Erin's Berry Trail Mix

My dissertation director gave me a giant jar of almonds and an almost two pound bag of dried blueberries.  It made me super happy, but now I have a giant jar of almonds and an almost two pound bag of dried blueberries.

I was super excited, but I didn't quite know what to do with them.  I decided to make trail mix for the road (that didn't last that long).

Erin's Berry Trail Mix
1 cup dry roasted, unsalted almonds
1/3 cup dried blueberries
1/3 cup dried tart cherries
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup white chocolate chips

This is a super simple recipe.  I just tossed everything in a tupperware container and shook it up.  However, I did not pay attention to what size of container I used.  Don't make my mistake.  You need room to shake it up.

Almonds in the bottom of a container.

All the fruit goes on top.

Then the white chocolate chocolate chips go on top of that.  As you can see, this is full to the very top.  The lid fit, but it had no room to shake the ingredients together.

New, improved, bigger container.

I ate all of this in two days.  I had very little help.  Since it was so good, I made more for friends to take on their road trip.

Obviously there are issues with this (dried fruit and almonds= tons of calories, dried fruit and white chocolate chips=tons of sugar).  However, I think it is better than cookies and candy bars. Probably.  It certainly tastes very good :-)

Turkey Taco Rice

I've been eating way too much junk food lately, and a lot of high fat foods, including a lot of beef.  For my Texan friends, eating all beef is not a problem at all, but I try to avoid it as the daughter of a man with heart disease. I'd like to avoid that, thanks. I needed to do something to try to control my bad habits, so I bought some ground turkey (extra lean!).

When I brought it home, I had no idea what to do with it. I thought about turkey burgers, but I wasn't in the mood.   I considered tacos, but I didn't really feel like it (messy).  Then, inspiration hit.  Taco Rice. I'd bought the taco rice packet and eaten it on a meatless day a couple of weeks ago. I wasn't particularly impressed. I could do better, I was sure.  And I did!

Turkey Taco Rice for One

1/4 pound extra lean ground turkey
1/2 cup vegetable stock (reduced sodium if you can swing it)
1/3 can fire roasted tomatoes
1/3 packet reduced sodium taco seasoning (or your own seasoning mix) 
1/2 cup minute brown rice

1/3 cup fire roasted corn (I bought a mix with black beans and peppers in it)
2 tablespoons reduced 

The construction is super easy. 

1.)  Brown the ground turkey.

 

2.)  Add the stock, tomatoes, and taco seasoning.
3.)  Bring to a boil.  My pan was super hot (stupid electric stove!), so the stock pretty much boiled when it hit the pan.

3.)  Add the rice. Cover.  I added water here because my stock pretty much boiled off.

4.)  Halfway through the cooking time (7 minutes for my rice), add the frozen corn.

5.)  After the rice is done, sprinkle the cheese on top. You can also add cilantro and sour cream here, if you'd like. I added Tony Packo's Sweet Hot Jalapenos (the best thing ever invented, I am pretty sure).

6.) Enjoy!

It was so much better than the packaged stuff and it was so filling.  The beans in the corn mix helped, I'm sure.

Because sometimes you need spaghetti and meatballs

Sometimes you need spaghetti and meatballs.  You just really do.  It is a very rare occasion for me, but it happens.  I actually can't remember the last time I had spaghetti and meatballs.  I usually use turkey Italian sausage or eat spaghetti on a meatless day so it must be without meat.  However, today I wanted meatballs.

Luckily, when I made burgers for my birthday, ground beef was on sale (yay! savings!), so I bought two pounds, used 1/2 a pound and froze the rest.  I might not have had meatballs in the freezer, but I could make them easily enough.

Really, all I did for this was make the meatballs. The rest was store bought.  I used spinach pasta from Whole Foods (so good) and Classico Sweet Basil Marinara sauce.  I love all the Classico products.  I use their pesto and their pizza sauce as well.

Cheesy Meatballs

1/4 pound 93/7 ground beef
1 tablespoon breadcrumbs or crushed crackers
Garlic powder
Italian seasoning

1/2 tablespoon egg beaters
1/2+ tablespoon milk
1 tablespoon cheese



Step one is pretty easy.  Throw the meat (thawed) into a bowl.  Put the breadcrumbs or crushed crackers and seasoning on top.  I went a little crazy with the garlic and Italian seasoning because I was using cracker crumbs and not seasoned bread crumbs.  Season it to taste.

Mix all of that together by hand.  Sorry folks, but it really needs to be by hand.  Then add the egg beaters and milk.  Mix it again to see the texture because you may need a bit more milk.  You want it moist so it will form a ball.  Then add the cheese and mix again.  BY HAND. 

