Monday Menu Highlight

Happy Memorial Day! I hope you're holiday weekend is going well! My sister-in-law had
her baby girl last Thursday, so it's been even more exciting than normal around here.

Last week we decided to try making all vegan meals for dinner, just to try something new and to start adding more vegetables to our dinners. I was a little nervous about it at first, but I found some really great recipes that both Handy Andy and our little crazies enjoyed. The fan favorite from vegan week was:

Black Bean and Potato Nachos

 

This recipe is from Oh She Glows (as were most of the recipes I tried last week). These were so delicious! All the recipes I tried from this blog were winners. We didn't even miss having meat for dinner, which is quite the statement from Handy Andy.

Ingredients:

Potato Wedges:
2 medium Russet (baking) potatoes, sliced into wedges
1 tbsp grapeseed oil or melted coconut oil (I used olive oil)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Few pinches of chili powder

Black Bean Skillet Mixture:
1/2 tbsp oil
1 cup chopped red onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 red sweet pepper, diced
1 (15-oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 tsp ground cumin, or to taste
1 tsp chili powder, or to taste
Fine grain sea salt, to taste

Toppings: Tomatoes/salsa, cilantro, avocado, green onion, etc

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425F. Wash and dry potatoes but do not peel. Place onto a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper and toss potatoes with oil. Sprinkle generously with sea salt, pepper, and a few pinches of chili powder.
2. Bake fries for 13-15 minutes at 425F. Flip potatoes and roast for another 15-20 minutes or until lightly golden brown.
3. Meanwhile, heat a large skillet or wok over medium heat. Sauté the onion, garlic, and pepper in the oil for about 7-10 minutes or until the onion is translucent.
4. Stir in the drained and rinsed black beans, cumin, chili powder, and salt to taste. Continue to sauté for another 5 minutes. Set aside until ready to use, reheating just before serving.
5. Prepare your desired toppings.
6. Reheat bean mixture as fries come out of the oven. When fries are ready, place onto a large serving plate or you can serve it directly on the warm pan. Spoon on warm bean mixture, followed by toppings like avocado, cilantro, tomatoes or salsa, fresh lime juice, green onions, and/or corn chips.

I used four potatoes, but followed the recipe for the bean mixture. This made plenty for the four of us, and we were all full! I'll probably be featuring more recipes from Oh She Glows in the next few weeks. Who knew eating vegan would be so delicious?!

Thanks for stopping by!

Monday Menu Highlight

Hey All! I'm finally trying to get fully back into the blogging...trying being the key word. Anyway, it's been a while since I've done a Monday Menu Highlight. Our eating habits have changed some since the boys moved in with us, I'm trying to find recipes they like and ones that don't destroy my cholesterol-lowering effort. I'm not doing as well with my low-cholesterol diet, but I'm trying. One recipe that fits my diet AND one that the boys absolutely love is...

Chicken Taco Chili

I found this recipe last year on this blog.  It's a weight watcher recipe, so if you keep track that way, you can check out the points there (the recipe is originally from SkinnyTaste - one of my favorite recipe sites!). Here's my adaptation of the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 onion, chopped
1 16-oz can black beans, rinsed

2 8-oz can tomato sauce
10 oz package frozen corn kernels (used 2 small cans of corn kernels)

1 14.5-oz cans diced tomatoes w/chilies (used a 28 oz can of diced tomatoes)
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts OR 1 lb of ground turkey

Ms. Dash Fiesta Lime seasoning (I used this instead of the other seasonings listed at the other blogs)

Shredded cheese (for topping)

Sour Cream (for topping)

Directions:
Combine beans, onion, chili peppers, corn, tomato sauce, and seasoning in a slow cooker. Place chicken on top and cover. Cook on low for 10 hours or on high for 6 hours. Half hour before serving, remove chicken and shred. Return chicken to slow cooker and stir in. Top with cheese and sour cream.

**If using ground turkey, brown and then add to the crockpot with all other ingredients. Cook on low for 10 hours or on high for 6 hours.

The boys seriously love this! They ask for it every week! And, I generally don't like chili, but I really like this recipe! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Monday's Menu Highlight - Guest Post!

