Veggie Fries

So, I do have to admit this is not the healthiest way to eat your veggies.  But, it is a delicious way to eat them!  :)  I've been to several restaurants such as  TGIFriday's and SmashBurger that offer this type of thing instead of french fries.  So this isn't an entirely new idea, but more of a how to do it at home!  :)

Veggie Fries:

Fry pan with 1/4"-1/2" oil in it

Veggies, cut into fry sized pieces (Green beans, Carrots and Sweet Potatoes work best.)

Kosher Salt and Cracked Pepper, optional

1.  Heat the oil in the fry pan until it is hot.  I used medium-high heat, and tested to see when it was ready by using one veggie at a time until it was hot enough to cook them in about 2 minutes.

2.  Get your veggies all ready to go while the oil is heating up.

3.  Once the oil is ready fry a handful of veggies at a time for about 2 minutes.

4.  Then take them out and lay them on a plate covered with paper towels.  (To help drain off the oil.) Then season with salt and/or pepper is desired.

5.  Serve along with hamburgers, hot dogs or anything else you can think of!  Enjoy!!  :)

Have fun in the kitchen!  Be sure to be careful with the hot oil you are frying these in, too!  :)  

Healthy Butternut Squash Soup with Lime Sour Cream

Fall is almost here, and what better way to ring it in than with a healthy squash soup!

Butternut Squash Soup:
4 lb. butternut squash
4 carrots
1 small onion
1.5 c. water
3 c. milk, skim or 1%
salt and pepper to taste
(Immersion blender or blender/food processor needed)

Lime Sour Cream:
1 c. nonfat sour cream
1 small lime

1.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Cut the squash in half lengthwise and place on a baking sheet.  Bake for 45 minutes, or until tender.

2.  While the squash is baking, boil 2 c. of water on the stove.  Peel and cut up carrots.  Then dice the onion.  Once the water is boiling put the carrots and onion in, and cook for about 15 minutes or until carrots are tender.  Drain.

3.  When the squash is done baking, place it on a cooling rack for 10-15 minutes.  Then once it has cooled done somewhat scoop out the seeds and discard.

4.  Scoop out all the flesh of the squash and place in a large stockpot.

Steps 1, 3 & 4.

5.  Then add the cooked carrots and onions, as well as the water.  If using immersion blender blend it up right in the pot.  If using blender/food processor put smaller amounts in at a time.

6.  Continue to blend until it is smooth and creamy like the picture below.

7.  Put the pot on the stove and bring to a boil.  Then turn down to simmer, add milk and stir to combine.  (It should look something like below!)  Simmer for 30minutes or up to 2 hours.

Steps 5, 6 & 7.

8.  Put the sour cream, zest of the lime and lime juice in a bowl.

9.  Whisk until combined, and viola!  Delicious lime sour cream!  :)

Steps 8 & 9.

10.  Serve in bowls with a dollop of lime sour cream in the middle!  Enjoy!

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Eggplant Parmesan

Eggplant Parmesan.  I suppose it's something you either A. love or B. hate.  I am one that falls under A, and completely, utterly and absolutely LOVE it!  :)  But I don't really like that it's fried typically....so here's a healthier recipe for it!  :)  And it still tastes delicious!!

Eggplant Parmesan:

Eggplant, sliced (about 1/4 inch thick slices)

Breading:  (mix together)

3/4 c. bread crumbs (I prefer Italian style but you could definitely use plain)

1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese

Egg wash:  (mix together)

1 egg white

2 T. water

1.  Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Start with your slices.  It's okay if they aren't all perfect.  As you can tell, mine weren't.  :)

2.  Take a slice of eggplant and coat each side with the egg wash.

3.  Once the eggplant has egg on it, coat it with the breading on each side.  (Above and below pics)

4.  Place the first eggplant Parmesan on a baking sheet that was prepped with baking spray.

Then repeat steps 2 and 3 for the other slices.

