Chicken, Chicken, Chicken.......please

I am so tired of chicken recipes. I usually substitute them for turkey. I really don't like chicken and  "Eat Right For Your Blood Type" explains why blood type B should not eat chicken.

It is important to leave off chicken for Type Bs. Chicken contains a Blood Type B agglutinating lectin in its muscle tissue, which attack the bloodstream and potentially lead to strokes and immune disorders. Type Bs thrive on deep-ocean fish, but should avoid all shellfish. The shellfish contain lectins that are disruptive to the Type B system.

So far I have found two web sites that give me great Weight Watcher Recipes. Check out Laa Loosh and SkinnyTaste.

Check out Weight Watchers Online. I signed up for three months and have pretty much got it down. I need to KEEP TRACKING MY POINTS in order to keep losing weight.

So far I have lost 12 pounds and gone down one pant and top size making me very happy. I used to hate shopping but now shopping once every 6 weeks for new clothes is nice. I will continue to buy jeans /pants at Walmart and tops at Kohls until I have reached my goal. After that, its off to Macys to buy the good stuff that will last over time. You know, the little black sleeveless dress on sale? The one where you can accessorize into many ourfits. Adding things like a sweater over the dress, a jacket, so many options. Buying basic quality clothes and accessorizing is the way to look like you have lots of outfits. I am not ready yet, but can't wait.

Roast Beef with Mushroom Sauce

My cooking day was filled with cooking a roast at 300 degrees, then made salmon patties. Later I made a three bean salad.

Working all week and limited hours to cook leads me to cook once a week for weekly meals and our lunch menus. I also buy a couple premade meals from Trader Joe's. And yes, I do read the ingredients.

Since I had roast beef slices and quite a few cremini mushrooms I made a sauce to pour over rice.

Roast Beef with Mushroom Sauce

In large open pan add 1 1/2 Tablespoons olive oil. Heat just a bit and add 1/4 diced red onions (or what ever onion you have).

Sautee for a few minutes than add 5-6  washed and sliced cremini mushrooms. Saute for 5 minutes until they soften.

Add juice from roast. Heat until almost bubbly. Add 1/4 C half and half or what ever dairy you have.

Stir and cook on low heat for 3 minutes.

In a small bowl add 2 Tablespoons half and half and 1 Tablespoon corn starch or flour. Whisk to get all the lumps out. Add to mixture.
Once it thickens add slices of roast beef on top and cover.
Serve over rice.

Sunday Cooking For the Week

On Sundays I do my weekly cooking in between blogging, and various other things. I am preparing items that will make my lunch week easier.

Today I am starting out making apple/cranberry whole wheat muffins, baked veggie egg rolls, salmon patties, and tuna salad for the week. Muffins and fruit are a good breakfast as is muffins and soft boiled eggs. Egg rolls are an addition to some meals and my mid morning snack at work. We have breakfast at 6:30am and my lunch isn't until 1:00 so I am hungry by 10:30. Salmon patties can be lunch also. And good old tuna salad is great with celery sticks as a spoon or crackers.

Before I get cooking I always fill up the sink with hot soapy dish water. This way I wash as I go. Since I don't have a large kitchen or counter, for that matter, I use the same bowl for all my tasks.

Apple/Cranberry Whole Wheat Muffins

Since we are on Weight Watchers I changed my muffin recipe just a bit. Instead of  2 cups of white flour I use one cup white flour and one cup whole wheat flour. I also substitute the 1/2 C oil for unsweetened applesauce. I had two extra gala apples and make a simple sauce adding cinnamon.

(cook small peeled apples pieces in a tablespoon of water and a few shakes of cinnamon. Cook on medium heat until soft.)

Muffin Mixture plus re hydrated cranberry's

Ready for the oven

Baked Egg Rolls with Sweet-Sour-Spicy Sauce

This is my second attempt at Egg Rolls. I think I have it now.
I was looking for a mid morning snack at work that had very little calories and was low on Weight Watcher points.
I found this recipe online and adjusted it to my taste.

Cut up 4 green onions. If the stalks are to big cut it length wise. I tried grating ginger but it doesn't work very well so I cut it up in small pieces. I used 1 1/2 tablespoons of FRESH ginger.

