I'm Back!!

I know I previously said I was going to do better and post more often and I did not follow through. I do have plenty of good reasons...and they are numerous. Firstly at the beginning of every year. I will definitely slack off because I work in a Tax office so 4 months out of the year...I am just plain tired. But this year has been an especially hard year in my family as well. I lost an aunt to cancer, found out another aunt has cancer, my dad's health has been so bad that he had us very scared he was not going to make it for several months and he is still having a lot of health issues, both my grandmothers have had health issues and my grandfather broke his leg and had to have a steel rod put in. He is still in rehab trying to get strong enough to come home and not end up in a nursing home. There are other things that have been going on but I have already depressed you enough for one evening. Needless to say my diet and this blog have been the last things on my mind lately...I have at least not gained a lot of weight back.

I have several recipes that I have at least taken pics of and will slowly get them up. For now I am just going to give you some info on some new favorite things I have discovered.

The first is another blog. If I could write like this I would be working on my 15th best seller right now. I am so jealous and so in awe of her talent and the battle she has won with obesity.
Please go check out Can You Stay For Dinner. There are some great recipes and page after page of engrossing writing. It's like a book you can't put down. I plan on buying the ingedients for her Healthier Morning Glory Muffins (pictured above) possibly as early as tomorrow and trying them. I will let you know how they turn out.

Another new favorite thing I have found is Lostit.com and LostIt app for my Android phone (there is an app for all smart phones). You enter your basic info - height, weight, sex, goal weight and lbs you want to lose per week...and the app tells you how many calories you can have each day in order to reach your goal weight by a certain date. When you exercise you enter it as well and it tells you the calories burned and adjusts your calories eaten to reflect those burned. I like this app because I can add my own recipes, ingredients and calories and get a true calorie count on foods I made myself. You can also recommend foods that are not on their database be added with just 1 quick click of the mouse. I think it is a valuable tool and I am definitely putting it to good use.

Please check back I have some great recipes coming.

BAKED CRISPY FLOUNDER/TILAPIA

Ingredients:
1 lb white fish, we use flounder or tilapia
1/3 cup mayonnaise (not the sweet kind)
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1/3 cup plus 2 Tbsp fresh Parmesan, grated

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray foil with nonstick cooking spray. Pat each fillet dry and place on covered cookie sheet.

Combine mayonnaise and Dijon in a small bowl and coast each fillet in mixture. Season with salt and pepper (easy on salt because the parm with add some saltiness too).

Combine panko and 1/3 cup Parmesan in a small bowl and sprinkle evenly over each coated fillet. Sprinkle remaining 2 Tbsp of Parmesan over each fillet.

Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes. Baking time with depend on thickness of fillets. We usually by the prepackaged frozen fillets from Aldi, they are not very thick. If you buy from a fresh seafood counter they may be thicker and require a little more time to cook through and be flaky. Just watch the closely. I usually broil mine (on high) the last few minutes to help them brown and crisp up on top.

Served this time with a side salad. Can also serve with roasted, steamed or grilled veggies, a light cole slaw, a light potatoe salad (I have 2 recipes to share eventually) or a small baked potato (easy on toppings or top with a low fat topping such as chopped onions, chopped fresh mushroom and chicken broth cooked on stovetop until onions and mushrooms are done, you won't miss the butter I promise).

EASY BAKED CHICKEN

This is one of our go to meals that is easy and quick to fix.

Ingredients:

2 lb bag boneless, skinless chicken breast

Italian dressing (make this yourself so you can control the fat - recipe follows)

Salt and pepper to taste.

Trim chicken of any skin or fat still on it. Tenderize chicken (the above photo is another of my fave things my Deni meat tenderizer - has 36 small blades that pierce the meat) if you do not have a tenderizer like mine use a couple forks and poke the breast all over and very well. 

Pour Italian dressing all over chicken (about 1 cup worth), you do not have to cover the chicken with dressing. Season breasts with salt and pepper to taste. and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, turning breasts over half way through so other side can soak up dressing. 

When ready to cook remove from fridge and preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Bake chicken for 20-30 minutes until cooked through and juices run clear. 

Served with Sweet Roasted Carrots and purple hull peas.

BROCCOLI CASEROLE

This is the other dish we made for the International Ministry Thanksgiving dinner. It is one of my mother's go to dishes to make for almost any occasion. 

