Currently Browsing: potluck
Mar 25, 2011
Posted by Jennifer on Mar 25, 2011 in chicken, Dinner Idea, Food Finds, grocery store ideas, party food!, potluck | 10 comments
This is the first time I’ve made enchiladas this way, and I think I’ll make them this way again they were so good! I started with 4 frozen chicken breasts (boneless and skinless), an enchilada sauce packet, mixed with a can of tomato sauce. Cook on low all day.
When I got home from work, I took the chicken out, it was super tender and shredded easily. Take a tortilla, fill it with the shredded chicken (for my 2, I weighed out 2 oz. of chicken each). Roll up and place seam side down in a 9×13 inch casserole dish.
I actually poured all the sauce leftover from the crock pot over the enchiladas and sprinkled with cheese. Bake for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees. YUM!!
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Food find. Most of you know I love to save money at the grocery store and I frequently shop at Aldi Foods. Imagine my surprise when I saw that their brand “Millville” now makes Kashi look alike cereals for half the price of Kashi! This box was only $2.49.
It tastes exactly like Kashi and has the same nutritional info: 190 calories per serving and 8 grams of fiber.
Also, I’d like share a site that is relatively new to me, but I’ve been enjoying reading. Tiffany from The Gracious Pantry has lost 50 pounds so far and has a great blog about eating clean as well as great recipes. Tiffany you are a great inspiration to many!
What weekend plans do you have? It’s going to be another chilly weekend in Chicago. I had to drop my son Mark off at school today at 5:30 a.m to go on his 7th grade trip to Springfield – he’ll be gone until 9:30 tonight – I’m sure he’ll have a great day!
Nov 24, 2010
Posted by Jennifer on Nov 24, 2010 in a day in the life of me!, holiday foods, party food!, potluck, Side dish | 6 comments
I still can’t believe the year is coming to an end soon. It always seems like its summer, then my kids are back in school and then the Holidays are upon us!
This week I have been especially busy. I once again overextended myself in offering to bake things for charity, collect items for a needy family and deliver them, project manager for the fall girl scout troop candy fundraiser, working full time and then taking care of my Mom’s cats while she is away on vacation. Phew!
Luckily I am off for a 4 day weekend and I am super excited about that. I love spending time at home with my family, cooking, baking, staying in my pajamas as long as possible. And my husband’s side of the family is gathering together on Saturday for what will be my Mother-in-Laws last Thanksgiving with us. She is very ill, her health failing, so people are coming in from all over to make probably the most special Thanksgiving we’ve had. She’s 86 years old, and I know there are a lot of people who have horrible mother-in-law stories, but I was blessed with an awesome one! She’s always loved me like her daughter and I am so lucky for that!
So this Thanksgiving, be thankful of the family you have, because you never know if that could be the last one with them. Enjoy the food, the conversation and great time!
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Are you still looking for Thanksgiving last minute recipes? I’ve recently begun reading Jennifer Iserloh’s blog. She is known as “The Skinny Chef” making foods that taste good, but are good for you. She has a post today with awesome Thanksgiving recipes. CLICK HERE to check those out.
Also, in case you were wondering how to make it through Thanksgiving without gaining weight, go on over to my brother Charlie’s blog. He’s figured out how to enjoy a FULL thanksgiving meal….for only 100 calories. How? CLICK HERE to read about that.
AND, if you are carving a turkey for the first time this year, FOOD TV has a great video clip giving you some tips so you look like a pro CLICK HERE to check it out.
And, my sister is experimenting with a gluten free diet, and I recently met Betsy who has a GREAT and informative blog called Gluten Free Betsy, so if that’s something you are considering, or know someone who is has a gluten sensitivity, it’s definitely a great starting point.
Enjoy your day before Thanksgiving prep!! Hopefully you’ll be able to enjoy and relax a little too!
Nov 5, 2010
Posted by Jennifer on Nov 5, 2010 in breakfast, Dinner Idea, lunch, party food!, potluck | 4 comments
I was inspired to make these when Dave from Year on the Grill made quiches for his wife. Instead of a crust, he used shredded potatoes as the base. I LOVE quiches, so decided to make individual ones for my breakfast this week.
Makes 2
Ingredients
1 large potato (mine was 8 oz) – shredded (place shredded potatoes in water to prevent browning before use)
2 eggs
1 cheese stick
1 cup skim milk
2 oz. deli ham
2 green onions, chopped
Directions:
Shred the potatoes and place in water while prepping everything else.
In a large jumbo muffin pan, take half of the potato (squeezed of excess moisture) and place that in the bottom of the muffin pan (generously coated with Cooking spray).
Bake that for 12 minutes at 375. Remove from the oven, and divide the ham and cheese stick and green onion between the 2 muffin pans. In a small dish crack 1 egg and 1/2 cup skim milk and whisk until smooth. Pour that over the top of the first muffin, and do the same thing for the second one. Bake again for another 12 minutes or so, or until the egg is set.
Each mini quiche is 298 calories, 11 fat 3.3 grams of fiber and 20 grams of protein
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I was reading an article the other day talking about lentils and how good they are for you and if you could only eat 10 things, this should be one of them. I have just started preparing things with lentils. The good thing about them is that it’s super cheap. You can get a big bag from your store for around $2.00. There are many different varieties. Brown, green, black, yellow, orange, red or green.
Lentils are loaded with lots of fiber, folic acid, magnesium, iron, protein, potassium, copper, zinc thiamin, vitamin B6. The fiber helps lower cholesterol and stablize blood sugar, and the folic acid, magnesium and vitamin B6 protect artery walls! Who knew they could do all that?
Last week, my co-worker brought lentils for salad club. She bought these in the refrigerated section at Trader Joe’s.
