Chicken Alfredo Pizza

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chicken spinach alfredo pizza 4

I like a lot of variety in our meal planning and won’t fix the same thing twice for months and months, until it comes to pizza.  I never get tired of pizza. Ever.  This could be the single most dangerous thing to my fitness goals.  I’ve tried cauliflower crust pizza; it’s gross.   If I’m serious about fitness and have to have a pizza, I’ll put sauce, turkey pepperoni, veggies, and cheese on a Joseph’s pita.  That’s the only thing that is close enough for me.

chicken alfredo pizza 3

There’s nothing as good as a soft homemade pizza crust.  I have the best recipe and I’m wiling to share.  Read more…

BBQ Meatball Mix

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I love these meatballs!  They are super easy to make, and the hardest part is getting out all the spice jars.  With this mix, that problem is solved. The meatballs make great appetizers, a hearty main dish, and yummy meatball subs. Bake these quickly in the oven, then let them simmer in sauce in your crock pot until you need them.

bbq meatball mix

Read more…

Homemade Calzones

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Calzones

Calzones are my favorite to make, because you can tuck almost any combo of leftovers in them and have a portable meal to go.  We especially like ham and cheddar; turkey, broccoli and swiss; pizza combos; and bbq.  They are great for grabbing to eat at the soccer fields or for a picnic meal.  My kids even like to pack leftover calzones for cold lunches. The whole thing can be done from the homemade dough, to the meal in hand in around 45 minutes, and most of that is wait time. Read more…

Mini Chicken Pot Impossible Pies

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Food cooked in a muffin tin is adorable (and cooks more quickly than big pans of things.)  If you are packing food for lunches, muffin tin sized food fits in thermoses (like this one) for a hot lunch on the go.  Just pack the food while it’s super hot into preheated containers and it will keep hot for around 3 hours.

I love this recipe, because you can use up little bits of leftovers if you have them.  Less than a serving of peas? No problem.  A few cooked carrots?  Toss them in.  You can use beef instead, or whatever you have on hand.  Here’s the recipe; tweak at will.

1 lb of chicken breast, cooked and diced

1 cup of shredded cheese, Swiss or Cheddar

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup baking mix or self-rising flour

2 cups vegetables (chopped broccoli, peas, carrots, corn–whatever you like in fine bits)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spritz muffin cups with non-stick spray. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.  Use a level ice cream scoop to fill muffin tins. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Do you ever bake non-muffin things in muffin tins?  What are your favorites?

 

5 Favorite Chicken Marinades

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We eat a lot of chicken because it’s so affordable.  Bone in is nice for all the health benefits of bone especially if you are boiling it for broth or soup.  I like a boneless breast for fast cooking convenience.  It’s hard to admit this but I don’t like bones very much….it’s much harder for me to eat bone in chicken emotionally…..it’s weird.  Just being real.

Recently I’ve been struggling with weight gain. Our busy schedule tempts me to grab something that’s unsupportive to my goals and it shows in my waistline.

Last week, I decided to spend 15 minutes and prep ahead marinated chicken for the freezer.  It’s easy to thaw in the microwave then throw on the table top grill.  The breasts cook in just 7 minutes that way! (Since it cooks from both sides at the same time.)   It takes less time to cook these than to go get take out.

Not all chicken breasts are created equal.  My favorite for marinating and grilling are from Costco.  They are the least expensive brand there, but are nice and thin for uniform cooking

Costco isn’t as close to our house as Aldi, so I ran in and grabbed a bag of frozen chicken for a slow cooker meal.  Aldi’s chicken is a few cents more expensive per pound and it’s wonky.  This type of chicken is okay to dice for casseroles, or to cook and shred into soup, but not so good for marinating and grilling.

Marinating for the freezer is the easiest prep ahead meal type. I start by placing 8 breasts (about 2 lbs) of chicken in each freezer bag.

Then mix up the marinades and pour them in.  If you want to grill chicken in the next 3 days you can seal the bags and stick them in the fridge.  If it’s for later than that, throw them in the freezer.  They will still marinate frozen.

Here are 5 of my favorite marinades.  Do you have a favorite? Leave it in the comments.  I’d love to try something new.

Honey Lemon Chicken Marinade

1 cup lemon juice (I used from concentrate from Aldi)

1/2 cup Braggs Liquid Aminos

1/4 cup honey

1 teaspoon dried Rosemary

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 Tablespoon lemon extract or zest

 (I used homemade lemon extract–video at the end.)

Combine all and warm slightly to mix the honey in well.  Pour over chicken and refrigerate overnight.  We grilled ours, but I think slow cooking the chicken in the marinade would be yummy too.

