Being on a limited budget makes the end of the month tight financially. Rent & Utilities are due and it leaves us with very little to work with, and the pantry and fridge start getting more and more empty. Oddly enough this is the time when I come up with meals I wouldn't have thought of before, simply because I had other things that were easier or were already planned on my monthly meal planning menu and no matter how hard I try or what I plan I always seem to run out of lunch stuff! Yesterday was one of those days. I didn't want any more leftover Mac & Cheese, and I was looking for something a bit lower in calories as well. I had some leftover Crazy Dough that I had taken out of the freezer the day before and since I had no cheese or other pizza toppings I made a focaccia with Red Pepper, Rose Mary, & Romano Cheese and a pot of Almost Italian Wedding Soup- I say almost because instead of the traditional small pasta such as orzo or pastini (which I didn't have) I used some pearled barley instead. The great thing about this was It was made with almost all leftovers or pre-prepped items and it made enough for me to have lunch for about 3-4 days and share a bit with mom. 3R Foccaccia: 1.5lb Crazy Dough (clink the link for the Crazy Dough Recipe from Nostalgia Kitchen) 1tsp Red Pepper Flakes 1.5tsp Dried Rosemary 1/4C Grated Romano Cheese 1tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Almost Italian Wedding Soup: 32oz Low Sodium Chicken Broth
16oz Cold Water 1lb Ground Turkey 1/4C Bread Crumbs 2C Cooked Pearled Barley 1tsp Dried Rosemary 1C Frozen Spinach
You can add any number of seasonings you wish or even use more broth in place of water. I prefer a lighter broth, which is why I used water instead of more broth.
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Happy Sunday Family! Well fall is coming quickly upon us. And it is during the fall and winter we start looking for those comfort foods. Well this recipe will certainly be a comfort. I think as growing up we all have that favorite Aunt. I had 3. I would have had more but since a few lived further away I didn't see them often. Let me tell you about my Aunt Joan though. Her temperament was always cool, calm and collected..I hardly ever heard her raise her voice and laughter always filled her house. And when you went there on Christmas she would wrap the presents while you waited..Now that was about as laid back as you were going to get. Her home was a mecca for all the neighborhood kids and something was always cooking. When Aunt Joan made spaghetti you could feed the neighborhood! I'm telling you I think she made at least 5 pounds with 10 pounds of meat in it! Ok so maybe a slight exaggeration. But there was a lot and always a lot left over that you could not eat after 2 days because it would have made you sick according to her anyway..lol Butter was always on the table along with a pack of saltines, she made these drippy egg sandwiches, and a plethora of other goodies. Are you seeing a pattern here? She was always cooking. Well that was a little about my Aunt Joan. I think now I need to see if I can get my Uncle Lou's Pumpkin Bread recipe in a can? So here we go. 3 pkg 10 ct biscuits (Your choice) 3 lbs ground beef 1 onion 8 oz package of cream cheese 16 oz sour cream 16 oz package mozzarella cheese 16 oz cheddar cheese This recipe feeds at least 10 or more..My Aunt Joan used spaghetti sauce in the mix as well and put the sour cream on the side. Thus that's why I said reinvented. You can change it up anyway you wish :) Brown 3 pounds of ground beef and one onion Spray an 11 x 15 pan with pan spray. Makes clean up easier later :) Layer with biscuits I bought 3 can of 10. You will only use half of these for the bottom layer. I then smeared about 3/4 of a package of cream cheese on the bottoms..Guess your getting this isn't exactly low calorie.. Mix a 16 oz container of sour cream with the cooked meat and onion. Put the meat/sour cream mixture on top of the biscuits on top of that add 2 cups of mozzarella cheese and a cup of cheddar cheese. And then start layering the other biscuits on top. After all the tops are on add a cup of cheddar on top. Bake at 375 degrees until tops of biscuits are browned. Approx 30 minutes or so.
Happy Monday Family!! Well it seems as it's been ages since I wrote anything..I've had family come down, and I have changed the vision for my business so I've been working on that plus working on a few other things so my life these past few weeks have been busy! This week it's menu planning, cleaning out a few things, freezer meals and filling my store so Busy! Busy! Busy! That's why this recipe is so good. Only 3 ingredients! A can of crescent rolls, a can of apple pie filling and a tsp of cinnamon.
