Summertime Snack Attack

“Weekends are a bit like rainbows; they look good from a distance but disappear when you get up close to them.”

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Hope everyone’s week went well and that you have a fun or relaxing weekend planned. As for me, I will be working today and then possibly meeting my parents for a lunch date tomorrow afternoon at one of our favorite buffets! Speaking of eating out, I forgot to mention that last week I ate at Buffalo Wild Wings for the first time ever. We don’t have one in our city yet, but word is one is in the works! I ordered the Buffalitos which are two soft flour tortillas with seasoned, grilled chicken, lettuce, pico de gallo, a blend of cheese, sour cream and whatever sauces you choose. I picked their Spicy Garlic and Caribbean Jerk. I fell in love with both sauces and the Buffalitos were the perfect amount of food, plus I got the roasted potato wedges.

Here’s the rest of this weeks work re-cap:

Wednesday

Supper

• Finnish pasties (recipe here)
• Tossed salad
• Sautéed zucchini and corn
• Rice Krispie Bars

(Side note: Pasties are a northern Minnesota food that started out due to the huge demand of mining. Miner’s would find it easy to just grab a pasty, which is somewhat like a hot pocket filled with all the necessary nutrients they needed. Many restaurants in northern Minnesota specialize in pasty making. More of the story here.)

 

(Had to make one gluten-free rice krispie bar, in front)

Thursday

Supper

• Cream of Asparagus Soup
• Cucumber Boats with Egg Salad
• Perfect Bread with Peach Preserves
• Strawberry Shortcakes

Friday

Supper

I had to draw the Indian Tribe flags because the wild rice came straight from the lakes surrounding our area and it is harvested and picked by the Native Indians.

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Like I said before, working 6 days a week gives me a chance to finally try all the different on-the-go snacks I have had sitting around for quite some time.

First of all..have you heard of a jazz apple?

“Jazz is a modern apple variety, developed in New Zealand in the 1980s. It is a cross between two other major apple varieties - Braeburn and Gala. Not surprisingly it has a lot of "shelf appeal", being a medium size, and with a very attractive appearance. It is marketed as a "bi-colored" apple, because the strong red/maroon color is broken up by areas of green / yellow / orange.”

It’s by far my new favorite apple!

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Heard of the sugar free Crystal Light Iced Cups? I hadn’t either until I stumbled upon them at Wal-Mart. I got the Lemonade/Cherry Pomegranate flavor—so good, and at only 35 calories a cup, you can’t go wrong!

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I also tried a new-to-me bar, Powerbar Cranberry Oatmeal Cookie.

Chew Review: It was just ok. It was somewhat small in size, and didn’t really have a taste resembling a cookie at all. However, I did like the generous amount of cranberries and the non-sticky texture of the bar. Probably wouldn’t buy it again.

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Chocolate and peanut butter have to be one of my favorite combos, and rice krispie bars have to be one of my favorite childhood snacks. This bar satisfied it all in one, plus it was a decent size and organic which is a plus!

EnviroKidz Organic Crispy Rice Bar—Peanut Choco Drizzle

 

Stay Tuned for a homemade granola bar recipe tomorrow!

What’s your current favorite snack food?

Mexican In and Out

I think it’s safe to say that Mexican food is slowly becoming my favorite cuisine to eat. Yes, it may just pass up Italian in the near future!

Sunday, my mom and I had a fun day planned. We went to a place in town that I have just recently become familiar with called “Glazed and Amused”. You go and pick out ceramic pottery ranging from plates, cups, and bowls to figurines, planting pots, and magnets. Then you choose if you want to do acrylic painting or glazed (which they fire in the kiln). They provide brushes, 100’s of colors of paints, and just a great artsy atmosphere to take your time in painting your piece. Sunday turned out to be a rainy day, so it worked out perfect!

Mom decided to paint a mug..sadly we didn’t get an “after” photo, so when I pick them up this week I’ll post the glazed pieces.

I had to choose a kitchen piece of course—I did a cutting board, but I decided I am going to hang it on my wall being I already have several cutting boards.

We had such a blast at Glazed and Amused, we are already brainstorming what we should paint for our next trip!

A few hours of intense painting can definitely work up an appetite, so we figured it was a good opportunity to try out the new Mexican restaurant in town.

