Ok, so we are really doing our best to change our eating habits. Let me tell you, this takes LOTS of planning on my part, and knowing my personality type, I can plan, I just don't always. First of all, I am making out my weekly menu. Now I have done this for awhile, but this seemed so much easier when I was making rich comfort foods, and yummy stuff with real butter, sour cream and ranch dressing. Trying to cook healthy, I am now looking for fresh ingredients to make things with spray butter, fat free this and that, and smaller meat portions. My family loves to eat. I'm sort of a foodie, I suppose. I like making new recipes, and trying new stuff, so it's fun for me to try this and that; and then there was that night I made the lime cod...and we all gagged from the bitterness, pitched it, and ran to Braums for a bag-o-burgers. Honestly, my very favorite recipes are those I can make in 30 minutes or less or throw in the crock pot and let it simmer for the day. Above all things, I am practical and don't wanna spend 3 hours making something we will wolf down in 20 minutes (well, unless it's a special occasion or a holiday or something....bring on the potato peeling). My current Bible study is called "My Whole Life" and the basic concept is incorporating God into everything you do, right down to the food you eat and the excercise you are getting, and the steps to getting there. Good stuff, really good. It's the beginning of week 3 and so far I am down 8.5 pounds, I am excercising every day and have completely cut refined sugar out of my diet. I have a caloric limit of 1600 calories, and am trying to stay low fat, and relatively low carb, which is HARD to do simultaneously unless you just want to eat spinach exclusively....which I do not. I am eating tons of fruit, raw veggies, steamed veggies, chicken...chicken...and more chicken. I thought I would include a few recipes for my gals that are also getting healthy too. Easy and yummy, I get most of my recipes from
http://www.allrecipes.com/ I love that site, I can find almost anything there. All of the following recipes I have tried and they are great, some are even my very own!
Lowfat Chicken Enchiladas (this is what I made last night)
3 chicken breasts
1 tsp cumin
1 can rotel tomatoes and chiles, drained
1 7oz can green chiles, drained
1/2 cup lowfat shredded cheese (mexican blend)
1 cup fat free shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup diced onions
1 large can green enchilada sauce (I buy whichever one is lowest in calories and fat)
1 small can red enchilada sauce
7-10 98% fat free tortillas
1 tsp salt
Cover chicken breasts in water, add cumin and boil until cooked throroughly. Drain, and shred chicken (I have found the Pampered Chef, Hold N Slice is the coolest thing ever for shredding chicken
click here to see Hold N Slice).
Mix the fat free cheese with the low fat cheese and set aside 1/4 a cup of cheese mixture.
Mix together the shredded chicken, with the remaining amount of shredded cheese, green chiles, the rotel tomatoes and chiles, onions, and salt. Grease your casserole dish with cooking spray and roll chicken mixture into tortillas and place them snugly together in the dish. Pour green enchilada sauce back and forth over the enchiladas until gone, then follow with the red. Take the remaining 1/4 cup of cheese and sprinkle over the top of the enchiladas and bake on 350 for 35-45 min until bubbly.
Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 (17.5 fluid ounce) bottle buffalo wing sauce, I use Frank's Red Hot Original
1 package dry ranch salad dressing mix
2 tablespoons light butter
6 lowfat whole wheat buns or hoagie rolls, whichever you prefer
Place the chicken breasts into a slow cooker (even frozen still), and pour in all of the wing sauce, the ranch dressing mix and butter. Cover, and cook on Low for 6 to 7 hours or High for 3-4 hours.
Once the chicken has cooked, shred the meat finely or most likely meat will just fall apart and let simmer for a bit in the remaining sauce. Pile the meat onto the buns or rolls, and serve.
Melon Salsa with Teriyaki Chicken (this is what I made tonight, David and Maya LOVED it, and I thought it was pretty darn good too, just a little time consuming with all that dicing)
3 tomatoes, seeded and finely diced
1/2 honeydew melon, peeled and finely diced
1/2 cantaloupe, peeled and finely diced
1 cup minced red onion
1 large cucumber deseeded and finely diced (I like to use the English ones from Sam's b/c the seeds are small and you don't have to deseed them)
1/2 yellow pepper finely diced
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 tablespoons orange juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
4 chicken breasts
1 tsp minced garlic
1 bottle of any teriyaki marinade (I like the thick stuff, seems to give it good flavor when basting on the grill)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Marinate chicken breasts in half the bottle of teriyaki sauce, garlic and salt and pepper for at least 30 minutes or more (3 hours is optimal). Grill chicken or bake in the oven @ 350 continually basting with remaining amount of teriyaki sauce.
