Leftovers glamorized

I had some fried apples and cranberries left over from the other day so made me a delicious dessert tonight. 

Wrapped them up in a warm tortilla reserving a little of the sauce to drizzle in top. A  small amount of whipped cream and it's done. 

It was very delicious and much fewer calories than a piece of apple pie. 

Recipes and a salad box

My salad box- got this idea from my friend Rhonda.  Lots of salad ingredients washed, cut and ready to make a salad whenever we want.  I love it and use it to make a salad as a side dish, main dish or make up a quick lunch to take to work.   The large box holds smaller containers with all the prepped veggies.  I did make one change - a piece of freezer tape with the date I filled it on each container.  Helps me to know quantities to prep in future boxes so we don't have cut up veggies going to waste.  It has also been convenient when making soup or stir-fry.

My box usually has -

Lettuce - although if there is not room in the box for the lettuce, I keep it in the crisper drawer

Carrots - diced

Celery - diced - this does not keep as well diced so I only do a little at a time

Radishes - sliced

Onions - diced

Green peppers - diced

Mini sweet peppers - sliced in rings

Cheese - feta, blue, parmesan, asiago - whatever I have that is grated and ready

Dried cranberries

Laughing cow wedges - not to put on the salad but I often take a salad with crackers and a laughing cow wedge for lunch. 

At times, depending on what I have on hand, I might add

Olives

Bacon bits

Hard boiled egg - diced

Green onions, sliced

Black beans

Garbanzo beans

Cucumbers (Husband really likes them but they don't keep very well once they are sliced so I usually just keep the whole cucumber if I have room for it.)

Some other recipes I have made that I will be making again -

Chicken Verde - no photo but I will be making it again soon!

Ranch Chicken Salad - uses dry ranch dressing mix and it is very tasty.  I found a jar of dry ranch mix at Sam's.  It is so handy to have around to add a little flavor to meats or veggies when cooking.

Greek Yogurt Chicken Parmesan - also uses dry ranch dressing mix. 

Icy morning = warm breakfast

It is an icy, wintry morning here.  Sleet and freezing rain during the night and some snow today.  So we are homebound - but that's okay.  We have power and lots of food - plus a DVR full of movies and lots of yarn for knitting. 

I offered to make French Toast for breakfast since eggs, bread and milk are the pre-storm necessities to pick up at the store, but my daughter preferred pancakes. 

Since I am on the weight loss challenge - wanted to do something healthier than syrup drenched pancakes.  I am not a big syrup eater anyway.  I like my French Toast with butter and jelly, or cinnamon sugar - no syrup.  Sometimes I eat pancakes with just butter or often with canned fruit filling and whipped cream - no syrup.



This morning I had a couple apples that needed to be eaten so sliced them up and made Fried Apples and added a few dried cranberries.  Two pancakes, 1/4 recipe of the fried apples and two slices of turkey bacon - under 300 calories.  It sure hit the spot and was not only warm but filling.

Some other 'keeper' recipes I have tried lately.

Blueberry Cobbler - a very simple dessert using fresh fruit.  The recipe, from a slow cooker cookbook I have had for years, suggests using blackberries, strawberries or a mixture of berries but I think it would also be good with sliced apples or diced peaches.  

Thai Chicken and Orange Glazed Carrots was a big hit with my husband.  The chicken was a little spicy so the sweet orange flavored carrots were a great side dish.  I did not measure the orange peel I used and I think it was a little more than what the recipe called for.  It sure made a difference in the dish.

And this meal did not even use any recipes - just made it up :-)  I will be adding it to my recipes blog just so I have it for future reference.  That blog is becoming my personal recipe box.

Teriyaki Chicken Kabobs and Stir Fried Vegetables 

Yogurt anyone?

Okay - so I had a rebate offer on Checkout 51 for the 35 oz carton of Fage strained nonfat Greek yogurt.  I looked at several stores and finally found it at Walmart. Not a big fan of plain yogurt but I figured I could eat it on fruit or something.  I opened it last week and had some over fruit with a little honey oat granola on top - and a little stevia sprinkled on it.  It was okay but not something I would want to eat every morning.
Yesterday I noticed the side of the carton said "Use within 5 days of opening" - what the heck! ?!?!?  How am I going to eat almost 4 cups of yogurt in 2 -3 days?

So searched for some yogurt recipes. Found a couple chicken recipes and plan to use one of those tomorrow for supper. Chicken enchiladas - the yogurt is combined with cream of chicken condensed soup and cheese to make the sauce - or a baked chicken - the chicken is coated with a yogurt mixture and then baked.  But that still left about 3 cups of yogurt.

Chocolate Chip Cookies - yogurt in the batter but no eggs.  Now that would be perfect for Tom since he loves raw cookie dough.  So I mixed up a double batch and the dough tasted pretty good.  Baked a couple dozen cookies and they were okay, sort of dense.  Put most of the dough in a container in the freezer for Tom and another smaller batch for Bekah. 