 Hey All! Meet Shana from Organized Chaos! She's here guest posting today while I try to figure out how to be a parent to our new guys and not lose my mind! Thanks Shana! :)

Get Your Little One to Eat Sweet Potato!! 

Hi Handy Andy readers! I'm Shana and I blog over at Organized Chaos.

 

I found Liz through a little group on Facebook and immediately fell in love with her blog! When I heard about the exciting news of them expanding their family, I couldn't wait to jump in and help! I blog about a world of topics, but being a mommy is one of my favorite! Parenting brings a lot of issues to the table that a person may not have previously thought to much about.

Things such as potty training, language, and even what we're eating all of the sudden become front runners! For me, what we're eating has been a HOT topic since the day Lil Mister was born! I had just known I was going to breastfeed and it was going to be perfect. Ah-hem....well no things didn't work out as planned and Lil Mister was switched to formula.

When it came time to introduce solids, I was bombarded with 'words of wisdom' from many. I was told what to do, when to do it, and how. Luckily, my MIL was understanding and helped guide me through the waters of all this 'expert information.' We found a wonderful website for baby foods. I suggest you check it out if you're still in the beginning phases! What I did learn through all of this is about how important the proper nutrition is! Kids will eat what you teach them to eat! If you've never given your child fish sticks, he won't know he wants fish sticks! I LOVE eating healthy and wanted my children to do the same. However, I also enjoy to indulge and may have introduced a few...umm....goodies to Lil Mister.

So, I'm always on the lookout for how to combine some great nutrition with great tasting recipes! Did you know that sweet potatoes are SO much better for you than the normal white potato?? Hey, I'm not dissin' on some mash here! I love some good ol' southern mashed potatoes. But reality is that sweet potatoes are jammed packed with good stuff! Sweet potatoes are actually loaded with Vitamin A of which a white potato has none! Try 39.2 mg Vitamin C in a sweet potato versus the 20 in a white. Potassium is winner too with more than 300 mg more in a sweet potato! Calcium, Iron, and magnesium are also ALL HIGHER!

But...what I didn't like (okay I loved it...thank you Grandma!) was how I'd always been exposed to sweet potatoes. Smother them in some syrup, brown sugar, and marshmallows and bake them till SUPER ah-mazing! As tasty as this is, sweet potatoes are sweet enough on their own and what good is all the nutrients if we're just turning them into the latest fad dessert?? Personally, sweet potatoes were one of the first foods I introduced to Lil Mister and simply mashed them and added a little of his milk to it for texture. After months of mashed foods though, kids get sick of it! Finger foods are where it is at people!

As Lil Mister has gotten older...well he has learnt more about the 'goodies' this world can offer. Fries being one of his favorite! Honestly, the thought of slivers of potatoes soaking it up in hot oil and then being smothered with salt and sugary tomato sauce...well it sends chills down my spine. As delicious as it can be, it is giving my child NOTHING but nonsense. That was when I discovered this absolutely b.e.a.utiful recipe for sweet potato chips! They're oven baked and use minimal oil. They're so naturally sweet that no dip is necessary and Lil Mister will devour an entire large potato on his own if I allow him! Even Hubby Dearest approves! So here you go....I hope you enjoy! ;-)

Oven-baked Sweet Potato Chips 

Ingredients:
4 medium-large Sweet Potatoes
1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper
Pinch of sea salt (ground)

Directions:
1) Peal your potatoes and cut them in half width wise (the cutting them in half is just because heck...these things are MUCH harder than a normal potato if you've never had them before so it makes it easier to deal with!)
2) Cut your potatoes into chip shape. I don't feel this needs a lot of instruction. You've all seen or eaten a french fry before so cut up your potato into 1/4" sections and go from there. If your potato has the pointy ends that most sweet potatoes have...I suggest you cut those suckers off! ;-)
3) Spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray. I prefer using this as to oil or grease. It is quick and doesn't put as much onto the food.
4) Space your chips out evenly on the pan. DO NOT LET THEM TOUCH! If they're touching or too close together they will become soggy and you will not be happy and I will blame you for not following directions!
5) Drizzle your oil evenly over all of the chips. It is enough!! Don't worry...you DO NOT want them sitting in oil! Just enough to give them a bit of a shine!
6) Sprinkle with pepper and salt and pop them into a preheated oven of about 200 C!
7) Bake them for 15 minutes. DO NOT OPEN the oven. Leave them to simmer and bake! No testing the product before it's finished so just go keep yourself busy!
8) Now you can open the oven, only to flip them over! Flip each chip keeping the spacing between them and bake another 10 minutes!

