Broccoli Alfredo Bake

Continuing the tradition of our 30 Day Meal Plan, today I have a meal that not only contains "cheesy" pasta, it also sneaks in a hefty punch of broccoli.  This meal can be baked in the oven or cooked in the crock pot.  For today's recipe, I am using the oven method...because I wanted it faster than the 3 hours the crock pot takes.  If you want to use your crock pot, dump in your ingredients (uncooked, except the chicken), mix together well and cook on low for 3 hours.  The crock pot is great if you find yourself with free time earlier in the day.  It is not so great if you wont be around in 3 hours (the pasta gets mushy if you over cook it) or you want to eat now.

You will need:
left over chicken, shredded. About 8 ounces
pound of broccoli florets
1/4 cup of parmesan cheese (harder the cheese = less fat)
2 servings of your favorite pasta- I used Tinkyada gluten free shells
S.O.S Mix
1/4 cup of bread crumbs (optional- I don't use these in the crock pot version)
Salt/Pepper/Garlic
A crock pot or baking dish
cooking spray

Instructions:

Steam your broccoli.  I buy the steamer bags for the microwave.  I am not patient enough to cook it on the stove top.  If you are using the crock pot method you do not have to steam it in advance.  Place your cooked broccoli, and left over chicken in your baking dish (which I am sure you remembered to spray with cooking spray).  Sprinkle half of your parmesan cheese over the chicken and broccoli and mix well.  If you are like me, you will be excited to see that the once giant hunks of broccoli break up on their own now that they are cooked.  Yay for being lazy when chopping broccoli.

Drain your pasta, add it to your baking dish, but save 1 1/4 of the pasta water to make your S.O.S mix.  By using the pasta water, the left over starches will help it stick to the pasta.  It will also keep the final sauce from being runny.  Once you make your S.0.S mix, taste it.  Do you need salt, pepper or garlic?  I didn't- but you might.  Add your seasonings now.  Pour your S.0.S mix over the chicken, broccoli and pasta.  Add the rest of your parmesan cheese and mix well.  At this point, I feel it is important to point out that I am really trying to go easy on the dairy.  Some of you may disagree with my anti- cheese stance, so if you are one of those people, I would had some sort of Italian cheese now.  I won't judge you.  

Sprinkle the top of the casserole with your bread crumbs...or don't.  It depends if you like crunchy bits on top of your cheesy pasta.  I would leave this off in the crock pot, but they get nice and golden brown in the oven.  Gluten free people: as you know, sometimes gluten free stuff wont brown.  If you gently spray the bread crumbs with the cooking spray, you will get more of a toasty effect.  Just be careful you don't spray to close and blow away all your bread crumbs.  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until it is bubbly.  Serves 4

That's what's for dinner!

Nutritional Information Per Serving:

Calories: 228
Carbs: 30
Fat: 4
Protein: 13
Fiber: 2
Sugar: 2

Chicken and Chickpea Stew

Today I've got another meal off my 30 day meal plan.  On the schedule, it is listed as "White Chicken Chili- but I changed my mind on what I wanted to put in the chili.  I had bits and pieces from other recipes (like corn, enchilada sauce and chilies) that I wanted to use up.  Whenever possible I try to use things I already have instead of doing extra work.  This version still has Chicken, and I did have to cook chicken before I could make it, but USUALLY I have leftover chicken.   I also added spinach to the recipe because it was in the fridge, and not going to last much longer, meaning the result is less "white" than usual.  Also, I left out most the usual beans.  So, this feels more "stew" like to me.  Here we go...

You Will Need:
1 breast of leftover chicken, shredded
1 can of Chickpeas (or gonzo beans as we call them in our house).  You can use any "white" bean.
Half a jar of salsa (left over from a party)
Half a can of green chilies (left over)
Half a can of corn (left over)
Half a can of enchilada sauce (left over-you don't need this, so just substitute spices if you don't have it)
Half a bag of baby spinach (left over...are we seeing a trend here?)
1 jar of homemade chicken broth (or what ever you can get your hands on)
Chili powder, Salt, Pepper, Cumin, garlic, paprika, red pepper
Cooking Spray
A Crock Pot or other cooking vessel

Instructions:
Spray the vessel of your choice (I will be using a crock pot) with cooking spray.  Place chicken, beans, salsa, corn, chilies, enchilada sauce, and broth in the crock pot. Stir to mix well.  Place the crock pot on the high setting for an hour (bring to a boil on the stove), and add your spinach.  Turn your crock pot to the low setting (or simmer on the stove) and cook until the beans are tender (about 3 hours in the crock pot).  About halfway through I usually check the seasonings.  I almost always add chili powder, and cumin.  If your stew doesn't have that flavor you associate with mexican food- you probably need to add cumin.  Depending on the broth used, you may also need to add salt and pepper.  If you did not add the enchilada sauce, you can add about a tsp of chili powder, garlic, paprika and cumin at the beginning.  If you like it spicy, add some red pepper.  A little goes a long way, and there is nothing wrong with tasting as you go- just use a clean spoon! Serves 3.