Thyme Chicken Marinade

This one is our favorite!  It’s really good with A1 steak sauce for dipping, but you really don’t need anything to help the flavor.

3/4 cup water or oil

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup vinegar (red wine or rice vinegars are nice)

1 teaspoon fresh thyme

Fresh Black Pepper

Favorite Fajita Marinade

2 Tablespoons oil

2 Tablespoons lemon or lime juice

1 1/2 teaspoons seasoned salt

1 1/2 teaspoons oregano

1 1/2 teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon paprika

Teriyaki Chicken Marinade

1/3 cup water

1/3 cup soy sauce

1/3 cup pineapple juice

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp ground ginger

Instead of buying pineapple juice, I drain it off a can of fruit, then serve the fruit :).

BBQ Chicken Marinade

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup BBQ sauce

2 Tbs Brown Sugar or Truvia with a splash of molasses

1 Tbs yellow mustard

1 tsp salt

Crushed Red Pepper

 If you are curious about making your own extracts, here’s how I do it:

 

 

Slow Cooked Beef Topped Bean Enchiladas

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We had an unexpected death in the family last week. Darren’s Grandma was 92, but still living alone in her own home with her mind, sight and hearing sharp as a tack.  He lived with her during the summers after his family moved to Texas and again when he graduated from High School so he could farm. They were very close. I lived with her part of the time when I was student teaching and she taught me a lot of things about frugality, being a homemaker, wild edibles and frying mountain oysters.

Lest you think she was all sugar and spice, she was a person who told things as she saw them.  Every time she saw me she complained about my long hair, big earrings and tall heels. When I got pregnant with our 4th baby, she offered to teach me about birth control. I learned to smile and roll with it. If she didn’t care about me, she wouldn’t say a word.  It was her way of saying, “I love you.”

She had a deep faith and prayed poetically. When Darren and I had been married 2 years, her son died in a tragic car accent.  It was a serious time of grief for all of us.  She told me death was beautiful and not to be sad.  She had already buried her husband and oldest son.  She KNEW they were in the arms of Jesus.  During her service I kept hearing her voice say those words, “Death is beautiful.”  But I still miss her.

My oldest son was acting up in the car during the funeral procession to the gravesite, poking his siblings and making them scream. I told him, “Your grandmother is in a hearse 10 cars ahead of us.  Remember what we are doing here and what your frame of mind should be.”

My oldest, Heidi, chimed in, “Yeah if grandma were here right now, she’d whack you with her cane.”

He said, “If she were here right now, I wouldn’t dare.”

After the funeral Saturday we went to her house with all her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren (28!) and a few extended family.  The church brought over the funeral meal leftovers and we ate and visited just like we would have on Christmas day.  The only thing missing was her and we all felt it. It was a lovely day until it was time to leave and I realized it was probably the last gathering like that in her home.  The last time there would be fig Newtons in the jar put there by her own hands.  The memories flooded in as tears running down my face.  My first date with Darren was there, a whole day of learning to farm. Not long after she decided Darren was taking too long and offered me her wedding ring set so we could just go get married.  She didn’t see any point of big weddings or long engagements.  If you love each other, go make a life together. What’s so hard about that?

I had plans to finish Kids and Money month strong with some posts about Kids and Christmas spending, but it was just more important to be with family.  I’ll come back and visit the topic again in a few weeks, but first I want to get some recipes out there.  Too many times I’ve searched my own site for a favorite recipe to refresh my memory on some of the details and find it wasn’t there.

This recipe is my go to when life gets really busy.  It throws together in 15 minutes and then just has to heat through in the oven.  Every ingredient is available at Aldi making a very frugal main dish. Add a tossed salad for a complete meal or make it bigger with sides of Spanish rice, corn, and fruit.  If you are gluten free, grab some gluten free tortillas.  Low carb tortillas work great here too, for a THM S Meal (You can have up to 3 Tbs of refried beans in an S setting.)  You can also assemble the whole thing in a slow cooker and cook on low for 3-4 hours.

Print
Beef Topped Bean Enchiladas

Ingredients

  • 1 jar, 24 oz salsa
  • 1 lb ground beef or turkey
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 tsp minced garlic
  • 10-8" flour tortillas
  • 1 can, 15 oz refried beans
  • 1 can, 15 oz black olives, drained
  • 2 cups shredded Cheddar, Colby, or Monterey Jack

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Brown ground beef with onion and garlic, drain.
  3. Stir salsa into ground beef mixture. (If you have picky kids, puree the salsa in a blender first, and use onion powder instead of chopped onion.)
  4. Chop the olives and reserve 1/3 for topping.
  5. Divide refried beans, olives and 1/2 of the cheese cheese among tortillas and roll up. Place seam side down in a 9x13 casserole dish.
  6. Top with beef mixture and spread to cover the edges.
  7. Top with remaining olives and cheese.
  8. Bake for 15 minutes or until heated through.
http://www.groceryshrink.com/beef-topped-bean-enchiladas/

