Pepperoni Soup Recipe

for real this time

14 oz can of petite diced tomatoes
14 oz can tomato sauce
2.25 oz pepperoni cut into bite sized pieces
1 large zucchini (You can chop it up or grate it. I grated it because Winter does not enjoy the texture of zucchini, but found it to be fine once grated up.)
3 oz red wine
1 T olive oil
1/2 T garlic
1/2 T Italian seasoning
pinch of red pepper flakes
6 oz dry pasta
6 cups water

Combine all ingredients except for pasta in a large stock pot. Bring to a boil, then add pasta. Stir occasionally until pasta is tender. Makes about 10 cups of soup. Nutrition info is for 1 cup. You can reduce the amount of sodium by using canned tomatoes with no salt added.Garnish with some parmesan cheese if you like.

 

Recipe for slow cooker pepperoni pasta

This was intended to be soup, but after cooking the pasta absorbed most of the liquid, so it was not soup like at all. It was basically a normal pasta dish. It was a little on the salty side to me since I used regular canned tomatoes and pepperoni, so if I made it again I would probably use no salt added tomatoes.That would also cut the amount of sodium by a little more than half.

2 oz turkey pepperoni slices, halved
1 zucchini, halved lengthwise and then sliced
14 oz can tomato sauce
14 oz can diced tomatoes
1/3 cup red wine
2 T olive oil
2 T dried onion
1 T Italian seasoning
1 T dried garlic
2 1/2 cups water
5 oz dry pasta

Combine all ingredients except pasta in a slow cooker. Cook on low for at least 4 hours. About 15 minutes before you are ready to eat, turn off the slow cooker and stir in the pasta. Once the pasta has cooked, it's ready to go.  It will cook down to about 6 cups or so. Nutrition info is for about 1 cup.

Recipe for chocolate banana oatmeal bread

A few months ago I bought a huge bottle of banana liqueur on impulse. It tastes like burning, and I don't really like it at all, so I added a little to this banana bread in an attempt to use it up.

Adapted from this recipe.

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup old fashioned oats
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 t vanilla extract
1 cup mashed ripe banana
2 oz banana liqueur (optional)
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix, but not too much or your bread will be tough. As soon as everything is incorporated, stop mixing. Most recipes tell you to mix the dry ingredients separately from the wet ones and then combine them. I don't bother with this step, and have never noticed a difference, but you can if you want.

Pour batter into a non-stick loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove the bread from the pan and let it cool ten minutes.

Tip: it's easier to cut if you wrap it in plastic after letting it cool a little. This softens the crust on the outside. It will keep for a few days wrapped in plastic or in a large zipper bag. Nutrition info is for 1/10th of the loaf.

Recipe for slow cooker curried chickpeas and carrots

1 1/2 cups dried chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes in juice
3 or 4 carrots, thickly sliced
2 cloves of garlic
1 T curry powder
1 T olive oil
2 T dried onion flakes

Soak the chickpeas in 3 cups of water overnight. The next morning combine all ingredients in a 2 qt slow cooker, and add 2 more cups of water. Slow cook on high for 6 or 7 hours until chickpeas are tender. Makes about 8 cups. Nutrition info is for 1 cup.

Slow cooker recipe for hearty bean and vegetable soup

sooooo many vitamins

This soup gets tons of flavor from fresh, dried, and canned veggies and beans, and is high in with lots of assorted micronutrients. I am tagging this recipe as vegetarian, because you can very easily replace the chicken bouillon with vegetable or mushroom bouillon. Don't be intimidated by the long ingredient list. This is super fast to put together.

1/3 cup dried black beans
1/3 cup dried pinto beans
1/3 cup dried garbanzo beans
1/3 cup yellow split peas (if you can't find these, try brown lentils instead)
1/3 cup green split peas
5 cups water
2 carrots, thickly sliced
1 bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup dried onion
2 T sodium free chicken bouillon
14 oz can diced tomatoes in juice
3 cloves of crushed garlic
1/4 cup white wine
1 t oregano
dash of black pepper

Combine all dried beans and pulses with the five cups of water the night before and allow them to soak. The following day, combine all ingredients in a 2 qt or larger slow cooker and cook on the low setting for 6 or 7 hours until beans and split peas are tender. Makes 8 cups. Nutrition info is for 1 cup.

