Healthy Comfort Food

- Grass fed beef 

- Strained Tomatoes

- Garlic 

- Onion

-Cayenne Pepper

-Chili Powder

-Oregano

-Cumin

-Paprika

-Celery Powder

-Sea Salt

-Spice 

-White Onion

-Pinto Beans

-Kidney Beans

-Cheddar cheese (milk, salt, enzymes, and annatto).

-Whole Wheat Bread (not listing every ingredient - the only thing with more than a couple individual ingredients. I promise it was the "healthiest" bun I could find at Whole Foods)

-Yellow Mustard (Sorry, no individual ingredients here either. I had a choice - to walk to the kitchen for the umpteenth time or write this blog entry.)

Hey, look at that. You can read and pronounce every ingredient. This must be the start to a really healthy meal that tastes not very satisfying healthy, as well.

So here's what I made with these ingredients...

Are you ready?

Is the suspense killing you?

Okay, here it is:

A glorious, delicious chili dog

I paired it with a simple Kale salad and the whole meal was less than 600 calories...and I was so full! 

Here are the recipes: 

Chili Dog (serves 6)

Ingredients: 

- 1/2 chili recipe (I used a variation of this recipe by The Pioneer Woman; basically, I omitted the corn flour and just cut all other ingredients in half.)

- 6 hot dogs, boiled or grilled (I love this brand - organic, and made from humanely raised cows.)

- 6 whole wheat hot dog buns (or get the white ones if you want to live a little...I wish I had), warmed

- 6 oz of cheddar cheese, shredded

- 1/2 medium white onion, chopped

- yellow mustard

Method (also known as, the perfect assembly): 

- Take heated bun and douse with mustard (it's the only way)

- Place HOT hot dog in bun 

- Sprinkle on onions

- Smother with chili

- Top with cheese (I prefer my cheddar unmelted; if you think I am nuts, put it under the chili)

- Take a bite and marvel at the fact that this chili dog is less than 430 calories

Kale Strawberry Salad (serves 2, plus a picky toddler)

Ingredients: 

- 1 bunch Dino Kale

- 5 strawberries

- 2 tbsp EVOO

- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

- 1 tsp dijon mustard

- salt to taste

Method: 

- remove kale leaves from ribs and chop to desired thickness

- slice strawberries

- whisk together EVOO, vinegar, dijon mustard and salt

- pour over kale and toss to coat all kale

- add strawberries and gently combine

Isn't she a beauty? 

If this meal teaches anything, it's that comfort food can be healthy, healthy food can be yummy, and it's all about portion control. I used nothing low fat, reduced fat, or sugar free. I used real ingredients that my granny would've recognized (except, I am not quite sure how often she ate kale...thanks trendy food of the day). Oh well - you catch my drift, right? 

Until next time, bon appetit! 

Roasted Green Chiles

I love green chiles. They are one of my favorite ingredients. You know what I don't love? Canned green chiles. It's no surprise how I feel about cans. Admittedly, I have a can of green chiles in the cupboard right now. And I cannot get myself to cook with it. If you are anything like me, the reason to not make something from scratch falls into one of the following categories: 

- it's too time consuming

- the can is right there, why do extra work?

- it takes a little confidence to delve into making something from scratch

Luckily, homemade roasted green chiles are not very time consuming (at least not in the hands-on sense) and they are not complicated or difficult to make in the slightest. In fact, you can make the equivalent to a can in less than 45 minutes (with only 10-15 minutes of hands-on time...depending on the number of chiles you are using).

Here's what you'll need:

- 3-4 green chile peppers (makes the equivalent to one four ounce can; need more, add more chiles)

- 1 tbsp olive oil

- baking dish

Method: 

(Part 1)

- preheat oven to 425 degrees

- coat each pepper with a little olive oil and place on baking sheet, place in oven

- set timer for 30 minutes 

- turn peppers every 10-15 minutes

When they are done, they'll look like this: 

(Part 2)

- remove peppers to plate and let cool enough to handle 

- if the outside layer isn't already breaking, cut a small slit in each pepper

- remove this layer (sometimes it helps to cut off the stem and a bit off the top)

- once peeled, cut open and scoop out seeds

- chop/dice the peppers

Congratulations...

You now have a delicious ingredient to use that isn't riddled with BPA. :) 

Here's my final product (and, yes, that's a Pioneer Woman cookbook in the background. I owe countless meals to this fabulous lady.) 