Nutritional Information per serving:
Calories: 297
Carbs: 36
Fat: 9
Sugar: 2
Protein: 23
Fiber: 11

Taco (aka Enchilada) Casserole

And so the monthly meal plan continues!  As you may know, I have been trying to schedule a month of meals so I don't have to worry about what we are going to have for dinner each night.  A few weeks ago, I posted our meal plan.  I'd be lying if I said we were sticking to it.  The biggest issue we've had is that life gets in the way.  Also, sometime I am just not in the mood for what is on the menu for a particular day.  Usually, I can just swap days though.  However, even though I don't plan meals for Saturday and Sunday thinking we'd eat leftovers- we still seem to be behind in our meals.  We have eaten out twice since we have been doing this, so I know that isn't the culprit.  We have not been having to throw away any leftover food, but I couldn't tell you why we aren't on schedule.  I also plan our meals to have no more than 4 servings per recipe.  If they do, half of the recipe get frozen.  Anyway, today's meal is listed on the plan as "Enchilada Casserole".  That is because, last time I made it I used chicken.  This time I am using ground meat because I have it left over from a dish on the menu earlier in the week and 1 pound of meat will feed us for 6- 8 meals, so it gets divided into two recipes. Hmmm, 6-8 meals.  I think I just figured out why we are so behind...

You will need:

8 small/ corn tortillas*

1 can corn

1 small can green chilies

1 can enchilada sauce

Shredded Cheese- whatever you have leftover.

the leftover meat from the Hillbilly Shepard's Pie (or 1/2 pound meat of your choice-cooked)

Smallish baking dish

cooking spray

*for this recipe I used the Mission small corn tortillas with 80 calories for 2 tortillas.  

Instructions

Spray your baking dish with cooking spray.  Spread a small amount of the enchilada sauce on the bottom of your baking dish.  Cut 2 tortillas in quarters and place on top of the enchilada sauce.  

Sprinkle 1/3 of your meat, corn, green chilies and cheese on top of the tortillas.  Spoon on more enchilada sauce.  

 Top with 2 more tortillas, cut into whatever shape will fit in the pan.  You don't have to cut them, I just find it is a lot easier to serve and portion if you do.  You can leave them whole and have 2 little stacks of 4, but my pan wasn't big enough to fit 2 tortillas side by side.

 Continue with the enchilada sauce-corn tortilla-meat-chilies-corn-cheese layering until you have run out of your 8 tortillas.  You should have 4 layers of tortillas with the meat mixture in between.

Top your last layer of tortillas with more enchilada sauce and the last of your cheese.  When I made this, I DID NOT use up all my corn, green chilies and enchilada sauce.  I could have, but I realized I could use them the next day, so I just dumped them all in a container and saved them for later.  Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.  When the cheese is melty and bubbling, remove from the oven and attempt to let is stand for 5-10 minutes.  It will be torture- but it will be easier to serve and you wont burn your mouth shoveling it in. 

Serve with sour cream or non fat plain yogurt.  Try not to eat two servings...I dare you. Makes 4 servings

Nutritional Information per serving:

Calories- 348

Carbs- 27

Fat- 16

Protein- 24

Fiber- 3

Sugar-4

That's What's for Dinner!

Hillbilly Shepard's Pie

Let me begin by saying how much I love this recipe.  That should be a given since there are cheese and potatoes involved, but it deserves repeating.  That being said, I rarely make it because it isn't that great for you.  I got the Original Recipe here, and it was fantastic, but like I said it isn't great for you and it made A LOT, so I had to modify it.  I started out by trying to make it with gravy instead of the condensed soup- but that didn't help the nutritional value much.  Then I added veggies, but with the veggies came a request for cheese- so they kind of cancelled each other out.  Ultimately, it has evolved in to a Shepard's Pie like food...but with a lot less class.  

