First Freezer Cooking Day of 2013!

Happy New Year! Better late than never ;-)


Last week I had the JOY of taking a week off from my crazy job and actually got to plan some things that I WANTED to do instead of HAVE to do. It was nice. And time flew. But before it was over I got to spend a whole day cooking! I was in heaven! I haven't planned a day of freezer cooking since the beginning of last year and I desperately needed to due to being tired when getting home from work most nights. And nothing better than finding and trying recipes that have so far turned out to be awesome and also the ones that I chose were great to cook in the same day due to ingredients, which made the day flow very well.

Here are the links to the recipes that I made and the number of meals that each turned out for my family of 2:

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2010/05/turkey-burgers-with-zucchini.html (2 dinners with dh eating 2 burgers each night, and me having 1- well I ate one the first night and took my other one for lunch the next day. Recipe says it makes ~5 burgers and I got 6. Yay!)
http://www.skinnytaste.com/2010/02/spinach-lasagna-rolls.html (1 dinner for 4 adults, plus 2 extra since I got 10 out of the recipe. Would have been 2 dinners + a lunch if it was just us.)
http://www.amandathevirtuouswife.com/2012/02/orange-chicken-freezer-meal.html (I had a big thing of chicken so I doubled the recipe equaling 2 full dinners and 2 extra packets of just sauce.)
http://www.amandathevirtuouswife.com/2012/05/cajun-red-beans-and-rice-tutorial.html (~3+ dinners w/leftovers.)
http://www.amandathevirtuouswife.com/2012/02/stuffed-bell-peppers-freezer-meal.html (2 dinners, 2 lunches...Also, I subsituted turkey burger - bought large container of burger and used other half for turkey patties above.)
http://www.amandathevirtuouswife.com/2012/10/chicken-quesadillas-tutorial-freezer.html (1 dinner w/dh having 4, me 2, and then 1 for a couple of lunches....Also, I subsituted shredded pork which was still awesome.)

And I was going to make up "Beef Roast Packets" (put a roast with cut up veggies so all I have to do is put the "packet" in the crock-pot and turn it on!), but I ran out of time.

So I ended up getting over 12 dinners and several lunches.

Here is what I did, from the best of my memory:

1. Night before, soaked beans for the Cajun Red Beans crock-pot meal so I could get it on first thing in the morning. After I poured everything in the pot and cut up the sausage. Done! That was our dinner at the end of my day of cooking :-)

2. Get noodles for Spinach Lasagna Rolls boiling. (When done boiling I laid them out on paper towels to dry.)

3. Get pork for the quesadillas in the oven right after step 2.

4. Get red onion diced up for recipes. (I used red onion wherever onion was called for and just guessed on amounts since I cut up a very large one.) And to save time with mincing garlic, I just used jarred garlic from the store!

5. Assemble Spinach Lasagna Rolls, wrap and freeze. Done!

6. Get sauce made up for the Orange Chicken. (One can of orange concentrate makes 4 packets of sauce.)

7. Shred pork and make up mixture for quesadillas, put in fridge until later.

8. Finish up Orange Chicken by cutting chicken into pieces with scissors, assemble bags. Done!

9. Assemble and put quesadillas in oven. Get peppers prepared so I could cook meat and mixture for stuffed peppers (used same pan as quesadilla mixture).

10. Quesadillas were done and cooling while I cooked, assembled, and wrapped the Stuffed Bell Peppers. Done!

11. Wrapped quesadillas. Done!

12. I ended up making the Turkey Burgers w/Zucchini the next morning and finished cleaning up the kitchen. It wasn't too messy though because I was able to reuse pans and cookie sheets.

 

Let me know if you have any freezer cooking recipes and/or tips! Or questions!

Food, Faith & (in)Fertility....and Friday!!!

{food}

This week I made a ginormous pot of soup with an extremely large zucchini that a co-worker gave me (using a lot more than the recipe calls for). And I made 4 loaves of zucchini bread (again using more than called for)...and still have a huge chunk of zucchini left over!!

Here is the soup recipe. I am not sure what cookbook my MIL got it out of. I tweak it to my own liking a little (ex: I didn't have enough beef broth on hand, so I added water instead - lots of it due to adding extra veggies; I also used refrigerated tortellini so I don't simmer nearly as long; 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes instead of cut up tomatoes and tomato paste.)

