Hot dogs + stuffing + bacon = delicious!

Carol over at Frugal Like Grandma posted today on her blog about stuffed hot dogs. I rarely eat hot dogs, stuffing, or bacon and can't recall ever having eaten them together but I had the ingredients and the pictures looked good so I made stuffed hot dogs for my dinner tonight. Let me say that this one is a real winner but if you're sodium conscious, you might wanna have these as a rare treat!

I used turkey franks, stuffing in a box because I couldn't see making the tiny amount needed for four hot dogs, and vegetarian "bacon" because it's what I had on hand. I don't have any toothpicks but when I googled for ideas on what to use instead, I decided the idea of uncooked spaghetti, broken into pieces, would work. The stuffed dogs were on the prepared pan and I went to get the spaghetti and ooops, I'm out of that. So, I made the dogs without anything to keep the bacon on and had a mental image of bacon flopping around in my oven but the skinniness of the franks and the length of the strips worked to my advantage. I just tucked the end of each bacon strip under the dog and after 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven, the bacon was still in place. Oh, and I put the bacon on only two of the dogs and the ones without the bacon were just as good as those with.


So, here you have it - stuffed hot dogs. I ate them with steamed spinach and am a very happy camper!

I'm going to play with different low carb stuffing ideas to see if any of them will work in these delicious dogs but in the meantime, I have a new meal idea to enjoy now and then.

Thanks, Carol!

Food boredom be gone!

I get bored with my food fairly easily. I don't think it's because I eat low carb most of the time so much as I'm often tired when I get home from work and don't feel like cooking much so I eat stir fried vegetables or eggs and veggie bacon. Again. That's great for the blood sugar but it gets a bit old for the taste buds, you know? So when I saw the picture and recipe for Loaded Roasted Cauliflower Salad on my favorite blog, I knew it was a must try.

Since I don't work today, I made it this morning. I didn't have quite six cups of cauliflower but the recipe turned out just fine with almost five cups. And since I didn't have chives I added a bit of onion powder. Oh, I also forgot that some of the bacon was to be used to top the dish so it was all stirred in. And I used a blend of several cheeses rather than just cheddar. It turned out fantastic, even with my changes, and there's enough left for me to enjoy it again several times. For me, it needs a little more zip but I'm not sure yet what that zip is.

I'll definitely make this again and probably play with it a few times before I hit on just the right combination that makes it absolutely perfect for me. I think some colorful bell pepper would be a nice addition but that remains to be seen.

If you make this, let me know what you think and stop by Your Lighter Side to let Jamie know what you think, too.

Hey, I made good spring rolls!

You know those times when you want a snack but aren't sure what so you wander around the kitchen, looking repeatedly in cupboards and fridge hoping something pops up that wasn't there the last time you looked? I had one of those a few nights ago, the first in months.

I was watching an episode of the series, "The Guardian" on Netflix (that Simon Baker is something else!) and wanted something to snack on but didn't have a clue what. A brief search of my kitchen cupboard and refrigerator contents turned up nothing that appealed to me so I tried to give up and go back to the show. Unfortunately, the desire for something to munch on wouldn't leave and I found myself wandering into the kitchen again to see if something had magically appeared. Nope, still nothing.

Finally, I saw the package of Frieda's won ton wrappers (17 grams of carbs in 4 wrappers) I'd bought a few days before and I toyed with the idea of making some kind of gooey, cream cheese-y, sweet treat but my taste buds didn't seem too enthused. I kept digging in the fridge and saw the bag of broccoli slaw mix I'd bought at the same time as the egg roll wrappers and remembered that I wanted to try my hand at vegetable spring rolls. Hmmm, my mouth started watering a bit and I realized my taste buds were in overdrive. Eureka!

Someone had very recently sent me the URL of the site containing her favorite egg roll recipe so I went to the site and read it but although the tips and hints that prefaced the recipe were awesome sounding the recipe itself seemed a little more complicated than what I wanted to undertake while watching television. I read the tips a couple of times to cement them in my mind and headed back into the kitchen, prepared to wow myself with whatever results I came up with. Okay, let me say that I'd attempted spring rolls before but due to lack of knowledge ended up with a mess in my skillet. The site I'd just read focused on using a small amount of filling and very tightly rolling the wrappers to prevent said skillet disaster and that appealed to me. I decided to work on mastering the rolling part rather than the filling.