Right upon entering, I loved the Spanish style decor!

And of course I love the fresh and warm tortilla chips they bring out—yum!

Fortunately, I liked my entree even more! I chose the El Mariachi Especial which consisted of steak topped with shrimp and mushrooms and a cheese sauce,I subbed a red sauce, served with rice and guacamole. Mexican flavor at it’s finest!

But, if you’re not a fan of going out to eat, or simply want to cook at home for the night, Mexican at home can be just as tasty!

Impossibly Easy Taco Pie

Ingredients:

• 1 pound lean ground beef, I used 1 cup Morningstar Soy Crumbles
• 1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
• 1 package (1 ounce) Old El Paso® taco seasoning mix
• 1 can (4.5 ounces) Old El Paso® chopped green chiles, drained
• 1/2 c sweet corn (either canned, fresh, or frozen)
• 1/2 c Hunts fire roasted diced tomatoes
• 1 cup milk, I used soymilk
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup Heart Smart Bisquick mix
• 3/4 cup shredded Mexican blend shredded cheese
• salsa (any variety)
• Sour cream, if desired

Directions:

• Heat oven to 400°F. Grease 9-inch pie plate. Cook ground beef and onion in 10-inch skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until beef is brown; drain. Stir in seasoning mix (dry). Spoon into pie plate; top with chilies, tomatoes, and corn.
• Stir milk, eggs and Bisquick mix until blended. Pour into pie plate.
• Bake about 25 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake 8 to 10 minutes longer. Cool 5 minutes. Serve with salsa and sour cream.

Tex mex Steak Fajitas

Ingredients:

• 1 lb flank or skirt steak
• 1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 1 green bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 pkg fajita seasoning mix
• Tortillas, I used whole wheat
• Cheese, sour cream, salsa, shredded iceburg lettuce, and guacamole if desired

Directions:

• Heat to high heat a large cast iron pan or griddle. Add a teaspoon of olive oil to the pan. Add the steak, frying on each side for 3 minutes, or to desired doneness. 3 minutes per side will yield approximately medium rare doneness for an average cut of flank steak.
• Reduce the pan heat to medium high. Add a little more oil to the pan if necessary. Add the onions, bell peppers. Cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes, until the onions are slightly translucent.
• Slice the meat against the grain into thin slices. If you slice the meat at a slanted angle, you will be able to get your slices pretty thin.
• Turn skillet on low, add meat and follow package directions on fajita seasoning mix.
• Place warm tortillas on place, fill with meat mixture and desired toppings.

*Serve with fat-free canned refried beans and/or packaged Spanish rice.

Lightened Up and Layered

Hello all!

Sorry posts have been sparse, but lately the weather has been seeming more like spring and less like winter, so I try to take advantage of it while I can. It’s not often Minnesota winters treat us nicely! It seems as soon as the holiday hoorah slows down, I get into spring cleaning mode. Thursday my grandma came down to visit and helped tackle my apartment from top to bottom. We ended the day with a sparkling clean result an a definite appetite. Lately I’ve been really enjoying one of Applebee’s new menu items. I’m sure you’ve maybe saw the commercials for the new “Meals Under 550”—this is one of them and I would’ve never guessed that such a rich, flavorful and filling restaurant meal would clock in at that low of calories. It was a good surprise! Have you tried any of Applebee’s new “Under 550 Calorie” menu items? Raves/reviews?

I got the Grilled Dijon Chicken and Portabellas…

“Marinated chicken breast grilled and topped with roasted red peppers, onions, portobello mushrooms, Dijon sauce, and aged cheddar cheese. Served with steamed herb potatoes and seasonal vegetables.”

• Overall, this was a great meal for $9.99 and under 550 calories—I would highly suggest you try it!

I also did the weekly grocery shopping and was pleasantly surprised that Wal-Mart had their giant bags of frozen chicken breasts on sale for half the price that they normally are—score! At around $3 for that big of a bag, I just couldn’t pass it up even though my freezer is really overloaded full. That is one of the reasons I really like Wal-Mart; their occasional sales can be a steal! However, Wal-Mart does have it’s pros and cons in my book.