{faith}

Love this article by Deidra at Jumping Tandem :   Rebranded

{(in)Fertility}

The past couple weeks there have been a barrage of pregnancy announcements. In the moments of questioning yet again, "Why can't we have just one?" "Why does it have to be this way?" "Why does everything have to be so difficult?", I received this devotion from Joni Eareckson Tada:

Living Under the Curse

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:5 It is true that disease flows from the curse God pronounced on us after Adam's rebellion. It is also true that Jesus came to reverse this curse. But does this mean Christians shouldn't have to put up with cancer, Down syndrome, Lyme disease or Alzheimer's? We'd like to think that since Jesus came to take up our diseases, there should be healing for everything from migraines to menopausal sweats. But that's akin to saying: "There's an oak in every acorn - so take this acorn and start sawing planks for picnic tables." Or it's like saying, "Congress just passed a Clean Water Act, so tomorrow morning Manhattan residents can start drinking from the East River." Forty years will pass before that oak is ready for lumbering. Purging industrial ooze out of a river will take decades. And so it is with Jesus' reversal of sin's curse (and the suffering that goes with it). What Jesus began doing to sin and its results won't be complete until the Second Coming. The purchase of salvation was complete and the outcome was settled with certainty. But the application of salvation to God's people was anything but finished. God "has saved" us, yet we are still "being saved" (I Corinthians 1:18). We are still on earth... this means we're still going to feel the influence of that old curse. At least until heaven! First Corinthians 15:45 calls Jesus "the last Adam" who came to undo the curse triggered in the Garden of Eden - but this summer you'll still be wrestling with weeds in your backyard, as well as a backache from all that hoeing. Only in Paradise will it be said, "No longer will there be any curse." (Revelation 22:3). Jesus, thank you that you saved me... and that I am still being saved. I look to that day in heaven when there will be no more sorrow, sickness, disease or death!   Taken from Pearls of Great Price. Copyright © 2006 by Joni Eareckson Tada. Used by permission. Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530        I hope everyone has a great weekend! Happy Friday!!

Ice cream

Kind of a random post, but I am an ice cream fanatic and love trying new flavors :) This summer there have been so many new ones to try! Below are my 2 favorite new ones as of now (which also happen to be very close to a couple of DQ Blizzards I love, but at a much lower cost considering you get more than one sitting out of a carton). And although it would be nice, I am not receiving an advertising fee for this post. These are just some simple joys I have found this season:

source
(Bryer's Cookies & Cream Mint)


source

(Stroh's Blueberry Cream Pie)

Food, Faith & (in)Fertility....and Friday!!

{food}

I haven't made any new recipes this week, but when I was looking through some pictures this evening, I remembered that I forgot to post about the Girl's Lunch I recently was a part of :) Grandma treated us to lunch a few Saturday's back, at an Italian restaurant she loves and we had a great time laughing and eating good food:

Mom and Me

 Grandma and My Sister

 My awesome Chicken Penne Gorgonzola Pasta and Smoked Turkey & Bacon Panini (turkey, applewood smoked bacon, gorgonzola, mozzarella and roma tomatoes)!

Baked Potato Soup

Hungary anyone??? :-)-

{faith}

An awesome article I read this week about the "caves" of our lives and how they prepare us to fulfill God's purposes for our lives....click to read "Caves".

{(in)Fertility}

I am very excited to read this book this summer. I will post a review of it when I finish the current book that I am reading for a book review program I'm in. This book is motivation for finishing my current one.

But in just skimming through this book, I am very much looking forward to it.

"Falling for Eli: How I Lost Heart, Then Gained Hope Through the Love of a Singular Horse"

A true story (categorized as "memoir/pets") written by Nancy Shulins about her healing journey that began with a special horse named Eli.

 

Happy Friday!!! Have a blessed weekend!

Food, Faith & (in)Fertility.....and Friday!

{food}

Thanks to my sister (who does this on the grill though), dh and I are now in love with Spinach, Basil, & Mozzarella Pizza...mmmmm! And it is super fast!

All you need per pizza is:

Olive Oil

One can of refrigerated pizza dough

Mozzarella (she used fresh, I used shredded)

1/2 bag(?) of spinach, chopped

Small bunch of basil, chopped

A sprinkling of Sea Salt

A sprinkling of Garlic Powder

(she used Garlic Salt in place of this and the Sea Salt)

Just roll the dough out slightly then get some olive oil on both sides. I stretched mine out and worked with it a bit then folded it over and stretched it a little more. I got it to not quite fill up a cookie sheet. Then spread some sauce and the cheese and the rest of the ingredients. Popped it in the oven at 375 degrees F for I think around 9 or 10 minutes(?). It was wonderful!

I would love to cook it again soon but with the sweltering heat, a non-working outdoor grill, and no air conditioning, it's going to be a little while.