Into my wok, I put a bit of olive oil. When it was hot but not smoking I added the broccoli slaw, some finely chopped red onion, and a bit of finely shredded cabbage. I didn't measure any of it so use discretion here. I threw in a spoon or so of chopped garlic and a bit of salt and pepper. Pushing the mess around a bit, I tasted and it was bland so I added a few drops of sesame oil and a splash of soy sauce. I cooked it a bit more and tasted. It seemed good to me so I dumped it all into a glass bowl and moved it to my work counter. Since I don't have a deep fryer, I rinsed the wok a bit and added more olive oil, setting the wok on a low heat burner.

I proceeded with putting a very small amount of the filling in one corner of a wrapper then tightly rolling, folding the side edges in and ending with the top corner tucked under. I had enough filling for 4 rolls and when they were stuffed and neatly rolled I turned up the heat on the wok and put them into the oil. As one side browned, I carefully maneuvered the roll to another side until they were browned pretty much all over. When all of them were a pretty golden color I removed them and set them on a thick towel to drain and cool a bit.

It didn't take long before they were cool enough to eat. I took the first bite and thought, "Hey, this is pretty darn good!" I took another bite and confirmed the first thought. And with a bit of soy sauce to dip them in, they were actually quite good. Yes, I'd finally made spring rolls without destroying the wrappers and making a sloppy mess in my skillet! The filling was still a bit bland so I'll have to work on that but I'm very happy with the results overall. Now I just need to perfect the filling.

And no, mine aren't as pretty as the ones at the site linked above. I didn't follow all her rules but they're good enough for me. 

Do you make spring rolls or egg rolls? If so, how do you make the filling? I'd love to know your recipe or even suggestions on how to spice the filling a bit. 

Fauxtato soup success!

Ohh, long time no blog, friends! Life has been crazy but in a good way and I haven't had much time for blogging. However, I made something so delicious I just have to post about it here. Trust me, you'll be glad I did, especially if you're a low carb eater who misses that good ol' comfort food we know as "potato soup"!

For years I've heard of using cauliflower to make something akin to potato soup but none of the recipes I'd found appealed to me. Until last night, that is. I received email with a recipe for a simple but delicious sounding baked potato soup and as I read the recipe, I realized I had all the ingredients to turn it into fauxtato soup, including the cauliflower. I was very excited and started the dish last night before I headed to bed.

Here's a picture of the delicious but easy to make soup I ended up with.

Uh huh, makes your mouth water, doesn't it? Trust me, it's as beautiful to the taste buds as it is to the eyes!

And it's very easy to make. In a nutshell, I put one head of chopped fresh cauliflower, some chopped onion, about 3/4 of a package of onion soup mix combined with 2 cups water (since I didn't have broth on hand and wasn't making any for a few days), several whole cloves of garlic, and some spices in a slow cooker and left it all night. In the morning I mashed about a third of it with a block of cream cheese and put that back in the cooker. When the cheese was melted and incorporated well, I put some in the bowl and topped it with chopped green onion, crispy beef bacon, cheddar cheese, and a bit of fresh cilantro. If you leave the beef bacon out, it's vegetarian deliciousness in a bowl.

That's it! A little bit of chopping, a tad of mixing, throw it in the slow cooker and leave it all night, a little mashing up of stuff in the morning, and voila, delicious fauxtato soup!

This will definitely be on my menus as our weather cools. I hope it's on yours, too.

Tomatillo Salsa, anyone?

Today was my first attempt at making this delicious salsa and it turned out fantastic, if I do say so myself!

I used a very easy recipe and added about a tsp of chopped garlic and the juice of half a lime. The finished product has the right amounts of heat and cilantro and will grace the little bit of leftover chicken I plan to eat tonight along with the vegetable soup.

This will definitely be a go to condiment for me.

Black Bean and Pepperoni Soup

I had a few things languishing in the fridge and decided to use some of them to make a hearty Black Bean and Pepperoni Soup. I had it with half a deli flat and a small salad and it was a hearty lunch. There's enough left for one or two more servings so later this week I'll remake it into a Tex Mex (sort of) dish. 

