A conversation...

Me: Do you like Nutrigrain bars?
Dale: Yeah
Me: Want me to try and make them?  I found a recipe.
Dale: Really?
Me:  Yep, I have all the ingredients to make them too. Oh, wait, I don't have anymore whole wheat flour, and I am also out of Jam. Do you think Grape Spread will work?
Dale:  No, get Raspberry Jam.
Me: I still need to get whole wheat flour. Maybe I will get some at sprouts after I take the kids to VBS.
Dale: Will they be ready before I go to work?
Me: No, I need to go to the store.
Dale: Oh...

So that is how most of the recipes are tried here at our house...I begin with "Do you like..." and Dale responds with yes or no.

So I got this recipe from my cooking friends.  It was good, but I did it a bit different than the recipe called for. (As if I wouldn't change it!)

I used parchment paper to line the pan so that it would come out easily.

This would have worked if I had removed the bars from the pan before they got soggy on the bottom.  So, next time, I will take them from the pan after they have cooled slightly.

The flavors were great.  We really enjoyed them. I will make them again!

The edges were crispy, the center gooey!  I cut the bars into 16 squares to get per serving counts as follows:

Calories   172
Carbs    32g
Fat      4g
Protein 2g
And the Store bought bars:
Calories     120
Carbs     24g
Fat     3g
Protein 2g



Here is the recipe:

Almost Nutri-Grain Bars

Carriescooking.com <-- I have no attachment to this site!

I have been looking for a recipe for a homemade breakfast bar that had ingredients that I have available at home on a regular basis. I generally find recipes that have ingredients that I have either have never heard of or can only be find in health food stores. Check out this recipe.

Ingredients

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup apple juice
10 ounces jam (apricot, blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, strawberry, or apple butter)
1 tablespoon water

Directions

Combine oats, flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Add the oil, egg, vanilla, and apple juice, and mix with a spoon or a mixer. Press 2/3 of the mix evenly into a greased 8x12 pan. Mix the jam with the water, and spread evenly over the mix. Crumble the remaining oat mixture over the top, and bake at 325 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown. Before cutting, cool completely.

Baked Potato Salad

With summer here and everyone wanting potato salad, I wanted to share a recipe created about 8 years ago.
Our family was out of town and Dale & I wanted to head to mom's to swim.  He LOVES potato salad but we had classic potato salad a few days before hand. What to do???

I thought about how yummy all the topping are on a baked potato. How every one of them is good COLD! Why not mix them up and see what we get.  Well, we got it done and WOW!!!  Now, the idea has been copied at many a grocery store, but it has not been duplicated! Dale can vouch for my recipe!!!
I have made it MANY times, at the request of friends and family.  I have made it with Fat Free ingredients but it was yucky!  I have substituted Turkey bacon bits for the pork bacon bits and that was still good.

It will keep in the fridge for a few days but will not last that long!

Now, with out further ado, Baked Potato Salad

Baked Potato Salad

5 pounds Russet Potatoes

Shortening & Salt

1 medium Onion, chopped

2 Tablespoons Butter

1 teaspoon Kosher Salt

2 Tablespoons White Sugar

1 pound Bacon, cooked and crumbled, OR
1 cup Pre-Cooked Bacon Bits

4 ounces Grated Cheddar Cheese

16 ounces Sour Cream

1 envelope Ranch Dressing/Dip mix

Preheat oven to 375*

Wash the potatoes. Dry and pierce with knife.  Rub each potato with shortening, and sprinkle with salt. Bake for 45 minutes or until done. Refrigerate until cold.

In a medium skillet melt butter over medium heat, sauté onions and salt for 5 minutes.  Add sugar and increase heat to medium high. Cool for 1 to 2 minutes until golden brown. Transfer to a plate and cool.

Cook bacon until crispy, if using pre-cooked bacon bits, make sure they are crispy.

Mix together the sour cream and ranch packet.

