The Easiest Chocolate Chip Cookies EVER!

I have never been a cookie baker.  I don’t know why…  I think it has something to do with the fact that I probably shouldn’t be eating so many cookies. 😉 But sometimes  I just need some chocolate.  Ever feel like that?  Chocolate chip cookies sounded good one night, so I decided to go to Pinterest to find a good recipe.

I have to admit that hubby and I were a bit skeptical about this recipe, but it turned out so good! It does not taste like “box cake”.  Now I make sure I always have a cake mix box in the “baking cupboard” for those nights we’re in the mood for a little treat.  We only make six cookies at a time, and then refrigerate the rest of the mix to use throughout the week.

The Easiest Chocolate Chip Cookies EVER!

1 box yellow cake mix

semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used 1/2 a bag.)

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 stick of butter (1/2 cup – I microwaved the stick of butter for 15 seconds.)

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mix everything together in a large mixing bowl.  Hubby did this step for me, and he just used a fork to mix everything together.

3. Spoon onto a cookie sheet. (I sprayed my cookie sheet with my home-made cooking spray to prevent the cookies from sticking to the baking sheet.)

4. Bake for about 10 minutes, and enjoy!  You might want to wait for the cookies to cool… 😉

 

Thanksgiving Leftover Casserole

What do you do with all of your Thanksgiving leftovers? Do you freeze them? Throw them away? Eat the same thing for a week straight? My hubby and I deal with this every year, because I make a feast and it is just the two of us. 🙂 This year I am determined not to throw away any food, and hubby hates having the same thing more than two days in a row… SO, I am relying on my current casserole-faze. This is my first after-Thanksgiving casserole before it went in the oven this evening. I think it is going to be yummy! Click here to see the original recipe I found online.

Thanksgiving Leftover Casserole
1 box Stovetop Stuffing (Hubby’s favorite)
1 cup chicken broth
4 cups cooked chopped turkey
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1/4 cup of sour cream
mashed potatoes
shredded cheese
Seasonings of choice1. Combine broth and stuffing mix, and then spread in a casserole dish.
2. Combine turkey, soup, sour cream, and seasoning of choice in a bowl. Stir to mix everything thoroughly. I added garlic powder since I used boxed stuffing that is already seasoned.
3. Add the turkey mixture in a layer in your casserole dish.
4. Spread mashed potatoes over the top of the turkey mixture in the casserole dish and top with cheese.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.Serve with whatever else you have. Hubby will be having a side of green bean casserole tonight as well. And I’ll be having some cranberry sauce with mine. 🙂

Yummy Cheeseburger & Fries Casserole

Lately I have really been on a casserole kick. I think I like casseroles because they are quick to make, easy on the budget, leave little clean up, and there is always plenty leftovers for lunch. 🙂  Pinterest is where I find a majority of my new recipes.  I don’t think I will buy another cookbook for the rest of my life! Click here to find the original recipe from the site I found through Pinterest.

Hubby and I have managed to stay away from fast food for quite awhile now, and we are pretty proud of that.  Sometimes you just crave a cheeseburger and fries, so when I came across this recipe I was hoping it would fill that craving.  It most definitely did!!!

The recipe I am posting below is exactly the way I made the dish today.  However, the next time I make it, I plan to put a layer of meat, sauce, fries, meat, sauce, fries.  On the side hubby and I had all of the traditional cheeseburger condiments, and I would suggest the same for anyone else. 🙂

Cheeseburger and Fries Casserole

2 lbs ground beef/chuck/sirloin (whatever your preference)

1 can cheddar condensed soup

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 bag frozen waffle fries

onion powder

garlic powder

1. Season the meat with the garlic and onion powder and brown on the stove.  Drain the fat and place the meat in the casserole dish.

2. Mix the soups together in a bowl, and then pour the mixture over the meat in the casserole dish.

3. Layer the top of the dish with the waffle fries.

4. Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour, and enjoy!  We made ours with a side of home-made rolls.  YUM!

ENJOY! 🙂  You will have plenty of leftovers for lunch the next day!

Breakfast Baked Avocado and Egg

If you are like me, avocado is a definite favorite!  Avocado was typically served in slices with dinner on special occasions in my house growing up. I was always looking forward to it! My husband, on the other hand, had never eaten an actual avocado until he met me; he did, however, love guacamole. Now, we eat avocado raw and prepared in all sorts of ways.

This yummy Pinterest recipe caught my eye right away from a fellow blogger.  What a fantastic way to prepare avocado!  This recipe doesn’t take long and is healthy to eat.  In the future I would probably serve it with toast for a nice Saturday morning breakfast.

