Mushroom Sauce

Inspiration for this recipe came from a book called, "The Mormon Ward Cookbook."  Their version is much better, but its also full of fat and high in calories.  A friend of mine made it, and it was very good, but...not very good for you.  I had leftover mushrooms to use up tonight, a little bit of broccoli and one piece of leftover pork.  After some consideration, I came up with a meal for the four of us, and might I say it was filling and delicious.

MUSHROOM SAUCE for 4

About 2 cups finely chopped mushrooms
One clove of garlic
----sautee these together with a little pam spray on medium.  Stir so as not to burn, as you don't have a lot of oil in the pan.  You can use oil of course, but this is a low calorie version.

Add 2 cups 1% warm milk that has 1 TBS. of cornstarch mixed in and 1 cup low-fat sour cream.  Stir until completely mixed and it thickens.  Salt and pepper to taste.

This can go on just about anything...noodles, beef, fish.  I put a cup of brown rice on a plate, topped it with steamed broccoli and a few pieces of the pork, and then poured on the mushroom sauce.  With little bits of mushroom and the chewy brown rice, it made a hit for dinner.  Enjoy!

Homemade Caramels

I love can eat an entire bag of caramels in one evening if left alone with a good movie and an electric blanket.  But, what if I want to make caramel apples or cover rice krispie treats?  I could buy a bag at $3 each and have enough to cover 5 apples, or I could take 30 min. and make my own.  Yes, 30 min, they are that easy.  The biggest thing they require is your attention.  Do not multi-task while making these!  You will have enough caramels for plenty of apples, and they are so good when cut into bite size pieces and shared.  They are easy to wrap individually in wax paper to giv  as gifts.  Today I was making dipped rice krispie treats for a party.  I dipped 15 3x2" rice krispie treats, 3 small apples, and had 15 bite size caramels.  I added up my cost for the caramel...$5.  Quite a good deal and you'll never buy bagged caramels again!  These are just as easy as unwrapping 50 caramels.  Get creative in how you use them and enjoy. :-)

Caramels

Before you start, get all your ingredients ready.  Also, fill a bowl with ice water.  You'll need it to test the caramel.  You can use a themometer if you'd like, but the times that I have used one they have not turned out.

Ingredients:

2 cubes butter cubed
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup kero syrup
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Take a seat and stir on Medium until it has a nice slow boil.  Keep stiring.  DO NOT STOP.  These will burn within moments if you quit.  When its a little thick, around 10 min, start checking every 2 min. Take a spoon and dip some out, dropping it into the ice water.  Dip your fingers in and pull it out.  If it holds its shape in a nice soft ball, they are done.  If you like your caramel a little harder, cook until it holds the shape and is more firm.  Its a little trial and error to see how you best like your caramels.  I always make them soft.  I like the texture and it is always chewy even when cold.

When done, remove from heat and stir in 2 tsp. Vanilla.  Stir and get ready to dip  You  have plenty of time to work with the caramel once removed from heat.  If you are just making them into bite size, go ahead and line a casserole pan with a cut to fit piece of parchment paper.  Spray well with oil.  Pour the mixture in and let cool.  I have poured 1/2 in a pan before, sprinkled chocolate chips on top, and covered with second 1/2 of caramel...they were so good!

For Caramel apples, dip and let cool on a sprayed piece of parchment paper.  For the rice krispies I put a sucker stick in each one.  I dipped them in caramel, drizzle with melted chocolate and sprinkle with chocolate chips.  After they set, you can wrap them up in celephane...they look so pretty to give as gifts.

Perfect Cresent Rolls

There is nothing as delicious as homemade bread.  If you've never had it, go make it now.  I"m not talking about the stuff from a grocery story bakery.  I don't know what they do back there, but I swear they can't get homemade bread right.  My mom made home made bread for as long as I can remember.  She made it completely from scratch, right down to grinding her own wheat.  It was so so good, warm and inviting.  Thank you mom for years of service in the bread department.

Make sure you are going to be home all afternoon to make these, with at least 5 hours from the time you start to when you want to be serving them.  These are crisp on the outside, soft on the inside.  Everyone will be asking you for the recipe.  I got this recipe from Megan Gould from North Ogden.  Thank you Megan!

Cresent Rolls
1 Tbs. Yeast
1cup mashed potatoes
2/3 cup butter
1  Tbs. salt
1 1/2 cups warm water
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
6-7 cups flour


Put the water and yeast and about a TBS of sugar in your mixing bowl and let that sit for about 5 to 10 min.  Add the butter, eggs, potatoes and sugar, and mix.  Add the flour and salt, and hand need it all together to form a nice soft ball.  Let rise until double. (about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.)  Take the dough and divide into 4ths.   Roll into a circle, spread with butter, cut and roll into crescents. Let rise again and bake at 350.  Total rising time is around 3-4 hours, depending.  Don't overdo the butter, your rolls will go flat. They still taste good, but they are not as pretty.  I have tried just brushing on butter after they are rolled out and shaped into cresents.  Both ways work, but I like the second way best.


I had photos, but unfortunatley they were accidently deleted when I redid my operating system to Windows 7!  I love the new windows 7...just thought I"d share.  I'll make these again soon, I am sure, and will post a photo then.

New sauce for Brown Rice and squash.

We have been eating kind of different this month...no sugar snacks for 30 days.  Its driving us CRAZY.  The first 2 weeks were fine, but tonight I am hitting my breaking point.  Finding dinners that are satisfying is hard.  We are trying to be extremely full so as not to want more, like ice cream.

