Boiled Egg Salad Sandwiches

Boiled Eggs Salad Sandwiches

served on my hubby's Fresh Bread (recipe for the bread later)

5 Boiled Eggs - peeled

1/4 -1/3 C. Miracle Whip or Mayonnaise

Sliced bread (6 slices as this made 3 large sandwiches)

1 tsp. Salt

1 tsp. Paprika

A few drops of Tabasco if desired, this adds such a yummy factor!

Combine all ingredients. I use a strawberry/egg slicer to get the eggs sliced nicely to start off. Add the seasonings and dressing, finish combing until your desired consistency. Spread across sliced bread, sprinkle with a bit more paprika and serve immediately. Yummy, yummy, yummy! 

No this isn't trick photography, my hens lay us wonderful eggs with very bright yellow yolks.

Increase or decrease amounts depending on how many sandwiches you would like to make. 

This is a family favorite

Oven Chili Cheese Dogs

Oven Chili Cheese Dogs

8 Hot dogs

8 Hot dog buns

1 can Chili Cheese

1/4 - 1/2 C. Diced Onion (to personal taste)

Cheddar Cheese

Mayonnaise

Mustard (I omitted) 

Sweet Relish (I omitted) 

Preheat oven to 350

Line the inside of the hot dog buns with mayo & relish. Evenly spread mustard. Fill with hot dogs and squish onto foil lined 13x9 baking pan.

Top hot dogs with chili, cheese and onion. Cover with foil and bake 45 minutes.

This was amazing - its a new family favorite. As for the condiments, use what you like normally before covering with the chili and cheese. ;)

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

5 minutes

one pan

and a taste of heaven!

One pancake mix

Chocolate chips

Syrup

Water

Mix the right amount of batch per directions and add up to 1/4 the batter of chocolate chips. I made 2 cups of mix so I added 1/2 C. Chocolate Chips

Cook - flip - cook again
Serve!

Amazingly divine! Fluffy, sweet just right for a great start to a ugh morning!

Sweet Indulgence

Greek Vanilla Yogurt 

Frozen Blackberries

The thick rich cream of the fat free yogurt is perfectly balanced with the sweet and sharp taste of the blackberries.

A perfect pairing of the two flavors.

Nothing else is needed

No sweeteners

Just a few minutes for the blackberries to thaw out

and the juices to mix into the cream yogurt.

Enjoy!

The best part of the treat is how guilt free and good for you it is!

Teriyaki Fajitas

Teriyaki Fajitas

1 pd steak cooked and cut into thin strips (I bought them pre-pkg from the store)
1 onion cut thin
1 pepper cut thin
1/2 bottle of Teriyaki sauce
sliced provolone cheese
tortillas

Add first 4 ingredients to a gallon freezer bag, shake and marinate at least an hour.
Cook ingredients on high heat until cooked thoroughly.
lay in middle of tortilla add cheese, fold, serve!
Easy and yummy!
Add cooked rice on the side or inside if desired.

Double recipe, freeze. Needs to be unfrozen before cooking, can be pan grilled, foil grilled or flame grilled.
Would make a good take and go camping recipe as well! 

Game Night Snack's

We had Sweet & Sour Sausage Wontons, Cream Cheese Wontons & Pretzels!

I bought a large package of wonton wrappers and dove on in!

Sweet & Sour Sausage Wontons

2 pieces of Sausage (unwrapped cooked and crumbled) I used chicken apple sausage
4 tbls. Sweet n' Sour sauce
1/2 pkg of wonton wrappers
1 small bowl of water

 Add the sauce to the cooked sausage - mix cook down, remove from heat.
Add 1/2 tsp 1 tsp of mix to the middle of each wrapper.
Wet the edges and fold.
I did mine in the purse shape as directed on the package.
I also baked my wontons, feel free to deep fry them if you like.
350 degrees for 10 min.

Cream Cheese Wontons

1 pkg Cream Cheese
1/2 pkg Wonton Wrappers
1/2 C. Sweet & Sour Sauce (for dipping)

Add 1/2 tsp - 1 tsp cream cheese to middle of each wonton wrapper. Again I used the purse wrap (next time I will do it differently.)
Using water to seal the edges I prepped all of them.
Baked them at 130 for 10 min.
Next time I most likely will fry these but even baked they were delicious!