{faith} &/or {(in)Fertility}

I absolutely loved this blog post that I read on the 4th. And how "ironic" that I had just looked out the window at some fireflies flickering with fireworks in the distance:

You Light Up This World




source

Happy Friday! I hope everyone has a relaxing (and cool!) weekend :-)

Food, Faith & (in)Fertility....and Friday!

Soooo happy it's Friday! And in just a few short hours I get to see a special young girl I haven't seen in 5 years. My niece who is 11 and lives out of state is here visiting for a couple weeks :) So I have my bag packed with board games that have been sitting on the shelf not getting played because dh and I haven't gotten our "Who's Smarter Than a Fifth Grader" (Jeff Foxworthy) on in a while ;-)


{food}

 photo from kraftfoods.com

Anyways, for food, that's going to be easy since I just got done making it (yes, I'm going out on a limb with chosing it, but you can't go wrong with Strawberrys incorporated onto a moist white cake with a litely sweet frosting!):    Strawberry Yogurt Cake




{faith}

I sat through a sermon last Sunday that really blessed me. It was based on 1 Kings 17:4-9. It was a good reminder that just because things look impossible to us, God is the God of impossible! On the IF front, not that I think God is going to bless us with a child, in our hearts we just don't feel that it is going to happen, but He could. Just because A+B doesn't = C in our book with anything in life, it doesn't mean God can't make it happen! His resources are UNLIMITED!

Even if things get hard, doesn't mean we misheard God. It means we probably heard Him just fine and He wants us to lean on Him to supply all our needs (Philippians 4:19).



{(in)Fertility}

For those of us who struggle with not having received "the reward":

for when a negative pregnancy test feels like a negative God’s favor test

(I just want to throw in as a reminder for those going through IF-or not going through it but still reading this blog- that the blog author is an individual who is dealing with this journey in her own way. Although we all may have many similarities on this road, again we are individuals and may not embrace the same things or embrace them in the same ways as others all the time. Neither is bad. Just different. And that's ok.)     




Happy Friday!!!!!

Food, Faith & (in)Fertility......and Friday!

It's been a busy week with lots going on, but I did come across some things for this weeks installment ;-)

{food}


 photo from kraftfoods.com

I have been making this pie for a long time now and took it to our family BBQ at my parent's house Sunday:

Key Lime Margarita Pie (for the crust....up the pretzels to 1 3/4 cup, only add 1T of sugar, up butter/marg. to 8T). You will want to cut small slices of both this and also the following pie.

And....


I also made this recipe into a "Peanut Butter Cup Pie" by just tweaking it slightly:

Ingredients:
(2) 3.4 oz. packages of Vanilla Pudding & Pie Filling Mix
2 1/2 C Milk (I used 2%)
1/2 C Lite Whipped Topping
~1 C Natural Peanut Butter- Smooth (Natural is also better for this because it isn't very sweet.)
1 Pre-made Chocolate Cookie (or Graham) Crust
12 mini-Reece's Peanut Butter Cups

Directions:
1. Mix together both boxes of Vanilla Pudding Mix and Milk with an electric mixer on low, then med. speed. It will turn pretty thick. At this point you can stop mixing.
2. Add Peanut Butter and mix until smooth.
3. Add Whipped Topping and mix for approximately 1-2 minutes.
4. Gently stir in 9 of the PB cups (after you cut them in 4).
5. Pour filling into the crust.
6. Cover with lid and place pie in the freezer for a few hours. (It probably wouldn't even need to be in there an hour.) You could also set it the fridge if you didn't want it to be as hard. When it is time to serve, let it sit out for 10 minutes before cutting.



{faith}

I am so thankful for this verse this week:

"Do not gloat over me, my enemies! For though I fall, I will rise again.

Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light."

Micah 7:8

{(in)fertility}

This is a short and sweet post, from a great blog. A list of things that we need from others, as well as need to be for others, during the tough times of life:

What We Need to Help Us Through Trials (click on title for article)


Happy Friday!

Food, Faith & (in)Fertility....and Friday

TGIF! I am back to working full-time again after being part-time with some full-time weeks mixed in over the past few years. I am working for a "temp" agency or "employment" agency, and still under contract at the same place I've been for almost a year! I guess they keep people for years under contract before hiring them permanently. But I feel like I've started a new job because I am learning a ton more stuff, getting a little overwhelmed, and definitely tired out. So, definitely thankful for the weekend!

As for this weeks installment of my new Friday series:

{food}

I made this for a church potluck on Sunday and really liked it. Also super easy:
Beef and Black Bean Taco Bake (I used 8-Whole Wheat Tortillas, 16 oz. jar of reg. Medium Salsa, & added approx. 3/4 c. of reduced fat Sour Cream because it needed more "liquid"). Super yummy and easy!

