My Favorite Breakfast

Today I wanted to share with you my new favorite breakfast,

Greek yogurt with berries!

 

Please pardon the poor quality of my pics, they straight off my phone without editing! :O

So exciting, right? Okay, maybe not so much, but it is delicious & I find myself fixing it nearly every morning these days. I've been following a new eating & exercise plan called the 21 Day Fix. I seriously love it because it has totally changed the way I think about food.

Technically, you're supposed to be able to close the lid, but these are frozen. If they were fresh or defrosted the lid would close! ;)

The program comes with these adorable little containers that you originally think "That's it?", but end up saying, "Wow, that's a lot more than I thought!" LOL 

 

 

See? Way more than you thought, right?

I like mostly raspberries with 3 strawberries for sweetness. Then I sprinkle about 1/4tsp. coconut sugar on top & pop them in the microwave for 30 seconds to 1 minute.

Haven't tried coconut sugar yet? You should! It looks and tastes almost like brown sugar & it doesn't affect your blood sugar levels the way that regular sugar does. That's important for diabetics like me.

 

 

While the berries are heating up, I fill up my little red protein cup with plain, non-fat greek yogurt. I don't want any artificial coloring or flavorings, chemicals, or any added sodium or sugars added to my food, so I always choose the plain, non-fat. I buy the big tub of it at Wal-Mart for around $4.

 

 



 

 

When the berries are finished, stir them up a bit as the juices will have come out & break up the strawberries into bite size pieces. Mix in all the yogurt until it's completely blended. It will be a little soupy, but that just means you could drink it if you needed to take it to go. Feel free to top it with a few of your berries to make it look prettier! Throw it in the fridge to let the flavors marry while you go workout, then treat your sweaty self to a delicious breakfast that will help your muscles repair after your workout & fuel your body for the rest of the day! ENJOY!

 

Jenny aka



1st "Green" Smoothie

Not only did I have my first "green" smoothie yesterday, but I actually made it myself. I really liked it. My kids really liked it. And they asked for it again today!

What is a green smoothie, you ask? It's where you put leafy green veggies in with a fruit smoothie. In our case, it was spinach. It's a yummy way to add a little extra veggie serving to your day. There's enough natural sweetness to the fruit and juice to mask any spinach taste. Ours didn't turn out green though because I used a purple juice, so it was a nice purpley-pink color. None of the kids even knew there was spinach (or carrots) in it until they saw me making it today. They actually thought it was funny that there was "salad" in it! Yea!

So if you or your kids need a boost of fruits & veggies here is my recipe. And by recipe I mean an approximation of what I tossed into the blender without really measuring.

Green Smoothie 
Makes approx. 6 - 6oz. servings

2 handfuls fresh spinach

6-8 baby carrots

12-16 oz. plain non-fat yogurt
1 banana

1 lb. frozen fruit

(I used a tropical blend that contained mango, pineapple, strawberries & others 

because that's what was the cheapest at my store this week.) 

1/2 c. juice (I used the knock-off version of V-8 Fusion pomegranate & blueberry)

Water - enough to thin to desired consistency

Blend it all up! You'll probably need to stop & push everything down several times to get it well mixed. If your blender won't break up the carrots or frozen fruit, try putting those through a food processor first. If you try this, let me know how you like it. Or if you have your own green or power smoothies that your family enjoys let me know!

New Recipe Challenge Week 8

Well, I managed to make it in on time for the final week of the New Recipe Challenge hosted by Feminine Farmgirl. Yay me! :)

BBQ Chicken Sandwiches & KFC Knock-off Coleslaw

It was a down home dinner and we went all out with the "fine" china! LOL

BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast per 2 people (I used 4 for the 6 of us & there was plenty of leftovers)1/4 to 1/3 bottle of your fave bbq sauce

Use enough bbq sauce to coat your chicken breasts well and toss them in the slow cooker for about 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high. Unless of course you have a crockpot like mine where the low is more like keep warm and the high is boiling. If so, adjust accordingly. When the chicken is cooked through, remove and place on cutting board. Mine had quite a bit of cooking juice and some fat. I skimmed off as much fat as possible, then drained all but about 1-2 cups of liquid. Using two forks, shred the chicken, then add it back into the liquid in the crockpot. Add more bbq sauce to taste, and stir 'er up. Serve right away or leave on the warm setting until you're ready to eat, on your choice of bread. We used some kaiser rolls that were on sale this week.

