Soccer Season Starts & DELISH bean & pasta soup with homemade cornbread recipes!!

Well March is the start of a VERY busy season for this Mama!  It's officially soccer season.  Anyone else's calendar look something like this?

Both my kiddos play soccer, which equates to Saturday being an all day affair.  Plus, 3 practices per week (between the 2 of them), and a sports conditioning class my 8 y.o. is starting next week.  That means 5 days/week are called for!  I must say that dinner is going to be a bit of a challenge during soccer season.  Thanks goodness my mom helps some evenings for practice and on Saturdays since my husband works these evenings & all day Saturday, it would be really hard for me to do it all by myself.

It would be REALLY easy to eat a lot of fast food or have unhealthy snacks available during this time since I am so busy and we are on the go.  Here are a couple tips if you have a schedule like mine, with sports, practices, and other activities taking up your evenings:



1.  Use your crock pot.   Time it to where it will be ready around the time you know you will be getting home.  Also, many crock pots have the "warm" feature (like mine), when the timer is up it doesn't shut the crock pot off, it keeps the food warm. 

A couple GREAT resources for crock pot meals are:  Skinny Ms Slow Cooker, Allrecipes, and Skinnytaste. 

2.  Have your meal plan ready.  Know what you are feeding your family tonight (& preferrably tomorrow night too).

3.  Do leftover night.   See this blog on how to do leftover night right!  When you're pressed for time and have those leftovers, use them up on a night you know you have a lot going on. 

4.  Bring a mini cooler in your car, with healthy snacks ready to go for your kiddos on the way to practice or activities.

• Washed grapes
• Cuties
• Sunflower kernels (no salt)
• Raw nuts
• Washed apple
• Dried fruit, such as cranberries or raisins (unsweeetened)
• Bottled waters
• Baby carrots
• Sliced cucumbers

5.  If you're making a casserole or baked dish, have it prepared in the baking pan and ready to stick in the oven when you get home from your activities.

 Here is a pic of the enchiladas I made on a very busy night last week.  I completely prepared the enchiladas, put them in the baking dish, covered in cling wrap, and put it in the fridge, ready to go in the oven as soon as I got home.

6.  On a day when you have a little free time, make some meals ahead & freeze them.

I made 3 pizzas yesterday, half baked them, and now they're in the freezer for a quick meal.  All I need is some steamed veggies or side salad & a side of fruit! 

• If you're making a casserole dish, double the recipe and put half of it in a glass freezer proof container for an easy meal on a busy night.  Transfer the glass container straight into the oven!

Now on to What's Cooking!  For dinner tonight, I made bean & pasta soup with some homemade corn bread.  Here are the recipes & pics:

Bean & Pasta Soup (adapted from eMeals)

• 15 oz can great northern beans
• 1 c chopped onion
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 T minced garlic
• 1 t rosemary
• 2 c sodium reduced no MSG chicken broth
• 14 oz can diced tomatoes (I used Muir Glen organic no salt added)
• 1.5 c small shell whole wheat pasta of choice (I used elbow mac because I had that on hand
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 t pepper

In large soup pot, add beans, onion, celery, garlic, rosemary, chicken broth, and 10 c water.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat & simmer for 40 minutes.  Add tomatoes.  Cook 10 min.  Add pasta, salt & pepper, cook 7-9 minutes.

Homemade clean cornbread (adapted from Gracious Pantry)

1 cup plain yellow corn meal
1 cup corn flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 tsp. salt
4 tbsp. agave or honey (I used honey)
1 cup non-fat, plain Greek yogurt
1/2 cup plain, unsweetened soy milk
2 whole eggs
1 tbsp. olive oil


Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, mix your dry ingredient together with a whisk.
In a separate large mixing bowl, mix your wet ingredients.
Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just barely blended. Lumps are okay. Don’t over mix.
Scrap your batter into your baking dish and bake for 15 -20 minutes. If you think you need longer than 15 minutes, check it every minute thereafter, or you’ll end up with burnt corn bread. If you like a lighter color on top, place a sheet of aluminum foil over the top for the last 5 minutes of backing.
Corn bread is done baking when you can poke it with a toothpick and it comes out clean.
Slice into 15 pieces, and serve while it’s hot!

 My kids LOVE this cornbread!  It is so good and simple to make! 

Thanks for reading, have a wonderful night!!!