Pretzel Recipe

3 3/4 C. Flour
1 1/2 tsp. table salt
Rock salt for topping
1 tsp. Veg. Oil
1 tsp. Butter
3/4 C. Plus 1 Tbsp. powdered sugar
1 Tbsp + 1/2 tsp Active Dry Yeast
1 1/4 C. 2 Tbsp Warm Water

Water bath recipe (for when pretzels are formed)
2 C. Warm water
2 Tbsp. Baking Soda

Prepare yeast (add to warm water allow to sit for 15 min)
Add oil to yeast and Stir
In separate bowl mix, sugar, butter, flour and salt.
Then add yeast mix.
Flour a surface & knead the dough for 10-15 min.
Add dough to a large bowl - cover & rest in a warm area (my suggestions are in microwave, oven ect)

Pre-heat oven to 425, separate into 8 sections.
Roll into long ropes, twist into pretzel shapes or into simple twists.
Dip each pretzel into water bath and then layout on parchment sheet.
Bake 10 min.
Brush with melted butter & sprinkle with rock salt.

All the food was delicious! I think I will prepare the wontons differently next time. 



 

Breakfast Shake!

 

Shakes are one of the best or worst drinks you can have for breakfast.
If you add tons of sugar, shake packets or high fat products a shake every morning is not going to help you out.

However if you have an immersion blender/magic bullet or even a regular blender a shake a morning can be quick, easy and healthy!

First off is stocking up on the right products.

I change up my liquids - I float normally between, milk, pineapple juice or horchata.
Sometimes I will even combine them.

Fresh & frozen fruit with no added sugars.

Non fat Vanilla Greek yogurt (must - really its amazing!)  


Then comes my "secret" ingredients. The ones you can't taste, see or smell once they have been blended together.

1-2 tsp of Flax seed oil

1-2 tsp. Lecithin Granules

& 1/2 dropper of Ginkgo

Add a bit of this, a dab of that, frozen items on top - always the last items in and voila - sweet, thick, rich, creamy and healthy!

This does so many things for your body! Skin, muscles, blood, intestinal track... amazing! 

Also if you are anything like me, starting off my day with such a sweet treat curbs my desire for sweets later on - also helping keep me moving forward on a healthier path!

With my immersion blender (that I love!) this literally takes two minutes. One to assemble and one to blend and pour!

I am also of thinking of adding in a tsp of gelatin for nail & hair health. Will let you know how that works out!

Edit 9/14/12

I love adding in half a packet of gelatin! Really helps my nails and thicken the shake.

I also have started to add 1/4-1/2 tsp of Chia seeds - they are amazing and very healthy! Its best if you soak them in your base liquid for at least 10 minutes before making the shake so that they absorb enough to digest better in your tummy.

Home Made Cinnamon Sugar Popcorn

Cinnamon Sugar Popcorn
My kids ate this up so fast I had to hold them back just to take the photo!
This time I pre-melted butter added the cinnamon and the sugar cooked the popcorn and then tossed it.
I will not do this next time.

What you need:
One brown paper lunch bag
1/4 C un-popped popcorn
1 Tbls butter
Cinnamon/Sugar

Add the corn kernels into the brown bag and fold it over twice - don't secure it.
Pop on high for 2-3 minutes or until there are 5-10 second pauses between popping.
Empty into a large bowl pour melted butter over the top - toss once or twice - then add in flavoring in this case cinnamon & sugar.

No more paying for expense popcorn & the chemicals they add in. No more needing to pull out a large rarely used popcorn maker, or heating oil on the stove (particularly dangerous for klutzes like me!)
Just a cheap brown bag and a microwave.

Snacks & Insane Foodie Trends

 

Blue Cheese Dressing

Lettuce

Red Onions

Tomatos

Provolone Cheese

Crutons

Tortilla Chips 

Colby Jack Cheese

Olives

Tomatos

Red Onion

Now a blogger that I love who writes Stark. Raving. Mad. Mommy

She wrote a post titled, Not enough Ketchup in the world!