When potatoes are cold, cut into cubes.

In a large bowl, combine Potatoes, Onions, Bacon, Sour Cream mix and Cheese.

Store in refrigerator until ready to eat, at least 1 hour to allow flavors to blend.



Breakfast, QUICK!

I was wondering around Wal-Mart yesterday.  I thought to myself, "Self, I want a easy and healthy breakfast tomorrow."

I wondered to the Frozen foods and grabbed a bag of Pork sausage patties.  Then on the shelf under it they had TURKEY sausage patties!!!

I picked them up and looked at the Nutritional Information.  Here it is via My fitness pal:

Nutrition Facts

Walmart Great Value -Turkey Sausage Patties

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Calories	90	Sodium	360 mg
Total Fat	6 g	Potassium	105 mg
Saturated	2 g	Total Carbs	0 g
Polyunsaturated	2 g	Dietary Fiber	0 g
Monounsaturated	3 g	Sugars	0 g
Trans	0 g	Protein	9 g
Cholesterol	30 mg
Vitamin A	0%	Calcium	2%
Vitamin C	0%	Iron	4%

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Great Value - SausagePork Patties, Original

Calories	200	Sodium	260 mg
Total Fat	19 g	Potassium	115 mg
Saturated	7 g	Total Carbs	0 g
Polyunsaturated	3 g	Dietary Fiber	0 g
Monounsaturated	9 g	Sugars	0 g
Trans	0 g	Protein	6 g
Cholesterol	40 mg
Vitamin A	0%	Calcium	2%
Vitamin C	0%	Iron	2%

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

As you can see, the Turkey were much lighter than the Pork!

I also bought some Delightful English muffins by Sara Lee.

To make this Yummy & filling breakfast:
Split 1 English muffin in half, toast in toaster to desired crispiness.
Heat 1 teaspoon of butter in a nonstick pan. Add 1 egg.
Place 1 sausage patty on a paper towel. Heat in microwave as directed on the package.
Flip egg to cook to desired doneness, I like my yolk set for a sandwich, so Over Medium Well.
Place 1 heated sausage patty on 1 English muffin half, top with 1 slice of cheese, I used American but Natural unprocessed cheese would be better!
Add Egg and top with other half of English muffin.

This is what it looked like:
So the calorie breakdown is like this:

Butter:          34
Egg:              70
Cheese:         70
Muffin:         90
Sausage:       90
Total:          354 calories

You can cut out 55 calories by using just 1 egg white and also cut the calories (34 of them) by using cooking spray instead of butter.

By the way, it is 3 hours later and I am still full!  Gotta love whole grain English muffins!

Oh and an update: I have lost 10 pounds this past 2 weeks!  Portion control and whole grains are really helping!

Cinnamon Roll Waffles

I have a cooking site that I like to share recipes and get recipes on.  Most of the members have kids so we are cooking for our families.
A few of the moms have made these and like them.
These were super easy BUT not really my thing. I made them with a regular waffle iron. I missed the puffiness of the cinnamon roll. The kids liked them but since they were so flat, they wanted more than 2. If I bake them regular, they only ask for 2 and are very happy and full. I don't think I will make these again.


Waffled Cinnamon Rolls  ~Link to the original blos posting from pinterest

 via Pinterest, via a hen's nest


1 pkg cinnamon rolls with frosting
non stick cooking spray (I used canola oil spray)
Preheat your waffle iron. Spray grates generously with oil/cooking spray. Place one cinnamon roll onto each preheated grate and close waffle iron. Cook for about 3 minutes, depending on what temperature your waffle iron works at; mine only has one heat setting so they were done in about 2 1/2 - 3 minutes. Remove from waffle iron. Place frosting in a pipping bag, or zip top bag (with a small hole snipped from one corner) and drizzle waffles with frosting.

