Skinny Beef Stroganoff

When I think of beef stroganoff, like most, it means comfort food. This usually means fattening too. Well I found a way to lighten it up without losing flavor. My normal recipe calls for cream of mushroom soup. So here is a modified way that is full of flavor.
Ingredients:
Stew meat, onion (I ran out so I used onion flakes), garlic, Worcestershire sauce, season salt, pepper, 2 cups of beef stock, greek yogurt plain, egg noodles and spray oil, 2 packets of beef stroganoff mix from the spice isle.
Take 2-3 pounds of stew meat (diet stew meat if you can find it), another option is to ask the butcher to cut a lean roast for you. Sprinkle meat with season salt, garlic powder and pepper.

Spray pan and brown the meat, LEAVE it alone once it is put in a very hot pan, let it sit and it will get a golden brown crust on one side, then turn and sprinkle about 1tbsp of onion flakes on it.

Add a few shakes of Worcestershire sauce to the pan after meat is cooked, slowly incorporate 2 cups of beef stock slowly until it is all cooked off. Then add 2 cups of water and the stroganoff package (I used 2). Simmer slowly while your noodles cook.

YUMMY, it is coming together now. Just add the greek yogurt. The bonus and skinny part here. Sour cream has about 60 calories and 7 grams of fat, with no protein for 2 tbsp. Yogurt serving size is 1 cup and has 130 calories, no fat and 28g of protein. YOWSA, and it tastes the same. I add 1 cup of yogurt and simmer away. This saves a ton in calories and fat (around 500 for the entire dish in sour cream alone)

The finished product, serve over egg noodles and devour. My family loves this, it is warm and hearty. I normally would use mushrooms too, however I used them all last night.

As always feel free to email with questions.

Chicken with balsamic vinegar

So the new year is upon us, swimsuits and sundresses will be here soon. So after indulging for the holidays if you are like me, a tasteful, low cal menu is what I look for. Both my hubby and I take our lunch, so this is a great lunch or dinner with plenty of leftovers for the work week. This dish takes little time, so it is perfect for the weeknight dinner too. This chicken dish has been modified a few times, but this is what I have come up with...hope you love it. Ingredients:


Chicken breast 3-4 large, yellow and orange pepper, onion, garlic, 1 pkg of frozen spinach, 2 cans of canneloni beans (any white bean works) mushrooms, 1 cup of chicken stock, 1 cup of light balsamic vinegrette dressing




Microwave and drain spinach~ really squeeze out the water!

Chop the onion and peppers (use whatever your supermarket carries)

Spray the pan with non-stick spray and saute the mushrooms for a few minutes until tender, add salt and pepper.

Next add the onions, garlic and peppers, be sure to add salt and pepper again. I know I preach the seasoning...but it is so important to season as you go to get depth in your flavors.

Drain the beans and rinse, add to the pan with spinach. Salt and pepper again.

At this point add the dressing and the chicken stock, heat up and taste, adjust seanoning.

Dice chicken and brown in a seperate pan, again I sprayed the pan with non-stick spray.

Add the chicken to the veggies and beans and serve!!

After a day of playing this really hits the spot!

This dish is both low cal and high in flavor. Lots of veggies add essiental vitamins, chicken and beans add protein while the beans and veggies also add fiber. This is a great addition that will never feel like diet food!!

As always feel free to email with questions.

Beef Short Ribs

This is a hearty stick to your ribs meal!! We recently bought a portion of a whole cow and short ribs came in the assortment, so I had to figure out how to make them. I first made this last year and it is a hit! Ingredients:
Beef short ribs about 5 pounds, 2 cups red wine, 4 carrots, 3 stalks of celery, onion, 1 lg can of tomato paste, bay leaf, thyme and garlic. Salt and pepper of course!

Although this looks complicated, it is not...puree the onion, garlic, carrots and celery. My food processor is broke, so I added it to a blender.

These are short ribs look like this.

Salt and pepper the ribs and brown them in a large pan, do this in shifts.

Place the ribs in a large roaster, preheat oven to 375.

Take the veggie puree and brown in the pan that you had the ribs in, add a touch of olive oil and salt and pepper. Leave until all water is almost gone then turn, you will end up with a dry ball of mush that smells AMAZING as it is cooking.

This is what it looks like, next add tomato paste, the whole large can.

This will brown for about 4-5 minutes to combine flavors. Salt and pepper this layer as well. Each new layer should always be re-seasoned. I do not ever need to add salt to my finished dish, if it is seasoned along the way it will taste better in the end.

Add 2 1/2 cups of red wine, Merlot of Cabernet work well just not sweet red. Add 2 cups of water as well.

Reduce this mixture for a few minutes until thick (around 7 minutes).