5.  Once your baking sheet is full (like so) bake for 10 minutes on each side.  (or until golden!)

Then you can serve along with spaghetti or just by itself!  They will be crispy on the outside and perfectly tender on the inside.  Enjoy!  :)

Edamame Guacamole

So, do you know those great little things called edamame?  They are super healthy and super yummy!!  I got some fresh edamame at the farmer's market last Saturday and ate some cooked with salt earlier this week.  (Which is the tradiditonal way to eat them and super good!)  Anyway, I love guac and made some guacamole out of edamame today.  Then I saw I wasn't the first to think of that...oh well.  It's super, super healthy and yummy for guac!!!  Here's my recipe:



Edamame Guac:

1 c.  edamame, cooked and shelled

1 roma tomato, diced

1 small jalepeno, diced

1 t. lemon or lime juice

3-4 T. water

1.  In a food processor or blender start chopping up the edamame.

2.  Add the tomato, jalepeno, lemon juice and water.  Then pulse the processor until smooth.  (You can add more water until you get to your desired consistency.)

3.  Scoop into serving dish.  Serve with chips or veggies.  Enjoy!  :)

Summer Veggies

So made this for lunch yesterday and loved it!  In fact I loved it so much I made it for part of dinner too!  But then, when I was taking photos of it I had this sad realization.  That realization was that it looks so much like one of those bags of frozen veggies....oh well.  Here it is.  I think it tastes a lot better than the frozen ones....  :)

Summer Veggies
2  Cloves Garlic, minced
1  Small Onion, diced
2 T.  Margarine/Butter (You could also use EVOO)
1 c.  Fresh Carrots, julienned
1 c.  Fresh Green beans, in about 1.5" pieces
1 c.  Water
1 c.  Fresh Corn, just shuck it and then just it off the ear.

1.  On medium heat saute the onion and garlic in the 2 T. of butter.

2.  Once the onions are looking transparent, get ready to add the carrots and beans.

3.  Add the carrots, green beans and water.  Then cover it and let it cook for about 3 minutes.

4.  Add the corn and stir it in.  Continue to let it cook until the corn is tender.  (About 2-3 minutes.)

(It should look something like this below when you are about done!)

5.  Serve and enjoy!  I know we sure did!  :)

Party today

Well, we had a great day today!  I threw a Graduation party for my hubby and it was also a "Going Away" party for us.  We had a good turn out and lots of fun.  People were really sweet and generous too.  So we feel very loved right now.  It was great to see family, extended family and good friends.  Thanks to everyone who came--we really appreciated it!  :)

Now, as for the food for the party...I did it all myself.  And not that it was extravagant or anything, but it was a lot of work and took preparation.  The menu had:   little smokies, vegetables/dip, chips/salsa and of course cake!  Although no party is truly complete unless there is a Pinata right?  ;)  So we had one of those too.  Although I didn't take any pictures at the party today, my mom did and will send me hers which is nice! :)  I did snap a couple yesterday while I was preparing some of the food.

I love chips and salsa, and while I usually use my standard of homemade (by my mom and I) in the cupboard, I was fresh out and so I wanted to make some.  I'm not a huge fan of the store-bought salsa anyway, and my mom and I had tried this recipe for Restaurant Style Salsa by Pioneer Woman over Memorial Day so I decided to make it for the party.  Apparently everyone else enjoyed it too because it went pretty fast!  :)  I did the recipe the same as Ree has it except I didn't add Cumin, because I simply didn't have it....nor do I think I actually like it....and I only used one can of Rotel because I think it would have been too hot otherwise.  Anyway, great salsa!

Restaurant Style Salsa by Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

• 1 can (28 Ounce) Whole Tomatoes With Juice
• 2 cans (10 Ounce) Rotel (diced Tomatoes And Green Chilies)
• ¼ cups Chopped Onion
• 1 clove Garlic, Minced
• 1 whole Jalapeno, Quartered And Sliced Thin
• ¼ teaspoons Sugar
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• ¼ teaspoons Ground Cumin
• ½ cups Cilantro (more To Taste!)
• ½ whole Lime Juice

Preparation Instructions

Combine whole tomatoes, Rotel, onion, jalapeno, garlic, sugar, salt, cumin, lime juice, and cilantro in a blender or food processor. Pulse until you get the salsa to the consistency you’d like—I do about 10 to 15 pulses. Test seasonings with a tortilla chip and adjust as needed. Refrigerate salsa for at least an hour. Serve with tortilla chips or cheese nachos.