Made for Girl's Nite:
Homemade Guacamole
(no link since it was a recipe I got a looong time ago from someone)

3-4 ripe avocados chopped (ripe avocados give a little when you press against them).
2-3 small diced fresh tomatoes
3 cloves minced garlic
1 small diced red onion
1 handful of freshly chopped cilantro
2-3 diced jalapenos (depending on how spicy you like it)
2 T Sour cream (optional, it makes it more creamy)...I just did this for the 1st time and loved it.1 lime (squeezed for juice)...I used lime juice in a bottle and just add and taste until it's good :)1 T Salt...I don't add this much.
Mix together (you can "smash" it or just gently mix- whatever your preference). Refrigerate. If making ahead, put plastic wrap over the guacamole (press it down until it touches the guac.), if not it will turn brown.

{faith}

I have had this desktop wallpaper on my computer at work this week. It is one of my favorite verses and very fitting for Mother's Day weekend:

You can click on the picture to go to the source and choose what size fits your screen.

{(in)Fertility}

I read this post this week, and wow. I have been following this blog for some time, and really enjoy reading her posts and her perspective (as a fellow IF'er) on a variety of topics. This post is another one for both the Infertile and those who love us. I don't know if I have ever heard the feeling of what it's like to have an empty womb, and empty arms, put so perfectly.

The Parable of the Silver Locket {A Mother's Day Post}


Happy Friday :)

Girl's Nite

We try for one Saturday a month. The girls on my mom's side of the family (my aunts, cousins, and sister, sometimes grandma) meet at someones house and have fun eating good food, watching a movie, and laughing. A lot. I am so thankful for my aunt suggesting that we start this tradition a few years ago. With the busyness of life, it is nice to slow down and gather together around a table for a meal. And did I mention laughter?!

Here are a few pictures:

my homemade guacamole

 our dinner spread

 my sister's awesome cake balls

all of us girls :)  (me on the far right)

P.S. I have added more to my Joy Journal.

Food, Faith & (in)Fertility.....and Friday

photo courtesy of Chris Campbell

 

I am going to start a new series on Fridays (as best I can) to post some things I have found or learned throughout the week related to the title of my blog. I hope you like it.


{Food}

Even someone who likes to cook gets bored in the kitchen once in a while (at least I do!). So in an effort to start incorporating some of the meat in our freezer already with only having to buy a little extra, I dug around for some new recipes and new ways to cook things. So far we have tried a few of the things and they were really yummy (and easy, healthy, not too time consuming, and budget friendly!) with enough for leftovers:

Orange-Chicken Rice Bowl (added extra juice and dressing)
Spaghetti Pie
Asian Skillet Supper (I quadrupled it since it is a single serving recipe)

For the sweet tooth (and BBQ at work last week):

Chocolate Cookie Pudding (omitted the nuts and added some gummy worms to the top)

{Faith}

While at work today a thought popped into my head about waiting. It was the famous quote, "Good things come to those who wait." Immediately the thought got turned around and it was a light bulb moment: 
Good things come through the waiting.

Just wanted to share.


{(in)Fertility}

I read this piece, "The New 'It Girls'....Give it Up for Non-Moms," the other day and it was really worth the read. I could relate to so many things...Even if you are not Infertile, it will help you understand the feelings of one who is. It is an interview between the blog author and a woman who did a study on women living without children after Infertility and the recovery from this traumatic loss. There is a link in this article for a 200 page dissertation which I downloaded but have not read yet, but this article gives some very good insight.


Happy Friday :)

New Blog Pages Added!

I just wanted to point out that I have added a few new pages to my blog (you will see the tabs across the top, under the blog title):

• The "Story of Us" - a page to give those who read my blog a glimpse of who I am.
• Joy Journal - a new page that I will add pictures to periodically of things that bring me joy.
• Recipes - a new page where I will put the links to the recipes I post, which I plan to start doing more of again.

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

Freezer Food!

Yay for those nights I can count on going to the freezer and pulling out something that just needs microwaved or a very slight, slight, amount of prep work!!! It is such a stress relief, especially after a busy day, or when you are just plain tired!

I have done 2 rounds of cooking so far (I just realized I skipped February, but I did one before the craziness of the holidays and one last month) in order to stock our freezer with some of these meals and I have had a ton of fun with the process. Some dishes turned out better than others. Some take a little longer to make. It's a trial and error process. I have planned both of these "cooking days" on Saturdays when we have nothing else going on and I can just devote my time to getting these recipes made.

