Ham and Cheese Green Bean Casserole

I love Thanksgiving. Well, I like Thanksgiving because of two things: Stove Top stuffing and green bean casserole. (Not including desserts) I only load up my plate with other things so I don't hurt the other food's feelings. <--- I'm only half kidding.

I was going to wait until Thanksgiving to bust this bad boy out because I absolutely LOVE ham and I can't believe I never thought to put it in green bean casserole. However, since Thanksgiving this year is not going to be anything traditional (in the sense that my entire family is going to be spread out - one of the "joys" of close siblings growing up) I decided this recipe was the perfect way to use up the ham sitting in the back of my lunchmeat drawer.

In the past (i.e. my whole life) this dish was made with canned green beans. She has you use fresh green beans and believe me, it makes a huge difference. The green beans retain their crunch, even after being boiled before being baked. It's a nice change from delicious green bean mush. Prep time is minimal. Dishes to be used are minimal. Clean up time is super quick. It has ham. Basically this recipe spells "winner".

I was not lying when I said I was not throwing this pan away. <3

This was fucking amazing. This was hammy and cheesy and green beany and all things delightful, melted and baked to perfection in a broken oval pan. My only complaint was it is a bit on the salty side. She has you had 1/2 tsp salt and I would most definitely omit that next time as well as boiling the green beans in chicken broth - I would just use water. And there will be a next time. This was so cheesy, you could see the strings of cheese when you served it. I took 3 pictures of it just because I love it so much. 

Just look at those chunks of ham.

Slight cheese strings.

The mother load of cheesy. 

I do believe I have been ruined for classic green bean casserole. That is now a thing of the past. This is my future now. <3 <3 <3

Cajun Catfish with Over Easy Eggs

I did not realize it had been so long since I'd blogged! I've really been slacking. School has started up and I've been crazy tired. In addition to pre-k 3, Calvin has started t-ball and I was elected as team mom. In case you missed it, I'm also the room mom of Calvin's class and we've decided to take on a bunch of new projects at work. I come home, cook dinner, watch a little bit of Reba - my new favorite show - and am usually out by like 10. I haven't even been drinking!! In any case, cooking and blogging about it is something I very much enjoy doing so I've upped my Cravings game and added some new recipes to my meal plan this week.

I have to say, this did not sound appetizing. And in reality, this recipe is mostly Cajun catfish and I think she just threw in eggs on toast to make it sound like an actual recipe. I don't think the two are meant to be eaten together. So. In that case, I made only the Cajun catfish and opted out of the egg and toast side. Everyone knows what that tastes like. You don't need me to tell you.

I decided to make this on a night when Calvin had a t-ball game. Fish generally doesn't take long to cook and I paired it with steam-in-the-bag veggies and mac & cheese. Easy peasy. Of course, in true Ashley fashion, the catfish were not completely thawed when I needed to begin dinner. I knew this would add on some cooking time, but we wound up cutting it extremely close to when we needed to leave and I basically spoon fed Calvin dinner so we could leave on time.

In a nutshell, you mix together the stuff for the Cajun seasoning, rub it on the catfish, stick that sucker in the oven and bake for like 12 minutes (or in my case, 20).

These fillets were fucking huge.

This came out pretty much how you would expect it to taste. Like Cajun catfish. There were no raving reviews from the family, but no complaints either. Her Cajun seasoning will be nice to have around but, honestly, it's nothing special. 

SS: Loaded "Baked Potato" Casserole

Cauliflower has become my new favorite thing. Lately, it has replaced so many carbs - tortilla chips for nachos, mashed potatoes....okay maybe just those two things but it's done a great job. It seems as though my efforts to become low carb are battled by Collin's insistence to continue buying me candy though. Hey, Reese's and peanut M&M's are low carb so it still counts.

This was so easy to make and I've found a new love in the form of turkey bacon. I'm also pretty sure I used more then the recommended 1 cup of ham but, like I always say: when in doubt, add more ham. This was amazing. Calvin mentioned several times how good it was and I had to stop myself from eating more. Freaking yum.

I broke this dish while taking it out of my cupboard, but it's my favorite so I'll just have to deal.

Ingredients:

2 (12-oz) bags frozen cauliflower

1/3 cup low sodium chicken broth

1/4 cup light sour cream - I used plain greek yogurt

1 (1-oz) packet ranch salad dressing mix

Salt

Pepper

1 (12-oz) bag frozen broccoli florets

1 cup diced ham - see my motto, above

1 cup reduced fat cheddar cheese

1/2 cup chives, chopped

5 slices lower sodium turkey bacon

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Serves: 4

Serving size: Heaping 1 1/3 cups

Cal: 258 Fat: 11g Carbs: 16g Fiber: 4g Sugar: 7g Protein: 19g

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 13x9 (or your favorite pan - use caution)

2) Cook cauliflower until soft. Drain.

3) Put the cauliflower in your kitchenaid mixer with the chicken broth, ranch mix, salt and pepper, and sour cream. Mash/blend to your desired consistency. 

4) Cook the broccoli until soft; drain. Toss it in the kitchenaid with the ham, half the chives and half the cheese. 

5) Spread the cauliflower/ham mixture into a baking dish. Bake for 20 minutes. 

6) Meanwhile, toss the bacon on a paper towel lined plate and put in the microwave for like 3 minutes. When it's cool enough; crumble. (Yeah, this doesn't crumble - you're going to have to chop it up)

7) Top the casserole with the remaining chives and cheese and toss the turkey bacon on top. Bake until the cheese melts - maybe 7-8 minutes more.

