Healthy Chicken Soup

Made this for lunch to take to work. Yummy!!  All things that I love and so simple!

Ingredients:

2 boxes of Organic Low Sodium Chicken Broth

1 can of Organic Garbanzo Beans/Chickpeas

1 bundle of Organic Kale, de-stemmed and chopped

Garlic Pepper Seasoning

Drain and rinse the beans. Add them and the chicken broth to a stockpot. Being to a boil. Season with Garlic Pepper Seasoning. Add kale and cook until it wilts some. 

Serve immediately with Bountiful Beer Bread or Chill and Reheat another day. Can also be made ahead and frozen for a quick weeknight meal or yummy lunch. 

Yummy Spinach & Herb Scramble

Oh my goodness this was sooo good this morning. 

Here's how I did it. 

Ingredients:

6 medium eggs

3/4 cup shredded cheese, your choice

1 tablespoon Spinach & Herb Seasoning

1 1/2 cups water

Dash of salt

1/2 cup quick grits

1 tablespoon butter

Fresh Cracked Pepper to taste

Start by beating your eggs in a bowl. 1/2 cup of the cheese and then the Spinach & Herb Seasoning. Let sit in the fridge while you cook the grits. 

Bring the water and salt to boil in a skillet. Slowly stir in the grits and cook until thick and bubbly (3 mins or so) stirring a few times. Add the utter and stir until melted. Then add the egg mixture and stir slightly. Don't over stir. Let cook on medium heat until eggs are soft set. Stir once or twice. Don't over stir. 

When the eggs are set, add the remaining cheese and cracked pepper to taste. Serve immediately. 

Makes 4-5 servings. Enjoy!!!

Low Fat, Full of Flavor

Ok, so I am struggling with a gallbladder issue. I don't know yet at this point exactly what is going on. This has really changed how I have to eat. Nix the fried, fatty foods, no cheese, no full fat dairy, no red meat, no pork, no food!!  No, I don't think of it that way. I am looking at this as this is how I should really be eating anyway. I have had to be creative. I know, takes some thought and planning, ugh. For me, not so hard, for others like my hubby, maybe so. 

I had to lay off if Garlic for a few days. The horrors!!  Not too bad, really. I learned to use my other TS products, my Oil and Vinegar Assortment. Yummy balsamic vinegars of Modena and avocado oil to be exact. 

I made a yummy whole wheat pasta with veggies, avocado oil, a little mango balsamic vinegar of Modena and just a smudge if grated Parmesan cheese. Sooo good. 

Today, I did a "stir fry" in just a couple of teaspoons of olive oil with sweet potato, zucchini I and crumbled extra firm tofu and 2 teaspoons of Malt Vinegar Frencj Fry Seasoning. High protein and fiber, super low fat and talk about flavor!  Sooo good. What an awesome lunch. I refuse to be down and eating with no flavor!  

 

Simple Fruit Salsa

I threw a Tupperware party at my house the other day and wanted to make something with the Simply Salsa. My Tupperware lady was already going to make regular salsa with one of her awesome gadgets. Hello my name is Valerie and I am a kitchen gadget addict. I digress. So if you have been following the blog for awhile you know that I LOVE to throw together things on the fly and then try to remember the recipe later if it actually works well. This is one of those times. This was just soooo good. Below is the super simple recipe. You can use almost any fruit you have. 

Ingredients for what I did:

1 bag of smoothie fruit, partially thawed

2 apples, peeled or unpeeled

1 banana

Mango Balsamic Vinegar of Modena

Simply Salsa Mix

Sea Salt

In a blender or food processor blend the frozen fruit leaving it somewhat chunky. Pour into a mixing bowl. Core and quarter your apples. Blend them with the banana leaving it somewhat chunky. Add to the mixing bowl. 

