Big Salad

I LOVE salads. This cottage cheese salad is one of my favorites, more so now that I found a low fat, reduced sodium cottage cheese (now if I can just figure out where I bought it at). This is a BIG bowl, it's 8.5 inches wide.

Here's the numbers on the salad...

Calories-166kcal Carbs-17g Fat-5g Protein-16g Sodium-363mg Sugar-9g

4.4 oz Romaine lettuce

1/2 cup Hiland - Cottage Cheese-low Fat, 50% Reduced Sodium

2.1 oz cherry tomatoes

3.5 oz diced cucumber

1.2 oz diced onion

1 tbsp Litehouse - Avocado Bacon Ranch Dressing

I have often eaten just the cottage cheese mix. LOVE the flavors. 

Chicken Pesto Grilled Cheese on a Tortilla

A while back one of the local news programs featured grilled cheese sandwiches during the food portion of their show. One of the sandwiches contained Pesto. This caught my attention because I've been looking for ideas to use the Celery & Almond Pesto that I made. So this is what I came up with.

Grilled Tortilla - Calories-287kcal Carbs-19g Fat-14g Protein-26g Sodium-364mg Sugar-2g

Broccoli - Calories-23kcal Carbs-5g Fat-0g Protein-2g Sodium-18mg Sugar-0g

I mixed a chopped up 3 oz. skinless chicken tender with a serving of my Pesto (linked above) and 1/4 cup Kroger shredded Mexican blend cheese. I heated up my little copper/ceramic fry pan and lightly sprayed it with canola oil. I placed a 6 in white corn tortilla in it and topped it with my mixture. Heat till the tortilla starts to brown and is soft enough to fold in half. It's rather stuffed so you have to do this carefully. I lightly browned both sides of the tortilla before plating. Top with a tablespoon of salsa. I use Newman's Own because it is low sodium. This will have to make a repeat performance, it was delicious.

What's for Lunch?

Egg Salad Wrap

Calories-291kcal Carbs-23g Fat-14g Protein-20g Sodium-389mg Sugar-4g

1 tbsp Kroger - Neufchatel Cheese - 33% Less Fat Cream Cheese, 15 g

1 tbsp Chobani - Greek Yogurt - Fat Free - Plain

1/2 tsp French's Mustard, prepared

Paprika & granulated garlic to taste (dash each)

1 Egg, Hard Boiled diced

1 tbsp Onion Raw Chopped

2 oz English Cucumber - Seedless

2 oz Cherry Tomato

1 Santa Fe Tortilla Co. - Homestyle Whole Grain Tortilla

0.7 oz Kroger - Fresh Mozzarella, 

2 oz Romaine Lettuce

Soften the cream cheese in the microwave, about 12 sec, mix in the yogurt, mustard, and seasoning. Add any seasoning that you would like. Mix in egg, onion, cucumber, and tomato. Kroger fresh mozzarella is a really soft cheese. To get a good shred I freeze it first. The reason for the 0.7 oz is that is what I shredded at this time weighed (see small bowl in picture above). You can use more or less and adjust your counts accordingly. Spread shredded cheese on 3/4 of the tortilla, leaving ends and one edge to fold. I like to wilt my greens so I laid the romaine lettuce on the cheese and microwaved it all for 30 seconds. Spread egg salad mixture over the lettuce.

This was a really stuffed wrap. I didn't get a picture of it because I had my hands full eating it. I probably could have made two wraps but I didn't want the added calories and carbs. Here is the nutritional info on MY wrap...

For dessert I had a serving of raspberry sugar free gelatin with slices of a small clementine/halo.

Calories-50kcal Carbs-9g Fat-0g Protein-1g Sodium-50mg Sugar-7g

Enjoy your food! I DO!

Leftover Meatloaf

I like to use leftover meatloaf to make soft tacos.

Calories-235kcal Carbs-25 Fat- 9g Protein-21g Sodium-617mg Sugar-5

Crock pot Turkey Meatloaf, 0.5 serving

Santa Fe Tortilla Co. - Homestyle Whole Grain Tortilla, 1 tortilla

Tomato - Cherry Tomato 0.4 ounce

Romaine Lettuce

Onion - Raw Chopped

Kroger - Mexican Style Blend Finely Shredded Cheese

1 tbsp Chobani - Greek Yogurt - Fat Free - Plain

1 tbsp Newmans Own Chunky Mild Salsa - Salsa

1 tbsp Always Save - Taco Sauce Mild

The sodium is a bit high, I didn't realize the taco sauce had so much in it or I would have left it out. I really like this tortilla but I like whole grains. 

