Category Archives: Food Review

Dessert So Nice, I Made It Twice

Peanut Butter Bars: DELICIOUS!

This is anther Pinterest recipe courtesy of Six Sisters’ Stuff blog.

Five reasons I love this recipe:

1) These are no-bake.
2) No eggs means licking the batter spoon with no guilt.
3) Simple ingredients means no time at the store searching.
4) Not too rich, not too bland.  Just the right amount for dessert.
5) Chocolate + peanut butter… what’s NOT to love?

I made these on Wednesday night after I got home from my 8-mile run.  No, I’m not superwoman, these are just that easy to make.  They were demolished over the weekend with my in-laws in town and I promptly made another batch on Sunday night.  (Because when you have the 2 cups of graham cracker crumbs, there really is no excuse not to make more of these.)

No more selling, just make these.  They are fantastic.

Ingredients Needed:

1 cup peanut butter (I used Peter Pan Creamy)
1/4 cup peanut butter
2 cups graham cracker crumbs (I used boxed)
1 cup butter, melted
2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips
1 foil baking pan (I used 9 x 13)

Directions:

1) In a mixing bowl, combine 1 cup peanut butter, 1 cup melted butter, 2 cups graham cracker crumbs and 2 cups powdered sugar.  I mixed with my KitchenAid mixer.  Mix until well blended.

2) Press mixture in bottom on ungreased foil baking pan.

3) In a microwave safe bowl, melt chocolate chips and 1/4 cup peanut butter in microwave, stirring every 30 seconds.

4) Pour melted mixture on top of mixture already in pan.

5) Place in the fridge.  (I do this overnight.)

6) The next morning I pop the entire mixture in one sheet onto a cutting board.  The foil pan helps to pop the sheet out in one piece.  I cut into squares and put back in the baking pan.

**Note, keep these in the fridge to make sure they don’t melt again.  I made the mistake of keeping a few in my purse until dropping them off at my husband’s work at lunch and they were melted by that time.  He assured me the tasted fantastic after an hour in the fridge, but still… I’d keep them in the fridge next time.

Enjoy!

First Foray into Crock Pot Cooking

Another Pinterest recipe we tried this weekend: Slow Cooker 7UP Chicken & Rice

This recipe comes from one of my favorite new blogs to follow- Six Sisters’ Stuff.  Spoiler alert, I’ve got the ingredients and plan on making Easy No Bake Peanut Butter Bars Recipe this week from the same blog.

This is the first time I’ve ever used a slow cooker and I think it turned out pretty well.

Overall, the recipe was pretty good.  I would add a little more spice next time, there wasn’t enough of it this first time.  Even a little pepper and salt would help.

However, here’s the original recipe, from the blog:

4 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can of cream of chicken soup
Sierra Mist (or 7-Up, or Sprite)
1 cup minute rice
1/4 cup chicken broth
Place chicken breasts in the bottom of the slow cooker.  Cover with Cream of Chicken Soup and soda.  Cook 2-3 hours on low.  Add rice and broth and cook for 2-3 hours more on low.

If I were to do the recipe over again, I’d season the chicken with salt and pepper during each stage.  Overall, a 6 out of 10 on the scale.

Lazy Dinner: Rice Pancakes

What to make for dinner in the middle of basketball craziness?

The dishes hadn’t been done in a few days, we spent about 6 hours in a bar watching games during the day and sometime around 8 p.m., needed to figure out some dinner.

Going out wasn’t an option and the frozen pizza didn’t sound good.  I did have some basics, however, including some rice in the fridge left over from earlier in the week.

Voila, rice pancakes would work!

This recipe is something my mom used to make on occasion.  They are fantastic re-heated.  Rather than top with syrup, I top with butter and a little salt.

Ingredients required:
– Cold rice
– eggs
– milk (I used silk vanilla almond milk)
– bisquick or jiffy baking mix

The recipe can be adjusted to work with just about any ingredient.  Need a gluten-free version? Just replace the jiffy mix with a gluten-free flour or corn muffin mix.  Potato flour might work, too.