These lentils bought at Trader Joe’s are all ready to go, you could add them to a salad cold, or warm them up, add them to soups, stews, etc…
With leftovers of tacos from me and leftover salad club stuff, I made this for my lunch which was amazing!
Jenn's taco bowl!
I had a little taco meat leftover, 1 tortilla and veggies from salad club PLUS a big scoop of lentils. I thought it was a great way to bulk up the taco bowl without using as much meat.
My taco bowl was:
Diced green pepper & red pepper
1 tortilla, torn into little pieces
a little cheddar cheese
diced carrot
taco meat
lentils
my homemade salsa
Mix altogether and microwave until heated through. I loved this!
Do you cook with lentils? What do you make?
If you aren’t familiar with cooking lentils, here’s a great link
ALSO: HERSHEY’S CHOCOLATE IS HAVING A KITCHEN MAKEOVER SWEEPSTAKES. CLICK HERE TO ENTER. YOU AND A FRIEND GET KITCHEN MAKEOVERS WORTH $10,000 EACH!
Nov 2, 2010
Posted by Jennifer on Nov 2, 2010 in bread, Dinner Idea, pasta, potluck | 5 comments
I love mac and cheese! But the way I make it you can eat it all the time and still stick to your healthy eating plan. The base of this recipe I got from a Healthy Choice recipe years ago and you can add different things to change it up. I vary the pasta, spices, meat, etc…
Ingredients:
8 oz. pasta (tonight I used WACKY MAC!)
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup flour
squeeze of chipolte mustard (or grainy mustard)
3 cups skim milk
2 oz. cheddar cheese
1 oz. gorgonzola cheese
1 oz. romano cheese
16. oz. package of ham cubes (sold by the packaged deli meat)
green onions, chopped, (optional)
In a large pot cook pasta according to package directions, drain and set aside.
Meanwhile in a smaller skillet add the 1 TB. of butter and let that melt. Add the 1/4 cup flour and cook for several minutes on low heat, stirring constantly. Add the 3 cups skim milk, the mustard salt and pepper to taste and cook for about 8 minutes or until the sauce is thickened. Add the cheeses and stir until the cheese is melted. Then add the ham cubes and cook for another minute or so.
Add the sauce to the cooked pasta. At this point it’s ready to eat, which is what I did tonight, or you could put all that in a casserole dish with a little more cheese sprinkled on top and bake at 350 for 20 minutes until hot and bubbly. Garnish with some chopped green onions.
This makes a ton, and this whole recipe is 6 servings. Each serving is:
That’s a big serving too! And to go with it, I tried my sisters buttermilk biscuits, but I changed a few things.
8 biscuits
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
4 tablespoons margarine (my sister used butter here)
1.5 cups skim milk (my sister used buttermilk here)
Mix the flour, baking powder, sugar, baking soda and salt. Add the 4 TB. of margarine and using a fork, blend the butter until its about the size of a small pea. Add the milk and mix just until combined. Using 1/4 cup measure, scoop out some of the batter and roll it into a loose ball. Place each ball of batter into a round cake pan coated with cooking spray.
Cook at 500 degrees for 5 minutes, then reduce heat to 450 and bake for another 15 minutes.
This recipe makes 8 biscuits, each biscuit is:
Homemade biscuits
Suffice it to say, my family was excited about the biscuits! There is only 1 leftover so I think I may have to have my breakfast sammy tomorrow.
Oct 31, 2010
Posted by Jennifer on Oct 31, 2010 in Dinner Idea, general ideas, party food!, pasta, potluck | 7 comments
A few weeks ago my Pyrex 13×9 inch glass dish shattered on top of my stove. I had cooked something on the burner and I knew the burner was hot, but I figured you could bake something in the glass dish, so it could withstand any heat leftover….but I was wrong. After a minute on top of the stove it completely shattered!
So when I was thinking about making lasagna, I remembered I didn’t have a pan to bake it in anymore, and then remembered my sister makes her spaghetti squash lasagna in a loaf pan. So that’s where I began.
Spray 2 bread loaf pans with Pam Cooking spray.
Into a blender, add 2 medium tomatoes, 1 red pepper (top and seeds removed) 28 oz. can whole tomatoes, 4 cloves of garlic, 1 small onion and 2 tsp. oregano, 2 tsp. basil and salt and pepper, 1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (optional) 1/2 cup ricotta cheese and blend until smooth.
In a skillet, cook 2 links of Italian sausage (casing removed) and as soon as it’s cooked (about 5 minutes) add the tomato sauce from the blender. Cook on low for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
I used the no-bake noodles, like this:
In a medium bowl add the ricotta cheese (I used low fat 15 oz. container) and 1 egg and stir until well combined.
Now you are ready to make the layers.
Start with a ladle of sauce on the bottom of each loaf pan.
Then add one sheet of the uncooked lasagna noodle, a little of the ricotta cheese, and a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese. Keep going until you are out of lasagna noodles. Each package of had 12 sheets, so each loaf pan had 6 layers.
Here’s what it looks like before going into the oven.
Cover both loaf pans with foil and bake at 375 for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, remove the foil. COOKS TIP: TAKE THE PANS OUT OF THE OVEN FIRST TO REMOVE THE FOIL OR ELSE THIS CAN HAPPEN:
WTF? Normally I probably would have cried at this point. But, it’s a new stove, so the inside is still pretty clean. I scooped what I could and put it back in the loaf pan, covered that with more cheese and you continue baking them for another 15 minutes. Let it cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting.
This is the one that didn't fall out!!
So, I figured out the calories if EACH loaf pan is 3 servings.
So, I didn’t think that was too bad for a dinner portion calorie-wise.
Do kitchen disasters happen to you? Do you stay calm, or do you come apart??