Voila! That's it! Here we go... I used an 8 x 8 glass baking dish. Sprayed it with Pam cooking spray..(I spray everything makes it easier for clean up) Get your package of crescent rolls open and don't unfold it but cut them into 12 pieces then lay them flat and cut in half so now you have 24 pieces. Roll them into balls and place in the dish. Now add the entire can of apples. I believe it was 21 oz. Now add your tsp of cinnamon. Mix..Put in oven for 30 minutes on 350..Serve with your favorite ice cream..Mine just happened to be Breyers Homemade Vanilla..5 minutes to put together and pure yuminess! Enjoy! Happy Thursday Family! Lots of new recipes going to be coming your way..Trying to balance everything to give me more time working with my favorite people..Why you of course! My family! :) So we have had Cauliflower Rice and Crustless Cauliflower Pizza and today it is Cauliflower Potato Salad. I only put the word potato in there because it looks exactly like it and if you close your eyes when taking a bite you would swear that what it is! It's some amazing stuff!
So I make mock potatoes with cauliflower and wondered what it would taste like as mock potato salad..The results were absolutely wonderful! And get this! A cup of this amazing stuff is a little more then 100 calories! SCORE! Now you know it's got to be good when even my 10 year old Granddaughter ate it and asked for more..Mama Dawn said it now has to be a staple at Thanksgiving along with of course Coleslaw and Green Bean Casserole. And as we all know from earlier blogs the Pilgrims will be arriving..lol So with all that said as I know you are all patiently waiting for the recipe here we go... 1 Large head of Cauliflower 5 chopped hard boiled eggs 2 stalks of celery 1 small onion or 1/2 of a large 1/2 cup green peas (I used frozen) 1/2 cup Low Fat Mayonnaise (I used Hellmann's) 1/4 cup regular mayo (I used Hellmann's) 1/4 cup light sour cream (I used Daisy) Mrs. Dash seasoning (You are more then welcome to use any spices you like) Cut up cauliflower and boil till "Al Dente" I actually put the cauliflower in with the cold water when I turned it on so you don't have to wait for the water to boil first.After it came to a boil I cooked it for approx 15 minutes. Pour into a colander and rinse with cold water. While that is cooling chop your celery into small pieces. Shell your boiled eggs and chop into somewhat small pieces the same goes with your onion. Add this all into a bowl and add your drained cauliflower. You may want to chop some of your cauliflower if it is in large pieces as you want small almost nugget size pieces. Now add your peas, mayo, sour cream & Mrs. Dash seasoning. Mix all together and refrigerate for at least an hour as it is best served cold. Enjoy! This will become your favorite too! AS I stated in my last blog how much I like Popsicles. So while on my Popsicle extravaganza I was throwing whatever ingredients together that sounded good. This one sounded incredible! So here we go....
1 cup of unsweetened almond milk 1 Tbsp chocolate syrup 1/2 cup frozen cherries 4-5 fresh cherries Only 4 ingredients, somewhat healthy and get this only 47 calories!!!! Put everything in your Bullet, Blender or whatever you may use to blend ingredients. Except for the 4-5 fresh cherries. Cut those up and add after the other ingredients are blended to give you a few bites of fresh cherry bites. Pour into 3 ice pop molds and freeze..( I got my molds at the dollar store) This recipe made 3 you can add a little more of the ingredients to make an even 4. Enjoy! Happy Tuesday family! While trying to decide what I was making for dinner I started cleaning out my fridge. I found a package of Thin Crust Artisan Flatouts that were about to expire. A partial package of basil cubes, Some plum tomatoes, 1/2 bag of fire roasted peppers & onions from Trader Joes, some chicken breast from a previous night, and a partial package of Belgioioso Mozzarella Cheese.
Then the light bulb went off Pizza! I can eat pizza in anyway shape or form, with or without sauce. Sausage, Pepperoni, ect. However this was going to be more on the healthier side. In fact when I figured out the calorie count it came out to less then 300 calories for an entire flatout! Paired with a salad and I was one happy camper! Even hubby gave it high marks and said it was a keeper so here we go!! 4 Flatout Artisan Flatbreads 3 Basil cubes (I microwaved from a frozen state) Fresh basil is best but I only had frozen. 3 Plum Tomatoes 1/2 bag Fire Roasted Peppers & Onions 6 oz diced chicken breast 6 oz Belgioioso Mozzarella Cheese Saute peppers and onion with diced chicken breast to heat. Put flatbread in a preheated 375 degree oven for approximately 3-5 minutes. Take out then put all your ingredients on top. I used a knife to spread the basil on the bottom of the flatout and then worked up from there and placed back in the oven for around 5 minutes. Under 300 calories per flatout and 21 grams of protein! Yesterday was National Ice Cream Day, so we HAD to celebrate, but I didn't want just plain old ice cream, and then I remembered that I had some extra flour tortillas. I had to borrow some vegetable oil from mom, and in return she demanded one of these scrumptious treats! They are amazingly easy!