Black Bean and Pepperoni Soup

Handful or two of pepperoni (I used turkey pepperoni)
3/4 cup of cooked black beans (I used canned)

1/2 to 1 cup of tomatoes (I used plain canned tomatoes)

4 ounces of broth, water, or other liquid

1 Tbsp chopped onion

2 Tablespoons chopped bell pepper
Dash of celery salt
Salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste

Put the beans and other ingredients in a sauce pan and heat. Add pepperoni and voila, soup! It doesn't get much easier than this. :)

Savory Chicken and Onions

This isn't my recipe. I found it on a forum and don't have a clue of it's origin. It had no name and after making and eating this dish, I decided to call it Savory Chicken and Onions. If anyone knows more about this recipe, please let me know. It's absolutely delicious and very thrifty. This will be a regular with me now.

 Savory Chicken and Onions

1.5 - 2 lbs. chicken thighs
1 onion, chopped
2 shallots, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 can chicken broth or 1 cup of stock or white wine
2 tb flour
2 tb olive oil
salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Season both sides of the chicken thighs with salt & pepper.

Heat a large skillet, add the olive oil, then add onion and cook until softened. When the onion is softened, add the shallots, cook down for a minute or so, then the garlic.

Move all the veggies to a large roasting pan then add the chicken thighs, skin side down. Brown on both sides, remove from skillet and place in the large roasting pan. You may have to do this in batches.

When all the chicken is browned, deglaze the pan with most of the liquid.

Let the liquid cook down and thicken a bit. If it isn't thickening, mix the flour with some water or cornstarch and add to the skillet. When thickened, cover the chicken in the roasting pan with the liquid, cover the whole roasting pan with some foil, and cook for 1 1/2 hours.

Denise's note - I used 1 chicken breast in this recipe and it made four hearty servings. It's definitely a thrifty addition to my favorite recipes.

Cheesy Chicken Pot Pie

Lowe(er) Carb Cheesy Chicken Pot Pie
Servings: 4 to 6, about 20 grams of carbs per serving
Preheat: 350 degrees

Sauce:

1 chicken breast, cooked and cut into bite size pieces
1 can cream of chicken and mushroom soup
2 ounces cooked frozen green peas (use mukimame to lower the carb count a little more and increase the fiber count)
2 ounces cooked frozen corn
1 small red potato, cooked and cut into small chunks
1/8 cup liquid (milk, cream, water or broth)

Combine the soup, peas, corn and potato in a bowl. Add chicken then add liquid and stir just until liquid is incorporated. Pour into a baking pan. 

Topping:

1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 to 1 cup shredded cheese
dash or two of salt
liquid (milk, cream, water or broth)

Mix and spread over the top of the chicken mixture in pan.

Bake in 350 degree oven until top is brown, about 25 minutes.

Pardon my dust and Friday eats

I'm playing with the design of this blog so please bear with me as I figure out just what to do with it.

My lunch before I head to work is going to be the last of the pan fried round steak I cooked on Wednesday. I'll make a creamy cheese sauce using this recipe (with a couple of adjustments) and add bite size pieces of the steak to it then serve it over a small amount of Dreamfields Angel Hair. Served with the last of the leftover green beans and some sauteed mushrooms and bell pepper it should be filling and as long as I have just one serving of the pasta it shouldn't spike my blood sugar too badly.

I won't get home from work until late so I'll probably have a repeat of lunch without the pasta or perhaps some turkey bacon and eggs. Either way, I'll be ravenous when I get home and will have to whip up something. 

Worthy of a comeback - Fire Roasted Tomato Soup!

Not for the soup but for me! It's been way too long since I posted on this blog. Really, I should be a winner of the Worst Blogger Award if there is such a thing. However, today I made Fire Roasted Tomato Soup for the first time and it was so good I just have to share!



I had fire roasted tomato soup for the first time a few months ago at Newk's Express. It was incredibly good and I hunted for a recipe that I thought would give me a dish close to theirs. None that I found seemed to be right, though, so today I just experimented and came up with my own version. It's not quite as good as the soup at Newk's but it's darn close and a little more playing with it should give me a just as good fire roasted tomato soup.