(Sorry about the blurry photo, low lighting in the kitchen.)

Comfort Food Revisted

Meatloaf and scalloped potatoes are one of those meals from my childhood. Still good, just reworked.

Calories-196kcal Carbs-25g Fat-2g Protein-19g Sodium-210mg Sugar-7g

Now it's Turkey Meatloaf and Scalloped Zucchini & Potatoes. I could have peeled the zucchini which would have made it look more like the traditional scalloped potatoes, but why waste the zucchini peel? I don't really have a meatloaf recipe but I did measure my ingredients to be able to get a nutrition count. Pretty much the standard list; ground turkey, onion, bell pepper, celery leaves, whole wheat bread crumbs, low sodium ketchup, mustard, low sodium Worcestershire sauce, Mrs Dash original, Sriracha Cha, flax (instead of egg), and no salt added diced tomato (canned). I cooked it in the crock pot lined with parchment paper. An hour before it was to be served I brushed the top with ketchup mixed with Worcestershire sauce. When it was time to serve it I picked it up out of the pot with the edges of the parchment paper and set it on the cutting board. The turkey meat was lean and there was very little moisture in the bottom of the pot. I need to experiment a little more with seasoning to give it more flavor, but it was good. 

Plenty for Lunch

Watching calories doesn't mean you have to starve yourself, but it does help to like vegetables and are willing to try new things.

Calories-207kcal Carbs36g Fat-4g Protein-9g Sodium-234mg Sugar-12g

My "sandwich" is peanut butter hummus with Greek yogurt on a white corn tortilla with spinach. As seen in my March 24th post... http://ksborn.blogspot.com/2017/03/peanut-butter-hummus.html
The veggie bowl has sliced cucumbers, grape tomatoes and celery. The little bowl is a serving of sugar free jello. Add a tall glass of cool water makes for a fine lunch.

Peanut Butter & Celery Snack

A favorite snack from my childhood is peanut butter and celery. I could easily pile on a half cup or better on a plate of celery. If you're like me, you don't even think about eating that much PB nowadays. This is my answer to my old time favorite.

Calories-121kcal Carbs-7g Fat-8g Protein-6g Sodium-129mg Sugar-4g

Creamy Peanut Butter Spread

1 tbsp Jif creamy peanut butter
2 tbsp Chobani nonfat plain Greek yogurt
2 drops vanilla
Splenda to flavor

Blend thoroughly...

Spread on your favorite vegetable or cracker, or use as a dip. Makes a little peanut butter go a long way.

Happy Snacking!

Pesto & Pork

Supper tonight was delicious! Bacon-wrapped pork filet with almond-celery pesto. Baked seasoned radishes and cooked broccoli.
Calories-365kcal Carbs-14g Fat-21g Protein-31g Sodium-497mg Sugar-2g

Our store in Cheney carries these...

...which cook up nicely right out of the freezer in my NuWave oven. I also cooked two small whole potatoes for my husband and four radishes for myself at the same time. These were tossed in a light olive oil and seasoning mix. I topped my pork filet with a pesto that I made a few days ago. I had never eaten pesto, let alone made it before this. I had seen pesto mentioned in a lot of recipes and meals and had some celery greens that I needed to use when I came across a pesto recipe to do this. Most pesto recipes that I saw had a lot of oil in them, this one calls for no oil, I like that too. Not having pine nuts I had to find a substitute for those and found almonds recommended. Here's what I came up with...

Almond-Celery Pesto

1/8 tsp granulated garlic
1/2 c almonds
1/2 c celery leaves diced
1/8 c parsley diced
1/8 c grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 c lemon juice
1/3 c orange pulp

I chopped up the almonds and toasted them in a fry pan with the garlic. Combined the garlic, nuts, celery and parsley in a food processor and mixed on high till a consistent paste. Add cheese lemon and orange and mixed till well blended. I used this on my spaghetti first.

Sloppy Cucumber Sandwich

Sad and disappointed in Facebook. My "Food" album has been AWOL for the past few days. All the pictures, recipes, nutrition info, comments, years of sharing.... GONE! So... back to my good ole standby, my blog. Well, on with the show.

