Mashed Potatoes
Mashed Potatoes
2 1/2 lb. red skinned potatoes, quartered
1/2 C whipping cream
1 stick butter
1 T salt
Bring the potatoes to boil in a large pot. Once boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Drain the potatoes. Add the cream, butter, and salt to the potatoes. Using a potato masher, mash the potatoes. Enjoy!
Easy and delicious!
Chicken Fried Steak
This was not a healthy dinner, especially when you serve it with the mashed potatoes I made tonight :)
I didn't get a picture of this dinner, but you should check out Ree's blog...she has phenomenal step by step photos of her recipes.
Chicken Fried Steak
Source: The Pioneer Woman Cooks
3 lb. cube steak
2 eggs
1 1/2 C milk, plus 2 C for the gravy
3 C all-purpose flour, plus 1/3 C for gravy
2 tsp. seasoned salt
3/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 C vegetable oil
Put the eggs and 1 C milk in a pie dish. Mix together. On another plate, mix 3 C flour with the seasoned salt, paprika, cayenne pepper and black pepper. Lightly season a piece of meat with salt and pepper. Dip in the egg mixture, coating both sides. Coat in flour. Dip again in the egg mixture and then back in the flour. Place on a clean plate. Repeat with the remaining pieces of meat.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Fry 3 pieces of meat a time. Cook on one side until the edges start to look brown, about 2 1/2 minutes. Turn and cook 2-3 minutes on the other side. Place on a paper towel lined plate and keep warm. repeat with remaining meat.
Pour the grease into a heat proof bowl. Using the same greasy pan, don't clean it, add 1/4 C grease back to the pan. Heat over medium-low heat. Sprinkle 1/3 C flour evenly over grease and mix with a whisk. ****I didn't seem to have enough grease off of my meat and this step messed up for me. I added a little (1 T) of oil to the pan to supplement.**** When the mix looks golden brown, pour in 2 C milk, whisking continuously. Let the gravy come to a slow boil. Stirring occasionally, let thicken. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve over steak.
Sweet and Sour Pork Kebabs
Here's the nutrition breakdown:
"Calories, fat, and cholesterol were reduced by..."
Reducing the amount of oil in the marinade
Using a leaner cut of pork, and less of it
Add bell peppers to compensate for less meat
Calories before...550
after...201
Fat (g) before...26
after...5
Sweet and Sour Pork Kebabs
Source: More Healthy Homestyle Cooking
Marinade and Pork
2 T red wine vinegar
1 T dark sesame oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp. salt
1 lb pork tenderloin, cut into 32 1'' chunks
Sauce
1/4 C ketchup
2 T red wine vinegar
2 T sugar
2 tsp. reduced sodium soy sauce
1/4 tsp. dark sesame oil
Kebabs
2 bell peppers (red or green), cut into 32 1'' pieces
1 can (20 oz) pineapple chunks
In a large bowl, combine the oil, vinegar, garlic, red pepper, and salt. Stir in the pork. Cover and chill for at least 6 hours.
In a small bowl, combine the sauce ingredients. Set aside.
Soak 8 10" bamboo skewers in water for 30 minutes (to prevent burning). Thread a bell pepper, followed by a pineapple chunk and a pork chunk onto a skewer. Repeat 4 times on each skewer.
Grill over medium-hot coals. Turn the kebabs 3-4 times while cooking. Drizzle the marinade over the kebabs one minute before finished. Serve immediately.
Perfect One Bowl Brownies
I can't seem to get a picture taken whenever I make these....so I'm posting them without one! Sorry, just trust me :)
Perfect One Bowl Brownies
Source: The Sister's Cafe
1/2 C butter, melted
1/2 C vegetable oil
2 C sugar
1/2 C cocoa powder
4 eggs
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 C flour
Chocolate Chips (about 1 C)
Preheat oven to 350. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the butter, oil, sugar, and cocoa. Add eggs, salt, vanilla, and flour. Pour into a greased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips over the top. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
Easy, right?
