The Calendar Says Fall......Close Enough

Being a Texan, fall is always a season I struggle with.  Text book says it should be cooler weather and warm clothes, but Texas never fails to NOT deliver these conditions.  I am so ready to start my fall cooking, I said screw the temperature, I'm making soup!  OOOHHH the joy I get from making a big pot of any kind of soup.  Seriously, soups have to be one of the easiest things to make.  In fact so easy that I'm not attaching a recipe card to this blog, just take in what I write and run with it....you can't screw it up :) Next I made some banana bread with the 300 bananas I have frozen, because I continue to buy them, although no one seems to be eating them.  I got the recipe for the bread from one of my favorite Food Network girls, Ree Drummond (click on her name to get the recipe).  Now Ree doesn't like bananas AT ALL, yet she liked this recipe, which should have been my first clue that it would need more bananas, lol.  The texture and consistency were heavenly, but I would add a good 1/4c to 1/2c more bananas than her recipe calls for.  Will definitely make this again, with my remaining 294 frozen bananas :)
For the soup, I threw a couple of boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the crockpot Saturday night before I went to bed.  Now normally I always use bone in when I make soups, somehow the flavor is different, but I had thawed out these boneless ones, and they worked none the less.  Now I'm not into pureed soups.  They may as well be vegetable smoothies if you ask me.  A soup has to be chunky and have good consistency, so I usually always pile mine up with tons of veggies.  So back to the soup, by the next morning I had cooked breasts and broth, YAY!  I then transferred all of this to a big pot on the stove and threw in all my vegetables: celery, cabbage, zucchini, squash, onion & carrots.  In addition, I added some extra homemade broth I had on hand (yes, I go by the name of Martha Stewart sometimes), along with extra water and some chicken broth seasoning.  Let that cook for a few hours and YUMM!!
As long as I didn't go outside, it was easy to eat my soup and bread with the AC turned down low and create my own little fall from inside :)  Happy Fall!

Good For You Breakfast On The Go

I have two simple breakfasts that I rely on almost every weekday.  They take about 2 minutes to prepare and are soooooo delicious! 
The first are my overnight oats.  I have seen several versions of this, so I kind of adapted it to what I like.  Feel free to do the same :)
I make a single serving size, usually in a tupperware I can throw in my purse the next morning to heat up once I get to work.  These are overnight oats, so you need to prepare them the night before and let sit OVERNIGHT, lol :)
Start with 1/4 a cup of old fashioned oats, and add 1/3 cup of almond milk to it.  You can actually use any kind of milk whether it be dairy, soy or almond, whichever you prefer.  Then the laundry list begins of ingredients :)  I add a pinch of brown sugar, but be careful, a little bit goes a long ways.  Then I add a squeeze of honey, a couple of shakes of cinnamon and 1 spoonful of vanilla non-fat greek yogurt.  Mix all these together and put in the fridge overnight.  It might be a little soupy but that's normal, it should thicken up by the morning.
Once it's time to eat the following morning, you can keep adding stuff to it.  I add a handful of crushed walnuts, raisins and slice up a fresh fruit on top (peaches are my favorite).  Heat it in the microwave for 45-60 seconds and enjoy!! Don't mind the plastic bowl in the pictures, I didn't have time to make it pretty :)

The other breakfast I often resort to is an Orange, Pear & Kale smoothie.  I found this great website, www.greenplaterule.com , that I am constantly using for good green eating ideas.  Some of her recipes are a little extreme for my household, so I have adapted a lot of them and they are fantastic.  For this smoothie recipe click here.  I usually cut up all my fruits at once and freeze them in pre-bagged single portion sizes so they are ready to be thrown in the blender on my busy mornings.  Also, I use any grapes I have on hand and it turns out awesome! Please note though, your blender probably doesn't like all frozen contents, unless you have one of those Ninjas :)  I usually take out a frozen baggie the night before and let it thaw a little in the fridge overnight....my blender appreciates this I'm sure. It takes a good 3-4 minutes of blending to get the kale fine enough that it isn't all stuck in your teeth on your first sip....yep, this too I have learned the hard way :)  Once again, don't mind my to-go cup, I was in a hurry, as usual!

Veggie-full Spaghetti

I don't know what it is about kids and spaghetti.  I don't think I can name a kid that doesn't love it, including mine.  If I say we're having spaghetti for dinner, you would've thought I just told them they could have ice cream for dinner.

As usual, I use every opportunity to get them to eat as many vegetables as possible, and this is one of my best kept secrets.  Not to mention is a great way to use all those veggies that are on the verge of going bad.   My criteria is: if it's a vegetable and you can dice it up......then throw it in!  Onto the fun part, cooking!!

I started by rummaging through what I had in my vegetable drawers that I needed to get rid of.  The lucky winners were squash & zucchini (a staple in our everyday in case you haven't noticed), sliced carrots, bell pepper, onion and of course garlic.  

I diced everything except the garlic into bite size, non-recognizable pieces :). If you have a pickier eater, you may want to dice them smaller.

Then I got some olive oil going in a pan (about 3 tbsp) and threw some minced garlic in to sauté for a minute.  

Time to put all your diced veggies in!  It may seem like a lot, but they will cook down.