                                        Saute both in 2 tablespoons olive oil for 3 minutes.

 

Grate two large chunks of carrot. The top skinny part doesn't grate well so I ate them for snack.

I added a 10 oz bag of shredded cabbage, carrots, 1 tablespoon Mango Habanero Hot Sauce, 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, and 1 teaspoon brown sugar. Cook until cabblage is soften. LET COOL. Make sure all the liquid has been cooked out.

A moist towel over the plastic that is over the phyllo dough

Add caption

The next part has to be fairly quick. I used phyllo dough for my egg rolls. You need to keep the phyllo dough moist while you are rolling the egg rolls. I took 2 sheets off, put the plastic back over the dough and put a moist towel over the plastic, NEVER ON THE DOUGH. 
I then sprayed the top of both sheets with olive oil. Just a quick spray.

Next you fold in half so it looks like this and spray with olive oil again. Not much oil. Turn it around so you can roll it up like a burrito.

Place a large spoonful of your mixture on the lower part. I get a bit carried away, but I would rather fill up with veggies than phyllo dough.

                  Roll the dough around the mixture and tuck it under the mixture so it's secure.

Fold ends over and continue to roll making sure the sides stay in so the filling will not
come out.

Spray a pan with olive oil and then spray the top of each egg roll and sprinkle sesame seeds on top. A conventional sheet pan won't fit in my oven so I use a glass pie pan.

I had enough to make 8 egg rolls. I had a little bit of apple sauce left over from the muffins, but not enough to make a roll so I added some fig jelly spread and wrapped it up just like the egg roll. Hubby was happy.
Bake at 425 for 10-12 minutes or until they are brown on top. You might have to flip them over to get the bottom side brown.

       Okay the final product and only 3 Weight Watcher Points. To top it off they are delicious.
As far as hubby is concerned the dipping sauce the the ultimate. He puts it on various meats and even on the salmon patties.

Egg Roll Spicy-Sweet-Hot Sauce

Combine: 3/4 C sugar, 1/3 C ketchup, and 2/3 C water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
Add:         1 tablespoon soy sauce, 2 tablespoon Mango Habenaro Hot sauce (more if you want more heat) 1 1/2 tablespoon fresh ginger chopped in small pieces. Combine and cook 3 minutes.
Combine: 3 tablespoons corn starch and 1/2 C water. Disolve and add to mixture.
Cook until it thickens and 5 minutes more.
Set aside and cool.

You will be hooked on this stuff. It's easy to make and is good on almost everything.

Salmon Patties

There are two different kinds of salmon at Costco. This has no PINK DYE. Why would you put pink dye in a fish product. I don't know, but we chose the salmon without dye.

Combine: 3 cans of salmon, 4 green onions chopped, 2 stalks of celery sliced up (cut celery length wise a couple times so the pieces are smaller), 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon grill seasonings, 1 tablespoon Habeno Sauce, and about 1/2 C bread crumbs.  I use Trader Joe's Organic Bread Crumbs with out any additional seasonings.
At this point you can add more or less heat if you want. We have been adding more heat to our diets during fall alergies.

                         Yum...yep they are going to be good for lunches...adding that spicy sauce.

Actually I love to cook. I would rather spend a couple hours cooking the weeks meal than cook each night.
I make a menu each week before I go grocery shopping and make my list from that. I include what we will need for two lunches-to-go and what we will need for breakfast.

Because we  have limited time after work I have resorted to buying 3 dinners from Trader Joe's prepared meals in the frig or freezer section. I also buy something I can put in the crock pot one night that is good for two days. Now that equals 5 working days. I just add a veggie or salad with each meal, which is easy.For the weekends we have something easy we can put on the BBQ.

I hope you will make one of these recipes. If you need more info on frugal grocery shopping see my other page. 

 

 





 

 



Seasonal Allergies

When we lived in northern Nevada my husband's allergies were pretty bad in the fall.  As a child he had asthma. Eventually he grew out of that. Now as an adult his seasonal allergy are awful. I believe they are linked. See this article about Allergies and Asthma.