You will need:

30 Frozen tater tots (or 3 servings)

1/2 cup Shredded Cheese- any kind

1 pound Ground meat (I used beef, but turkey and chicken work great!)

Mixed frozen veggies, about a cup

1 packet Taco Seasoning (please buy the low sodium)

S.0.S Mix (Thank you Pinterest!)

1 skillet

1 large measuring cup

Whisk or milk frother

Square baking dish

Ignore the bread on top of the toaster- this is what happens when you leave groceries out!

Instructions:

Begin by browning the ground meat in a skillet. Make sure you break up the big chunks so you have a nice, even crumble.  Once the meat is browned, drain off the grease- or use my method of pushing all the meat to one side and sopping up the grease with some paper towels.  Classy, I know.  :)

So much easier than dumping and draining,  plus is saves another dirty dish!

After draining the meat, add in your taco seasoning, and follow the directions on the package.  You don't have to use a taco seasoning packet, you could just use the seasoning of your choice...I will never know.  Divide your meat mixture into 2 parts.  Since this is one of our monthly meal plan meals, I will be using the rest of the ground meat later in the week.  Half of it goes into our baking dish with our frozen veggies, half goes in the fridge.  If you want to use all your meat you can- but you will need to double the rest of the ingredients.

Make sure you mix the veggies and meat together so you get an even distribution

While the meat was browning, you could have started your S.O.S Mix.  If you forgot like me, start it now.  Take 1/3 of a cup of the mix and add is to 1 1/4 water  and mix well.  The directions said to use a whisk, I used my milk frother...because it works on everything! Mix until combined and the heat it until it thickens- which was about 4 minutes in the microwave, stirring every minute.  Make sure you watch it, it has a mind of it's own.  

Milk Frother!!!!

Scatter your tater tots on top of your meat and veggie mixture.  I beg of you, count out your tater tots.  There are a whole lot less tater tots in a serving than your eyes think there are.  30 tater tots, that is it.  Pour the S.0.S. Mix over the tater tots.  The S.0.S. Mix is replacing the condensed soup in the Original Recipe.  Like in the Original Recipe, you need to pour it over the tater tots.  I tried putting the tater tots on after- it's not the same.  

Delicious potatoes swimming in saucy goodness!

Sprinkle your half a cup of shredded cheese on top.  When I say half a cup, I mean a loosely packed, level 1/2 cup.  If you have tiny girl hands like me, you can probably reach in and just grab two handfuls.  Unless you know you have tiny girl hands, I would measure first.  Lots of calories and fat in cheese!

Cheese!

Cover with foil and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.  Then, uncover and bake until the top is brown and bubbly.  I'd show you a picture, but I forgot, and then we ate it all.  You can imagine though.  Just think about what delicious looks like, and then add tater tots and cheese.  

Serves 4.  

Nutritional information (per serving)

Calories: 299

Carbs: 30

Fat: 14

Protein: 16.5

Fiber: 4.5

Sugar: 4.5

I admit...I had two servings yesterday.  But it was so worth it!

That's what's for dinner!

Protein Pancakes with blueberry syrup

This morning I woke up with a hankering for pancakes.  Of course, deep down I knew oatmeal would be better, so this is the best of both worlds.  These are really similar to a recipe I have posted before, but I didn't have all those ingredients so I had to make due.  Before we get started, here is the nutritional breakdown (minus the syrup).  I hate when I find a recipe online and make it, only to discover it was terrible for me when I enter it into My Fitness Pal.  

Calories: 336

Carbs: 87

Fat: 10

Protein: 26

Fiber: 14

Sugar :10

I think that is pretty good for a breakfast.  The carbs all come from rolled oats and a banana, so I feel good about them.  Same with the sugar.  I don't eat syrup (I make it for The Hubs), so I didn't calculate those calories, but you should be able to read the back of the bottle to get an idea of how many extra to add.  Okay, on the the ingredients...

You will need:

1 medium ripe banana

1 egg

1 cup rolled oats.  Not instant or quick cooking.  You shouldn't eat those anyway.

1 serving vanilla protein powder (90 calories worth if you are sticking to my calorie count)

1 tsp salt*

dash of vanilla

dash of pumpkin pie seasoning (I put this in everything!)

