Shepherd's Pie

Shepherd's Pie - I know it is different but it is kind of like Shepherd's Pie

Sorry I did not get a picture of the ingredients before I started. Here is what I used:

• 3 large Idaho potatoes (I think I used 5 medium), peeled and cubed
• 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 smoky bacon, chopped
• 1 1/3 lean ground beef (or ground turkey - my hubby eats beef)
• 1 medium onion, chopped (I used a sweet one)
• 3/4 cup chopped baby carrots
• 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 yellow bell pepper, chopped
• 2 cups frozen peas
• 2 Tablespoons flour
• 2 cups of chicken broth (same as 1 can)
• 1 cup light sour cream (divided)
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 10 to 12 blades fresh chives, chopped

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Cook the potatoes until tender, 12 to 15 minutes

Heat a deep, large skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil to skillet. Add bacon and brown it up, then add beef to pan and break it up. Season the meat however you like. Once the meat browns up add onions and carrots. Season with salt and pepper. Cook 5 minutes. Add bell peppers and peas and cook another 2 minutes. Stir in flour and cook 2 minutes. Whisk in broth and combine. Add 1/2 cup light sour cream and combine. Simmer over low heat.

Preheat broiler to high.

When potatoes are tender, add a ladle of cooking water to the egg. Drain potatoes and return to the warm pot to dry them out a little. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of light sour cream, 1/2 the chives and salt and pepper. Mash the potatoes adding in the beaten, tempered egg. If the potatoes are too thick, add a splash of milk.
Pour beef mixture into a casserole dish. Top with an even layer of potatoes. Place casserole 5 inches from hot broiler. Broil until the potatoes are golden at the edges (does not take too long 5-10 minutes). Garnish with the remaining chives.

This makes a lot of food. I did not do portions or calories (shame on me). It is pretty healthy and it fed us quite a few times. I am not one who worries about pretty plate presentations, that is why there isn't one. I kind of slop it on the plate and my hubby gobbles it up.

Verdicts: SUPER AWESOME!! We both wonder why we do not make it more often. It also reheats well.

Why do I even start with a recipe?

I found a recipe in Cooking Light magazine. I wanted to try it but decided I would make some of my changes. In the end, it was WAY different than the original recipe. Here are the ingredients I used.

8 oz chicken breast

8 oz elbow macaroni

2 Tablespoons of flour

2 Tablespoons of light butter

3 cups of skim milk

2/3 cup reduced fat cream of mushroom soup (undiluted)

1 teaspoon chopped fresh dill

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups shredded multi-cheese blend (like 4 Mexican blend)

3/4 shredded Colby jack cheese

cooking spray

1/2 bag of frozen peas

head of broccoli

I had some leftover grilled chicken breast (already cooked) and some smoked chicken and pork (thanks to my husband). I chopped that up and threw it in a pan with the chopped up broccoli and 1/2 bag of frozen peas. I also cooked the macaroni according to the box directions. When it was all cooked and hot I mixed it up in a big bowl.

Meanwhile, I made the sauce. I started with the butter and flour. I cooked it in a sauce pan for 2 minutes. In a bowl I mixed the cream of mushroom soup and milk. I slowly added the milk mixture to the pan and brought it to a boil for about 3 minutes to thicken it. I removed from the heat for 4 minutes. Then stirred in the garlic powder, salt, dill and the 1 1/2 cup of multi-cheese blend. It turned into like a white cream/cheese sauce.

I poured it over the meat, veggie and macaroni mixture. I put the mixture in a 8 inch square baking dish (after I sprayed it with PAM). I topped it with 3/4 Colby jack cheese. I put in under the broiler for about 5 minutes.

It yields 4 humongous servings. I am guessing it is about 600-650 calories each. I was not too specific in my measurements and I deviated from the recipe quite a bit. But it is still pretty healthy and very hearty.

Verdicts

Me: Yum, yum. I liked it alot. It was like a creamy casserole. Normally I do not like that sort of thing but this one was good. I kind of want to call it "crap in a pan." But good crap.

Hubby: "This is even better than the last one. If we owned a restaurant this would be on the menu." Cleaned his plate.

The original recipe did not have any veggies in it. I have to sneak them into hubby's food. Most people have to do this for their children. I have to do it for my 37 year-old husband. Okay, I have procrastinated long enough (like ALL DAY), I need to work on some report cards. Hope you all had a great weekend!

FOOD - Fried Rice Recipe

I went to the store today (after the super bowl started so it would be less crowded). Here are some of the foods I am craving lately (I am kind of proud based on the fact that I used to be a fruit and nut hater). I am pretty sure they will last me the week but you can never be too sure with me.