More grocery shopping + what we ate 07-06-14

I went back to QFC and got 6 more 12 oz boxes of pasta for $.49 each. That, plus what I already have, should last us 3 or 4 months. Maybe more.

We also went to Grocery Outlet today and bought:

3 frozen entrees ($1.99 each) $5.97
8 oz shredded pepper jack cheese $1.99
3.7 lb variety pack of deli meat $3.99
8 oz. chipotle chicken deli meat $1.99
8 oz. Cajun turkey deli meat $1.99
12 oz. plum preserves $1.69
dijon mustard $1.29
Wolfgang Puck four cheese pasta sauce $1.99
butter toffee Rice Krispie treat $.50
20 oz. Diet Dr. Pepper $1.09
24 oz ketchup $.99

Total $23.48

Jeremy also bought a Rock Star this morning. He's not sure how much. We'll call it $2.50.

Here's yesterday's food I ate:

Breakfast: French toast with strawberries and a banana
Lunch: turkey and havarti sandwich on a King's Hawaiian bun, cherries
Dinner: burritos with baked whiting, cabbage, and a tangy cayenne lime sauce
Snacks/desserts: cinnamon roll ice cream, cashews, M&M's cookie (my coworker gave me)
Beverages: Crystal Light, water

I don't even remember what Jeremy had yesterday other than dinner.

I'm not sure how I feel about the whiting fish. I squeezed a lime over it, sprinkled chili powder, wrapped it in foil and baked it. The filets have the skin on, and even though I removed the skin after baking it, the flavor was kind of briny. I don't mind strong tasting fish, but I'm not really a fan of the briny flavor some types of fish have. Next time I cook it I will attempt to remove the skin first, and see if that helps.

The sauce we used on the burritos was good though. Jeremy found a recipe on some forum somewhere. He thinks it may have been myfitnesspal.com. Anyway, we wound up adjusting some of the proportions, because as written it wasn't all that good. It mostly tasted like mayo, and was too thick.  Here's what we put in it after "fixing" it:

1/2 cup lite mayo
juice of one lime
3/4 t cayenne pepper
1/8 t oregano
1/8 t dill
1/8 t cumin

burrito on a cat plate

Soba noodles with chicken, veggies, and sweet spicy glaze

8.8 oz package of soba noodles

6 oz chicken breast

1 bell pepper, cut into strips

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1 T olive oil

1/2 cup apricot preserves

1 T rice vinegar

1 t chili garlic sauce

1 T powdered ginger

1/2 t soy sauce

2 cloves crushed garlic

1/4 cup slivered almonds

Boil water, add noodles, cook and drain. Set aside. Mix together preserves, rice vinegar, chili garlic sauce, ginger, soy sauce, and crushed garlic in a small bowl. Set aside. Saute mushrooms and peppers in olive oil for 2-3 minutes. Add chicken breast and saute until just cooked. Fold in sauce until chicken and vegetables are well coated. Top with slivered almonds. For the juiciest chicken, cover the pan and allow it to rest for at least 5 minutes. You can mix the noodles right in, or serve them separately. The nutrition info is for 1/4 of the recipe.

This would probably also be good with peach or plum preserves. 

Chicken and vegetable potstickers recipe

best thing ever

 2 packages of gyoza wrappers (about 40-45 wrappers per package)
1 1/4 lb ground chicken breast
1 cup grated carrots
2 cups shredded or finely diced cabbage
2 T teriyaki marinade
1 t sesame oil
3 T olive oil
1 T chili garlic sauce
2 crushed garlic cloves
1 T powdered ginger

In a large mixing bowl combine the chicken, vegetables, teriyaki marinade, sesame oil, chili garlic sauce, garlic, powdered ginger and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Moisten one edge of the potsticker wrapper with cold water, add 1 teaspoon of filling, fold and seal. This video shows a few different ways to fold them. Or you can just do whatever you want as long as all the filling is securely sealed inside.