** Truvia to taste

Syrup of your choice

Frozen berries

Coffee grinder/blender/food processor/magic bullet type device

Cooking spray

Skillet

* a lot of recipes don't tell you to add salt when cooking with oats.  If you have ever wondered why your oatmeal never tastes right and you have attempted to add more sweetener but it still tastes flat- you need salt.  I have tried recipes without the salt, and they never turn out quite right.  1 tsp of salt isn't a lot- and it is a whole lot less sodium than you will get in processed foods.  Just add it, you will thank me.  

** I don't personally add any.  However, if this is your first adventure into these pancakes and you consume a lot of sugar in your diet, you might find these aren't as sweet as you are used to.  Personally, I would skip it, but it wont add calories, so try a packet or two.  You could also just trust me- and add more syrup if they aren't sweet enough.

Instructions:

Mash the banana with the egg.  Add in 1/2 cup of the rolled oats.  In the grinding device of your choice, grind together the remaining 1/2 cups of oats and the salt. You can skip this step, but hang close to a bathroom for about an hour after eating if you don't eat a lot oats in your diet.  Trust me.  

Mix together the banana, egg, all the oats, salt, protein powder, vanilla and pumpkin pie seasoning.  You should have something similar to regular pancake batter- just slightly chunky.  Cook in a skillet over medium heat, a few minutes per side.  You should end up with 4- 6 small pancakes.  

While the pancakes are cooking, fill a coffee mug half way full with frozen fruit.  Add just enough syrup to cover- or less.  Microwave for 30 seconds on high.  Serve over the pancakes.  Enjoy!

Hey!  The plate coordinates.  I didn't even plan that. :)

You must think I am starving!

Hey guys!  I know it has been forever since I have posted anything.  I  got super busy planning a wedding, getting married, and then life just got in the way.  So, to get back in the swing of things I am going to share my Monthly Meal plan.  I asked the Hubs to give me a list of his top favorite meals, and then I made a list.  Together we came up with a list of 25 meals plus side dishes.  When I say meals, I mean things we would eat for dinner.  Breakfast and lunch are usually on our own, so I just keep stuff around we can grab and go.  However, I do like to make dinner at night.  Lately, I have been in a rut- so the Monthly Meal Plan emerged.

With 25 meals, I have enough for Monday- Friday.  Saturday and Sundays are saved for left overs or meals out. Also, since there is just two of us a lot of these can be made once, frozen and then just defrosts when the meal repeats next month.  That is the other great thing about the meal plan- meals never repeat.  Unless it is one of those weird months that have 5 weeks (March and September?), we only eat a particular meal once a month.  Also, when I was deciding which food went where, I tried to maximize my ingredients.  For example, for week 1, we have 2 chicken meals and to ground meat meals.  So, I can buy one pack of chicken and one pack of ground meat and it all gets used.  I hate having to freeze 1 chicken breast, or throw away left over burgers because we each only eat one each.  Also, when ever possible, I try to cook meat only once and use half the next day. Okay, enough about why- here is the plan:

First, the list of foods:
The Hub's List:

Rotel Chicken Pasta
Beef Stew
White Chicken Chili
Tater tot casserole
Pork chops
BBQ
Roast Chicken
Beef Tacos
Fish

My List:


Chili
Chicken enchilada casserole
Pizza
Breakfast
Broccoli alfredo
grilled cheese/soup
chinese food
fake fried chicken

So now the Meal Plan:
Week 1:
Rotel Chicken Pasta

w/tossed salad

Chinese food w/

rice

Beef Tacos

w/ dr pepper cake

Chili

w/ corn

Pizza w/ caesar salad

Week 2:
BBQ w/

black eyed peas

Fish w/

mac and cheese

Breakfast w/

fruit

Scarborough Fair chicken w/

potatoes

3 Pepper pasta w/

Cobbler

Week 3:

Roast Chicken w/

carrots

Tater tot casserole w/

mixed veggies

Broccoli Alfredo w/

pumpkin cake

enchilada casserole w/

Pork chops w/ spinach salad

Week 4:

Beef Stew

fake fried chicken

w/ Squash

Thanksgiving sandwich

w/ Green beans

grilled cheese/soup

w/ brownie/ice cream

white chicken chili

w/ spinach

So, sometimes I list a vegetable as a reminder to get a side dish, but a lot of these are recipes I know off the top of my head and they contain a vegetable. Also, I like to include one special desert a week...'cause sometime you need a desert! I will be posting these recipes as we eat them.  I will also try to post a shopping list on Sunday's so you eat along with us!