Tuesday, April 10

Dinner by Faith....

Nothing pleases me more than preparing wholesome, fresh food at home.  It is even better when the kids get involved.  Turkey burgers made by Faith tonight. 

Ingredients
Lean ground turkey
1/2 zuch
1/2 yellow squash
1/2 yellow onion
1/2 carrot
Plain bread crumbs
1 egg
Sea salt
Ground Pepper
EVOO
Black Beans
Whole wheat/grain buns (optional)







Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.




Add ground turkey, egg and bread crumbs in a bowl.  Cut veggies and place in food processor with a dash of EVOO and a splash of water.  Blend, remove and add to the turkey mixture.  Rinse black beans then add handful to food processor and blend.  Also remove and add to turkey mixture.  Knead all ingredients together and shape burger patties.



Saute the extra veggies with EVOO to and dash of seal salt and pepper.  Use as topping for your burger.

Add burgers to pan with oil just to sear both sides, then remove and place in baking dish and bake for about 20-30, until thoroughly cooked.  You can either use the whole grain bun OR just do a plain burger.  We have been doing so well lately with our meals that tonight we treated ourselves to the whole grain bun.  Top the burger with lettuce, tomato, onion, etc. and enjoy.

No side dish was needed for this meal tonight, as it had everything in it.  The kids ate it up and Faith did a wonderful job. 










Friday, April 6

Wine Country Lasagne...Fitnessmom Way

Normally lasagna is full of meat and cheese.  Well, in this house that is not the case.  Personally I hate eating lasagna with meat and and too much cheese is not appealing to me.  So I usually make veggie lasagna, which of course goes over real well with the hubby and kids.  Most of the time I do big chunks of veggies that you get in almost every bite, but the kids tend to fork it apart and dissect it.  Then it came to me.  Yes, I had figured it out!  I was going to create the Winecountry Lasagna "Fitnessmom way".

Prep time is about 1/2 hour
Ingredients:
Cauliflower (did you think I wouldn't)?
Broccoli
Zuchs
Yellow Squash
Yellow onion
Mushrooms
Raw Garlic
Red Wine (hence the Winecountry name)
EVOO
Sea Salt (if you are wanting to add)
Pepper
Garlic Powder
Salt Free All Purpose Seasoning
Ricotta Cheese
Mozzarella Cheese
Of course lasagna noodles



As you know, if you have been following me....I don't measure, so this is all done by your own personal preference. 




Cut the cauliflower and place in a baking dish and drizzle with EVOO and sprinkle with garlic powder (garlic salt will add too much sodium to the recipe).  Bake the cauliflower for 30 min at 350 degrees.  While this is baking, take the broccoli, zuchs, yellow squash, onion and raw garlic, cut up and saute in EVOO and sprinkle with salt free all purpose seasoning and pepper.  Now here is where the red wine comes in, (I just use some from an open bottle on the counter) pour some into the saute pan with the veggies (again at your own preference) take a glass out of the wine cupboard and pour one for yourself. 

Let the veggies cook up until somewhat soft, then remove from pan and pour into a bowl, set aside.  Cut up the mushrooms and saute them in the same pan with the leftover flavors, adding a tad more EVOO if needed.  Remove cauliflower from oven and add to the veggie bowl, (again, set aside).  This is a great time to start boiling your noodles.  Drink your glass of wine.  Once the veggies have somewhat cooled, place them in your food processor.  I had quite a few so I had to do this about 3 separate times.  Remember to add a bit of water so as to blend well.  Add the blended veggies to the saute pan with the mushrooms until you have blended all of them. 


I am not an "Italian" gal, so no homemade sauces coming from me (not yet anyway) so the jar will have to do.  Add your tomato sauce to your blended veggies in the pan and fold together and heat.  At this point the noodles are done and rinsed, start layering them in your baking dish.  Then spoon in the veggie mixture combined with the sauce.  Spoon on ricotta cheese, then grate some mozz.  Repeat this layering process two more times (depending how much you make and how high you want to go). 


Place in pre-heated oven and bake at 350 degrees for about 1/2 hour.  The fun part is taking the left over noodles and spooning up the extra sauce from the pan with them, the kids and I love to do that.  

Success! Lasagna Fitnessmom way, with a twist of winecountry.  The kids ate it up and my hubby had two helpings.  Doing the veggies blended like this really made more of a "meaty" type of meal without the meat.  By the way, this dish make great leftovers.....:)






 

Monday, April 2

Mandarin Chicken at home..

Okay, so who does NOT like ordering their fav takeout from the fav Chinese place? Well we love to every so often when that "craving" kicks in.  However, you start to think about all the sauce, sodium and oils.  I know our kids love Mandarin Orange chicken and they like to eat if often enough that I had to come up with a version I could do at  home.  Hopefully a tad healthier and more cost effective. 

After searching for some time, I stumbbled upon one, only it added alot of sugar.  So I took it and made it more my own and modified.  Here we go.

3-4 boneless chicken breasts
salt + pepper
1 cup cornstarch
3 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup canola oil
The sweet and sour sauce:
4 tbs ketchup (also has sugar)
1/4 cup seasoned Rice vinegar (now 1tbls of this has 5 sugar grams) so using 1/4 cup OR even 1/2 cup is adding your sugar count
1 tbs soy sauce (this is where your sodium count comes in) So go low Sodium
1 tsp granulated garlic

* NOTE * With the ingredients already carrying their own sugar and sodium count...There is NO need to add any extra added sugar or salt to this recipe...
Start by preheating your oven to 325 degrees. Rinse your chicken breasts in water and then cut into cubes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Dip chicken into the cornstarch to coat then dip into the eggs.  Heat your 1/4 cup oil in a large skillet and cook your chicken until browned but not cooked through. Place the chicken in a 9x13 greased baking dish. Mix all of your sweet and sour sauce ingredients in a bowl with a whisk and then pour evenly over the chicken. Bake for 1/2 hour and during the baking process you should turn the chicken once.