Spaghetti Squash Boats

This recipe I got from here.  Her site includes a recipe for a homemade sauce.  I kept it simple and used some traditional Ragu.

So basically, here it is in a nutshell.  Cut your spaghetti squash in half, rub a little olive oil on it, sprinkle some salt and pepper and then cook it, open side down, for 40-60 mins (I did 45) at 400.

15 mins before it's done, brown some turkey (or beef) and then mix in the spaghetti sauce of your choice (or use her recipe for her sauce).  Flip the boat over, fill it with the meat and sauce, then sprinkle on some mozzarella cheese.  Broil it for 2 mins or so, until the cheese is brown.  And voila!  Callen said several times that this is a keeper.  (The best part is, as you eat it, the spaghetti squash just shreds into little noodles as you go.  Callen thought I had gone through before it had cooked and hand shredded it with a fork so it was stringy, but still attached to the bottom of the squash.  I should've taken the credit.  Haha, I remember the first time I used spaghetti squash, I was surprised myself at home it just turns itself into spaghetti noodles.  Who would've thought!?!?)

Rating:  (per Callen), probably like a 4.9 stars.

Italian Chicken Marinade

Callen got a grill.  He said it makes him more of a man.  Well, my dad got a new grill for Christmas, and so we got his old one.  There is nothing wrong with it.  Not sure why dad even needed a new one...  But one man's trash is another man's treasure, right!??

So he stood out in the snow under the overhand that happens to end right where he stands.  So even though it wasn't raining or snowing, he was getting constantly dripped on.  But it was totally worth it.

We used this chicken marinade from Mom on a Mission for the chicken.  It was simple and extremely flavorful.  She talked about using this as a freezer marinade, it is an interesting idea, you should probably check out her site for her details.  I just mixed all the ingredients and put the chicken in it for about 6 hours to marinate.

• 6 Tablespoons canola oil
• 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 Tablespoons Italian seasoning
• 2 tsp. garlic salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
• 8-10 boneless , skinless chicken breasts ( I butterfly all the way through if they are extra-large)

I only used 2 pieces of chicken, so there was a TON of marinade, I definitely didn't need that much.  But it still tasted excellent!  5.0 stars, this is definitely a repeat.

Dorito Chicken Casserole

I am on a no-sweets eating plan right now except holidays.  (SO EXCITED TOMORROW IS A HOLIDAY!  I have my sweets all planned out...) So lately I have been craving chips.  I probably shouldn't be eating those either, but what do you want from me.  I'm not perfect.

So this little gem of a recipe was perfect the other night.  I found it at Jam Hands.

Mexican Dorito Casserole 
Serves 4-6

• 2 c. shredded cooked chicken
• 1 c. shredded cheese
• 1 can cream of chicken soup (I used homemade soup)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 can Ro-tel tomatoes (I have a bunch of fresh tomatoes from my basket, so I just chopped one up and omitted the jalapenos)
• 1/2 packet taco seasoning (or more- to taste)
• Bag of doritos (and you should probably eat some doritos as you are cooking.  Maybe like 3 servings worth)

1. Pre-heat oven to 350-f degrees.

2. In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients except doritos.

3. In a greased 2 qt baking dish, put a layer of crushed doritos (about 2 cups), then a layer of the chicken mixture. Repeat once more, ending with a layer of chicken mixture. Top with more shredded cheese, cover, and bake for 30-35 minutes, till bubbling hot.


And ENJOY!
Rating: 4.0 stars (I couldn't give it 5 stars since it's not the healthiest thing I've ever made... I mean, it has crunched up chips in it.)

Chicken Crepes and Buttermilk Syrup and Whole Grain Waffles

I LOVE breakfast.  I would eat breakfast for every meal of every day if I could.  Especially if I have some homemade buttermilk syrup to go with it.  In fact, here is the recipe for that.  This recipe comes from a colleague of mine from when I taught 4th grade, so I can thank Carla Randall for my hip size!

3/4 c. butter
3/4 c. buttermilk
1 tsp baking soda
2 T karo syrup
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 t. vanilla
(Can you already see how healthy this recipe is??!)

Mix the butter, karo syrup, buttermilk, and sugar together in a medium size sauce pan and boil for 5 mins while stirring.  Remove from heat.  Add the soda and vanilla, being careful because it will froth up a bit before settling down.

