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Buffalo Chicken and Blue Cheese Meatloaf

So the first time I made this recipe, I didn’t get to eat it. About 5 minutes into its sojourn in the oven, our power went out. And stayed out for 3 hours. I could have just pulled it out and stuck it back in the fridge maybe, except that I was so distracted by the power outage that I didn’t think of it until after we’d abandoned ship and gone to dinner and come home again. Doh! Luckily it wasn’t too hard to make so I made it again.

This was probably the recipe I was most excited to try from the Biggest Loser Family Cookbook: Buffalo Chicken and Blue Cheese Meatloaf. Matt is a huge fan of buffalo chicken wings and while I don’t like the wings, I do like the sauce and we’ve made many yummy variations using chicken and buffalo sauce, usually with blue cheese including salad and pizza. We hadn’t tried meatloaf though and I’m SO glad we did. It did not disappoint.

Continue reading “Buffalo Chicken and Blue Cheese Meatloaf”

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Grilled Chicken Parm

Matt is a Chicken Parmesan connoisseur. It is his litmus test for any Italian restaurant. So I was a bit nervous to make this no-breading chicken parmesan from Biggest Loser. Though we all agreed there is a special place in our hearts for the yummy breaded variety of chicken parm, this was an excellent option and certainly one we can have a bit more frequently since it is easy and healthy!

I opted to serve mine over a bed of roasted spaghetti squash, the kids had the usual spaghetti, and Matt did a mixture of the two. On the side, we served steamed green beans topped with marinara – it’s a combo I hadn’t had before, but it was very tasty and of course easy. One of these days, I would like to work on perfecting a marinara sauce recipe, possibly to can in the summer when tomatoes are in season. But not today – today it was Classico bought in bulk from Costco. At least I don’t have any Italian ancestors rolling over in their graves. Just the German ones who can’t believe I hate sauerkraut and don’t drink beer. Continue reading “Grilled Chicken Parm”

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Szechuan Beef with Veggies

We tried our first recipe from February’s cookbook this month … Szechuan Beef and Broccoli which I adapted based on what we already had, namely the GIANT bag of stirfry veggies that we buy at Costco and pretty much always keep on hand. The kids already know and love them (they are BIG fans of the baby corn, water chestnuts and carrots) and it’s an easier sell than just broccoli. Tabby is probably the only kid I know who doesn’t like the tree part of the broccoli, but rather the stem. Same with asparagus.

In some ways I’m kind of bummed that I selected this recipe to try. I wish I’d read through it a bit more. It uses bottled sauce and is really really close to what we already make for our weekly stirfry night recipe, just different sauce. But it is a good recipe and it’s a good lesson to me – read these recipes before picking them for the cookbook challenge.

 

Szechuan Beef with Veggies

adapted from The Biggest Loser Family Cookbook

Ingredients

  • frozen veggies in as large a quantity as you like (we use about 2 cups per person minimum) – onions, broccoli spears, snow peas, baby corn, carrots (smaller pieces), water chestnuts all stirfry well and I’m sure fresh would be good too
  • 4 oz steak per person, cut into thin strips or bite-sized chunks; we opt for leaner meats
  • stirfry sauce of your choice for the kids or spice scaredy cats
  • Sezchuan sauce for spice lovers
  • a small amount of cooked rice to serve alongside
  • 1 tsp olive oil or cooking spray

Directions

To make this SUPER quickly, I pre-cook the veggies somewhat. If they’re frozen, I microwave them until they’re about half defrosted. If they’re fresh, it’s less necessary, but you can still steam them in the microwave a bit. I pour off the excess water as well to speed it up. While the veggies are getting defrosted, spray a big skillet with cooking spray or use some olive oil. Heat over med-high heat. Once the veggies are done, throw them in the skillet and hear it sizzle. Keep them moving as they cook. It doesn’t take long.

When the veggies are cooked, set them aside and make sure your pan is nice and hot and add a little more oil/spray if needed. Place the steak in the pan in a single layer. Cook, stirring around a bit until all browned, about 2 minutes. Don’t over cook it or you will be rewarded with tough beef. Ick.

Return the veggies to the pan and warm everything a bit. If everyone likes the same amount of sauce, add your sauce and stir it up. This is easiest to do in the skillet, but if not, put everything into individual bowls and add the sauce there. Not too much sauce! You can always add more.