Your product should now be crispy and yummy!! Go ahead...taste it. It's soooo good! ;-)

Shana..

Monday's Menu Highlight

Confession: I. love. candy. 

This fact, as you may guess, is pretty upsetting when it comes to eating healthy and lowering my cholesterol. I've been trying to find ways to satisfy my sweet tooth without making terrible choices. I found something that works pretty well for me, and I'm pretty obsessed with it right now.

Popcorn.

But not just popcorn. Popcorn + Chocolate (because chocolate makes everything 100 times better, obviously).

So here's the deal. I use my small/medium sized pot and cover the bottom in olive oil. Then I pour enough popcorn kernels to almost cover the bottom; pop until the popping is about once every 5 seconds. Pour it in a bowl, add two tablespoons of mini chocolate chips and a little salt. The chocolate gets all melted and amazing... 

Seriously, I am in love with this combo. And it really does satisfy my sweet tooth without throwing my whole calorie-counting day into a tailspin.

Anyway, there you have it. My latest obsession. 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Monday's Menu Highlight

Hello All! Still working on eating healthy and cutting down on carbs and such. In the same vein as the BLT lettuce wraps, this recipe replaces bread with lettuce wraps, and it is awesome!

Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps

This recipe combine some of my favorite stuff - hot sauce, blue cheese, chicken, AND the crock pot. So easy and so good. Here's the recipe from Skinny Taste (told you this site was awesome):

Ingredients:

For the chicken:

• 24 oz boneless skinless chicken breast
• 1 celery stalk
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic
• 16 oz fat free low sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup hot cayenne pepper sauce (like Frank's)

For the wraps:

• 6 large lettuce leaves, Bibb or Iceberg
• 1 1/2 cups shredded carrots
• 2 large celery stalks, cut into 2 inch matchsticks

Directions:
In a crock pot, combine chicken, onions, celery stalk, garlic and broth (enough to cover your chicken, use water if the can of broth isn't enough). Cover and cook on high 4 hours. Remove the chicken from pot, reserve 1/2 cup broth and discard the rest. Shred the chicken with two forks, return to the slow cooker with the 1/2 cup broth and the hot sauce and set to on high for an additional 30 minutes. Makes 3 cups chicken.

To prepare lettuce cups, place 1/2 cup buffalo chicken in each leaf, top with 1/4 cup shredded carrots, celery and dressing of your choice.

I love this recipe! Each time I've made this there have been a good amount of leftovers that I've been able to use for a salad the next day for lunch. 

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week!

Monday's Menu Highlight

Hey All! I hope you had a wonderful weekend and are ready to get started on this week! I'm excited about our menu plan this week. It includes one of my favorite crockpot recipes, from Fitness Magazine.

Chicken Jambalaya

 

This is a great recipe to throw in the crockpot and forget about. And I love that. Here's the recipe from Fitness Magazine's website:

Ingredients:

8 ounces skinless, boneless chicken breasts

16 ounce package frozen onions and bell peppers

8 ounces smoked turkey sausage, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/2-inch slices

2 cups water

1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes with jalapeño peppers, undrained

8 ounce package jambalaya rice mix

Directions:
Cut chicken into 1/2-inch strips. Place frozen vegetables in a 3-1/2- or 4-quart slow cooker and top with chicken strips and turkey sausage. Add water, undrained tomatoes, and seasoning packet from rice. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 5 to 6 hours or on high-heat setting for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Stir in rice. Cover and cook about 45 minutes more (if using low-heat setting, turn to high-heat setting), or until most of the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender.

Instead of using frozen vegetables, I use fresh onions and bell peppers. I also use chorizo sausage to add some heat, and the Jambalaya mix I use is all mixed together so I add the rice at the beginning as well. This is a great recipe and I hope you try it out!