 Vegetable trays: 2 Reusable Plastic trays from Dollar Tree,  2 lb. baby carrots,  2 # broccoli,  1 head cauliflower and Dip of your choice.   Put those together and you get two good-sized veggie trays at a great price!  :)  (Mine are pictured above.)

As for the little smokies, I got a big package of them at Sams for $5.  I think there were about 125 of them in there.  Great deal huh?  And I cooked them on the stove as directed and then smothered them in bbq sauce.  Then I kept them hot in a round crock pot I borrowed from my mom.  :)  They went really fast too.  But who doesn't love a perfectly portioned little sausage?  :)

Cake.  While the thought ran across my mind that I could make one for this event, I decided to leave it up to the professionals.  :)  So I got a full sheet cake from King Soopers and had them do it half Almond Poppy-seed and half Chocolate all with Buttercream frosting.  It turned out great, and we couldn't even see the seam down the middle!  I suppose I could have ordered a half sheet cake though because there were leftovers...but I'd rather have too much, than too little.  :)  Did I mention it tasted amazing?  I love King Soopers cakes.  Especially Almond Poppy-seed with the white buttercream.  Delicious.  Yum.  :)

Pinata was a hit too.  We had the kiddos take turns and I think they enjoyed it.  Although...it wouldn't break open, so at the end of pinata time we just put it on the ground and let the kiddos tear it up.

Anyway, after weeks of preparation it was over within two hours.  Kind of reminds me of our wedding...although this was obviously on a much smaller scale.  Anyway, it was a good time with great people.  I am actually glad it's over now though.  Sad, but glad.  :)  Can't believe we leave two weeks from today.  So. Bittersweet. So. So. Bittersweet.

Quick Dinner

Who doesn't like quick dinners?  Here's what I threw together tonight...and it was quite great tasting too!

Chicken Cordon Bleu (I get a 6 pack from Sam's Club for about $11, but I know you can also get them from King Soopers and Schwans.)

Rice-A-Roni,  Long Grain Rice or other variety

1 Celery Stalk, finely chopped

1 Carrot, finely chopped

2 T.  Onion, finely chopped

1.  Preheat oven and start cooking the Chicken Cordon Bleu according to the package instructions.  Mine cooked at 400degrees for about 30 minutes.

2.  Once you have the chicken in the oven start the rice.  Follow the package instructions, but add about 1/2 cup more water and the veggies.  Cook as instructed.

3.  Once the chicken and rice are done, serve and enjoy!

All done in about 35 minutes, with little work but very satisfied people!

Rice will serve 4 people, and be sure to cook as many Chicken Cordon Bleu's as you need.  (For example, I cooked 2 tonight--one for my husband and one for me!)  :)

Healthy Apple Cinnamon Muffins

Healthy Apple Cinnamon Muffins

Muffins:

1 c. Bisquick
1 c. whole wheat flour
¾ c. Sugar
1 ½ c. applesauce, unsweetened (Can use homemade or storebought)
1/2 c. milk, preferably skim
2 eggs
½ t. salt
1 ½ t. cinnamon

Topping:
4 T. sugar
3 T. flour
2 T. butter
1/2 t. cinnamon

1.  In a large bowl mix bisquick, wheat flour, sugar, applesauce, milk, eggs, salt and cinnamon together.

2.  Line or grease muffin pan, and preheat oven to 400°.

3.  Spoon muffin mixture into the 12 lined/greased muffin spots evenly.  (Should fill 12 nicely.)

4.  Combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon and butter for the topping using a fork or pastry blender.  (Until it looks like streusel.)

5.  Spoon about 1 T. of topping on each muffin.

6.  Bake muffins for about 25-30 minutes at 400°.

7.  Let cool in pan for about 10 minutes.  Then remove from pan and finish cooling on a cooling rack.

8.  May be served warm or room temperature for breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner or snack!  :)

Pasta Salad

You know, pasta salads are a nice for summer and also a good way to get creative with veggies.  So I like to experiment with them and sometimes I throw them up here.  :)  So here's what I made yesterday.  A little different than what you normally see in a pasta salad, but still delicious and nutritious!  :)  This is also one of those dished that you can make really, super easily!  For instance just cook a little extra pasta when you are going to have it for dinner.  Then measure it and set aside for the next night's pasta salad.  (That's what I just did this week...)