Normally we would just take over the counter allergy medication each season. This didn't work well and eventually his allergy would lead to bronchitis. Now we want to get rid of these meds and try a more natural way of dealing with seasonal allergies.

About four months ago my husband started taking LOCAL RAW honey. Eating local honey would, hopefully, build his immune system by ingesting local pollen from the bees. We found a local beekeeper, 10 minutes away, and bought several pint jars. NOW fall allergies are in full bloom. He is also adding Allergena Texas Trees Homeopathic allergen drops to his daily regime. And now, on day number seven, his allergies are much better. Allergena has drops for every state in the USA.

Chronic over breathing is responsible for the hypersensitive state of the immune system. By breathing slowly and opening your nose with your fingers allowing air in your nose alleviates congestion.

Also eating spicy food helps. Hubby has been using Mango Habanero Hot Sauce on his food which clears up congestion temporarily. I will be cooking with spicy food this fall.

So, to recap, build your immune system up if yours is weak, take immune building supplements, local raw honey daily, and Allergena.  Get rid of over the counter synthetic medications.

Extra: squeezing half a lemon in hot water before breakfast and before bed helps with the phlegm associated with allergies. Add 1000mg of chewable vitamin C. This also helps your immune system.

September - Honey Month

Honey has so many benefits. We use it for cooking and hubby takes a teaspoon full morning and evening. He has a poor immune system and the fall allergins are just around the corner. He also takes echinesia and grape seed extract to boost his immune system.

I used to just buy plain honey in the stores, then I bought raw honey in the stores. Still there is nothing better than LOCAL RAW HONEY.

We found a local bee keeper who keeps his bees about 10 minutes from our home. He said he only harvests the honey once a year in June. Apparently, he lost a hive harvesting the honey before winter. A lesson learned. Bees need honey to eat through the winter months when there are not as many sources of food out there. This man also said that store bought, processed, raw honey isn't as good as his. The store processed honey filters out to much of the pollen needed to make honey a benefit for those who have allergies. Of course we got greedy and bought 4 pint jars @ $10 a jar. I would rather buy good food than pay for good doctors. You can even see the pollen on the top of the honey. NEVER PUT HONEY IN THE MICROWAVE. Heat it by setting it in warm water.

I use honey in my homemade granola bars and baking. I do use the store bought raw honey for my recipes so we can keep the good stuff for hubby.

I remember my mother buying honey in the comb. I can't remember if it was local but it was good. It's amazing how we once used all these natural cures so many years ago and have simply just forgotten all their goodness.

We have gone back to basics to continue the lessons learned decades ago. If we have a cold coming on we squeeze REAL lemon juice in a cup of warm water (NO SUGAR OR ALCOHOL). I also take 1000-2000 mg vitamin C. I prefer a chewable tab.. (Clues for a cold coming on are the tightness of your shoulders and being tired) Get plenty of rest and liquids. Green Tea is a benefit also.

Could you make specific honey based on what activates your allergies? Good question. Heck if rag weed is an issue put the honey bees near those flowers. This is just an example. Check out
The Walden Effect

 

You have seen this on the side of the roads. Hubby's alergies are on a 12 hour clock. He takes his spoonfull at 6am before breakfast and before dinner. It seems to work. 

Weight Watcher Tuna Steak

Tuna Steak ( 2 servs)

8 ounces Albacore Tuna Steak ($8.89 lb from Trader Joes)

Coat each side with a bit of olive oil and grill seasoning.
I used the George Forman grill cooking it on both sides at once. Total time cooking was  15 minutes at the most.
I had a few olives left over and an avocado that needed help.

4 oz Tuna Steak, 1/2 C peas, 7 olives, 1/2 avocado = 9 points VERY filling when eaten slowly.

Eating secrets: eat slowly, chew more and don't drink while eating. Your stomach enzymes will appreciate you.

Dessert: I added a glass of red wine (5 points) and 1 sq 73% chocolate square (1 point).

I MAKE room for my wine every evening. If I have enough points I substitute the chocolate for a WW chocolate toffee bar (3 points).

