Cooking – Page 8 – Fervent Foodie

Mock mac and cheese

October 5, 2010 4 Comments

One of life’s true pleasures is a big ole plate of macaroni and cheese. I’m talking homemade oven-baked cheesy glory. Once fall rolls around, I start to get some serious cravings for comfort food. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. Comfort foods. The foods that make you feel warm and cuddly from the inside out. The foods that make you want to hug your belly and sway side to side just because they taste so dang good. The foods that you’d like to pour into a giant tub so you could jump in and swaddle yourself in their heavenly gooey warmth…. What.. that’s just me?!

Anyway, tonight I decided to give healthified mac and cheese a go in an attempt to satisfy my comfort food craving. I remember seeing a recipe a while back on the Hungry Girl email blast, and that was the basis for my dinner (though I couldn’t find the email).

The main components of my mac and cheese were Carba Nada pasta and lightly sauced broccoli:

And 1 light French Onion laughing cow wedge:

Carba nada only takes 5 minutes to cook, so this meal was ready for chowing in no time! While the pasta cooked I also threw together a small salad with romaine lettuce, tomato, onion, and some Ken’s Lite Caesar dressing (LOVE that stuff).

All together:

The flavors were a little mild, so I added some red pepper flakes and black pepper on top:

Cheesy goodness:

Not too shabby! If you could get laughing cow in light cheddar that would take this dinner to a whole new level!

Stats on 1 serving mock mac and cheese: 235 calories, 32g carbs, 5g fat, 16g protein, 8g fiber

On a separate note, I’m debating on whether or not to join a gym for the winter. Twice in my life I had succumbed to signing up for a year-long gym membership, and BOTH times I stopped going after only a couple months… yet still had to pay for the entire year. I’m really not big on gyms… but without a gym, I see myself simply not exercising this winter. Any tips for making the gym FUN?

What I ate

Back to the normal routine

September 22, 2010 3 Comments

Even with the big tax deadline behind me, my schedule is crazy hectic. What’s up with that??? Wednesday for instance is a VERY busy day for me because I go straight from the office to the university for the class I teach. This requires ample food-planning on Tuesday nights because I have to pack 6 meals. 6 meals?!? Yes 6. Take today for instance, here’s what I packed last night for the day ahead:

B#1: Scrambled eggs & roasted broccoli
B#2: Overnight oats + chopped strawberries + blueberries
Lunch: Big ole Salad + Jennie O’ Turkey Sausage
Snack: Granny smith apple
Dinner: Chicken & hummus wrap + cucumber salad
Snack: 1/2 of an 18 Rabbits granola bar

I like to travel with food apparently 🙂

One thing I’ve been craving the past few weeks is getting back to my normal foods routine!

You know what that means:

EGGS for breakfast #1!

Last night, I cooked up a batch of my scrambled eggs:

I also roasted up some broccoli which I enjoyed at 8am at my desk with a dollop o’ heaven Ketchup:

Of course, this was followed up 2 hours later by none other than my overnight oats for B#2:

Yesssssssss.

My lunch salad consisted of romaine lettuce, 1/2 a large cucumber, 1 baby roma tomato, some red onion, banana pepper and Ken’s steakhouse Lite Italian Romano dressing:

I also had a Jennie O’ turkey sausage on the side…

Is it just me, or does that sausage look really sad?! … A sausage with no bun is like a bird with no wings eggs with no ketchup! Luckily I had a monster Italian sausage sandwich over the weekend 😀

After the 2PM doldrums pass, it’s time for a snack! My usual afternoon snack is a granny smith apple:

Usually my snacks go unpictured. But today, I’m snapping everything that goes into my mouth 🙂 Uh oh.

Fun fact about me and apples: I REFUSE to buy an apple unless the stem is still attached. An apple sans stem is a clear indicator that a worm has crawled inside…. I’m pretty sure my sister told me that as a child, and it has stuck with me through the years. I may look funny in the produce aisle as I pick up one apple after another to find one that still has the stem attached, but guess who WON’T be looking funny when they bite into a worm? It won’t be me, that’s for darn sure! 😉

For dinner, I packed some cucumber salad:

And also a La Tortilla low-carb wrap consisting of 2 ounces grilled chicken, onion, and 1 tbsp Trader Joe’s original hummus:

Come to think of it, I probably should have avoided so many onions right before class… Oh well, they don’t call me the Onion Lady for nothin’.

Last my not least, I packed 1/2 of an 18 Rabbits granola bar (thanks Dorry!) for my late-night snack:

Whew! That’s a lot of food!

Happy Eating and Happy Hump Day!

What I ate

Easy Chicken Pot Pie

September 13, 2010 9 Comments

Holy comfort food!!!!

Ever since we stopped at Bob Evans last week for breakfast, I’ve been craving a pot pie with a vengeance. We’ve got a BIG deadline at work this week, so I’ve been working my little hiney off and have had zero time to cook. Tonight however I made time because I knew my body NEEDED a lil pot pie. I’ve never made a pot pie before, so I did a little googlin’ and found this recipe for Impossibly Easy Chicken Pot Pie. Sounded like a good place for me to start learning the art of potpiedom!

