Cheesy Garlic Bread Monkey Bread

Lately I’ve been trying to serve fresh bread with dinner. I got a bread maker for my birthday last year and I love being able to make bread with ingredients I can pronounce. Well today we planted our herb garden with a very crabby five year old! So needless to say, I forgot to get the bread going. With the hubs and daughter at ballet, I searched Pinterest for a quick bread idea. So the following was inspired by ideas on Pinterest and really driven by the fact I didn’t have the necessary ingredients for the original recipe!

Cheesy Garlic Monkey Bread
1 can of Grands biscuits
5-7 triangles of Laughing Cow garlic and Herb “cheese”
1/2 stick of butter
2 tablespoons of garlic

Heat the oven to 350 and place the butter in a bunt pan. Stick the pan in the oven while the oven is warming up. Meanwhile, cut biscuits into quarters using a pizza cutter or whatever you can fid to cut said biscuits. Roll each quarter out with a rolling pin (or do it my way and mush it out with your fingers) put 1/8-1/4 of a triangle of cheese in the middle of each biscuit quarter and pinch closed. Pull the bunt pan out and add two tablespoons of garlic to the melted butter (I just realized you could throw the garlic in with the butter in the very beginning). Add the biscuit pockets to the bunt pan and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Allow to cool for a few minutes and invert onto a pan! Enjoy!

Yes! I know this is neither clean or healthy, but it sure is yummy!!

Skinny recipes

Lately I have been in a cooking mood!  I love to cook, especially when I get stressed out.  I usually follow the recipes, at least the first attempt, but sometimes I like to alter my recipes from the get go.  I created an amazing recipe for some Peach Apple Bread by taking a couple of recipes and meshing them together.

In my search to get better organized and eat at home more often, I discovered a website call ziplist.com.  This website it my new savior!  Not only can I make a weekly menu, create a shopping list, and store all my recipes I’ve found online, on one single website, but they have an iPhone app as well!  I don’t have to write down my list! I can just use my phone and check things off in the store!!

I have also discovered a website called skinnytaste.com.  This lady is AMAZING!!!  She has a recipe for a peanut butter thai chicken slower cooker recipe that is to die for!  She also has a recipe that I am dying to try out, stuffed buffalo chicken!  I’ll let you know how it goes!!  

Taco Soup

I have been working on perfecting my Taco Soup recipe for months and I think I may have found the correct ratio of beany goodness!

In a slow cooker combine the following

1 can Northern Beans

1 can Black Beans

1 can Chili Beans

1 can diced tomatoes (Rotel works great)

1 can corn

1 can vegetable broth (beef works too)

1 package ranch dressing mix

1 package taco seasoning

½ jar of taco sauce

1 pound of cooked ground beef (I use Quorn crumbles to make mine vegetarian)

1 clove of garlic

1 chopped onion (I use the froze chopped onion and add half a bag)

Cook on low for 8 hours and serve with cheese and sour cream

I always double this recipe so we have leftovers!!

Overnight refrigerated oatmeal

I was introduced to an innovated idea via a posting on Pintrest the other day, refrigerated oatmeal! As I have posted before, breakfast is a hard meal for me. I need foods that both myself and the kiddo will eat that are healthy. I have found the more substantial the first meal is the less I munch throughout the day!

This oatmeal includes an ingredient called Chia seeds which you can find at Sunflower Market or Whole Foods, Fry’s might even carry them as well. They are loaded with Omega 3 fatty acids! I played around with two favors during my experiment chocolate cherry and raspberry vanilla. The base of the oatmeal is:
1/4 cup old fashion oatmeal
1/3 cup skim milk (I used almond milk because of the kiddos allergy)
1/4 cup of Greek yogurt
1-1/2 tsp chia seeds

From here I added about 1/3 cup of frozen fruit, 1 tsp of extract (almond with the cherries and vanilla with the raspberries), 1tablespoon preserves, and 1 tablespoon of cocoa with the cherry flavored one. I added this all to these amazing freezable canning jars that I found at Walmart, screwed on the top and shook them up! (Don’t add the fruit before shaking if you are using fresh or canned fruit, stir the fruit in after shaking.) then they sit in the refrigerator overnight and the chia seed and oatmeal absorb the liquid and soften.

I am not a huge fan of the chocolate cherry concoction. I ended up adding about 1 teaspoon of honey this morning to make it more palatable. So I will continue to tweak it.