Simple Tuna Stead Dinner

WW BROCOLLI TURKEY STIR FRY

2 Servings

Heat 1/2 tablespoons olive oil in large frying pan or chicken fryer on medium heat.
Add:

1 sliced onion
1 C brocolli cut up
1 large minced garlic clove
1 Tablespoon grated ginger (1tsp dry)
½ sliced bell pepper
½ C sliced mushrooms
Cook 5 minutes (if it gets to dry add a bit of water)
Add more veggies if you want

Remove from pan, set aside.

Add 1/2 tablespoon sesame oil
Brown 6 ounces turkey breast sliced
Add:
1C chicken broth
1 tablespoons lite salt soy sauce
1 tablespoon ketchup
1/2 teaspoon horseradish
1 teaspoon brown sugar

(ketchup and horseradish add some zip to this recipe. You could add sriracha also.
Cook on low heat until turkey is tender.

Take two tablespoons of liquid out and add 1/2 tablespoon corn starch to it. Add to pan. This will thicken the mixture

Add veggie mix, ½ teaspoon sesame seeds.

Total WW points per serving is 7 points and a very filling meal.

Serve over whole wheat noodles if you want. We had a fruit salad.

My recipes will be a bit different

As of Saturday, September 6, 2014, I have joined Weight Watchers Online. I played around with the tools on their sight and will revise my old recipes to adapt to Weight Watchers Points. My hubby is joining me. Actually Weight Watchers is a good way to eat for most everyone. PORTION CONTROL is important with meat and fat.

On Weight Watchers all your veggies and fruit have NO points. I am allowed 33 points based on a calculations they design.

Today we shopped at Trader Joe's, as usual. It is easy in the fruit and vegetable department. Pick items you like to keep on hand for munchies and for salads. Each meal will include a salad. We chose Trader Joe's Organic Red Wine & Olive Oil Vinaigrette this week. Two tablespoons is a serving and is equal to 4 points.
 
Preparing a salad has changed. Now that we are using less dressing it's easier if you put the salad in a bowl and put the dressing over it and toss it. Then put it on a separate smaller plate. You can add cherry tomatoes and some vegetables over the salad if you want. If you want to add a bit of cheese choose low-fat or a small amount of Parmesan Cheese. Adding fresh herbs can perk your salad up also.
We always put cucumbers, red onions (grilled if we have time), mushrooms, and tomatoes on our salads. Occasionally we add feta cheese if our main meal is low in points.

 Sooooo we are rethinking our breakfast meals. No longer can I have two waffles and bacon. Instead this morning we each had 1 egg/canadian bacon/whole wheat english muffin/and fruit. Total of 6 points. You can also add veggies to the scrambled egg. Hubby likes mushrooms and onions.

I will also have a blog on Weight Watchers site. I want to educate readers on how to eat and live as chemical free as possible.

Wish me luck.

The Basics Part 1

This blog post is for my friend at work who is just starting to learn to cook.

There are three basic sauces you need to learn to make about anything.

White Sauce:2 servings

2 Tablespoons butter (BUTTER not fake anything)
2 Tablespoons flour
1 Cup liquid
Salt and Pepper to taste

For a basic sauce here is how you start. You can add whatever veggies, meat, spices, and pasta to this basic sauce and create what you want.

Melt the butter over medium heat; add vegetables at this point (onions, mushrooms or whatever you want).
Add the flour and cook for 30 seconds CONTINUALLY. Then add liquid and salt/pepper. For cream sauce use milk. Cook until thick. Add more liquid to thin out sauce.

Macaroni and Cheese: Add cheese after it thickens. Then add pasta and any veggie you want such as peas.

Chicken casserole:  Add chicken broth instead of milk and spices with pasta and chicken.

Tuna Noodle: Add tuna and chicken broth seasonings then noodles.

For all of these casseroles you bake them covered in tin foil @ 375 degrees until you see the bottom bubbling, about 40 minutes. Take the foil off and bake until you get a golden top.

You can just make this cream sauce and add garlic, pasta, parmesan cheese, and some peas for a good side dish.

Or Mac and Cheese

The object is to just use this sauce and add things you like. Maybe some Cajun spices and shrimp or shrimp and garlic. This is just a base for any good invention.