I don't know why they call it "Wacky Cake"

Mother’s Day weekend Dale & I went to Prescott with some friends. We had SOOOOOO much fun hanging out, sitting on the deck and GARAGE Saleing! <-Is that a word?

One of our stops was to a flea market that we saw on our way into town.  We got a few things, like “ugly baabee”, my new coach purse (for $10) and at one spot, the guy was giving out “free books to moms”

I grabbed a cookbook, go figure!  It was The American Heart Association COOKBOOK. From 1973.  Complete with Dustcover! Yep! It has some fun recipes!

So we are having our friends over later tonight.  I wanted to make something from my “new” cookbook. 

I found the recipe for “Wacky Cake” in it.  I had all the ingredients since it does not require any egg, or milk, which I had but oh, well.

I decided to look up the recipe.  Here is what I found.

From Wikipedia: (I know it is not a reliable source)

Wacky cake is a spongy, cocoa-based cake. It is unique in that unlike most pastries and desserts, no eggs, butter or milk are used to make the cake batter.

It is commonly believed Wacky Cake may have been created as the result of rationing during World War II, when milk and eggs were scarce. Active ingredients in wacky cake include flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, vegetable oil, white vinegar and vanilla extract.^[1] Some recipes add brewed coffee as an additional ingredient. The cake may be topped with icing or confectioner's sugar, or even served plain. [i]

After I figured out where the recipe came from, I looked online for a recipe and a review.  I found a few and combined them along with the suggestions from the reviews.

OK, I made them both.  The AHA version and the one I created from my “research”.  Well, I forgot which was which and now I don’t know.  After tasting them, I figured have decided that I THINK I can tell them apart.  One was moister. <- that is a word!

 

Now, they both had the same amount of oil/margarine, 6Tbls. BUT, the margarine is melted and when melted, it is more than 6Tlbs of oil.

ßSee, the margarine is more than 1/3 cup and the oil is less than 1/3 cup.

That is why one cake was moister.  The flavor of the margarine cake was better too!

Now, I don’t really like either cake.  The kids, 6 of them, tasted the cakes and they thought both were good but they all preferred the cake made with margarine. 

Here is the recipe I liked:

Wacky Cake ~ American Heart Association COOKBOOK

1 ½C Flour

1C Sugar

1t Baking Soda

¼ C Cocoa Powder

1tsp Vanilla Extract

1tsp Vinegar

6Tbl Margarine, Melted

1C Water

Preheat oven to 350*.

Use an ungreased 8-inch cake pan.  In the pan, sift and mix together the flour, sugar, soda, and cocoa.

Make 3 wells in the flour mixture. Put vanilla in the first, vinegar in the second, and margarine in the third.

Pour water over all and mix with a fork until ingredients are entirely moist. Bake 30 minutes, or until done.

And the finished Cakes:

Margarine Cake, on the left

Oil Cake, on the right

---

[i] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wacky_cake

Why can't copy cat recipes be as good as the original?

So I decided I wanted to try to make my favorite item on the OLD chili's menu.  Margarita Tuna.
Dale said I couldn't do it, the spice was too hard to get right.

I found a copy cat recipe from that guy that has that show on TV. I found it on another blog, they must have paid for the subscription, Thank YOU!

Back to the recipe...
I wanted to try it, it was my FAVORITE thing on the menu.  Dale liked it too So I thought I would give it a try.

Kim was here while I made it. She was impressed by it but it was NOT the same as Chili's recipe. The aioli was yummy, the sear spice was good but not the right flavor, the rice was pretty close but still not the same. I used pre-seasoned canned black beans.  Dale brought home Pico from work, why waste my time on that!
Now, the Chili's recipe did not have a Santa Fe dressing.  I have no idea where he got that from. Also, it was in no way Low-Fat the way Chili's served it.
As written the recipe is good. It is just not Chili's, IN ANY WAY!