Chicken Tortilla Soup
This recipe was in the section of the cookbook titled "Relax while it cooks." This couldn't have been further from the truth for me tonight! I'm not saying that it will be for you though! First, it took me forever to chop my veggies! My food chopper wasn't cooperating and I reverted back to my trusty old knife and cutting board! Then, I realized I didn't have any chicken broth! Ugh! I always make my grocery list off of my menu for the week and somehow I missed this one! Luckily, Charlie worked from home today and he ran to Harris Teeter for me! Then...I was misreading the recipe. I thought she said to use a crock pot, which I thought was strange...and my chicken wasn't cooking in the 4 minutes it was supposed to. So 2 1/2 hours later we ate! At least I got some cleaning done during that 2 1/2 hours. AND! As I type this recipe I realize that this was supposed to have cheese in it! How did I miss that as well! I think I need to go to bed...obviously my brain isn't working today!
Charlie and I both put the cheese on our soup for lunch leftovers and found it much better!
My healthy tip I learned this time...when cooking veggies cook them in a pan sprayed with nonstick spray instead of oil. It worked wonders and saved calories!
Here's the breakdown on the healthy aspects of this recipe:
- Bake the tortillas instead of frying them
- Using reduced fat cheese, and less of it
- Eliminating the oil for cooking veggies
after...275
Fat before...20
after...4
Per serving...serves 6
Chicken Tortilla Soup
Source: More Healthy Homestyle Cooking
6 corn tortillas (6" diameter)
3/4 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into thin strips
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
6 C fat-free chicken broth
10 oz frozen corn kernels
1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
3 tomatoes, chopped (we only used 1)
6 T shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese
Preheat the oven to 375. Coat a baking sheet with nonstick spray. Cut the tortillas in half and then in short strips. Lay in a single layer on the baking sheet. Spray lightly with nonstick spray. Bake for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Coat a large pot with nonstick spray and warm over medium-low heat. Add the chicken, peppers, carrots, onion, and garlic. Cook for 4 minutes or the chicken isn't pink. Add the broth, corn and cumin. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce to low and cook for 30 minutes.
Place a layer of tomatoes in a bowl. Scatter tortilla strips on top. Ladle the soup on top. Top with more tortilla strips and cheese.
Pineapple Upside Down (Cup)Cake
We went to Barnes and Noble and I looked through it to see if I thought it was worth it. I think I will LOVE this cookbook! It's great because the whole beginning of the book is about how to cook healthy with recipes you already have. Simple swatches in a recipe can make it healthy without losing the test. Now you may say that I didn't need a book to tell me that, but I do! She explains how you can't always substitute and keep the flavor. She gives tips on what substitutions work with what kinds of recipes. Like in this recipe, you don't want to replace all the flour with whole wheat for taste purposes. So you replace some. I really do love this book! Every recipe she has tells you what she did to make it healthier and breaks down the calorie points before the healthy switches and after.
For example, in this recipe she "reduced calories and fat by:"
- Using light butter in place of regular
- Replacing the oil with applesauce
- Using low-fat buttermilk instead of whole milk
- Using egg whites instead of whole eggs
Calories before...207
after...152
Fat g before...8
after...1
(per serving)
Too bad my favorite part of this thing is the top...the part with all the brown sugar and butter . :) These were not my favorite. Charlie liked them once he ate a couple, but it definitely wasn't love at first bite. I sent some to my brother's house...no word from them. And we gave some to friends who said they liked it, but I'm not sure if I believe them!
I think I'm just not used to "healthy eating." The tops were great, but the bottoms were too dry. Not moist like pineapple upside down cake should be! This was disappointing! I'm hoping the other recipes in this book are better!