If you like the look of the soup and want to try it, here's my recipe so far:

1/2 Tablespoon olive oil
1/2 an onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 cans fire roasted diced tomatoes, undrained
12 ounces chicken stock
1 Tablespoon dried whole rosemary
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
a few red pepper flakes
1/4 cup crema mexicana

In a skillet or wok heat the olive oil until it's hot but not smoking. Add the onion and garlic and cook until onion is tender. Reduce heat to a simmer and add the tomatoes and stock. Simmer about 15 minutes then add herbs and black pepper. Reduce heat a little more and very slowly add the crema mexicana and red pepper flakes, stirring constantly. Cook and stir for about five minutes. Serve topped with sour cream or more crema mexicana and whatever cheese you like. I used sour cream and a little parmesan this time but plan to really play with cheeses for this dish.

I think this soup could easily be adapted and a version with black olives, cilantro, chili powder, and cheddar or pepper jack would help make a great fiesta inspired tomato soup. Watch for more experiments with this basic recipe. I promise there will be some!

Fire roasted red pepper sauce!

I've had fire roasted red pepper in soups and salads but had never done a thing with them at home. Recently I found a 12 ounce jar of them on sale and bought it thinking I'd find some use for it. I hadn't though. Until tonight!

Dinner was breakfast meatballs, steamed broccoli, and a tiny baked red potato. I didn't have any homemade buttermilk ranch to put on my potato and though I often use just butter, salt, and pepper I wanted something different tonight. So I put on my thinking cap and came up with this:

 

Fire Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

For each potato, heat 2 Tablespoons of cream cheese until it's very smooth and spoonable. Add to the cheese whatever seasonings you like. I used a little garlic, pepper, and celery salt. To the cheese mixture add chopped fire roasted red pepper. I used about 1/2 a pepper but it definitely could have used more. Stir well and use.

I spooned the sauce onto my little baked potato and sprinkled a dash of Spike Gourmet Natural Seasoning on it and it was amazing! Such a simple and easy little sauce but I think it would be good on asparagus, on green beans, or even as a dip for fresh, raw vegetables or nice little crackers.

By the way, if you haven't tried Spike, you really should. It's a blend of a lot of spices and herbs and it's great on salads, meats, in soups, etc. The claim is that Spike has no MSG but it does have hydrolyzed vegetable protein so if you're sensitive to MSG, try it with caution.

Here are the ingredients in Spike:

Salt and sea salt crystals, special high flavor yeast, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, mellow toasted onion, onion powder, orange powder, soy flour, celery leaf powder, celery root powder, garlic powder, dill, kelp, Indian curry, horseradish, ripe white pepper, orange and lemon peel, summer savory, mustard flower, sweet green and red peppers, parsley flakes, tarragon, rose hips, saffron, mushroom powder, parsley powder, spinach powder, tomato powder, sweet Hungarian paprika, celery powder, cayenne pepper, plus a delightful herbal bouquet of the best Greek oregano, French sweet basil, French marjoram, French rosemary, and Spanish thyme

So, if you have a jar of fire roasted red peppers languishing somewhere, drag 'em out and create something! If you do, please let me know what you came up with as I have about 10 ounces left to use.

Farmhouse Beef Casserole - mixed reviews

I got in from work at about 5:20 tonight and made the Farmhouse Beef Casserole I mentioned in yesterday's entry. It took a little while to prepare the ingredients but I did it while watching the tail end of the Cowboys/Eagles game (take that, you Eagles!) and the time passed quickly.

I like this dish but the man person said, and I quote:

"I wouldn't want that often but it wasn't bad."

He isn't really into casseroles for the most part so for him to really like any casserole is rare. Keep that in mind and don't let his words sway you into declaring this dish as "don't try".

Here are some things I really like about this dish; the thrifty ingredients, the great smell while it's cooking, and the fact that it's satisfying for the tummy. One thing I didn't like about it though; the taste was a little blander than what I like and I think it needs a little more something though I'm not sure what. I did make a few changes to the recipe and they're noted in parentheses after the original. My additional notes are after the recipe.