Pour over the ribs add 1 tsp of thyme and 2 bay leaves, cover with foil and bake for 3 hours, pull foil off for the last 30 minutes, at this point I skim the layer of oil off.

The finished ribs look like this. They are delicious. Sever with the "gravy" that has formed in the pan, I always serve with potatoes, but you can do whatever you like, fries, grilled veggies, rice, macaroni and cheese...limitless possibilities. ENJOY!!

Ahhh to feed a toddler....

So, you have a toddler and one day they LOVE something, the next day, Ewwww. Story of our life around here. A few months ago, this little princess could ear her weight in blueberries, one day without warning, "no berries mom". So I have been trying to make her food LOOK more interesting to her and it works! Let the trickery and creativity begin. I find that a few options are the way to go, I many time offer "leftovers" for lunch. That spoonful of veggies or pasta that would have gone to the disposal now finds it's way to a muffin pan. 6 little cups that can be filled with little goodies and fit right on a highchair like it was made for it. (Hint, I put a little silicone hot mat down to prevent sliding)

Today on the menu. Fruit snacks, gold fish, green beans, cheese sticks, peaches and pb & j cut out using a cookie cutter (mitten for the Christmas season). I do veggies and dip, assorted fruit, pasta, cookie, cottage cheese, hummus and pita the possibilities are endless. She likes all the variety and I have been cutting lots of things into shapes, which she loves. I had little mini flower cookie cutters and cut out cucumber flowers, big hit!

Laundry Soap

So, the economy stinks...laundry detergent is crazy pricey, even the cheap stuff. SOOooo, I recently found the love of Borax after making flubber with my boys. I previously posted about my love affair with Borax and it's uses, so I decided to see what else I could do with it, and as luck may have it, both Pinterest and Google have great links to homemade laundry soap!! I thought about my expenses and realized I spend about $19 per week give or take on soap. RIDICULOUS. So I thought I would try the homemade stuff. My rule, must clean and smell good. All blogs/sites guarantee this, so I combined a few and this is what I came up with....Needed: A grater, 3 packages of Fels-Naptha or Ivory bar soap, Arm and Hammer super washing soda 2 boxes and 3 boxes of Borax.

Grate the Fels-Napth I used a trashcan and liner to mix (also an eager kid to help)

After this, add all the boxes of powder and mix, I got this large glass jar ($9 at Wal-Mart) and another butter dish full. Use 1-2 tbsp per load, plus you can use fabric softener of choice.

Next project, chalk board paint for my jar!!

I am always looking for casserole ideas that my family will eat. Many reasons fuel my search. First, I work full time and need things I can make ahead of time, second is they are generally cheap and feed very hungry boys. Always a big plus, I can't say for sure where the casserole recipe came from, as I generally look up several and then play around with it to suit our needs or list of ingredients I have in the pantry. The garlic biscuit knots are from pinterest. The stars of this show (not all pictured as I was tending to a 23 month old too) are:
Casserole: 2-3 pounds of chicken breast, macaroni (any shape pasta), shredded mozzarella and cheddar cheese. 2 cans evaporated milk, ranch dressing (not dip) mix, salt, pepper, onion and garlic.
Garlic biscuit knots: 1 can of flaky biscuits, canola or olive oil, Parmesan cheese, garlic powder and oregano.


Put both cans of evaporated milk into a sauce pan with ranch dressing mix, heat on low. In a separate pan get water boiling for the pasta.

Next cube up chicken and set aside. Chop onion and garlic.

Soften onions and garlic in a pan, add salt and pepper to this. If you salt and pepper in stages, you food is flavorful, if you wait until the end of the meal, it will taste like salt on top of the food.

Next add chicken, and brown until no longer pink in the middle. Do not over cook.

Cook 2 and 1/2 cups of pasta into heavily salted water according to package directions follow the al dente time.

Set the cooked chicken and drained pasta aside. Layer half of each into a buttered casserole dish like pictured below.

Next pour half of the ranch milk over the past and sprinkle with handful of both cheeses.

Repeat and top with cheese, bake at 375 for 25 minutes.

Take biscuit dough and roll into a snake, tie into knot and put on baking sheet.

In a bowl add 1/4 cup of oil (I used olive oil), 1 tsp of oregano, 2 tbsp of parmesean cheese, 1/2 tsp of garlic and I also cracked some pepper into it.

Take this mixture and spoon onto the biscuits and bake.
These smell so wonderful as they cook.

The finished casserole.

What a beautiful, bubbly and cheesy dish.

What a filling yummy meal, just a hint of ranch and screams winter time comfort food. It re-heats nicely and even the kids loved it. This dish can be assembled and kept in the fridge for a few days and then baked or even frozen.

*Many dishes are made with chicken breast sauteed like this, to save time, while doing a dish cook double chicken and put half aside for another meal, saves times for later in the week. Hope you enjoy.