And since I have been so snacky lately I decided to make a veggie tray to keep in the fridge this week. Maybe I will eat less almonds this way. I don't count vegetables so load me up!
Hubby loves dessert (and me too lately) so I made the chocolate mousse again and portioned it out to eat through out the week.

Here are the ingredients for tonight's fried rice recipe.

Fried Rice

Ingredients:
4 or 5 cups cooked white rice (prepared according to box)
6 eggs (for less calories remove 2 or 3 yolks)
3 tablespoons of oil
1 or 2 crowns of broccoli (chopped in small pieces)
¾ cup shredded carrots
½ red bell pepper (chopped small)
½ green bell pepper (chopped small)
½ package of snow peas (they look like pods) chopped
1 cup frozen peas
1/3 cup of low-sodium tamari (an aged soy sauce I find in the ethnic aisle at Kroger)
Directions:
1. Cook the broccoli with a little Pam in a small pan because it takes longer to cook.
2. Cook rice in a pot according to the box directions.
3. Heat the oil in a large skillet. While it heats, scramble the eggs in a bowl. Add them to the oil and cook like scrambled eggs.
4. Add the bell peppers, carrots and snow peas to eggs and cook for 3 to 4 minutes.
5. Add in the cooked rice and tamari sauce. Stir and cook for about 2 minutes.
6. Add the frozen peas and broccoli and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.

It is ready to serve but will be pretty hot. The calories on this can vary. I think it is about 180 calories for a 2/3 cup serving. This has lots of veggies and protein and is very good for you. I have tried it with brown rice but we like the white better. I usually serve with Chung’s eggrolls (from the freezer section) or grilled chicken.

This recipe makes a TON of food. Best bud and I change this recipe from time to time. We love it but she makes it far more often because it is the girls' favorite. I now feel prepared for the week ahead. Hopefully you do too! Good luck to you, you big LOSERS!!

Cheeseburger Soup Recipe

Cheeseburger Soup - Seriously one of my FAVORITE recipes

Ingredients:
1 pound lean ground beef (93% lean)
1 cup carrots (baby carrots chopped or shredded)
1 cup sweet yellow onions (chopped)
1 cup broccoli (chopped small)
4 cups potatoes (chopped small)
1 tablespoon parsley flakes
1 tablespoon dried basil
3 pound can of chicken broth (99% fat free)
1 pound block of Velveeta cheese (2% milk kind)
¼ cup light sour cream
Directions:
1. In a large pan, cook the beef with the carrots, onion and broccoli. Put everything in raw. Season the meat and veggies using what you like – garlic salt, beef seasoning, etc. You will cook until the meat is cooked through.
2. While the meat is cooking, get a large pot. Put the potatoes, chicken broth, parsley and basil in and set the stove on high. It will come to a boil and cook the potatoes through.
3. Add the meat/veggie combo to the large pot and stir. If you think there is not enough broth, you can add a cup or two of water. Put the pot on a medium heat.
4. Cut up the block of Velveeta and stir it into the soup and allow it to melt.
5. Once the cheese has melted, remove the soup from the heat and stir in the sour cream.
It is ready to serve but will be pretty hot. A 1 cup serving has about 132 calories.

Sidenote - best bud is a vegetarian and we have made this for her just adding more veggies (no meat) and substituting vegetable broth for chicken broth.

Can it ever be easy?

Oh I think so. This is yet another food post. I was off work today so I had a little time to play with amongst the cleaning and laundry and working out and sleeping in (of course, which my husband tried to ruin but I got back to sleep - ha!).





I am not a huge dessert or chocolate person but lately I have been craving chocolate mousse. Not sure why but it has been constant for a week or so. Cheat meal this week was at Carrabba's with best bud. We had the most AMAZING dessert that had some chocolate mousse in it (along with LOTS of other sugary, fatty goodness). That made me want it more.





I started looking up recipes for low fat chocolate mousse. Everything seemed so complicated. Draining tofu? Using a candy thermometer? Really? Why do people make things so darn difficult? I am just going to eat it to satisfy a craving, I am not building a nuclear bomb (well I am not sure what is in tofu but I do not think it is bomb worthy). So I scratched all the researched recipes and created my own. Here is where you find out what a simpleton I am.

Low-fat Chocolate Mousse:

1. Mix one package (serves 4) of sugar-free instant Jell-O Chocolate pudding with 1 3/4 cups of skim milk. I just used a whisk in a regular bowl for about 5 minutes (no mixer, no double boiler)
2. Slowly whisk in 1 cup of Cool Whip Lite. That is it. You have chocolate mousse.
3. I divided it into 4 servings (which is a decent size) and chilled for a few hours. They come in at about 130 calories each.