Farmhouse Beef Casserole

Olive oil cooking spray
1 small russet or all purpose potato
1 cup shredded low fat mozarella cheese (I used cheddar as I have a glut of it right now)
1 lb extra lean ground sirloin (I used ground turkey as I had it on hand and only used 1/2 lb)
1 medium yellow onion, chopped (I use about 1/4 of an onion but more would have been better)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-14.5 oz can no salt added diced tomatoes with juice (See below)
1 Tbsp chili powder or to taste
2 cups shredded green cabbage (I don't shred cabbage, instead I just slice it thin then dice it)
salt (optional) (I used a little celery salt)
freshly ground black pepper
1-3 tbls purchased taco sauce (I omitted this)
6 slices pickled jalapeno chili peppers (optional) (I omitted this)


Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly coat a 2 qt casserole dish with cooking spray. Peel and grate the potato into a bowl. Stir in 1/4 cup ot the cheese and spread evenly over the bottom of the prepared dish. Bake 15-20 minutes or until potato is browned and crispy. Meanwhile, brown ground sirloin, onion, and garlic in a large nonstick skillet, breaking up the beef with a wooden spoon as it browns. Discard any excess fat. Stir in tomatoes with their juice, chili powder and cabbage. Season with salt & pepper to taste. Saute, stirring for a minute or two. If mix seems too dry add 1 Tbsp of the bottled taco sauce, adding up to 2 Tbsp more, if needed. When potatoes are done, spoon beef mixture on top of potatoes. Top with remaining cheese and jalapeno slices (if using). Bake for 25-30 minutes till casserole is hot and bubbly. Serve at once.

Calories 235 (40% from fat), 24g protein, 11g total fat (4.8g sat. fat), 12g carb., 2 g fiber, 38mg cholesterol, 471mg potassium, 357mg sodium
Exchanges: 3 lean meat, 1 carb (1/2 bread/starch, 1-1/2 vegetable

Here's a picture of the crust, which I made according to the directions.
 
It's very good as is but I think to reduce the carb count I might try making it with shredded cauliflower. Since we need to be careful of fat and not just carbs, I used ground turkey breast instead of beef and since I don't have a stove I put the turkey, garlic and onion in my handy dandy Pampered Chef small Micro-Cooker (bought at a garage sale for a quarter!) and cooked it all for 4 minutes, stopping twice to break the meat up a little. When it was cooked through, I let it cool, strained it well, and used clean hands to break the meat up really well.

Since I was using only half the called for meat, I figured I needed a little less liquid than what the original recipe called for so I reserved the juice from the tomatoes rather than mixing it in with the meat and cabbage. I did use some of that juice a bit later but only about 1/3 of what was in the can.

From there I followed the original recipe.

I'll try this recipe again but with some changes. As I mentioned, I'll use cauliflower instead of potato and will use more onion than I did this time but I think I'll add a little bit of homemade taco seasoning to the meat, garlic, and onion to give it that extra flavor. I might even put a little pico de gallo on top, too.

All in all, this is a hearty dish and I think it's one that lends itself to versatility. If you don't have one of the ingredients, use something else. Make it your own and if you do, please share with me what you did! I'm always looking for inexpensive but flavorful recipes.

Thrifty January? Inexpensive slow cooker recipes to the rescue!

I really love my slow cookers. I have three of them and they get used a lot. In fact, right now the medium one has lima beans in it (we thought we had blackeye peas and don't!!) and before I head to work this afternoon I'll have a bowl of hot, well seasoned and thrifty limas. Mmmm!

Here are a few of my standby slow cooked dishes that are easy to throw in the crock and don't cost an arm and a leg.

Cheater's Slow Cooked Steak and Gravy - the soup and broth from the meat make the gravy so even a person who has gravy making issues can produce lovely gravy!

beef (I use 1 lb of inexpensive steak or carne picada)
onion to taste, chopped, sliced, however you like it (I like a lot)
salt, pepper, garlic and any other seasonings desired
cream of mushroom soup or homemade equivalent (use cream of chicken with mushroom to save some carbs)
small can chopped green chiles

Put the beef in a slow cooker, add the onion and spices, and cook on high for about an hour until the meat shows little or no pink. Drain enough liquid that there's only 1/4 cup or so in the crock. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook on low for at least three hours. Serve over rice, noodles, potatoes or vegetables. I love this over riced cauliflower.

"Smoked" Chicken in a Crock - this is so simple and the resulting chicken has a nice smoky flavor that's a welcome addition to many dishes!

I love the flavor of smoked chicken but without a smoker I have to get creative to get that flavor. After a little experimentation I hit on the right combination of things to get a decent smoky flavor in my slow cooker. This is very simple but tasty and the leftover chicken makes delicious chicken salad.