Verdict: Oh, I hate to say it, but the trend continues. I really liked it. The hubs thought it was dry. Remember, he doesn't like chicken much, although it was a tad bit dry, I guess. The kids were either lukewarm about it or refused to eat. Again. Oh, well.

KFC Knock-off Coleslaw

There's really only one coleslaw that I really love, and that's KFC's. I don't eat it very often because I don't really like fried chicken, so.... Anyway, I bought this set of fun cookbooks a long time ago called Top Secret Recipes. I hardly ever use them, just like all the other cookbooks that I collect. Don't really know why. At any rate, here is the top secret recipe for KFC Coleslaw:



8 cups very finely chopped cabbage (1 head) (I used a bag of coleslaw mix, next time I will use 2 to accomodate the sauce)

1/4 cup shredded carrot ( 1 medium carrot) (mine was in the coleslaw mix)

2 tbsp. minced onion

1/3 c. granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

1/4 c. milk

1/2 c. mayonnaise

1/4 c. buttermilk (I substituted 1/4 tbsp. lemon juice mixed with enough milk to make 1/4 c. then let it sit 5 min. before using)

1 1/2 tbsp. white vinegar

2 1/2 tbsp. lemon juice

1. Be sure that the cabbage, carrots, and onion are chopped up into very fine pieces (about the size of rice kernels).

2. Combine the sugar, salt, pepper, milk, mayonnaise, buttermilk, vinegar, and lemon juice, and beat until smooth.

3. Add the cabbage, carrots, and onion. Mix well.

4. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

Verdict: Absolutely tastes like KFC coleslaw, and I didn't really care if the fam liked it or not because then there was more for me! :)

Thanks again to Jenna from Feminine Farmgirl for hosting the New Recipe Challenge. I've enjoyed seeing what other people have made and plan on trying out a few in the future!

New Recipe Challenge Weeks 5, 6 & 7

Week 5 - Ummm, I totally forgot about making a new recipe. Just totally forgot.

Week 6 - Thought about a new recipe. I really did. But it never made it past my thoughts. I probably forgot about it again after my stove caught on fire. Yup. Fire. Flames. Smoke. It was a good home economics lesson though, because my kids wanted to know why I used salt on our grease fire instead of water. Gotta love those spontaneous teaching moments....and the adorable little guy who decided to climb up and play in the leftover bacon grease!

Week 7 - Da-da-da-dum!!! I made a new recipe! Hooray! :) This is really only due to trying to get back on track with meal planning. Well, planning and organizing in general. I'm an organizational mess right now. I'll talk about what I'm doing to fix that in another post. Here's the quick version: I ended up on Make 5 Dinners in One Hour because she is sponsoring I heart Organizing this month & giving a discount for her meal planning service. Yay! Now, I've looked at many meal planning services. Even tried their free trials, but always ended up thinking I could just do better for cheaper. I don't think I'm going to do any better or cheaper than Make 5 dinners in One Hour. You get 5 meal plans each week with a complete grocery list & instructions for prepping ahead, so you only have to spend 1 hour each week preparing meals, and a few minutes each day finishing them up. It sounds fun, so I've joined! I haven't started it yet, but plan to after my next shopping trip. This week's recipe though, comes straight from her blog, where I spent a good deal of time just browsing around. (BTW, her ideas for prepping lunches is fantastic!) So, without further ado, I bring you:

Easy Spinach Quiche

Photo & Recipe Courtesy of Make 5 Dinners in One Hour

My notes are in (purple)

This is the "make ahead" version. Makes 2.

Get out your blender for this one...(seriously, get your blender out)

1/2 C. frozen chopped onion

6 eggs

1 C. milk

1/2 C. biscuit/pancake mix

salt & pepper

Blend first 4 ingredients in blender until well blended and add salt & pepper to taste.

