Broccoli Salad v.1

A few months back I started using Caloriecount.com to track my eating.  I had no real idea of how many calories I was consuming in a day, or where I needed to be at to lose some weight.  One of the features I like about the site is that it provides you a nutritional report card based on the foods you eat each day. Because I'm a little bit competitive, even with myself, my goal is to eat in such a way that I'm getting at least an A- on most days.  What I found as I started logging the foods I ate, was that I didn't have enough variety in what I was eating and I wasn't hitting the nutritional guidelines I wanted.  So, in order to try and reach those goals, I've been making an effort to eat a bigger variety of foods, especially fruits and veggies.

I really like salad.  However, eating the same exact spinach salad, with the same veggies, day after day simply gets boring.  So, I've been pinning lots and lots of ideas on my Pinterest boards and trying them out as various fruit/veggies come into season and/or are on sale.

One of the recipes I've found is for a broccoli salad that I've now made about 3 times because it has lots of yummy bits that probably aren't so good for you, but also has a lot of yummy bits that are good for you, so it balances out!

The recipe for this salad is here: Broccoli Salad with Bacon and Cheese  

I've made a few changes to the recipe.  It calls for both cranberries and raisins.  Depending on what I have on hand at the time, I've used Craisins, raisins, and various dried fruits.  So far, all of them have worked out well.  If you know me in real life, then you probably know I have an aversion to mayonnaise that I *know* about in a recipe.  So that means I'm never going to willingly put mayo into anything.  If it sneaks into my food and I don't *know* about it, sometimes I'm ok with it, but as a general rule, ick, yuck, no way.  So for the dressing on this recipe I've tried two different options.  I've made it with plain greek yogurt, and also with a combo of plain greek yogurt and light sour cream.  The version with the light sour cream/greek yogurt is a little tangier, so that's really my preference.  However, both options work out well, and in my opinion are actually a healthier alternative to using mayo.  I'm not sure how much of a difference in taste there would be with using the actual mayo, but I'm not going to try it out, so you're on your own if you go that route!  The other addition I've made to the recipe is to throw in a handful of sunflower seeds.  It goes well with the other flavors in the salad and I like the extra crunch.

Overall, this is a hearty salad, easily filling enough for a lunch or maybe even a light dinner.  I also like that the recipe is versatile in that you can really sub out a lot of the ingredients for things you have on hand without difficulty and still have the salad turn out tasty.  This one definitely makes a regular appearance in my house now!

Summer Obsession - Salads with Fruit!

Dinner Tonight:  Marinated Pork, Spinach Salad, Peas and Potatoes

Today was hectic, so it ended up being one big meal instead of three small ones.  But it was so worth it to have this fantastic dinner!

Salad:

Fresh Spinach
Honeydew
Blackberries
Feta
Honey-Ginger Dressing made from olive oil, fresh ginger, Amish honey, lemon juice, salt and pepper

I've been waiting for months for blackberries to be in season to try this salad and it's definitely going to be in rotation as long as blackberries are around and reasonably priced.  The flavors in this really went well together and it was super tasty!


Pork:

I marinated the pork for about 3 hours with olive oil, juice of one fresh lemon, 2 cloves of garlic, about 1  T. thyme, salt and pepper.  This was good for about two of the boneless pork chops shown above.  A friend had recommended the marinade for tenderloin, but I didn't have any on hand so I substituted the chops I was planning on stuffing.  It worked.

Peas:  Just frozen peas with a little bacon, nothing exciting, but I love peas with my baked potatoes.  I know I just said I was cutting down on white carbs, but maybe I lied.  In any case, white carbs in moderation are fine.

Overall, this was a really summery feeling meal, even though there was more than enough to feed an army.  But hey, it's Memorial Day, so maybe that's appropriate.

The Blackberry salad as well as the pork are both going to be seen again soon!

A New Twist on a Favorite - Southwestern Shepard's Pie

So, I'm pretty much a terrible blogger.  I've been doing plenty of cooking, but not much in the way of posting.  I've got a back load of pics I've taken and I'm going to try to get caught soon with some of the yumminess that's been happening in my kitchen!

Shepard's Pie is one of my favorite comfort food meals, I think I've posted about it before.  I saw a couple recipes for Shepard's Pie with sweet potatoes, and as I'm trying to move away from eating *so* many white carbs, I thought maybe trying a Shepard's Pie with a Southwestern flair might be tasty.

What I did:

I browned about a pound of ground beef with about a half an onion and some garlic.  Drained.  Added some frozen mixed vegetables (probably 2 cups) and a can of drained diced tomatoes.  To this mixture I added what I'd usually use for taco seasoning - chili Powder, onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, salt and pepper. (I can't tell you exactly how much because I really just keep adding spices until it tastes "right".)

I put this mixture at the bottom of a deep casserole dish.  On top of the beef/veggie layer I sprinkled about 1.5 cups of sharp cheddar cheese.  On top of this, I spread out a layer of mashed sweet potatoes and sprinkled it with paprika.  I cooked it for about 45 minutes at 350.

It came out fabulous.  The flavors I used in the beef an veggie layer really complimented the sweet potato topping well.  The only complaint I have about the experiment has to do with the mashed sweet potatoes. sweet potatoes seem to hold on to more liquid than regular white potatoes.  So even though I drained most of the liquid before I mashed them (which I just mashed with a little butter and some of the water I used to boil the potatoes), you can see from the picture that there was some extra liquid once it baked and the sweet potatoes were a little watery.  If I try this experiment again I have two ideas - either I'll bake the sweet potatoes first and mash them like you would for twice baked potatoes, or I'll omit *any* additional water when I mash them.  I'm leaning more towards baking the potatoes first, though, I think that will probably give me the desired effect, though I'm open to suggestions!