Add 2 Tbsp of the Mango Balsamic Vinegar of Modena and 3 Tbsp of the Simply Salsa Mix plus a couple of grinds or a dash of sea salt. Mix well and chill for at least an hour. Serve with tortilla or pita chips.  Let me know what you think!

Quick lunch - Rustic Pasta Primavera

Ok so Yum! I just have to tell you how much I love a quick and easy meal. One of my faves is pasta. Today I threw together a Rustic Pasta Primavera. It was the ultimate in use what you have. 

I boiled some whole grain spaghetti that I had in the cabinet, drained it and then made a sauce of butter, olive oil and about a tablespoon or so of Rustic Herb Seasoning. I sautéed the Rustic Herb for a minute or two to release the favors. Then I added a splash (or two) of some white wine I had in the fridge. Once it had reduced down a little I added the pasta back into the sauce, mixed well and then added some chopped tomato for the freshness. You could add any fresh veggie that you have and like. I turned off the heat and tossed the tomatoes into the pasta. The point is not to cook them, just warm them up a little. Garnish with some Parmesan Cheese and Voila!  Lunch is served. 

Cooking Tip!

Did you know that the cap of the Tatefully Simple Seasoning shakers doubles as a two tablespoon measure?  That's right!!  Check out this handy chart for some other great measurement conversions. 

Rustic Mama Mia Stromboli

It's Saturday night and my teenage daughter has a friend over for the night. Kids love to help in the kitchen!  Even teenage ones. These two are actually stellar cooks so I was glad to have their help with this. It was so fun showing them something new to make and have them share in my recipe creation. =). You can use any topping you like on your pizza. These are the ones we like. 

Let's get cooking!

Ingredients:

2 cans refrigerated pizza crust

1 8 oz. package of cream cheese, softened 

2 Tbsp Rustic Herb Seasoning

1 pkg sliced pepperoni

2 cans sliced mushrooms

1 c prepared Mama Mia Marinara Sauce

8 oz shredded mozzarella cheese

2 Tbsp melted butter

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. 

In a bowl, combine the softened cream cheese and the Rustic Herb Seasoning. Set aside. 

On a greased cookie sheet spread out your pizza dough long ways.  

Turn the pan so that the long side is in front of you. Spread 1/2 of the cream cheese mixture on half of the dough. 

Add your toppings. 

Spread 1/2 a cup of the Mama Mia Marinara Sauce on top of the toppings. 

Doesn't this look amazing??!!  Ok, now time for the mozzarella cheese. 

Fold the dough over and roll the edges from the bottom crust to the top to seal. 

Repeat with your second pizza crust and the other half of the ingredients. 

Cut slits in the top to vent and bake for 15 minutes. Take the Stromboli out of the oven and brush with melted butter. Gorgeous!!!

Return to the oven for 7 more minutes. Pull out f the oven and let rest for 10 minutes. 

Slice and serve. 

Tip:  make it a meal with a fresh salad with Spinach & Herb Dressing and a cool refreshing Mango Margarita Blender Drink. 

Serves 4-5. 

French Toast Casserole

I hosted an Open House at my home recently and had some cubed Multi-grain Beer Bread left over.  My family doesn't like it as much as the original, so I wanted to repurpose it. I don't like to waste good beer bread!!  We also had some left over dinner rolls so I thought what the heck, I will throw those in too. 

So, usually with French Toast Casserole you soak it overnight. That is awesome if you are able to plan ahead, but I am an on the fly kinda gal, so I needed something I could make this morning. I thought what the heck. 

I ended up with 7 cups of cubed bread so that is what this recipe is based on. I basically used 1 egg per cup of bread cubes. Heaven forbid if you have any left over so if you want to make this, you might have to hide some. :). Instead of the sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg, try a cup of Vanilla Bean Chai Drink Mix. I used regular brown sugar in this since I didn't have any stevia brown sugar. I always say, use what you have!

Here is the resulting recipe. 

