Veggie Enchiladas: i was scared to try this one, but thought what the heck and it is actually pretty tasty cant really tell it is all veggies! 1 small onion chopped, 1 green pepper chopped, 8 oz canned mushrooms chopped, 2 teaspoons olive oil, 1 clove minced garlic, 1 can black beans drained and rinsed, 1 can corn, 1 can diced green chilies, 2 T taco seasoning, cilantro to taste, flour tortillas, enchilada sauce, cheddar cheese, saute the onion, peppers and mushrooms in olive oil, add rest of the vegies and seasoning an cook til heated through, spoon mixture evenly in tortillas, place in sprayed baking dish, cover with enchilada sauce and cheese and bake 25 to 30 minutes at 350.

Turkey Ole' is what I am calling this, I fooled around with a recipe that called for ground beef and dark kidney beans and came up with this:  1 lb lean ground turkey browned with, black pepper to taste, garlic powder to taste and southwest seasoning to taste, a medium chopped onion and 1/2 a chopped green pepper, 1 can chili beans, 1 can canelli (sp)(white kidney beans), 1 can diced tomatoes with green chilis, 1 8 oz can tomato sauce, 1 can water, 1/2 pkg ranch dressing mix, 4 T taco seasoning, simmer for about 20 minutes.  Serve with green onion, cheddar cheese and tortilla chips....everyone likes it!

O M G, I know, long time no hear, or read, or...well you get it!  So much has been going on, Becca's first dance recital, last of school stuff, and the most devastating tornado wiped out a good portion of my childhood town!:(  The recovery will be a long on-going process.  All could use your prayers, your time, your support!

MexiCali Turkey Casserole - 384 calories and extremely easy 2 lb ground turkey browned with one small chopped onion, one small chopped green pepper, 1 Tablespoon chili powder, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, southwest seasoning to taste, add 2 cans diced tomatoes, 1 can dark kidney beans, 1 can light kidney beans 1 3/4 cup water and 2 cups uncooked rice, cover and bake 45-50 minutes at 375 remove and sprinkle with shredded cheddar cheese (I normally dont like ground turkey, but this turned out yummy!)

This was just a family pleaser. A tamale pie. Not sure of calories or anything, it was a hit with everyone and easy to make:)!.  Mix 2 packages of Jiffy corn muffin mix, 1 can cream corn, 2 eggs, a little less than 1/2 cup milk and 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese. Brown 2 pounds lean ground beef with chopped onion and bell pepper, stir in 1 can light red kidney beans,1 can chopped green chilies and taco seasoning, in 13x9 sprayed pan layer a thin layer of muffin mixture then all the meat then top with remaining muffin mixture.  Bake at 400 for about 45 min, check every now and then for it to get light brown. Sprinkle with more shredded cheddar the last 10 minutes of baking.

Gosh!  I have been so flippin busy, have not had a chance to post for a bit!  Guess that is how it goes when ya got kiddos! Got both the youngest kiddos off thier training wheels over spring break, YAY!  Here is a quick and easy recipe I found in a Taste of Home diet cookbook that I just added and deleted what I like!  Hope you like it!  It was yummy!  287 calories for one roll and I served it with a salad. Mix up1-24 oz container cottage cheese, 8 oz softened cream cheese, 1/2 cup sour cream, pepper, 1 10 oz box frozen chopped spinach (drained and thawed) seasoned salt, italian seasoning and granulated garlic, cook 8 lasagna noodles according to the package, drain the noodles, spread about 1/2 cup of the cheese mixture on the noodle and roll it up, place it seam side down in a baking dish sprayed with Pam, top with shredded mozzarella, cover and bake 35 minutes at 350, uncover and pour on meatless spaghetti sauce and sprinkle with a little more mozzarella and bake 10-15 more minutes. Yumm-O!