Cucumber Sandwich

1 tbsp Kroger - Neufchatel Cheese - 33% Less Fat Cream Cheese
1 tbsp Chobani - Greek Yogurt - Fat Free - Plain
1 tbsp Miracle Whip lite
1 tsp It's a Dilly seasoning
1 tbsp Onion Raw - diced
1/2 c (4 oz) English Cucumber - Seedless - diced
1 tbsp (.5 oz) Kroger - Fresh Mozzarella - shredded

2 leaves Romaine Lettuce or .5 oz baby spinach
1 Kroger sandwich slims - whole wheat

Heat the cream cheese for about 10 or 12 seconds, just to soften. Add and thoroughly mix the yogurt, Miracle Whip and seasoning. It's better if you can let it set over night, but not necessary. Add the diced onion and cucumber. Melt the mozzarella on one piece of the sandwich slim (I like to wilt the lettuce and spinach along with this). Top with the cucumber mix and the second half of the slim. You could possibly make two sandwiches with this but I was eating it all.

Only a slight difference when using Romaine or spinach.

with spinach...

Making the sandwich...

One set back to making this, "It's a Dilly", a McCormick seasoning was discontinued a while back...

I had searched and searched to find somewhere, anywhere to order this. I love that it is salt free. I love the dill flavor. I did find another company picked it up but they must have added gold to the ingredients because their price was high and THEN there was added shipping. Searching more I came across a forum that was discussing the same regrets that I was having and one of the member posted their answer to the problem. A recipe that they came up with for DIY It's A Dilly seasoning. 

I reduced the recipe and used a dash of cayenne pepper instead of ground black. I also ground some dill seed for a stronger dill flavor. But I think this is going to work for me.

Oh! One other hint, the fresh mozzarella has less sodium but it's also REALLY soft. Because I wasn't using it up very fast I froze it. Shredding fresh mozzarella is much easier if it's frozen.

Let me know if you liked my sandwich and if you tried one yourself. What did you do differently or if you have any questions.

Peanut Butter Hummus

Want to try something different for meatless Friday? Peanut butter hummus. 

First you make the hummus. 1 can of chick peas/garbanzo beans well rinsed, 4 tbsp peanut butter of your choice (Jiff creamy) and 3 tbsp lemon juice. Blend till smooth. Makes 12 - 2 tbsp servings. I portioned it out on a wax paper covered cookie sheet and froze them. I will thaw them in the microwave as I use them.

Take one soft white corn tortilla (6 inch), top with 1.5 oz baby spinach and microwave for 30 sec to wilt the spinach and soften the tortilla. 

Mix 2 tbsp non-fat plain Greek yogurt with 1 serv of Peanut butter hummus, put half in center of tortilla & spinach and fold in half. Fold one side of tortilla back open and spread with half of remaining hummus and spread the remainder on the other side.

This may sound really strange, but I REALLY like it and it is satisfying for me. I have also used wilted romaine lettuce when I was out of spinach. It's ALL good!

I received an interesting comment on my hummus in the Facebook group I posted in. I am new to hummus so I found this VERY interesting:

"I've done this because I didn't have tahini to make hummus or access to any place that sold tahini. It's a close taste to classic hummus and it works in a pinch. I used organic, all natural peanut butter."

What a Crock! Taco Salad & Soup

Cooking for two can sometimes be challenging. Most recipes are usually 4 servings. Leftovers can be a problem and eating it ALL is certainly a problem. That is why lately my favorite appliance has been my 1.5 qt. crockpot. (All pictures are from the web, I didn't think about blogging this till after the fact.)

Its only real setback is that it only has two settings, on and off. It's not what I would call a slow cooker because it does bring the food to a boil. I bought it years ago for little smokies in BBQ sauce and only recently have been using it for regular cooking. I thought I'd share the easy two meals I made the other day.

Easy Crockpot Chicken Fajitas

Ingredients

• 1 lb of Chicken Breasts
• 3 Peppers (Green, Red & Yellow), sliced
• 1 Onion, sliced
• 1 Package of Taco Seasoning
• Flour or corn tortillas
• Toppings - sour cream, cheese, guacamole, etc.

Instructions

1. Slice peppers and onions then place them on the bottom of the crock pot
2. Put Chicken on top of peppers and onions
3. Sprinkle taco seasoning on the top
4. Cook on low for 6-8 hrs (or high for 3-4)
5. Shred everything up and mix together
6. Serve with tortillas and all the toppings - sour cream, guacamole, cheese, lettuce, etc.

http://eatathomecooks.com/easy-crockpot-chicken-fajitas/

That is the actual recipe^^^ that I more or less followed. I cut up onion and bell pepper to layer the bottom of the pot and placed three small chicken breasts (frozen) on top. I have a bottle of taco seasoning...

...that I sprinkled freely over the chicken. Put the lid on, turned it on and let it cook for 4 hours. Instead of making fajitas though, we had fajita salads. They're like taco salads except with chicken fajita meat and vegetables.