Supplies/Ingredients

Aluminum foil

Small baking pan

Avocado

Eggs

Parmesan cheese (shredded)

Salt

Pepper

Garlic powder

1. Cut the avocado in half and remove the seed. Widen the hole from the seed a little to make more room for the egg.

2. Create a small bowl with the aluminum foil to place the avocado. The purpose of the bowl is to catch any run-off of egg.

3. Crack one egg into each half of the avocado.

4. Season the top of each egg with garlic powder, salt, and pepper (to taste).

5. Bake in a preheated oven at 375 degrees.  I cooked two at the same time, and it took about 14 minutes, but I do not like the center too runny.  I would check after 7 minutes, especially if you are only cooking one egg.

6. Sprinkle the top with Parmesan cheese and a little more pepper.

Enjoy! 🙂

Italian Chicken Stir Fry

It has been a LONG time since my last post!  The summer has flown by!  I have tons of recipes that I need to add to my blog; I have been snapping pictures of meals I’ve made throughout the summer.  I even have a super yummy meal my mom cooked while we were on vacation that I will be adding shortly. 🙂

Kitchen appliances are just plain fun.  Tonight hubby and I decided to cook stir fry with a little Italian twist.  Once a month I try to make “freezer meals” that I can pull out of the freezer to cook whenever I need a good meal quick, and that is where we got our Italian chicken.  I had chicken strips marinating in Italian dressing in a bag in the freezer.  Take any small bottle of a dressing of your choice and pour it in a freezer bag with enough chicken for one meal.  Label the bag with the type of marinade and the date.  This tip I learned from a fellow blogger has really changed the way I cook.  I always have a few bags of a chicken marinade waiting to be used for dinner.  I have also found that the chicken is really flavorful after being frozen with the marinade.  Just be careful of your marinade choices, because some can be unhealthy and have a lot of sodium.  Also, using salad dressing can be a cheaper route than buying the special marinades for chicken.

The great thing about this meal is that it is completely interchangeable.  You can use whatever protein you like whether it is chicken, beef, pork, or tofu.  You can use any vegetables you have handy.  I used an electric wok, but you could really simply use a skillet on the stove. This recipe makes plenty of food for two people, and if hubby isn’t really hungry, enough for one more lunch.

Italian Chicken Stir Fry

5 chicken strips in Italian seasoning

Olive oil (enough to make the wok non-stick)

Goya Vegetable Seasoning (1 packet)

Goya Low Sodium Adobo (to taste)

1 yellow onion (sliced)

2 green bell peppers (sliced)

1 yellow squashed (sliced)

1 cup sliced baby portobella mushrooms

Instructions:

1. Heat up the electric wok to a temperature between 300 – 350 degrees after using the olive oil to make the surface non-stick.

2. Put the chicken with any extra Italian sauce from the bag into the wok.

3. When the chicken is almost done cooking (about 10 minutes) add in all of the vegetables being sure to mix everything thoroughly.

4. Sprinkle the vegetable seasoning and adobo to your taste.

5. Cover the wok to let everything cook (about 5-7 minutes) until the food reaches desired consistency.  Some people prefer their vegetables soft or crispy, so the time is really up to the cook.

Enjoy! 🙂

Asparagus Pizza

This recipe is yummy and healthy.  It definitely meets any cravings I have for pizza! I originally found this recipe on Pinterest but altered it to fit my tastes. The original recipe is for an Asparagus Gruyere Tart by Martha Stewart.

Really you could make this with any type of pizza dough. Usually I make my own pizza dough, but for this I used the canned stuff you find in the dairy aisle by the biscuits.  The nutritional and calorie information for this recipe really depends on the dough you use and the cheese used, so I’m not including it below.  Trust me, this is healthier than your everyday pizza!

Ingredients

1 pre-made pizza dough (I used the Great Value Walmart brand dough found in the dairy and/or refrigerated aisle by all of the biscuits and cookie dough. Of all the pre-made pizza doughs, I really do prefer the taste and cooking of the Great Value brand even above the “big name” brands.)

1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 bunch asparagus

2 cups shredded cheese (I used mozarella and cheddar.)

Garlic Powder (to taste)

Italian Seasoning (to taste)

Goya Vegetable Seasoning (to taste)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Spread out the dough on a non-stick rectangular pan.  (I spray the pan with a couple spritzes of spray butter and spread with a paper towel to make sure the dough does not stick.)

3. Brush the top of the dough with olive oil and sprinkle garlic powder on the dough.

4. Spread cheese across the dough and sprinkle Italian seasoning over the top.

5. Alternate asparagus across the top of the dough.

6. Brush asparagus with olive oil and sprinkle Goya vegetable seasoning across the top of the pizza.

7. Bake at 400 degrees for 9-12 minutes (depending on your oven)

Enjoy! 🙂

Chicken & Veggies with a Shamrock Shake = YUM!!