Ingredients:

6-7 cups of cubed Multi-grain Beer Bread

6-7 eggs, one egg per cup of bread cubes

3 1/2 c of milk

1 c of sugar or stevia crystals (my choice)

1 tsp of vanilla

1/4 tsp each of cinnamon and nutmeg

1 tsp of salt or salt substitute (my choice)

1 c of brown sugar (my choice) or stevia brown sugar

2 Tbsp Vanilla Bean Chai Drink Mix

1/2 c Powdered Sugar

Preheat your oven to 425. 

In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, add the milk, vanilla, spices sugar and salt. Mix until combined. (This would be amazing with pecans too but my hubby isn't a fan of them so I didn't put them in)

Spray a 13x9 baking dish with non stick cooking spray. Add the cubed bread and arrange in an even layer.

Pour the egg mixture over the top of the bread. Press the bread until all the bread is soaked with the egg mixture. Sprinkle with the brown sugar and bake for 35-40 minutes or until the casserole is set (not jiggly).

While the casserole is baking mix together the Vanilla Bean Chai Drink Mix and the powdered sugar. 

When the casserole comes out of the oven, sprinkle the sugar mixture over the casserole while it is still hot. You can do this individually as I had to do since my people don't like powdered sugar on french toast. Crazy right?!?

Serve immediately with or without maple syrup. 

Bayou Bourbon Pork Tenderloin Medallions

I am loving this new grill!!  Tonight is Bayou Bourbon Pork Tenderloin Medallions. We bought the pork tenderloin on sale and yum, yum, yum!  I thought I loved Bayou Bourbon before but holy cow!!

I cut the tenderloins, there were 2 in the package, into 2" medallions. I sprinkles them with Seasoned Salt, of course, and then put them on my hot grill. I let them hang out for 10 minutes and then turned them over. I glazed them while they were hanging out on the other side for another 8 minutes or so, turned them over and then glazed them on the other side. 

We served them with a baked potato and veggie!  Talk about a healthy meal!  Cheap too!!!

Gardening

I started my seeds for the garden today. I am so excited. My garden was great last year and we are fresh and well into the fall. I just love these greenhouse seed starters. I planted even more seeds this year and trying some new veggies. We will see how they do!  

I planted:

4 types of tomato: cherry, beefsteak, early girl and Rutgers select

Colorful bell peppers

Jalapeño peppers

Carrots

Onion

Radish

Lettuce

Spinach

Then herbs:

Basil

Dill

Parsley

Oregano

Cilantro

Chives

Then, when it gets warmer, we are going to plant pumpkins (Orange and white), cucumber, zucchini and watermelon. 

Oh and I also planted some Zinnia seeds for in front of the house. 

I just love to watch things grow and am looking forward to summer!!!

Baby Shower Party Today

My son and his wife are expecting a baby boy in just over a month. We offered to host the shower here at our house and of course all of the food was Tastefully Simple. Of course!!  The one recipe that was the bigges hit was the Lemonberry Krispie Rice Treats. The theme was Monsters Inc., so this was the perfect choice. I added some blue food coloring to them and with the berries in the mix, they looked like Sully's fur!  Here's the recipe and a few photos of the food. 

Ingredients: 

Tastefully Simple Lemonberry Cheeseball Mix

3 Tbsp Butter

1 package of Marshmallows

6 cups crispy rice cereal

Grease a 13x9 baking pan. Melt the butter in a large sauce pan, add the marshmallows and cheeseball mix. Stir constantly until melted. Turn flame down to low and add in cereal. Mix until all cereal is coated with marshmallow. Immediately pour out onto baking sheet and press flat with greased hands. 

Let cool and cut into bars. Enjoy!  

Ah-mazing BBQ Ribs!!

Oh my goodness were these good and my first time cooking baby back ribs. One of our local stores had them on sale so we bought 3 racks!!  I am getting better at taking note of what I do so bare with me. It does take some time to do so a Saturday or Sunday is best. Or whatever your day off is. 