Wash and rinse chicken pieces or a whole chicken. I prefer to use whole chicken. Pat it dry and season with a little pepper, salt, and garlic. Put the chicken in the crock of your slow cooker and add 2 Tablespoons of Liquid Smoke. Add sliced onions, bell peppers, squash or any other vegetable you like, put the lid on the crock, set it to low and let cook about 6 hours. Because I don't like the boiled chicken thing that often happens in slow cookers, I drain the broth a few times during the cooking process, freezing it for later use.

When the chicken is cooked, carefully remove it from the crock. It will more than likely fall apart so you might want to put the chicken and vegetables in some netting or cheesecloth before you put it in the crock. I don't do that normally but do if I think I won't want to mess with fishing out pieces of chicken.

Chicken & Biscuits - another easy favorite, though a bit too high in carbs for us to eat often! I do occasionally use Carbquick to make low carb biscuits for this, though.

3 cups chicken, cooked and chopped
3 cups chicken broth (water and chicken bouillon work, too, as does vegetable broth)
5 small carrots, chopped
1/2 to 3/4 onion, chopped
4 celery stalks, chopped
8 ounces mushrooms, fresh or canned
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 cup frozen green peas (I often use chopped green beans instead)
3 Tablespoons cornstarch
1/3 cup cold water (I often use juice from canned vegetables)
biscuits, uncooked

Bring chicken broth to a boil and add garlic and vegetables. Simmer about 15 minutes. Add chicken and peas or beans and cook on low heat for about 10 minutes. Dump it all in the slow cooker and set the heat to low. Make a paste with the cornstarch and cold water and carefully add it to the chicken mixture a little at a time, stirring well. Stir a bit then put the lid on the crock and continue to cook on low for at least an hour. At this point, if you're going to eat it immediately, just pour everything into a casserole, top with biscuits, and bake at 375 until the biscuits are light brown.

To freeze, pour into a glass casserole dish, cover with foil, place in a good freezer bag and put in freezer. When ready to eat, thaw and place in 375 degree oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and place raw biscuit dough or pre-made biscuits on top. Bake 20 to 25 minutes until hot and biscuits are lightly browned.

Prevention's site has some nice sounding inexpensive slow cooker recipes, including corn chowder, kidney bean and beef chili, brownies, and "baked" apples, and most can be made for less than $2 per serving. If there's something in one of the recipes that makes the cost too high for your budget, eliminate that item or substitute something else. And check out their line of hearty and healthy soups and stews, too! Just because the site is Prevention's and the recipes are healthier than a lot of others doesn't mean the dishes aren't very good!

Speaking of soup, Tipnut has a list of 15 comforting homemade soup recipes, including my very own Slow Cooked Beef, Barley, and Vegetable Soup.

This is a great time of year for soups so find some good recipes or get creative and make your own but make plenty of that warm, hearty soup!

Menu Plan Monday

We have a busy week coming up (since when do we not?) but I'm armed and ready to go! I really do appreciate the opportunity to take part in Menu Plan Monday and hope that if you haven't joined in yet, you will!

Our menu this week will be tasty and contain food that's lower in fat and carbs. If you're a die hard low carber who doesn't worry about fat, more power to you! This goes for you die hard fat minimalists, too! We all have our own WOE (way of eating) and right now ours is lower in fat and carbs. But I'm still trying to keep it high in flavor and its quite a balancing act.

So, here's this week's menu in no particular order except for Sunday's dinner which is listed first and Monday's dinner, which is listed second:

Baked salmon, seasoned with basil and garlic pepper, vegetable soup, and a small baked potato

Turkey pastrami and cheese wrap with a small salad (we're having dinner at the gym's cafe where they serve very tasty food)

Beef, Cheese, and Jalapeno sausages baked with cherry tomatoes (inspired by this recipe), served with cabbage and green beans

Spinach salad with a few baked chicken wings

Turkey sausage meatballs (adaptation of this recipe), served with baked sweet potato and steamed broccoli

Biiiig salad loaded with all sorts of vegetables and a bowl of vegetable soup

Turkey with dressing, mashed with a little gravy, green beans, broccoli, and peas and carrots (you can read more about the surprising result of eating this meal tonight, Tuesday)

And that's about it for the week. If something changes I'll post the change on this entry and write another if it warrants that much attention. ;)

A new breakfast muffin recipe

In my never-ending quest for breakfast ideas, I turned to Kalyn's Kitchen, one of my favorite low carb cooking blogs and I wasn't disappointed for I found a recipe for Cottage Cheese & Egg Breakfast Muffins. The picture of the muffins looks fantastic and I'm going to make this recipe today. I don't have almond meal so I'll have to run to Granary St. to get it but that's a simple thing.