Dice all fruits and veggies, mix together, and add salt, fresh cilantro, OJ, and lime juice together. The longer it sits the better the flavor gets.
Serve chicken breast covered in melon salsa, could even serve over brown rice if desired.
Baked Asian Style Honey Chicken
1 (3 pound) whole chicken, cut into pieces (or substitute 4 chicken breasts)
3 tablespoons chopped onion
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon ginger powder, of could use fresh too (I used powder and it was great)
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup chopped green onions
Arrange chicken pieces in baking dish. Combine the onion, soy sauce, ginger, garlic and honey; mix together and spoon mixture over chicken. Cover dish and refrigerate to marinate for at least 1 hour, turning pieces once. Preheat oven to 425.
Bake chicken at 425 for 30 minutes. Turn pieces over and top with green onion, then continue baking for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until chicken is tender and cooked through and juices run clear. Serve immediately with brown rice.
Easy Mashed Sweet Taters
2 cans Bruce's Yams, drained
1 tsp cinnamon
10 squirts spray butter (Parkay or I can't Believe it's Not Butter)
1/2 TBSP Splenda
1 TBSP sugar free maple syrup
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp clove or pumpkin pie seasoning
1/4 Cup chopped nuts (optional)
On the stove add all ingredients and mash together until creamy and smooth, heat all the way through and serve! EASY!
Lowfat Crock Pot Chicken and Dumplins (a Coleman family favorite and the easiest thing ever--put a smile on your kid's face, oh and the hubby too)
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons light butter
1 can of mixed veggies, peas, carrots and diced potatoes, or a small frozen bag of mixed veggies, whatever you prefer, better yet use fresh veggies, whatever time allows for you
2 (10.75 ounce) cans fat free condensed cream of chicken soup
1 onion, finely diced
2 (10 ounce) packages reduced fat refrigerated biscuit dough, torn into pieces
Place the chicken (I put it in still frozen), butter, soup, and onion in a slow cooker, and fill with enough water to cover the chicken.
Cover, and cook for 5 to 6 hours on High, chicken should just fall apart, if not, shred it. About 30 minutes before serving, place in the veggies and the torn biscuit dough in the slow cooker. Cook until the dough is no longer raw in the center and serve. SOOOO YUMMY!
Sarah's SUPER Easy Chicken Breasts
4 chicken breasts
1 bottle fat free Italian dressing
(yep--that's it)
Marinate chicken breasts in the whole bottle of dressing for at least an hour, if not more in the fridge, throw on the grill and voila~YUMMY!
Maya and Tate
Tatoes has to have surgery tomorrow to remove several large bladder stones she has :( This makes me mucho nervous. I hate what she is going to have to go through, and I hate the pain she is in. Thank goodness they gave us some pain meds for her so she isn't totally miserable until tomorrow. I feel like I could throw up, I wasn't this nervous for my own surgery. I am also NOT excited about the cost of all this, but she is worth every penny. She is not just a dog, she is a little furball that has brought David and I alot of joy since she has come into our lives...daily this dog has brings me joy--honestly, how many people can you say that about? She is excited when we walk in the door, and I feel sad when we leave her. Sometimes when we are leaving, she runs out to the car and puts her little paws up on the car door, asking us if we will take her with us. We come home and she knows the very last pair of shoes I have worn and finds them and lays with my shoes, without ever chewing one up. To me, Tatoes is a little furry fourlegged person, and we treat her with just such dignity. She gets grumpy, she pouts, she gets excited, she is silly, she is smart, and the absolute best snuggler, sorry David. ;) Nothing is more pleasing to her than ripping the stuffing out of one of her little stuffed rodent friends, getting the squeaker and relishing in her accomplishment by rolling around in it's fluffy "guts"!
