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!!

Lasagna Soup

Two years ago I was introduced to a website called BariatricEating.com and I have fallen in love with several of their recipes.  Tonight I made an edited version of their Lasagna Soup and boy was it amazing!  The thing I love about it is that it has a total of 160 calories, 10 grams of protein and 7 grams of fat per serving (1/16th of the soup).  I made this once before when I was on the pureed section of my post-op diet and I just used an immersion blender to puree the chunks.  A regular blender would work too.  I also left out the pasta.

 

Here’s my version::

1 Tablespoon of olive oil

1 pound of sweet turkey sausage (casings removed)  You could use hot if you wanted or I have made it with veggie burger crumbles also

2 cups of diced onion (I use frozen because I HATE chopping onion)

1-2 Tablespoons of minced garlic (I buy this in bulk at Sam’s)

2 cups of diced zucchini

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

2 teaspoons basil

2 teaspoons oregano

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon black pepper

2 teaspoons parsley

14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes with basil and oregano

15 ounce can tomato sauce

30 ounce carton low sodium organic chicken broth

1 package of frozen spinach thawed

1 cup died mushrooms

3/4 box of vegetable Farfalle pasta (optional)

2 cups ricotta cheese

2 tablespoons fresh, chopped basil

In a stockpot heat oil over medium heat.  Add sausage  onion, and garlic.  Cook, breaking up with a spoon until sausage is brown and onions are clear.  Add Zucchini, spices (Except fresh basil) tomatoes, tomato sauce, mushrooms, chicken broth and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low, cover and let simmer for 30 minutes. Add spinach and pasta and let cook for 10 minutes until pasta is tender.  Meanwhile mix ricotta and basil.  Dish soup into bowls and top with ricotta cheese mixture.  

*Note about my spice measurements.  Those are guesstimates.  I don’t actually measure out my spices.  I tend to just eyeball it.

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!!

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!!