I recommend setting aside some time when you know you want to do one of these days and plan ahead. I have planned out 4 different things to make on these days (one of them being a meal that I will get going early enough so we can eat it for dinner that Saturday and Sunday). I gather my recipes and review to make sure I have everything (I also write out a summary of what I'm making and what meats need pulled out of the freezer) and then I can just start in the morning. Also make sure you have ample gallon and qt. size ziplocks and storage containers since you are storing in one meal quantities. Also wax paper or parchment paper for wrapping items, and in addition foil is helpful for wrapping the burritos a little extra. Freezer tape and a Sharpie for labeling and dating the containers. And, since you are cooking with lots of raw meat it is good to have a spray bottle with bleach water or Lysol wipes on hand for quick clean-up as you go!


So...my first adventure of this type of cooking consisted of the following:

1. Beef Burritos- (made 10, plus a little container of filling leftover) =(?) lunches or occasional dinner or snack
2. Venison Lasagna (w/Spinach & Ricotta/Cottage Cheese) =4 dinners-for 2 adults, could have done 5
3. Pot of Chicken Barley Soup =2 big containers, 1 smaller- sorry I don't know exact sizes off the top of my head- so we got 3 dinners?
4. Crockpot of Curry Chicken (legs/thighs) =2 dinners

Out of this first round we really liked everything except I would change a few minor things if making a couple of these dishes again. The main thing we noticed is that the Lasagna took on a very "Spinachy" taste, but if you added extra sauce and some more Parmesan Cheese, it covered it well. With the Curry Chicken, it became very tender in the crockpot and we had to pick out a lot of tiny bones from the legs/thighs. That could have been a quality of the chicken issue as well. It had awesome flavor and was very yummy served over Brown Rice. Definitely will try again, just maybe with chicken breasts next time.

The second adventure consisted of:

1. Repeat on the Beef Burritos
2. Mozzarella Meatballs =5 dinners worth
3. Crockpot of Easy Mushroom Chicken =2 dinners
4. Pot of Steak-Mushroom Soup =2 dinners(?)

As for this round, the Burritos were great again (although slightly tweaked with the type of salsa and beans I used in them). The Easy Mushroom Chicken I would change up if used again, we didn't care for it so much. And the Steak-Mushroom soup could was more of a stew. Good flavor, but should have been served over noodles or rice.

But we LOVE the Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs. I am definitely making them again. Super yummy! We are actually having the last of them tonight for dinner. I can't believe I had never made meatballs before this adventure. Super easy to mass produce. Just pop them in the oven and when they cool, into ziplocks and the freezer they go!

If anyone wants and of these recipes, I would be happy to post them! Just leave a comment if anything perks your interest. Also, please share if you do freezer cooking yourself. I would love to hear about it and get some more ideas!

2012

Every year around the end of one calendar and the beginning of another, I try so hard not to get caught up in the looking back at what I didn't accomplish or still don't have and try to look forward with a sense of "it's just another year, we are just flipping the calendar" feeling. It's too easy to get caught up in the mentality of setting unrealistic goals or resolutions, or even setting them for that matter. But I do think goals are important.

I was just telling dh yesterday that while I've never been big on resolutions, I do think long term goals are important. Goals that you can reach in small, realistic steps. Goals that aren't measured in calendar years. Each day is a new day. A chance to strive again towards that end goal.

So I do think with the putting up of a new calendar, it's good to reevaluate what I want to be striving for and the things I already am, how that is going.

So, some things I have been and will continue striving for:

1. To lose 20 lbs. by my 30th birthday which is this year I can now say. Yikes! I am half way there, but failing miserably with food choices this past weekend. But I keep striving for my goal. This includes making a conscious effort to incorporate exercise into my weekly schedule.

2. To get our home office clutter free! I have made HUGE progress this past weekend which is such a wonderful feeling!!! I have bags of trash and shredded paper waiting to be put out to the curb (sorry, we have to pay $90/year to have curbside recycling...we reuse and conserve as much as possible though).

3. To finish our bedroom re-do. Painting is done. Headboard should be finished up by Spring. The hunt is on for a comforter set (but I think I found a "vintage" quilt that would work.

4. To do a freezer cooking day, once month! We have been enjoying so much reaping the benefits of my efforts a couple weeks ago. My goal is to do another one this weekend, so I'll be planning my recipes this week. Any suggestions are appreciated! I did Spinach/Ricotta Lasagna, Chicken Barley Soup, & Burritos last time while I had Curry Chicken simmering away in the crock-pot all day. Yum!

5. Spiritually, to be turning my will over to the Lord on a constant basis. Allowing Him to use me how He sees fit. To trust Him with my life and entrust Him with the lives of those I love. To be of service for Him.

