Tuesday, December 20, 2011

My fave chicken dish

We eat a lot of meat in this house.  We are a high protein family since I had gastric bypass 4 years ago.  So, over time I have had to reinvent favorite recipes to cut down carbs and fat.  One dish I had just before WLS was Hunter's Style Chicken.  It was amazing, but high carb and fat.  So this is my take on the dish for my family now.

This dish feed my family of 4 (2 adults, 2 small children)

3 skinless chicken breast- split and bone in
corn starch or arrowroot for coating the chicken
1 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves of garlic sliced
1 pound of mushrooms sliced very thin
2 tsp of rice vinegar with garlic
1 cup of chicken stock- reduce sodium
4 tbsp of tomato paste
1 cup water
2 tsp of dry oregano
1/2 tsp of crushed red pepper flakes (or more if you like it spicy)
salt and black pepper to taste

In a large nonstick skillet put in the olive oil and 2 gloves of garlic on medium heat.  Coat the chicken with the corn starch and shake off the excess.  Before placing the chicken into the oil pick out the garlic and save for later.  Cook the chicken until browned.  Now put in all the garlic, the mushrooms, and tomato paste.  Once the tomato paste is cooked out it's raw flavor add in rest of the ingredients making sure everything is combined.  Cook for 45 mins, but if the sauce gets too thick add part water/part chicken stock a little bit at a time.

I serve this with a little salad on the side.  If you don't have to watch your carbs you could have this with mashed potatoes as well and a little garlic bread.

Friday, December 16, 2011

Love creamy goodness!

I. Love. Cheesecake.  LOVE LOVE LOVE it!  Sorry but there is something about the dense creamy cold delight meeting the salty sweet crust that I just love to death.  And it is high protein and can be sugar free and gluten fee as well. 


When I was pregnant with Annabelle I had to up my protein A LOT.  So we pretty much made cheesecake every week, and it is pretty cheap to make as well.   Lorelei loved this recipe and she is the one that named it.  I am sure you can figure out what part my oldest added to this recipe to make it a surprise...


Shannon's Citrus Cheesecake Surprise
2.5 pounds of cream cheese (5 blocks and I used the reduce fat ones)
2- 6 oz containers of Dannon Light and Fit Yogurt- Lemon
1 grapefruit- zested and juiced
3 tsp of vanilla extract
1.75 cup of sugar sub (or sugar)
3 tbsp of all purpose flour (or a GF flour)
5 large eggs
2 egg yokes
purple food coloring
3 graham cracker crusts


Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.


In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until soft and smooth, about 1 minute. Combine flour and sugar in another bowl and then add to the beaten cream cheese. Mix well Scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Beat in the grated citrus zests. Add in the eggs, egg yolks and vanilla extract. Mix thoroughly scraping down the sides of the bowl, until the batter is perfectly smooth.



Pour the batter into the graham cracker crusts, tapping the bottom on the counter 4 or 5 times to eliminate air pickets. Bake 1 hour, or until the center feels firm when pressed. Immediately remove the cake pan from the larger pan and set aside to cool on a rack. Refrigerate for a few hours.
Eat and enjoy!

Saturday, December 3, 2011

A meal Popeye would be proud of...

Spinach.  One of those leafy green "things" that are hit or missed in most households.  I know I didn't like spinach until I started to fix it for myself... and made sure it didn't smell bad or look like wet grass clippings.

For me the key was buying it fresh and wilting it down myself. I could also control the flavor and fat.  Now this is one meal that I can get the girls to eat with spinach in it, which makes me super happy!

4 boneless skinless chicken breast- cooked and diced
1 bag of fresh spinach
3/4 cup of reduce fat sour cream
1/2 cup of reduce fat mayo
1 cup of mozzarella shredded
1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese
1 tsp of garlic powder
1 tbsp of diced garlic
1/2 a sweet onion finally diced
1 egg- beaten
black pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degree F.  In a mixing bowl toss in all the ingredients and mix well making sure everything is well coated.  In a greased 9x13 baking dish spread the mixture and pat it down.  Cover with foil and bake for about 40 minutes then take the foil off and turn the boiler on and brown the top till golden brown.