This one is a mixture of a Thanksgiving favorite with my own twists to make it a one pan meal, which are staples around here because of less clean up and simplicity!:)  It is the good ole broccoli cheese casserole with browned chicken breast.  I brown 2 lb chicken breast cubed in 1/4 c butter seasoned with seasoned salt, pepper and garlic, cook 2 cup rice (this one was with brown rice), when the chicken is no longer pink add 1 large chopped onion and 16 oz of frozen chopped or cut broccoli, in a bowl combine 1 can of cream of mushroom soup, 1 can of cream of chicken(or celery)soup, 1 16 oz cheese whiz, 1/2 c milk, seasoned salt, italian seasoning and pepper to taste, when onion and broccoli are tender, mix in the rice and soup mixture and then bake 30 min at 350, top with fried onions and bake another 5 minutes. Yummy!

This is a recipe I took with me from my mother in law from my first marriage.  She was a sweet lady named Dorthy Hoff.  She made this for me on my birthday for the 4 years we were together. She also made the most awesome homemade spaghetti with italian sausage that I will try to make some day, but the sauce has to cook all day...and well...who has time:)  It is a very yummy apple sauce cake. 1 3/4 c flour, 1 1/4 c sugar, 1 t cinnamon ( i use a bit more), 1 t salt, 1/2 t ground cloves, 1 c sweetened applesauce (i use chunky), 1 egg and 1/2 c oil.  Mix it all together and bake in a greased and floured 9 inch square or pie pan 45-50 min at 350.  Great served warm with whipped topping!

Fish!

OK, I was scared to do this, and why!?  We are not big seafood eaters at home.  My oldest would love it and I think my second son is likin it too.  I have put off making some for 2 weeks now, scared it would be awful and would put the whole family off me makin any fish of any type....LOL....but it turned out great! Woo Hoo and so simple and quick too!  I did 9 tilapia filets, 2 eggs and 1 T of milk whisked together with a dash of seasoned salt and pepper, 3/4 c Parmesan cheese mixed with 1 T Italian seasoning, 1 t granulated garlic, 1/2 t pepper and 1 1/2 t crushed red pepper flakes, dip the filets in the egg mixture then coat with the cheese mixture, oil cookie pan with olive oil and place coated filets on the pan and bake 15 minutes or until they flake easily at 425 degrees.  It was very yummy and everyone liked it!

My first yummmmmy grill out of the year and hopefully many more to come!  Steak with german potato salad:)  My steak marinade is pretty easy: 8 oz Zesty Italian dressing, four dashes of Worcestershire sauce, garlic, and 2 caps of Southern Comfort:) (of course I only have it around for my marinade and pecan pies...LMAO)! let it marinate at least 2 hours, longer if possible.  For the potatoes, dice, boil til just tender, let cool before handling or saucing, add red onion, pepper and garlic salt, coat with vegetable oil and add about 6-8 cap fulls of cider vinegar(according to your taste). I made corn to, but did not get it on my plate. We use a charcoal grill, always have and I love it, but you can use your gas if ya gotta...lol...I put soaked hickory chunks in right before I grill and I dont over cook the steaks, Russ likes rare, I like some pink color, definitely no gray meat!!!! It was soooo good!  Budget conscious friends, this was top sirloin so it was pretty lean for our diet and kinda pricey, but my fave and cheapest is chuck with lots of fat, cause that is where the flavors at:) of course if you have money to blow, ribeye is the ultimate for us, like the chuck it is well marbled and so tender if you cook it right and marinade it enough:)

More cakes, it is much cheaper than buying one made for ya and if I can do it so can you, I promise!

The Fam

Spose that if I am going to talk about my family I should introduce them to you!  Russ, the love of my life for the last 17 years!  Joseph is my oldest and now he is a TEENAGER!  Then there is Noah, my baby boy and Becca my lil Princess! They all just celebrated their birthdays in the past month (Joe 13, Noah 8 and Becca 6) so we had a party all together at the skating rink.  I made the pitiful cakes:) Of course we had little family parties on their actual birthdays:) Gotta love em!