Ingredients: 

1 1/2 - 2 racks if baby back ribs

Himalayan Sea Salt Blend

Sweet & Smoky BBQ Seasoning (this is from last summer, so if you don't have that, use your fave BBQ rub)

Your fave jar BBQ sauce (we like Sweet Baby Ray's)

Do this early or even the night before for best flavor:  Rinse your racks and trim the silver skin off of the bone side of the rack. I cut mine in half for ease of cooking. Turn your Himalayan Sea Salt grinder a few times to taste. I did 8-9 grinds per side. Then sprinkle with your BBQ rub. Massage it into the meat and wrap in foil.  Repeat with the rest of your half racks. 

When you are ready to cook:  Line a large baking pan with foil and spray with cooking spray. Set aside. 

Take your foil wrapped racks out of the fridge and set on the table or counter. Preheat your oven to 325. Once preheated, place your racks in your baking pan. 

Cover with foil. Bake for approximately 90 minutes. 

Check the temperature with meat thermometer. Once at 150 degrees, remove from the oven. Let sit while you preheat your grill. 

You are going to want to use an indirect heat to finish off the grill. On our gas grill, one preheated, I turned off the left burner,turned  the middle burner on low and the right burner on high. 

Place the ribs on the left side of the grill meat side up. Then mop them generously with the BBQ sauce.  Let them cook for 5 minutes. Turn them over and mop the other side. Let them cook 5 minutes more. 

Once they have cooked on both sides, remove from the grill and place back into your foil covered pan. Let rest for 10 minutes. 

Cut into individual portions and serve with your favorite sides. A serving is 3-4 ribs per person. 

Santa Fe Grande Burritos

So, last night Kevin was hungry for tacos, nachos or something like that. Now, we always have tex mex ingredients in the house AND Tastefully Simple Products. So, I went with the Monday dinner from week 1 of the Simply Share Meal Planner. I know, it wasn't Monday but it's my meals and we wanted burritos last night! 😜

Well, it took me just about 30 minutes to prepare and bake them and they were fantastic!  I didn't expect any less to be honest. I have Wahoo Chili and Fiesta Party Dip Mix on hand just in case we want to spice it up a bit.  

Preparation. I recommend a bigger cutting board. I ended up just putting it on the counter so that the juices didn't run all over the place. 

Look at those Huge Burritos!!  This feeds 6. 

End result. I had to add some freshness. Now yours may not look like mine because I like crushed tomatoes and don't care for green chilis oh and we used black beans seasoned with Wahoo Chili instead of the chili beans. So, are you ready to save some time and some $$$??  Email me to find out how you can  save $50 to make meals just like this one. 

Buffalo Breaded Chicken Breasts

I made a pork version of this for a family whose mom is on the hospital and several of us banded together to help provide the dad and son with meals. I had chicken in my fridge so I made mine with chicken. I just pulled it out of my freezer to have tonight. How awesome!  All I have to do is fix a side and a veg or salad and we are set. Will have some beer bread too. Score!  

Ingredients:

4-6 boneless chicken breasts or boneless pork chops

Creamy Buffalo Dip Mix

3/4 c sour cream

1/4 c mayonnaise

Breadcrumbs

Lay your chicken or pork chops flat on a plate. Prepare the dip mix as the box indicates. Separate a small amount of the dip into another bowl.  Add 2 cups or so to a shallow pan. 

With a BBQ or pasty brush, generously brush one side of the meat with the dip. Bread the meat on the one side with the breadcrumbs. While still in the shallow pan, generously brush the other side of the meat and then flip and bread that side. Repeat with the rest of the meat. I wrapped mine with press and seal (or use plastic wrap) and place in a labeled freezer bag. 

When you are ready to cook it, thaw in the fridge. Bake at 350 for 60 minutes or until 165 degrees. Let rest for 5 minutes.