I've tried a few of Kalyn's recipes and they've all been tasty and fairly easy to make. If you haven't looked over her blog, give it a try and let me know what you think.

I'll post a review and pictures of the muffins after I've made them.

Thursday doings...

The man person and his 18 year old are off tending to some things this morning so I have the place to myself. How odd that is! It's really quiet, almost too quiet. Oh dear, somehow I'll have to make myself enjoy it!

I work one to six today but open for the next couple of days so I need to accomplish some cooking ahead to prevent us from going out to eat because I'm too tired to cook.

Tonight's dinner is in the slow cooker now - beef roast with plenty of vegetables. I seasoned the meat pretty heavily, leaving out the salt til it's just about ready. When I get in after six tonight I'll be hungry and that roast will be magnificent, I'm sure. There should be enough roast left for at least two more meals.

One of them will be beef salad and we'll have that for supper tomorrow night. I love beef salad and it surprises me that so many people don't seem to know about it. I make it like I do tuna or chicken salad with a little salad dressing or mayo, chopped onion and sweet pickles, garlic, and I add a little celery seed/salt and plenty of freshly ground pepper. It's an easy and tasty way to use leftover beef roast and is great on bread, rolls, crackers, or rolled in a lettuce leaf but I usually just eat it with a fork and plenty of green beans or steamed spinach.

The other meal from the roast will probably be "Skillet Stuff", a very simple dish I make with leftover beef. I just chop a small potato or two and brown them in a skillet with a little olive oil and chopped onion. When those are soft, I add the cooked beef, some frozen green beans, and whatever seasonings I want like salt, garlic, pepper, etc. I let it all simmer in the skillet, stirring now and then to make sure it's evenly heated and we eat it with a large salad. The dish can easily be varied with different ingredients and each time we eat it's good, filling and frugal.

Lime-y Salted Chicken

While Connie and I were in Eddyville, Kentucky we went to Echo Charlie's Bayside Restaurant, a nice but somewhat overpriced little eatery at the marina. The waitress recommended Bubba's Key West Salt Wings, cautioning that if we ate them we'd be puffy with water retention the next morning but we thought what the heck and ordered some anyway. I have to say that never in my life have I had chicken wings so good! Until I ate those wings, my all time favorite was My Way Wings, a recipe of my own creation and one suited to my particular tastes. And those still rock, by the way, but Bubba's Key West Salt Wings have snap and pizazz that are hard to beat! I'm not normally impressed with salty food and these wings were very salty with a definite lime and garlic taste that really appealed to me. I couldn't get enough of them even if they were horribly messy!

Connie and I figured we could make them at home or something very close at the least. By taste, we figured the wings are marinated in a mixture of butter, lime juice, olive oil, kosher salt, a lot of garlic, and some oregano. They definitely have something green in them as you can see in the picture below.




Okay, so maybe you can't tell much (the picture was taken with my cell phone) but try!

Today I decided to try to re-produce those wings but had no wings, nor did I have Kosher salt and massive amounts of garlic. Hindsight tells me I should have just waited until I had wings, Kosher salt, and more garlic! Instead, I used chicken thighs, a salt blend, and the garlic I had. I marinated 6 thighs for about thirty minutes in a mixture of:

1 stick melted butter
1 Tablespoon of olive oil
1 Tablespoon of crushed garlic
1 teaspoon of garlic pepper seasoning
15 twists of the Loretta Spicy Sea Salt grinder
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
juice of a large lime

Then I baked the thighs at 350 until done.



Here's the finished product - good chicken but not what I wanted.

The wings didn't taste like butter, salt, lime, or garlic! Obviously I didn't use enough of those ingredients but lordy, 1 stick of butter for 6 wings should be enough! Perhaps it was just that the seasonings were off but the wings were bland compared to those I ate in Kentucky.

I'm going to attempt this again but will have wings, a lot more garlic, more lime and Kosher salt on hand.