With the ones I still have in the frig for tomorrow I may add some crushed low-fat oreos just because it sounds good (a little more complicated, I know). It will add some calories but other flavor and texture as well. So to all of those chefs who are working for Cooking Light magazine or are authors of low-fat cookbooks, please stop making everything so complicated and expensive to make. My husband and I totally loved this super simple, yummy recipe.

As a random side note, I have a new favorite family to watch on TLC. There is a show called One BIG Happy Family. It is a family that is morbidly obese and trying to fix their situation. They are sweet and hilarious. I love this family and this show. If you have not seen it, you should try to watch one episode. I hope one day I have a family this sweet.

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Steak Tacos with Cucumber Salsa

This is the cookbook a fellow blogger suggested I buy. Great suggestion!

You may not know this about me, but I alter recipes. I take the main recipe and then make it what I want or adjust based on ingredients I can find. Today I altered. I started making the "Cucumber- Avocado Salsa". I bought some unripe avocado so I picked it back out and I replaced it with some tomatoes. It came out more like a cucumber pico de gallo which is pretty delicious. I used my Christmas gift (pictured below) to chop the veggies. It worked awesome and everything was the same size.

Here is my cucumber salsa:

English cucumber

3 roma tomatoes

1/2 red onion

1 1/2 handfuls of chopped cilantro (these are precise measurements)

2 jalapenos (optional)

juice of 2 limes

bit of ground sea salt

The main recipe called for 1 1/4 pounds of top sirloin. It was supposed to be rubbed with crushed garlic, cinnamon, crushed red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Um....cinnamon? Sounds weird to me so I changed it. I used this seasoning my husband buys, crushed garlic (2 cloves) and a bit of salt.

I cooked it on med-high heat for 5 minutes on each side (it came out medium). I let it rest for 5 minutes before slicing.

The recipe called for corn tortillas. I would have used those but I love these carb balance flour tortillas and they are only 80 calories each. They are so soft and tasty. No need for any others.

The tacos are assembled with shredded red cabbage, cilantro and the cucumber salsa. A serving is 2 tacos and 1/3 cup of cucumber salsa. It is supposed yield 6 servings. Each serving is about 400 calories. I added a little low-fat shredded cheese and light sour cream (a few additional calories)
Hubby's Verdict: I think it killed him for me to cook meat in a pan. He is the king of the grill and he probably could have done it way better. He ate all of his but I think he was really hungry. He did really like the salsa.

My Verdict: It was okay. It was good and I will eat the leftovers but hubby could have done the meat better. The salsa was pretty awesome. I will make that again and perhaps eat the leftover with the red cabbage and some grilled chicken as nachos tomorrow.

Hope you all are eating and feeling well. I am exhausted from the weekend. Glad I am off tomorrow. I am off to read some blogs!

Spaghetti Squash Recipe

These are the ingredients I decided to use:

spaghetti squash

cherry tomatoes

sweet peas

garlic

extra virgin olive oil

kosher salt

Pecorino Romano cheese

I am so glad the squash came with a sticker that had cooking instructions. First I cooked it in the oven at 350 degrees for about an hour. The sticker said 45 minutes but even after an hour I think I should have cooked it a little longer. It had a little crunch to it. I liked it fine but I assumed it would be mushier. And pulling it out was totally cool.

I heated 1 1/2 Tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat and added three crushed cloves of garlic. I added cherry tomatoes (maybe 1 or 1 1/2 cups) that were quartered. Then I added 1 1/3 cups of sweet peas. I stirred in the spaghetti squash hoping it would cook a little more. Finally I added the kosher salt (I like salt so I added a bit more than most people probably would) and 5 Tablespoons of the Pecorino Romano cheese.

I topped it a little cheese and served with some left over steak.

The calorie count as best I can tell is about 150 calories for about 1 1/2 cups and it makes about 6 servings.

Husband's Verdict: He told me he had no interest in eating it. He had never heard of it but he said he would try it. It smelled so good, he had to. He ended up eating a big helping of it and said he would eat it again. He even thought it would be good for his dad to eat (who is diabetic).

My Verdict: Yum (I was also really hungry so it may have tasted better than usual). I am excited to cook this in another way to. It is also a TON of food for very few calories which I am always looking for. I am a volume eater. I did not get this recipe from any source, it just sounded like things I wanted to eat today.

Fun fact: while researching things for this recipe I discovered that to burn off 8 ounces of spaghetti squash, you only have to walk for 7 minutes. Giddy up! That is what I like to hear. So why did I work out so hard today?

This was some work for me for the past day or so but it was great fun. I picked up more magazines today with healthy recipes in them. I will look to see what tasty adventure next week will bring. Hope you have a super week. I am so tired, I will read and comment on your blogs tomorrow! Sleep tight.

Turkey. It's what for dinner....again!

I know it looks like a mess but it is good. I made up this recipe 9 years ago to eat leftover turkey. Here is the recipe.