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Blueberry Buttermilk Muffin Cake

This weekend, post Zone, during the midst of our snowstorm, we had a very nice family breakfast. We don’t do leisurely breakfasts very often. Weekdays the kids are at their sitters, I’m at the office and Matt … I’m not sure Matt even eats breakfast most days. But on Saturday, we had no place to be at any certain time. So while Matt shoveled the walk and the kids played outside (again), I made Blueberry Buttermilk Muffin Cake (original recipe from Alexandra’s Kitchen). It came out super light and fluffy and browned on top and everyone absolutely loved it. We ate it with a side of bacon and some yogurt and of course, tea.

I picked up these darling little teacups for the kids at Fishs Eddy while we were in NYC. I think they’re technically espresso cups or something, but they make great little people teacups. I love the charming NYC skyline pattern and they’re a really fun souvenir. The size is great for the kiddos because even if they get spilled, the amount of liquid they hold is pretty small.

So we ate breakfast. We talked about our trip to NYC and Ben talked at length about what a funny movie Home Alone is and how Kevin smacks the burglars with paint cans, etc. Of course I only understood about half of what he said. That makes it all that much better.

Ingredients

  • ½ C butter, at room temperature
  • 2 t lemon zest or more
  • 3/4 C + 3 T sugar
  • 1 egg, room temperature
  • 1 t vanilla
  • 2 C flour
  • 2 t baking powder
  • 1 t coarse salt
  • 2 C fresh blueberries
  • 1/2 C buttermilk

Directions

Heat oven to 350. Cream together butter and all but one tablespoon sugar. Add egg, lemon zest and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Meanwhile, sift together 1 3/4 C flour, salt and baking powder together. Toss remaining 1/4 C flour with blueberries. In alternating batches, add buttermilk and flour to sugar/butter mixture. Gently fold in blueberries.

Lightly grease a 9×9 (or 8×8) square pan) and spread batter in. Sprinkle with remaining tablespoon of sugar and bake for 35 to 40 minutes.

This was wonderful warm from the oven and just as yummy cold the next day.

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Chicken Minestrone

Well the month and our experiment with The Zone is almost up as is my whirlwind tour of Zone Meals in Seconds cookbook. It’s been … interesting. I’ve done well on The Zone, losing about 9 lbs, which for a month is pretty good (and technically, I still have ’til Friday for my four weeks to be up, and I’ll be Zoned until then). I can’t say it’s something I feel like I could live with permanently. I like a bit more wiggle room in my life … I like food, good food, way too much to be this restricted, but I think it put me back on track with what I know to be healthy and reinforced some good lessons. Lean meat, healthy vegetables, less starches, little sugar, good fats.

The cookbook itself was a meh. Let’s say a 4 out of 10. This book had two kinds of recipes … one was real recipes as we think of them, the other, just thrown together ingredients. They were both a mix of awesome and blech! with a few meh … thrown in there. My samplings:

  1. Tex Mex meatloaf – seriously tasty; I’ve recommended this to a few people and it was very well received
  2. Salmon Tagine – loved the spinach, but the Salmon was just so-so
  3. Apple Spice Oatmeal – protein powder completely screwed up the texture; edible, but not yummy
  4. Moroccan chicken stew – ICK. Way too much of the cream of soup.
  5. Zoned Apple Muffins – These were good, but not great. Not a ton of flavor/taste.
  6. Mexican chicken chili – not so much a recipe, just a list of things to throw together in a bowl; pretty tasty though
  7. Blueberry and banana creme freeze – pretty tasty, even liked the sour cream in here – may post this one later.
  8. Chicken Minestrone – quite good!

Anyhow, more about Chicken Minestrone. This is one of those recipe that I don’t even really consider to be a recipe because there’s just not much to it. Just a couple of raw ingredients, the rest from cans or the freezer section, but I know a lot of people struggle with even this and it could be a gateway recipe, so I will post it. It really is tasty and super healthy. This makes 4 4-block meals (a TON of soup)

Ingredients

  • 3 cups of cubed frozen chicken
  • 1 10 oz package cut green beans
  • 1 can of kidney beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 qt low sodium chicken broth/stock
  • 1 jar marinara sauce
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2-3 zucchini quartered and sliced
  • 3 T EVOO
  • dried oregano and basil

Directions

Heat the EVOO in a dutch oven. While the oil is heating, cook the green beans to about 75% done in the microwave. Add the chicken, garlic, zucchini, green beans and herbs to the dutch oven and cook until all are warmed through and fragrant. Add the kidney beans, broth and marinara. Stir to combine and bring to a boil and simmer for a few minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

 

I really enjoyed experimenting with this cookbook this month. It’s not one that I expect to turn to often but it gave me a couple good new recipes. Next month will be The Biggest Loser Family Cookbook.