Who the heck knew.....if you get out and do things you CAN actually lose weight....LOL!  I started a weightloss challenge with our school's PTO and Tuesday night I went and walked a mile with my son Joseph and OMG the next day, I had lost 2 pounds...imagine my surprise!  I also lost a pound by doing Zumba one night too!  I think I might be on to something here....will let ya know....Buahahahahaha! p.s.  I also learned from my 13 year old who's girlfriend broke up with him on V-day and now has a new one....."me n my friend always have a "backup"...I just about died laughin and asked, "does she know she is only a backup" , gosh they start early now!

Here is another quick n easy one using a rice mix, it was a generic rice n sauce, chicken flavor, I pulled all the chicken from one of the rotisserie chickens at WalMart and I sauteed some onion and a can of mushrooms, added the chicken and then added all that to the already cooked rice mix (i used 2 and had some leftovers). Sorry some of these are on cheesy paper plates, but I hate doing dishes!:) This was also part of the leftovers from last nights dinner, shoulda remembered to take a pic while it was fresh and on a nice plate...lol

The Carl Junction K3 PTO is starting a weight loss challenge for anyone who would be interested.  There is going to be a weighing at the Carl Junction 2-3 building on Saturday January 29 at 9 am.  There are going to be 3 sessions and you can win prizes for most percentage lost.  It is $10 per session or $25 for all three.  I am going to be at the old CJ football field behind the 2-3 building on Tuesday and Thursday evenings starting February 1st, weather permitting at 6:30 to walk, there is a playground for your kids to play on if ya got some:).  If the weather is bad, I plan on going somewhere for Zuba I think.  This is for anyone that wants to sign up, not just for people in CJ.  Have a great day and hope to see ya for weigh in on Saturday!

This was very easy and 317 calories a little more if you serve it with a salad.  1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts chopped and browned in butter, seasoned with italian seasoning, pepper and garlic, remove chicken and saute 1 cup fresh mushroom slices and one small onion chopped in the pan juices, add 1 3/4 cup chicken broth and 1/2 cup milk, bring to boil, add a package of quick cooking alfredo pasta mix (I used Knorr alfredo with broccoli), return to boil and cook 8 minutes then return chicken and serve.

I screwed this one up! I am willing to share my failures with my successes...LOL But I will make it again and again until I get it right, maybe if you try it, it will turn out!  It tasted great, but it was ALOT darker than it is suppose to be.  I need to learn how to use the lower heat settings...lol.  Anyway, it was 4 chicken breasts seasoned with pepper and seasoned salt browned in butter along with 5 cloves minced garlic for 4 minutes, take the chicken out and add 1/2 cup chicken broth or white wine, oregano and basil, bring to boil, return chicken lower heat and cover and cook 8-9 minutes, remove chicken again, mix flour with another 1/2 cup broth or wine and mix in with the pan juices and stir til thick, serve over chicken.I made a side of wild rice mixed with sauteed mushrooms and onion (that was yummy too)  The chicken was 270 calories.  I will repost pics when I get it right!  If you get it right and like it, send me a pic to use, just in case....LOL!

Breakfast!

Russ' favorite thing I make is omelets(at least I think so).  He likes omelets with ham, onion and green pepper and I just like ham n cheese:)  I tried n tried to make the perfect omelet for years, I met a woman named Cathy Murry who gave me a secret...you have to use a small pan and a big spatula!  Before I used to call them "scrambled omelets" now, while probably still not perfect, they look more like omelets and they are always yummy! With toast and a sausage patty, a two egg omelet is still under 500 calories. Before heating the pan (good non-stick) have all your add ins chopped and ready, heat the pan with 1/2 tsp butter, beat the eggs in a bowl, when the pan is hot, saute the add ins and leave them in the pan, pour the eggs on top, season, moving a silicone spatula around the edges and swishing the egg around the pan until most the top is not soupy, then using a large spatula flip it, unless you are talented enough to flip it in the air(I'm not).  sprinkle with cheese, fold and serve.:()

shannon, you dont have to buy a whole ham, a ham steak will work and they sell them with a bone it it and they are just about the perfect size, just have to cut it up into pieces

Hey, I forgot to mention that tomorrow, I will use the leftover ham and beans to create a yummy chili, chili? with ham?  let me tell you, my mom did it for us once, and I could not believe it, but it doesnt taste like it has ham in it!  We can make lots of different meals with the left over chili and so on, so you see how the pot of beans started a real money saving adventure! Also the beans and chili are not bad on calories, use lean beef for the chili.

