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.

Green Bean & Mushroom Medley

This wasn't a shocker that I liked this dish :) The big deal about this recipe, though, was the carrots that were mixed in. Sure, I love green beans and mushrooms - but I hate carrots! You'll notice that I left out the onions - here's the thing about onions. I've learned to enjoy red onions occasionally - there's a salad I make with chopped red onion and I like that...and I've grown to crave bbq chicken pizzas with red onions - as long as they're cut thin. Regular onions, though...not only can I not stand the taste, but they tend to bother my stomach. So that's one veggie you won't see much of, for the sake of my poor tummy.

And here we go:

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound fresh green beans, cut into 1-inch lengths
• 2 carrots, cut into thick strips
• 1/4 cup butter margarine
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper: I just used regular pepper - it was just fine!

Directions

1. Place green beans and carrots in 1 inch of boiling water. Cover, and cook until tender but still firm. Drain.
2. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute onions and mushrooms until almost tender. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 3 minutes. Stir in green beans, carrots, salt, seasoned salt, garlic salt, and white pepper. Cover, and cook for 5 minutes over medium heat.

Granted, not the best picture ever - but I promise it was good. (And the pizza casserole was amazinggggg as usual!). I give it an A-!

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 103 | Total Fat: 7.9g | Cholesterol: 20mg

It's Working!

The whole point of me starting on this quest is to learn to like vegetables. I figured I would have to try a lot of recipes with a lot of ingredients to get to the point where I would enjoy the actual vegetable.

I've blogged already about a broccoli recipe that I really liked with brown sugar and parmesan cheese.

I blogged about sprinkling the brown sugar and parmesan cheese on frozen meal broccoli.

Today, I took another big step. I omitted the brown sugar.

It might not sound like much, but to me, that was a major victory. I'm getting to the point where I can start omitting the extra ingredients and still enjoy the vegetable itself. I'm not saying I'm going to be eating raw broccoli or plain steamed broccoli anytime soon - but it was a little reinforcement that maybe I'm doing this right!

This week's menu is getting mixed up a little bit but the vegetables should stay the same. Tonight's going to be pizza casserole but still with the green bean and mushroom medley. I'm expecting high marks on this one because although it contains carrots, I absolutely love green beans and mushrooms :)

Looking Ahead...

Looking ahead to next week, I’m going to be back to my veggie attempts. This week was pretty much shot due to me being sick all Easter weekend, but I’ll be back with a vengeance the next two weeks.

It’s pretty much a given that I will always cook on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The following week, however, hubby will be out of town a few days so I’m planning on going all-out in veggie goodness. I might also add that as of May 7, I’m on break from grad school until June 1 so I’ll have more time to really plan some meals!

Tentative meal plan for the next few weeks:

Monday (May 2):

3 Cheese Chicken Penne (using whole grain wheat pasta and low fat skim milk cheese)

Glazed Dijon Carrots (yes, this was already on the menu for this past week but like I said, being sick interfered)

Rolls

Mixed salad

Tuesday (May 3):

Pizza Casserole (as healthy as it can possibly be: ground turkey, turkey pepperoni, low fat skim milk cheese, whole wheat pasta)

Green Bean & Mushroom Medley

Bread

Mixed salad

Wednesday (May 4):

Tuna & Pasta Cheddar Melt (a new recipe, haven’t tried it yet)

Carrot Souffle

Bread

Mixed Salad

Monday (May 9):

Grilled Salmon

Sugar Snap Peas

Bread

Mixed Salad

Tuesday (May 10):

Grilled Steak

Mashed Potatoes

Rolls

Wednesday (May 11):

Stuffed Peppers (this is a biggie – I hate peppers, but I found a recipe I felt like I could tentatively live with. It sounds like it’s basically pizza in a pepper!)

Thursday (May 12):

Chicken Breasts with Balsamic Vinegar

Creamed Corn

Friday (May 13):

Spinach noodles – that’s right, I’m going to attempt to make my own noodles! We shall see how this turns out!

Homemade tomato sauce

Salad with homemade Garlic Croutons

It Applies to Real Life!

Today for lunch, I had my typical frozen "diet" meal. I go back and forth between Smart Ones and Healthy Choice (usually depending on which one has the best sale). Healthy Choice typically comes with a meat, a side dish, and some sort of dessert.

On the menu today was lemon pepper fish, broccoli and some caramel apple dessert.

Lemon pepper = yummy.
Rice = yummy.
Caramel apple dessert thing = interesting.