(On a side note, if you are trying to use up the rest of your buttermilk before it goes back in two days so you decide to quadruple this recipe, be warned that it will probably boil over your largest pot and make a HUGE sticky mess all over your stovetop, under the burners, down the front of your oven, and onto the floor.  I would suggest not making more than a double batch at one time.)

Rating: 5.0 stars.  Easily.  If I could give it more than that, I would.  It's that good.

Ok, so now you need something to go with the syrup.  How about whole grain waffles?  Also courtesy of Carla.

2 eggs
1/4 c. canola oil
1 t. vanilla
1/2 c. flax seed meal
1/4 c. flour
1 T sugar
1 3/4 c. milk
1/4 c. applesauce
1 c. whole wheat flour
1/4 c. wheat germ
4 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, oil, applesauce, and vanilla.  Beat in all dry ingredients just until smooth.   Preheat waffle iron.  Cook until crisp and golden brown.  (These take a little longer to cook so they don't stick to the pan).

Rating: 5.0 stars

Or maybe make some crepes.
This recipe I found on pinterest.  Obviously.

1 c flour
1 T sugar
1/4 t salt
1 1/3 c milk
1 T vanilla
3 eggs
3 T melted butter

1. In a large bowl combine the flour sugar and salt.

2. In a large measuring cup combine the milk, vanilla, eggs and melted butter. Mix with a fork to break up the eggs.

3. While whisking rapidly, slowly pour the milk and egg mixture into the dry ingredients. Whisk until very well combined. I keep the whisk in the bowl and continue to mix the batter occasionally as I make the crepes.

4. Heat an 8" non-stick skillet to medium heat. I used a paper towel with butter to coat the pan. Pour ¼ cup of batter into pan and tilt pan so that batter covers pan in a thin layer. Cook until the edges start to lightly brown, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Flip over and cook for a few more seconds until done. I sprinkle about a teaspoon of sugar over the crepe and roll them up in the pan and keep them covered with aluminum foil to keep them warm until they are ready to serve.

(I didn't do the sugar, since this last time I used them to make chicken crepes and I didn't want them to be sweet).

Rating: 5.0 stars

So maybe you want some crepes, but you don't them super sweet.  Or you want to sneak breakfast into dinner.  Try chicken crepes! (by the Mormon Maven Moms here).

Super easy.

3-4 breasts chicken

2 cans cream of mushroom soup (I made my own so it wouldn't have soy in it)

Crepes

1 c. Sour cream

Cheddar cheese

Cook the chicken and dice it into small pieces.  Mix it with one can of soup.  Put some down the center of a crepe, then roll it up.

Place it in a 9x13 dish and repeat until the dish is full.

Mix the other can of soup with the sour cream.  Pour over the top of the crepes, then sprinkle as much cheese as you want on the top.  

Cook at 375 for 20 mins.  Enjoy!

4.0 stars.  Since I made my own soup, it tends to be a little bland in flavor.  But still a recipe I would use again.

Cheesy Broccoli Chicken Tin Foil Dinners

I was a little nervous about this one, since it seems like something you would eat while camping.  But it turned out fine!  I don't really have a cool story about it, so just enjoy the recipe found at Best Life 4 Moms is Now.

Ingredients:
1 package Stuffing mix; chicken flavor 
1 1/4 cups Water
4 Boneless skinless chicken breast halves
4 cups Broccoli Florets
1 cups Shredded cheddar cheese
4 slices Cooked bacon; crumbled 
4 tbsp Ranch dressing divided
- Oven to 400

Directions:
Spray 4 large sheets of heavy-duty foil with oil.
Combine stuffing mix and water.
Spoon 1/4 of the stuffing mixture onto the center of each foil sheet.
Top stuffing with a 6oz. chicken breast half.
Top chicken with 1 c. broccoli.
Sprinkle with 1/4 of the cheese and 1 slice of bacon, crumbled.
Drizzle with 1 T. ranch dressing
Bring up foil sides and fold to seal, leaving room for heat circulation inside
Place packets on a cookie sheet and bake 35-40 mins (depends on the size of your chicken breasts)
Remove packets and let stand 5 mins
Cut sits in foil for steam before opening.

It's been a while since I made these, but from what I can remember, 4.5 stars?