Set aside and let it cool for about 15 minutes and then cut and serve. 

Sunday, November 20, 2011

My Little Monkeys


My kids love all things bananas, but they do have times when they want nothing to do with them. When that happens this is the recipe I use to make THE BEST banana bread EVER!

1 cup of sugar (I use a sugar sub)
1/2 c butter
3 very ripe bananas
3 large eggs
1.5 tbsp buttermilk or sour cream
1.5 tsp of vanilla
1 tsp of kosher salt
2 cups flour (or GF making mix)
1.5 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 c creamy peanut butter
1/2 c chopped walnuts
1/2 c mini chocolate chips

Cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy.  Then add in one banana and one egg at a time until they are all blended in to the butter mixture.  Then add in all the rest of the ingredients and mix until combined.  And yes I dump the nuts and chocolate in with all the other dry ingredients.  Dump into a greased and floured loaf pan.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 50 to 60 minutes.  Let it cool in the pan for about 10 mins and then remove to cool on a wire rack.

This is normally gone in a day in my house.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Heavenly Chocolate Covered Cheesecake

One of the things that I believe I have mastered since having gastric bypass is cheesecake.  Why, because it is high protein and can be made reduce fat and sugar free- if you want... or you can make it completely sinful!  While this isn't gluten free with some minor changes it can be gluten free as well.  Cheesecake is one of those things to me is rich, tangy, and just ooooohhhhh so lush and creamy in your mouth.



Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Crust:
1 cup Murry sugar free short bread cookies
1 box of Sugar free Oreos- minus 5 cookies (lore ate them)
1/2 cup of splenda
1/2 cup of DiabetiSweet Original Sugar
7 tablespoons butter, melted 

Crust:
In a medium size bowl, combine everything and mix well. Spray the pan with PAM, making sure you get th sides. Mix well and place in the bottom of an 8x8-inch pan. Make sure to press against the bottom of the pan. Place into oven and bake for 10 minutes. Let cool.

Filling:
4 boxes of reduced fat cream cheese, softened
2 cup splenda
2 teaspoon vanilla extract -I used a dried vanilla powder
6 eggs (or 1.5 cup egg sub)
1 pinch of kosher salt

Filling:
Prepare the filling by beating cream cheese. Mix in splenda and vanilla while beating until well blended. Add in eggs one at a time and then add salt. The mixture is runny. Pour mixture into prepared crust. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature. Refrigerate overnight or if you want it faster- place in freezer for an hour and then add the chocolate topping and freeze again until set.

Chocolate Glaze:
1 stick of butter
2 50/50 milk chocolate bars (giant carries these)
2 cup splenda
1 cup heavy whipping cream (or half and half)
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

In a medium saucepan melt butter over medium-low heat. Add chocolate to the butter. Whisk in everything and whisk until combined. Cook over medium-low heat for 2 minutes while whisking constantly.


WHen I made this I was also able to make 12 cupcake size mini cheesecakes besides the 8x8 cake. I didn't put the crust in the cupcake papers, just the cheesecake mixture. You can also add the chocolate mixture on these as well. I also put 2 tsp of sugar free strawberry jelly into these mini cheesecakes. They came out very yummy as well.

Yield: 20 pieces in the 8x8 pan and 12 cupcake minis

Friday, November 4, 2011

"The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain"- Spanish Styled Beef

Spanish Styled Beef

A few years ago I was trying to broaden Lorelei's taste palate.  A lot of times we would pick a place from the History Channel or maybe something in an article would spark an idea.  One Sunday we had missionaries at church who were in the mountains of Spain and they were talking about their adventures there and how different the olives were there in Spain.  Lorelei already liked olives but she got to taste the ones from Spain and was in love.  So that started the hunt for a dish that I could put them in for her (and hide them from me- olives yuckie).

This is a pretty basic recipe using items that we can get at our grocery stores.