On a normal day, I would've tossed it after eating the fish and rice because I wouldn't have liked the broccoli. Today, however, is a new day. I applied what I have been learning about veggie recipes and added a sprinkle of brown sugar and Parmesan cheese to the top of the broccoli as soon as it came out of the microwave.

*Gasp*

I ate ALL my broccoli! I never knew it could be so easy to get me to eat veggies!

Brilliant Sauteed Broccoli / Pasta e Olio

I’ve been slacking a little, but I still found time to try a new dish over the weekend. Look out the windows for pigs flying because I actually found a way to fix broccoli that doesn’t make me gag. It’s decent, even!

Brilliant Sauteed Broccoli

Ingredients

• 1 pound broccoli florets
• 3 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1.     Fill a pot with water and bring to a boil. Fill a large bowl or pot with half ice and half water. When the water comes to a boil, add the broccoli florets using a strainer with a handle if possible. Allow the broccoli to cook for 1 to 2 minutes until just tender. Immediately remove from the boiling water, using the strainer or draining, and transfer to bowl of ice to stop the cooking process. Immerse the broccoli completely in the ice water for a minute or two. Remove and place in a dish that has been lined with paper towels. This part can be done up to two days in advance.

2.     In a cup or small bowl, mix together the Parmesan cheese and brown sugar; set aside.

3.     Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Throw in the broccoli and season with red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Stir to coat the broccoli, then cook and stir for 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and dust with the Parmesan cheese mixture.

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 81 | Total Fat: 5.6g | Cholesterol: 2mg

As the norm with me, I didn’t use salt and pepper at all, but everything else I did as written. I was a little leery about some of the combinations – red pepper mixed with brown sugar? Heck, I wasn’t 100% sold on brown sugar and Parmesan cheese, but I’m a believer now.

I completed this no-meat meal by combining the broccoli with another somewhat healthy, yet easy and tasty recipe:

Pasta e Olio

Ingredients

• 1 pound spaghetti
• 2 teaspoons chopped garlic
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup melted butter

Directions

1.     In a large pot with boiling salted water cook spaghetti pasta until al dente. Drain.

2.     Meanwhile, in a large skillet over low heat saute garlic, parsley, and red pepper flakes with olive oil . Cook until garlic turns golden in color, about 10 to 15 minutes.

3.     Toss pasta with garlic mixture and butter or margarine. Serve warm.

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 323 | Total Fat: 13.4g | Cholesterol: 15mg

This has become one of my go-to lunches when I’m not in the mood for a Healthy Choice or Smart Ones frozen meal. It’s filling, it’s easy, it refrigerates well and the calorie count is lower than most of my frozen meals. The fat count is a little high but I don’t use butter or margarine so I imagine it’s actually a little lower. With my running background I could never give up pasta, so I might as well find somewhat healthy ways to fix it (meaning my beloved pizza casserole has been altered to turkey pepperoni, ground turkey, low-fat skim cheese and whole grain pasta). I give the Broccoli an A- and the pasta an A+!

And voila!

Asparagus Take 2

Last night was a repeat of Tuesday night, except I fixed the asparagus instead of Brad. It was still really good! Two fixes and it still gets an A+ in my book. My only concern is that blasted whipping cream. I checked the nutritional information on it today and it said for every tablespoon, it's 50 calories and 50 calories from fat. That's a little more than I like to see, but I guess the rest of the recipe is pretty healthy. I found this recipe for "substitute" whipping cream, but at 98 calories, it's still a little too fattening to justify a vegetable dish:

Substitute Whipping Cream
Ingredients

• 1 quart skim milk
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Place milk in freezer for 1 hour. Remove and pour into a tall cylindrical container. Using an immersion blender, start at the bottom and slowly draw the blender up at a tilt. Gradually add confectioners' sugar while continuing to move blender up and down to build volume. When milk begins to form soft peaks, mix in vanilla extract. Serve immediately.