This recipe is yummy,quick, filling, and low on calories! And…if you noticed the picture, I actually used my stove!  Those who know me realize how crazy that is, because I usually use some kind of kitchen gadget to cook.  I did use my Frappe Maker to make the protein shake, so I did get to use a gadget. 🙂  I actually ended up giving a quarter of the veggies to hubby to eat, because it made so much.

Chicken & Veggies

1 skinless chicken breast

1 bell pepper (I used a red pepper.)

3 baby portabella mushrooms

1/4 medium onion

1 tomato

1 packet Goya Sazon

1 tbsp garlic powder

NOTE: Using less of the seasonings will lower the calories.  I eyeball my seasonings, but it was easier to do the nutritional information with complete numbers.  On my own I calculated the calories at about 270, but the website I use for nutritional info came up with a higher number.  It all depends on the size of your veggies, chicken, and amount of seasoning.

Step One: While heating the skillet cut all of your veggies.

Step Two: Add chicken to the skillet and sprinkle with garlic powder and Sazon. After a 3-4 minutes flip the chicken and season the other side.

Step Three: Add all of the veggies to the skillet.  Add more seasoning as desired. Once the chicken is done cooking and the veggies are cooked to your liking, you are done!

Step Four: Serve and enjoy!

After working out I was definitely craving something sweet.  Crazy, right?  Not for me.  In the evening my sweet tooth really comes out, especially with hubby’s love for ice cream.  I found this awesome blog with tons of great ideas for changing protein shakes into something yummy, and that is how I came across this recipe.  The thicker you make it (by adding more ice), the more it reminds you of ice cream.  Yum!

Dashing Dish Website Link (I get my shake recipes here.)

 Shamrock Protein Shake (180 – 200 calories)

This recipe makes a lot!  It made this entire glass, and there was a little more left in the blending jar.

1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese

1 scoop vanilla protein powder (I use Jillian Michaels brand, so it is 100 calories per scoop.)

1/8 tsp mint extract

3 packets of Stevia

3/4 cup of water

12 ice cubes (The amount of ice cubes is really to taste.  The more ice cubes you use, the thicker the shake.)

5 drops green food coloring (optional)

2 tbsp of sugar free pistachio pudding mix

Step One: Add all ingredients to the blending jar.  Blend until you get your desired thickness for the shake.

Enjoy! 🙂

Baked Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal and Update

I have found that preparation is the best way to stay on track with nutrition. I am finding that an easy way to start off the day on the right track is to prepare a baked oatmeal dish for the week and store in the refrigerator already portioned out.  In the morning I just grab and eat, no thinking necessary! The recipe below can be divided into 9 servings, which is perfect for hubbie and I.  It allows for some variety within the week, if needed.

The website below is where I have found all of the baked oatmeal recipes:

http://budgetbytes.blogspot.com/2009/05/what-is-budget-bites.html

Baked Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal Recipe

1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (I made my own pumpkin pie spice from the following website: http://www.food.com/recipe/substitution-for-pumpkin-pie-spice-107059)

1 pinch of salt

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1.5 cups of milk (I used unsweetened coconut milk.)

2.5 cups of old-fashioned oats

Step One: Add everything except the milk and the oats to a large bowl and whisk until smooth.

Step Two: Add in the milk and whisk until all of the milk is incorporated into the mixture.

Step Three: Add the oats into the mixture and whisk until incorporated evenly into the mixture.

Step Four: Add mixture to a non-stick 8×8 baking dish. (I used spray butter to make my baking dish non-stick.  Just spray and distribute the butter throughout the dish with a paper towel.)

Step Five: Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes remove the aluminum foil and return to the 350 degree oven for 15 additional minutes.

Allow the dish to cool and then divide into 9 servings.

 

Enjoy!

Pressure Cooker Chicken Alfredo-Pesto Pasta

An electric pressure cooker is a great appliance to own if you are busy or if you want to save money.  Pressure cooking allows you to cook difficult things fast, and it infuses flavors very easily.  I have the WP 7 Quart Electric Pressure Cooker; the different settings automatically cook the food at the correct pressure.  It also comes with a book that gives the times and settings for basically anything you might want to cook.

Friday I got home from work a little later than normal.  It was so tempting to just run out and grab something, but I decided to come up with a new recipe using the odds and ends I had in the kitchen.  Really once you cook a few things in the pressure cooker, you will come up with endless ideas.

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts (I used frozen.)

1 cup pesto

1/3 cup of alfredo sauce

2 cups of water (or chicken stock)

3 cups dry pasta

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon garlic & herb seasoning

1 packet of Goya vegetable seasoning

1/2 cup shredded cheese (mozzarella)

1 cup frozen sweet corn

1 cup frozen peas

1/2 cup frozen broccoli

Directions

1. If you are making your own pesto (very easy to do), start with that.  This time I cheated a bit and made the Knorr Pesto from a package.  (It is very good and lower in calories.)