 

 

When Winter helps fold potstickers

Add 1 teaspoon of olive oil to a pan heated on medium. Place 7 or 8 potstickers in the pan, and brown for 1 minute or less. Add 1/4 cup of water to the pan and cover for about 2-3 minutes until water is mostly gone and potstickers are steamed. Remove from the pan, place on a plate, and repeat until you hvae cooked all the potstickers you want.

Uncooked potstickers can be frozen and cooked at a later date. The filling also freezes well, so you can also just assemble as many as you want and save the remainder for later. Another thing you can do to save time, and a mess, is use bagged of coleslaw mix instead of shredding your own carrots and cabbage. Just use about 3 cups. Nutrition info is for one potsticker.

Chicken taco salad recipe

I had to take a few bites first, to... make sure it wasn't poison.

We had two corn tortillas left. What can you do with two corn tortillas? Make tortilla strips. I cut them into thin strips with scissors and deep fried them. It really only takes about 30 seconds. Much longer than that and they turn brown.

Jeremy mistakenly believes that he told me he didn't want salad. So we'll just pretend that he did not use some of these components to make a sandwich instead, leaving me with too much lettuce and dressing.

4 cups of lettuce, torn into bite size pieces
4 oz chicken breast
1 t chili powder
2 corn tortillas, cut into thin strips
1/2 cup oil
Juice of one lime
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 t chili garlic sauce
2 oz shredded cheese

Rub chicken breast with chili powder and grill or saute until cooked through. Set it aside to cool/rest. Heat up oil in a deep fryer or a small saucepan on high heat. Add tortilla strips and fry for about 30 seconds until crisp. Remove from oil promptly and place on a paper towel to soak up excess oil. Season with a dash of salt, if you want. Whisk together mayonnaise, lime juice, and chili garlic sauce in a bowl. Shred chicken into bite size pieces. Combine lettuce, chicken, cheese, tortilla strips and dressing in a large bowl and toss together. Your welcome. Nutrition info is for 1/2 of the recipe.

Mesquite chicken tacos recipe

4 oz chicken breast
1/2 cup mesquite marinade
1/4 cup dried onion
1 large Anaheim chili pepper, diced
2 oz jalapeno havarti cheese, shredded (you could also use pepper jack, or any other spicy cheese)
1 lime, quartered
3 T oil
6 corn tortillas

Marinate the chicken breast for at least a few hours. Add 1/4 cup pf water to the onions and stir. Set aside. Heat a medium or large skillet on high. Add 1 T oil. Add peppers and onions to pan and saute for a minute or two. remove the chicken from the marinade and add to the pan. Turn chicken pieces until evenly cooked. Shred or chop up the cooked chicken and mix well with peppers and onions. Turn off heat, and cover. Brown each tortilla in a teaspoon of oil. Add filling to tacos, and top with shredded cheese. Serve with lime wedges. Nutrition info is for 1 taco.

Chicken, veggies, and rice with peanut sauce recipe

not much color, but plenty of flavor

1 1/2 cup cauliflower florets
8 oz can bamboo shoots
8 oz chicken breast, cut into large chunks
1 cup brown rice
1 T olive oil
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup lite coconut milk
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 t low sodium soy sauce (you can add up to 2 T if not restricting sodium)
1 t chili garlic sauce (add more if you want spicy, or add some red pepper flakes)
1 clove of garlic, crushed or pureed
1 t sesame oil

Start cooking rice. While rice is cooking, whisk together peanut butter, coconut milk, vinegar, soy sauce, chili garlic sauce, garlic, and sesame oil in a medium sized bowl. Set aside. Heat a large skillet on high heat. Add olive oil when pan is heated. Add cauliflower and bamboo shoots. Saute for a minute or two, then add 2 oz of water to the pan and cover for a couple more minutes until the cauliflower is steamed, but still a bit crunchy. Add the chicken breast and move stuff around just until the the chicken has no more pink on it. Turn the heat off. Fold the peanut sauce into the chicken and veggies, and cover. Let the meat rest for 5-10 minutes or until the rice is done. You can mix the rice directly into the pan once it's finished cooking, or serve them separately. The nutrition info is for 1/4 of the recipe. One serving is around 1 1/2 cups.

Chunky slow cooker spaghetti sauce recipe

OMGSPAGHETTI!

