Southern Christmas Show Demo!

Hello, readers!  I have missed writing this week!  My laptop cord broke, so I haven’t been able to blog in a few days!  But I got a new cord today—Yay!—and now I am back!

I hope you have had a wonderful weekend! 

You know, the further we get into the month of November, the more excited I am about the upcoming holidays!  I absolutely love the Thanksgiving-to-Christmas stretch.  In fact, I’ve already been listening to some Christmas music!  ;)  Earlier in the week, i had an opportunity to help with a demo at the Southern Christmas Show.  The dance-fitness company I teach with likes to go out and do demos at differemt events, just to show what a regular Zumba class or DanceOut class is really like.  I always love attending the SCS, so I was excited to help with this demo. 

 

Here I am with 2 other fellow instructors:

Jenny, Kyle, and Me!  We were also joined by about 10-12 other participants.

If you want to get in the holiday “mood,” then this is the perfect place.  I had never been on “Preview Night” before.  One bonus—free parking!  And as a demo participant, I got to attend the show FREE! 

Our demo was lots of fun and we had lots of people interested in taking classes with us.  Afterwards, it was time to explore and shop! 

When I attended the SCS last year (click to view), I got hooked on  Duplin Wine.  Most of their varieties are too sweet for me, but I love their Burgundy.  I made sure to stop by their area and got a little care package for myself. 

I didn’t spend too much—just got a few gifts, and some Darby Creek Soups.  I always want soup during fall and winter, and I like these soup mixes.  They are really easy to make for a weeknight dinner and you can add in extra fresh ingredients to make it “sorta-homemade.”  I chose three varieties: Tortilla Soup, Navy Bean Soup, and Split Pea Soup.  I can’t wait to try them out! 

Actually, tonight I am making a different sorta-homemade soup: Broccoli Cheddar.  I can’t wait!  I’ve been thinking about it all day!

Happy Sunday! 

True Love and Noodle Love

Happy Monday!!!

I am ending the night with some true love… The Bachelor finale.  Do you watch the Bachelor/Bachelorette?  I just can’t help myself.  I am a sucker for that show.  I can’t wait to see who Brad chooses! 

Today, I want to talk about convenience foods.  Lately, my life has been so busy that I am doing a terrible job of planning ahead and cooking meals for myself and my family.  I think that poor planning is one if the biggest pitfalls of getting (and staying) healthy.  Some nights I am coming home at 9 p.m. and I am starving… so I eat whatever is quickest. 

Sometimes it’s frozen convenience foods, like this lasagna we had last night. 

Good, yes.  Best ingredients?  Probably not.

But today I cooked two meals that only took a few minutes, but turned out pretty tasty!

Today, I had several meetings with teachers planned, so I decided to make chili. 

I planned to make this into chicken chili, but the grocery store was out of those convenient packages of grilled chicken strips.  Grrrrr…  So at the last minute, I added Morningstar Farms crumbles to the chili.  I love all the Morningstar Farms products.  This chili was delish with tortilla chips, cheese, and sour cream mixed in.  And it took me just FIVE minutes to prepare this in the slow cooker!  Now, these directions are to prepare the soup in a slow cooker for a lunchtime meal.  But you could definitely make this on the stovetop, too!  (Much quicker!)

Sorta Homemade Slow-Cooker Veggie Chili

• 1 pack Bear Creek “Darn Good Chili” Soup Mix
• 1 can tomato paste
• 1 12-oz package Morningstar Farms “beef” crumbles

Preparation: Fill slow cooker with 7 cups of hot water.  Turn on high for an hour.  Add tomato paste and stir so that it breaks up.  Add the chili packet.  Cover and cook for 30 minutes.  Add crumbles and cook 2 more hours on high.  Serve with chips, cheese, and sour cream!

Then tonight, I decided to try something new.  My friend Diana over at The Chic Life is constantly making these Noodle Stir Fry dishes, like this one.  I’ve been wanting to try this!  So tonight I did! 

I cooked Udon Noodles, and then drained them and set them aside.  I stir-fried my broccoli and edamame in a skillet with a little canola and sesame oil, and some reduced-sodium soy sauce.  When everything was almost cooked through (to crisp-tender) I added the noodles to the skillet and added a sprinkling of sesame seeds. 

And wow… this was so good and took only a few minutes to prepare!  The longest part was cooking the noodles!  I will definitely make this again… SOON!  SO much better than getting takeout!