A smorgasbord of Skinny Suppers

I have done nothing but cook out of Skinny Suppers lately. They are just so easy and quick and good for you and since I've been feeling so lazy lately, it's really been a life saver. Because typing up the recipes is really a huge pain in the ass when there is just one, for this post I'm going to post my thoughts and pictures about each recipe and if you want the recipe, just let me know and I'll pass it your way.

Crispy Coconut Fish Sticks

I was so proud of myself when I flipped to this recipe because it gave me an excuse to use the rest of the tilapia from the other day's recipe. This meant one less meat to buy from the grocery store and that made me very happy because we all know that meat is not cheap. Unless you're in target and you go right when the meat guy marks everything down and then you're in meat markdown heaven. Just another reason to love target.

I made this a few days ago, but I think I paired this with salad. A random, fruity summery salad that did not go with the seafood flow at all, but was about to expire. I'm glad I added the salad in there because these were so freaking good that I ate double the serving size. It's like I was half healthy.

These were so. freaking. good.

Easy Vegetable Lo Mein

I love this recipe because, thanks to Cravings, I already had the ingredients in the house. For this recipe and the next one, it uses a sauce blend that is really delicious. I actually think it might be the same blend...Ok it's not but it really only differs by like 1 ingredient. Anyway the sauce is:

2 tsp cornstarch

3/4 cup low sodium chicken broth

2 tbs rice vinegar

1 tbs sesame oil

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tbs soy sauce

1/2 tbs oyster sauce

2 tsp sugar

Dissolve the cornstarch in the broth first, then mix all together and dump over dinner. Delish.

I was starving and not about to spend 10 minutes on lighting, so this is what you get. 

Quick Shrimp and Vegetable Stir Fry

Well, for me this was quick chicken and vegetable stir fry because that's what I had. I think everyone has made stir fry at least once in their life and it's great because you don't need a recipe to make it. That's the beauty of a stir fry. So when I was making this I was like ok why is this recipe even in here? But then...the sauce. And this turned out so good that Collin's co-workers ate all of it and Collin didn't even get any. You snooze, you lose dude. So much that I never even got a picture, so use your imagination. This sauce is:

1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth

2 tbs soy sauce

1 tbs minced garlic

2 1/2 tbs rice vinegar

1 tsp oyster sauce

1 tbs light brown sugar

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 tbs corn starch

Mix it all together and you're done.

Grilled Chicken and Fruit Salad Wraps

I hate fruit in salad. I've never once thought that my salad ever needed to be sweeter and I just don't like it. But. I was feeling lazy and I had all the ingredients for this and technically, it's not a salad so I went with it. 

Now, don't be like me and make it in the amount of the recipe. Make this with the amount of people who are eating it in mind. Make adjustments. I did not do this and the recipe serves 6. Normally this would not be an issue and I would just refrigerate the leftovers, but you mix the dressing in with the other stuff and it makes it soggy after a while. You could put the dressing on the side, but then you have a dry wrap and have to dip the fucking thing in sauce every time you take a bite.

This was good. I ate it with no issues. Could have used more chicken and less dressing, but I ate it. Collin ate what was necessary to not get the side eye and I had to force Calving to eat it, but that sounds like a normal day at my house.

It tastes better than it looks. 

Zucchini Taco Boats

This recipe is fun. What a great way to get rid of carbs during taco night? She has a nice, elaborate recipe for her taco meat (or in my case, black beans bc I didn't have ground beef). Here's a tip that will save you a lot of time: make tacos the way you usually do and put that shit in a zucchini boat.

There's a zucchini under there, I swear.

Chipotle Black Bean Burgers

I really saved the best for last. I really enjoyed these. Making them was kind of a pain in the ass because you have to mash up a bunch of freaking black beans with a fork, but hey, beauty is pain. Or something like that. 

Ok let's take a BIG note here. This recipe states that you use 2 cups of vegetable broth for 1/4 cup of quinoa. That is a ridiculous amount and I re-read this recipe several times to make sure that shit was right. Then I thought, Ok maybe the broth is necessary. When the quinoa was done cooking, there was still way too much broth. Nowhere in the recipe does it tell you to drain the quinoa after it cooks, nor does it mention any use for the excess broth. Why the fuck there was so much broth I really, really don't know. Take caution. I did what the recipe said and dumped the pot of quinoa in there thinking maybe magic was about to happen. Nope. What it did was make black bean and quinoa soup. Not patty consistency at all. So I was pissed and managed to squeeze the excess liquid out through a dish towel and then all was well again. 

Collin was confused and not amused, but he ate them.

The patties firmed up nicely as they cooled.

Cheesy Jalapeno Bacon Cornbread

I swear I've been cooking, I have just had a lot of things going on and I got sick for a few days there so I hadn't really felt like blogging. Last night, I was not in the mood to cook at all. BUT we've been eating a lot of crap lately and I figured I'd better cook something. 

So I threw some chicken thighs in a crock pot and tossed a bunch of shit together to make a nice sauce and - BAM - part one was done. Next, I figured I should probably do something from Cravings since it feels like it's been forever since I've made anything from there. I decided everyone likes a nice cornbread so I pulled out the ingredients and began to prep this bad boy. 

Instead of doing it all at once, like cooking usually goes, I did this in batches throughout the day because I still didn't feel well. I cooked the bacon at, like, 1 pm and set it aside. I mixed together the dry ingredients a half hour later...chopped up the jalapenos at like 2:30...and decided to suck it up and cook the damn thing around 4:30.

You cook this in a cast iron skillet which is great because that makes for less dishes to clean. It's very cut and dry. Mix everything together and bake - very much the cornbread fashion. And when you pull it out of the oven, it looks like this:

Now isn't that a sight for OCD eyes?