6. To continue striving for growth and healing with our Infertility/Childless Status (as referenced before there never is complete healing with IF unfortunately). And continue seeking the Lord's will for us in this area.

7. I would like to start attempting, again, to read the bible in a year. We received a couple of new bibles for Christmas and one is set up in 365 daily readings to help with this. It doesn't get much easier!

8. On the hobby front, I want to start learning more of the hundreds of features on my camera I've had for 2 years now! And maybe, just maybe, revive my 365 blog, but maybe make it more of a 52 (weeks) blog :-/ And get all my 100's of pictures organized better. Maybe even delete a few. Do I really need to save every photo I take? Probably not.

9. Have more personable, meaningful contact with those in my life. I mentioned a couple posts ago that I am not doing Facebook right now and quite possibly never will again. I don't know. Looking back at all the time spent on it when I could have been more involved in real life with those I care about, seems a better way for me to spend my time. To concentrate my efforts on others and not "liking" posts or worrying about who is "liking" what I update with. But looking for ways I can serve others.

10. To continue striving to step out of my comfort zone more. Related to #6.

Anyways, this list will be evolving in the coming days but these are the things that come to mind first.


Photo courtesy of: smallroots

Pumpkin Pie Snickerdoodle Bars!

They were almost gone when I remembered to take a picture...

I found the recipe here while doing a search, but it's out there in varying forms, in many places. As a lover of both Snickerdoodles and all things pumpkin, especially Pumpkin Pie, these seemed like the perfect pairing for a sweet treat this time of year! So I decided to be brave and give these a try since I was making them for dh to take to a work party where my Snickerdoodles are always requested at potlucks!

I'll just give you my version here since I made a bunch of changes...I did try to "healthify" it a little :-)- Oh, so yummy! And they can be eaten as part of a nutritious meal. I had days of eating these when the scale still went down :-)

Pumpkin Pie Snickerdoodle Bars

Snickerdoodle Layer
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 t baking powder
1 1/2 t cream of tarter (mine is a little old, so not sure if that means it was stronger or weaker?)
1/2 t sea salt
2 cups brown sugar (un-packed)
1 cup butter, at room temperature (I used Imperial Vegetable Spread Sticks-1/3 less fat)
2 eggs, at room temp.
1 T vanilla extract

Pumpkin Pie Layer
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 stick butter, at room temp. (I used the Imperial again here; the first time I made these I used 1/2 cup Best Life Buttery Spread because I was out of the other, and they were totally fine!)
1 t baking powder
1/2 t sea salt
1 1/2 t Pumpkin Pie Spice
2 eggs, at room temp.
15 oz. can of pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling!)
~3 t white sugar
~3 t cinnamon

(I did not make the white chocolate drizzle as the original recipe suggests.)

Directions (with some editing)
Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch pan.

To make Snickerdoodle layer:
Sift together flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. In large bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth.

Stir in the flour mixture until well blended. Spread evenly in prepared pan (mixture will be thick and cookiebatter-ish.)

To make Pumpkin Pie layer:
In a mixer bowl (you can use the same one you used to make the Snickerdoodle batter) with a paddle attachment (or as I used just a hand mixer the first time and stirred by hand the second time), mix together all ingredients until well combined. This layer will be less thick and more pourable. Pour over the Snickerdoodle layer, smoothing out the top.

Combine white sugar and cinnamon in a little bowl. Evenly sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture over the top of the batter.

Bake for 35 minutes (be careful as oven temps vary!) or until a toothpick inserted into the *center* of the pan comes out clean. Let the bars cool completely (about an hour). They will deflate a bit and remain a bit pie-like on the top layer. I find that these are yummy when still warm but the layers (esp. this second time separated until they had been in the fridge overnight).

Store covered in the fridge once cooled.

*I am still perfecting these as I would like to experiment with the Snickerdoodle part a little more, maybe make without the brown sugar as my Snickerdoodle recipe doesn't call for it and I think it does change the taste a little. But they are still really good!

It's Soup Weather Again~ Lower Carb Baked Potato

In an effort to try "healthified" versions of our favorites since we've started making a conscious effort to eat better, I found this recipe here (picture of soup with recipe) and modified it just a little.