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Salmon Tagine


It would be an understatement to say that this was my best photographic work, or even good. Honestly, by the time I “plated” dinner last night, I was done. We spent ALL weekend sanding and polying the pieces of Ben’s bed. And we’re still not done. Probably not even that close. I was achey and grumpy and I didn’t even really want to cook. But we had to eat, so I did. This is why I buy ingredients. I won’t let them go bad and so I find myself in the kitchen even when I don’t want to making dinner.

This Salmon Tagine was the second recipe we tried from Zone Meals in Minutes. I can’t say it was a pretty meal. I probably could have done more with styling, but it was somewhat in the slop category as far as looks go. Luckily the taste was good. My favorite part was the cooked spinach with walnut sauce. YUM. I would have that anytime and it wasn’t too hard to make (though I always blanch a bit at the thought of cleaning the food processor). The salmon was yummy, despite the fact that I overcooked it – things got hectic. But I’m not sure it was so yummy I’d feel compelled to make it again. I really LOVE our Chicken Tagine recipe. This one was a bit more meh. I was tempted to post just the spinach, but I will post the whole since it make a complete Zoned meal (4 4-block meals) with my suggestions for improvement.

The kids and Matt all liked the salmon well enough which is a pretty good endorsement since it was over-cooked. But personally, I thought the spinach was the star.

Ingredients

  • 30 walnut halves, lightly toasted (i.e. rattle them around in a dry frying pan on med-high heat for a few minutes – watch like a hawk so they don’t burn)
  • ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons dried dill
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
  • ½ to 1 teaspoon hot sauce
  • 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 ½ cups minced onion
  • 2/3 cup water or chicken stock or broth
  • ¼ cup raisins
  • 12 whole, dried apricots, quartered
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • ½ teaspoon ground cumin
  • ¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
  • 1 cinnamon stick (or 1/2 tsp cinnamon)
  • 1 teaspoon peeled, minced fresh ginger root
  • salt
  • two 1-pound bags washed, stemmed, trimmed spinach leaves
  • 4 cups thinly sliced mushrooms

Directions

Place walnuts, vinegar, dill, garlic and hot sauce in food processor and process until smoothish. In a large fry pan, saute onions in olive oil until tender, about 5-7 minutes. Add apricots, raisins, minced garlic, ginger and spices with broth or water and then top with salmon. Bring to a low boil and simmer until salmon is done, approx 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat a half cup of water (or leftover broth!) in a dutch oven or stock pan. Add spinach and mushrooms and steam until tender, about 5 minutes. Drain if necessary and toss with walnut sauce.

Serve salmon fillets topped with tagine sauce, and spinach on the side.

 

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Tex Mex Meatloaf

Last night we tried the first recipe from Zone Meals in Seconds. I always love it when the first recipe I try from a new cookbook is a winner and this one was a MAJOR winner. Though this is Zone specific, Matt and I both agreed that we would eat it anytime. It’s your basic meatloaf, with a few interesting additions and served with a side of guacamole. Best of all, both kids loved it! Really, what’s not to like?

The full zone recipe has a side salad with romaine (we used baby greens), 1/4 C low fat cheddar per person, thinly sliced celery, shredded carrots and a 1/4 cucumber. Adding the salad makes it a full 4-block Zone meal if you’re interested. I added just a little salsa for dressing. I love me some salsa.

Ingredients

  • 2 eggs
  • ¾ cup  black beans
  • 1 tablespoon chili powder blend
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • ¼ teaspoon ground red pepper (optional)
  • 1 tablespoon tamari soy sauce (optional)
  • 1/3 cup non-instant rolled oats, uncooked
  • 15 ounces lean ground beef  (ground turkey works too)
  • 2 tablespoons dried onion flakes
  • ½ cup fresh or frozen corn
  • 1 cup minced yellow or red bell pepper
  • 1 cup no-salt diced tomato with jalapeño
  • avocado

Directions

Mix and mash as you would any meatloaf. Place yummy mash in a 9×5 loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 60 to 75 minutes or until thermometer regisiters 160 for beef or 180 for poultry. Mash/chop avocado and season as desired for guacamole (we use chili powder and garlic salt). Serve slices of meatloaf with guacamole. Groan and say “oooh” a lot while eating.

We actually made this the night before and baked it about 15 minutes extra to compensate for the chillier meat temps.