I realized way later that I forgot to put dried onions in this. I usually do, but I spaced it this time. It tastes fine either way.

7 oz tomato sauce
14 oz canned diced tomatoes (no salt added)
3 cloves of garlic, crushed or pureed
1 zucchini, chopped
2 veggie burger patties, torn into small pieces, or 1/2 cup veggie ground round
3 T olive oil
1/4 cup red wine
1 T Italian seasoning

Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker and cook on low heat for at least 6 hours. This recipe cooks down to about 3 cups of sauce. The nutrition info is for one half cup of sauce. Just the sauce, no pasta.

Green bean and cheddar quiche

Very clever dinner...

Green beans are not something I have ever put in quiche before. Spinach, yes. Broccoli, yes. Peas, sure. But I had a can of French cut green beans, and none of the other previously names green things. So I went with it. Green beans typically pair well with plenty of dairy products and fat. This quiche is no exception.

I halved the recipe for pie crust that was printed on the back of my all-purpose flour bag, reduced the salt, and replaced the shortening with coconut oil (because, again, this was what I had). It has a very slight coconut flavor, which isn't altogether unpleasant. I used to use this recipe for quiche, but over time I have adjusted some of the proportions to make it slightly firmer and have more room for veggies.

1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup coconut oil
5 T cold water
1/4 t salt
3 eggs
1 cup half and half
1 14 oz can of French cut green beans
2 oz white cheddar with black pepper
pinch of nutmeg

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Use a pastry blender to mix together coconut oil, salt, and flour in a medium sized bowl, until well incorporated.  Mix in cold water a little bit at a time until it feels like a nice dough ball. Roll out the crust and place it in a pie pan. Or just do what I did and smoosh it relatively flatly into the pie pan for a "rustic" look. Grate the cheese, drain the green beans, and mix them together in the pie crust. Whisk together the eggs, half and half, and nutmeg. If your cheese does not already contain black pepper, I'd recommend adding some at this juncture. Pour the egg mixture over the cheese and beans. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 and bake for another 25 minutes. Let it cool a while before you cut it. Nutrition info is for 1/6th of quiche.

Chili cheese casserole recipe

I mean, this barely even qualifies as a recipe, but it turned out nice, so I'll post it.

2 cups chili (I used leftover vegetarian chili)
4 oz shredded cheese
4 corn tortillas

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread 1 cup of chili in a small casserole dish. Top with two corn tortillas. You can cut them into strips if they fit weird. Sprinkle with half the cheese. Repeat with a second layer of chili, tortillas, and then cheese. Cover with foil. Bake it for 30 minutes. You can also make this one ahead, and put it in the fridge until dinnertime, as I did. Nutrition info is for 1/2 the recipe.

French toast with cherry pear compote

This is worth getting up early for, people.

French Toast

4 slices of bread (we used Franz old fashioned buttermilk)
2 eggs
1/4 cup half and half
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
1 T oil

Beat together eggs, half and half, and seasonings. Pour half of it into a plate or shallow bowl. Heat a skillet on medium. Add half of the oil. Soak two slices of bread in the egg mixture, and cook until each side is golden brown. Add the remaining oil to the pan, and egg mixture to the plate, and repeat with the other two slices of bread. This recipe makes two servings. Nutrition info is for two slices of toast. You can add powdered sugar on top to taste. The NI does not include powdered sugar.

Cherry Pear Compote

1 cup pitted cherries
1 ripe pear, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup water
zest and juice of one small lemon (about 2 T juice)
1 T cornstarch
1 t honey

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and simmer over medium heat for about 15 minutes until fruit is soft and sauce has thickened. Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving. Nutrition info is for 1/2 of the recipe.

This compote would also be awesome on it's own, served over a scoop of vanilla ice cream, on top of your oatmeal, whatever. The lemon gives it a nice tangy summery flavor.

Pasta with white cheddar sauce, tuna, and carrots

the carrots are all hiding

I make some variation of this basic recipe on a regular basis. You can use pretty much any kind of cheese, any veggies, any meat (or none at all if you so desire), and any starch. There are infinite possible iterations, and it's fast, easy, simple, and tasty. Here's what I used this time.