Ingredients:
1 pkg microwave steamer-type broccoli florets
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup mayonnaise (not the sweet kind it will not be good)
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
3/4 cup onion, chopped
1 stick margarine, thinly sliced
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

Topping:
Crackers, your choice, crushed

Cook broccoli according to package directions, allow to cool and drain thoroughly (depending on brand you may need to squeeze excess water out of the broccoli).

 In a large bowl combine eggs and mayonnaise until smooth.

Add soup, onions, margarine and cheese and mix thoroughly.

Cut cooled, drained broccoli in half or fourths depending on how large the floret is. Add cut up broccoli to soup and cheese mixture and stir well.

Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and  pour broccoli mixture into it. Put mixture into refrigerator for at least 4 hours, overnight is better.

After 4 hours or the following day when ready to cook. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Put casserole in oven and bake for about 40 minutes.
In the meantime place an entire sleeve of your favorite cracker (we use Ritz, Townhouse or Cheezit usually) in a zipper storage bag and seal. Using a rolling pin or small pot crush the crackers very well.

After 40 minutes of baking remove casserole from oven and spread crackers over top evenly.
Place back in oven and bake another 20 minutes until cracker are golden and casserole has set.

BAKED APPLES

Tomorrow my church is hosting a Thanksgiving dinner for international students from a local college. Many of those students don't know what Thanksgiving is and have never eaten or seen a turkey. Many of the men and women in the church will spend time tomorrow cooking food for students from all over the world. My mother and I started tonight and will finish tomorrow. I am cooking baked apples and she will be cooking a huge broccoli casserole in the morning.
My baked apples taste like apple pie but without the crust.

 Sorry left the cinnamon out of my picture.

Ingredients
2 sticks butter or margarine
1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla
1 giant can apples in water (104 oz)


Open apples and pour into colander to drain. In a sauce pan over medium low heat melt margarine and both sugars. Once most of the sugar has dissolved add the cinnamon. Turn heat up to medium and allow to come to a slow boil while stirring constantly. Do not leave the pan while sugars are dissolving you can burn the sugar very easily. When all sugar is dissolved remove from heat and add vanilla and stir well.

Set sugar mixture aside. Sort through apples, they will have some peeling or pieces of core left on some slices. You will want to cut those off.

Pour the sugar mixture over the apples.

 Stir apples to coat well.

Refrigerate apples overnight.

Tomorrow I will put the apples in the crock pot and cook them on low for 4-6 hours.
They are delicious with vanilla ice cream or just by themselves.

I will take a picture of the finished product tomorrow as well as my mothers broccoli casserole. I cannot wait to hear how many international students attended the dinner and how many different country's we introduced to Thanksgiving and turkey.

NOTE: Yes, this is not a healthy recipe. But I wanted to share it because it is a easy recipe to make when cooking for a large crowd or pot luck meal.

SUN-DRIED TOMATO ROASTED RED PEPPER CHICKEN

Ingredients:
8-10  roasted red peppers
1 cup Sun-Dried Tomato Vinaigrette (Teresa's is best I have found)
6-8 Boneless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper to taste.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place all but 2 of your roasted red peppers in a blender or small food processor (or in my kitchen the GE Rocket Blender). Pulse the peppers until pureed. Combine the peppers with the Sun-Dried Tomato dressing. Chop the remaining 2 peppers and set aside.
Spray a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray and place chicken in pan. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Pour dressing mixture over chicken and sprinkle with chopped peppers. Bake at 350 for about 15-20 minutes or until chicken is done.

 The finished product

 Served with green beans and mushroom risotto. Found some fabulous mushroom risotto at Aldi that takes only about 20 minutes to cook and unlike most boxed so called risotto's the Aldi risotto came out creamy like it should be.

SHAME ON ME AND MEET THE GIRLS

I have been a bad blogger the last couple weeks. But in my defense I have had good reasons. First we went to Hilton head, Savannah and Tybee Island for a long weekend on my birthday 2 weeks ago. Then when we came home I was busy with a new project. Which is where Meet The Girls comes into play. We have been building a pen/house and preparing for a new project we have considered for several years now. We now have  11 chickens....laying hens to be exact. So meet the Girls.......

 Above is our 2 Buff Orpington's and 2 Americauna's. We decided to name them after candy... The Buff's are Butterfinger and Reeses and the Americauna's are Kit and Kat.

 This is one of our baby's a Silkie named Snickers.