Black Bean Brownies: High in fiber, low in fat….Bet you didn’t know that!!

“I love Beans” puts it best I love beans!!  I love brownies!! Most people wouldn’t suggest combining the two, UNTIL NOW!! Pureed black beans are fantastic substitute for the water, egg, and oil in most brownie recipes!  This recipe makes the brownies fudgey and not cake like.

Black Bean Brownies:

1 can of black beans (DO NOT DRAIN)

1 box of brownie mix (family size 9X13)

Puree black beans with liquid (you will still have some skins, but that is ok).  Mix with brownie mix.  Bake according to the box!  I have found that I usually have to bake it for an extra 3-5 minutes, but check it at the time listed on the box as oven temps vary.

Rubens: Quesadilla or Sandwich?

Last night I made one of my favorite meals!  It has been a rough day.  I ended up throwing away everything in my refrigerator because my kiddo figured out how to turn off the freezer and refrigerator.  (long story, moral of which is to lock the touch pad on the front the the fridge)  After dealing that disaster I didn’t really feel like spending more time in the kitchen.  So I picked up some pastrami, broccoli slaw, thousand island dressing, tortillas, and mozzarella cheese to make Ruben Quesadillas.  I usually make this from corned beef that I have cooking in the slow cooker, but the pastrami was a quick substitute.  I actually think I liked it better!!

Ruben Quesadillas (adapted from Pampered Chef)

8 oz. pastrami thinly sliced (corned beef, turkey, or even tofurkey would work depending on your tastes)

1 small bag of shredded mozzarella (Swiss is awesome too and you can use more if you love cheese!)

1 bag of broccoli slaw (found in the produce section)

1 bottle of 1,000 Island Dressing (I used the light)

8 small tortillas

Layer the ingredients in the following order: Tortilla, mozzarella, meat, broccoli slaw, dressing (Small amount approx. 2 T), cheese, and top with tortilla

I bake mine on the Pampered Chef stones in the oven at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes, but check them occasionally to make sure they tortillas are not burning.  You can also grill them on a griddle, but this takes a little bit longer.  Serve with additional dressing to dip in and ta da! you have dinner!!

Fast food in your fridge?

We, as busy Americans, love how easy it is to go to the drive-thru for food.  I know I do!  On the days that the kiddo has an afternoon activity, it is so easy to just say “aww we will just pick something up.  We don’t do it THAT often…”  But then it gets more and more often and suddenly you realize that the reason your child can sight read words like “bell, pizza, taco, and McDonald’s” is because you are going through the drive-thru WAY too often!!  (You also know you shop too much when your child tells you that something is on sale when you tell her no she cannot have anything, but alas that is for another blog!!)    Even when I try to eat healthy by ordering, say, a salad from Wendy’s, I have to ask myself how healthy is this?  My favorite salad is the Baja Salad which comes with chili!  This salad has a whopping 470 calories and that is in the half size portion.  Now granted, I also get additional salad dressing because as much as I love salad, I hate the taste of lettuce (one of many eccentricities)  so that adds additional calories.  Now the good news is that this salad has 18 grams of protein!!  Oh but it also has 31 grams of fat and carbs with 8 of those being sugar and 10 grams being saturated fat.  You get my point.  Obviously this is a better choice than the Bacon Deluxe Double which has 890 calories in just the sandwich, 56 grams of fat (24 saturated fat), and 42 grams of carbs.  Even something as small of french fries pack a punch! (Medium fry from Wendy’s 420 calories, 21 grams of fat, 55 grams of carbs) When I started looking at the calories that I am consuming, I was amazed.  I thought I was making better choices at the drive-thru and honestly compared to other menu items I am, but those calories/fat/carbs/etc add up!

My problem was with my thought process.  It isn’t easy after working all day, running errands, or whatever to come home and cook a healthy mean.  It IS easy to have someone else do all the work!  However, we are paying for  it via our waist sizes and with our health.  I know that everyone knows this, it isn’t breaking news!  However I know that I needed a wake up call.  So I am done preaching, and now on to the segment better know as “Duh! I should have known that”!  What if that someone who does all the work is you, but a past you? No I am not talking time travel (even though that would be AWESOME!)  but rather having stuff in the fridge that is easy to grab and throw together.  (I am going to work harder on this because I am notorious for forgetting to pull something out of the freezer!) One thing I am going to start doing is to have “grab and go” foods ready for those moments that I feel like I need to nibble.  I am talking things like mini carrots, tomatoes, strawberries, etc, that will be washed and bagged into snack size portions.  On those busy nights, I am going to work harder on planning ahead and having something in the slow cooker so dinner is ready when I get home.  This has the added benefit of not heating up the house when it is 120 degrees outside!!

