Dinner at our house: Mac N Cheese

Mmmmmac N Cheese!

Some of you saw this on my facebook tonight, and I thought I'd share the recipe. It turned out really yum! This is sure to become a regular in my house, and I plan to try and make my own alfredo sauce next time so I can make it lowfat. There is a skinnier version I can make I'm sure!

Ingredients:

1 lb corkscrew pasta

1 15 oz jar alfredo sauce (I used Bertolli)

3 cups shredded cheese (I used Kraft 2% Sharp Cheddar + 2% Colby Jack Blend)

Sour cream (I used low fat)

Bacon crumbles

Croutons (I bought an asiago blend)

Directions:

Cook your pasta as normal. While it's boiling, in a deep sauce pan heat up sauce over medium-high heat. Mix in your shredded cheese. Make sure it's smooth and not lumpy. Once it's melted all the way, you can go ahead and add in your bacon if you'd like (Tim didn't want it so I set it to the side). Add in your pasta and stir til covered. Add a dollup of the sour cream, bacon (if you didn't use it before) and top with crushed croutons. Eat!

Dinner at our house: Teriyaki steak skewers on the grill!

I renewed my trial subscription of ALL YOU recently, and I'm glad I did. Not only does the magazine pay for itself in the coupons you get from it, it has great life tips like budgeting, organization, and my favorite: food! Tim and I recently started grilling. This is what we made from the magazine. 

I added in onions and peppers!

The man at the grill!

All done, and all gone after the photo was snapped!

These were delicious! Here is the recipe from ALL YOU:

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup bottled teriyaki sauce

• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

• 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper

• 1 pound flank steak, cut across grain into 1/4-inch-thick strips

• 4 scallions, white and light green parts, sliced on diagonal

• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

Directions

1. 1. Combine teriyaki sauce, garlic and pepper in a large ziplock bag. Add steak, seal and turn several times to coat with marinade. Let stand 15 minutes at room temperature.

1. 2. Preheat grill to high. Thread meat onto thin metal skewers; oil grates. Grill steak, turning once, until cooked to desired doneness (1 to 2 minutes per side for medium-rare). Transfer skewers to a serving platter, sprinkle with scallions and sesame seeds and serve.

We're Back!

Well, things are finally starting to settle down around here. We've had the internet up and working in our home for over a week now. Who knew our lives were so dependent on this technology. Well, I plan on using it to continually update this blog.

I've started WW again, today, so hopefully this blog will help facilitate those healthy cooking and eating habits again. I also hope to take more photos, especially of the kittens exploring their new space.

All in all, it's good to be back!

Dinner at Our House: Soup, Salad and Sandwich night

Just had to share because it was exciting to use my dishes :)

Homemade French Onion Soup, Turkey Sandwiches & Green Salad 

I really feel like the more we cook and clean the more normal we become. Love it!

Dinner at Our House: Taco Soup

Tonight we tried something new! And SURPRISE it was really yum. I'm kind of weird about anything with "tomato juice" in it so I've always been hesitant when it comes to soups with tomatoes...but I was brave and we tried this version of taco soup.

Ingredients

• 1 pound lean ground beef 
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 medium green pepper, chopped
• 1 envelope reduced-sodium taco seasoning
• 2/3 cup water
• 4 cups reduced-sodium V8 juice
• 1 cup chunky salsa
• 
  TOPPINGS:
• 3/4 cup shredded lettuce
• 6 tablespoons chopped fresh tomatoes [Mom thankfully put these to the side]
• 6 tablespoons shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions
• 1/4 cup fat-free sour cream
• Tortilla chips, optional

Directions

• In a large saucepan coated with cooking spray, cook the beef, onion and pepper over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in taco seasoning and water; cook and stir for 5 minutes or until liquid is reduced.
• Add V8 juice and salsa; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes or until heated through. Top each serving with 2 tablespoons of lettuce, 1 tablespoon of tomato and cheese, and 2 teaspoons of green onions and sour cream. Serve with tortilla chips if desired.

My mom also made this sort of taco-pizza too. It was good but it dried out before we could all get home to eat it.

Dinner at Our House: Buttermilk-Blue Cheese Smashed Red Potatoes

So, I got suckered into buying an alumni book from my undergrad college UWG and part of the "Thank you" was a subscription to three magazines. I cannot remember what all I subscribed for, but I did start getting Cooking Light. I think I'm in love! I was flipping through the pages and there is so much in there to inspire me to want to be a healthy eater and start cooking again! First up was this recipe. I actually doubled it because I know I come from a family of starch lovers.