 

Classic Chili Mix

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classic chili mix

Classic Chili Spice Mix

1 cup Chili Powder

1/2 cup Cumin

1/4 cup Garlic Powder

1/4 cup Minced Onion

2 Tbs Oregano

1 Tbs Sugar (or equivalent)

1 Tbs Salt

1 tsp Pepper

1/4 tsp cayenne (optional)

Use 2 Tbs of mix to season 1 lb of ground beef, 1 can of diced tomatoes with juice (or 2 cans of tomato sauce), 2 cans of pinto beans and 2 cans of kidney beans.  I don’t drain my cans.  If you prefer to drain them, add more sauce or water to make up the volume in liquid.

Taco Seasoning Mix

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Taco Seasoning Mix

Of all the mixes I use this one the MOST.  I go through a quart jar full every couple of months.

The sweetener gives a bit of twang to balance out the spice.  It’s the secret to a mix that tastes like the commercial ones, but can be left out if you’re against it. If you want yours super spicy add some cayenne, about a teaspoon to the whole jar.

If you buy your spices at Aldi, one bottle of spice is about 1 cup.

Quart Jar Taco Mix:

1 cup chili powder

1 cup dried onion flakes

¾ cup ground cumin

¾ cup garlic salt

1/3 cup sugar (or equivalent stevia blend substitute)

3 Tbs Paprika

Use 2 Tbs of mix for each pound of meat. You can also use this mix to make big batch taco meat for the freezer with the slow cooker bulk cooking method.

 

Fajita Seasoning Mix

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Fajita seasoning Mix

Fajitas are my favorite thing to order from a Mexican restaurant. I love the lean marinated meat mixed with crisp-tender colorful veggies.  I’ve tried several mix recipes trying to create that authentic flavor at home and really like this one.  It’s beautiful to use the multi colored baby bell peppers available at Aldi or Costco and red onion. To keep the brilliant colors, cook the meat almost completely through then add the veggies for the last few minutes of cooking.  Stop cooking when the colors are the brightest right before they start to break down.  Read more…

Creamy Southwest Soup: A slow cooked masterpiece

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I ♥ pinterest.  From homemade Valentines, to kitchen remodel, to new healthy recipes–the inspiration is all there.  Tonight’s dinner is no exception.

Mondays and Wednesdays I play Mama Taxi and arrive home at dinner time.  By then blood sugars are low and tempers are high, so using the Slow Cooker is a must.

The original recipe for this dish came from Jenna at Held Scraptive.  I modified it to fit my pantry stash and to enlarge it for our family.

Creamy Southwest Soup

2 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 can tomates and green chilies, undrained

2 cans whole kernel corn, undrained

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed (we used 2 cups of black beans cooked from dry)

1 brick, 8 oz,  1/3 less fat cream cheese

1 envelope ranch dressing mix (I had some of JPs Bacon Ranch Mix that was a gift that I used, but next time I’ll use a homemade ranch mix recipe.)

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp garlic salt

1/4 cup cilantro chopped

1 cup brown rice, cooked (we had some leftover from Sunday so I threw it in to make the soup stretch.) (I also threw in half a can of leftover enchilada sauce, just to use it up.)

In a 4-5 quart slow cooker, combine tomatoes, corn, and beans.  Place the brick of cream cheese on top, in the center away from the sides. Place chicken in a single layer over the top, sprinkle with spices.  Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours.  Turn off the heat.  Shred the chicken with two forks, and stir in the cream cheese, brown rice, and cilantro.   We served ours with cornbread muffins.

How it went over with the family:  I thought it was delicious (but I will eat anything….). It fit in well with my FYM healthy eating plan.  1 Cup has 255 calories; 22g carbs, 7g fat, and 22 g protein.  Darren said, “Wow, this has great flavor but it’s going to be spicy for the kids.”  Heidi drank 3 tall glasses of water but ate her whole bowl.  She declared it tasty but HOT.  Caleb, Heather and Brandon ate it all without a word (but I had to feed Brandon’s to him).  Dub didn’t mind the spiciness but hated the look of it, especially the tomatoes.  Darren had to feed him every bite and hid the tomatoes under stuff.  All in all for as picky as my family is, this is a recipe that I would try again.

I am just about sold on boneless skinless chicken.  It has been going on sale around here between $1-$1.39 a lb and to come home and just shred with 2 forks and eat was a huge mind reliever.  If DH was out of work, I would have used a $.69/lb whole chickens and not complain, but wowza was this easy and delicious.