For the Sopapilla: 4 6in Flour Tortillas 1/4 Cup Vegetable/Canola Oil (or enough to make about an inch of oil in your pan Cinnamon & Sugar Mixed 1/4 Cup Honey Heat oil in sauce pan. Gently drop in 1 flour tortilla and brown each side. It may bubble up. Remove tortilla and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar on both sides & drizzle with honey. Repeat with remaining tortillas. Top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream & blueberry compote Blueberry Compote 1 Cup Fresh or Frozen Blueberries 1/2 Cup Sugar 1/4 Cup Water Put all ingredients in medium pot and simmer on low being sure to frequently stir as to not let the sugar burn, as blueberries soften lightly mash with a fork leaving about 1/2 the blueberries whole. Keep at medium heat until liquid starts to form a syrup like texture. This can be served hot or cold. These are also amazing just served as is!!! no need for ice cream or other toppings. Happy Saturday Family! As long as I can remember I have loved Popsicles. Anything frozen really. Icees, Slurpee's, Parrot Ice, you name it. I freeze all of my yogurt, fruit, ect..My family says I'm kind of weird..lol..I just think they don't know what they are missing. Anyway This is the first recipe of many to come. Of course I had to sample and they are good! Only 3 ingredients, healthy and only get this 98 calories!! So here we go...
1 1/2 bananas (about 8-9 inches) 1/2 cup unsweetened frozen pineapple tidbits ( or any unsweetened frozen pineapple) 1/2 cup Stonyfield Organic French Vanilla Yogurt Put everything in your Bullet, Blender or whatever you may use to blend ingredients. Pour into 3 ice pop molds and freeze..( I got my molds at the dollar store) This recipe made 3 you can add a little more of the ingredients to make an even 4. Enjoy! July is National Blueberry Month! To celebrate I decided to make these pancakes!! My 2 year old gobbled them up quickly!
For The Pancakes 3/4 cup milk 1 cup all-purpose flour 2 tablespoons white sugar 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 Jello Cheesecake Pudding Mix (dry) 1 egg 1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries Mix dry ingredients and then slowly add the milk & egg. Cook as you would traditional pancakes. Blueberry Compote 1 Cup Fresh or Frozen Blueberries 1/2 Cup Sugar 1/4 Cup Water Put all ingredients in medium pot and simmer on low being sure to frequently stir as to not let the sugar burn, as blueberries soften lightly mash with a fork leaving about 1/2 the blueberries whole. Keep at medium heat until liquid starts to form a syrup like texture. This can be served hot or cold. Happy Tuesday Family..I remember years ago my Mom used to get fresh kielbasa at our local butcher shop. Kielbasa and knockwurst actually. Well I have not seen either for years. I always see of course the packaged stuff like Hillshire Farms kielbasa but nothing like we used to get at the butcher shop...Until the other day while shopping at my local Publix store!! Could it be? Could they possibly have those links of pure yumminess? In the fresh meat department!
A package had to be mine! Now what could go with it? Garlic cabbage of course..Others would choose sauerkraut but I was looking at something that would be filling without any other side dish. (I did have a salad though) ..Let me tell you the kielbasa was as good as I remembered. And the garlic cabbage was a perfect addition! And get this only 306 calories per serving!!! And if your watching points 7 points. so without any further adieu here is the recipe..Try it for your dinner this week..Or lunch..Or breakfast..lol 1 pkg fresh kielbasa (16 oz) 1 head cabbage..about 8 cups 2 tbsp minced garlic 1/2 cup low sodium vegetable broth cooking spray for pan such as Pam Mrs. Dash for seasoning Spray pan with cooking spray..Saute cabbage on medium until softened..add garlic and saute a few more minutes until garlic is browned.Add some Mrs. Dash seasoning and vegetable broth.Cook down until almost all broth is absorbed. In a separate fry pan spray with cooking spray and cook your kielbasa on medium until browned and reaches a temperature of at least 165 degrees. Serve on top of cabbage..Voila! |
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