Pros:

• They carry a wide variety of products.
• Offer all departments needed for a single trip—no multiple stops.
• Great Value brand offers similar products to name-brand at a cheaper price.
• When they have sales they are worth the trip.
• I really enjoy their self checkouts so I can bag things how I like them.
• They are really good about accepting local sales ads and matching the lowest price.
• Their bakery clearance can be a real deal for low-priced and fresh-baked breads/pastries.

Cons

• Way too busy—it takes a lot of effort to get in and out of the one in my town unless of course you go at 6 am or 10 pm.
• Sometimes the produce can be a bit on the low quality side.
• Sometimes customer service can take forever to get through.

What are your Wal-Mart pros and cons?

So thanks to Wal-Mart, this delish recipe was born—the sauce makes a double batch so you can store it in the refrigerator for up to a week. You can use it to make another batch of this recipe, as a pizza sauce, a dip, or whatever else you can come up with. This is one of those recipes I could make numerous times a month—and even better is that it’s healthy!

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

--Makes 4 large enchiladas—can be doubled without doubling the sauce--

Ingredients:

• 2 c chopped cooked chicken breast
• 1 c green pepper
• 3/4 c chunky mild salsa
• 1 c shredded cheddar cheese (I used fat free)
• 1 c diced green pepper
• 4 oz fat free block cream cheese
• 1 Tbsp water
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 4- 10 inch tortillas (preferably light and whole wheat)
• 1 c fat free sour cream
• 1 (1o 3/4 oz) can of fat free condensed cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 c skim milk
• 1 can green chilies
• 1/4 c diced yellow onion

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 F and lightly spray 8 x 8 baking pan.
• Beat cream cheese, water, seasonings, 1/2 c salsa and chicken together in mixing bowl.
• Lay out 4 tortillas, place 1/4 c chicken mixture down the middle . Roll up and place seam side down next to each other in pan.
• In large bowl, mix soup, sour cream, milk, 1/4 c salsa, chilies, and onion—pour half over enchiladas—reserve remaining for other use.

• Bake 30 min. Sprinkle with cheese evenly and return to oven for 5 more minutes.

• **Check out where my cookie dough truffles showed up!**

South of the Border Super Bowl Sunday

Had a  wonderful day off today—the sun was shining (finally), went out to eat with a good friend and had some amazing pizza, topped off the day with some Cold Stone coffee flavored ice cream, and now kicking back and finally getting around to blogging about the Super Bowl on Sunday.

Reading blogs this week I’ve seen a lot of yummy looking Super Bowl food—too bad we all couldn’t get together and swap food. But at least there’s always the option of sharing through a blog. We hadn’t really planned out what we were going to make Sunday because on Saturday I was snowmobiling from a.m. to p.m. and clocked out at around 200 miles—to say I was a little sore Sunday would be an understatement—ouch! I usually like to plan menus ahead of time, but I’ve found that last minute things can actually come together rather well—this was one of those times! It came out as more of a Mexican meal, hence the “south of the border” theme.

I have never had buffalo before, but since we had some on hand I thought why not use it for tacos. Here’s some surprising health benefits and a meat chart about buffalo I thought were interesting:

Buffalo meat has 3.5 times less fat than beef.

Buffalo meat is lower in cholesterol than beef.

Buffalo meat contains less calories than beef.

Buffalo meat has more iron and vitamin B-12 content than beef.

Buffalo meat has 35% more protein than beef.

Do you eat buffalo meat? I was highly impressed with the stats and ever more so with the taste—I would prefer this anytime over beef! Any recipes you have using buffalo?

Buffalo Tacos

Ingredients:

• 8 tortillas (see what I used below)
• 1 lb ground buffalo
• 1 can green chilies, drained
• 1 c chunky salsa
• 1/2 c green pepper, diced
• 1/4 c yellow onion, diced
• pepper to taste
• shredded pepper cheese blend, sour cream, taco sauce, and shredded lettuce

Directions:

• Spray skillet with nonstick cooking and brown buffalo on medium heat until cooked through (6-8 min). Add taco seasoning and water called for on package and mix thoroughly.

• Add in pepper, onions, salsa, ground pepper, and chilies. Cook until heated through.
• Shut off stovetop and cover to keep warm while you warm tortillas in microwave briefly.

I used Gourmet Tortillas Premium Light Healthy Flour Tortillas. No taste or texture difference in these compared to your standard tortilla, so why not just go the healthy route?