We had it with Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches and salad- classy paper plate I know!

Like I said I doubled it so here is what I did:

Ingredients

• 2 pound small red potatoes
• 2/3 cup light buttermilk
• 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

• Place potatoes in a saucepan; cover with cold water to 2 inches above potatoes. 
• Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium, and simmer 15 minutes or until tender; drain.
• Return potatoes to pan. 
• Add buttermilk, blue cheese, salt, and pepper to pan; mash with potato masher to desired consistency. (I had to use a wooden spoon but it did the trick)

These were pretty yummy. Tim is not a fan of blue cheese, but he didn't know it was in them until after I told him. He also ate about half the pot so I am very glad I made doubles! I'm actually shocked there is a little leftover; so I'm surprisingly looking forward to lunch at work tomorrow ha!

Caturday Saturday: Another Day Late

I meant to post these yesterday, but here are a few of Elliot trying to eat dinner with us. She sat at the head of the table. It was too cute.

The Art of Couponing: 4 for $4.50

Did you use your $5 off $30 coupon at Publix this week? I did!

You can't see it all. I honestly didn't want to spend too much time on the display because well, there is ice cream out there and other cold goodies. But, all of that was under $35. I saved right at 50% on the whole bill. Tomorrow night we're going to have tacos and when you do the math, it's basically dinner for four people for four dollars and some change. The taco kits were .59 each after sale+doubled coupons. The lean ground beef is on sale for 3.99/lb and I got a little less than a full pound. You can use coupons.com (or if you are on inbox dollars or swagbucks you can print the coupons there) to find a .50/1 El Paso product coupon. If you can't find it try zip code 30185. And if you want more deals, check out SouthernSavers for all the lists! Happy Couponing!

Snacking at Our House: Ricotta Cheese Chocolate Chip Muffins

Saw these and knew I had leftover ricotta to use before it went bad. Also, I wanted to get back to trying to make four new recipes before the end of the month. So here is my best shot at attempting that with only one week left in the month. And if you don't subscribe to her blog, I highly suggest doing so. I love skinnytaste.com.

They are pretty yum, but why do they always stick? Blast!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups self rising cake flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Light (I used yogurt butter because that's all we have)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 large egg whites
• 8 oz fat free ricotta cheese (I used low fat because it's all I had)
• 1/2 tbsp vanilla
• 9 tbsp mini semi-sweet chocolate chip morsels (I used regular because it is all I had)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Mix flour and baking soda. 
3. Mix and cream butter and sugar. 
4. Beat egg whites and add to butter/sugar mixture. 
5. Mix in ricotta cheese, then flour mixture and vanilla. 
6. Fold in chocolate chips and spoon into lined muffin tins about 3/4 filled.
7. Bake at 375° for 15-16 minutes and let cool.

For me it made 14 muffins, but I think it was supposed to make 12.

The Art of Couponing: Back into Super Saving Action

You haven't seen me post one of these in a while, mostly because I've seriously been so busy we haven't even really been shopping. My mom has been taking on more of the feeding responsibilities because my niece and nephew are still around. But, since the online class is now over I decided to put my little coupons back into action. Note: I've still been clipping, just haven't been using.

So let me share some of the highlights from tonight's shopping trip.

@CVS:

Tonight's Out of Pocket cost was: $3.73

Yes. You read that right. I paid $3.73 for 2 Oral B toothbrushes, Tampax Pearl Tampons (get over yourself squeamish boys) and chocolate! PLUS: I earned $4 Extra Care Bucks. That's like a profit of 27 cents ha!

How I did it? Well, I had $3 ECB to use by 7/6 or else they expire, I used a B1G1 Oral B toothbrush coupon, I got a free chocolate coupon just by stopping at the coupon printer in store, I used a $1off Tampax Pearl, and the Toothbrushes+ Tampons had ECB deals. All in all a savings of 78%.

@Publix

All this can be yours for the price of $9.74

Above you see: Ritz crackerfuls, French's mustard, Viva paper towels, Mueller's pasta, 2 rolls of Reynold's non-stick wrap, Mahatma rice, Playtex tampons, and Breakstone's sour cream blends! All for under $10. The grand savings total was 64% off.

Let me go over a couple of the big deals:

Reynolds non-stick wrap, regular $4.39

On sale B1G1 so it's $2.19

Used a .75 off coupon to pay $1.44 a roll; that is a savings of 67% Not too bad. You can ALWAYS use this stuff.

