Mexican Rice Casserole

I made this the other night for dinner and my kids loved it! I was trying to figure out a way to use the new WIC food of brown rice. I did not think my kids would eat it but I was wrong!

Mexican Rice Dinner

1/2 pound lean ground beef

2 tablespoons diced onion

1 large green pepper, chopped

16 oz. can kidney beans, rinsed and drained

14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes, undrained

8 oz. can tomato sauce

1/4 cup water

1 package taco seasoning

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 cup instant brown rice, uncooked (WIC FOOD)

In a non stick skillet, brown beef, onions, and peppers. Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker,except rice. Cook on low for 5-6 hours. Stir in rice, cover and cook until rice is tender, about 15 minutes.

Yields: 6 servings (about 1 cup each)

Per Serving: 272 calories, 2g fat, 6g fiber

Taco Junk

I made this last night and my kids loved it. Even my picky non-veggie eater ate it.

Taco Junk
1 lb lean beef
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can pinto beans, drained(WIC FOOD)
1 can corn, drained
16 oz salsa1 pkg. Ranch dressing mix
1 pkg reduced sodium taco seasoning mix
Brown beef and drain grease. Add all ingredients to crockpot and cook on low for 5-6 hours.
Serving size is 1/2 cup
Note: Serve with lettuce, reduced fat cheese, sour cream and tortillas. Also good over rice or used as a filling in tacos or tortillas.

Corndog Muffins

My kids like these for lunch. They also freeze really well!

Corndog Muffins
2 packages Jiffy cornbread mix
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 eggs (WIC food)
1 1/2 cups milk (WIC food)
1 cup grated Cheddar Cheese (WIC food)
4 hot dogs, chopped into pieces
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease muffin tins. Stir together the cornbread mix and the brown sugar in a large bowl. Whisk the eggs and milk in a small bowl until smooth. Fold the eggs and cheese into the dry mixture until moistened. Spoon mixture into muffin tins until 2/3 full. Add chooped hot dogs among muffins. Bake in preheated oven 14-18 minutes, or until golden brown.
Makes 18 muffins
Can also add bacon or ham instead of hotdogs.

Buttermilk Pancakes

We had this yesterday morning, very good!

Buttermilk Pancakes

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons sugar

2 cups non-fat buttermilk

2 eggs, slightly beaten (WIC food)

Stir dry ingredients together in a bowl. Measure the milk and add the eggs to the milk. Pour wet into dry and mix. Some lumps are okay. Cook on a nonstick griddle. Flip when bubbles appear. I used 1/4 cup batter per pancake.

Makes 6 servings

Calories 214, Fat 2.8 grams, Fiber 1.1 grams

Note: I served with sausage links and bananas (WIC food), and pancake syrup

Frozen Grapes

These are a perfect summertime treat!

Frozen Grapes
Grapes (WIC food)
Wash and separate the grapes. Drain and put on cookie sheet. Freeze. Store in freezer bags. Give to kids as frozen treats.
Note: Do not thaw; grapes become mushy when thawed.

Edible Play Dough

I have been watching a lot of reruns of Jon and Kate plus 8 and I saw the Valentine's Day one where she made edible play dough and I knew I wanted to try that out with my kids. We have played with lots of other homemade play dough and the kids love it. So, I knew they would love this and we would also have a snack! I did not tell my kids that it was edible, but they figured out. Actually my 2 year old figured it out first. This lasted about an hour and half of playing with and eating. Make sure you get your kids to wash their hands before playing with the edible play dough. My kids also loved helping make it!

Here's the recipe:

Jon and Kate plus 8 Edible Play Dough

Mix equal parts of

powdered milk

honey

peanut butter (WIC food)

Add flour to reach play dough consistency.

Play and enjoy!

My Experience with the New WIC Guidelines

This month I went to my WIC appointment to learn that the WIC program has changed their guidlines of what you can get. Personally, I have been waiting for these changes. I really think they are good. You do get less eggs, milk, and fruit juice, but you get whole wheat bread, and fresh fruits and vegetables. I got to pick the packages I wanted and I decided to get one of my packages with cheese and the others had all milk. My childen are 4 and 2 that are on WIC and those were the packages I got to choose from.

Negatives about the new WIC guidelines: I guess since this is the first month that Kentucky is using the new WIC guidelines, there are going to be problems starting out. Some of the problems that I have had were:

1. With the cheese package you get a quart of milk. On WIC you are suppose to get the lowest price milk and the stores that had the quarts did not have the brands considered lowest price and they refused to give me the ones they had available. I actually went ahead and used my voucher without getting the quart because I really needed milk. I called the District Health Department and they said that the stores were suppose to give you the lowest cost available so I should have been able to get the higher price milk. She said she would call those stores. so hopefully this will not be an issue in the future.

2. Right now there is only one bread in the 18 oz size that you can and it is sugar free. I guess it's okay, but the only way I have gotten my kids to eat it is to grill it or toast it. The person I talked with at the district health department told me that she thinks that the bakeries will step up and start putting out some more in those sizes. But for now that is all I can find in this area. You can get brown rice instead of the bread, but the several stores I went to did not have the right sizes that were specificed. The person from the district office also told me that stores have a leadway to start getting the stuff and then they will be checked and if they do not have the things they are suppose to have then they will not be accepted on the WIC program.

3. Going to more than one store to find the stuff I need has not been real convient for me!

4. The fruit and vegetables voucher is for $6.00 worth of eligible products. Most store will let you pay the difference if you go over. I usually go over about .24cents or something like that. Walmart has decided not to let customers pay the difference so they will not do that. As a customer it is really hard to estimate $6.00 worth of fruits and veggies. So I usually just take up all the fruits and veggies I plan to buy and then see how much equal $6.00. This has been the easiest for me.

Positives:

I really like the new guidelines and I think that all my negatives will soon be taken care of as the new guidlines have a chance to get started. I love that we can get the fresh fruits and vegetables. There are so many great things we can make with those and it gets my children off of so much fruit juice. I believe the WIC program is to blame for my kids love of juice! I also like getting the bread, even if my kids will only eat it a certain way. So, actually even though there is some confusion right now I love the new guidlines and feel that I will be able to make more things with the food on the program.