I also read that 1/3 cup butter plus 3/4 cup of milk can be substituted for 1 cup of cream. That sounds like the healthiest option so far. I'm not sure how much he used, but it was enough for asparagus for two nights (4-6 stalks per day) and two good sized pieces of salmon...and we still have quite a bit left over. So it might not be as bad as I think. Maybe it's just because it tastes so good I assume it can't be good for me :)

Asparagus with Creamy Mustard Sauce

Last night hubby cooked a very yummy meal. He marinated some steak cubes in a bbq sauce that he invented himself (impressive) overnight. Then he grilled some salmon, grilled the steak, made some fettucini alfredo as a side dish and fixed me...some asparagus. It was DELICIOUS! And...as was my hope when I started this quest...he tried some himself...and LIKED it! He only had a bite, but it's a step in the right direction. He didn't give me the actual recipe, but it didn't take me long to search for it on the Food Network's website. I knew he got the recipe from there, knew it had whipping cream, lemon juice and Dijon mustard so it didn't take me long to find a recipe that matched pretty close:

Asparagus with Creamy Mustard Sauce

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds (I don't think these were used)
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Pepper
• 2 pounds asparagus, trimmed

Directions

In a small skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the almonds and cook, stirring frequently until fragrant and golden brown, about 5 minutes.

In a small bowl, mix together the cream, mustard, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.

In a Dutch oven, bring 2 quarts water to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the asparagus and cook until desired tenderness, or about 3 minutes. Drain well. Place the asparagus on a serving plate and top with the cream sauce and buttered almonds.

The only thing that doesn't ring right about this recipe is I know he blanched the asparagus. I don't know if he did that because that's what he wanted to do or what - but I really think that was part of what made it so good. So I'd add that part in. He also knows I don't love almonds (I can handle them in small portions) so those weren't used either.

All in all, I give it an A+, our first A+ of the blogging. However, I have no idea how fattening that sauce was. I've been trying to make veggie recipes that are low in fat and calories - I figure what's the point of learning to like veggies if they add more "crap" to my diet than I had to begin with? So make at your own risk, no nutritional information this time.

I do, however, have some pictures (and yes, that is my favorite glass of red wine!):

Dessert was a chocolate molten cake with vanilla ice cream. He also added some sea salt and cinnamon to the top of the cake. There's a candy shop in downtown Frederick that puts sea salt on my dark chocolate caramels - it's DELICIOUS!

Broccoli - Fail.

Well, I knew it was bound to happen at some point. I'm by no means a professional chef and it was only a matter of time.

I burned my attempt at broccoli last night.

I'm not talking about a little scorch here. I'm talking about a "clunk-clunk-clunk" as it hit the bottom of the trash can.

I didn't even see it coming! I followed the recipe exactly the way I was supposed to this time (with the exception of the garlic and salt) - and didn't even cook it as long as it said to! Oye. So I got nothing.

Roasted Garlic Lemon Broccoli

Ingredients

• 2 heads broccoli, separated into florets
• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, toss broccoli florets with the extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, pepper and garlic. Spread the broccoli out in an even layer on a baking sheet.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until florets are tender enough to pierce the stems with a fork, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove and transfer to a serving platter. Squeeze lemon juice liberally over the broccoli before serving for a refreshing, tangy finish.

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 49 | Total Fat: 1.9g | Cholesterol: 0mg

It had some great potential. I might try it again sometime but I can't figure out what went wrong other than I need to put it in for like 10 minutes...and keep an eye on it every other minute. I made chicken and rice last night in a skillet though, so it required constant attention from me.

Hubby decided he was going to cook an extravagant meal tonight - including asparagus for me with a recipe he saw on the Food Channel (how sweet, he won't eat veggies but at least he supports my efforts!). So while last night's recipe gets a sad Incomplete, hopefully I'll have a yummy recipe to add tomorrow.

Looking Ahead...

Next week's goal: broccoli. I have yet to find any humanly (or inhumanly for that matter) way to eat broccoli and actually enjoy it. I've tried dumping as much cheese/ranch/you name it on the stuff and I still gag every time. It's too good for me to not give it a shot though! The problem is, all the stuff that sounds good is ridiculously high in fats and calories. I'm not willing to scarf down 600 calories on a side dish just to eat broccoli. Sorry 'bout your luck.

The veggie recipes I'm looking forward to trying next week -

- Roasted Garlic Lemon Broccoli (49 calories per serving)
It's an awful lot like the asparagus recipe I tried on Tuesday. But, I really liked that recipe so if it gets me eating broccoli, I could consider it a double win.

- Brilliant Sauteed Broccoli (81 calories per serving)
This one intriguies me: brown sugar, Parmesan cheese, red pepper and olive oil, to name a couple ingredients. I'm willing to try it!

After two days I'll probably be sick of broccoli so I'll have a day of carrots since it's the one veggie we always have in the house (hubby loves it raw and so do the pups)

- Glazed Dijon Carrots
Unfortunately, there's no calorie count listed on this one. But the only ingredients are carrots, water, margarine (which I'll probably use less of), brown sugar, Dijon mustard, ground ginger and salt.  I've definitely seen worse.