And this is another baby Silkie named Twix and a baby Barred Rock named Patty (Peppermint Patty)
We got the above 7 chickens last Saturday. Then on Monday we got 2 more - Partridge Rocks

The Partridge Rock's are named Hershey and Joy (Almond Joy).
And now today we got 2 more - Rhode Island Red's this time....

The RIR's are Baby and Ruth.

Our 1st egg - from one of the Americauna's.

Our first week of eggs from the ones laying. Some haven't started laying yet and some just started - that's why some of the eggs are a little small. It looks like Easter eggs in the bowl - we have blue green eggs from our Americauna's and then some brown eggs and 1 almost pink tinted egg. 

We are having so much fun with our girls and they can be so funny - take these pictures for example...our babies sun bathing - they sort of roll over on their sides, spread out 1 wing and stretch out 1 foot. If I had just walked up on them doing that I would have thought they were broken lol. 

  

So now we have 11 chickens to care for and watch and spoil. So I will probably be blogging about them as well as some of my recipes. 

   

  

FRUIT SMOOTHIES

Forget paying a insane 4.00 to 6.00 for a fruit smoothie at some mega chain restaurant/store. Plus, it is not just the price that might hurt you, the ingredient list for some of those smoothies may make you gain weight without even drinking one. Now don't get me wrong I love me a good smoothie and I am sadly addicted to the mango-pineapple one at McDonald's. If I could make one at home that tasted anything like it I would, but so far I have not been able to master that one. I will keep trying though, because maybe I can make it guilt free and have it more often. For now I get one occasionally as a treat.

Now for my homemade guilt-free smoothie. And yes I am using my favorite little GE Rocket Blender

Ingredients:
Frozen fruit (your choice) strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, mango, banana, raspberry, peach, blackberry.
1/2 c yogurt (Vanilla or honey - low fat or Greek)
1/3 c pineapple juice (or approx. 1/3 of a small can)
1 Tbsp Agave nectar
Light Vanilla Soy Milk


I fill the blender cup about 2/3 full of frozen fruit (my fave combo is strawberry and pineapple), then add the yogurt, juice and nectar and enough soy milk to bring it to the fill line on the cup. Then blend for about 10-15 seconds. Remove the blender cup and shake it up to help the fruit to move down to the blades and blend again for about 15-20 more seconds - this usually will be enough. When doing smoothies I do recommend that you blend in short intervals because the blender does seem to want to overheat if you blend too long.

I make these smoothies as a treat after supper and sometimes as part of my breakfast.

Notice my much clearer pictures? I have been using my phone to snap the pictures because it is just so much easier than using my big bulky Nikon when cooking. I just got a new phone with an amazing 8mp camera on it.

Note: Check your Agave before you buy it. Some brands are not 100% Agave. Some have added sugars to them. So check the ingredients list for anything other that Agave listed. The Florida Crystals brand in the picture above only lists Agave.

CHOCOLATE EXPLOSION MUFFINS

This recipe is a variation of a low-fat muffin/cupcake recipe that has been around for a while. There are only 2 ingredients in the original recipe - Cake mix of your choice and 1 15oz can 100% pumpkin puree. You mix the 2 together and fill your muffin cups and bake. Most people use spice cake or carrot cake as those seem to work best with the pumpkin. And I agree as I have tried making all kinds of muffins from that recipe and unless you have a cake mix that can over power the pumpkin then you can taste it. I have always wanted to make a yummy chocolate version, but no matter the cake mix brand or chocolate flavor I use the pumpkin is still there. So I started to experiment with adding things to it and finally combined parts of 2 different recipes to come up with a very chocolate-y tasting muffin. I made two batches this time because I only had a large 29oz pumpkin puree. I also had two different cake mixes, however, both were a version of chocolate.  I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Ingredients:
1 box of your favorite chocolate cake mix
1 15oz can 100% pure pumpkin puree (be careful not to get the pumpkin pie mix)
2 snack cups fat free chocolate pudding
2 envelopes Swiss Miss diet hot chocolate
4 Tbsp mini chocolate morsels

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix everything together. Spray a 12 cup muffin pan with cooking spray and fill each cup to almost full. Put muffins in oven and bake for time on box (each brand differs in time, but there should be a bake time for muffins as well as cake) Approx. 15-18 minutes. 1 box of cake mix will make 12 muffins.

For my muffins I had the milk chocolate cake mix in the picture above and a red velvet cake mix. So this was an experiment for the red velvet to see if it would remain red and taste super chocolate-y and it did. You can eat these as a dessert or do like we do and have them for breakfast.