Friday: Pizza Crouton Salads, Monster Cookie Bars & a Leftovers Dinner

Got up this morning and finished off the last of the bacon.

Which means I’ll definitely be making another batch this weekend. There’s something about having a nice, leisurely weekend breakfast with fresh bacon that everybody loves.

The kids also had some of the waffles we made earlier this week, and then we got to work on school.

We’re planning to take a couple of days off next week for a little fall break, but I wanted to get some math done and stay on top of things before we take that time off.

We also spent some time putting away all the Project Day supplies from yesterday.

And then it was time for lunch.

Pizza Salad Is Back

Remember all that extra pizza we brought home from Project Day yesterday?

Well, I foolishly thought we might freeze some of it for another day.

Apparently not.

Everybody wanted pizza for lunch.

And I figured, why not? That’s why we brought it home.

Several of the kids wanted one of our favorite leftover pizza meals: pizza salad.

If you’ve never tried this, it’s basically a chopped salad with crispy pizza croutons.

And here’s my trick.

Cut the pizza into small pieces BEFORE you reheat it.

I like to make little bite-sized squares, almost like croutons.

Then I spread them out and reheat them until all those exposed edges get nice and crispy.

If you reheat a whole slice and then cut it, you don’t get nearly as many crispy edges.

But when you cut it first, every little piece has the opportunity to crisp up.

Then just pile those warm pizza croutons onto a chopped salad.

It’s such a fun way to eat leftover pizza.

Three Different Lunches, One Refrigerator

Chris was working from home today, so I made him a Cava-inspired salad.

I used some of the leftover grilled chicken, hummus and vegetables, then added a nice homemade balsamic vinaigrette.

For myself, I finished off the very last of the taco meat I cooked Monday night.

And of course I made a taco salad.

I could eat taco salad every single day.

I don’t know what it is about the combination of seasoned ground beef, lettuce, vegetables and all the toppings, but I never get tired of it.

So between the pizza salads, Chris’s chicken and hummus salad, and my taco salad, we managed to make three completely different lunches without cooking any new protein.

And that four-pound batch of taco meat from Monday?

Officially gone.

It served us well.

Monster Cookie Bars: It’s All About the Mix-Ins

This afternoon, I decided to make a quick batch of my Monster Cookie Bars.

These are one of my favorite treats because they’re easy to throw together, naturally gluten-free and so adaptable.

The base uses ingredients like oats, almond flour, peanut butter, coconut oil and applesauce.

But I think the best part of monster cookies is what you put in them.

Today I used:

• Semi-sweet chocolate chips
• Chopped dark chocolate
• Sliced almonds
• Raisins
• Chopped pecans

And they were delicious.

I love using a combination of different chocolates, nuts and other little additions because every bite ends up slightly different.

Sometimes you get more chocolate.

Sometimes a crunchy almond.

Sometimes a raisin.

That’s what makes them fun.

I’ll add my full Monster Cookie Bar recipe here so you can make your own version.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 2/3 cup natural peanut butter
• 2 applesauce pouches (approximately 2/3 cup)
• 4 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups gluten-free oats
• 2 cups almond flour
• 3–4 cups mix-ins of your choice (chocolate chips, nuts, dried fruit, etc.)

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the coconut oil, peanut butter, applesauce, granulated sugar, and brown sugar. Mix until well combined.
3. Add the salt, baking powder, baking soda, and vanilla. Stir to incorporate.
4. Add the gluten-free oats and almond flour, mixing until everything is combined.
5. Fold in your mix-ins. Aim for approximately 3–4 cups total, depending on what you’re using.
6. Scoop the dough onto a baking sheet. These cookies won’t spread much, so flatten them slightly before baking.
7. Bake at 350°F for 8–10 minutes.
8. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. If you didn’t flatten the cookies before baking, you can gently tap the baking sheet on the counter immediately after removing it from the oven to help them settle.

And if you have a bunch of half-empty bags of baking mix-ins in your pantry, this is a great way to use them.

Our Car Snack Cup System

Later in the afternoon, I needed to run some errands with the kids.

We had library books to pick up, and a couple of the kids needed flu vaccines.

Which meant we needed car snacks.

We have these little plastic snack cups from Dollar Tree, and they’re one of those inexpensive things that have turned out to be surprisingly useful.

Here’s how we do it.

Everybody gets a cup.

They can choose snacks from the pantry to fill it.

Sometimes I’ll also cut up cheese or fresh fruit and vegetables and put those into little baggies to add to the cup.

Then the rule is simple:

If it fits in your snack cup, it can come in the car.

And the other important rule?

All the trash goes back into the cup.

Wrappers.

Empty baggies.

Whatever little bits are left.

Then the entire cup comes back into the house when we get home.

It’s not a perfect system, but it works really well for us.

Everybody gets to pick their own snacks, and I’m not constantly discovering random wrappers shoved into the car seats.

Re-Roasted Potatoes Are Better Than Leftover Potatoes

For dinner, I decided we were going to use up some more leftovers.

I still had roasted potatoes from earlier in the week.

And if you’re not re-roasting your leftover potatoes, you’re missing out.

Seriously.

Don’t just put them in the microwave and settle for soft, slightly sad potatoes.

Spread them out on a sheet pan, add a little oil if they need it, and put them back into a hot oven.

Let those edges crisp up again.

Sometimes I think they’re even better the second time.

This is one of my favorite examples of cook once, eat many times.

You already did the work of cutting, seasoning and roasting the potatoes.

Now you’re just giving them a second life.

Polish Sausage and Whatever Vegetables We Have

Alongside the potatoes, I sliced up some Teton Waters Ranch Polish sausage.

I cut it into smaller pieces, spread it on a small sheet pan and put it into the same oven.

The cut edges get nice and crispy, which is exactly how we like it.

Then I moved on to the vegetables.

I had some Brussels sprouts, so I warmed those in a sauté pan.

But I didn’t have quite enough vegetables for everybody.

So I pulled out the leftover mixed roasted vegetables from the other night and added those too.

Broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, onions, Brussels sprouts.

A little bit of everything.

And believe it or not, several of my kids actually eat Brussels sprouts without complaint.

The others mostly just push them aside.

I’m fine with that.

They’re still getting plenty of other vegetables, and I’m not interested in turning Friday dinner into a Brussels sprouts negotiation.

So dinner was crispy re-roasted potatoes, Polish sausage and a big pan of mixed vegetables.

Simple.

Filling.

And we used up a whole bunch of food that was already cooked.

Finally, Family Movie Night

After dinner, we cleaned everything up and finally got to sit down together.

We love The Amazing Race, and we’d been waiting to watch Wednesday night’s episode.

So we all settled in and watched it together.

And for the record?

I’m totally Team Yellow.

A pretty great way to end the week.