The Massive BBQ cookoff

Since we have very little time to cook during the week we try to BBQ or cook for the week.

 

Buffalo Hot Dogs from Whole foods, Hamburger, Salmon from Trader Joe's, and Turkey Breast all went on the grill. Make sure you put a thumb mark in the middle of the burgers so they don't puff up in the middle. I try to make mine big because they will cook up smaller.  Life will be easy this week.

 

Well, at least they all fit. The salmon filet went firs then burgers and dogs. The turkey took another 1/2 hour on lower heat.

 

Last night we had Salmon Caesar Salad with parmesan cheese and homemade Caesar Salad Dressing. Usually I have croutons, but I forgot to make them from our homemade bread.

 

 

The salad dressing is a fairly easy recipe. I use all the anchovies in the small tin plus the juice. I just chop up the anchovies, add 3 large cloves of minced garlic and 1/3 C mayo. I use my immersion blender then add a bit of milk to thin it out. We like our dressing spicy hot so we use a lot of garlic. You can start out with a clove and add more after it ages. It is better to make your dressing the day before.

 

 

 

 

Tonight we had Buffalo Dogs and veggie chili from Trader Joe's. Of course, we topped it with shredded raw milk white cheddar cheese also from Trader Joe's.

 



 



Tuna Steak with Noodle Side Dish

Tuna Steaks....they are so amazing and easy to grill. They literally take under 10 minutes to cook.
We use wood chunks for grilling. We gave up charcoal and have never used propane for grilling. It has to many chemicals. The problem with wood chunks is they burn faster so you have to plan ahead.
Grill the tuna's first side good then flip it over only for a few minutes. It should not be solid when done, but have a bit of spring-back. (I have been watching Bobby Flay's cooking to much)
Before you even get the Tuna steaks on the grill you should make the noodle dish first.

Glass dishes tonight. It just didn't seem right to put this meal on paper plates.

Dinner for Two
Cook thin spaghetti noodles and set aside. Don't wash them off. The starch on the noodles gives the sauce something to stick to.
As the noodles are cooking saute:
1/4 chopped onion
1/4 teaspoon garlic from a jar or 1/2 chopped small garlic clove
We added 3 left over mushrooms (optional)
Cook for about 3 minutes. Add: 1 Tablespoon flour and stir. Cook for at least 30 seconds.
Add: 1/2 C of milk or cream. The sauce will thicken.
I added frozen peas and then noodles.
Top with parmesan cheese and stir.

Remove from heat and cover....meanwhile put the Tuna Steaks on. Timing is the real key. We take the steaks off and cover loosely with foil.

The noodle dish was fast. I put our deionized water on to boil before I jumped in the shower and it was just about boiling by the time I came out. Yep, multi-tasking.



Two Tuna Steaks from Trader Joe's @ $8.99/pound

 

The Tuna Steaks are so big we cut them in half saving the second half for a salad topping the next night.



 

Made in our iron clad cookware. I don't use a pan coated with anything.

This is a hearty dish. I think I got carried away with the noodles. (Of course our parrot screamed until he got his cut of noodles) This noodle recipe can be changed to fit what you have left over in your frig. You could add zucchini, peppers,  hot or sweet, carrots, and whatever. We love frozen peas and corn.

We also have a nice glass of red wine from Trader Joe's with dinner.

Tonight we are grilling the entire week’s meat: Turkey breast, (grill both sides on high heat to get the grill marks then over low heat until done) four burgers, four bison dogs from Whole Food, and salmon from Trader Joe's. We don't have a lot of time after work so this works best for us. Some of the turkey will be used in my pasta-bean-turkey salad for lunches. Tonight will be Salmon Caesar Salad.

I will take pics of our meals this week. Seems I don't blog much. Hubby and I now commute to work. I have to wait 1 hour after we get there before I work and he waits 1.5 hours after his work before I get out of work. Fortunately, we work across the street from each other. We are saving for a trip to the west coast around Christmas to see our kids and grandkids. We are living a bit frugal the next few months. We only go out once a week for a meal and no more weekend drives in the Texas country dreaming of an area to live. Hunker down and save is our motto.

