Cheater cheater

Okay, so maybe I'm cheating a littttttle here. But technically it counts. Because the box says so.

A few weeks ago at the grocery, while picking up some boxes of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, I *whoops* accidentally slipped in a box of the Veggies Mac & Cheese. I debated back and forth once I got home - should I keep it for myself? Should I tell Brad? Should I just make it and not say a word?

I had quite a few other boxes to go through (hooray for the 10 for $10 sales) but once I finally got through them, it left me with the lone veggie box.

I decided to go for it. I didn't tell Brad. In my nervousness, I even forgot to add the milk (I KNEW there was a reason it was so dry!).

But in the end, he didn't notice. I couldn't notice much difference in the regular mac & cheese and the veggies - although we had been getting the whole grain kind and you can definitely tell a difference in that.

All in all, I might just do it again. Hey, a 1/2 cup of veggies in every cup ain't bad!

P.S. - I had my tofu, mushrooms, & broccoli sprouts for breakfast again this morning. Except this morning I made too much and couldn't eat it all. Yesterday for lunch I had veggie stir fry so day one of my "eat vegetarian twice a day" plan worked out. According to the scale, I lost almost 3 pounds. Maybe it's time to get a new scale...haha

Go big or go home

I drove home to Charlotte last week - approximately a 6 1/2 hour drive. I don't typically drive, but if I'm going for longer than a weekend I like to have my car with me (not that my parents wouldn't let me borrow one of their 5 billion cars). I usually grab a book on tape or two to make the time pass quicker (it really does!).

Anyway, in the book I was listening to, one of the characters was a vegan. Now, I love me some steak, chicken, seafood & cheese (to name a few), but the girl made some really compelling arguments. I'm about 1000% sure that Brad will never accept that particular lifestyle, but I decided to attempt a vegetarian breakfast and lunch during the week to see how it goes. I say vegetarian, not vegan because I need all the calcium I can get.

My first attempt at a vegetarian breakfast (actually, I guess it turned out to be vegan, go me!) was a serious leap into the unknown. For the first time in my life...I ate tofu.

Seriously. And you know what? It wasn't bad at all. (Note - I was also expecting it to cost a LOT more than it did. I didn't get the most expensive brand, but it still was just $2 for a big chunk). I crumbled up a little of the tofu, tossed it in a pan with a little olive oil, threw in some broccoli sprouts (I've read they're better for you than broccoli and since I hate broccoli, I was THRILLED to hear this) and some fresh portabello mushrooms - sprinkled some Mediterranean seasoning and done. Scrambled tofu.

I had read that tofu tends to take the flavor of whatever you cook it with and I agree. The texture was not really any different than scrambled eggs. I didn't make much this morning but I think this could be a winner. Tomorrow I might try to change up the spices...or maybe add some more veggies in. But so far - I think tofu might be a winner.

I shall return...

Wow, I have really been neglecting my veggies. Not to worry, I'll be back soon. Hubby starts an unfortunate new schedule at work which will leave me by myself for dinner each night. Sounds like a great excuse to start trying out some new veggie recipes! This week will be lots of meats and potatoes to remind him how awesome his wife is (beginning with steak & macaroni and cheese last night haha). But starting Sunday, I'll be full-force with veggies!

Stuffed Peppers

I finally did it. I tried stuffed peppers last night. This was, by far, the biggest risk I've taken in the veggie department. I really hate peppers. I typically hate the taste, the flavor, everything. But I was willing to try it.

I did, however, have a backup in case I absolutely hated them:

Totino's to the rescue!

Luckily, it didn't come to that!

Ingredients

• 2 cups water
• 1 cup uncooked white rice
• 3 large green bell peppers, halved and seeded (I used one green and one red because that's how it was packaged at the store)
• 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef (I planned to use ground turkey, but since the grocery stores here stink, I used ground chicken instead since that's all they had yesterday)
• 1 onion, diced (As I've said before, I almost always omit the onion)
• garlic powder to taste
• salt to taste
• ground black pepper to taste
• 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 2 cups finely shredded mozzarella cheese (I used an Italian blend of cheeses because that's what I already had in the fridge)

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add rice and stir. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
3. Place green bell peppers in a medium saucepan with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes. Remove peppers from the water and set aside in a 9x13 inch baking dish.
4. In a large saucepan over medium heat, brown the ground beef; drain. Return to heat and mix in onion, cooked rice, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Pour in tomato sauce and mix thoroughly. Let simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.
5. Spoon the meat mixture onto each half of the green peppers. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes or until mixture begins to turn golden brown.
6. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over the top of each stuffed pepper. Return to the oven and bake until cheese is lightly browned, about 5 to 10 minutes.

First of all - pet peeve. Don't put directions in the ingredients. When I get ready to cook, I just look at the directions because I already have my ingredients together. Which led to me missing the part about halving and seeding the peppers. Which led to me wondering why it didn't seem quite right:

Then I figured it out. Duh.

I did some other modifications to the recipe. I added Cajun and Mediterranean spices because when I was taste-testing the rice/ground chicken/tomato sauce mixture, it just didn't have enough flavor for me. Obviously if I'd put the onion in, that might have taken care of it, but since I don't do onions, the spices did well. I think I could have even put more in.