2 to 3 pound bottom round roast (or something close to that cut wise)
2 tbsp of EVOO
2 large Spanish onions (if you can't find them use sweet onions)
4 large cloves of minced garlic
1/2 c sliced pimiento stuffed green olives (if you can use Spanish ones)
1 tbsp of olive juice (what the olives are canned/jarred in)
1.5 tbsp of dried oregano
2 tsp of sugar (or sugar sub)
1 tsp of ground black pepper
1 cup of low sodium beef broth

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cut beef into 1 inch cubes.  If you see large pieces of fat trim them off.

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium high heat - if you have a well seasoned cast iron skillet it use it.  Brown the beef on all sides and remove to a 9x13 baking dish.

Add the onions and garlic to the skillet and saute in the beef drippings until soften to add a richer flavor to the vegs.  Carefully add the rest of the ingredients over medium heat until well combined and heated through then pour over the beef.  Cover with foil and bake until done.  For me it was 2 hours one day another 2.5 hours.  You want the beef to be fork tender.

I served this with rice to soak up all the yummy goodies from the baking dish.  Also, salt wasn't added to this dish because pimientos and olives tend to be salty. 

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Clean Eating Magazine

I love books.  Real books.  You know the kind where you can ACTUALLY turn real pages.  We have an eReader but I hate reading on it.  It isn't the same comfort that I seem to get from books.  And my love of books, I love love love magazines.  We we moved into our house and then had Lorelei I didn't renew a lot of our magazines, however I have gotten two magazines this year.  The one I want to talk about today however is called Clean Eating.

I got a great deal on the magazine and I am so glad that I got it even through I hadn't heard of it before.  It covers everything from gluten free, veggie only, and good high protein dishes.  Most of the items they call for I can get in my grocery store and only once I had to go to our local health food store for an item.

One of the recipes I liked a lot from the magazine has been the Seared Chicken with Maple glaze.  This is their photo of the dish.  I didn't get a chance to take a photo of the dish because it was gone as soon as plated it for everyone.  To me that is a huge success with any meal since I have one child that will eat anything and another that is kind of picky/bland when it comes to eating.  I think the secret to this dish being a mark in the win column was the maple glaze.  Now I used a sugar free maple syrup for this dish and kosher salt, so this dish came out even lower carb count wise and sodium wise.  I also didn't find this overly sweet because of the maple syrup either where in some other dishes we have had that issue and well that food was hard to choke down.

So if you are looking for a great new magazine to give to someone as a gift or looking for a way to make your own cooking healthier and dishes easy on the budget I highly recommend this magazine.  BTW- I wasn't paid to review this recipe or the magazine.  I paid for it out of my own pocket and have loved every minute of it since it has arrived in all it's colorful wonderfulness in my mailbox.



Thursday, October 20, 2011

Bug Jammin' Jam

In July the girls spent some time with my parents in Indiana.  While they were gone I painted part of the kitchen (which still isn't done), tried to get organized, and made lots and lots of Jams and Jellies.  One of the girls favs is what we call Bug Jammin' Jam.  Yes, bugs.

To me I get sick of the same boring jams and jellies.  I want something different.  Something fun.  Unique.  In my quest for something fun I created Bug Jammin' Jam.  I bought all the ingredients at my local super Walmart.

Bug Jammin' Jam

2 Mexican Mangoes
4 Kiwis
2 cups of Pineapple juice
1 cup of Orange juice
2 tsp of kosher salt
3 TBSP of tequila
1 package of freezer pectin
4 cups of sugar

Dice up the mangoes and sprinkle with salt and sugar and set aside in a bowl.  Scoop out the kiwi guts and toss with the diced mangoes.

In a non stick sauce pan (it is what I used) add the juices, salt, and tequila; cook on medium heat for 15 mins. Now add the fruit and sugar to the juice mixture.  Now turn the heat up a little.  On my stove medium is 5- at this point this is when I bump it up to between 6 and 7.  You want it to boil some and once it reaches a boil then reduce it to low.  I let it cook on low for 3 hours.  You want the juice to reduce to a wonderful thick syrup.