Pineapple Upside Down (Cup)cakes
Source: More Healthy Homestyle Cooking
2 T light butter, melted
6 maraschino cherries, halved
8 oz crushed pineapple, drained
1 C all-purpose flour
3/4 C whole-wheat flour
2/3 C sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
2/3 C 2% buttermilk
1/3 C unsweetened applesauce
2 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
Heat oven to 400. Lightly coat a muffin tin with nonstick spray.
In a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar and butter. Divide evenly in muffin tin. Place one half of a cherry, cut side up, in the center of each muffin cup. Divide the pineapple evenly among muffin cups. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, salt, and ginger. Make a well in the center of the mixture.
In another bowl, combine milk, applesauce, egg whites, and vanilla. Pour into the flour well and stir until moistened.
Mexican Pasta Skillet
Bacon Wrapped Sausages
Hummingbird Cake
So for my birthday, I decided to make myself a hummingbird cake. If you've never had hummingbird cake it's similar to a carrot cake, but without the carrots! I originally wanted hummingbird cake as my wedding cake, but then sampled the delicious cake we had and changed my mind. ANYWAYS! This cake is delicious, but very sweet. It was WAY too much for the two of us! Be sure to have someone to share it with!
Hummingbird Cake
Source: The Blue Willow Inn Bible of Southern Cooking
Cake (3 layers)
3 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 C sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 C vegetable oil
1/2 C buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 (8 oz) can crushed pinapple, not drained
1 C chopped pecans
2 C mashed ripe bananas (5 or 6 bananas)
1 C coconut
Heat oven to 350. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, and cinnamon. Add the eggs, oil, and buttermilk, stirring until the dry ingredients are moistened. Do NOT beat! Stir in the vanilla, pineapple, pecans, bananas, and coconut. Pour the batter into 3 greased and floured 9" round pans. Bake for 25-35 minutes. Cool in pans 15 minutes and then cool completely on wire racks.
Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2 C butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
16 oz package of confectioner's sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 C chopped pecans
In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and cream cheese. Gradually add the sugar. Beat until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and stir in the pecans.
Snap Beans
Falling in love Pie (Chocolate Mousse Pie)
This recipe is from the movie Waitress. My mom loves this movie and I LOVE chocolate mousse! So for our family Christmas, this was one of the desserts I made.
I used semi-sweet chocolate because that's what I had. I recommend sticking with the unsweetened as this pie was very sweet!
Falling In Love Pie...Chocolate Mousse Pie
Source: The Nesting Project
9-inch baked pastry shell
1 14-oz. can condensed milk
2/3 C. water
1 (4 serving) pkg. Cook and Serve chocolate pudding mix (not instant)
1 1-oz. square unsweetened chocolate (I used semi-sweet)
2 C. (1 pt.) whipping cream, stiffly whipped
In large saucepan, combine condensed milk, water and pudding mix; mix well. Add chocolate. Over medium heat, cook and stir rapidly until chocolate melts and mixture thickens. Remove from heat; beat until smooth. Cool. Chill thoroughly; stir. Fold in whipped cream. Pour into prepared pastry shell. Chill 4 hours until set.
Baked Ziti
Baked Ziti
Adapted from Short Stop
1 pound ziti or penne
1 pound bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes
2 T sugar
2 tsp salt
3 T Italian Seasoning
3 T dried thyme
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 (16 ounce) container sour cream
4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
3/4 C Parmesan cheese, shredded and divided
2 C mozzarella cheese, shredded and divided
Cook pasta until al dente. Drain. Return to pot and add sour cream, chopped bacon, feta, 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning. Set aside.
In a medium saucepan, add crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, sugar, salt, thyme, and crushed red pepper flakes. Simmer for 10 minutes allowing flavors to combine and until heated through. Set aside.
Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray. Spoon 1 C of tomato sauce into the bottom of the dish. Spoon 1/2 of pasta mixture over sauce. Top with 1/2 of remaining tomato sauce. Sprinkle with 1 C of mozzarella and 1/4 C Parmesan cheese. Top with remainder of pasta mixture, remainder of tomato sauce, and sprinkle top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. Cover lightly with foil, and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Remove foil and broil for 3 minutes, or until top is golden.