2. Put everything in the pressure cooker pot.  (Originally I used 2 1/2 cups of water, but I thought it was a little runny, and that is why I put 2 cups of water in the ingredient list.  I used frozen chicken and frozen veggies, which added the extra water. Put as many or as little veggies in as you want.)

3. Set pressure cooker on the meat setting (or high pressure) for 20 minutes.

4. Use natural release when food is done cooking.  (Natural release means that once the electric pressure cooker is off and unplugged, the pressure will slowly release on its own.)

Remember to consult your instructions for your pressure cooker.  The WP Pressure Cooker will not allow you to open the lid when the unit is under pressure, so it is completely safe. You can substitute just about anything in this recipe to fit your tastes, including the meat.  The twenty minutes is fine for just about any meat as long as it is up to a pound in weight. (After that, consult your pressure cooker instructions for time.)

The best thing is that this is an easy one pot meal.  It tasted AWESOME!  It would have been plenty of food for two dinners and 2 lunches; however, hubby loved it and was super hungry…so no leftovers. 🙂

Enjoy! 🙂

Best Fried Chicken Ever!

If you have read my blog or know me at all, you are questioning the fried chicken right now.  Healthy? That’s probably questionable, but I did use all organic ingredients (except the sazon and pepper).  I love chicken just about any way it is cooked, but fried chicken is definitely my favorite.  This isn’t an everyday recipe, but I believe you can eat any food in moderation.  Moderation is exactly what I am trying to conquer and find within this blog with food and exercise.

My newest kitchen gadget is my Wolfgang Puck deep fryer.  The first food I made was mozzarella sticks in it with a recipe from a cookbook I bought for the fryer.  With any WP appliance he also sells a cookbook for that specific appliance, and I always buy it.  The mozzy sticks were awesome, so I thought about creating my own recipe.

I totally went old school with my frying technique for the chicken.  When I was little my mom would make fried perch every once in awhile.  She would coat the fish in a flour/pepper mixture.  Such a simply idea but so good!  To add my own style to the mixture I added one of my favorite seasonings, sazon.  I buy the Goya product, and it comes in small envelopes.  This ingredient can traditionally be found in the ethnic food aisle and is used in many Mexican and Puerto Rican dishes.  My blog from yesterday has a picture of the ingredient to help you find it in the store.

I have to say this was the best chicken I have ever tasted!  Also, it was not greasy at all!  Normally when I eat fried chicken my fingers are shiny or the plate is greasy.  The WP fryer supposedly “flash fries” which keeps the food from getting greasy.  I’m not really sure what flash frying is…and I can’t verify that it is flash fried…but I do know that the chicken was moist but not wet with oil.  The orange tint to the chicken is due to the sazon seasoning.

Ingredients

chicken strips (You could also just slice up a chicken breast to create the strips.)

canola oil (This is the type of oil I used in my deep fryer.  The amount is totally based on what you need for your fryer.)

flour (I use organic unbleached flour.)

pepper

sazon (I used two packets)

italian seasoning

2 eggs (I used organic cage free eggs.)

Directions

1. In a shallow dish break open the two eggs.  Wisk with a fork to blend the eggs.

2. In another shallow dish mix the flour, sazon, italian seasoning, and pepper together.  I used about a 1/3 cup of flour, 2 sazon packets, and a generous amount of pepper and like 3 shakes of the italian seasoning.  I mixed it all together with a fork.  You could use any seasoning that you like, but I have to say the sazon is definitely the secret ingredient that makes this chicken pop.

3. Turn on your deep fryer to heat up to 350 degrees.

4. Take a chicken strip and dredge through the flour mixture first.  Most people go for the egg first, but trust me on this one. After dredging through the flour dip the strip in the egg mixture to coat, and then repeat the dredging through the flour.  Repeat this process for each strip.  Set chicken aside until the fryer has reached the proper temperature.

5. The amount of strips you put in your fryer is totally dependent on the capacity of your fryer, so you may have to consult your instruction booklet.  You should never fill your basket more than 2/3 full in any fryer, in my opinion.  I put about 3 – 4 strips in my basket. Cook each basket for 12 minutes.  (Your time may vary with your fryer.  Typically appliances come with a temperature/time guide in the instruction booklet, so that can help you if my time is off for you.)

6. Remove cooked strips from the fryer and repeat process as necessary.

I made about 12 strips, and they were absolutely perfect. The 12 strips would be enough for 2 – 4 servings depending on the meal.

Enjoy! 🙂