3 medium carrots, sliced
2 cups dry shell pasta
4 oz. white cheddar cheese with black pepper in it
3/4 cup half and half
1 T corn starch
1/2 cup water, divided in half
1 5 oz can tuna, halfheartedly drained

Boil water for pasta, and add pasta when it's come to a rolling boil. Once the pasta is cooked to your liking, drain it and set it aside. If you're a good multitasker you can do this at the same time you make the carrots and sauce. Add carrots and half of the water to a non-stick skillet, turn onto med-high heat and cover. While your carrots are steaming, grate up 4 oz of white cheddar, and mix the corn starch with the other half of the water. Turn heat under skillet down to medium and add half and half and the corn starch mixture. Simmer until the sauce thickens, then stir in the grated cheese until it's melted. Add the tuna and mix in thoroughly, then fold the pasta into the sauce. Makes 4 smallish servings, 3 good sized servings, or 2 very large servings. The nutrition info is for 1/3 of the recipe.

Carrot and cranberry granola

doesn't taste like carrots

This pan of granola has two whole carrots in it. It tastes nothing like carrots. It really just tastes like granola. Heck, you can barely even see the carrots. If you have a kid who refuses to eat carrots, but for some reason they love granola, put grated carrots in their granola. They will never ever know.

This is the exact recipe I used, but I ran out of both cinnamon and nutmeg making this. If I had had any more I'd have used more. It's not bad as is though.

2 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup steel cut oats
1/4 cup whole grain teff
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 scant T cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 whole egg
5 T melted coconut oil
2 grated carrots
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients except for cranberries together in a large bowl. Spread mixture evenly on a cookie sheet and bake for 35 minutes. Allow granola to cool, then break up into chunks, and mix in dried cranberries. Makes about 6 cups of granola. Nutrition info is for 1/2 cup.

Chicken Fajita Pizza

I used this recipe to make the crust, but I put the bowl in a warmed oven while prepping the toppings so it could rise a little. I also reduced the salt to 1/4 t, and I used powdered sugar instead of granulated since that was what I had. The yeasts like it just fine.

For the sauce I mixed 1 T chili powder, 2 cloves of garlic, and 1/2 T cumin in with 7 oz of tomato sauce.

Rub 4 oz of chicken breast with chili powder, and grill for a few minutes. Let it cool, then shred. It's ok if it's slightly undercooked. It will cook the rest of the way in the oven, and you don't want it to overcook and get dry. Cut 1 bell pepper into strips. I used the other halves of one red and one yellow pepper used in last night's tacos.

Spread the sauce evenly over the pizza crust, and top with pieces of chicken and pepper, then cover with 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese, and a dash of red pepper flakes.

Bake for 15 minutes at 450 degrees, and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before cutting.

I made this pizza in the morning before work, then covered it with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge, so when I got home we just had to toss it in the oven. That gave the crust time to rise a little more too, but it really doesn't need to. I've made this crust before and baked it immediately and it was good, just not as puffy.

I cut it into 12 pieces. Nutrition info is for 1/12th of the pizza.

Tilapia tacos

8 oz tilapia, cut into several pieces
1/3 cup oil
6 corn tortillas
1 bell pepper, chopped (I used half of a yellow one and half of a red one)
juice of one lemon
2 t chili powder
1 t cumin
6 T reduced fat sour cream

Add 2 T of the oil to a hot pan, and add fish, peppers, lemon juice, and seasonings. Sautee until the fish is fully cooked, breaking it up into smaller pieces as you cook. Add the remaining oil to another pan, and fry each tortilla for about 60 seconds on each side on high heat. Serve with sour cream. Makes six tacos. Nutrition info is for one taco.

Slow Cooker Vegetarian Chili

1 cup dried pintos
1 cup dried black beans
2 veggie burgers (or 1/2 cup veggie ground round)
14 oz tomato sauce
14 oz diced tomatoes
2 T chili powder
1 T cumin
3 T dried onion flakes
dash of red pepper flakes
4 cups water

Soak the beans in the water overnight. The following day tear the veggie burgers into small pieces and add all ingredients to pot. Top it off with a little more water if necessary. Slow cook on low for 7-9 hours until beans are tender. Recipe makes about 2 quarts. Nutrition info is for 1 cup.