Food

November 18, 2013

Better For You Stuffed Peppers

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Ingredients

  • 4 Bell Peppers
  • 1 lb. 93% Lean Hamburger
  • Button Mushrooms
  • 1/2 red onion
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 can Black Beans
  • 1 can corn
  • Reduced Fat Sun-dried Tomato Feta Crumbles
  • 24 oz. Roasted Garlic and Herb Spaghetti Sauce
  • Reduced Fat Provolone Slices

Slice peppers in half, clean out seeds and boil until peppers have softened.

 

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Meanwhile, saute onions and garlic for a few minutes, add hamburger and cook until nearly browned.  Add mushrooms and continue cooking until hamburger is no longer pink and mushrooms have softened.

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In a large pot combine black beans, corn and spaghetti sauce.  Place pot over medium-low heat.

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Combine hamburger mixture and feta cheese into bean, corn and red sauce.

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Fill each pepper (heartily) and finish by adding a provolone slice on top of each pepper.  Place in 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until mixture is bubbly and cheese is golden.

Let sit for a few minutes, and then dig in!

 

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Sometimes I add in cooked quinoa or rice into the mixture to add another layer of texture. 

 

Stuffed Peppers are versatile.  You can add in so many different ingredients to make it your own.

 

Do you have a favorite way to make stuffed peppers?

 

November 17, 2013

Healthy Apple Crisp

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Don’t mind the awful color to the pictures.  I am signed up for a Photoshop class this coming Saturday.  Also on the list is a ‘Sony DSLR for Dummies’ Class in the very near future.  I wonder where I can find one of those….

Better For You Apple Crisp

Ingredients

  • 4 Apples- sliced
  • 1/2 Cup Orange Juice
  • 4 Tbsp. Maple Syrup
  • 1/2 tsp. Nutmeg
  • 2 tsp. Cinnamon
  • 3 packets Stevia

Cut apples to bite size pieces.

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Mix all ingredients (minus apples) into a gallon size zip-lock bag.  Once liquids, sugar and spices are all mixed together, add apples and massage until fully coated.  Pour ingredients into a square baking dish, sprayed with a light coating of oil.

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Now for the crumbly topping.

Oatmeal Topping Ingredients

  • 1/2 Cup Oatmeal
  • 1/2 Cup Oatmeal for food processor
  • 1/4 cup melted butter
  • 1/4 cup Brown Sugar Stevia (or 1/2 cup light brown sugar)
  • 1 tsp Cinnamon

In a glass measuring cup, melt butter, set aside.  In a food processor, grind 1/2 cup oatmeal to consistency of flour.

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Mix ground oatmeal, 1/2 cup whole oatmeal, cinnamon and brown sugar into butter.  Drop by tablespoons on top of apple mixture.

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Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.  Enjoy!!

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November 10, 2013

Chicken Noodle Soup and Homemade Biscuits: Soup Sunday Recipe

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Soup Sunday: Homemade Chicken and Noodles and Biscuits.  Today marks my first time EVER making biscuits from scratch and I have to admit, I was a little leery, but they turned out great!

Recipes Below.  Enjoy!

Chicken Noodle Soup

  • 8 cups chicken stock
  • 1 medium onion
  • 2 tsp. minced garlic
  • 1 Bag Baby Carrots (cut to preferred size or leave whole)
  • 4 ribs celery (cut to preferred size)
  • 2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 tsp. Dried Parsley
  • 1/2 tsp. Dried Basil
  • 1Tbsp. Butter
  • Rotisserie Chicken (quick method) or 3 chicken breasts (extended method)
  • 16 oz. Frozen Egg Noodles
  • Sea salt and ground black pepper to taste

Quick Method Prep:

Cut carrots, celery and onions to desired size.

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Sunglasses.  Saving eyes from deadly onion vapors since 2013.

In a large pot over medium heat add olive oil, chopped onion, garlic, carrots, celery, basil and parsley and cook till the veggies soften.  Roughly 10 minutes.