Enjoy! 

Ridiculously Easy Crock Pot Chicken Parmesan

It's hard to find meals that are both ridiculously easy and still healthy. Usually, it's a trade-off between health and convenience. Today, I knew that I would be making dinner for just Alex and myself. On nights like these, I like really easy meals. On nights like these, I usually don't get to cleaning up until well after my guy is in bed. There is nothing worse than being exhausted AND walking into a kitchen that looks like a small tornado passed through to say hello. On nights like these, I am extra thankful for my crock pot. I recently discovered I can pretty much cook anything in a crock pot. Today, I was craving Italian food...but I couldn't see myself juggling 3 pans and chopping fresh herbs while Alex complained in the background. Enter my recipe for Ridiculously Easy Crock Pot Chicken Parmesan. 

To be fair, it's not breaded and fried (YUM!)...and I used a jar of sauce instead of homemade. This meal wasn't meant to be gourmet and fabulous; it was meant to be easy and healthy. It literally took 5 minutes to prep everything. My crock pot did the rest. Here's what I used: 

Yes, that's string cheese. Forgive me, but my fancy mozzarella cheese looked a little sad. Thank goodness I am a mom of a toddler. String cheese is a household staple and saved this dinner. Also, pretend there is parmesan cheese in this picture. You'll need it. 

Method: Put chicken in crock pot; sprinkle with 3 cloves chopped garlic; cover with sauce; set crock pot to low and cook until tender. Thighs will cook in 3-4 hours, breasts will take a little longer - about 5-6 hours. When chicken is tender, cover chicken with string cheese pieces (I broke each string cheese into a few pieces) and cook until melted, about 15 minutes. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Serve with: 

- pasta and sauce from crock pot

- caesar salad

I wish I had a picture to show the final product, but Alex was hungry, and...who am I kidding? I totally forgot. 

Enjoy! 

Family Beef Enchiladas...And Some Extras

What do you get when you combine a busy mom/wife, husband who often works late, a picky toddler, and grocery list that tries to be as organic as possible? Very complicated dinnertimes. I think it's gotten worse since Alex started eating more of our meals and less baby food. He no longer wants grilled chicken and carrots. No, no. He wants sauces, rich flavors, and pretty much anything we are eating...except eggs. I can't get this kid to eat eggs for the life of me. Oh, well. That's another issue all together.

Yesterday, I was craving enchiladas. I like mine spicy, with lots of red pepper flakes and roasted green chiles, and other spiciness - hardly a dinner that Alex's newly developing toddler pallet can handle. I also like when they are a little on the creamy side. (This is when the lightbulb went on inside my noggin). I knew that if I used some homemade cream of chicken soup, it would not only mix well with the adult enchiladas, but it would also help make toddler enchiladas, as well. I have my own cream of chicken concoction on my blog, but I was more of a newbie cook when I made it, and I like this soup recipe much better.

Looking through my ingredients, I had a whole pound of grass-fed organic beef (Trader Joe's is the best deal in town ($6.99 lb), a whole package of flour tortillas, and 4 pounds of cheese (don't judge me). Another lightbulb went on. I was going to make as much food as possible, and freeze what we didn't have for dinner so that another dinner another week would be ridiculously low maintenance.

Here are the ingredients I used:

- 1 lb grass-fed ground beef (divided -  approx 3/4 lb for the adult dinner, 1/4 lb for toddler dinner)
- salt, pepper, and red chili flakes to taste
- 1/2 can green chiles (couldn't find any to roast myself, so sad I had to use a can)
- 1/2 yellow onion
- approximately 1 lb total freshly grated cheddar and jack cheeses, divided (you may use less if you aren't as enthusiastic about cheese as I am)
- 1 batch homemade cream of chicen soup (see above link)
- 1 12oz bottle Trader Joe's enchilada sauce
- Burrito sized flour tortillas (at least 10)
- green onions to garnish (optional)

Method:

Get out two frying pans - one big, one small (or use one pan and cook meat two separate times...I used two)

- brown the smaller amount of beef in the small pan and the rest of the beef with the chopped onions in the largerpan; after the meat starts browning, add salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to the large pan. Cook both until completely done (no pink, please).

- drain fat from each portion of meat; set aside the little portion to use in a bit

Time to get the adult enchiladas assembled...