Super Easy and Very Delicious!

This meal was so easy to make and both Biscuit and I loved it.  Chicken baked in a curry-orange sauce.  The chicken made the whole house smell yummy.  I served this one over plain white rice with a side of steamed broccoli.  Meal took about 45 minutes total, and 30 of that was just the chicken baking!

Here's the recipe:

1 c. orange marmalade
1 T. curry powder
2 t. red pepper flakes
1 t. salt
1/2 cup water
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Preheat over to 350.  Mix first five ingredients together.  Pour over chicken and bake for 30 mins.  Serve over rice.

That's it.  It's that easy to have a delicious home cooked dinner. :D

I love pasta!!

I don't think I ever get tired of good old pasta with meat sauce.  Here's my cheater's way to almost homemade sauce:

Kath's Not Quite Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

3 16 oz. cans Hunt's Tomato Puree (not sauce, the sauce is icky salty)
1 small can tomato paste
1/4 c. red wine
1/2 lb. ground Italian sausage
1/2 lb. ground beef
4 cloves garlic
2 T. balsamic vinegar
1 T. sugar
1 lb. baby bellas
1 small onion
pinch of salt
oregano
basil
marjoram

Brown ground beef and Italian sausage over medium-high heat.  Add garlic and chopped onion, continue to cook for about 5 mins.  Add mushrooms and cook about 2 mins more.  Drain off any grease from the meat.

Add the tomato puree, wine, vinegar, tomato paste, sugar, salt, and spices to taste. Bring to a boil and then let simmer for at least 30 minutes.  Taste and adjust spices as needed.

Serve over the pasta of your choice.  Almost homemade, but faster!

Very Citrus Stir Fry

Because I can't always eat creamy fattening goodness, I'm always on the lookout for healthier recipes for balance.  Biscuit's a big fan of stir fries, so I decided that would be good for a lighter dinner.

I found a recipe for an Orange based stir fry sauce recipe, which had enough diversity in ingredients I felt it would be tasty.  The sauce was to be served over chicken and scallions, but I wanted to incorporate some additional veggies, so I doubled the recipe for the sauce and added broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, and snow peas.  The other change I made was to add a bit more orange juice to the sauce, probably equivalent to the juice of one whole orange for the double batch.

It turned out to be a really flavorful stir fry.  I served this over rice tossed with toasted sesame seeds. There was just the right amount of heat from the red pepper flakes and a nice strong flavor of orange in the sauce.  Fairly quick and easy to make as well, so good for a week night.  We will definitely make this again.

If you are interested in trying the recipe, you'll find it here: Yummy Orange Stir Fry.

Yummy, Yummy Pork

I had some boneless pork chops I needed to use up last night, so I made Chinese Marinated Pork with fried rice for dinner last night.

I let the pork marinate for about 4 hours and then Biscuit grilled it on the charcoal grill.  This was one of the best marinades I've had and we liked this so much I'm probably going to cook it again tomorrow for my parents, though I may substitute chicken for the pork as my Mom isn't the biggest fan of pork chops.

Here's the recipe for the marinade: Oh So Yummy Pork Marinade.  We were out of Hoisin sauce, so I added an extra tablespoon of black bean sauce as well as a tablespoon of Thai sweet chili sauce.  I added one extra tablespoon of soy sauce, as well.  One of the reviewers of this recipe said she thought it lacked flavor, but I strongly disagree.  The marinade was as close to perfect (for my taste anyway) as any I've tried recently.  As a side note, I looked up some of that reviewers other reviews, and the only recipe she liked had TWO TABLESPOONS of cayenne in it.  I think she must have killed her taste buds!

The fried rice was my standard recipe:

2 cups of medium grain rice (better if it's day old)
1/2 onion
garlic (I don't actually measure this, probably 1-2 cloves)
2 eggs
1 cup frozen peas/carrots
olive oil or butter
soy sauce

Scramble eggs and set aside.  Cook the onion and garlic over medium high heat until soft.  Add a little more oil (sesame oil is nice, but olive oil works in a pinch) and add the rice.  Stir fry for about 2 minutes then mix in the frozen peas/carrots.  Cook about two minutes more and add the egg and soy sauce (more or less depending on taste, again I don't measure this).  Mix well and cook until everything is heated, maybe 2 minutes more.  It's a really simple recipe that can be tailored to your individual taste (different veggies, more or less soy, etc).

This was one of the best meals we've had in a while.  I will definitely be making this again!

Late Night Crepes

Growing up, my Mom would sometimes make crepes.  We actually had this gadget called a crepe maker, and I thought I remembered crepes being a big pain to make.  I saw a recipe that looked interesting and decided to give crepes a try.  I didn't even pull out any fancy gadgets.  Just a skillet and a spatula.

Crepes are ridiculously easy to make in a pan.  In fact, I think it's way easier than using that silly crepe maker.  Who would have thought that?  (Well, maybe lots of people, but I'm not one of them)

It was a pretty standard crepe recipe, I made it up in my Magic Bullet Blender and let the batter sit for about 45 minutes so the air bubbles had time to settle.  Cooked the whole batch up in less than 20 minutes.

I stuffed the crepes with Monterey Jack Cheese and corn kernels.  For a heartier meal, you could definitely add chicken to this.  The stuffed crepes cooked in the oven at 350 for about 15 minutes.

I topped these with a Poblano Cream Sauce.  The recipe is here: Crepes and Poblano Cream Sauce.  I had to use Serrano Peppers as my infamously awful Kroger did not have Poblanos.  I read that they were an acceptable substitute, but have since learned that my sauce was probably far spicier heat-wise than if I had used the Poblanos.  I'll definitely hunt them out next time.

Both Biscuit and I loved this recipe.  Spicy, gooey cheese goodness, and a fairly quick meal to boot!