1 C. frozen chopped spinach, squeezed dry (add more if you like)

1 package real bacon bits (I used real bacon that we had leftover, about 8 slices)

1 C. shredded Swiss cheese

2 frozen pie crusts (regular not deep dish)

Add spinach and pulse to mix. Place blender pitcher in refrigerator until ready to use. Use within 2 days.

Pour equal amounts (eye ball it) of bacon bits and cheese into pie crusts. I would normally have alot more bacon bits but I forgot them at the store and I had a small package leftover from another recipe. Cover with plastic wrap and store in refrigerator.

Place crusts on large cookie sheet to make transporting easier. Pour egg mixture equally into pie crusts over bacon and cheese. Yes, that is cheddar cheese you see there. I forgot the Swiss cheese too.

Most of these recipes are easily adaptable to what you have on hand. Just think of the possibilities. Bacon/cheddar, ham/cheese, broccoli/feta, mushroom/bacon/blue cheese.....

Bake in 375 degree oven for 30-35 minutes or until eggs are set.

The Verdict: I love quiche. I love spinach. I love bacon. There was really no way I wasn't going to like this. It was delicious. Plus it made Sunday morning breakfast so easy. I served it with cinnamon raisin bread, so all I really had to do was butter the toast. I had time to get ready! :) My family on the other hand, wasn't as thrilled. (this seems to be a theme, doesn't it?) One child liked it, two thought it was okay, and one totally refused to eat. Kingbeaz liked it, but he's not crazy about spinach (unless it's my spinach dip). If your family likes spinach, go for it. Otherwise save it for a potluck or shower or something, because it is really good.

This post is linked to Feminine Farmgirl for the New Recipe Challenge. Come join us!

New Recipe Challenge Week 4

Welcome to Week 4 of the New Recipe Challenge hosted by Feminine Farmgirl! This week I went out on a limb by coming up with my own restaurant knock-off. In my hometown there was this place that offered an "Orient Express Burger" that I absolutely loved. Which is kind of a misnomer because it's not really a burger. It's chicken. Anyway, I haven't had it in years and years, but I had a coupon for some marinades last week and they had a teriyaki marinade which made me think of this sandwich. So here's my attempt at the

"Orient Express Burger"

Ingredients

Chicken Breasts (one per person)

Pineapple Rings (one per person)

Swiss Cheese (one slice per person)

Hamburger buns (one per person)

Teriyaki sauce or marinade

Directions

(What I recommend, not necessarily what I did!)

If chicken breasts are too thick, split them or pound them out to make them thinner. Marinate chicken in teriyaki sauce for 30 minutes or longer if desired. Use whatever method of cooking chicken you prefer (baking, browning, grilling). Top each chicken breast with one pineapple ring & one slice of swiss cheese. Cover with lid or foil to allow cheese to melt. Serve on hamburger buns with extra sauce for dipping.

How I actually did it: I wasn't thinking & fogot to marinate the chicken. I put them all on a baking sheet covered in foil & baked until they were done. Maybe a little too done. They were kind of dry. Next I browned them in a frying pan, then dumped the marinade on them and let them simmer. I also didn't think about thinning them out until I had them covered in marinade, so when I tried to slice them, they started falling apart. *eyes rolling* I served it with salad & sweet potato fries.

Verdict: I thought they were yummy! Not the same as the restaurant ones, but still tasty. Kingbeaz is not a fan of chicken (he claims to have been served it morning, noon and night while deployed). He said it was dry and only ate half. Bug ate some of his...he's a big pineapple fan, so that helped. Lil' C picked the cheese off but ate everything else! :) Pinky Lee caught whiff of a burned fry that had fallen on the bottom of the stove & declared it was "stinky" and she wasn't going to eat it. I don't think Boo Boo Bear was even hungry. He ate his tomatoes (he's a tomato THIEF!) then played with everything else. Lil' C and I ate leftovers for lunch today. Still yummy, despite what those picky people think! :)

Now, how to disguise the leftover chicken so EVERYONE will eat it!? Hmmm.... any suggestions??