Collin walked in the kitchen and was all "What's that? It looks good." It does look good, doesn't it?

Look at that nice chunk of bacon.

This was good. I may or may not make it again, but it was good. Now, this isn't the kind of cornbread you would put honey and butter on. I mean, it's got bacon and jalapeno in it. Collin got up and had thirds of this, though. I mean, he raved about it. I guess if you stick enough bacon and jalapeno in something it's bound to be a winner. The verdict is that this is easy and delicious enough that everyone needs to toss the Jiffy or the Martha's White aside and make it at least once in their life. 

King's Hawaiian BLPTS

To start, I must have passed by this recipe 50 times and I even made it the other night (obviously) and I just realized it says BLPTS instead of BLTS. I guess that just shows you how attentive I am. The "P" stands for pineapple, by the way. I'm a fan of pineapple. I have to be in the mood, but I'll eat it. I really like it in my smoothies - I don't have to be in the mood for that...that's always good.

These are your standard BLT except for the addition of pineapple, which you broil until it gets brown spots. I used canned pineapple instead of fresh, like she suggests, because I absolutely hate cutting up fresh pineapple. It's a huge pain in my ass and I don't think it tastes all that different than canned. She also adds onion, which I also omitted because raw onion on things is disgusting. Basically, you cut everything up and stick in on a King's Hawaiian bun.

I made double the bacon she suggests and ate that while I got these ready. Nom. 

Now, this was interesting. I didn't use mayo, but in the book she says to use "as much as you like". I don't like any, so there goes that. I did, however, spread avocado on mine and that's always a crowd pleaser. (For the sake of the recipe though I did try one without avocado.) Now, the addition of the pineapple threw me off. I did not like it on this at all. The broiler made it kind of dry and weird tasting and it didn't do much for the sandwich except add a strange taste. I had like 4 of these and didn't even add it to the last 2. I like BLT's though so I'll make those again. Hold the pineapple, please.

Buttery Glazed Green Beans

I can say pretty confidently that I've never met a green bean I didn't like. I love them raw, canned, casseroled, dipped, sauteed, stewed, dried, fried...I mean I really don't discriminate. I have not, however, had them sweet. Which is basically what this recipe is. I've always liked the idea of keeping my green beans on the savory side, but what the hell. I gave it a try.

In true side dish fashion, the effort required for this recipe is minimal. Basically you dump the green beans in literal sugar water and boil them. Side note: am I the only one who thinks of Men In Black when you say "sugar water"? I always follow it up with "Edgar your skin is hanging off your bones". 

Annnyway. These babies are sweet. Sweet, sweet, sweet. These were a little too sweet for me actually. I'll probably stick to my savory green bean recipes because I just couldn't get in to these at all. I ate them because I wasn't going to waste a pound of green beans, and because they weren't terrible, but I won't ever make them again. I guess I have now met the green bean I just don't like. That's a little sad.

Don't let the almonds fool you. These suckers are sweet.

SS: Tuna Rice Casserole

I need to start this off by giving mad props to Brooke Griffen of Skinny Suppers for realizing, and utilizing, the beauty that is peas with tuna. Seriously though, screw "peas and carrots" that shit should be "peas and tuna". My earliest memories of the dynamic duo are accompanied by macaroni and cheese. Our mother was (and still very much is) a culinary genius and, as far as I'm concerned, she made up this delectable combo all on her own. *Applause*

That being said, this recipe was already a huge hit in my mind. I actually completely fucked up this recipe by not really having all of the ingredients and it still turned out absolutely wonderful. Very little prep and very little cleanup. *Ding! Ding!* We have a winner!

It looks so freaking good.

Recipe:

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 30 minutes

Serves: 6 (1 suggested serving, 1 husband size serving, 1 toddler serving and 1 lunch serving - so really it serves like 4.)

Serving size: 1 1/3 cups 

286 Cal, 8g Fat, 37g Carbs, 5g Fiber, 7g Sugar, 18g Protein

Ingredients:

1/2 tsp. extra virgin olive oil

1 tbs. minced garlic

1 red bell pepper, diced (I only had green so that's what I used)

1 (8 oz. container) baby bella mushrooms, sliced (I just used some white mushrooms bc no)

1 (10.5 oz can) Campbell's Healthy Request condensed cream of mushroom soup (I thought I had some, but I was wrong, so I used Aldi brand Fit and Healthy cream of chicken soup, mildly expired)

1 cup Prego Light Homestyle Alfredo Sauce 

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1 (12 oz) bag frozen peas, thawed (Meh. My bag wasn't completely full and about half thawed)

2 (5 oz) cans solid white albacore tuna, drained and flaked

1 (8.8 oz) pouch Uncle Ben's Ready Rice Brown Rice (you don't have to cook it first, just dump it in)

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup whole wheat Ritz cracker crumbs (about 13 crackers) (I was not about to go buy a box of wheat Ritz, so I just didn't use these or any breadcrumbs for that matter)

1) Preheat oven to 350. Coat a 13x9 with cooking spray.

2) In a skillet, heat the olive oil. Then add the garlic, onion and pepper. Cook for like 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms. Cook for like 5 more minutes.

3) Stir in the mushroom soup and Alfredo sauce. Add salt and pepper. Toss in the peas and tuna and stir in for like 2 minutes.

4) Remove from the heat and rip open your ready rice and dump it in there. Stir. Transfer to the baking dish and top with cheese and cracker crumbs. Bake for about 20 minutes. 

Mom bought me this pretty bowl today and it makes me so happy :)

Skillet Charred Fish Tacos

Lucky for me, I planned this recipe the same week as the soy shrimp and got to re-use the green pepper sauce. This pleased me because I'll probably never use the sauce again and I hate to throw things out.