Canned Soup and Homemade Tortillas

So my daughter is allergic to soy.  Which means she is allergic to pretty much anything processed.  I've learned that soy=processed.  So the aisles in the grocery store that Bob Harper always tells you to skip? Pretty much all the aisles?  Yeah, I have to skip those now.  No crackers of any kind, no bread, no boxed dinners, no frozen dinners, no Chinese food, no canned soup.  She's also allergic to eggs and nuts.  So what does she eat, you ask?  Hot dogs and vienna sausages.  Seriously.  She loves them.  She eats a lot of fruits and vegetables, and I have made it a weekly thing to make some bread.  I have an awesome honey whole wheat recipe that I use for sandwiches (her favorite is grilled cheese), I've made artisan bread, as well as a delicious peasant bread.  You can search for the recipes on this blog.  I also have to make my own tortillas (we did pulled pork burritos tonight with homemade tortillas).  And I now make my own canned soup.  I feel like even though I am basically a pioneer, making everything from scratch, it is helping ALL of us to be a little healthier and eat less process.  If that even makes sense.  Eat less processed food.  That sounds a little better.  So here are my homemade solutions to a soy allergry.

Tortillas

(I never make a full batch.  I usually make 1/3 of a batch and that makes 3 pretty good sized tortillas.  Perfect for one lunch or dinner.  And if it's just me and the kid eating, I can save the leftover dough and make another one tomorrow.  It never rolls out as well the second day and won't last much longer than that, but she's 3 and easy to impress.  And let's be honest, she mostly pulls it apart and eats the cheese out of it anyway).

Mix all of the following ingredients in a bowl to form a dough:
3 cups flour
1/3 c. oil
1 t. salt
1 c. warm water

Roll it out on a lightly floured surface with a rolling pin.

Cook in a frying pan over medium heat until brown spots form, then flip over and do the other side.  And done.

4.5 stars (I can't get mine to roll as thinly as the storebought kind, so they tend to be a little thick, but they taste just fine).

Original pin found at Honey Bs Kitchen. (It won't link to the site for some reason).

Condensed Soup
Super easy.  And soy free!
2 T butter
2 T flour
1 c. milk

Melt the butter in a frying pan, add in the flour and stir to make a paste.  Slowly add in the milk, stirring constantly to avoid lumps.

This is your base.  Now depending on what kind of soup you want, add what you need.  If you want cream of mushroom, add some chopped mushrooms.  If you want cream of chicken, do 1/2 c. milk and 1/2 c. chicken broth and add some chicken bits if you want.   (Which by the way, if you buy chicken broth, it also has soy in it.  So whenever I boil chicken, I save the water and store it in my fridge to use it instead).  So these are really the main soups I use, but I guess you could soften some celery and add it to make cream of celery.  And maybe add some cheddar to make cream of cheddar?  Sky's the limit, I guess!
5.0 stars (I haven't actually just eaten it plain, but my recipes taste just fine with it.  It does tend to be a bit runnier than the stuff in a can, but no big deal.

Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Bell Peppers

Once again, getting creative with my vegetables.  Tonight's dinner involved bell peppers.  And I was a little anxious since I normally do not enjoy sliced deli meat.  This one turned out excellently, and only had like 100 calories per pepper!  That's a keeper.

This recipe comes from Quick n' Easy Recipes.  (Which currently has an ad of an EXTREMELY unattractive man on it.  haha).  And quick n' easy it was!  And the site has some awesome photos of the food (I swear I will take some pictures soon, at least of the finished project.  I really love seeing the pictures because it helps me to see if I am doing it right or not.  Since more often than not, I am doing it wrong).

So here's the deal.

INGREDIENTS

8 oz. Thinly Sliced Roast Beef

8 Slices Provolone Cheese

2 Large Green Bell Peppers

1 Medium Sweet Onion (obviously, I would never use)

6 oz. Baby Bella Mushrooms

2 Tbs. Butter

2 Tbs. Olive Oil

1 Tbs. Garlic – Minced

Salt and Pepper – to taste

DIRECTIONS

Slice mushrooms.  
Saute over medium heat with butter, olive oil, minced garlic and a little salt and pepper.  Saute until onions and mushroom are nice and caramelized.  About 25-30 minutes.  (I didn't do nearly this long, maybe 15-20 mins and they looked like they were getting burned.)

Slice peppers in half lengthwise, remove ribs and seeds.

