You are here: Home / Archives for Let's Dish Thursday

Not Your Regular Tacos – Taco Corn Bread Casserole

February 29, 2012 By 7 Comments

We are big fans of tacos but how many ways can you really spice up a taco? Taco meat, tortillas, taco shells, cheese and fixings. BORING! You can only do so much with those ingredients.

Every once in a while, on Pinterest,  I have noticed a taco corn bread casserole recipe floating around. I was curious but I wasn’t sure how well it would go over with my family. They are VERY picky. Dave made a low-cal veggie crockpot lasagna yesterday, which I thought was pretty good, but they were all commenting on how it wasn’t very flavorful. Note to self, my family needs FLAVORFUL dinners.

I finally showed Dave the recipe for the Taco Corn Bread Casserole on Debbi’s blog, Debbie Does Dinner and he agreed that we should try it. I am so glad that we did. It was so good! Paige kind of picked at it, but that is what she does so I wasn’t surprised.

Pardon my fancy paper plates.

This is all that was left.

Taco Corn Bread Casserole – from Debbi Does Healthy

1 package (8 1/2 oz) corn bread/muffin mix
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
3 cups cooked taco seasoned meat ( I used a pound of ground turkey seasoned with taco seasoning.)
1 can black beans
1 cup (8 oz) sour cream, light
1 cup colby jack, cheddar or mexican cheese, shredded and divided
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 medium tomato, chopped ( I used salsa instead.)
1 cup shredded lettuce
1 can sliced olives (optional, I didn’t use)

In a large bowl, combine the corn bread, egg and milk until blended.  Spread into an 8 x 8 pan sprayed with cooking spray.  Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.  Combine taco meat and beans, spread over corn bread.  Combine sour cream, 3/4 cup cheese and onion.  Spread over meat mixture.  Bake for 20 – 25 minutes longer or until heated through and cheese is melted.  Sprinkle with tomato, lettuce and remaining 1/4 cup of cheese. 

I made a couple of changes as you can see above in pink. I also did not cook it with sour cream on it. Dave is not a fan of sour cream so we just had it on the side. We also didn’t add the onions due to the kids’ aversion to onions. We didn’t have diced tomatoes, like I thought we did, so we served it with salsa on the side too and it was perfect.

Dave has decided next time that we will double the ingredients so that he has some left over for lunches. I think he is ready to make it again!

Filed Under: Food, Let's Dish Thursday, Recipes Tagged With: , , , ,

Homemade Roasted Potatoes In My Tummy!

February 23, 2012 By 4 Comments

Do you love potatoes as much as I do? I have to admit that I am a total carboholic. Pasta, potatoes – give me more!! I just can’t get enough, but how many different ways can you make a potato? Tons, I am sure, but how many EASY ways can I make a potato? I am lazy and need easy-peasey recipes!

Image Source

Seriously, how good do those potatoes look?! Ok, so I have to confess that as you can see those are not my potatoes. We demolished our potatoes so fast that by the time that I thought to take a picture of them they were already gone. They do look a lot like my potatoes.

I don’t have an exact recipe for these potatoes. It is just one of those things that you throw together, so please excuse my ridiculous “recipe”.

My “Recipe”

Potatoes (Whatever kind you want. I just used regular old baking potatoes. Nothing special. I bet red skin would be amazing though!)

Extra Virgin Olive Oil or PAM-like cooking spray – (Mine was the Canola Oil generic PAM version.)

Random Seasonings – I used Chili Powder, Onion Salt, Garlic Powder, Taco Seasoning (Whatever floats your boat.)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Peel and dice your potatoes. Make sure not to make them too big so they all cook evenly. Then place all of the potatoes in a bowl and sprinkled them with various seasonings. Seriously, use whatever spices that you like. I am sure that the potatoes would taste amazing with just Mrs. Dash sprinkled all over them.

After you have seasoned your potatoes, mix them all up with a giant spoon (or your hands, whatevs). Make sure that the potatoes are totally covered. Spread the potatoes on a greased baking sheet. We like to use foil on our baking sheets because they are nasty and I feel like it helps crisp the potatoes up.

Before I stick them in the oven I like to either spray them with cooking spray or drizzle with EVOO to help them crisp up. If you can’t tell, I like my potatoes super crispy.  Bake for 20-30 minutes or until they are to the consistency of your liking and enjoy!

These make a perfect side dish for just about anything. We ate ours with smoked turkey sausage and green beans. Perfect combination!

*I have another confession. I got the idea for this recipe from my mother-in-law. I have no idea what spices she used so I just decided to use whatever I had in the kitchen and they were perfect!

Filed Under: Food, Let's Dish Thursday, Recipes Tagged With: , , , ,

Let’s Dish Thursday – Sweet & Salty

February 16, 2012 By 5 Comments

Today I am going to post something non-healthy! *GASP* I know! I have to admit that I have fallen off the wagon a bit this week. I haven’t been too bad, but I haven’t been perfect. Who really is perfect anyways?! Plus it’s Valentine’s Day Week. Yes, it is a whole week of candy and love. :)

For Jacob and Paige’s classes I was in charge of candy. I didn’t sign up for Paige’s class but we really like her teacher and when she sent home a note asking us to bring candy I couldn’t resist it! I didn’t just want to have the kids bring in a couple of bags of candy this year. I wanted something different. This is the year of Pinterest, right?!

I am not a super crafty mom (as much as I want to be) but I can bake and bake is what I did. Kinda.

I made these!

Yummy in my tummy! I posted a picture of these on my facebook page and immediately everyone was asking what they were and where the recipes was! They were the perfect combination of sweet and salty.

I found them on Pinterest of course! Here is the super simple recipe!