So that takes care of dinner.  Lunches are usually a sandwich made in a tortilla.  I also am going to start having things like egg salad and salad toppings ready to go in containers. I mentioned in an earlier post that we are going down a more whole food path.  I cannot go vegan, well I could I chose not to, because my kiddo lives off cheese and won’t eat peanut butter.  I want to make sure that we have protein options open to her and I have already blogged about my view on soy.

So then there is breakfast.  I hate breakfast.  I have this issue with eggs, which would be one of the few options we have for breakfast.  I can cook them as long I don’t have to eat

Not my muffins!

them or see them again.  This probably goes back to when I had first had my surgery and it was one of the few foods I could tolerate in my pureed food stage.  Pancakes would be awesome, minus the fact we eat them with a ton of butter and they are all carbs and very little protein.  (I have dumping syndrome if I don’t eat protein before a sugar source).  Cereal is an option, but again sugar and a lack of protein.  So we are going to try green smoothies, but these are not a quick fix meal.  Then I remember a long lost recipe that my mother had for bran muffins.  This recipe makes a huge batch of muffin mix that can be kept in the fridge for up to 6 weeks!  So last night I made up the mix.  This morning I woke up and made 6 muffins!  It took all of 20 minutes which included preheating the oven, waking up enough to find the muffin wrappers and the muffin pan!!  And tad-da breakfast that my kiddo would eat!!!

So I will leave you with the well guarded secret of my muffin success and the promise that tomorrow I will take a picture of my muffins…

 

Bran Refrigerated Muffin Mix

Combine 15 oz raisin bran cereal (I used plain bran cereal for less sugar), 5c of flour, 3c white sugar*, 5tsp baking soda, and 2 tsp salt in a large (LARGE!) bowl.

Beat 4 eggs well.  Add 1 cup salad oil and 1 quart buttermilk.  Mix well and then add to the dry ingredients.  Mix well BUT ONLY UNTIL BLENDED.

Store in the refrigerator for up to 6 weeks.  Bake in muffin tins at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes

*I replaced the white sugar with 2 cups of Agave syrup for a less processed product.  I added this to the liquid ingredients instead of to the dry ingredients.

 

To veg or not to veg….

Today I watched “Forks over Knives” on Netflix. (Love Netflix!) It is an interesting documentary about how a whole food diet can improve your health.  I won’t ruin the movie for you, but it worth watching.  Anyway, I have been thinking about going pseudo-vegetarian for awhile now and this pushed me over the edge.  I am not going to be vegan only because I don’t want the kiddo eating too much soy and I need mass amount of protein.  So today I loaded up on veggies and fake meat that does not contain soy!  I am actually kind of excited about the conversion!

I realize that this isn’t a choice everyone will make and that is a-ok!  I am just curios to see how it affect my health!  I’ll keep you posted!!

Strawberries and Cream

In the summer my dad used to make strawberries and custard with fresh strawberries and Bird’s Instant Custard.  I can remember biting into a cold strawberry and having this mix of hot custard and cold sweet strawberry exploding in my mouth.  Since I have gotten older, I have been trying to resurrect some of my dad’s old recipes.  The other night I really wanted strawberries and custard, but I have to special order Bird’s from England and it just isn’t feasible for those last minute cravings.  Strawberries were on sale for $0.99 and I decided I could make something similar.  Not so much, but my experiment became an instant favorite.

I took pound cake (which could be omitted for a healthier dessert), strawberries, cool whip (light or sugar), and vanilla instant pudding mix (sugar free).  I washed, cored, and dried the strawberries and put them in the fridge before dinner so they would be nice and cold.  After dinner I cubed the pound cake and put it in separate bowls. I mixed the vanilla pudding with 2 cups of milk (almond because we don’t use regular milk) and then folded in the cool whip.  I cut up the strawberries for the kiddo, but left the adults whole and put them on top of the pound cake and then added a healthy portion of the pudding mix to the top.  I guess it more like strawberry shortcake, but shhh.  The next time I make this I am leaving out the pound cake and just making the strawberries!!!