OK… the Bachelor is getting INTENSE!  I’m gonna have to give it my full attention…

Good night!

A Ghoul Grubfest with Sorta Homemade Soup

Preview of the soup...

Have you ever heard that blessing?  "Rub a dub dub... thanks for the grub... Yay God!"  I have always despised that blessing.  I also really despise the word "grub."  It reminds me or worms, dirt, dirty little boys... all things that I am not really into.  (Good thing I ghave birth to a prissy little girl!)  But I have to use that word today because today at school we had a "Ghoul Grubfest."  This was basically our teacher Halloween "potluck" lunch.  Everyone brought in lots of yummy treats to share with everyone.  Don't you love a pot luck meal?  It's the only time you can eat an Asian salad, meatballs, vegetable soup, a cupcake, chicken wings, cheese cubes, and strawberries all on the same plate.  Now I am sitting here completely uncomfortable because I ate too much of way too many different things.... 

One of my favorite things about fall is the abundance of soups, stews, and comfort foods.  I think I could eat soup every day and be happy.  So that's what I decided to make for the "Grubfest."  I decided to do another "Sorta-Homemade" meal.   For those of you just joining me, "Sorta-Homemade" meals were inspired by Sandra Lee's Semi-Homemade show on Food Network.  You can click the link on the right side to see more semi-homemade meals.

"Sorta-Homemade Chicken, Broccoli, and Cheddar Soup" is so easy, and it's very rich and filling.  It has the flavor of a restaurant soup, but probably half (or less) the fat and calories.  If you follow Weight Watchers, one cup of this soup is 4 points and this recipe makes 10 cups.  That's not TOO bad for a cream-based soup.  The hard part is stucking to the portion size!

Here's the recipe...

"Sorta Homemade Chicken, Broccoli, and Cheddar Soup"

Ingredients:
1 pouch Bear Creek Broccoli Cheddar Soup Mix
5 cups frozen broccoli florets
1 1/2 cups chopped grilled (or baked or boiled) chicken breast
2/3 cup light sour cream
OPTIONAL: cheddar cheese, bacon pieces for garnish (not included in points values)

Directions:
Place 10 cups of water in crock pot.  Add soup mix and stir.  Turn heat to high.  Allow soup to get very warm/hot.  Then, add the frozen broccoli and the chicken.  Allow to cook on high for 2 hours.  Before serving, mix in sour cream.  Garnish with shredded cheese, extra sour cream, bacon bits if desired.

How easy is that???  No one will ever know you started with a mix, I promise!

Ok, one last thing...

I just returned from the hair salon... and I made a change... what do you think I did?  Any guesses???

Too tired to cook...

Well... guess what DIDN'T happen today... I did not try my new green ingredient.  I have plans to try it tomorrow.  When I got home tonight, I just couldn't do it...



"Sausage", Egg, and Cheese Sandwich



I had one of my regular favories for breakfast: a "sausage", egg, and cheese sandwich.  I LOVE that Morningstar Farms Maple "Sausage!"  It is sooooo delicious!  Sweet AND spicy... like you dipped your sausage patty into rich maple syrup.  But with only 80 calories (or 1 point) instead!

Also-- just a little side note... hubby and I were watching the news this morning and guess who was in Charlotte today?  Sandra Lee!  I wish I'd known ahead of time.  It would have been fun to try and go see her at the Southern Women's Show.



For lunch, I made my experiment for a teacher meeting: "Sorta-Homemade Chicken Tortilla Soup"!  I have to say, this one is a keeper!  It made a huge batch and was not expensive at all to make.  AND-- I made it in the Crock Pot!  Here's the recipe...

1 pouch of Bear Creek Soup Mix (Tortilla Flavor) (about $4)

1 can of white corn (less than $1)

1 can of diced tomatoes with onion and green pepper (less than $1)

1 1/2 cups of chopped, cooked chicken breast (about $3-- maybe less)

baked tortilla chips, cheese, and light sour cream to mix in (optional)

Directions:

Pour 10 cups of water into crock pot.  Turn to high.  After 30 minutes, mix in all ingredients except for the toppings.  Stir and cook on high for 3 hours.  Stir occasionally.  After two hours, turn to low for another hour.  Then you are done!  Add the optional mix-ins if you want. 

I fed 7 people, 2-3 of which had seconds, then I ate it again for dinner tonight and there is STILL another serving left!  So there are about 10-12 servings, I would say.  That's less than $1 per serving!