Roll them into balls.  I like little mini meatballs, mainly because they cook faster, but also because they are cute.  Mini=cute.  You know it does.

While these are sitting, I put my water on to make my pasta.

Then I fried the meatballs in a pan.  I like them to have a nice crust on them.

I fried them on as many sides as I could.  Crust.  You can see that they have a little pink in them still.  That is fine, because you are going to boil them in your sauce anyway.

I added my jarred sauce and water.  If I had any red wine, I would have added that instead.  However, since I knew I was going to be boiling this for a while, I knew I needed extra moisture or I would have no sauce left.

I also put a lid on the pan so that the meatballs would steam a bit.  The difficult part here is to know when the meatballs are done.  I wasn't very even with the meatball size, so I ended up pulling the largest couple first and cutting them in half.  You have to take them out of the pan or they just fall into the sauce again.  It took about 15ish minutes.  Of course, it depends on the size of the meatballs.  you can also bake these in the sauce, but that will take a long time and I have no patience at all.

I served it topped with more of the six cheese blend that I had put in the meatballs.  It was a good cold weather comfort food meal :-)

Mini BBQ burgers on a pretzel bun

I am a little sad.  I had such hopes for grilling these burgers, but the temperature dropped twenty degrees in an hour and it got SUPER windy.  Thanks, Lubbock!

However, I had my George Foreman grill, which is an okay replacement.  No, it doesn't give it the grilled flavor, but it isn't too bad.  I love that mine has removable plates.  It makes clean up 1000x easier.

This is really a variation of the turkey burgers I posted in May.  I just really wanted beef this time.

Mini BBQ Burgers on pretzel buns

1/2 lb 93/7ground beef
1/4 cup crushed crackers (I used Texas Firecrackers because they are awesome.)
1/2 an egg, beaten (or, as I used 1 1/2 tablespoons egg beaters)
2 tablespoons milk
seasoning to taste (I used garlic powder, onion powder, red and black pepper, a dash of cayenne and salt)
4 Sister Schubert's pretzel buns (baked according to directions)

Toppings

2 tablespoons Tony Packo's BBQ sauce (or whatever sauce you like)
1 slice cheddar jack cheese
1 tablespoon french fried onions
4 dill pickle slices

The construction of these burgers is really simple.

First, mix all the ingredients (minus the buns) together.  I used my hands, because it mixes more easily that way. 

Next, form them into four small burger patties.  If you are using a George Foreman, make them into meatballs instead.  The grill will flatten them. 

Cook them until they are well done (these include egg, so it is better to be safe).  It took my burgers about 10 minutes, but it will depend on the thickness and the temperature.  I didn't really preheat the grill, so it may take less time. 

Cut the pretzel buns in half and put the burger on the bottom.  Add the cheese, BBQ sauce, and fried onions to the top.  Add the pickles to the other side. 

I served my burgers with sweet potato fries and a small salad with thousand island dressing.  It was a lovely, lovely dinner.  Luckily, I have left overs too :-)

Happy Valentine's Day!

My blog went to the back burner (if you will excuse the cooking humor) over the summer because I was focusing on my qualifying exams.  In the fall, I actually took (and passed) those exams.  I've been recovering.  However, I'm feeling pretty good now that I have half a horrible, almost complete draft of one chapter of my dissertation turned in.

In celebration, my food blog is returning!  Yay!  And on Valentine's Day too.

To me, Valentine's Day has always been about more than just romantic love.  It probably comes from my parents always celebrating Valentine's Day with me and my sister.  It was never just about them.  So, I like to celebrate in a variety of ways.  Spending time with friends.  Sending out gifts to family and friends (I made cookies this year---that is a long story that will not be featured here).

This year, I decided to start the day with some heart shaped donuts.  I'd bought a heart shaped donut pan on clearance and I just HAVE to use it.  I was going to make cake batter donuts with red velvet cake mix (using It's Always Autumn's recipe here). Perfect for Valentine's Day, right?

However, I had a sad, brown banana waiting to be transformed, so I looked for a banana donut recipe on Pinterest (where else?)  I found this one from Get Me Cooking.  I modified it a little, mainly because I wanted some peanut butter flavor in there.

Banana Donuts with Peanut Butter and Chocolate

1 small, ripe banana, mashed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon greek yogurt
1 tablespoon Light Smart Balance, melted
3 tablespoons Egg Beaters
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup PB2, powdered peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

1.)  Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.  Spray donut pan with non-stick spray.
2.) Mix banana, sugar, and greek yogurt in a small bowl.