New Recipe Challenge Week 3

You may have noticed that there was no "New Recipe Challenge Week 2" post. Last week was rather chaotic and I neglected getting my coupons cut, shopping list and menus made, and even going to the grocery store. It's only because of my very small stockpile that we made it through the week. In contrast, I have already done 2 shopping trips this week. I still need to go to Rite-Aid for pull-ups and FREE Johnson & Johnson bath products (yes, I said FREE), and the grocery store again on Saturday to get "fresh" cottage cheese for my husband before the sale runs out. At any rate, here is my new recipe for this week:

Buffalo Chicken Dip

courtesy of Allrecipes.com (recipe by NUNPUNCH)

Ingredients

2 (10 ounce) cans chunk chicken, drained 2

(8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

1 cup Ranch dressing

3/4 cup pepper sauce (such as Frank's Red Hot®)

1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions

Heat chicken and hot sauce in a skillet over medium heat, until heated through. Stir in cream cheese and ranch dressing. Cook, stirring until well blended and warm. Mix in half of the shredded cheese, and transfer the mixture to a slow cooker. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top, cover, and cook on Low setting until hot and bubbly. Serve with celery sticks and crackers.

Alterations I made:

I used leftover rotisserie chicken as well as a buffalo wing sauce instead of the Frank's because I didn't want it to be too hot for the kiddos. I ended up adding the Frank's to my portion. I served it with tortilla chips and several cracker varieties. I didn't use the crockpot because I was in a hurry and just cooked it on the stove then served it in bowls, but I recommended that you do because it begins to "tighten up" and separate as it cools down.

Verdict:
Yummy! This really isn't a main course, although it's the only thing I served for lunch today. *gasp* I would recommend it as a side or appetizer or a "game day" snack. Very tasty. :)

You can follow along with the New Recipe Challenge @ Feminine Farmgirl

UPDATE * I just went to post my new recipe over at the Feminine Farmgirl, when I read her latest heartbreaking post about a goat birth doesn't go right. It's very sad, but Jenna is such a faithful young woman who remembers to keep her eyes on God even in trials. Please read her story & pray for her and her family. Thank you.* 

Recipe Request!

Remember the New Recipe Challenge I'm participating in? Yes, well, I haven't even been grocery shopping for the week. It's been a crazy week and I'm very behind. I haven't even cut coupons in 2 weeks! :0

So, I'm asking for your help! I am specifically asking for recipes that utilize my slow cooker or my Vita-Mix, or frugal recipes. If you have some great recipes that fall into any of these categories, please share them!

Until then, I will be seeking out something for this week on my own. Perhaps I should look in one of my 50 or so cookbooks? Wish me luck!

Thank you for sharing your recipes! :)

New Recipe Challenge

An adorably charming blog I follow Feminine Farmgirl is hosting a meal challenge to try one new main dish recipe every week for 8 weeks. This challenge came at a very convenient time as I had just purchased 4 1/2 lbs. of pork spare ribs because the were on sale. I've never cooked pork spare ribs before, so I obviously need to find one. I've been visiting a Year of Slow Cooking occasionally ever since I saw her on Rachael Ray a few years ago, but never used one of her recipes. Recently, I've been looking even more because I would really like to use the slow cooker more often. Anyway, this is the recipe I found for my spare ribs:

Greek Spiced Spareribs

The Ingredients.

serves 4-6 or 2 hungry moms

4 pounds pork spareribs (you can use beef, too)
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon anise
1 teaspoon ground mustard
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns (leave intact)
4 whole cloves (leave intact)
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 cup orange juice

The Directions.

Use a 6-quart slow cooker. Place ribs into cooker. In a mixing bowl, combine the brown sugar with all of the ground spices. Rub this mixture the best you can on all sides of the ribs. Throw in the whole peppercorns and cloves. Drizzle on the honey, and add orange juice.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or until meat is super tender and separates from the bone.

*Please go read her post for all the extras!

I had to make some substitutions though because we didn't have some ingredients on hand. I used regular old table salt, omitted fennel seeds, ground mustard and anise, substituted ground pepper for peppercorns and ground cloves for whole cloves. I also didn't have any honey, so that was sadly left out. I may have thrown in a shake or two of Montreal steak seasoning. Just for yummies I sliced up a white onion and layered that on the bottom of the slow cooker first, which made for a tasty little topping when all was said and done. The house smelled SO good all day! These were fabulous ribs and so tender that they were literally falling off the bone as I tried to take them out of the cooker. There was a delicious sweetness to them that Kingbeaz & I both found very good. The kids might have enjoyed them more if they hadn't been so worried about the bones and fat. (I DID take all the bones out, but missed some of the fat...sheesh!)