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While veggies are cooking, shred rotisserie chicken.  Discard any skin and fat.

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Once the veggies are softened add the chicken stock, bring to a boil and add chicken and frozen noodles.

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Allow to cook over medium-low heat for 30 minutes to allow flavors to meld.  Season with salt and pepper according to taste.

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** For the extended method, throw everything into a pot (except noodles) to cook on medium-high for several hours.  Shred chicken after cooked through, add back to pot, add noodles and cook for an additional 30 minutes to allow noodles to soften and soak up the multiple flavors.

Homemade Biscuits
 Ingredients
  • 2 Cups Flour
  • 4 tsp Baking Powder
  • 2 1/2 Tbsp. Sugar
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 1/4 tsp Garlic Salt
  • 1/3 Cup Salted Butter
  • 3/4 Cup Milk
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425°.
Mix the first 5 ingredients in a bowl. Cut in the butter and mix with a fork. Add milk and stir to form dough into a soft ball. If too dry add extra milk 1 Tbsp. at a time if needed
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Press dough out onto floured surface.  Use a circle cookie cutter or a small cup to cut biscuits.  I used a coffee mug.
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Bake on greased cookie sheet for 10-12 minutes. Brush melted butter on top of biscuits immediately after removing from oven.
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Serve with Chicken Noodle Soup for a perfect home cooked comfort meal.
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Other then making soup and biscuits, our Sunday has been pretty lazy.    Our security team spent a little time scanning the neighborhood.
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but quickly succumbed to nap time…
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November 3, 2013

Weekend Happiness and Facebook PDA?!

Happy Sunday, all. I hope everyone is enjoying the ‘extra’ hour today.

The hubby and I were up at 5:45AM.  Seriously….. What the heck?  It is not uncommon for me to be up and going so early, but Clint can sleep FOREVER on the weekends.  Couldn’t believe it when I heard him shuffling down the hallway a little after 6am.   We took advantage of the early hour and went out for breakfast to Jimmy’s Egg.  Um, we may or may not have been the youngest couple at breakfast.

I had the “Almost Healthy Scramble” of egg whites, mushrooms, spinach, turkey sausage over home fries and melted mozzarella cheese on top.  I ate every last bit of it!

jimmy egg

I checked us in on FB with a stupid comment about needing lessons on how to sleep in and of course my hubby and friends had to chime in with their witty comments.

Example 1: “Later we’re going to the mall to walk laps”  ~ Clint.

Sorry folks…..Not. Happening.

#iamnotthatold #norwillieverdothat #ever

The rest of the day has been completely unadventurous.  I almost have all my clothes put away from last weekends laundry day.  Almost.  I have two new loads going now and most of those clothes will stay in the hampers for the rest of the week as well.

Not ashamed to admit that one little bit.

clothes

I put a few items on eBay.  Seriously, love that site.  I have had the greatest luck re-selling my Harley clothes when I am finished with them.   Harley-Davidson has upped their fashion sense in the women’s department over the years, which is good and bad. Good for my closet selection, bad for my bank account.  However, re-selling HD items on eBay has proved successful!  Of course, I don’t get near what I paid for them, but I normally get a reasonable price, and someone else is getting a new-to-them Harley shirt.  Win-Win!

 

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Now I am all about some TV watching and Pinteresting Dinner ideas.

Before I go, I will tell you something cute my hubby did today.  Now, as a disclaimer, my husband and I are neither one for a lot of PDA in regards to Facebook.   Normally it drives us both nuts when people are all lovey dovey on FB writing gushy stuff back and forth to their spouse or Significant other.   (I mean, seriously, ya’ll are probably sitting next to each other on the couch, just lean over and tell him/her)

With that said, he came out of left field and put this cute little note on FB today:

 

For those that wondered how a dumb old tree trimmer like myself scored an awesome girl like Jordy, now you know.

appletree

 

 

Have a great evening everyone.