And of course, there's my everyday salad of mixed greens. I am, however, trying to get the Romaine mix - so there's greens with a little bit of carrots and red cabbage involved. Every little bit. Every little bit!

Herbed Mushrooms with White Wine

Okay so maybe this one is cheating. I love mushrooms, so it's not that hard for me to find ways to fix them that I like. But the point is, I guess, that I haven't been eating my veggies like I should so I'm making more of an effort now.

Herbed Mushrooms with White Wine

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 1/2 pounds fresh mushrooms
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Place mushrooms in the skillet, season with Italian seasoning, and cook 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
2. Mix the wine and garlic into the skillet, and continue cooking until most of the wine has evaporated. Season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with chives. Continue cooking 1 minute.

I pretty much followed this one as written, except I didn't add salt or pepper. I know that seems to be a trend with me - I rarely do add salt but I will add pepper quite a bit. None of these recipes so far really seemed to need pepper though. If I felt like there was something missing, it didn't seem to be pepper.

Last night was actually the second time I made this. The first time I used whole mushrooms - they were good, but they did take longer to cook and weren't quite as good as last night, when I used sliced mushrooms. The recipe doesn't specify but a dinner guest with the whole mushrooms suggested he thought they would be better sliced. I agreed and now that I've done it both ways, sliced is better.

I give it an A!

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 57 | Total Fat: 2.7g | Cholesterol: 0mg

Oven-Roasted Asparagus

I swear I'm going to try more than just asparagus. I still had half the bunch left from the night before though and have read that asparagus doesn't really keep well. I made a lot of changes on this recipe but I still thought it was better than the night before's.

Oven-Roasted Asparagus

Ingredients

• 1 bunch thin asparagus spears, trimmed
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese (optional) - I used...
• 1 clove garlic, minced (optional) - I used...
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice (optional) I used...

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). I preheated to 325 only because I was making cranberry chicken and that was the temperature it called for.
2. Place the asparagus into a mixing bowl, and drizzle with the olive oil. Toss to coat the spears, then sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, garlic, salt, and pepper. Arrange the asparagus onto a baking sheet in a single layer.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until just tender, 12 to 15 minutes depending on thickness. Sprinkle with lemon juice just before serving.

These were pretty thick spears and I had the temperature lower than 425 so they ended up cooking for about 20 minutes. The texture was pretty much perfect. I love green beans and they had the same texture as perfectly cooked green beans. I think the garlic really added to the flavor. Monday night's aspargus was similar to this recipe but the garlic gave it an extra savoriness (is that even a word?).  I also took the suggestion of a commenter on this recipe and covered the cookie sheet with aluminum foil. I think it kept the excess oil from going everywhere and it made cleanup much quicker.

I'll definitely make this again. I give it an A!

Calories: 123 | Total Fat: 10.8g | Cholesterol: 2mg

Asparagus Parmesan

Last night was my first attempt, ever, at making asparagus. I've had it in restaurants a few times and liked it well enough that I thought I could try it. I wasn't expecting to like it since I figure the restaurants had cooked it in a hundred pounds of butter and other fattening things. But I was willing to try.

As I'm prone to do, I omitted a few things from the original recipe - and you'll learn that I add along the way too (usually omitting things that aren't as good for me). I got my first borderline high blood pressure report at the doctor Friday so salt is pretty much out (not that I eat that much of it to begin with). The doctor and I are pretty sure it was a fluke - stress from school, work, and two family members in the hospital. But it's a definite concern with my genetics so I'm taking it seriously.

Asparagus Parmesan

Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon butter (I used margarine)
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 pound fresh asparagus spears, trimmed (no idea what "trimmed" means, but I cut off the bottom because it looked funny?)
- 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I just used a handful)
- salt and pepper to taste (I completely omitted these)

Directions:
Melt margarine with olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add asparagus spears and cook, stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes, or to desired firmness. Drain off excess oil, and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, salt & pepper.

Yeah, that's really it. Overall, it was good. I'd give it about a B overall. I think my asparagus was larger than normal and could have used a little longer cooking. Some of them were the perfect crispiness and some were just a little too hard. I think if I cut them up a little they would cook more evently. I still have half the bundle of asparagus left so I might try another recipe another day.

Calories: 199 | Total Fat: 17.5g | Cholesterol: 19mg

Introduction

I'm a wife whose husband won't touch vegetables.

I'm a girl who doesn't particularly love veggies herself.

This blog is about the veggie recipes I try - and hopefully learn to like - along the way!