Viva Big Roll paper towels, regular $3.00

On sale B1G1 so it's $1.50

Used a .50 coupon that DOUBLES to $1.00 off at Publix to pay .50 for one roll; that is a savings of 83%

Mueller's Pasta, regular $1.45

On sale B1G1 so it is .72

Used a .55 cent off coupon to pay .17; that is a savings of 88%

Please tell me I have persuaded some of you by now :)

Some of the best sites to help you are:
Southern Savers
Coupons Make it Free
20 Something Saver

Intro to Gardening: First Harvest!

I haven't been following this as much as I should have, but we are still gardening! We have already had our first "harvest." The beans below came out a week ago. They were a very pretty green. We have bell peppers that are almost ready. I think the parsley and basil are also ready, I just haven't brought them in.

Beans!

Tim ate them right out of the garden!

Happy Birthday Tim!

Today is the anniversary of the day Mom S gave the world a great big present in the form of the hubs. Yay!

So I made this to celebrate

I love you, partner in crime.

Dinner at Our House: Cube Steak Rollups

So tonight my brother cooked dinner. And to be honest, it probably isn't that weight watcher friendly, but I thought I'd share it anyways.

My half of the finished product (Tim and I split one)

There was no "actual" recipe. I'm typing this as my brother told it to me.

Ingredients:

• Cube steak
• Cream cheese (softened)
• Marinade (he used Dale's steak seasoning)
• Bacon
• Toothpicks

How he does it: 

1. Put marinade on the steaks in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
2. Soften the cream cheese and spread it on the cube steaks.
3. Roll the steaks, wrap bacon around the steak. Fasten with toothpicks.
4. Grill on medium heat 5-7 minutes on each side.

Overall, pretty interesting. They also made potatoes, green beans, and rolls.

Full plate.

Dinner at Our House: Roasted Red Ranch Potatoes

Tonight we didn't really plan dinner out at all. I was at work and I called mom during lunch to ask her what she wanted to do. She suggested eating out, but I knew both Tuesday & Thursday I'd be eating fast food, and most likely on Wednesday too since that *may* be our arrival time for the kiddos! I knew we had chicken in the freezer, tortillas in the fridge, and we always have tons of cheese & lettuce. I also remembered I had bought some buffalo sauce so I suggested wraps (recipe here).

When I got in the car after work I immediately called mom (my routine when I get in the car after work: Call Tim. check in. Call mom. check in. It's like clockwork). I asked what kinds of sides we had that we could make and she mentioned I still had leftover red potatoes. I also remembered while driving we had a packet of ranch mix and I've been seeing that commercial where a kid makes ranch potatoes. I thought, hey why not try that.

It really was easy.

Use about 2lb of red potatoes quartered
1 packet of ranch dry mix
it SAYS use 1/4 cup of oil, but that's way too much. I used half that. (I also used canola oil if that matters)
Mix it all together (you can use a baggie or I just did it in the Pyrex dish with a cover). Bake at 450 for about half an hour (which works out well because it took roughly that long to get dinner going).

Doing it that way made 4 servings and 1 serving was about 5 WW points. I hate to think of what it would be if I used ALL of the oil suggested. However, they are SO YUM! Easy to make and yum!

I took a picture, but it wasn't very flattering hehe.

Dinner at Our House: Parmesan Parsley Chicken

Last night the family tried something new. I found a recipe on lowfatlifestyle.com for Parmesan Parsley Chicken.

It was really yum, but I think in the future when we make it we should have a side of spaghetti or pasta with sauce. I really recommend this one! It weighs in at 3 old WW pts. (shocking!)

Ingredients:
• Vegetable oil spray 
• 4 slices whole-wheat bread for bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese 
• 1-1/2 tablespoons finely snipped fresh Italian (flat leaf) parsley 
• 1-1/2 teaspoons paprika 
• 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder 
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, crumbled 
• 1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk 
• 6 (4 ounces each) boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, all visible fat removed 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Lightly spray a rectangular baking sheet and slightly smaller cooling rack with vegetable oil spray. Put rack on baking sheet. Set aside. 
2. In a food processor or blender, process bread into fine crumbs. Pour into a shallow bowl. Stir Parmesan, parsley, paprika, garlic powder, and thyme into crumbs. 
3. Pour buttermilk into a shallow bowl. 
4. Rinse chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Dip chicken into buttermilk, shake off excess liquid, dredge in crumbs, and shake off excess crumbs. Put chicken on cooling rack. Spray each breast with vegetable oil spray. 
5. Bake for 15 minutes, turn chicken, and bake for 10 minutes, or until done. 

