Healthy fajitas

I love, love, love Mexican food. Mexican food and eating healthy, don’t usually go hand in hand. But we recently made some super tasty fajitas that came with no guilt by using some simple substitutions.

Instead of sour cream, Greek yogurt.
Instead of flour tortillas, corn tortillas.
Instead of chicken or beef, shrimp.
No rice or beans. (this was a sad loss)
2% milk shredded cheese instead of normal shredded cheese
Slices of avocado instead of guacamole

Fajita filling made out of: Shrimp, onions, red and yellow peppers, and tons of sliced mushrooms, sauteed in olive oil/sesame oil, covered in lots of black pepper, a bit of salt, some garlic powder, and heavily doused in Mama’s Spice (A great spice mix from New Mexico).

Topped with chopped tomatoes, slices of avocado, and a bit of salsa.

Depending on how much you pile on top of the fajitas, each fajita is roughly 200-250 calories.

Recession cooking part 7, the potato edition

Here’s another easy potato recipe that takes advantage of leftover bacon, sour cream and green onions from the previous recipe, as well as potatoes, and the cheapest protein: eggs.

Potato egg casserole:

The night before, chop 6 large potatoes into small chunks (home style hashbrown size or a bit larger)
Place in large bag with 4 tablespoons of olive oil and the following seasonings to taste: coarse salt, black pepper, garlic powder, rosemary. Toss potatoes in bag until coated, put in refrigerator overnight.

The next day, roast potatoes at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes, or until cooked all the way through, and slightly crunchy.

While potatoes are cooking, fry remaining package of bacon (about 12-16 pieces) and chop into bite-sized pieces. Chop remaining package of green onions thinly. In separate bowl, mix 10 eggs, 1 cup of milk, 1/2 cup sour cream and salt, black pepper and rosemary until eggs are separated in mixture.

In greased 9X13 pan, layer potatoes, bacon and green onions.  Pour egg mixture over top, covering all potatoes. Top with 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese. Bake at 350 degrees until toothpick comes out clean, about 45 minutes.

Serve alongside some fresh fruit, for this equation we’ll use apples.

Total ingredients, cost:
6 large potatoes: 75 cents
Olive oil: 10 cents
Seasonings: 10 cents
Bacon: $2
3/4 package green onions: 75 cents
10 eggs: $1
1 cup of milk: 30 cents
1/2 cup sour cream: 40 cents
1 cup cheddar cheese: 75 cents

6 apples, halved: $3

Total: $9.15 for 12 servings, or 76 cents a serving.

Great comfort food: Chocolate chocolate chip sour cream banana bread

We bought a bunch of bananas on sale the other day, and they turned brown and heavily spotted in only one day. My husband was sad, but I was secretly thrilled. I hadn’t made this in a couple of years, but remembered it being like a moist chocolate cake and heavenly.

• 1 cup butter
• 1.5 cups white sugar
• .5 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons flavored alcohol (we used cherry brandy. You could use vanilla extract)
• 4 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2/3 cup baking cocoa
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1.5 cups milk chocolate chips
• Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla together.
• Then add the eggs and mix.
• Then put in the dry ingredients and mix well.
• Add the bananas and sour cream and mix.
• Then add in the chocolate chips and pour into 3 greased loaf pans.
• Bake at 350 for 1 hour, or until a toothpick that has been inserted into the center comes out clean.

I served this topped with chocolate buttercream frosting. Decadent, delicious, and basically chocolate cake with potassium. 🙂

Part 2 of recipes for a semi-local birthday meal

This might be cheating, since this was the non-local part of our meal. However, you can most definitely find local pork chops in Missouri and that would probably make this taste even better!

Marinade mixture:
4 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp white rice vinegar
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp Sriracha
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground ginger

Pour ingredients for marinade into gallon-sized zip lock bag. Shake up. Place 4 large boneless, thick cut pork chops into bag. (We had 2 leftover) Shake until chops have been evenly coated. Let all air out of bag, reseal, and fold bag so pork chops are emersed into liquid. Marinate for at least 1 hour, or overnight.