I love fish tacos. There's a place called Black Walnut Cafe by the mall that has great fish tacos. They also have good wine. So, we (my sisters and I because who else?) like to eat lunch there and drink wine (lots of wine) and go shopping on Tuesdays. I find that fish tacos are kind of like the perfect meal. They fill you up without the bloat, yet still have juuuust enough carbs to soak up any excess alcohol to keep you from fucking up your life by staggering around and knocking down displays in Lush. *pause* Moving on...

So I, again, did not account for how much a pound and a half of fish was, so I actually got smart and only cooked half (3 fillets in my case). I froze the other 3 for a quick dinner in the future. This recipe was pretty quick as well. Most of the time is spent prepping the toppings, and that really takes no time at all. Even the spicy mayo she has you whip up is delightful. Doesn't taste or smell like mayo so that was a huge win.

Nothing matches. *shrug*

Now, the green sauce was perfect on these tacos. I was harshly reminded that a little bit goes a long way, but I wasn't scarred for life or anything. I ate two of these and had to convince myself that this was enough. That was 3 hours ago and I'm still on the edge about that. If it wasn't such a pain in the ass to pull everything out of my glorious fridge, I'd probably be making another one instead of blogging. Anyway, this recipe gets a check mark in the "yaaaaas" column. 

Grilled Garlic-Soy Shrimp with Pepper's Hot Green Pepper Sauce

I skipped past this recipe a few times when searching for a new recipe to try because it said "grilled". I don't have a clue how to start our massive grill and, truth be told, I don't have any desire whatsoever to learn. Imagine my surprise when I actually read the recipe and found out you can use a cast iron skillet. Now that I can do!

When I purchased the shrimp, I did not realize exactly how many shrimp came in one and a half pounds (what the recipe called for) so this made a lot more than my little family could eat in one meal. Well, I'm sure it didn't help that I pretty much scoffed at these shrimp and had cookies for dinner instead - but whatever. What's done is done.

This recipe is also about as simple as simple gets. You marinate the shrimp in soy sauce and garlic and grill those suckers in a pan. Disclaimer: it's been 2 days since I've made this and the smell of soy sauce and garlic still lingers in my kitchen. I can't figure out where it's coming from. I've taken out the trash and wiped the counters and did all the dishes so I have no freaking clue. I just turned my scentsy on and now I don't smell it anymore. Yay!

Easy Peasy

I did not eat many of these because, as stated before, I pretty much had cookies for dinner. Collin, however, liked these quite a bit. I made the mistake of dipping a shrimp in the green sauce first and that was a big nope. I like spicy sauce but that shit was HOT. Collin mentioned the sauce would be better suited for tacos, and I agree. It's not so much a good dipping sauce as it is a pouring sauce. Yes, they are different. Somehow. It's like the gravy of hot as fuck green sauces. 

Anyway. I'll keep this one around to keep things different with shrimp.

SS: Three Cheese Penne

This wasn't supposed to be for dinner tonight. I had originally had something else planned, but the meat went bad and about knocked me out cold when I opened the package. I gave Calvin a choice for dinner and he picked this one. So, much to Collin's dismay, pasta it was.

I decided to pair this delightful little dish with a salad because, again, there were no veggies in the recipe. I usually puree veggies and stick them in the sauce, but I always like to try the recipe out as-is first. Lucky for me, I now have a fridge that does not freeze salad and so we did, in fact, have veggies with this. :D

This is another recipe that takes about 30 - 45 minutes. If you are feeding a baby while making this, then it takes closer to 45 minutes. If you are not, then you're looking at a shorter time. If you really don't want to dirty up multiple dishes, like me, then that also ups your cook time. I worked from home the second half of the day today so I started early and took my dear sweet time. (something I don't usually get to do when Collin is working nights)

This was pleasantly delightful. I really thought this was going to be bleh and, don't get me wrong - this tastes about like what you would expect, but the way the cheeses blended together was really good. Especially since she uses cottage cheese and everything is low fat. Whatever. It's pasta and I love pasta.

I used an oval pan instead of an 8x8 because I'm a rebel.

Recipe:
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 8
Serving size: 1 1/4 cups (I've gone by this both times now and it really is enough food)
Calories 284, Fat 7g, Carbs 44g, Fiber 7g, Sugar 8g, Protein 16g

Ingredients:
1 (13.25 oz) box whole wheat penne pasta (The box I had was 16 oz and I wasn't about to measure that shit out so I dumped the whole box in)
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 small onion, diced
1 tbs minced garlic
1 (23.25 oz) jar Prego Light Smart Traditional pasta sauce (because I added in more pasta, I dumped in 8 oz of regular tomato sauce and added a bit more seasoning)
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese
1/2 cup part skim ricotta cheese
1 1/2 cups reduced fat shredded mozzarella cheese (I used what I had in my fridge...low moisture part skim)
2 tbs chopped fresh parsley  (yeah, I free sprinkled the dried shit on top until it looked good)

1) Prepare pasta per package directions. Drain and set aside.

2) In a skillet (or the now empty pasta pot) heat the olive oil over medium high heat and cook onions and garlic for like 3 minutes until the onions are soft.

3) Reduce heat to low and add in pasta sauce(s) and seasonings. Cook that shit until hot.

4) Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 and coat an 8x8 dish with cooking spray. Then toss the cottage cheese, ricotta and 1 cup mozzarella in a bowl and combine.

5) Remove the sauce from the heat and stir in the pasta.

6) Transfer half the pasta to the baking dish. Spread half of the cheese mixture on top of the pasta. Top that with the second half of the pasta followed by the remaining cheese mixture. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella on top.