The "sear spice" is spicy!  I left it off the tuna I made Ashlyn. I also did 2 pieces of chicken and left the "sear spice" off of one of them for Brian.
I was told that I could make it again but I am not sure if I will. It was good and not bad for you, but not what I was looking for in a tuna recipe.

Maybe I forgot what the original tasted like, maybe my tastes have changed. I am just not sure.

Chili’s Margarita Tuna

Ingredients:
Garlic Aioli
1 head garlic
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 tablespoon fat-free mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon vinegar
dash salt
Fat-Free Santa Fe Dressing
1/3 cup fat-free Catalina dressing
1 tablespoon stone ground mustard
1 tablespoon water
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon white vinegar
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon dried thyme

Pico De Gallo
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup chopped Spanish onion
1 jalapeno, seeded and diced (about 2 tablespoons)
2 teaspoons finely chopped cilantro
1/8 teaspoon salt
Margarita Marinade
1 cup sweet and sour mix
2 teaspoons tequila
1 teaspoon lime juice
Searing Spice
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped onion
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 1/2 teaspoon Schilling poultry seasoning
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Rice
2 1/3 cups chicken stock
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup converted or long grain white rice (not instant rice)
1/4 cup frozen corn
2 tablespoons diced carrots
2 tablespoons diced red bell pepper
2 tablespoons diced celery
1 tablespoon diced white onion
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
dash ground black pepper
Black Beans
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/3 cup diced white onion
1/4 cup diced red bell pepper
2 15-ounce cans black beans with liquid

4 4-ounce tuna fillets (2 8-ounce fillets cut through the center)

4 corn tostada shells

1 1/3 cups shredded iceberg lettuce

Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
2. Prepare the garlic aioli by roasting the garlic: Cut 1/2 inch off the toop of the papery skin from the garlic, but leave enough so that the coves stay together. Place the head of garlic in a small casserole dish or baking pan, drizzle the olive oil over it, and cover it with a lid or foil. Bake for 1 hour. Remove the garlic and let it cool until you can handle it.
3. Prepare the dressing, pico de gallo, and margarita marinade by combining the ingredients in small bowls. Cover and chill these mixtures until later.
4. Pour the searing spice ingredients into a blender or food processor and puree until you have a smooth mixture with the consistency of pesto. Set this aside.
5. Prepare the rice by bringing chicken stock and butter to a boil over medium/high heat. Add the remaining ingredients to the pan, stir, and cover. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes or until liquid has been absorbed and the rice is cooked.
6. Prepare black beans by pouring a teaspoon of olive oil into a saucepan. Use a paper towel to wipe the oil around the pan and then set it over medium heat. Saute the diced onion and red bell pepper in the oil for a minute or two and then add the cans of black beans, along with the liquid, to the pan. Reduce heat to medium/low, and simmer until needed. Stir occasionally.
7. Preheat a large skillet over medium heat.
8. Place your tuna fillets into the margarita marinade. Marinate for only 15 minutes and then dry the tuna on paper towels. Be sure not to marinate the tuna for more than 15 minutes or the lime juice will begin to toughen the fish.
9. Place the four tostada shells into an oven preheated to 350 degrees. Turn off the heat after 5 minutes and let the shells sit in the oven until they are needed.
10. Brush the top of each of the fillets with the searing spice blend and turn them with the spice side down onto the hot skillet. Brush additional searing spice over the top of each fillet. Cook the fish for about 2 minutes per side or until the fish is browned on both sides and cooked through.
11. Build each dish by spooning about 3/4 cup of rice into the center of a dinner plate. Encircle the rice with a portion of the black beans. Spread a thin layer of garlic aioli onto a tostada shell and place it on the rice. Sprinkle about 1/3 cup of lettuce onto the shell next. Place a tuna fillet on top of the lettuce. Drizzle the Santa Fe dressing over the entire dish with a sweeping motion. Finally, pile about 1/3 cup of the pico de gallo on top of the tuna. Repeat for the remaining plates and serve immediately.
Makes 4 Entree size servings.