Step 1:
– Heat skillet on medium-high

Step 2:
– Place cold rice in a bowl (I used about 2 cups)
– Add eggs (I used 2 eggs)
– Add milk (I used about 1/2 cup)
– Add jiffy mix (I used about 1/2 cup)

Step 3:
– Stir items together

Step 4:
– Make pancakes

I don’t have specific measurements for the ingredients, it’s pretty hard to mess up.  You just want a thick enough to make a cohesive pancake.  If you like it more pancake-like, add more jiffy mix.  If you like it more rice-like, add less.  More milk if  it’s too thick, less if it’s not thick enough.

The recipe, with ingredients listed above we made 4 large pancakes.

The calorie low-down:
2 cups white rice: 426 calories
2 eggs: 200 calories
1/2 Cup milk: 30 calories
Jiffy mix: 130 calories

Total: 196.5 calories per rice pancake

Top with a bit of butter and salt and you have a yummy dinner under 500 calories!

Healthy Dinner: Avocado Chicken Salad

Two recipe posts in one week?

If that’s not a sign the world is ending, I don’t know what is.

Tonight for dinner the hubby really wanted tortellini and biscuits and I had all the supplies to make this avocado chicken salad recipe I found on Pinterest.

Another YouTube shout-out… you can ripen an avocado faster by putting it in a paper bag with a banana overnight.  This actually worked!

So, rather than have the three-cheese tortellini, I decided to make this chicken salad recipe for dinner.  We shared the biscuits and it took the same amount of time to cook both, simultaneously.

The recipe calls for:
– 1 cup chicken breast (I used cut-up rotisserie chicken we got on sale this weekend)
– 1 avocado
– 2 or 3 green onions
– a few pinches of dried cilantro
– lime juice, use as much as you like the taste of
– salt and pepper, to taste
– 1 tablespoon of mayo (I used reduced fat)

It’s as simple as combining all the ingredients in a bowl.  I used a pizza cutter to combine all the ingredients together.  Taste it, add more of whatever you like until you’re happy.  I served it over a biscuit for dinner.

This recipe made at least 2 servings.  I’ve got hopes to eat the other half tomorrow, if the avocado keeps overnight then this meal will gain even more points.  If not, it’s a great meal that’s quick and easy to make in even our tiny, tiny kitchen.

I will definitely make this again!

The calories low-down:
1 cup chicken breast: 250
1 avocado: 275
2 green onions: 5
1 tablespoon reduced fat mayo: 35
lime juice, salt, pepper, cilantro – not enough to count

Total: about 565 for the whole batch, or 282.5 per serving.

Served with on a biscuit, add 170, totals 452 calories for dinner tonight.

Recipe found on Pinterest and linked to: http://becomingbetty.blogspot.com/2011/09/avocado-chicken-salad.html

Baking Day – Easy Garlic Chicken

I only cook on Sundays.

That’s usually the only day I have time to do anything in the kitchen other than throw something in the oven to heat it up.  I try to cook at least one thing that will last through the week.  I bake muffins, bread, brownies… anything that we can eat through the week.  We have a tiny, tiny kitchen and there’s not a whole lot of room to cook anything.  I try

This week, we had a rare Saturday at home and I tried my hand at another Pinterest recipe that a friend recommended.

I learned a fair amount making this recipe.

First: A garlic that I buy at the store is not, in fact, a clove of garlic.  Good information to know!

Second: YouTube can solve almost any question you have while cooking.  Like how to use that garlic press you got for your wedding.  And what a clove of garlic is.

Overall – solid meal that has been voted into the rotation. We paired it with rice and easily could have eaten more.

Recommended!


Easy Garlic Chicken

Recipe recommended by a friend on Pinterest and found at: http://low-cholesterol.food.com/recipe/easy-garlic-chicken-5478

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 garlic cloves , minced
4 tablespoons brown sugar
3 teaspoons olive oil

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 500°F and lightly grease a casserole dish.
  2. In small sauté pan, sauté garlic with the oil until tender.
  3. Remove from heat and stir in brown sugar.
  4. Place chicken breasts in a prepared baking dish and cover with the garlic and brown sugar mixture.
  5. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  6. Bake uncovered for 15-30 minutes.
  7. My friend recommended that you let the chicken sit to let the sauce soak in.  After cooking it, I can attest to that.

 

 

Comfort Foods

It’s a cold and rainy day today (even though Christmas is a few days away and snow would be much more festive.)

What’s better to have for dinner than belly-warming, filling comfort food? That used to mean hidden hotdogs with mac and cheese.