7) Bake uncovered until the cheese melts - like 20 minutes. Then sprinkle the parsley on top.

The cheese mixture is pretty damn good. 

SS: Jalapeno Popper Chicken Casserole

Today I wanted something quick and simple for dinner, so I flipped through the Skinny Suppers book and landed on this recipe. I think I've expressed our love for jalapeno poppers before and thought - hey, low cal poppers? Okay.

Also. Before I go on. I've never called it "Supper". I've always called it "Dinner". What about you?

Moving on. This was quick and easy (true to the nature of the book). I love that it called for quinoa, which I'm always trying to find new things to do with instead of the standard "rice" swap. I'll pay attention to the fact that she adds a cup of liquid to the casserole in case I want to toss quinoa in any casseroles I come up with.

This came out of the oven and I noticed when I was spooning it into bowls that there is no color. Then it hit me: there are no veggies in this casserole. I usually try and incorporate veggies most of the time, especially when it comes to dinner, and this bothered me a bit. I'll probably toss in some peas or maybe even diced squash next time - I know, I know, this takes away from the "popper" vibe, but it will make me feel better. This was also incredibly spicy. Like, so spicy that I didn't really want to finish it. I would probably omit some of the jalapeno next time. Overall, some adjustments will be made, but I would probably make it again.

One of those "hard to photograph" meals.

Recipe:

Prep: 5 minutes

Cook time: 40 minutes

Serves: 6

Serving Size: 1 heaping cup

320 Cal, 10 g Fat, 25 g Carbs, 3g Fiber, 2 g Sugar, 30g Protein

Ingredients:

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 (4-oz) can diced pickled jalapenos, drained - I just chopped up some jalapenos from a jar I had in my fridge.

3 cups low sodium chicken broth

1 cup quinoa, rinsed

4 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese, soft

3/4 cup plain 0% Greek yogurt 

2 tbs. Frank's Red Hot Sauce

1 cup shredded reduced fat sharp cheddar

2 fresh jalapenos, sliced

1/4 cup Panko

1) In a large pot, boil chicken and 2 tbs. diced jalapeno (from the can or jar). About 12-15 minutes. Cool on a plate and shred OR toss those suckers in your Kitchen Aid (still hot) and shred with the paddle attachment. Toss the water and jalapenos down the drain. 

2) Meanwhile, combine 2 cups of the chicken broth and the quinoa. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cover about 12-15 minutes until the liquid is gone. Uncover and fluff with a fork.

3) Preheat oven to 350. Coat a 13x9 baking dish with cooking spray.

4) Ok, this isn't how the recipe goes, but it eliminates a bowl and it worked out fine for me. Toss the cream cheese, yogurt, hot sauce, remaining 1 cup chicken broth, remaining diced jalapenos (from the can or jar), 1/2 cup cheese and cooked quinoa to the chicken in the Kitchen Aid. Mix it all up. 

5) Pour mixture into a pan and top with the remaining 1/2 cup cheese, sliced jalapenos and Panko. Coat the top of the casserole with cooking spray and cook for about 20 minutes or so. 

Chipotle-Honey Chicken with Mango-Avocado Salsa

First, I would like to start out by saying sorry to my sister Suzy for making this without her. I needed simple and low carb and this was my winner.

The bulk of the work here is the marinade. After that's done you pop it in the oven and make the salsa and that takes all of about 5 minutes. (It took me longer because Andrew demanded food in the middle. I also found out that, like Calvin, avocado is not to his liking). This came out beautifully.

I omitted the onion from the salsa because I can't stand raw onion.

Now. I try really hard not to be a snob, but I have come the the conclusion that I just don't like cooking or eating chicken with bones. It's hard for me to tell if it's done and the amount of tough spots I bite into gross me out. There's just nothing like going in for a bite and getting a big mouthful of tough ligament. *gag* That being said, the only change I would make here would be that I would switch to boneless skinless chicken. The sauce is so amazing that Collin even commented on it. It is a bit spicy, so Calvin drank a lot of milk with this dinner, but that's not a complaint - that just sounds like his problem. The guys also didn't touch the mango salsa, which I figured, so that will either be consumed solely by me or eventually thrown away. It complimented the chicken very nicely though. 

Suzy, to answer your question, yes we can make this when you come into town. :)

John's Fried Chicken Wings with Spicy Honey Butter

I think I mentioned that we hosted a fight night last night. Once mom found out, she started pulling things out of her freezer and pretty soon, we had a random assortment of foods to serve. I decided on these wings, because who doesn't love wings, and the armadillo bread while mom showed up with beer brats with the fixings and my mother in law brought a delightful tray of gluten free goodies. Pair all this with cheese and crackers, Collin's fresh new batch of home brewed beer and good friends and you've got yourself a party.

I'll go ahead and take this time to say that I did not remember to take a picture of the wings. I wish I had, because they turned out beautiful, but I can't un-eat them and therefore you will get no picture. I will, however, post pictures of a few other things (taken mostly by my sister) just to give this post the aesthetic feel you are used to. Cause I know you all love my professional photos.

Karen's (MIL) beautiful tray of gluten free goodies.

These wings are pretty standard. She has you marinate them in a brine, coat with flour and fry them up. I made the first batch small to see if her cook time was true (it is) and realized that they had a tendency to stick to the bottom of my fry basket. Because of this, I grabbed my tongs and tried to give the second batch a little stir while they were frying. Well, something went wrong and I wound up splashing hot grease on my hand. Freaking. Ouch. After applying cold compresses and an oatmeal/milk mixture I found out that you aren't supposed to apply cold compress and that mustard actually works wonders to get rid of the lingering (oh, God did it linger) sting. For future reference - mustard all the way.