Turkey Crescent Rolls

Ingredients:
2 cups chopped turkey breast meat
¼ of a purple onion chopped small
½ yellow bell pepper chopped
½ green bell pepper chopped
½ red bell pepper chopped
2/3 cup part skim shredded mozzarella cheese
6 Tablespoons Lite Caesar salad dressing
1 tube of reduced fat crescent rolls

Directions:
1. Combine meat, veggies, cheese and dressing a bowl
2. Unroll crescent rolls
3. Add about ¼ cup of mixture to the crescent roll and try to wrap it to the top
4. Bake at 375 degrees for about 12-16 minutes

****Each roll has about 157 calories****


I eat 2 of them with a side salad. Good and healthy. I never counted up the calories until today. Not too shabby my friends. I am working on another post of my discoveries. So stop by again tomorrow! Happy eating.

Recpie Time

These are 123 calories per serving and 4.4 grams of fat so enjoy.

Layered Cookie Bars-Hello Dolly Bars

Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 25 minutes
Yield: 24 servings

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups graham crackers crumbs
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon water
1/2 cup semisweet or dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup butterscotch chips
2/3 cup flaked sweetened coconut
1/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1 (14-ounce) can fat-free sweetened condensed milk

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 350F.2. Line the bottom and sides of a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper; cut off excess paper around top edge of pan.3. Place crumbs in a medium bowl. Drizzle with butter and 1 tablespoon water; toss with a fork until moist. Gently pat into an even layer (don't press too firmly). Sprinkle chocolate and butterscotch over crumb mixture. Top evenly with coconut and pecans. Drizzle condensed milk evenly over top. Bake at 350F for 25 minutes or until lightly browned and bubbly around the edges. Cool completely on a wire rack.

It may not be the lowest fat desert but they are super good. They are lower in fat and calories than other desserts that will be served on Thanksgiving. I will be making them after the Turkey Trot.

Potluck

Today was my first potluck at my new school. I have never seen potlucks done up this way. Decorated super cute and I think everyone brought something. Including me. The theme was to bring your favorite dish. Seriously, there were like 15 crockpots on one table. I made a family recipe called pretzel salad. It is a delicious desert that is like a light, fluffy version of cheesecake. It is not too bad for you fat and calorie wise, however it still holds no nutritional value (as do most delicious foods).

I brought my 350 calorie lunch and sat in the middle of it all and did not eat one bite. Mostly because I could not stop at one bite. Especially since some made lots of delicious smelling egg rolls.

One of my co-worker's husband is doing P90X with me. I send her text messages challenging him to "bring it" which pushes him because he cannot be outdone by a girl (although I am one bad-ass girl sometimes). Anywho, she tried to get a picture of me pigging out to send him but was disappointed at my healthy eating.

I am on my sprint toward the finish here. I am not willing to screw it up for some eggrolls and store bought cookies. I work too hard for that. Speaking of, I did the spinning/cycling class tonight. Sweaty, sweaty girl. It is so much easier to do 100 pounds lighter than the first time I tried it. But it is still at the bottom of my list as far as exercise I enjoy.

I do not know how Lance Armstrong (or any man for that matter) does it. My tailbone hurts alot now that there is less fat on it. Certain ab exercises are awfully painful. The seat on this bike was too (and I had a padded one). So I discovered if I push my butt off the back a little, there is no pressure on my tailbone. But then my lady bits get to hurtin'. So I would stand up and pedal until I could get the feeling back. The good news is that I could stand and pedal for most of the class because my knees don't hurt anymore. Yeah for weight loss!

I think I burned a TON if calories so I may go back next week. We shall see. I wonder if taking 1 spin class per week will even make a difference. I am still gonna do my other stuff but this class is supposed to help me shape up my mid section. Time will tell I guess.

I think it is time to start sharing recipes. I will start. You go ahead and post some on your blog too. I will look for my weight watcher Thanksgiving ones because they were really good. TJ at TJ's test kitchen helped me with this one because she is so awesome. It is a trail mix recipe. Here it goes:

1. 1 cup multigrain cheerios
2. 1/4 cup almonds (chopped in half)
3. 1/3 cup craisins (sweetened dried cranberries)
4. 2 Tablespoons sweetened shaved coconut
5. 1 1/2 ounces of dried mango (cut into bite sized pieces)

This yields 3 servings at 2/3 cup each. It comes in at 220 calories, 5 grams of fat (only because of the almonds), 3.3 grams of fiber and 3.3 grams of protein. You could do 1/3 of a cup for less calories but then you get less protein (and you would not get to eat as much).

I have been eating this for my snack for the past two weeks and I love it! It replaced applesauce and rice cakes. This stays with me longer and actually has nutritional value.

What have you been cooking in your kitchen?