 

 

Dark Chocolate

A few years ago I came across a doctor who wrote a book called "Eat Right For Your Blood Type".
My blood type is "B" and on the DO NOT EAT list is milk chocolate. Each time I have any milk chocolate I get bad indigestion. Lately we have been buying Dark Chocolate at Trader Joe's. I have no problem with this chocolate at all. Below I will give you the ingredients for Trader Joe's organic chocolate bar and a popular chocolate bar.

Hershey Chocolate Bar:
MILK CHOCOLATE (SUGAR; MILK; CHOCOLATE; COCOA BUTTER; LACTOSE; MILK FAT;SOY LECITHIN;PGPR, EMULSIFIER; VANILLIN, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR)

Vanillin: compound obtained from vanilla: a white aldehyde obtained from vanilla or prepared synthetically.

 PGPR: It is a long definition so I just gave you a link.

The rest you should know.

Now for Trader Joe's Organic Chocolate Bar;

Organic dark chocolate, (cocoa mass, cane sugar, cocoa butter) roasted almonds, dry cocoa solids 73% minimum.

We have a small square with our Trader Joe's wine. We don't pay over $7 for a bottle red wine blends. Lots of good good wine there.

Info on my "Green Chili Tortillas" or "White Enchiladas"

As I was getting my flour tortillas out to make this dish again I found that the tortillas had dots of mold. I of course took them out as there weren't really that many. 
I bought these large flour tortillas from Trader Joe's.  I forgot that these tortillas don't have preservatives. If you buy these make sure you EAT THEM WITHIN A WEEK. Actually, any bread product. 
I decided to get the ingredients from a popular flour tortilla and compare it with Trader Joe's.

Mission Flour Tortillas:

Ingredients: Enriched Bleached Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, Vegetable Shortening (Interesterified Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil and/or Palm Oil), contains 2% or less of each of the following: Salt, Leavening (Sodium Bicarbonate, Sodium Aluminum Sulfate, Corn Starch, Monocalcium Phosphate and/or Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Calcium Sulfate), Distilled Monoglycerides, Enzymes, Wheat Starch, Calcium Carbonate, Antioxidants (Tocopherols, Ascorbic Acid), Cellulose Gum, Dough Conditioners (Fumaric Acid, Sodium Metabisulfite), Preservatives (Calcium Propionate, Sorbic Acid and/or Citric Acid).

Trader Joe's Flour Tortillas:

CONTAINS WHEAT AND SOY. Ingredients: Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Water, Liquid Soy Oil, Salt, Baking Powder (Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate, Corn Starch, Monocalcium Phosphate). 

Interesterified
Sodium Aluminum Sulfate
Calcium Sulfate
Monoglycerides
Calcium Carbonate
Tocopherols
Ascorbic Acid
Sodium Metabisulfite
Calcium Propionate
Sorbic Acid

Non packaged Mac and Cheese

I havent used a packaged mac and cheese for 30 years. My grandson ate my homemade mac and cheese and now he doesn't like packaged mac and cheese.

White sauce is real easy to make.

In medium pot add 4 tbls butter, add onions if you put onions in your mac and cheese. When melted add 4 tbls flour and stir. It gets real pasty. Add 2C milk. Stir until thickened. If it is still two thick add more milk. If it needs thickening combine a tablespoon butter and tablespoon flour and add to mixture. This way it won't lump. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Add 1C grated cheese of your choice. More if you like with more cheese.
Grease 9x11x glass baking dish or any dish it will fit in.
Cook @ 350 degrees for 45 minutes with foil on top. Take foil off and cook for 10 minutes more if you like the top crunchy.

Turkey Pasta Salad

I had some left over roasted chicken from a restaurant we stopped at last week. Pasta salad is like goulash. Add what you have in your frig. It's a good way to clean the frig out at the end of the week.

Here is what I put in mine:

Left over chicken
Cooked pasta (any type)
Chopped celery
Chopped red onion
Olives
Can of pinto beans ( I use Trader Joe's beans because they have  no GMO's)
Newman's Italian salad dressing

Green Chili Tortillas or White Enchiladas

My husbands favorite meal. I leaned this recipe from my mother years ago. It's real easy and tastes so so good.