- Mix about 8 oz/one cup of enchilada sauce with cream of chicken soup (put as much in as you would like. I like mine more on the enchilada sauce side of things, so I only put in 4-5 oz of soup...add more if you'd like it less spicy/more creamy. This is your finished enchilada sauce.

- Add approx. 4 tbsp of enchilada sauce to beef

- Add approx. 1/2 cup of each type of cheese to beef

- Add 1/2 can green chiles to beef

- Combine, combine, combine...

- Fill each tortilla with mixture, and roll closed (I cut mine in half after rolled so they fit nicely in the baking dish

Here's where I split them into two dishes - one night's dinner included 6 enchilada halves/3 whole enchilada (this left me with enough for a leftover serving the next day), and the other dish had 4 halves/2 whole...this will be a freezer dinner for another night

- Top with sauce and remaining cheese

- Bake at 375, covered, for 20 min; remove cover and bake about 10 minutes more, or until heated through (top with chopped green onions before serving if that's your things...it certainly is mine)

- Cover your freezer portion with foil and place in a large ziploc bag (or use your preferred method for storing food in the freezer). Now you have dinner for another night! :) Defrost and bake according to the above direction, or bake frozen for 1 hour, 15 min; or until heated through.

Now, onto the toddler servings...

- Add 2 tbsp of the soup and a little cheese to the beef, and combine

- Fill one tortilla with mixture (I cut this in half...making two servings...one for dinner, one for the next night's leftovers) and place in separate baking dish

-Top with soup and cheese

- Bake along with adult enchiladas, but these will only need about 20-25 min total

At this point, I had leftover beef and cheese, so I just added the beef mixture to a few more tortillas, added some cheese, and cut them into mini quesadillas to freeze for another time (I ended up with 4 more toddler servings). Wrap each serving in foil (and place in freezer bag), and you have dinner ready for those nights you go on a date and you have no clue what to feed your tiny person. :) These portions can easily be heated (from frozen) in the microwave for 1-2 minutes.

After all this food, I still had sauce and soup left, so I just combined it in a freezer safe plastic container and now I have an enchilada sauce for another meal waiting. :)

Here is all the food I am hoarding had for dinner for two nights, plus leftovers, plus toddler quesadillas, plus sauce:

Well, that was my longest blog post in history; but in my defense, it made 2.5 adult meals, and 6 toddler servings...not bad at all. And to add icing to the cake (mmm...cake), all of this cost under $25. Yes, please. This meal took about 1.5 hours to put together (including washing all the dishes), but had I had soup made already, I could've cut the time by 20-30 minutes. Which reminds me - if you decide to make your own soup, make a double batch, and freeze portions similar to a can of soup. This way, you'll have the convenience of the can with the health benefits of homemade. :) It is a great base for lots of recipes or that sad little chicken breast we don't know what to do with.

Phew...I am tired now. I need a nap.

Bon Appetit!

Store-Bought Condiments - Raising the Bar

I have a love-hate relationship with store-bought condiments - with the emphasis not on the love. I don't know what it is. Very few are actually delicious. Sure, a restaurant usually has good sauces and dips, but who the heck knows what they are made of?! (I am guessing - if I knew - I wouldn't eat them very often.) Now, I still haven't cracked the code on store-bought ranch dressing. As far as I am concerned it doesn't exist. (Anyone want to prove me wrong?)

However, thanks to "Bone Suckin'" (funny name, phenomenal taste), I am one step closer to finding peace with store-bought condiments. I haven't tried everything Bone Suckin' makes, though I can say the three I've tried are wonderful. Here are may favorite ways to use these sauces:

- Sweet Hot Mustard: on a homemade turkey and/or salami sandwich; or on a hot dog (grass-fed beef only, please). 

- BBQ: slow cooked with chicken - makes the most delicious shredded chicken sandwich. Check out the Pioneer Woman's recipe here.

- Habanero Sauce: I've only tasted the sauce individually, but I plan to use it as a dip for the polish sausage I am having tonight. 

Bone Suckin' Sauces can be purchased at Whole Foods, though they can also be purchased online. Do yourself a favor, and try this brand. 

DIY Cream of Chicken Soup

If you are anything like me, you search the internet for recipes weekly, if not daily. There are always so many things that look yummy. And then I read the recipe, and find that it calls for a can of cream of chicken (or mushroom) soup. Almost. Every. Time. If you are reading this, you know how I feel about cans, in general...and BPA in cans, specifically. That's when I thought, "Hmm...I bet I can make my own 'soup'." I should warn this really isn't "soup", but - to be fair - I don't really think of the average condensed soup as such either. It is basically a bunch of chicken flavor with some cream and goodness knows what else. How hard could it be, right? 