Remove bag from fridge. Heat skillet on  high heat, and place 2 tbsp olive oil and a sprinkling of sesame oil on skillet. Lay down pork chops and quickly sear each side to get the nice, dark brown appearance on the outside. (About 30 seconds each side) Turn heat down to medium-high, and cook for approximatley 5 minutes each side or until pork chop feels 98% done. Place pork chops on plate and tent with aluminum foil, let rest for 5-10 minutes. This will allow the chops to finish cooking without drying out.

Serve! Super easy, tasty, and quick!

Twice baked potatoes = twice as delicious

Sadly, there are no beautiful pictures of these scrumptious potatoes to accompany this post. We, uh, ate all of the potatoes before it occurred to me. But, the recipe is so good that I am not letting that keep me from sharing this with you. This takes awhile, but very little hands on time – it’s a good meal for the weekend.

Serves: 4 as main dish, 8 as snack/side dish

What you will need:

4 large potatoes

6 slices of bacon

2 sprigs green onions

2 sprigs chives

2 ounces cream cheese

3 tablespoons milk

2/3 cup sharp cheddar cheese

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1.5 tsp garlic powder

1.5 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

8 cilantro leaves (or basil or whatever fresh herbs you have in your garden)

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees

2. Scrub potatoes under cold water. Dry.

3. Put potatoes in bowl with 1 tbsp olive oil. Brush or roll potatoes so that they are all covered with thin covering of olive oil. Sprinkle 1.5 tsp of salt total on 4 potatoes.

4. Place potatoes on upper oven rack, directly on rack (no pan). Place pan on lower oven rack to catch any drippings. Bake potatoes for about 45 minutes.

5. While potatoes are baking, chop 5 slices of bacon, green onions, cilantro and chives. Throw into bowl. Into same bowl, add garlic, pepper, cream cheese, milk, and 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese. Whip together thoroughly.

6. Remove potatoes and place in greased roasting pan. Carefully cut potatoes in half lengthwise so that the large, flat portions of the potato are on the pan. Using a large spoon, gently remove the insides of the potato, leaving the skin in tact. Put potato innards in with the cheese/herb/bacon mixture. Whip together again as you would mashed potatoes. If mixture is to dry, add a bit more milk.

7. Spoon cheese/herb/bacon/potato mixture back into potato skins until slightly overflowing. Top with remaining cheese. Chop remaining slice of bacon and sprinkle on top of potatoes.

8. Place pan in oven, cook at 375 degrees for 10 minutes, or until cheese is sufficiently bubbly and bacon is crisp.

California roll plate – otherwise known as sushi without the hard work

My husband and I looooove sushi. I mean, what’s not to like? Rice filled with delicous things you get to dip in soy sauce – yum. However, between our location and our lack of funding, it’s a rare treat for us. As the temperatures have been getting hotter, I have been searching for new recipes and have found one that will definitely be a regular.

Awhile back, we went to a 1/2 price appetizer happy hour at the Yard House at Legends. One of their appetizers is called a California Roll, but it is served on a plate instead of rolled traditional sushi style. Soooo much easier.

So we set about recreating this at our house. To my surprise, you can buy sushi rice at HyVee. Follow the directions printed on the package exactly, and you get perfect, restaurant quality sushi rice. 

What you will need:

To serve between 2-4 people (Depending on hunger)

1 cup dry sushi rice (about 1.5 cups cooked)

1 pound imitation crab

2 ounces cream cheese

1 tbsp Miracle Whip

1/4 teaspoon sesame oil

1/8 teaspoon soy sauce, + additional for dressing

1/8 teaspoon Siracha

1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds

1 whole avocacdo

1 whole medium cucumber

2 stalks green onions

Cook 1 cup (dry measurement) of sushi rice, following directions on package. You should end up with a bit more than 1.5 cups cooked rice. Layer on the bottom of cold bowls (2-4, depending on size).