You can make any amount you want, that's the secret to this recipe.
Green Chili Tortillas
Medium flour tortillas Jack cheese (or any spicy cheese you might like)Whole sweet chili's in the can. I use one chili per flour tortilla and evaporated milk

The only difference this time is that we now use Trader Joe's Organic Wheat & Corn Flour Tortilla. NO LARD.
Ingredients: Wheat flour, water, corn flour (corn masa, trace of lime), soybean oil, honey, baking powder ( monocalcium phosphate, sodium bicarbonate, cornstarch(, salt, and citric acid.
Check out the ingredients of your tortilla.

You can make any amount you want, that's the secret to this recipe.
Just put a sweet green chili (from the can) and top it with shredded jack cheese in the tortilla and roll it up and put seam side down in glass casserole dish sprayed with vegetable oil.  Add canned milk until it is 3/4 full in dish. Add more cheese on top. Top with foil. I spray the inside of my foil so the cheese won't stick to it.
Cook at 375* until it bubbles and when you stick it with your fork it is tender. Take the foil off and put your oven on broil or just turn the heat up and brown the top. Let it cool or you will burn your mouth big time.



Add chili in tortilla with cheese

Add canned evaporated milk

Top with Jack Cheese

This is a bit darker than I planned but still tasted good







Non Velveeta Nachos

At work we got into a conversation about what Velveeta Cheese was. My response is, why is it sitting on a shelf and not in the refrigerator if its cheese.
My recipe is about the same as others with the exception of how I make the cheese. Its simple...yep back to the basic white sauce and add grated cheese. Pretty easy.
So no real recipe for this other than I used baked tortilla chips from Trade Joe's. Seems this place is our new grocery store. My next blog will explain our goals.
Stack tortilla chips in layers of cheese and ground beef add:
Guacamole (smashed avocados, squeeze of lime juice, salt/pepper.
Home made salsa (chopped tomatos, jalapeno, onions, cumin seeds, cilantro, lime juice, and salt and pepper.
Sour cream
Olives
Jalapenos if you like.

 

Sloppy but real good.

PASTA BEAN SALAD

This is a great salad for those of us who take our lunches to work. Very easy also.
I use this same recipe eliminating the pasta and add grilled turkey or chicken.

2 C cooked penna pasta and chill or cool off under water (or any pasta you might have)

Combine in large air tight bowl:
Pasta
Sliced celery hearts with leaves
15 ounce an of Pinto beans rinsed
15 ounce can of Garbanzo beans rinsed
1/2 C of Edamame bean thawed and rinsed (these I find frozen)
  hubby doesn't like to many
Chopped red onion (amount depends on you. I use 1/4 C)
1/2 can of small black olives
1/4 C fresh parmesan cheese (plz don't use that powdered stuff in a box)
1/2 tablespoon dried basil or 8-9 chopped fresh basil
Salt/pepper
3/4 C Italian dressing (I use Newman's)
1 teaspoon cane sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar (optional, I like the extea zing)
P in air type bowl and shake to combine

This needs to sit for a few hours....if you can keep folks out of it.

My lunch portion.

After I took my portion

 

 

 



MY COBB SALAD

I have to admit I stole this from our fav restaurant, Black Walnut. Very simple.

Put lettuce on plate (I use Romaine)
Top with the following:
Crisp bacon cut up (not bacon bits)
Avocado slices
Tomato quarters
Hard boiled egg cut in half
Chunks of your favorite cheese
Chunks of good Blue Cheese (I love this stuff)
Your favorite meat (I used smoked BBQ'D turkey breasts cut up)
Grilled corn (you can get it frozen just thaw before or if you are real talented grill your corn on the cobb)
Olives

I make my Blue Cheese dressing:
Blue Cheese, mayo, salt/pepper, squeeze of lemon juice, and enough milk to thin out.
Add more Blue Cheese for stronger flavor.
Add crouton if you want.

Notice my fine dining plate, yep we eat on paper plates and use real metal silverware.