While the veggies are cooking, I get my tomato products and pasta ready to go.  I used one large can of pasta sauce and one can of stewed tomatoes to keep it nice and chunky.  Feel free to nix the stewed tomatoes if you like.  Also, if you like a soupier sauce, you may add some more of the pasta sauce.  Be mindful though, these canned tomato products have quite a bit of sodium in them.  

 

I use the veggie pasta all the time now.  It tastes great and the whole family loves it.  The only thing I can slightly complain about is that it can get a little gummy if you cook it too long, so keep eye on it.

Next, throw in the ground beef.  I used 1 lb regular ground meat and 1 lb lean.  Some might not like the idea of putting raw meat on top of their vegetables, so feel free to brown the ground meat separately.  I myself, love the flavor that infuses with the meat when it cooks with the veggies.  Either way will work:)

Now when it comes time to break up the ground meat I have the found the best thing ever!! It's by Pampered Chef (surprise, surprise) and it provides pure perfection when trying the get ground meat into a good fine texture .  LOVE IT!!

 

 

Once the meat has browned and the veggies are soft, add in the pasta sauce and stewed tomatoes and let simmer for about 10-15 minutes on low heat.  Because there is already plenty of sodium in the canned tomato sauce, I usually don't add any additional salt.  Feel free to add fresh basil or oregano, and plenty of pepper of course :)

Once the sauce has simmered for a little bit you are ready to eat!!   I paired this with some nice crusty garlic bread and it was delicious!!!

 

Low(er) Fat Banana Pudding

Banana pudding is one of my husbands absolute favorite desserts, so I like to surprise him with it every now and then. One of those times being this weekend, until I went to the pantry to find I didn't have everything I needed.  I took this an opportunity to improvise and come up with something that might be a little easier on the mid-section.   I passed on the condensed milk it called for in my recipe and opted to just stick with the basics.  Vanilla pudding (made with 2% milk), Cool Whip, Nilla Wafers and bananas.  Now you could really trim off some calories if you went with the lighter versions of the Cool Whip and cookies, but I just used what I had on hand. The end result was fantastic and my husband didn't even miss the normally rich, decadent version I make.....and we all know he didn't miss the calories :)

 

Italian Chicken with Summer Vegetables

This chicken recipe is one that I have gone to for years that is easy to prep ahead of time and low maintenance while cooking.  My mom taught me if you put your chicken in a Ziploc bag with Italian dressing before you freeze, it self-marinades while it thaws out.  I have used this concept well past Italian dressing, but this one still stands above the rest.  Throw this with some summer veggies sautéed in a little olive oil and butter and you have one easy meal.

First, I put 5 chicken breasts (bone in) in a large Ziploc with enough Italian dressing to coat all the pieces.  I used Kens Steakhouse Italian dressing, it definitely delivers the most flavor. I prefer bone in, it gives the chicken another dimension of flavor and keeps it super juicy.  You are more than welcome to use boneless if you like though :)  I pulled these out of the freezer in the morning before work, so by the time I got home they were ready to go straight into the skillet.

I don't use any oil or cooking spray when I cook these, there is enough oil in the dressing to keep things from sticking.  I put them all breast side down on medium heat, then covered and let it do its thing.  I think the key to cooking breasts in a skillet is to take your time and keep the fire low with the lid on.  All the steam inside does miracles for keeping them nice and juicy.

After I got the chicken breasts going, I started the veggies.  I had corn in the fridge along with a zucchini and a squash.  Oh, and of course a little onion and garlic...because I add it to everything :)  As much as I love fresh garlic, I was on a time crunch so jarred did just fine.  My kids LOVE this dish, so it's always a no brainer for me to throw this combination together. 

First thing to do is shuck the corn.  It seems like a daunting task, but it really isn't that bad once you get it over with :)  I got this awesome little gadget from Pampered Chef that cuts the kernels right off the cob, GENIUS!  If you eat corn like we do, it is a must have.

I threw all the kernels into a large skillet that I'd had heating with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil.  I let it fry for a minute so it could get a good crunchy texture to it.

While the corn is sautéing in olive oil, I go back and flip the breasts.  At this point I turn the heat to low and continue to let simmer, covered of course, until the other side dishes are finished cooking.  The breasts should have a nice brown color once you turn them over.

My corn has had plenty of time with the olive oil, so now I throw in 4 tablespoons of butter.  I know this seems like a lot, but remember we haven't put all the other goodies that go into this dish. 

While the butter is melting, I cut up the rest of the veggies.  Once your done chopping, toss them all in (zucchini, squash, onion and garlic) and stir it all together.  Leave it on a medium to low heat and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.  Continue to stir these every couple of minutes to ensure that all the veggies get some exposure to the heat to get nice and soft.

Time to go back to the chicken.  At this point, its probably been on the stove for a good 20-25 minutes and might be done, depending on the size of breast you're cooking.  I always throw a little salt and pepper on right at the end before I turn the heat off, just for a little flavor.  Once the chicken is cooked through let it rest for a good 5 minutes, and they are ready to serve!

I added some 5 minute rice along with these dishes and that is one complete yummy meal!  The whole thing took maybe 30 minutes, which you can't beat on a weeknight :)  ENJOY!!!