1 c. cooked whole wheat small shells

1 c. cooked small shells

1 c. broccoli chopped

1 sweet bell pepper chopped

2 T. Italian dressing

Just mix all these 5 ingredients together and that's it!  Enjoy!  (Serve refrigerated.)  You could always add diced ham, cheese or turkey too.  :)

Frestive Corn Salsa

(Fresh and Festive Corn Salsa)  Yep, I just made that up.  :)  Silly...but this is even better than my original fresh corn salsa recipe I posted a couple days ago!  I just can't get enough of it!  I made more this afternoon, so we could have fiesta salads for dinner again.  I love them oh so much, and lucky for me they are super healthy!  :)

Frestive Salsa featured on an Enchilada. : )

Frestive Corn Salsa:
4 ears of corn, cooked and corn cut off (Sweet corn works best!)
1 Red Bell Pepper, chopped
1 Jalapeno Pepper, chopped finely  (I recommend using the seeds in this recipe too for an added kick!)
2 cloves Garlic, minced
2 T. Onion, finely chopped
Cilantro, roughly chopped  (As much as you like!  I did about as much as would pack into a 1/4 cup.)

1.  Mix all ingredient together in a medium bowl.

2.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

3.  Enjoy!

Cilantro Lemon Dressing

Since I got that huge head of Green Lead lettuce today I wanted to have a salad.  So I did...and finished the dressing we had.  Whoops...anyway, I decided to try making some that kind of tasted like the great stuff at Qdoba.  Theirs is Cilantro Lime Dressing for their Mango Chicken Salad.  Anyway, since I didn't have limes...I changed it to lemon.  I also don't think mine tastes much like theirs...but it is good.  So here's the recipe: :)

Cilantro Lemon Dressing

1 T. Lemon Juice

1/3 c.  Fresh Cilantro

2 T. Olive Oil

1/4 c. Apple Cider Vineagar

1 T. Honey

1.  Put all five ingredients into a blender or food processor and mix until completely combined.

2.  Pour into container of choice.  I used a funnel and put in a glass dressing bottle.  (That no longer had dressing in it, and I washed it of course.)

3.  Get creative with using this on salads.  I am thinking of making some Qdoba-esk salads tonight for use with this.  :)

Fresh Corn Salsa

Fresh Corn Salsa.  There's nothing quite like it.  I especially love it at Chipotle.  So here's my rendition...and I really like the way it turned out! Try it for yourself and let me know what you think!  :)

Corn Salsa:

2 Ears of Corn, Cooked and corn cut off (I used sweet corn, and one was white and one was yellow.  Whatever you prefer will work though!)

1 Jalepeno Pepper, finely chopped

2 Cloves Garlic, finely chopped

Pinch of Fresh Cilantro, roughly chopped (I added a pretty large pinch because I love it!  But you can do whatever you want!)

1 T. Onion, finely chopped

1.  Mix corn, jalepeno, garlic, cilantro and onion together.

2.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

3.  Enjoy!  :)

Tuna Pasta Salad

Just in time for Memorial Day picnics and BBQs!  Here's a salad that everyone can enjoy and you can tailor to make sure everyone will.  :)  You can serve this as a main dish or side dish.  Enjoy. . .

Tuna Pasta Salad

1 c. Whole Grain Shells

1 c. Shells

1 can or small pouch of tuna (I use chunk or solid white, but you could use any!)

