Bye bye summer hello delicious diet food

Well, now that baseball is over it can only mean one thing. The summer is gone. It goes by faster and faster every year. Only 13 days until SpudFest!

The state tournament game isn't even worth mentioning. It was that bad. It just wasn't their day.

I got some time to myself this weekend. It was completely spontaneous and unexpected. It started because I had a fight with a box of "do it yourself" highlights which required me to head to town and find someone to fix it and ended with my whole family camping out for a night sans me. Here is the note I found on the table when I returned home.

It was lonely. I didn't sleep well. Then I got over it and made some delicious diet food.

August 1st was the start date for the family Biggest Loser contest. I am taking it slow and making better choices about food and also getting off my bum a little more. In fact, my oldest and I went for a slow run the other night and it was fantastic.

Anyway the delicious diet food....stay focused, Rani.

I had a container of low fat cottage cheese staring me in the face and I needed to use it up.

What else can a hungry girl do but google cottage cheese recipes?

This one was so easy and I had everything on hand. I used my blanched and frozen spinach and I was so pleased with the results.

Crustless Spinach Quiche

2 boxes frozen spinach (thawed)

1 container plain cottage cheese

1 small onion (chopped)

2-3 egg whites

salt, pepper, garlic and red pepper flakes to taste

olive oil or cooking spray

Drain the spinach really well- the best way is to squeeze handfuls of it over the sink.

Finely chop the onion and saute in olive oil until golden- about 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, mix the onions, spinach, cottage cheese, egg whites and spices until well blended.

Pour mixture into an 8x8 pyrex, pie plate, or scoop into muffin tins.

Baking time is about 45 min for an 8x8 or pie plate or about 20-25 min for muffin tins.

These freeze well, and can be left out to defrost before being reheated in the oven. They can be frozen baked or unbaked. Two of these with a whole wheat pita bread makes great lunch!

I used the rest of the cottage cheese to make a taco fiesta casserole for supper. YUM!

Spanish Rice

just throw it all in and let it cook this is a before shot

This is tonight's supper, a request from my oldest...





2 lbs ground beef, browned


2 medium onions, chopped


2 green peppers, chopped, I almost always use one green pepper and one jalapeno


28 oz. can of tomatoes (or a jar or two from the pantry of home-canned)


2 cups water (maybe more later)


2.5 tsp of chili powder


2 tsp. salt (maybe more later)


2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce


1.5 cups rice, uncooked, not that instant minute stuff either...





Brown the burger, throw it in the crock with everything else. Cook all day... 8-10 hours. You may need to add water, be careful not to stir as it gets mushy:) I just eat mushy, but if you are concerned about how your food looks, don't stir it!

Add a side of fruit and you got yourself a meal.



Serve with shredded cheese on top, or roll up in warm corn tortillas. YUM!

Use it or lose it?

Ever wondered how long you can keep food in the freezer or fridge, say for example a 16 pound turkey you put in the freezer last November?

Find out what you can use and what you should throw away using Stilltasty.com.

Thanks, Cindy!

btw I need to cook a turkey this week :)

What's for dinner, mom?

If you are a parent or the cook in your home, for that matter, you probably hear this question every day.

I just stumbled upon this cool website that will help you have an answer for that question as long as you have a couple of ingredients in your fridge or cubboard, supercook.com.

From the website...

Supercook is a new recipe search engine that finds recipes you can make with only the ingredients you have at home. To begin, simply start adding ingredients you have in the green box on the top left. The more ingredients you add, the better the results will be.

Happy cooking!

I'm too hungry...

I could post about my awful week. For example how between my hubby and I we made over 10 trips to the city and filled all three vehicles with gas at least once, OR, how half of those trips were for doctor appointments ranging from acute care, to general practitioner, to oncologist and finally the OBGYN. I could tell you about the 1 and one-half days missed subbing because of strep throat and misdiagnosis for my ds. I could tell you about the kind gentlemen who got out of his car at the stoplight to tell me my car was 'smoking something awful' on my way to the OB. I could tell you about my husband driving the sick kids in to fix my broken down car in the medical building 3 parking lot. I could tell you about me almost missing another half day of work because my car was broken down, but instead I left one sick child with my hubby and took the other sleeping one and tried to teach while making frequent visits to the sick one, passed out from pure exhaustion in the car. I could tell you how excited I am about this weekend because; A) we are leaving for the cities B) I got permission to spend time in the hot tub from the OB C) my daughter may be able to see the American Idol Concert in person and D) I really need a weekend without doctors offices, computers, or my broken dryer. But I won't. Because I haven't eaten yet today and it's 3:18. So, here's my favorite alfredo recipe. I am taking some breadsticks out of the freezer and pigging out tonight. I have a bag of frozen shrimp that I was saving for a rainy day calling my name, no matter how sunny it is...