Where she goes OFF on the foodie community for the food trend predictions for this coming year.

I would write it ~ but how she wrote it ~ WAY to funny!

My take on it - I want to see each predictor EAT the foods THEY predicted!

I wouldn't!

EVER!

Home Made Lemonade

Sorry I am just learning how to make my own photo montage in a cheap program!

The key to making lemonade is math. Having the right equations. Squeeze your lemons - add equal amount of sugar as lemon juice then add 3 to 4 times the amount water depending on taste.
If you like a thicker sweeter use three times the water if you like a thinner but refreshing tasting add four times the water.

Kids take on it? - They love it and both begged me not to sell it on the side of the road as they wanted to drink it.
My question is have they ever seen me sell anything off the side of the rode?
Didn't think so!

What is cheating?

I recently found a blog post 

that said any Foodie 

who makes or uses processed or frozen premade foods

is NOT a foodie.

As well as that

If you don't use Fresh Whole foods

You don't deserve to blog, eat, or even READ foodie articles.

First off obviously this type of person has NEVER been strapped for cash

second I also highly doubt that they have children.

To me ALL food can be good.

It only needs to be cooked properly.
(no this does not mean that all premade food are equal if you can afford quality buy it)

Do I loved fresh?

All handmade food?

Designer and imported Cheeses?

Oh heck yeah!

Am I a snob?

 Nope?

Am I a fake?

Nope

Do I cook what I can to the best of my talents?

Yes.

I am a real woman, cooking on a real budget, for my real family.

If that makes me a lesser foodie to some

so be it.

;)

Simple Breakfast Soft Tacos

Check over your ingredients

Non stick skillet - spatula pull the sides gently in

Cook eggs on high heat - watch carefully

Serve on a warm tortilla with toppings of choice

Mine are:

Tortillas

Cheese

Tomatos

Sour Cream

Taquito dip

I had an awesome pre-mixed shot set up

then forgot to take it due to house distractions!

Taquitos (chicken or beef)

Southwest Ranch

Sour Cream

Cherry Tomatoes

Green Onion

Fish Burgers

Fish steaks of choice

Whole Wheat buns

Green Beans

Cheese

low fat mayo

lemon

pickle relish

mustard

honey dijon seasoning

lemon pepper seasoning

Egg in a hole

Breakfast is one of the funnest meals of the day, when you have time to cook that is!

This goes under many different names

and is very easy to cook

Best of all it suits all different tastes.

Over easy done simply - for the hubby

Mine cooked longer and with smoked cheddar cheese

Cheap Ramen Spruced Up!

As another rainy day drizzles its way down

I found myself in the mood for more comfort food.

Today I did my spin on Ramen Noodles.

Yes I am talking about the really cheap noodle packages found in stores

and not the Amazing Ramen Noodles found in the East

I will attempt that feat when I have a better budget.

Boil noodles

scoop out gently draining water from the noodles

add half the spice packet -whatever flavor you prefer

add cut up veggies

And a cup of tea!

My flavor of the day is Market Spice!

Comfort food - Mac & Cheese

What is better on a rainy day than comfort food?

Not fancy, not pricey and nothing to brag about

but on some days

Comfort food rocks!

Salad for One

Lettuce mix

Cherry tomatos

cheese

baked crutons

sliced green onion

fresh blue cheese dressing

Nachos for one!

Sour Cream

Chips

Ground Turkey

Tomatos

Green Onions

Olives

Cheese

Hamburger Pizza?

Every now and then an idea comes to me and I wonder - what will that be like?
This one got a HUGE FAIL! Why? Bad old hamburger meat.
To be honest we've had home made hamburgers several times this spring and I have not been keeping track of which leftovers were from which meat.
If this had had fresh hamburger meat or chicken it would have rocked the house!

Ingrediants
Garlic Nann bread
BBQ sauce
red onion
pineapple
smoked provolone cheese
and of course the bad meat.

I tried to pick the meat off and eat the rest but lets face it - the cheese melts really well and I lost.
Next time I will double check the meat BEFORE using it! LOL