It looks much better today.

Ok, so. The spicy honey butter. She tells you to slather this all over the wings, but people were grabbing the wings left and right so I never got a chance to. Honestly, I'm not sure I wanted people's honey butter fingers everywhere either so I left it in a bowl for people to apply to their wings if they wanted. My dad loved the sauce. I had a small taste but, because I was hosting and running around everywhere, I never got a chance to fully taste the wings/sauce and they were gone in record time. I don't think many people tried the sauce, but it also didn't matter because the batter was spot on. I'd make these again for a crowd except next time I won't be a dumbass and splash hot grease all over myself. 

I'll leave you with a picture of me and my beloved new fridge, even though I look like a pork and a half in it. Hence my reasoning for the new "Skinny Suppers" book. (side note: I'm just a hop, skip and a jump away from pre-baby weight! :D)

The apron adds bulk...yeah, that's it! Also, I LOVE MY FRIDGE.

Skinny Suppers

So I was browsing Instagram the other day and came upon a new cookbook called Skinny Suppers by one of the "fit mom" accounts I follow - I think her name is skinnymom. I've been having some trouble coming up with meal plans lately because Chrissy's book isn't exactly healthy and her recipes generally take a while to get through. Because of this, I am going to incorporate recipes from this Skinny Suppers book into this blog. Since I won't be cooking completely through this one like I am for Cravings, I'll post the recipe in each blog post. These are all generally under 350 calories and take around 30 minutes to make. Perfect.

So even though I plan on mixing it up - I think it's worth mentioning that I'll be trying a new Cravings recipe tonight for the fight night we are hosting, and I'm making the armadillo bread again - nom. In addition, I've got a few of her recipes coming up in my meal plans.

Oh, and since I got my beautiful new fridge today I can actually store food in it and I'm super excited to get back in the swing of things.

Anyway, here's to mixing it up!

I look weird but Calvin looks cute AF so I went with this one. 

Pepper's Pork Stuffed Cucumber Soup

We are a cucumber loving family. So much, in fact, that I had to hide the cucumbers from Collin so they would last until I was able to make this recipe. This one intrigued the hell out of my sister because she had heard that cooked cucumbers were the shit and Chrissy makes a big deal about them as well. I was pretty excited now and decided to make this last night because I was bloated from all the cheese and bad food and this is carb free.

First thing's first. This is easy to make. Prep time is like 15 minutes. Basically, you mix a few things in with ground pork and then hollow out the cucumbers. I used a jalapeno corer that Collin bought on a whim a few weeks ago. I made fun of him for buying it, much like I did when he bought the cherry pitter, but both have become very important things in my kitchen and I love them now. I did feel bad tossing the middles out, but I didn't feel like eating them right away and I couldn't think of a whole lot I could do with cucumber pulp...so into the trash they went.

Anyway, when it came down to stuffing them I went my favorite stuffing route: stick the mixture in a plastic bag and snip off a corner. This seemed like the easiest way to me and it worked out pretty well. I also had about half the pork mixture leftover. So I froze that for future use. So basically, you mix, core, stuff, and boil. Easy.

I did not use the kind of mushroom she suggests bc I didn't feel like going on a wild goose chase.

When you put this into bowls, Holy Jesus it is hot. Like I'm talking it's boiling when you put it in your bowl. Be careful. This is when I am thankful that I bought a little plug in fan for my kitchen. I use it mostly to cool Calvin's food quickly, but I use it for myself a lot. Like every day. I can't stand hot food. Hot fries are the worst. Collin thinks I'm nuts, but it makes me so mad when I get piping hot fries. He's all like "That means they're fresh!" and I'm all "Yeah, but now I have to wait 10 minutes to eat them!" It's so annoying. 

Moving on...

In my bowl. You can see the cucumbers are nice and soft.

Taste: This was pleasant. My method of pork stuffing, while easy and quick, did not push the pork all the way into the hollow space of the cucumber. Some made it, but most of the pork stopped halfway down. I'm not really sure how you would rectify this, but I need to figure it out because the cucumber with the pork is so freaking good. The cucumber by itself was very so-so. It tasted about like what you would think a boiled cucumber would taste like. I may actually use the leftover pork to make meatballs or something. It was just so good. Once I figure out how to stuff the entire cucumber, I could see myself making this for my lunches for the week. Collin did not care for it at all, but this is nice and filling and low carb for me. I'll keep it. 

Cheesy Armadillo Garlic Bread

So I hosted a cheese night last night. Basically, everyone brings all the cheese and the cheesy snacks/things you can and we drink wine and eat. There was an appearance of Likewise, which I've talked about before, and I'd say the night was a success. A delicious, cheesy success.

Since I've had no real posts lately, I dug through the book and looked for recipes with the word "cheese" in the title. Once I found this I pretty much knew it was the winner. It sounded amazing (even though it has mayo in it - gag) so I figured I'd give it a go.

This is easy to put together - there's not much to it - but damn if it wasn't harder than you would think to spread the cheese mixture down in the crevices of bread. At first I thought I would be fancy and use a spoon...then that spoon turned into merely an aid until I ditched it all together and shoved the cheesy goodness in with my hands. There really is no other way. If you know of one, I'm all ears.

I took a "before" pic even though it doesn't look like anything resembling bread.

Once this was done and I took it out of the oven, I could barely get a picture in before Collin's greedy little hands were all over it. Ask my sister - threats were made. 