While this is cooking on low you can either boil some water for your canning jars, rings, and lids or sterilize your plastic containers in the dishwasher.  Once done place them on a clean dry towel.  I used both when I was making the jams.

After the 3 hours, pull the sauce pan off the heat and stir in one packet of freezer pectin.  Then spoon into your jars/containers.  My jars were 1/2 pint in size.  This batch made 6 jars, another time it made 7 jars.

As you can see that the seeds from the kiwi look like bugs.  At first the kids didn't know what to think of it but now it is a must have for all toast, rolls, ice cream, oatmeal, etc...

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Apple-oius Creamy Dreamy Baked Oatmeal


My hubby grew up eating baked oatmeal.  I had never heard of it until after we were married.  And we would make from time to time.  But with now my oldest girl in school this makes for a great breakfast.  It is full of fruit, protein, and good grains. This also easy to make reduced sugar or even completely sugar free with sugar subs.


3 eggs
½ tsp Kosher salt
2.5 tsp Apple pie seasoning mix
½ cup of packed brown sugar- you can use a brown sugar sub for this- if Splenda Brown Sugar it will be ½ cup
¼ of a block of reduce fat cream cheese
3 cups of diced baking apples- I leave the skin on- use whatever is in season
½ a cup of chunky apple sauce- no sugar added if you can get it
¼ cup of diced craisens
2 cups of water
2 cups of skim milk
2.5 cups of old fashioned rolled oats

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13 baking dish or if you want this a little deeper a 10x 10 baking dish.

In a mixing bowl beat add the eggs with the salt, seasoning mix, and brown sugar and beat until creamed.  In a small bowl or cup soften the cream cheese.  Once the cream cheese is softened turn the mixer on and slowly drop by the spoon full the cream cheese- doing this step will prevent the cooking of the eggs in the mixture.

Now once that is mixed together pull the bowl out and do the rest by hand.  Add the diced apples and apple sauce.  Then add in the oats, water and milk.  This is a sloppy mixture at this point.  Pour into the baking dish and bake for 40 to 50 mins.  The middle shouldn’t wiggle.

Now I do this the night before and then in the morning I pull it out of the fridge and cut out slices like it is a cake.  Then when I go to warm it up I put just a little milk in the bowl with a bit of sugar free maple syrup on top and heat it up.

-Now I know many of you love pumpkin so in place of the apple sauce you can add pumpkin puree to it.  This is not pumpkin pie puree mix but PURE pumpkin.  And if you do that switch out the apple pie seasoning mix to pumpkin pie seasoning mix.

Gluten Free Bread Review- Udi's Bread

Many of you know that I have had gastric bypass and with my PCOS I have some really strong gravings for carbs.  Well carbs like bread are a no no with gastric bypass so I was trying to find a good alternative for when I just can't resist anymore.

And I have... Udi's bread.  My girls even love this stuff!  I can get this at my local health food store and I have tried the white sandwich bread and the millet-chia bread.

I enjoyed them both.  The white sandwich bread one is amazing for grilled cheese, sandwiches, french toast  ... well basically everything that you would do with your normal white bread you can do with this bread!  This bread reminds me of a good loaf of crusty white bread.  And sooooo good with just a little butter on it slightly toasted.  HEAVEN!

The millet-chia bread was great for just toast and sandwiches.  It has a great nutty bite to it like if you got one of those super duper whole grain breads with all the bells and whistles in it.  The girls enjoyed this one a lot as well and eat it so fast I didn't get a chance to play with it like the white bread.

So, if you are looking to try something new or just found out that you need to go gluten free try this bread, You will love it!

-Shannon

I'm Back...

Hey all!


I'm back!  And I am super excited.  I will be posting all kinds of recipes, kitchen gadget reviews, product reviews, and how to get the biggest bang for your buck to help stretch your food money!


Many of you know I was let go from my job, so I am basically working full time on my recipes.  So get ready folks!!!  I got a bunch!


Now not all recipes will have photos.  To me if you can't picture something as basic as what a pancake looks like well we got some issues folks lol!


Thanks all,
Shannon