staying up late and waking early. It's taken me all week to recover and add in my daily workouts, this mama is exhausted by 5pm. I've always been a fan of simple dinners and if it is cooked in one pan, even better. These rice bowls came about when we needed to use up leftovers from earlier this week. On Tuesday I had made Tex Mex chicken, zucchini, corn and black beans; a recipe I had found on the Weight Watchers app. It seemed simple enough to make and my kids always love ta...

 Turkey Sliders are a healthy alternative to traditional beef sliders. Top them with a chipotle ketchup, for a spicy kick! Jump to Recipe I've never been a fan of ground beef. I was traumatized growing up, being forced to eat any dinner with ground beef. Back then there wasn't any lean ground beef. It was all medium ground beef and it was a budget friendly meat to purchase. Plus my dad loved it. My mom had several recipes she would make with ground beef and I was forced to suffer through them all and clean my plate. It's not the taste I dislike, it was the fact that anytime I would eat ground beef, I end up biting on a piece of chewy or crunchy grizzle. I'm the type of person who can pick out grizzle in a heart beat. Even when cooking with pork, I trim all fat off my chops. I just don't like the texture. So imagine trying to enjoy dinner, and biting down an a piece of grizzle. It was game over for me, but wasting food was a huge no no. Over the years my Mom took pit...