This recipe was incredibly simple to throw together, which made it all the more comforting and delicious. First up, I gathered the mixins.

And quickly threw a chicken breast seasoned with salt and pepper on the George.

Meanwhile, I threw the following items into a bowl:

1 bag frozen stew vegetables (pearl onions, potatoes, carrots, celery)
2 cups chopped broccoli … because I love broccoli and broccoli loves me!
1 can Campbell’s Healthy Request Cream of Mushroom Soup
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Black pepper

Once the chicken breast was cooked through, I roughly chopped it into cubes, and added to the mix.

Yes… this is what I called a “cube” 😉

I gave everything a good mix and poured into a pie dish that I had sprayed with some cooking spray.

Next up, I mixed the following in a little bowl:

1 cup bisquick
1 large egg
1/2 cup almond breeze

If you are smarty pants, you may have noticed Bisquick is NOT the baking mix pictured in my ingredients pic… I had full intentions of using my Bob’s Red Mill Low-carb baking mix… but last minute I got a little nervous thinking the pot pie might be a pot-flop, and I wasn’t about to waste my last bit of low-carb baking mix on that. So I decided to use Bisquick instead and save the Bob’s Red Mill for pot pie round #2. (I foresee many pot pies in my future)

Once the batter was all mixed up, I dumped it on top of veggies.

Now, I can assure you that even though this looks like I just poured some paper-mache goopy gop concoction on my delicious veggies it did not taste like any sort of glue… Well at least not any glue I’ve ever tasted. I popped this pie into a 400 degree oven with apprehension, and let it hang out for 40 minutes until the top was nice and browned.

Voila! Pot Pie!

The pot pie was everything I had hoped for! Creamy, comforting, and oh-so delicious!

Not to mention this made four servings so now I have food for the rest of the week. Hooray!

Just a few more days to go folks, then life can return to its “normal” state.

Easy Chicken Pot Pie Ingredients List (makes 4 servings)

1 bag frozen stew vegetables
2 cups chopped broccoli
1 can Campbell’s Healthy Request Cream of Mushroom Soup
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Black pepper
1 large grilled chicken breast (mine was approx 7 ounces)
1 cup Bisquick
1 large egg
1/2 cup Unsweetened Almond Breeze Vanilla Almond Milk

Myfitnesspal stats on 1 serving of Easy Chicken Pot Pie: 315 calories, 41g carbs, 7g fat, 19g protein, 4g fiber

What I ate

Hallelujah it’s Friday!

September 3, 2010 3 Comments

With September here already (where the heck did August go, by the way?), I’ve already got my head in “fall mode”. My favorite time of the year is BY FAR the last quarter – October, November, and December. I love the weather, the excessive parties and family activities, and I also love how things just seem to slow down from the fast pace of summer. Speaking of fast-paced summers, it saddens me that I haven’t been doing much cooking lately. The good news is I’ll have plenty of time to cook… in two more weeks!

Breakfast #1

Ever since last weekend’s awesome breakfast fit for vacation, I’ve been craving the spinach and tomato breakfast burrito. (Let’s be honest, I’ve been craving the potatoes and pancakes too) … So last night instead of doing my usual batch-scrambled eggs, I made a double serving of the spinach and tomato scrambled eggs.

First up, I chopped up:

2 tbsp red onion (I used white onion last time, but didn’t have any on hand)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup chiffonade spinach
1/2 a roma tomato, diced

I sprayed a skillet down with some cooking spray, and once it was hot I tossed in the garlic and onions.

While these guys were cooking I whisked together the following in a bowl:

2 whole eggs
6 egg whites
Splash of water

Once the onions were soft, I poured the egg mixture on top and seasoned everything up with S&P and red pepper flakes. I let the eggs start to cook up, and when they were about 1/2 way done I added the tomato and spinach:

Look how delicious:

While the eggs were getting their groove on, I also roasted up some broccoli that was seasoned with black pepper and garlic salt:

Is it just me, or does that broccoli look really happy to be here?

2 happy campers:

One of which I brought to work with me today to introduce to my friend Heinz:

Stats on B#1: 205 calories, 15g carbs, 5g fat, 23g protein, 2g fiber

B#2 = OO 😀

OVERNIGHT OATSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! What a great way to end the workweek!

Doesn’t that just bring a smile to your face??? 😀

YUM.

Stats on B#2: 233 calories, 44g carbs, 5g fat, 6g protein, 7g fiber

Lunch

What better way to end the Bruegger’s Bagels giveaway, then to have Bruegger’s for lunch, of course!

Today I went with the Spinach & Lentil soup, and a half sandwich with turkey and lots and lots of veggies. I can’t believe this is the HALF sandwich. It was HUGE!

The Bruegger’s Giveaway ends tonight at midnight (eastern time), so get your posts in!

« Previous 1 … 6 7 8