Alfredo (without the fuss)

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

1 cup milk, half-n-half, or cream (to your liking, Ijust use plain ol' milk)

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

Directions:
Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Stir in flour and heat until bubbly. Slowly stir in cream, Parmesan, and seasoning. Heat over medium high heat, stirring constantly for 5-7 minutes or until thick. Serve over pasta.

Mama mia

The baby is currently taking her second nap of the day and it's only 1:47.

Had to keep myself busy so I found a couple of yummo recipes to try.

The first one is from one of my frequented blogs, SCRIBBIT. She is one of those super-organized bloggers with a day reserved just for posting recipes. I try (and love) most all of her recipes. This happy cheese bread is delicious. About 2 seconds after I snapped this photo I ate half a loaf. My dough was really wet and I was afraid it wouldn't turn out, but it did. I should have used a sharper knife to make the X because it baked itself away. I used a tablespoon of flax seed in mine to make it healthy:). I also only used a palm sized ball of mozzarella because I was running low on cheese. You gotta try this one. It is delightful alone or my kids loved it dipped in a little of my homemade tomato pasta sauce. MMMMMmmmmmm...

The second recipe I am trying today is a meatloaf. My family digs meatloaf. I actually have a perfect recipe that I love, but this inside out cheeseburger one sounded too yummy to pass up. It is in the crock pot now and should be ready before daddy leaves for work tonight. I am serving it with curly fries and lettuce salad. Can't wait!

Thank goodness I live in the Midwest where cheese is the ingredient of utmost importance.

Happy Cooking:)

Update! Cheeseburger in Paradise was a hit. I used Jimmy Dean Sage sausage and ground chuck instead of ground beef. YUMMO!

why I should ONLY shop local...

So the husband had in service today at the hospital. I asked him to please pick up a few things for me. I always regret asking him to pick up things. Here's a tidbit of his shopping venture.

Phone rings.

Hello?

Hi Honey, you said you needed sour cream. Is 5 lbs enough?

Where are you?

Sam's Club

Oh, my.

Do we need pork loin?

Hello debit.




10 minutes later.

Phone rings.

Hello?

Do you still need infants tylenol?

No tooth yet.

Are you sure, can't we just buy childrens?

She IS only an infant, do you know how to figure the dosage?

Okay, is 500 paper plates enough?

Click.

a few thoughts on my favorite subject, FOOD.

Yesterday I went to eat lunch with the kindergartner. I was astounded by what she ate at the lunch table. Just goes to show you what social eating can do for you. My, I won't touch any egg with a ten foot pole, daughter ate about a half of a cup of hard boiled eggs. I was shocked. I said to her about half way through lunch, "I didn't know you liked eggs, honey?" "These are cold, mom, I like cold eggs." She said as the fluffy white and yellow pieces flew from her lips. I didn't even have a reply.

My son, who is the pickiest eater of all of so far, has been eating me out of house and home. Two days ago he wanted more supper an hour after we ate. Then next morning he had 3 bowls of cereal, two pieces of toast and 4 slices of bacon. I was shocked. Then he had an orange for snack an hour later. Must be a growth spurt?!

The baby has my food quirks. We both have weak stomachs and this morning after her bottle she seemed fussy and I gave her some rice cereal mixed with a tiny bit of apple juice. Her gag reflex made me laugh. I have a terrible gag reflex and my kids make fun of me all the time.

So tonight we plan to use up the book it coupon at Pizza Hut and I am certain to be fooled. It used to be we could get by on a couple of kids personal pans and the salad bar, but I have a feeling tonight may break the bank...

i hope this is gonna be simmering for supper...

Papa al Pomodora

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
4-5 cloves of garlic
1 small onion chopped
1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes (i used my canned stewed tomatoes from the garden)
1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 quart chicken broth
4 cups (3/4 lbs) day-old bread(torn in pieces)(french bread works great B!)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Heat a stock pot over medium heat. Add olive oil, garlic and 3/4 of onion.
Cook 7-8 minutes, then add tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Add
broth and turn the heat up to make the soup boil. Reduce heat to a simmer
and add bread. Stir soup as it simmers until it thickens to a stew. Add
seasonings to taste.

variations: add 2 cans white beans or a leek, use veggie stock instead of chicken:)

LEAP YEAR SPECIALS

Check out these specials good only for Today, February 29th, 2008!

I want to try that pasta and I LOVE Christianbook.com.


Thanks to imommies for the great links...

Castle Cake

Ariel is the princess under the sea and dd is turning 3 + 3!


***Kudos to Scribbit for the cake idea!

our family...

illustrated as only we should be in December, by gingerbread cookies! Don't you love my bling?