In the meantime, you might try this recipe, adjusting it to suit your family's tastes. As I said, it was good - it just wasn't what I wanted. If you try it, do let me know. And if you've eaten Bubba's Key West Salt Wings and have ideas on how to make a copycat, please let me know! I really can't see taking a vacation to Kentucky every time I crave them!

Easy Spicy Enchilada Casserole

I was in the mood for a little Tex Mex cuisine before I headed to work this afternoon so I whipped up a very fast and easy dish, similar to the Enchilada Stack I make now and then but requires less fuss. The recipe makes enough for two adults to have two servings with enough leftovers for another meal for at least one person. From start to finish this takes about 25 minutes and if the ingredients are bought at the right prices it's very inexpensive to make. In addition, it's fairly low in carbs! It's also great for get togethers and church functions and a lot of it can be prepared in a short period of time.

Spicy Enchilada Casserole

1 lb ground meat (I used turkey sausage today)
onion to taste
1 package taco sauce (I used some off brand purchased for .22 cents)
3/4 cup water
Crushed red pepper to taste
small can of green chiles, drained
2 cups shredded cheese (I used Monterey Jack, Pepper Jack & Sharp Cheddar)
10 ounces enchilada sauce, red or green
4 or 5 tortillas (I used La Tortilla Factory low carb tortillas)
Chili powder

Brown the meat with the onion. Drain grease if there is any and add crushed red pepper, green chiles, taco seasoning mix, and 3/4 cup water. Let simmer about 15 minutes then remove from heat.




Coat the bottom of baking dish with enchilada sauce. Place two tortillas in then turn them over to ensure both sides have sauce.

Pour a little less than half of the meat mixture onto the tortillas and spread fairly evenly. (Perfection isn't necessary because cheese hides a multitude of sins in Tex Mex cooking!) Spread a little less than half of the cheese on the meat. Top with two more tortillas, more enchilada sauce, and more cheese, spreading the cheese around the top of the sauce.




Sprinkle lightly with chili powder.

Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes or until cheese is melted. Remove from oven, cut into squares and enjoy with toppings of your choice.




Today I used sour cream and black olives. Excellent!

Baked Chunky Carne Picada Chili

Last night's dinner was Baked Chunky Carne Picada Chili made from carne picada I cooked for a meal last week. Making chili with it was so easy and since the meat was already cooked it was also very quick. I use the same basic recipe every time I make chili and although I made this version a little thicker than I normally do, it was made in my standard way.

Baked Chunky Carne Picada Chili

In a large bowl mix one can of beans (I used ranch style beans), one small can of chopped green chiles, and one can of tomatoes, whatever kind you prefer. Add cooked carne picada (I used about 2 cups), chili powder to taste, a little garlic powder, and cumin, and whatever other spices you like. Mix well and put in an oven safe dish. Bake at 300 degrees for about 20 minutes or until heated through. Top with shredded cheese, chopped green onions, sliced black olives or other favorite chili toppings.

Unfortunately, this isn't a very low carb dish so I didn't eat much of it, just enough to get my fill along with some salad. It was very good, though, and the man person had two bowls of it. There's plenty left so we'll have it tomorrow for lunch and anything left after that will get frozen.

Spicy Pepper Jack Chicken

I made this for tonight's dinner and it's not only easy - it's great tasting and fairly low in carbs. I cooked this in my little convection oven and it turned out beautifully. We had it with steamed green beans and brown rice.

Spicy Pepper Jack Chicken

4 to 6 chicken breast halves, boneless and skinless
1 to 2 cups bell pepper, cut into strips or chopped into large pieces
1 can cream of mushroom, celery, or chicken soup or homemade equivalent
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup water
4 ounces pepper jack cheese, shredded
Seasonings to taste (I used garlic, pepper, and some chili powder)

Bake the chicken and bell pepper at 325 to 350 for 25 minutes or until the chicken juices run just slightly pink then remove and drain any grease from the pan. Mix the soup, cream, water, cheese, and spices in a bowl and pour over chicken pieces. Return the chicken to the oven and bake about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and top with a few tablespoons of chunky salsa and serve.

If you don't have heavy cream on hand, don't buy it just for this. Instead, use a little milk and water or half and half and milk. The sauce will be a little thinner but it will still be tasty.

To lower the carb count, use a homemade water/cream based soup rather than a store bought soup since those tend to be fairly high in carbs.