Here's what you'll need:

2 tbsp flour

2 tbsp butter

8 oz chicken broth from a carton (I use regular, not low sodium in this case)

2-4 tbsp of heavy cream

Pepper and other spices to taste

Method: 

Make a roux with your flour and butter, whisk over low heat for 2 minutes. Whisk in broth and cream until completely combined (read: not lumpy). Turn the heat up a bit - stirring occasionally - until it starts to thicken. Substitute anytime a recipe calls for Cream of Chicken Soup. Note: next time, I may change the broth to cream ratio a bit. I think this is a personal preference. 

Voila! 

Here is a link for the recipe that inspired this life changing culinary choice: 

Crispy Cheddar Chicken

I should note that this recipe is not perfect, at least not the way I made it. Some of the ingredients were hard to work with (I used freshly grated cheese, instead of the pre-grated stuff). I think the lack of anti-caking agents in the cheese I used made it more difficult. However, I find that even if it didn't look as pretty in the baking dish, it looked pretty delicious once plated...especially next to the roasted garlic potatoes and green beans. In case you don't believe me, here's a picture: 

Next time, I think I'll concoct Cream of Mushroom Soup. :)

BPA is Not Your Friend

That's right - BPA is no bueno. If you are a mom of a young child (like me) you probably know this. If you aren't, you probably don't. It wasn't until I was pregnant with Alex that I started realizing that BPA wasn't something to mess around with. So I did what any new mom-to-be would do: I only bought bottles, pacifiers, and toys marked "BPA free", but continued to prepare meals with cans of beans, tomatoes, and my Sparkletts #7 water bottles. After Alex was born, I realized that if something isn't good for him, it's probably not good for anyone else either. So I started investigating (slippery for someone like me, I do realize).

Spare yourself the agony of Googling "BPA". Trust me. It sucks. It's, like, one of the worst things ever to be created. If you read my last post "Finding Peace as a Meat Eater" you know I am extreme, but also try to find balance. Of course, I will never be able to rid myself of this terrible chemical entirely, unless I never eat at a restaurant or use a food processor, or have that darn cranberry sauce out of a can at Thanksgiving. However, there is so much I can do to limit my exposure on a daily basis - when I cook at home - that I wanted to share with you. These are the ways to limit your exposure to BPA:

- let food cool a little before placing it in a food processor. BPA is most often leached when food is stored in the container or as the temperature rises. A quick 30 seconds in a food processor isn't going to do much, if anything...so process away! Making anything with fresh ingredients at home is still, like, 1,000 times better than buying a processed mess at a local store. 

- do your homework on canned foods (or keep reading and I'll tell you...). Companies like Trader Joe's and Eden offer a wide selection of canned goods that are BPA free. Trader Joes' canned corn, beans, and meats use BPA free lining. Eden has a wide variety of beans in BPA-free cans as well. Here is the link to read more: http://www.treehugger.com/green-food/7-companies-you-can-trust-to-use-bpa-free-cans.html

- NEVER BUY CANNED TOMATOES. If anyone ever finds tomatoes in a BPA free can, I may just have to make a batch of Chocolate Chip Cookies for you to show my appreciation, because - as far as I know - they don't exist...something about the acidity in the tomatoes is too harsh...yada yada yada. This raises a red flag for me. If tomatoes' acidity is so strong, imagine the toll the can takes. No thank you! Instead, buy Pomi tomatoes. They come in a BPA free carton. While they aren't organic (boo!), they are not genetically modified (oh, don't even get me started on this...). I'll trade a little pesticide for a hormone-mimicking chemical any day. Whole Foods sells them, or you can order them online for a reasonable price. (Hint: if you go to Vitacost.com, you get FREE shipping on orders over $50. They are also available on Amazon (sometimes with Prime!). Here's more info from Pomi's website if you're interested: http://www.pomi.us.com/images/presslinks/PomiTomatoes_BPAFreeAlternativetoCans_EatDrinkBetter.pdf

Darn it all to heck! The baby just woke up. I wanted to post my recipe for the BPA-free spaghetti sauce I made last night. Oh well, that'll have to wait until next time.

In the spirit of my Italian Pomi tomatoes...

...Buona Sera!