Here are my ingredient modifications:

5 russet potatoes (instead of 2)
2 cups of fat free chicken broth (instead of 1 1/2 cups)
2 cups of 1% reduced-fat milk (instead of 1 1/2 cups)
1 cup of light sour cream (instead of 1/2 cup)
~12 T of reduced-fat shredded sharp cheddar cheese (instead of 10 T)
6 slices of pork bacon for 1 slice/bowl (instead of only 3 slices)

My cooking modifications:

I don't have a steamer so I boiled the cauliflower for maybe 6 minutes? Then drained and divided in 3 batches for pureeing in my blender with ~1 T of milk each time. Then I added back to the pan with the potatoes chunked, and continued with the directions given (since I don't have an immersion blender). In the future I will add some minced garlic to the cauliflower when I blend it I think. My full-carb BP soup recipe calls for garlic and I definitely think it adds a nice touch.

We got about 6 bowls (more than 1 c. servings each). I topped mine with just one slice of bacon, a dash of garlic powder, and some more chives. This was very, very, yummy! I am definitely making it again! I was so happy to find this version as BP soup is one of our cold weather staples :-)

I served it with multi-grain bread.

Peanut Butter Icebox Pie (2 ways)

So with our new healthy eating goals and dh's birthday this week, I didn't want him to get jipped out of a yummy birthday treat...and of course I love my sweets :-)- So when he requested Peanut Butter Pie I did some hunting online for a healthier version than the one I have made for probably 5 out of 8 of his birthdays we have celebrated since we got married. So I found a diabetic version that sounded like it would work and I tweaked it slightly.

This is what I came up with and we (and everyone we passed out the leftovers to) liked!

Ingredients:

Crust

(1) 9 oz. package of Chocolate Graham Animal Crackers (I bought the store brand)
1/4 C of Best Life Buttery Spread (or other healthy butter/margarine)

"Pie"

(2) 1 oz. packages of Sugar-Free Vanilla Pudding & Pie Filling Mix
2 1/2 C Milk (I used 2%)
1/2 C Lite Whipped Topping
~1 C Natural Peanut Butter- Smooth (I started with 1/2 cup and thought it needed more. I probably added at least 1/2 cup more.)

Also, 16 Cupcake Paper Liners

Directions:

For crumb crust:
1. Crush about 3/4 of the box of Animal Crackers. (When I make it again I will measure exactly how much, but I was in a bit of a hurry.)
2. Melt butter in a covered bowl in microwave.
3. Place crumbs in bowl and mix with spoon. It will be a "dry" mix.
4. In cupcake pans, place 16 of the paper liners.
5. Spoon about 1 T of the crumb mixture (reserving about 1/2 c.) into each liner and press down, packing it together. I used a measuring cup that fit perfectly. You could also use the bottom of a drinking glass.



For "Pie":
1. Mix together both boxes of Vanilla Pudding Mix and Milk with an electric mixer on low, then med. speed. It will turn pretty thick. At this point you can stop mixing.
2. Add Peanut Butter and mix until smooth.
3. Add Whipped Topping and mix for approximately 1-2 minutes.
4. Spoon even amount into each of the cups.
5. Use the remaining crumb crust to sprinkle on top of each dessert.
6. Place pan in the freezer. I left them in for several hours until we ate them frozen. But they probably wouldn't even need to be in there an hour. They are like a yummy ice cream bar :-)- You can also set them in the fridge if you don't want them to be as hard.



Version #2 of Peanut Butter Pie (from this book- omitting directions/ingredients for the chocolate sauce as is in book)

Ingredients:
2 C Heavy Cream
3/4 C plus 2 T Confectioners Sugar
2 t Pure Vanilla (I use Imitation Vanilla Extract)
1 C Smooth Peanut Butter
1 Prepared Crumb Crust (I have always used a pre-made chocolate cookie crust, but you could also make your own the same way I did above)


Directions:
1. Combine cream, the sugar, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl and using an electric mixer, beat until stiff peaks form (I always found it to be about 10 minutes, just to give a heads up!)
2. Place the PB in a med. size mixing bowl and stir in 1/4 of the whipped cream (that you made in step 1). Gently fold the lightened PB mixture back into remaining whipped cream. Scrape the filling into prepared pie shell, smooth top w/rubber spatula, and refrigerate the pie until the filling is firm, about 3 hours.

(Ideas for serving: top with store bought chocolate syrup and crushed peanuts.)

20x30 Update

It's been a busy few weeks of cooking up new things (and old), changing our eating habits, celebrating birthdays, starting/planning projects, and the list goes on...

~As far as my 20x30 goes, I'm a quarter of the way there! I put a tracker in the side-bar of my blog. It helps so much that hubby is doing this with me! For now we are eating as low-carb as possible/some good carbs (brown rice, oatmeal, granola). Mainly it means: no crackers, Cheez-Its, icecream, sweets (only a tiny amount on special occasions), bread (again, I have only had bread products a few select times), pasta... We are eating a TON of veggies and fruit. Lean protein. Low or No-Fat. Healthy fats. Low-sodium. Diet pop or other beverages only. More water.