Mmmm. And yes, it's on our fine Chinet paper plates! :)

Eleven in 11: Evaluating April

I cannot believe we are already in May! Time is flying by. The blog has been a great way to hold myself accountable for lots of my goals, so if you are curious about how you can start one for yourself, just let me know. It's incredibly easy.
The breakdown:
1. Volunteer opportunity- I will train this month! I'm so excited. I'm basically going to be a rape crisis volunteer once again. This is one thing I care deeply about. Sometimes, people say, "well how is that? It can't be fun..." Well it certainly isn't fun, and I wouldn't even say I enjoy it, but it is just incredibly meaningful to be able to help someone. And to be truthful, I would want someone to be there for me, so I feel it's only "right" to be there for someone else. 
2. The weight loss one- Slowing down here, but it's mostly because I've not been hitting the gym as much as I should, and I've been so busy that I sometimes lose track of my points. But, the good news is that I'm down 15 since January and certainly on track with my original goal. Also, overall I've lost 32 pounds. 
3. Plan and take honeymoon- Amelia Island is still a go. Please let us know if you've been and you have suggestions for fun and food!
4. Trying four new recipes- Ugh, this I think is my first time failing at this, but to be fair, I did have a busy month at work with a few events. I think I'll try for 6 in May to make up for the deficit.

• Buffalo Chicken Wraps (which were AWESOME)
• Pineapple Bliss (sweet and tart)

5. Blog three times a week- I think I keep people's facebook feed flooded. Speaking of facebook feed, I've made a page so you can like the blog on facebook. We'll see how it works out.

6. Student loan- Check! And let me say this also, this month I was about to DOUBLE my payment because of the extra cash I have saved using coupons. HAVE I PERSUADED YOU YET?!?!

7. Savings!- Check! Same thing here. I was able to put away more in savings this month because I had more to spare (and ok, to be fair, I didn't make nearly as many vanity purchases, but part of that is because I wait more for sales now + coupons and deals)...

8. Read 52 books- How am I so bad at this? I love reading. I can't get into the new JR Ward. It's taking me forever to read this latest book...

9. Facebook birthdays- I love that this is actually helping me talk to people more.

10. Visit 12 new restaurants- Wood Stone was great! Make sure to check it out.

11. Etsy- Getting back into the habit. I made Beth's daughter a necklace so it helped me want to make more.

I hope that you weathered April. I know many of you are/were affected by the end of April storms. I pray that your May is full of flowers instead of awful April showers, and I'm so thankful that many of you are safe with your families.

Restaurant Review: Wood Stone Restaurant

For a while, my dad and I have wanted to try Wood Stone. A long time ago, in Columbus, there was a place called Mediterranean Cafe and our family looooooved it dearly. Unfortunately, sometime while I was away in either college or grad school or wherever, it closed. Seems like we both had heard that there was a connection though between the old Med Cafe and this newer place. Dad's work recently had catering from Wood Stone and he loved it. (Come to think of it, maybe it was dad who had heard then that the two restaurants were related...)

Anyways, to get back on track- we all piled in to my parents new (well used, but recently acquired) grandkid-mobile (minivan), and headed to Wood Stone. We got there right before 7 p.m. which I think was probably a good idea. We were seated right away and our waiter came and greeted us. At first, he was very quick with everything, but then I think he slowed down some because traffic picked up- tables started filling fast. He was very polite and as attentive as he could be. I just wish he had brought the check with the to-go box because that added on an extra 10 - 15 minutes of waiting (which hey, I'm looking out for the restaurant), I'm sure they wanted to clear our table and sit some more folks!

As far as taste goes, I am in love. You get bread as an appetizer. It's a good balance of crunch and softness. It's dusted with Parmesan cheese and served cut into strips with a little bowl of what I think was oil, garlic and pepper. I inhaled 2.5 pieces... so not WW friendly I'm sure...

My parents were trying to get back that taste of Mediterranean Cafe Pizza, so they "built their own" using what they remembered was on the sort of "house pizza" from back then. I couldn't decide on getting a pasta dish, big salad, or pizza. Tim and I ended up splitting a "Meat Pizza" without the prosciutto (also not very WW friendly). I also ordered a Caesar salad with balsamic vinaigrette instead of Caesar dressing.