*Sidenote: “Hidden Hotdogs” are clearly something no one else has ever heard of.  For those of you who did not grow up in my parent’s house, that refers to what you probably know as “pigs in a blanket”.  This is a constant correction in our house now when I refer to them as hidden hot dogs and my husband insists there is no such thing, in fact, they are called pigs in a blanket. 

But, these days cheese is not on the menu, so I’ve been forced to reevaluate comfort food options.  Hidden hotdogs are fantastic – but they generally require making at least 8 for only the 2 of us and are pretty fatty and calorie-packed.  One crescent roll has 110 calories, plus 150 for the average hot dog.  That puts the first delight at 260 calories.  And there is never a way that I can eat just one.  So already, before sides, dinner’s at 520 calories.

My second favorite comfort food is chicken packets. These gooey, warm treats are another “family recipe” (translation – from a cookbook we bought and used a lot) that consist of boiled chicken cut into square, mixed with cream cheese and chives, then wrapped in two crescent rolls, dipped in butter, rolled in bread crumbs and then baked.  Hello again, calories, but at least one is more than enough for that dinner.  Due to the size of our kitchen (we have 20 square inches of counterspace, total) I can’t personally make those, so they’re a 1-2x a year treat when my mom makes them.

So, that leads me to today’s answer to cold, dreary day.  Gooey, warm and unhealthy enough to fit the “comfort food” category, but not a diet-buster.  Voila’s Chicken & Vegetables in a Pot Pie Gravy skillet meal.

It’s meant to taste like a chicken pot pie and it hits the spot.  To prepare, we place the frozen meal in the skillet, add some water, and let it heat stirring occasionally.  It takes about 15 minutes total to prepare, so it’s perfect for nights we would be tempted to turn to eating out.  It’s so easy, even my husband can make it, and it always tastes fantastic.  At 2.5 servings per bag, and 290 calories per serving, we both enjoy a full dinner for under 375 calories.  It’s packed with vegetables and chicken, so it’s protein-filled. There are even biscuit crumbs to add at the end to make it really thick and yummy.

While frozen meals are never as healthy as making them from scratch, we’ve found this particular meal is exactly what we need a lot of nights after long days or long workouts.

Delicious, warm, filling all from a fast, easy-t0-make, affordable meal. 

Snacktime

Review: Market Pantry Dried Apricots

I love finding really great, healthy snacks. So much so, that it takes 2-3 stores for me to get everything that I love for snacking.  Also, the snacks I buy in the summer have to be able to last a long time without going bad since I work so much. Here are a few things that I look for when finding a great natural snack item:

Natural Ingredients – One of my biggest pet peeves is something that is marketed as natural or healthy and when you look at the ingredients there are 30 items listed when there should be 1 or 2.  The first thing I look at is the nutrition panel for the ingredient list.  In this particular item there are only 2: apricots and sulfer dioxide (for color retention).

While I’m not thrilled about the addition of the sulfer dioxide, I was willing to try the item, regardless. I tried to do some research on the effects of the chemical in food and what I found according to ehow.com’s health article, is that it hasn’t had any proven effect on healthy adults, but it can effect adults with breathing disorders.  As an asthma sufferer, I didn’t personally have any problems with this small bag, but be aware that it is a warning.

Taste – Taste is obviously important or I won’t buy it again.  I also enjoy finding products that fill me up without my having to eat a lot of it.  The apricots were good tasting, but very strong tasting, too, so I could only have a few at a time.  This might be a fruit that I enjoy better fresh.

Texture – Texture is key to enjoying a natural snack.  Too chewy, crunchy, etc… and it’s not a good experience.  I thought the texture was right on these apricots but there were a few seeds that I got surprised with. Not used to dried apricots, that probably just comes with the territory, but just be aware if you do eat these.

Calories – I always look at the calories, too, because even with natural snacks you need to be mentally aware of what you’re consuming.  These came in at a respectable 90 calories per 5 pieces.  This doesn’t sound like a lot, but the taste is very strong in these, so 5 pieces is a reasonable amount.

Overall – I thought these were good, but not sure if I’m eager to run out and get these again.  I think these are better as an accent piece than as a snack themselves.  They would be good chopped in a salad.  I’m also not a huge fan of the additive to keep the color.  I would be find with these even without their trademark orange color and I’m just not sure it was necessary.  I plan on trying a few other brands and types before passing judgment on dried apricots as a whole.