We were on a plan that was too strict at the beginning and we were very low on energy and getting headaches. So we have lightened up a bit, and have allowed some exceptions. Overall, I want to get to 1/2 my WL (weight loss) goal before I begin adding more carbs in. I am a recovering carb-addict so I feel like I need to put a safe distance between myself and as many carbs as possible right now in order to get these extra pounds off.

~As far as my time in the kitchen goes, I have been trying some new things and having fun experimenting. I have had some flops lately though...
My first try at Cauliflower "Mashed Potatoes" was so bad we had to throw it all out :( Definitely not trying the recipe I used again. In fact, the lesson I have learned with both this dish and the freezer pickles I tried making last week, is go with your gut instinct! Does it seem like too much garlic? It probably is. Too much salt? It probably is (besides getting distracted and forgetting a step!). And I HATE wasting food! But I tried to save the pickles and ended up freezing them anyways. I will probably use them chopped up as part of tuna salad or something similar. Take #2 on the pickle making will take place shortly as my big cukes have decided they are going to start producing like crazy!



So...I plan to post some more recipes in the coming days as I have gotten a few requests and I also want to remember the good things I concocted, not just the bad :)

On a food post roll...Carrot Muffins

As I've mentioned before, spending time in the kitchen is a form of therapy for me, which I am feeling in need of at the moment due to the emotions that go along with dealing with IF some days, weeks... But since I don't have the energy (or the house with A/C on these sweltering summer days to want to turn the oven on much) I am going to talk about some things I made before the heat-wave that I hope you will enjoy as much as I did making them.

Dh and I LOVE Carrot Cake! And I have been experimenting with making cake and bread recipes that we like, into muffins. Muffins I find are nice for portion control and are easy to grab for a snack or for breakfast on the way out the door or enjoy with a cup of coffee (my favorite!).

The recipe I used was in my Betty Crocker Cookbook. The recipe can be found here (I didn't make the cream cheese frosting, however it sounds super yummy). With baking I have learned there are not too many (if any) things you can really change with a recipe or it won't turn out, unlike with cooking you have more room to play. Baking is more of a science. So the only things I have to add is that for muffins this recipe yeilds about 21 muffins. I use liners in my cupcake pans. Bake at 350 degrees F, for about 15-16 minutes, and then you will have yourself one tasty batch of muffins when they come out of the oven :)

Few additional notes on yesterday's Zucchini "Pasta" recipe....

As I was in bed last night, I remembered that I forgot (haha!), to add that I used diced tomatoes in place of peeled plum tomatoes which I usually do in recipes that call for whole because they want you to mash them up most of the time anyways. And I believe I used Italian bread crumbs, no fresh basil (only dried on hand), and I didn't drizzle each plate with the olive oil either (as I'm looking now again at the recipe).

I don't think my changes were critical to the overall taste. You may find there are a few things you want to substitute, add, or even delete (as one reader said yesterday that she has doubled Parmesan before in making Chicken Parmesan due to a gluten-free family member's diet) and that is the beauty of being in YOUR kitchen :P

Cheezy Chicken Parmesan w/Zucchini "Pasta"

Well my garden hasn't been churning out as many zukes as I would like (I have a few theories but the garden will be another post), but I have gotten a few from it which was exciting and a few from both our parent's gardens, which is nice to know we have a back-up plan if my plants bite the dust...But anyways, not too long ago I made this recipe and if your garden (or someone you know's garden) is doing abundantly in the zucchini department, this is a recipe you will definitely want to try. I found it in the cookbook, "Cook Yourself Thin" (page 155) or if you want to print it off here.

It was super yummy and healthy! I will definitely be making this again soon...Here are a few photos and the Reader's Digest version of the recipe:

The "pasta" created using the side of my grater that has the big slots :) I saved the middle of the zukes and ate them in my lunch the next day instead of throwing them out like the recipe says.

The chicken ready to be cooked. I actually put it in the oven instead of cooking it on the stove top to save myself a step and finish prepping my sauce and "pasta".

The sauce, pre-adding the "pasta". You remove this from the pan and put it in a bowl to re-heat later with the cooked zucchini "pasta". Be very careful not to overcook the zucchini like I did. It really should be removed when it is wilted. After it is cooked you return it to the pan with the sauce and some spices and reheat everything together so if you cook it too long in the previous step you will end up with "mushy" zucchini "pasta".

After the sauce is heated and the chicken is done in the oven this is my creation:



Thumbs up from my man :D