Also, there are plenty of leftovers so tomorrow I plan on shredding them up, adding BBQ sauce & throwing them on some biscuits. From Greek to Southern. LOL

 

This was also a frugal meal. I added (frozen)curly fries & canned corn. Extremely healthy, I know. :)

 

Ribs = $8.64

Spices & OJ = $1.00 (I had them all on hand, but I'll just guestimate based on how much I used)

Onion = $0.30 (again, just guessing. It was part of 5lb. bag & I don't remember how much I paid)

Curly Fries = $1.69

2 cans corn = $.94

Total = $12.57

 

Tomorrow's BBQ sands will cost:

1/2 bottle BBQ sauce = $0.50

1 can Pillsbury biscuits = $0.67

Total = $1.17

 

Total for 2 meals = $13.74

 

Yummy & Frugal!

 

What new recipes have you tried lately??

The Big 1-0!

A Decade! Double Digits!

Bug turned 10 last month! It was fairly traumatic for me, but he thought it was the coolest thing ever. I can still remember the day he was born. Like it was yesterday. Wanna hear it???

We celebrated with pizza & cupcakes after baseball practice one night, but I forgot the camera.

On his actual birthday, Bug helped make this Marshmallow Cake from MADE. The first night we made it, it was only so-so, but after sitting in the fridge all night? SOOOO good. My pictures do this cake no justice. You MUST go see hers. I'm sure this isn't the only yummy thing you'll find there. Daddy & Bug lighting 10 candles!!

My handsome young man!

Make a wish birthday boy!

My cutie-patootie crew sharing in Bug's birthday joy!

BTW, why is that when little boys turn not so little, all we can think of to get them is money? Hmm, there must be a solution somewhere! Gotta figure out something before Christmas. Any ideas?

Pinky Lee turns 3!

So Pinks turned 3 on Sunday! I know, I'm late getting this out, but I've had technical problems. That seems to be a theme lately. Anyway, she could have cared less that it was her birthday. People kept telling her "Happy Birthday" and she would smile, but that was about it. Oh, well! Those oh-so-yummy creations that she's eyeing hungrily are a new creation I like to call "Orange Brownie Cuppie-cakes". With pink sprinkles on top for my Pinky Lee! They were SOO good. And apparently she really liked them too, because she's been stealing the extras ever since. We called Daddy & put him on speaker phone to sing Happy Birthday with us. Lil' Coconut even played her a little song on her piano. How cute. So it was a nice little celebration. Thank you to everyone who sent something or called for her birthday...she loves that!

Boo Boo Bear turns 1!

Yesterday was Boo Boo Bear's 1st Birthday!!! Oh, it seems like only yesterday.....*sigh* Here are the pics from eating the cake, & us singing Happy Birthday to him. He liked the singing, not so much for the cake. Don't know what that was all about, although he had just eaten a very big dinner & he was very tired. Everybody else enjoyed the cake, which is good since I had to make it from scratch. Daddy said he didn't think he'd ever had cake made from scratch, which is a really sad commentary on my life because I love baking. How could I have never made a cake from scratch before??? Hmmm...

Anyway, it was a sweet little celebration just with the family. We will be having "THE Birthday Party" at the end of January as a joint party with his sister Pinky Lee (whose birthday is now only 9 days away!). It won't be until the END of January because Daddy decided to run off and leave us for at least 2 weeks for a "business trip" starting Monday. The last "business trip" involved a NASCAR race. But since NASCAR is on break, he may have to actually do work! *GASP!* LOL, just kidding Daddy! We love you and will miss you!

Oh, I digress again. Now, here are the pics:

For some reason, the slideshow keeps cutting off his head on the one where he's grabbing for the cake. I couldn't fix that. Sorry! Still cute though.

BTW, the icing is blue because I made it with butter, which turned it yellow, which I didn't think was so cute for my little man, so I dyed it blue. Yeah.