*drool*

I went in for a bite and noticed one thing first hand. The pieces were not as easy to pull off as you would think. They kind of break off and you have to manhandle the bread to get a good hunk. I'm not sure if this can be fixed by cutting in a little deeper or if this is just how it's going to be. Either way, I don't care. Once the first bite was in my mouth nothing else mattered. I thought the fact that there was mayo in it was going to deter me from more than the obligatory taste, but this was not the case. This was Ah-Mazing and Collin asked me several times throughout the night (and this morning) to make it again. 

No problems there.  

Repeat Offender

I've never made anything from this book twice, until today. I was craving the Brussels sprouts salad with almonds and grapes so bad so I halved a batch for lunch tomorrow and I can't wait to eat it. It's actually going to go quite nicely as a low carb meal considering I'm meeting my sister tomorrow night for tacos and drinks. Can't screw up the whole day.

So my fridge has been on the fritz...and by that I mean it works a little too well. It freezes e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. Literally everything I put in there gets frozen, or almost frozen, and makes salad and vegetables virtually inedible. I had milk in there that expired 3 weeks ago but, thanks to its constant half frozen state, it is still good. I guess you could say that counts as an upside, but when I buy lettuce and salad and herbs, etc. when I pull them out I don't want them to be so frozen they are translucent. You ever tried to bring frozen salad back to life? You fucking can't. And before you ask the question, "Have you tried turning it down?" (like everyone seems to ask, like I'm an idiot or something) it is on the very lowest setting. I'm one step away from shutting the entire fridge down.

On the bright side, I'm getting a gorgeous (yes, gorgeous) new fridge delivered next Saturday so until I get that beautiful baby up and running in my kitchen my posts will be scarce. This book requires many a fresh ingredient and I just can't bear to throw away any more food.

Sorry ya'll. But, hey, at least my lunch tomorrow will be fabulous!

French Toast Casserole with Salted Frosted Flakes

As a child I was not a french toast fan. I could eat pound after pound of waffles and pancakes, but french toast never spoke to me. As I grew older, it was still not something I craved, but I made it a few times when Calvin was old enough to eat it for breakfast and it was good...but not like pizza good. Anyway, we took the boys on a mini vacation to Galveston yesterday and I thought it would be a nice breakfast to send us on our way.

Thank God I read the recipe the day before because you have to let it sit in the fridge overnight. No big deal - it makes for no messes in the morning. Once the morning gets here though, you have to let it sit for 30 minutes at room temperature and then bake the fuckin thing for an hour. I knew this when I made the recipe, but by the time it was done Calvin was already eating cereal. So much for that. I figured I could probably get him to taste it and if it was good, he would eat a little bit of it anyway. It makes a whole 9x13, so I was really banking on this being delicious like I've heard.

Looks pretty smooshy, but I think its supposed to be like that.

I was starving by the time this was ready, as I usually am by the time food is done...I think I need to get a better handle on my hunger level to food doneness clock. I scooped a big helping into my bowl and took a big bite. 

It tasted like rum. There is rum in this recipe, so that's not exactly out of nowhere, but I was shocked at the strength of the taste. It was like I poured straight rum on bread and took a bite. There were no other flavors...just rum. I took a few more bites to make sure it wasn't just a rummy bite and, as it turns out, that's just how the dish is supposed to taste. I checked and double checked the recipe and I put the correct amount of rum in so I was just completely confused. I don't particularly like the taste of rum (spiced or not) so I dumped the rest of my bowl in the trash, completely disappointed. I had hoped the rum would give it a hint of flavor...not completely overpower the entire dish.

At this point, I was glad Calvin had already eaten because even though I'm sure the alcohol cooked out - he doesn't need to know what rum tastes like at this early of an age. So I packed up the casserole and we dropped it off at my mom's house on the way out of town. She likes rum and I wanted to see what she would say, so when I gave it to her I told her it made too much and we would never eat it all. She took a bite and immediately asked if there was alcohol in it, which made me laugh and also gave me confirmation that I was not crazy. 

Anyway. Collin said he didn't really taste the rum and said it was good so I am super curious to know if mom and I are the only ones. Make this and let me know.

Roasted Jalapeno and Chorizo Queso

I am a chips and queso (well, chips and any kind of dip really) kind of girl. I even have a t-shirt that proclaims my love for the stuff. I'm not very picky with how it's made and it never lasts long. I usually do the standard Velveeta and Ro-tel, with Italian sausage if I'm feeling fancy, and call it a day. Collin is the same way so when I announced that we were having queso for dinner he wasn't exactly upset.

What he did notice, however, was that I was doing things differently. She has you roast some jalapenos first and when he saw them on the baking sheet he didn't take it well. "What are you doing? I thought you were making queso? Why are you doing them like that?" And so on and so forth to the point where I told him to get the hell out of the kitchen or I was going to kick his ass. He left, though I think it had more to do with the fact that his show came back on in the other room rather than my threat. In any case, I was safe to continue in peace until commercial time came back again.

This is more work that I like to put into queso, but since this was our dinner I was alright with it. I also bought the wrong kind of chorizo at the store and wound up with some sausage chorizo stuff. Whatever. The package said chorizo on it so it still counts.

It looks like I cut up a hot dog, but I swear I didn't.

This was good. Standard queso taste, though surprisingly not spicy for the amount of jalapenos she has you stick in there. I had to add about 3-4 more raw ones to get the kind of kick we like. I did not feel the need to keep eating it after I was full, which is unusual, but Collin had 2 big bowls. This was so standard, in fact, that I wouldn't go out of my way to roast the jalapenos again because they really don't add anything to it. Just chop those babies up raw and toss them in until they make your lips numb. 

Anyway. Standard or not, this gave me an excuse to make queso for dinner so everybody wins. 