1.5 c. Veggies (I used 3/4 c. Peas and 3/4 c. Corn)

Garlic to taste (I did 4 cloves, minced)

Dash of Olive Oil

1/4 c.  Sour Cream (I used Fat Free)

1.  Cook pasta according to pkg. instructions.  (I used medium shells and they only took 11 minutes.)

2.  Drain and rinse pasta, then place in a bowl.

3.  Mix in tuna, veggies, garlic, olive oil and sour cream.

4.  Cover and store in the fridge until ready to serve.

5.  Enjoy!

Healthier Broccoli Cheese Casserole

Alright, if you are like me you love a good cheesy casserole. But if you're like me you also don't like all the calories and fat that those contain.... So, I've been experimenting and here's what I have come up with for a Broccoli Cheese Casserole!

Broccoli Cheese Casserole:

4 c. Cooked Brown Rice
3 c. Broccoli (Could also have some carrots and cauliflower in there too.)
1/2 c. Skim Milk
1 c. Low-Fat Cheddar Cheese, shredded

1. Combine the cooked rice, milk and broccoli in a bowl.
2. Then add the cheese and mix together.
3. Put in a casserole dish, and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

4-6 servings.

2 Notes on Panera's French Onion Soup

So I have been curious if I could just use one or two types of onions in the soup, instead of five, and still have it taste the same. I also wondered if I could get away with using a cheaper but similar cheese and have it still taste great. So today, I tried it! I will let you know just how it turned out too! :)

1. So instead of the five types of onions Panera's recipe calls for, I used about 2 lbs. of Yellow Onions and 2 lbs. of White Onions. I did everything else the same for the soup recipe. I was pleased to find it still tastes like Panera's! I suppose there might be a subtle disctinction but I would probably only be able to notice the difference if I had a side by side taste test. So it's a relief that I only have to buy two types of onions to make a great French Onion Soup at home. (I got them on sale at King Soopers and it was only about $4 all together for all those onions! So it's significantly cheaper than getting 5 varieties!)

2. I had a hard time trying this because the one thing I love the most about Panera's French Onion Soup is that they don't have ridiculous amounts of stringy cheese on top. In fact, they have just enough cheese on top and it's really not even stringy at all. I noticed that when I was making the croutons last time and put the cheese on them the "Gruyere" smelled and tasted a lot like regular Swiss cheese as we know it. So, I thought I would try the croutons with Swiss instead of Gruyere. I was again pleasantly surprised at the end result. It didn't have as strong of a flavor of the cheese and with the Gruyere but, since Swiss is so much cheaper I am pretty sure I will always use Swiss from now on!

Just thought I would update you on those two things! Have fun in the kitchen, till next time! :)

Panera's French Onion Soup

I love French Onion Soup. My favorite has got to be Panera's and my mom recently sent me their recipe. You can't find it on their website anymore...but here's a link to it. I just had to try it, and I was pleased with the results. In fact, apparently it was so good my husband now likes onions. (Or so he says...not sure I believe him yet.)

I made a slight variation in my soup due to what I had on hand. It really did taste just about identical to their French Onion Soup at Panera Bread though. So I am definitely impressed they actually put their recipe on the web! :)

I made a half batch because I only cook for two and quite frankly I don't have a big enoguh pot for a whole batch. (Who really does?!?) I had all the types of onions except for leeks, so I didn't put them in. I also used dried Thyme instead of fresh. Beware when you are buying the ingredients because the "Gruyere" cheese is quite expensive. (Expect to pay around $20 a pound, but you don't need a whole pound for this recipe.) You wouldn't have to get this type, but I highly recommend it. It was just the perfect touch to ensure it tasted like Panera's soup.

I hope you enjoy this soup at home as much as I did. Get cooking, if you'd like! :)

Homemade Tortillas

Don't you just love the taste of homemade tortillas? I sure do. I've made them from scratch before, but they can be a lot of work. While my husband and I were shopping the other day we found this mix below for tortillas. All you have to do is add water and then make them! Super easy and delicious.

My hubs made some for us on Saturday night and they turned out well. So today I just had to make some for lunch. See the pic below for how they turned out! So easy and so yummy!

Now, I just have to find the perfect combo of things to put inside for them to taste like my favorite tacos I had in Mexico about 11 years ago.....I will post when I master them! :)

Hearty Butternut Squash Soup

Here's my recipe for Hearty Butternut Squash Soup.

Tortilla Soup

I love tortilla soup and still am trying to perfect my recipe for it, but here's the one I published on AC.