Another recipe was for a cake but we definitely did not need cake in the house.  I was planning to make some sweet corn bread for supper to go with some soup so tried the yogurt in that recipe.  About 3/4 cup yogurt and 1/4 cup milk in place of the 1 cup milk.  The batter was thicker than usual but it baked up nice.  Tom said he really liked it. 

That left about 1/2 cup of yogurt so I added some vanilla and sweetener and will take that to work tomorrow with some pineapple tidbits, banana and granola for my breakfast.

So tired of winter!

So tired of winter - can't wait for some spring like temps later this week but first have to get through freezing rain tonight and tomorrow morning.  YUCK!

I do like to cook more during the winter months though - sometime so comforting about a big pot of soup on the stove or something in the oven warming up the whole kitchen.

Last week I made a big pot of Italian Sausage Pasta Soup.  Lots of fresh vegetables, turkey sausage and pasta.  How can you go wrong! 

And some homemade veggie pizza.  Whole wheat crust, caramelized onions, and sweet mini peppers.   I've made that several times in the last month and just added whatever veggies - like fresh mushrooms, fresh spinach or even sliced tomatoes in place of the sauce.

I've also been making omelets more frequently.   Our family book club read "My Life in France" by Julia Child and someone found some You Tube videos they shared.  One was how to make a French Omelet.  My pan is a little bit smaller but works very well with one egg.

I have not had a lot of time in the craft room but here are a few cards I made recently.

This card uses the Banner Blast stamp set and the Banner punch. Both are available free during Sale-a-bration.   Colors are Strawberry Slush, Crisp Cantaloupe and Coastal Cabana.

This one used the Afternoon Delight Designer Series Paper paired with the colors, Coastal Cabana, Soft Suede, Wisteria Wonder, and Crushed Curry.

 

And this is my favorite project lately - a valentine for my granddaughter to give to her daddy. 

Stay warm everyone - spring is just around the corner or at least that is what I keep telling myself

Cold Weather Cooking

Something about cold weather makes me want to cook.  And on the weekend I like to cook a lot of food to eat throughout the coming week so I can just warm up or add finishing touches for a meal.  Makes our weeknights much easier.
I've also been trying to plan some healthier meals and work out with my Sweatin DVDs.

Thursday was Salad Bar night but we got off work a little early so I had time to put a batch of fresh bread but did not have enough white flour so I tried a recipe in the bread machine book.  

Whole Wheat Rolls were delicious brushed with some honey butter.  Mouth-watering!

Friday was Nacho Bake - like nachos but made in a casserole.  I served it with some warmed black beans to which I added some cumin and garlic powder.  A small salad on the side and it was a meal.

Saturday I made some Creamy Tomato Basil Soup  The Whole Wheat Rolls left from Thursday were great with the soup.  My daughter made some Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter muffins so I splurged and had one for a snack later - after working out.

Today I tackled a couple of the challenging items in the produce basket from last week. Spaghetti squash and pears.  Tom is not a fan of squash so I keep looking for different recipes. Today it was Spaghetti Squash Fritters  Heard no complaint. 

He also does not care for pears - just not a fan.  I made some cooked pears the last time we had them and he said they were pretty good so went with that. Baked Pears with Hazelnut Yogurt Sauce 

Oh and Baked Fish with Mango Salsa.  The fish was just dipped in eggbeaters and then in panko bread crumbs to which I added some Caribbean Jerk seasoning.  For the salsa, I used the recipe from Orange Crusted Salmon with Mango Salsa but left out the tomatoes. I had some diced mango in the freezer that I thawed and used for the recipe.  Not as good as using fresh - but it was okay. 

To get a start on the week, I made some Quick Chicken Curry today too. It made the kitchen smell so good.   We will have it tomorrow evening on rice with some stir-fried snow peas (also from the produce basket) and a small salad.   I enjoy cooking so it was a fun weekend. I also fit in a few movies and finishing a book for our family book club - and of course, the Sweatin DVDs.

Week one of Weight Loss Challenge

I joined a 12 week weight loss challenge on Facebook a week ago.  It has helped me already as I am much more aware of what I am eating and the competition was just what I needed to get me serious about losing those 15-20 lbs that have crept back on. 

And it has me thinking about what I am cooking and looking for lower calorie recipes. I found a real winner today - raves from the whole family. 

Chicken Verde (my name for it) was pretty simple. Using the frozen chicken tenderloins made it even easier.   I thawed the chicken breasts then placed them and the marinade in a big zip-lock bag.  Placed that in the frig for 4 hours.

While the chicken was marinading I worked on other parts of the meal. 

French Bread Rolls was one of those items.  Using the bread machine to mix up the dough makes them really easy.  I brushed these with some beaten egg before baking and they have a nice shiny crust. 

So far I have lost 4 pounds - weigh in tomorrow morning.   At least my pants are fitting a little better.  I don't want to have to go shopping for larger clothes!