Hawaiian Pizza Jalapeno Poppers

We are a jalapeno popper eating kind of people. These delightful boats of cream cheese are usually the first thing to go at our family gatherings, followed so closely by deviled eggs that it's actually hard to call. While I am not opposed to mixing up an old favorite, Collin was not so sure and lingered in the kitchen as I was making these, making comments about how the jalapenos should be cut, etc. I eventually shooed him off and these were assembled in no time. (Ok, it took time, but what respectable jalapeno popper doesn't?)

She asks that you put a cube of pineapple and a cherry tomato on the ends of the toothpicks, but no one in my family would eat them and they would go to waste. So. I omitted that small detail but kept everything else the same.

She also tells you to put these in the oven, which I've never done. Poppers have always been a strict barbeque item and therefore this made Collin question them yet again. I made these with her burger recipe and he was a bit put off that the grill was not needed. A little out of his element, I think. Anyway.

Little poppers

Once these were done and he had shoved some down his popper hole, he admitted defeat in that these are really good. I don't know where the "pizza" part is supposed to come in, but who cares? These are delightful and we may have just found an unconventional new "barbeque" item. 

Capon's Chrissy Burger and Onion Rings

To me, a burger is a burger. It's delicious and the toppings are fun but at the end of the day, it is just a burger. There has only been one burger in my life that I've ever actually craved and it was from a little mom and pop restaurant called Kelly's. I swear he put crack in that burger. Once the craving hit there was nothing that could satisfy it. My mom and I would go there as often as was possible without jeopardizing our wallets or waistlines. He knew us, too, and would make sure to make our fries extra crispy the way we liked them. I don't think I ever tried anything else from there either. It was always about that burger and nothing else. Sadly, he went out of business and mom and I shared a cry in the car in front of the little empty restaurant the day we found out. Sometimes we talk about hunting him down in hopes of persuading him to make it for us one last time. *sigh*

In any case, I probably would have waited until it was the last recipe left to make this if it weren't for my friend Leah. She made it on the fourth of July and raved about it:

"So proud of myself, I made my first ever burger from scratch with homemade onion rings. They were delicious!"

We chatted about it for a bit and she convinced me that this was a definite keeper. So, since I was off today and had some time to create, I stuck this baby on the menu. I added in Chrissy's jalapeno poppers, too but I'll do a separate post on those. 

I was very skeptical about this burger because it only has 4 ingredients and 2 of those are salt and pepper. Could it be that less is more?

*drool*

The answer is hell fucking yes. This was amazing. Even her sauce, which has mayo in it, was mouthwatering. I cannot believe something so simple could turn out so freaking phenomenal. And a burger! And the best part? This burger is gluten free all on it's own. (Well, minus the bun and onion rings, obvi.) I just can't believe how good this turned out. Does it rival my beloved Kelly's burger? I decline to comment. 

The onion rings were simple and tasted like regular ol' onion rings. Calvin was intrigued, "These are super good, mom. Look! There's an onion inside!" He ate them up like nobody's business. 

Calvin approved.

Needless to say, I'm stuffed and I have found excitement for a burger again. Yay!

Zucchini "Lasagna" Bolognese

I've been slacking, I know. But - good news! Collin is on vacation for the next 12 days or so and this means I will have plenty of time to cook things! To get into the spirit, I decided to go after this lasagna inspired dish as I'm always down to make things no-carb.

Truth be told, I'm a huge sucker for Stouffer's lasagna and could probably (Ok, I can) eat the whole thing by myself and still want more. Because of this, I have never felt the need to create my own lasagna recipe. Thinking on it, I don't believe I've ever made a lasagna from scratch before...Anyway, this was on the menu tonight and after reading the recipe, I started early.

I made the sauce around 2 so dinner would for sure be ready by 5-6 ish. She tells you to simmer it for about an hour to an hour and a half to let it reduce and thicken. OK. I've thought this before, but now I'm convinced that she must have some sort of special celebrity oven that cooks things quicker than us common folk ovens. After 2 hours I still had soupy sauce. It had reduced some, yes, but nowhere near the consistency needed for lasagna. It took me cranking up the heat for another hour or so before it was finally a good consistency. Everything else went pretty smooth and, unsurprisingly, this only made 2 layers for me as opposed to her 3 layers. I'm really not sure how she did it to make it 3 layers, but I don't really think it matters how many layers you have so long as there are at least 2.

I was starving when I pulled this out of the oven:

Looks fairly lasagna-y

But I let it cool down for a few minutes before I decided to cut into it. 

Now. I was very unsure about this because of the layer of grease floating on top and around the edges. I was also very unsure about how to put it in the bowl. Once I figured out that a spoon was the best way I noticed this was no longer a lasagna, but a lasagna-y soup.

You eat it with a spoon.

It was about this time that Collin starts talking about how Dominoes has a special going on right now and it wasn't too late to order pizza. I, however, was determined to try this and like it. I had spent too many hours preparing this freaking dish and we were going to eat this soup, dammit.

The taste was actually not bad. It was very salty - very salty - but I do believe this would be better with actual noodles (duh). What I mean by that is that the sauce and the cheese mixture are pretty good, but the zucchini noodles were a total fail. They basically dissolved into the soup and I couldn't even tell they were there. I did, however, get a "This is good food, mom" from Calvin and I do agree that the taste is not bad. 

But. If you're going to spend half the day in the kitchen preparing lasagna, use this recipe, just substitute the zucchini for actual lasagna noodles (oh, and go easy on the salt). I understand that defeats the purpose, but now I'm stuck with three quarters of a pan full of salty lasagna-y soup that I can assure you will get thrown away. Take it from me: lasagna should always have carbs.