I added black beans but not corn or avocado. I think I like the salad better than a wrap. One of the granddaughters was here and she didn't care for the onions or bell pepper which left me with quite a bit of taco flavored broth, bell pepper and onion. Back to the web to search for a recipe for Chicken Taco Soup. I scoured through all the recipes for common ingredients and find I only need to add the half cans of diced tomato and black beans that I already had opened for the salad, then a can of whole kernel corn and a can of kidney beans. This made for a full pot. Later I added a little more taco seasoning and taco sauce.

Quick to prepare and easy to make. Full of flavor, I really like it. The only picture that I did take was of the nearly empty pot.

These two dishes will absolutely get repeat performances. Let me know if you give them a try and what you think.

Cheesy Broccoli and Cauliflower Soup

Here's the ingredients for the cheesy broccoli and cauliflower soup. Remember the canned cheddar cheese and leftover gravy I froze. This is one way I use them.

Two cheese cubes and one gravy.

Dash of preferred seasonings to taste and a spoon of chicken soup base or bouillon.

Sliced and diced carrots and onions.

Chopped cauliflower

Chopped broccoli, add water about half full, cover and let cook.

So Delicious!

Tip from the Kitchen: Cheese Sauce & Gravy

Tip from the Kitchen:
LOVE my square silicon cupcake cups. I bought a gallon of cheddar cheese sauce and there's no way we will eat it all before it goes bad. I set my cupcake cups on a baking sheet and scooped the cheese into each, then froze. Once froze they are easily removed from the cups. I can heat a few to make nachos or toss them in a recipe to make it cheesy. I do the same with excess gravy. Then I can easily toss one or two into soup to make it creamy or add to whatever I want thickened. With pepper gravy a few frozen gravy cubes and a frozen biscuit heated up for a quick breakfast.

Rachel Smith Memorial Folklore Meeting

The Golden Wheat Chapter of the AHSGR was scheduled to have its annual Folklore meeting on January 24, 2013 when only days before we receive news of the passing of one of our more active chapter member and member of the board. The loss of Rachel Smith has left a big void in not only our chapter but our hearts.

Rachel Elizabeth (Borecky) Smith passed away on Jan. 24, 2013 at Wichita, KS. Born on May 30, 1920 in Ellsworth County, Kansas to Edward and Rachel Heinze Borecky. Married Robert Enos Smith on September 27, 1941 in Larned, KS. He passed away April 11, 1974. Also preceded in death by her parents; daughter, Carol Ann Smith Lyne; brother, Roy Borecky; nephew, Ronnie Borecky and niece, Elaine Borecky Scoggins. Rachel worked for the Midwest Air Procurement District, the Office of the Price Administration, and the Internal Revenue Service for thirty-five plus years, retiring on May 2, 1979. Genealogy became her hobby, and she researched and prepared several Family Histories. Rachel is survived by two granddaughters, Denise Ann (Mark) Kalmer, Chandler, Arizona and Julie Kay (Christopher) Jennings, Calgary, Alberta, Canada; two great grandsons, Keifer Jennings and Quentin Jennings; and many relatives and friends. Service will be Tuesday, Jan. 29 1:00 p.m. at the Mission Chapel Mausoleum, 3424 E. 21st Street, Wichita, KS. Visitation will be Monday 4 to 8 p.m. at Old Mission Mortuary. In lieu of flowers, it is requested that contributions be made to AHSGR Golden Wheat Chapter, 822 N. Cypress Ct., Wichita, Kansas, 67206.

For our meeting we shared our traditional ethnic covered dish dinner. Just to name a few, there was Pluma Moos...

...I don't know the traditional name for this but it was poppy seed rolls and they were delicious!

Two different pots of Borscht...

...and always have to have a bowl of vareniki...

...German sausage and some sauerkraut...

...something new to the table...

...and some bierocks to sample for a change in seasoning for our next bierock fund raiser.

Karen brought some of her family history to share, letters from her grandmother to a son in Texas...

...and her grandfather's song book that he wrote that used numbers instead of notes.

There was time for leisure visiting before the meeting.

After the usual meeting and installation of officers we began our program with Harold playing Amazing Grace on his trombone accompanied by his wife, Vicki.

Joel gave the memorial and then members were encouraged to share memories of Rachel.

The meeting closed with Harold, accompanied by Vicki, playing a German Medley on his trombone.

We will all miss you Rachel. You leave a large hole to fill in our chapter, you filled many shoes not only in your research work but also as our main greeter with the registration book & name tags and chief librarian who was always on call to anyone to open the doors for research. Godspeed!