• Add lettuce, meat, and desired toppings to your taco, roll it up, and chow down—but don’t forget to make this delish cornbread for a side dish!

Black Bean Cornbread

Ingredients:

• 1 package Betty Crocker cornbread and ingredients called for on package—minus oil(not needed due to the sauce in the vegetable mix).

• 1 New Age Southwest Fiesta Blend frozen vegetable mix

Directions:

• Preheat oven to temp called for on package.
• Spray 8 x 8 inch pan with nonstick spray.
• Mix cornbread, egg, and milk thoroughly.
• Add in full bag of veggie mix and continue stirring.

• Bake for time called for on package.
• Let cool briefly, cut into 8 slices or 16 bite-size appetizer bites.

Stay tuned for the next three days—three days of tempting Valentine’s treats for the one you love—or heck, just you! :-)

Midweek Mexican

Hello Amigos!

Stopping by with a little south-of-the-border flare today! I love Mexican food—quesadillas, burritos, and salsa. Here’s some tips for eating healthier at your favorite Mexican restaurant:

• Choose soft shells vs. crunchy—they are baked and not fried.
• Go all out with salsa.
• Black beans are an excellent choice for most any dieter. They are low-fat, high in protein and provide plenty of fiber.

• Refried beans may sound like a good choice, but they are often prepared with lard and Mexican cheese blends, or even bacon, which really ups the fat and calorie content of what could be a healthy side.

• Con queso dips and nacho cheese are tempting toppers for chips, but they're both extremely rich and high in fat and calories.

• Switch to bean burritos instead of beef or cheese burritos and you'll be saying adios to lots of extra calories.

• Some better choices are: chicken fajitas, bean burritos, a sautéed chicken dish with peppers and onions (hold the cheese!), or a soft taco.

• Some popular dishes to avoid include: nachos, chimichangas, chalupas, taquitos, and chile relleno.

What are your healthy Mexican eating tips?

Since you don’t always have to go out to get a southern sizzle, I like eating Mexican homemade at times, even though I have not once ounce of Mexican in me..pasta+bread=Italian is all me! :-)

Vegetarian Tacos

Serves: 1

Ingredients:

• One 8’-12’ whole wheat tortilla
• 1/4 c Boca soy crumbles, or other meatless crumbles of your choice
• 1 Tbsp taco seasoning
• 2 tbsp FF sour cream
• 1/2 of a Roma tomato, chopped and seeded
• Handful of shredded lettuce
• 2 Tbsp black beans
• 1/4 c shredded Mexican cheese blend
• Add a dash of taco sauce to finish it up, my favorite below

Directions:

1. Mix taco seasoning with thawed Boca crumbles.
2. Pretty easy if you’ve ever eaten a taco—get out your tortilla, put lettuce, cheese and all the rest of the layers, topping it off with sour cream. Roll up that taco and chow!

Now if you want to eat a few tacos, instead of and extremely heavy side and dessert, a spicy Mexican soup can pair wonderfully with tacos—I am extremely happy with this soup recipe I came up with—enjoy!

Black Bean Taco Stoup

(It’s somewhat like soup, but somewhat like stew, hence the “stoup”)

Serves:4

Ingredients:

• 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cubed in 1’ cubes
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 green pepper, chopped
• 14.5 oz can Italian stewed tomatoes
• 14 oz chicken broth
• 7 oz black beans, rinsed from the can
• 2 Tbsp mild salsa
• 1 Tbsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 3 Tbsp taco seasoning
• 1 tsp basil

Directions:

• Sauté onion in a sprayed stock pot on medium heat for 10 minutes, or until translucent. Add bell peppers and sweet potato, reducing heat to low-med and continue to sauté for another 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and stir.
• Turn heat to low and add in all the rest of the ingredients except the beans, stirring after each addition.
• Simmer for 30 minutes then stir in beans.
• Serve with a dollop of FF sour cream if you wish!

And to round off this Mexican meal, head on over to the lovely Kelly and her blog to get the recipe for some Mini Cinnamon Horchata Cupcakes…adios!

 

Daily Giveaways

**Anoooother chocolate-covered giveaway for the chocolate monster within!**

**Gourmet popcorn flavors up for grabs here!**

**Crackers with a hefty dose of Omega' 3’s—two chances to get your hands on some here!**