Doesn't that look delicious?????  It WAS!

I also made some corn muffins to go with the soup.  I LOVE corn muffins.  But I can't take any credit for this recipe.  It was a box of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix.  All I added was some milk and an egg.  Sometimes, we don't need to reinvent the wheel.

After work I came home and did a little choreographing for a Zumba class I have coming up at Oakland Baptist.  (See the note on the right side of this page for info about that.)  Then I headed to the YMCA to catch Zumba with Katie.  So much fun.  She's the BEST!

I have not been very diligent about tracking points or doing what I need to do at the Y.  I need to get back to doing more weights and cross-training.  Zumba is awesome, but I need to do some of the other classes and workouts, too.  Do you ever get into an eating or workout rut? 

So... after all that... I didn't have the energy to cook tonight.  I will cook the mystery ingredient tomorrow.

Cooking Up a Storm: Sausage Scramble, Pan-seared Chicken, and MORE!

Today, I think I spent the entire day in the kitchen.  I didn't plan it that way, but that's what happened!

I started with breakfast.  Had to make some eggs because I didn't eat any eggs yesterday!  I made a "Sausage" and Cheese Scramble.  I put sausage in quotation marks because it is Morningstar Farms Vegetarian Sausage Patties.  I LOVE the maple syrup flavor.  With products like that, I could really be a vegetarian.  I used 1 oz. light colby cheese, 1 egg, 1 egg white, and a thawed "sausage" patty all chopped up.  It was soooooo tasty!  The patty gave it a little sweetness, and the cheese made it creamy.

We went to church, and on the way home, Ryan and I talked about making dinners for some of our friends who have been sick and have had babies yesterday.  So I whipped up two Baked Spaghetti with Chicken Sausage Casseroles.  It was hard not to take a bite as I was making them!  But I did make lots of Angel Hair pasta so I could finish up my semi-homemade sauce from Thursday this week, too.  Now I have some lunches ready to go!

Then I cooked and cut chicken breasts.  I chopped some raw chicken chunks for a recipe later this week.  I had to have somecooked chopped chicken to go in some Tortilla soup I am making for coworkers tomorrow, and I also made some pan-seared chicken for Ryan to make wraps for lunch this week.  (He may or may not be addicted to wraps after "Wraps Week.")  I'll tell you what-- this is the best way to prepare chicken breasts, in my opinion.  They will be so tasty, moist, and delicious.  Your family will ask for them all the time.

Preheat oven to 375.  Spray a skillet with nonstick spray.  (I coat it pretty well.)  Heat to medium-high.  Then, salt and pepper the chicken breasts on both sides.  You can add other seasonings, if you want, but you don't need them.  When the oil is hot, add the chicken.  Let it cook until golden brown on that side-- about 5-8 minutes.  Then tuen over.  Cook for about 5 minutes.  Then cover the skillet and place the entire skillet into the hot oven.  Cook for 10-15 minutes, or until cooked through.  Let stand 3-5 minutes before slicing.  (This keeps the juices inside!)  TIP: when you pull the pan out of the pot, keep the potholder on the handle.  This will prevent you from forgetting it it HOT and burning yourself.

Another tip: if you do burn yourself (as I did today) pour yellow mustard all over the burn and let it sit a few minutes.  Then rinse with cold water.  Don't know why this works, but it's like a magic eraser for burns!

Then I maked some corn muffins to go with the Chicken tortilla soup.  I hope I can remember everything I need to take with me!  I am trying something new-- another "Sorta-Homemade" recipe.  I know that's risky, but we'll see what happens.

Oh, and we had a quick, fun visit from Meredith and David today!  They were shopping in Charlotte and were able to stop by on their way home.  That was a nice surprise.

So now... I am getting tired of my kitchen.  I just sat down to a bowl of angel hair pasta with my semi homemade sauce and a simple salad.  (And a beverage.) 

I am dubbing this week "Try Something New Week."  I've decided I am going to try 5 things that I have never tasted before this week.  Just for fun. 

So tonight, I am going to make a batch of Pistachio pudding to snack on tonight-- because I found a random box of it in the pantry today and I have never tasted Pistachio pudding.  Green pudding... strange stuff.  But I am going to try it!  That's my "Try Something New" for today.

Tomorrow, I have another Giada recipe using another ingredient I have never used!  Can you guess what it is???  It's green and it is found in the produce section.....