I made the customary brown rice for starters.  I also made acorn squash.  I also made Marinara Sauce.  I put a scoop of sqush in the middle of the plate and made a little well in the center.  In this well I put about 1/2 cup of brown rice.  Then on top of this I place a piece of our Parmesan Chicken and then drizzle (about 1/4 cup) on top of everything.  It looked really pretty, and the flavors went really well together.  Ryan shed is customary tears, even though I put all his items in seperate piles.  He ate the chicken, and to my surprise at all the rice WITH the sauce on it and asked for seconds.

Unfortunately my photo was deleted, so you'll just have to trust me on this one that it looks good.  Don't put it on an orange plate.  Your kids might reject it.  Place it on a white plate, maybe add some pretty asparagus across the top.  We will make it again I am sure, and when we do, I'll take another photo.  I promise, its good!

INGREDIENTS:


Rice:
Brown rice is always our favorite.  It has a nice nutty flavor and chewy texture.  You can also prepare this the day before, and left overs are always easy to use.  BUT, if you are just starting it for this dinner, start it first.  It takes about 40 min.

Squash:
Any winter squash would be good I think, but our favorite is the Acorn.  It takes about 30-40 min. to cook.  Cut the open and spoon out the seeds with an ice cream scoop.  Salt and Pepper to taste and cover with foil. Place in a 400 degree oven.

Chicken:

Chicken breast cut up into 2"X 1" strips or so.  Spray these with an low calorie olive oil spray (lightly.)  Have about 1/2 cup parmesan cheese in a bowl and press it into each piece of chicken on both sides.  Place in a hot pan and cook on medium for about 15 min, until each side is golden brown and the inside is done.  It should be crisp and look extremely tastey!  Pour your marinara sauce over the chicken and simmer for about 15 min.  

If you are really aggressive, you can make your own marinara sauce.  I haven't tried it yet, but I'm sure it's not too hard.  However, buying it is quite easy too.  I bought mine.  I opened it up and dumped it into the frying pan.  Ahhhh, very simple.

And thats it.  It all cooks while you clean up your kitchen and maybe make a fruit smoothie to go with dinner. No need for bread or side dishes.  I have the belief that a pile of food in front of you is something to be grateful for.  If you want a variety of dishes, go out to eat.  But, thats just me.  I'll get a picture at some point, I promise.  Go make it and be creative.  Make it your own.  Its filling, delicious, and very healthy!

Fritattas

I was so tired tonight but needed to eat something Healthy after a long run.  I love eggs.  I really love egg yolk that has been swimming around toast. :)  But tonight I need to keep the toast out of it and invite the veggies.  This recipe is easy, cheap and very versitle.  Like a lot of my recipes, you can use whatever veggies you like or whatever you have on hand.  Everyone in my family likes these, except for Ryan, of course.  I made his seperate...I hope he knows what a lucky kid he is.  Last week he wasn't so lucky, he went to bed hungry as he didn't want to eat what was on his plate and it was eat or don't eat.  He choose the latter.  Anywho...try making this dish...I think you'll love it.

This recipe is enough for 5 thick servings...pair it with fish, potatoes, pancakes, or scones.

I started by frying up a chunk of sausage...about 1/2 cup...just enough to have a little of the taste throughout.  Ham or Bacon would taste good too.  Also, you can add cheese...but really, who needs those extra calories for a flavor you won't miss much once you taste those wonderful veggies!  Take whatever veggies you want to use out and chop them up.  Thats it.  Chop them up and put them in your frying pan with just a little drop of oil and start to saute them. Here is what I used:

1/3 cup chopped bell peppers (combo of red and green)
3 green onions, including the green
1 large tomato chopped
1/2 cup chopped cliantro
2 cloves of garlic

Take 8 eggs and whip them up with about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of milk.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Pour into the pan with the cooking veggies and let cook while you stir it for about 2 min on medium...you want the eggs to start to stick together, but still quite runny.  Pour into 8X8" pan.  Place in oven and bake for about 25 min.  Dinner is done.

Chicken Pot Pie

Nothing tastes better than something warm and creamy on a cold winters evening.  I looked through my refrigerator tonight hoping to see that my neighbors had dropped off dinner...they hadn't. :-)  So, I pulled out what vegetables I had and came up with Chicken Pot Pie.  Marie Calander offers a delicious one for $4 and 1100 calories.  I ate it once and looked at the calories AFTER my meal.  I about had a heart attack...it was just about my entire allotment of calories for the day...happy running.  So, with the veggies before me and hungry kids at the table doing homework, I put together this yummy, filling and somewhat healthy meal.  Even the picky 9 year old ate it...go figure.  He won't touch onions with a 10 foot pole, unless its in a chicken pot pie apparently.  Enjoy.  Oh, and you can use any veggies you like, there are no rules.  I probably wouldn't use tomatoes, it would change the flavor too much, but I guess you never know unless you try.

Crust

1 C Flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
2 T cold butter cut into flour
1/3 c. milk


Veggies

1 c red potates
1 c chopped asparagus
1 c carrots
1/2 small chopped onion
1 c corn
Chicken...not a veggie but...add about 1 cup.  The leaner the better.  Skip if you want, you probably won't miss it.


Sauce
1 c chicken broth
1 c low fat cream of chicken soup
2 tsp. dill or sage


How to make it

1. Boil potates and carrots about 10 min. until mostly soft.
Simmer other veggies in small amount of chicken broth until soft.
2. Add veggies together along with condensed soup and chicken broth
(about 1/2 c broth.)
3. Place in whatever pan you want depending on the thickness of veggies you want.  I used a 9X8" pan.
4. Cover with rolled out dough, about 1/8" thick.  Brush on egg white if you'd like...I did.
5. Bake about 15 min. in a 350 degree oven.
6. Serve with a roll and a side dish of fruit, oranges look really nice.

I added up all the calories in what I put in this and with my serving sizes it came to about 250 per serving...not to bad!