Preheat oven to 400*

Slice roast beef into thin strips and add to the onion/mushroom mixture.  Allow to cook 5-10 minutes

Line the inside of each pepper with a slice of provolone cheese. 

Fill each pepper with meat mixture until they are nearly overflowing.

Top each pepper with another slice of provolone cheese.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until the cheese on top is golden brown. 

Done and done.  4.5 stars.  Sometimes I think I like the taste of roasted peppers better.  Maybe next time I'll fire roast them first.

Mushroom Caps

I am honestly trying to expand my horizons in terms of vegetables that I enjoy.  And I can officially say that mushrooms can be added to that list.  I had these first at my December Book Club Christmas dinner.  I was reluctant to try them, but the host had slaved over all day to make us an amazing dinner, so I figured I should AT LEAST try them.  And they were amazing.  I've made them twice since then.  And they are SUPER easy.

This is a Rachael Ray recipe.  Normally I read something by her and it has some RIDICULOUS ingredients, so I normally just skip on by.  But this one looked totally doable.  Check this out.

Chicken stuffing mix
Mushrooms
Olive Oil
Parmesan Cheese

Make chicken stuffing according to the box.
Remove the stems from the mushrooms.  I googled this and found a super easy youtube video explaining how to do it.  (I also learned that you should not wash mushrooms under water because it absorbs the water.  So you should use a brush and just brush them clean).
Place the mushrooms on a baking sheet.
Stuff the mushrooms with as much stuffing as you can possibly fit.  Seriously, the more the better.
Drizzle the oil over all of them.
Sprinkle the cheese on top.
Bake at 375 for 20 mins.
And enjoy.
4.8 stars.  (Sometimes the mushiness of mushrooms grosses me out.  But the overall taste totally overpowers that mushiness.)

Loaded Potato Rounds

I have a TON of potatoes.  Like maybe 15 potatoes.  For 2 3/4 people (2 adults, a 3 year old and a 6 mo. old), that's a lot of potatoes.  So I've been experimenting with all sorts of potato recipes.  This one is a keeper.  Callen called them nachos.  All the cheese made them stick together after they cooked and he went to get some and apparently the rule is, if they are stuck together, you have to eat them all.  So he got quite a large serving.  (Obviously, I use a lot of cheese).

Anyhow, these are easy enough.  Slice the potatoes into 1/4 in thick rounds, and put them in boiling water for about 3 mins, so they are a little tender.  Take them out and pat them dry with a paper towel.

Sprinkle some already cooked bacon on top of them, then load on the cheddar!  Cook at 375 for about 10-12 minutes.  And obviously, serve them with ranch.  Or sour cream.  But preferably ranch.

4.5 stars

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Two heads of cabbage in my fridge.  I don't think I have ever purposefully bought a head of cabbage.  Maybe once, back in the day, for my mom.  But now here I am all grown up and with my own cabbages.  And no, I didn't buy them on purpose.  They came in my bountiful baskets two weeks in a row.  So I came up with three recipes that require cabbage.  The first one was a success!  Stuffed cabbage rolls.  And Callen liked them, too, said he'd even want them again!  AND he ate the leftovers. True signs that he liked them.  So they are going on the blog so I can find them later and make them again.

I found the recipe here.

Ingredients:
2/3 c. water
1 c. cooked rice (the recipe called for white, I used brown.)
8 cabbage leaves
1 pound ground turkey (once again, the recipe called for beef, I never buy ground beef.)
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/4 c. onion (I omitted)
1 t. salt
1/4 t. black pepper
1 (10 3/4 oz.) can condensed tomato soup

1. Bring a large, wide saucepan of lightly salted water to boil.  Add the cabbage leaves and cook for 2-4 minutes or until soft.  Drain.
2.  In a mixing bowl, combine the turkey, rice, onion, egg, salt and pepper, along with 2 T. of tomato soup.  Mix thorougly.
3. Divide the turkey mixture evenly among the cabbage leaves.  Roll and secure them with toothpicks.
4.  In a large skillet over medium heat, place the cabbage rolls and pour the remaining tomato soup over the top.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 40 mins, stirring and recovering with the liquid often.

Overall, I would say this recipe gets a 3.8 out of 5.0.  I think because I omitted the onions, I need some kind of spice.  Next time maybe I'll add some garlic salt, worchestershire (what the heck is the name of that stuff!?)...