Tangerine Pie
This was a great use of our tangerines. We had a ton! Charlie's mom gave us a ton of fruit from the Farmer's Market. I made apple pie with the apples, fresh squeezed juice with the oranges, and tangerine pie! Tangerine Pie
Adapted from Noble Tangerine
1 prepared pie crust
¼ C cornstarch
¼ tsp salt
1/3 C sugar
4 egg yolks
Juice of one lime
1 ½ C tangerine juice
1 cup whipped cream
3 oz butter (6 T)
Zest from one tangerine
Topping
1 C whipped cream
In a saucepan, stir together the sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Add juice and mix well. Place over moderate heat and stir constantly until the mixture thickens and boils, 10-12 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the egg yolks all at once and whisk until blended. Bring back to a boil and cook, stirring constantly for 5 minutes. Add the butter and tangerine zest. Cool to near room temperature, and fold in whipped cream. Pour into pie dish. Top with whipped cream.
Breakfast Bread
Breakfast Bread
Source: Mom
1 frozen loaf of bread dough
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 lb. ground sausage, cooked
1 C cheddar cheese, shredded
Defrost and rise the bread dough according to the package directions. You'll want to do this the night before. With your fingers, push out the dough so that it covers a baking sheet. Top with the sausage leaving an edge around the bread. Sprinkle the cheese over the top. The next part I got Charlie to help me with...Pull up the sides and ends of the dough to make a loaf. While you're holding together the loaf, pour the eggs inside. Seal together. Bake for about 30 minutes at 350. Yum!
Marshmallow Pops
Apple Pie and Pie Crust
I learned to make this pie when I was a nanny in college. I got some great recipes from that family! This is a great and easy pie crust recipe. And the apple part is so simple...not many ingredients at all! You could change the fruit and keep everything else the same too!
Pie Crust
Source: Theresa Kramer
2 C sifted all purpose flour
4 T cold water (ice cold)
1 tsp. salt
3/4 C butter
Cut flour and salt in bowl. Sift. Cut in 2/3 C butter until fine. Cut in remaining butter. Sprinkle water 1 T at a time over mixture. Mix thoroughly with fork into a dough consistency. Makes 2 crusts (one top and one bottom).
Apple Pie
Peel and slice about 6 apples. Place in pie crust. Add 1 C sugar. Sprinkle cinnamon over top. Top with remaining crust and seal edges. Brush crust with egg wash (1 egg and 1 T water mixed together) and sprinkle with sugar. Pierce the top of the pie a few times to let the steam out. Bake at 450 for 15 minutes or 350 for 45 minutes.
Toll House Pie
Toll House Pie
Source: Yankee Magazine
2 eggs
1/2 C all-purpose unbleached flour
1/2 C white sugar
1/2 C brown sugar, firmly packed
1 C (2 sticks) butter, melted and cooled
1 C semisweet chocolate chips (I used milk)
1 cup chopped walnuts (I used about 2/3 C)
1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell
Preheat the oven to 325.
Beat the eggs until foamy. Add the flour and sugars and beat until blended. Blend in the butter. Stir in the chips and nuts. Pour into the pie shell.
Bake for 1 hour. Serve warm or cooled completely.
Sugared Pecans
Sugared Pecans
Source: All Recipes
1 lb pecans
1 C sugar
1 egg white
2 tsp. water
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 tsp. salt
Mix the water and egg white until frothy. Pour the egg white mixture into a gallon size bag. Toss the pecans in the egg white mixture in the bag. Mix together the sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl. Pour into the gallon size bag over the pecans. Toss the pecans in the sugar mixture. Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 250 for 1 hour. Stir every 15-20 minutes.
Peppermint Bark
4 Candy Canes, crushed