 

 

 

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Smores Cookies

Since Tabby was born, we’ve been going to Zoolights every year. And as is tradition, we bring a warm beverage in our thermoses (pretty much the only time we use them) and a treat to go with them. This time, inspired by a pin on one of my boards, we made these s’more “cookies” they were super simple and turned out really cute. They were a nice change of pace from cookies and we’d make them again anytime.

Ingredients

  • graham crackers
  • marshmallows
  • chocolate almond bark
  • white sprinkles

Directions

Lay out a sheet of wax paper on a cookie sheet or counter before you start. Then begin by breaking the chocolate bark into squares. In a microwavable bowl, microwave 30 seconds or 1 min at a time then stir. Repeat until melted. Then place a few squares of graham crackers on a microwaveable plate and marshmallows on top of them. Microwave for 30 sec – 1 min then top with another graham cracker. Push the crackers down to spread around the marshmallow. Some came out the sides and I found it worked best to scrape this off on the side of another plate. Then dip the sandwiches in chocolate to the desired depth and place on the wax paper. Decorate with sprinkles if desired. Allow to harden for 30 minutes or so and then store in an airtight container.

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Apple Chips

This “recipe” is so simple I hesitate to even post it, but these are my kids new favorite snack and they are healthy, cheap and contain only one ingredient, so I thought I should share.

Ingredients

  • 4-5 medium apples apples, thinly sliced

Directions

I will give two methods for doing this. We have a dehydrator so we used that, but you can also use your oven. The prep, however, is the same. You’ll need to slice your apples very thinly … 1/8 inch or less, I’d guess. I’m sure someone can do this by hand, but I’m not that person, so I use a mandolin. They’re not too expensive and they’re super useful for many things as they slice in many thickness and grate as well. I do not bother to core them since the seeds come out as you slice thinly.

Oven: Heat oven to 225 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with silpats or parchment paper. You can also use cooling racks if you have some that are big enough to span cookie sheets. Place the apples on the cookie sheets. You can put them right next to each other, but don’t overlap. They will shrink some as they dry. Bake for an hour and flip if you aren’t using the cooling racks. Then bake another hour.

Dehydrator: Line all dehydrator racks with apples. You can really get them close together since they shrink as they dry. Turn dryer on. They will be pretty darn good after 2 hours, but we like to go closer to 4 to get them real crispy and since you’re not monopolizing the oven forever, you can.

There are all kinds of recipes on the net for these that add sugar (or splenda or maple syrup or honey), but I personally think the apples have all the sugar you need, especially after it’s concentrated when they dry and shrink a bit. I would like to try sprinkling a little nutmeg or cinnamon on these, but really, they are incredibly good as-is. We have been going through a batch a day easily. Luckily apples are 77c/lb right now!

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Make-Them-Your-Own Muffins

One of the simplest weeknight dinners I make is a pan of scrambled eggs. I season/flavor them with whatever’s on hand: cream cheese and some dill, smoked salmon, leftover bacon, salsa, spinach and feta, ham and swiss and mushrooms. They are always a hit with the kids.

And whenever I do that I like to have some sort of lightly sweet baked good to go along with the meal. Sometimes it’s two-bite cinnamon rolls from Costco or just toast with jam, but likely as not, I make homemade muffins. I have used tons of recipes, but these are my go-to muffins that are perfect for using up any fresh fruit that’s getting past its prime or the tail-end of a frozen bag of fruit.

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup whole wheat flour (you can do all one type if you like)
  • 2 t baking powder
  • 1/2 t salt
  • 1/2 C sugar
  • 1/3 C natural applesauce
  • 1 egg
  • ~ 1/3 C milk
  • 1 T oil
  • 1 cup chopped fruit or a bit more if you’ve got it
  • spices to compliment your fruit

Note about fruit/spices: this is a great recipe for doing your favorite or using what you have. I’ve done blueberries with just a little vanilla extract, blueberries with some lemon zest and peaches with cinnamon, allspice and cloves. I think these would be wonderful with apples and/or raisins and cinnamon or anything else you fancy.

Directions

Heat your oven to 400. Place liners in a muffin pan – this recipe seems to make between 10 and 15 muffins depending on how much fruit you use and how generous you are when putting batter in the muffin tins.

In a bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder and sugar. In a 1 cup measuring cup, add the applesauce, oil and egg. Add enough milk to go to the 1 cup line and stir. Pour this into your dry ingredients along with any spices you’re using and stir until combined, but do not over-mix. Carefully fold in your chopped fruit.

Pour batter into prepared muffin cups. I like to do 2/3 to 3/4 full though the original recipe calls for filling them to the top! Bake for 18-25 minutes or until just browning on top.