Cold Weather Meals & Pumpkin Carving

The weather has taken a turn this week and it has been dull and cold.  This is the kind of weather that has me making really hearty, stick-to-your-rib meals for dinner.  Wednesday DS had a hockey practice from 5:30-6:20 and then had to be across town for his 6:45-7:30 swimming lesson.  Thankful this doesn?t happen very often.  I needed a meal that was fast, had staying power and most importantly, was something that he likes.  With no immediate plans in mind I put a turkey breast in the crock pot with some water, carrots, celery & onion so I at least had a starting point.  While on the treadmill I thought to turn it into a pulled ?pork? type of meal, but we already had that Monday.  Hmmm?.the next idea was to shred the meat, puree the veggies with some of the broth and stir it all together with some tomato sauce.  Perfect!  I served it over WW macaroni noodles with freshly grated parm on top:
My next creation came about Thursday night in the form of stoup.  I thawed out a smallish pork tenderloin and had a ½ pack of TJ?s Harvest Blend and some tomato sauce hanging around.  These ingredients started my thinking process.  Here?s what I did:
*chop an onion, a few carrots and some celery and sauté for about 5 minutes in deep pot with about a tbsp of olive oil
*add 1 pkg of chopped Portobello caps and spices of your choice and cook another 5 minutes or so
*remove veggies from pot and add sliced pork tenderloin (or chicken) and cook until both sides are golden brown
*add veg back into pot along with 3 cups of stock and a 19oz can of tomato sauce
*bring to boil then add your grain of choice
*bring back to boil, lower heat and cook covered as per the grain you are using.  (The harvest blend took 15 minutes.)
* serve piping hot with some grated cheese on top
This was a real winner and really helped in using up some odds and ends I had floating around.  I took some for lunch today and added a good splash of water to bring it to more of a soup consistency.
Yum!
In my last post I promised pumpkin pictures and we?ve had quite the carving party tonight so it?s time to deliver on my promise!  First, these are the ?templates? the kids chose:
DD went the simple route while DS must think his Dad is an artist!  The pumpkins have been on the front porch so the guts were not only slimy, but COLD!
Hard at work: And the finished products! Aren?t they AWESOME????
A peek at my eats! For a quick pre pumpkin carving meal I made some scrambled eggs with turkey and this cheese:
Then I nestled the eggs in one of these wraps: With salsa? Dinner is served!  I?ll be back Sunday night with Halloween pictures,  the Thanks & Giving food item of the week and a giveaway!!!  Until then, tonight?s sunset?.
Bye for now!!