3.) Add melted butter, egg beaters (you can also just use an egg), and vanilla and mix well.

4.) Stir in dry ingredients until just combined.

5.) Fold in mini chocolate chips.

6.)  Using a pastry bag or a ziplock bag with the corner cut off, fill the donut pan until about 3/4 full (I overfilled a little so I got 10 donuts instead of 12).

7.) Bake 12-15 minutes.

After I took them out of the pan, I drizzled them with melted chocolate chips and put Valentine's Day sprinkles on them.  They were quite the perfect breakfast with my coffee. 

Yum.  My sister got me the owl mug for Valentine's Day last year.  It is the perfect accompaniment for the donuts!

Greek Yogurt Key Lime Pie

I have a new excuse for the last post this week.  I wrote a recipe out for the UWC after I brought in the pie.  That says something about the popularity of this one, I think.  Mainly, the fact that this is easy (super easy; exceptionally easy) and that it is about 200 calories per slice makes it almost impossible to resist. 

When I first started trying to lose weight, I found this "cheesecake" recipe online.  All it called for was a container of plain or vanilla greek yogurt and some Jello sugar free cheesecake pudding mix.  I made this all the time for dessert. 

Since then, I have made many variations of this.  However, I hadn't made a pie until last week. 

Greek Yogurt Key Lime Pie
4-5.3 oz containers of light greek key lime yogurt (Yoplait or Dannon are good)
1-1 oz box of Jello sugar free, fat free cheesecake mix (not prepared)
1  premade reduced fat graham cracker crust
1/2 container light Cool Whip

1.)  Empty the greek yogurt into a bowl.
2.) Mix the cheesecake mix in.

3.) Scoop into the premade graham cracker crust.
4.) Smooth the filling out.

5.) Cover with the Cool Whip.
6.)  Chill for at least an hour and serve.

Unofficial #7--stand back.  This pie goes fast.
 

The other great thing about this recipe is that it is so versatile.    Change the flavor of the yogurt and you get a new pie.  You can also drizzle chocolate sauce on top (which would be great for coconut or banana or raspberry pie).

Mango Cheesecake Parfait

Yesterday, I ate pizza for two meals and it was GOOD.  Really good.  However, I felt REALLY bad.  Of course, the whole day was a bit of a mess on my part.  It began okay.  I had set my alarm for 8 AM to get up and Remy on his morning walk.  Because it had rained (yay for rain!) the night before, I was conflicted about what to wear. I checked the weather and it was a bit cool, so I put on jeans and a tshirt then took Remy out.

Within five minutes, I was hungry and thirsty, but Remy wanted the longer walk because he didn't get one on Friday.  It seemed like a good idea anyway, since the park was probably a mud hole.  I walked him around the neighborhood and he was in rare form.  He barked at a bunch of dogs.  A bunch.  Even dogs that he normally would ignore, he barked at.  My patience was wearing thin.  Finally, we got back to the complex.  I had to throw Remy's poop bag away, so I went to the right.  Remy, however, was desperate for his breakfast, so he went straight.  My feet started to slide in the mud, and I tried to right myself.  I thought I had managed it, but my other foot slid when Remy try to pull me towards the apartment again (not that he has that much power). I started to fall, grabbed out for the stupid bushes and still hit the ground.  I was caked in mud and Remy was not sympathetic at all.   He wanted breakfast.

After that lovely experience (and a shower), I went back to bed.  However, I had plans so I had to get up eventually.  Between the fall and missing my exit to Jill's house, I was finished.  Pizza for lunch!  Then, I had a birthday party for a friend's son, and I went for pizza and cake there too.  I won't go into the other things I ended up eating yesterday.

So I was determined to be better today.  And I was.  Part of that "better" came from not falling on either of Remy's walks today :-)  The rest of it was from a lovely dessert I made myself for a late night snack.

I do this "cheesecake" a lot and I use a lot of variations.

Mango Cheesecake Parfait

1/2 a medium mango
1 container greek yogurt (I used Dannon Light and Fit Vanilla)
1/4 box of Jello sugar free cheesecake pudding mix

Slice the mango.  You can use another mix in/layering agent here.

Mix together the yogurt and cheesecake pudding mix.

Layer the mango and the yogurt (I only did two layers of pudding with fruit in the middle, but if you use a container that isn't as wide, you can use more).

Top with whipped cream and a cherry (or other toppers).  Crushed graham crackers would work here too.

It is about 130 calories and it fills in that need for something sweet after dinner.