My salad was fresh, yum, and a good size. Our pizza was fabulous. My only comment about it was that it seemed like all the toppings were in the center of the pizza and not evenly dispersed. It felt like after the first few bites it became a cheese pizza. But, nonetheless, it was very, very tasty. I look forward to having leftover for lunch tomorrow. I even specially told Tim, that half of our leftovers were mine and not to eat them tonight as a snack.

Overall, I give this place a double thumbs up. It's close to our home in North Columbus, cute on the inside, quiet, pretty artwork for sale in the front area, obviously great food, and pretty good service. I would recommend this to anyone for either a date night or a family dinner. I really want to try this place for lunch sometimes. Unfortunately, it isn't close to work so it would have to be a Friday or Saturday lunch if I've read their hours correctly.

Give it a try if you haven't!

Dinner at Our House: Buffalo Chicken Wraps

I think I've shared my crock pot Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches before, but this is a different recipe I found for wraps in a magazine.  I thought I'd try something else out for a change, so let me know if you like it. These turned out super yummy and I thought they photographed very beautifully too :)

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed (on sale at Publix til Tuesday)
• 1/2 teaspoon canola oil
• 2 tablespoons Louisiana-style hot sauce (on sale @ Publix til Tuesday)
• 1 cup shredded lettuce (On sale at Publix!)
• 2 flour tortillas (6 inches), warmed (I buy the reduced fat ones; fat free when I can find them)
• 2 teaspoons reduced-fat ranch salad dressing
• 2 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese

This recipe is very easy to make. (Note: it makes 2 servings, but it can EASILY be doubled or tripled for more people and/or leftovers).

Step 1: Spray cooking spray in your skillet. Add chicken and oil. Cook approximately 6 minutes on high heat. Basically, get the pink out.

Step 2: Add in your buffalo sauce, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer (roughly 3-5 minutes). I actually saved the bottle I bought on sale, and opted to finish off a bottle of Frank's Red Hot.

This is what it looked like after it simmered.

Step 3: Warm your tortillas. Add chopped lettuce.

Lettuce! And yes, paper plates tonight because I'm already missing my mom's clean up...

Step 3: Add chicken!

Yumz!

Step 4: Add blue cheese crumbles (ps- mine are reduced fat). Or Tim used reduced fat shredded cheddar.

And...I'm a girl who loves her cheese, but it's ok because I hit the gym earlier.

Step 5: A touch of low fat dressing. We used light buttermilk ranch.

All this for right at 6 WW points. Not too shabby.

This meal for the both of us was right at about $6-7. (We also roasted some red potatoes to go with this meal). Compare that to what you pay somewhere like Buffalo Wild Wings. And compare it to how much FAT is in theirs. You can have great taste for less money and less fat. Just get creative.

Eleven in 11: Evaluating March

I don't want to jinx it this early in the game, but 2011 is GREAT! As usual, I want to be accountable to my Eleven in 11 goals.

The breakdown:
1. Volunteer opportunity- This month I attended a YP meeting for servant leadership and I think there are a few opportunities for me to do some volunteer work. Also, at work this week I put my name in to be part of Relay for Life. 
2. The weight loss one- I have lost 14 pounds since January, which means I'm right on track with my goal. Overall, I've lost 31 since October. I've never been so proud of myself. I feel great, my knees are so thankful.
3. Plan and take honeymoon- New plan: Amelia Island in May. I'm so excited!
4. Trying four new recipes- We did four new ones, but I think I left one off the blog because it was only so-so:

• Tortilla Pie/Fiesta Lasagna
• Creamy Basil Chicken
• Baked Onion Rings
• and the one I didn't post, but you can find online- Blondies with Chocolate Chips 

5. Blog three times a week- We've picked right back up and I'm always trying to think of new and somewhat useful or entertaining content. Feel free to make suggestions!

6. Student loan- Check :)

7. Savings!- Check check :)

8. Read 52 books- I'm failing. I did buy the new J.R. Ward book two nights ago. I will finished that one over the weekend!

9. Facebook birthdays- Doing well :)

10. Visit 12 new restaurants- LOVED Old Siam!!! I think we're going to try Woodstone in April- anyone been?

11. Etsy- Def. falling behind, but now that its getting pretty out, and soon I'll have Fridays off, I think I'll get back into this.

Hope your March was eventful and fun! Here's to April!