In large bowl, melt together 2 ounces cream cheese, 1 tablespoon Miracle Whip, 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil, 1/8 teaspoon soy sauce, 1/8 teaspoon Siracha. Stir. Gently fold in 1 pound imitation crab (or real crab, if you’re feeling fancy :)), and chopped green onions. Sprinkle in 1/2 teaspoon seasame seeds. Layer mixture on top of rice in bowls.

Next, take 1 whole avocado and cut into segments. Arrange on top of crab mixture.

Cut cucumber (with seeds removed) into matchstick sized pieces. Arrange on top of avocado.

Garnish with a drizzle of soy sauce and serve. Delish, and takes 1/2 the time of regular sushi.

Easy leftover recipe

There are a few things in life I am incapable of making anything but a huge amount of. Soup. Pasta. Mashed potatoes.

So yesterday, I stared at a large amount of mashed potatoes, and wondered what to do with them. Then, of course – Shepherd’s Pie!

This is easy, cheap, and if you cook a lot, you probably already have the ingredients in your freezer/fridge.

I made this in a bread pan since there are only two of us, and we didn’t need even more leftovers. But you can just increase the amount to any size.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp butter

About 4 cups of mashed potatoes

2 sprigs green onions

4 uncooked Grands biscuits

1 cup shredded cheddar

2 leftover cooked burgers, or about 1/4-1/2 pound of meat

1 cup whole mushrooms

Use 1 tbsp butter to heavily grease pan. Spread mashed potatoes to fill 1/2 the pan. Add 1/2 cup of shredded cheese on top. Layer mushrooms and green onions on top of this (cut up mushrooms into pieces first). Layer meat on top of this. (We had 2 leftover bison burgers, and I laid these on top uncooked. However, you could layer crumbled up cooked burgers, or ground beef, turkey, chicken … anything you have in your fridge) Flatten biscuits and spread on top. (It took 4 for me, but if you are using a larger pan it will take more) Cover as much of the top as possible. Break up remaining tablespoon of butter into small pieces, and lay on top. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Bake at 350 degrees until top is golden brown. If you used precooked meat, the casserole will probably be done in about 20-25 minutes. If you use raw meat, it will take up to 45 minutes.

Buttercream frosting = nectar of the gods

Sorry my posting has been so recipe heavy recently. Between long hours at work, and Matt working extra hard, crazy long hours at homework leaving me to take care of all house things … the energy for sewing just hasn’t returned. It will eventually.

The one thing that energy remains for? Chocolate kahlua buttercream frosting. Because it’s made of chocolate … and butter … and sugar. And there’s always energy for that.

I don’t follow the recipe for buttercream that’s on the back of powdered sugar. It’s too heavy on the powdered sugar/milk, too light on the butter. I like the frosting to be thick, and so rich that even a small brownie is totally satisfying.

Recipe:

1 bag of powdered sugar

1.5 sticks of butter (told you :))

6 tablespoons Kahlua

1/4 cup milk

1/3 cup cocoa

Beat with mixers until frosting is smooth, thick and whipped. Add more or less milk to reach your desired consistency.

Spread on cake, brownies, cookies, graham crackers … or fingers. It’s that good.

Turkey, apple, mushroom cheddar meatballs

Want a delicious, flexible, relatively  healthy version of meatballs? Try these tasty morsels.

What you need:
1 pound ground turkey
1 green apple
3 sprigs green onions
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar
6 large, whole mushrooms
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp fresh cracked Pepper
1 tsp Garlic powder
1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
1/4 cup Sour cream onion crackers
2 eggs

In large bowl, mix chopped mushrooms, diced green onions, diced green apple, crushed crackers, and all remaining ingredients. Cover with plastic wrap, chill in fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Line two 9X13 cake pans with aluminium foil, spray with cooking spray. Form large meatballs – should be between the size of a golf ball and tennis ball. Mixture should be enough to make 24 meatballs.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook for 25-30 minutes, or until meatballs are turning brown and cooked all the way through.

We ate ours with homemade barbecue sauce one night. Leftovers were used in baked pasta for one meal, and wrapped into biscuit dough with some cheese another night. Yum.