What you’ll need:

  • square pretzels
  • Hershey’s Hugs (you can use Kisses, too, but I think the Hugs taste better and they definitely soften up better!)
  • plain M&Ms
Directions:
Preheat oven to 200°.  (If your oven runs hot you may want to turn the temp down to 170°.)
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Place the pretzels on and top them with the hugs.  
Bake for 4-5 minutes until the chocolate is shiny and soft (but NOT melting – they should still hold their shape).  ( I did 4 minutes and it was perfect)
Carefully place an M&M in the center of each hug and press it down to spread the chocolate.  
Allow to cool completely (a few minutes in the fridge works perfectly) and enjoy!

Filed Under: Let's Dish Thursday, Pinterest, Recipes Tagged With: , , , ,

Let’s Dish Thursday – Spinach Lasagna Rolls

February 9, 2012 By 2 Comments

I am a big fan of lasagna, but the family isn’t. They like it but it isn’t their favorite. Also, making lasagna is kind of a big pain in the ass and super messy so I just kind of give up and don’t make it anymore.

One of my favorite sites for low-calorie recipes is Skinnytaste. You will see a lot of my recipes come from there. Gina does such a great job of converting regular full-fat recipes to low-fat, low-calorie recipes and even calculates the Weight Watchers Points for you.

Gina has converted one of my favorites, lasagna, into a low-calorie dish that my family actually enjoys. Even my pickiest little one that hates noodles and spaghetti sauce devoured it. I was so shocked. You know that something is good when she doesn’t put up a fight about eating it.

Pinterest image via Skinnytaste

Spinach Lasagna Rolls
Gina’s Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 9 • Serving Size: 1 roll • Old Points: 4 pts • Points+: 6 ww pts
Calories: 224.9 • Fat: 5.1 g • Fiber: 3.4 g • Protein: 13.0 g • Carbs: 31.5

Ingredients:

  • 9 lasagna noodles, cooked
  • 10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and completely drained
  • 15 oz fat free ricotta cheese (I like Polly-o)
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 egg
  • salt and fresh pepper
  • 32 oz tomato sauce
  • 9 tbsp (about 3 oz) part skim mozzarella cheese, shredded

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. Combine spinach, ricotta, Parmesan, egg, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Ladle about 1 cup sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 12 baking dish.

Place a piece of wax paper on the counter and lay out lasagna noodles. Make sure noodles are dry. Take 1/3 cup of ricotta mixture and spread evenly over noodle. Roll carefully and place seam side down onto the baking dish. Repeat with remaining noodles.

Ladle sauce over the noodles in the baking dish and top each one with 1 tbsp mozzarella cheese. Put foil over baking dish and bake for 40 minutes, or until cheese melts. Makes 9 rolls.

To serve, ladle a little sauce on the plate and top with lasagna roll.

If you like lasagna and are looking for a lower calorie version of it this is the perfect recipe for you! And by the way, about a minute after I pinned this I got a bunch of e-mails saying that people had pinned it! My last count was 27 people! Woah! Now that is a lot of pins.

Do you have any favorite recipes that you want to share? I am always looking for something new to try!

Filed Under: Let's Dish Thursday, Recipes Tagged With: , , , , ,

Let’s Dish Thursday- Chicken Shiitake And Wild Rice Soup

January 26, 2012 By 4 Comments

Since starting my weight loss journey I have been trying to find some great low calorie and healthy recipes. There is a lot of trial and error involved with trying new recipes. Sometimes the recipes are ah-mah-zing and sometimes they are just plain blah.

I have decided that Dave and I are going to start reviewing all of the recipes that we find on the interwebz. Yes, most of them are going to be healthy but I promise that that we will give you our honest opinions. I even promise to throw in some not so healthy ones every once in a while. We can’t be good ALL of the time!

The first recipe that we are going to review is Chicken Shiitake And Wild Rice Soup from Skinnytaste.

We made a huge batch of this and I am so glad that we did. I ate it for dinner one night and then lunch and dinner the next day! Dave got to prepare and cook this one. It was a little tedious, as he calls it. (You will find me use that word a lot in regards to Dave cooking.) That just means that the recipe actual takes some preparation. Not just throwing everything into a pot and calling it a day. I cook those recipes.

I have to say that I do believe that this was even better the next day. It was a lot thicker and creamier than it was when we first made it. If you are in the mood for some yummy comfort food on a cold winter’s day, this is exactly what you need!

Chicken, Shiitake and Wild Rice Soup
Gina’s Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 6 • Size: 1-1/2 cups • Old Points: 5 pts • Points+: 6 pts
Calories: 237.6 • Fat: 4.3 g • Protein: 14 g • Carb: 35.4 g • Fiber: 1.7 g

  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1 small onion
  • 1 tbsp flour
  • 8 cups (64 oz) fat free low sodium chicken broth
  • 1 cups water
  • 2 chopped carrots
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 2 celery stalks
  • 4 skinless chicken thighs
  • 4.5 oz long grain rice and wild rice combo (Gina used Carolina) – (I used Rice A Roni.)
  • 1/2 cup long grain white rice
  • 4 oz. shiitake mushrooms, sliced
  • 2 tbsp light sour cream (vegans can use vegan sour cream or leave it out)
  • salt and fresh pepper

Melt butter in a large pot on medium heat, add onion and saute until soft nut not browned, about 3-4 minutes. Add flour and saute another minute.

Add chicken broth, water, carrots, garlic, celery, and chicken thighs, cover and simmer 20 minutes. Add wild rice mix along with it’s seasoning, long grain rice, mushrooms, salt and pepper to taste and simmer on low, covered 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove chicken from pot and shred with two forks, return to pot, add sour cream and more water if too thick, adjust salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Does this sound good to you? Of course it does! Now go make it and come back and tell me how amazing it is.

 

 

Filed Under: Let's Dish Thursday Tagged With: , , , ,