Oh, and my little Sadiecasso (get it?  Sadie + Picasso?) painted me a BEAUTIFUL painting today.  What a sweetie...

Thanks for reading!  See you soon!

Maybe Not Gourmet, But...

So, if you read my blog, then you know that I am by no means a "Gourmet Chef."  I don't know that you can even use the word "chef" to describe me.  I read lots of food blogs and see amazing meals and recipes.  Sometimes, I am just in awe of what some people can create in their home kitchens. I am in awe that there are people out there with full-time jobs that have TIME to create such amazing dishes. 

I was thinking about all my years of watching the Food Network and trying to decide who my favorite FN chefs are. 

There's Ina Garten.  She's who I would aspire to be if I didn't have to work.  She grows so much of her food herself.  I love when she says, "I'll just grab a handful of basil," and she turns to her amazing basil plant that somehow grows big and bushy in her kitchen. 

I love Giada de Laurentiis.  Italian is one of my favorite cuisines.  I don't know how she stays so thin, cooking the way she does.  I have two of her cookbooks and I can always count on her when I need a good dinner recipe. 

And another one of my favorites is Sandra Lee.  I started watcing her several years ago when she was doing the show "Semi-Homemade."  For those of you who haven't seen that show, Sandra makes recipes are are 70% store-bought with 30% fresh ingredients and creative touches.  The first time I saw that show, I was like, "Whoa.  This is REAL."  So many moms and dads are looking for a way to serve tasty meals to their family, while avoiding the frozen dinner section of the grocery store. 

So, in honor of Sandra, tonight's dinner was:

 "Cheesy Ravioli and Semi-Homemade Sauce."

I started with some extra vergin olive oil.  I heated about a tablespoon in a saucepan.  Then I added about 1/2 cup of chopped yellow onions, 1 clove of minced garlic, and 2 tbsp of chopped fresh basil.  Whe the onions were soft and the kitchen was smelling AMAZING, I added a can of petite diced tomatoes.  Finally, I added a jar of spaghetti sauce.  My spaghetti sauce was a sauteed garlic-and-onion-flavored sauce.  However, by adding in some fresh sauteed garlic and onion, it made the flavor much more bold.  It tasted REAL.  Does that make sense?  I let it all come to a boil and then simmered for about 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, I heated some water in anoher pot and added in my ravioli.  Remember my trips to Earth Fare last week?  Well,this was my free low-fat cheese ravioli. 



Free Ravioli!

120 Calories-- not bad!  Even if you eat 2 servings-- 6 ravioli-- not bad at all!

I'll admit, I was skeptical.  Sometimes low fat cheesy anything equals yuck.  However, Penne Lane proved me wrong!  This ravioli was tender and so tasty!  I definitely recommend it and will buy it sometime!  Thank you Earth Fare for the FREE ravioli!  When everything was finished, I topped it with a little Parm and voila!  Yummmmmm!  So tasty!

Finished product

I mean, it WAS an Italian meal... you have to have wine!

As for the rest of the day, it was great!  I didn't have time to make my lunch this morning, so I took a chance on the school cafeteria.  And it paid off!  I had a very tasty wrap today with Baked! Lays and a fresh peach.  (I brought the peach from home.)  The best thing about the wrap was the pickles!  I LOVE pickles.  I am going to give my school cafeteria manager two thumbs up tomorrow and also ask her about the calories.

Yummy cafeteria wrap!

See those pickles in there?  Love it!

I went to a Palmetto Reading Council Meeting today after school, which was great!  I was kind of dreading going to a meeting after school, but I am so glad I went!  I won a bag of coffee, and I learned things about Google that I never knew!  AND, there was popcorn and chocolate.  What a great combo...



Free coffee!  Yay!

 Finally, I have to thank Ryan for the 2 hours of peace and quiet this evening.  It was wonderful!!!

A funny thing happened as I was writing this post.  I was wearing one of my grandmother's old aprons when I was cooking tonight.  It's one my sisters and I used to dress in when we were playing house when we were young spending time at our grandparents' house in Philadelphia.  Well, I haven't worn this apron since I brought it home to live with me in South Carolina.  As I was typing, I got up to let the dog out and reached into the pocket.  And here's what I pulled out... wonder whose ticket this was? 

Just a little preview... tomorrow we are having one of my favorite fall crock pot meals...