The first few bites were just okay, but the more I ate, the more I liked it. I clearly made way too much though. The recipe calls for 3 and I only used 2...and I used a pound of ground chicken instead of a pound and a half. I could only eat one of the green pepper halves though so now I have 3 halves sitting in my fridge. I'm not willing to give up my chicken stir-fry for lunch so it might be dinner tonight again (why not, hubby's out of town until Sunday!).

So all in all, I give it a B. I'm not sure it will make it to my list of favorite foods but I would probably be willing to try another stuffed peppers recipe now. The green pepper taste wasn't as strong as I was expecting, which was a good thing.

Nutritional Information

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 465 | Total Fat: 20.3g | Cholesterol: 98mg

Chicken Stir Fry for Lunch!

I'm pretty sure this is going to replace my frozen meals. As I mentioned in my last post, me and my (hopefully) future sister-in-law made salmon and chicken stir fry last night with leftover broccoli slaw, shredded carrots and frozen green beans. I had it again today for lunch and I feel SO full! I'm not a nutritional calculator expert, but I can't fathom how this wouldn't be good for me.

Today's recipe:

1 can of chicken
handful of broccoli slaw
handful of shredded carrots
handful of frozen green beans

I took a medium skillet, put approximately two tablespoons of olive oil in it (I;m one of those who rarely use actual measuring spoons or cups), then dumped all the ingredients in there. Sprinkled some Cajun and Caribbean Jerk seasonings on top, mixed together over medium-high heat for awhile and done.

My thought is that I can slowly start adding more veggies to this mix. Maybe some broccoli sprouts...and snap peas...and, if I get REALLY daring...some peppers.

This definitely has less sodium than a normal frozen meal and I can't imagine where a lot of calories would come from. Regardless, I got to eat a much bigger bowl of this, which made me much fuller, which meant I wasn't wandering around the kitchen on my lunch break trying to figure out what else I could cook to make me not snack all afternoon at work!

Oriental Salad

I hate everything about this salad. Except for the fact that I love it.

The first time my mom fixed this salad, I was skeptical. The only thing in it that I *liked* was the lettuce. But somehow, when you put all the ingredients together - it's incredible. It makes a ton, though so the number in parenthesis is half of the recipe. To put it in perspective, I made the halved on Sunday for Mother's Day for a crowd of 7 and it was completely gone after people went back for seconds.

(1) 2 bags of romaine lettuce
(1/2) 1 bag broccoli slaw
(1) 2 pkgs beef ramen noodles
(1/4c) 1/2c red onion chopped
Almond slices (Mom didn't use these though since she can't have nuts - and I wind up not putting nuts in my stuff just so I won't forget)Mix above in bowl then pour over dressing.

Dressing:
(3T) 1/3c vinegar
(3T) 1/3c sugar (I tend to note put as much sugar in it - I don't really think the dressing needs it and it's just extra sugars in an otherwise healthy salad)
(1/4c) 1/2c olive oil
(1pkt) 2pkt beef seasoning (from the beef ramen package)

I hate broccoli slaw, I hate ramen noodles, I hate onions. Yet I'm in love with this salad. Go figure!

One quick hint - after you crush up the ramen noodles, save that until right before you serve it. Otherwise, the noodles become soggy from the oil & vinegar. The crispiness of it really adds to the salad (but I've had soggy leftovers and will still devour them!).

I should've taken pictures of it on Sunday, but I wasn't even thinking about it. Hubby and I had his parents, brother, brother's girlfriend and grandmother over for marinated steak bites, grilled marinated shrimp, chicken penne pasta, Oriental salad, asparagus (the same recipe with the whipping cream sauce over it) and bread. My brother-in-law's girlfriend brought funfetti cupcakes which were REALLY good. She made mini and regular sized ones so it was nice to be able to pop a mini one in to satisfy my sugar craving.

My brother-in-law's girlfriend and I made some chicken stir-fry for dinner last night while the boys were out playing golf. I'm planning on fixing some more for lunch and expanding my veggie palate over the weeks with that, too!

By Request...

The recipe(s) for Pizza Casserole!

What's written below is how the recipe was originally written. Italicized is my attempt to make it as healthy as possible (well, as possible as it is to make pizza casserole healthy!)

Pizza Casserole

- 1 8oz box spaghetti noodles........1 8oz box of whole wheat spaghetti noodles
- 2 8oz packages Mozzarella Cheese........2 8oz packages low-fat skim Mozzarella Cheese
- 1 pkg pepperoni........1 pkg turkey pepperoni
- 1 pound ground beef........1 pound ground turkey
- 1 16-oz jar spaghetti sauce........I use just plain Hunt's tomato sauce...then add my own seasonings in it. Who knows if it's healthier or not, but it doesn't seem as heavy on a dish that could easily feel heavy.
- 1/4 cup butter........1/4 cup margarine
- grated Parmesan Cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook spaghetti and drain. Add butter and generous amount of the grated Parmesan cheese. Brown ground beef, drain and add spaghetti sauce. Simmer all together for 20 minutes. Add pepperoni in small pan and fill halfway with water. Boil for 5 minutes, remove and drain on paper towel. In a 9x12 baking dish, layer spaghetti, cheese, ground beef mixture, pepperoni and another layer of cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes.

Like I said, I don't know how healthy you can make something like pizza casserole, but to be honest, I think it tastes better with my adjustments. My husband is very much a "meat and potatoes" kind of guy and he even thinks the turkey tastes good.