Also, if you have any good, healthy recipes you would recommend, leave a comment or send me an email!

Thanks for stopping by!

Monday's Menu Highlight

Happy Monday! [Is that a thing?] Well, last week I mentioned that my cholesterol is high...again, so awesome... And apparently cutting down on carbs helps lower cholesterol, so that's what I've been trying to do. In my searching on Pinterest I've found several good lower carb recipes, including this winner...

BLT Lettuce Wraps

From Skinny Taste (love love this blog)

It's so easy to substitute lettuce wraps for bread - how did I never think of this before?? 

Oh, because I love bread. Thanks, cholesterol...

Anyway, here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 4 slices lean bacon (pork or turkey) cooked and chopped
• 1 medium tomato, diced
• 1 tbsp light mayonnaise (I like Hellman's)
• 3 large iceberg lettuce leaves
• fresh cracked pepper

Directions:
Carefully remove 2 large outer leaves of a head of lettuce. If you rip or tear one, just save it for the 3rd leaf you need to shred. Shred the 3rd leaf and set aside. Dice tomato and set aside in a bowl.
Combine diced tomato with mayonnaise and fresh black pepper. Place lettuce cups on a plate, top with shredded lettuce. Add tomato and bacon, and wrap it all up. And we actually added avocado too -- SO GOOD!

You must try these! Much less guilt is attached to these than regular BLTs (at least for me), and you still get the great taste of a BLT. Thank you to Gina for sharing this - go check out her other amazing recipes!

Thanks for stopping by!

Monday's Menu Highlight

Happy Monday Everyone! I hope everyone's Valentine's Day was wonderful. I was on a business trip last week and came home on Thursday when Handy Andy was gone. My amazing husband left the following surprise for me when I got home from the airport:

Nope, I'm not the flowers type. Give me some almonds and cupcakes, and I'm good to go! :)

Completely contrary to those two cupcakes...I have been trying to make some changes to our eating habits. Generally we do pretty well with eating healthy, but apparently I'm genetically prone to high cholesterol...so that's awesome... Because of that wonderful piece of news, I'm trying to eat less carbs, and sugar, and more veggies, beans, nuts, and other things that are good for lowering cholesterol. 

Anyway, I've spent the last several weeks trying new healthy recipes, and I've found some really good ones! So I wanted to share some of them with you by weekly highlighting a great recipe I've found, in case you were a little tired of your classic choices.

The highlight from this week's menu plan is:

Black Bean Soup

I was a little unsure of this recipe, but turns out it is the BOMB! Seriously, so good. And bonus, Handy Andy loved it too (usually he doesn't love any recipe that doesn't include meat). The recipe is from Iowa Girl Eats, and I'm so happy she shared it!

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 small onion, minced
2 garlic cloves
salt and pepper
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cumin
2 cans seasoned black beans, drained but not rinsed (I used Trader Joe’s Cuban-style beans)
1-1/2 cups water
1 cup chicken broth
4-5 dashes green Tabasco sauce
Toppers: sliced avocado, salsa, sour cream
For the Cilantro-Lime Rice:
1 cup long grain white rice
2 cups water
1 Tablespoon canola or vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
juice of 1/2 lime
3 Tablespoons chopped cilantro

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add onion, season with salt and pepper, then saute until soft, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and saute for 30 more seconds, stirring constantly. Add chili powder and cumin then saute for 30 more seconds.
2. Add drained beans, water, and chicken broth, bring soup to a boil, then lower heat slightly and simmer for 15 minutes. Scoop 2 ladle-fulls of soup into a blender or food processor then blend until almost smooth. Alternatively use a hand-held immersion blender to process 1/3 of the beans in the soup pot. Add blended soup back into the pot then add hot sauce and stir to combine.
3. For the Chipotle-Lime Rice: While soup is simmering, bring water, oil, and salt to a boil in a saucepan. Add rice, place a lid on top, then turn heat down to medium-low and simmer until rice is tender, about 15 minutes. Stir to fluff then add lime juice and chopped cilantro.
4. To serve, scoop cooked rice into bottom of bowls then top with hot soup. Top with sliced avocado, salsa, sour cream, etc.

 I hope you try this recipe! Thanks for stopping by!