This is perfect to come home to on a cold day like today!  It is my recipe for ham and beans.  The night before I soaked 1 lb of dry pinto beans in twice the water in a covered bowl.  This morning around 6:30 I rinsed the beans and poured them in a large crock pot, I added 1 1/2 pounds of ham chunks, include some bones!, one large onion chopped, one can italian diced tomatoes and one can mexican style diced tomatoes, pepper to taste and of course, you see it in almost every recipe, garlic powder! I added enough water to come about 1 inch above the ham and bean mixture, cover the crockpot and set on low, by the time 5 rolled around and I made cornbread, the beans were perfect!

Ok, ok, the picture does not do this justice, it is super easy, only 5 ingredients, only takes about 45 minutes and everyone likes it and it is only 270 calories and serves 8.  It is called Green Enchilada Casserole.  1 1/2 - 2 pounds chopped browned boneless, skinless chicken breast seasoned with southwest seasoning and garlic powder, 16 oz sour cream, 16 oz salsa verde (green salsa, not the hot kind unless you really like spicy), 8 oz monterey jack cheese, shredded and 12 corn torillas.  Mix the sour cream and salsa, spray a 13x9 baking dish with Pam, dip 6 shells in the salsa mixture and place on the bottom of the dish, spread the chicken over the tortillas, dip one side of the other 6 tortillas and lay the covered side down on the chicken, spread the remaining salsa mixture over the totillas and sprinkle the cheese on top, bake 25-30 minutes at 350.

This one is not under 500 calories unless you eat a small amount, but the kids love it and it is quick and easy, which is what I look for, something that I can whip up after work and it doesn't take a long time, but tastes yummy!  Brown 2 pounds chopped boneless, skinless chicken breasts, season while browning with pepper, garlic powder and seasoned salt, melt 1 pound Velveeta in the microwave 1 min at a time, add a can of cream of chicken soup and 1 can Rotel tomatoes, mix with the browned chicken.  Either serve with tortilla chips (my favorite way) or mix with 1 pound cooked pasta (kids favorite way).

OK, I admit I am one of the most unorganized people I know at home.  This school year I decided I was going to be different!  I was going to be super mom, and super wife!  Woo Hoo! ....NOT.  But one thing I have kind of stuck to is getting with the kids after they come home, going through their papers from school and seeing what needs attention, getting them to do their homework and then getting all the things needing to go back to school the next day in their bags so that when morning  comes tomorrow I am not scrambling to get it all together. We get all this done before they get to play around for the evening.  They grumble and groan, but they go along with it.  This has made a huge difference in our mornings:)  Try it, it works!  Fridays are flexible, but it must be done by Sunday evening so you dont have the scramble problem on Monday.

We have finally decided to start having at least one family time night a week.  We picked Mondays.  We are going to order pizza and play games.  We had the first official one last Monday.  It went fairly well.  We played 2 games and we all got along fairly well.  The 5 year old lost interest about 1/2 an hour before we quit.  But that is ok, we made her stay at the table with us anyway, wuahahaha!  Try to think of something you can all do together at your house and schedule it on the calendar, and stick to it.  One of our biggest challenges was making dad and oldest son put the cell phones in a safe place on silent until our time together was over. May have pics to post next Monday:)

Money Saver

I have a family of 5.  Once upon a time I was spending over $250 a week in groceries.  I now spend half that.  How?  I started sitting down once a week and planning the next weeks meals.  Once I have the meals I make the grocery list for what I need for those meals, going through the fridge, freezer and cabinets to make sure I dont already have what is needed.  Once I have my list, I go to the store ALONE (the kids and hubby seem to add to the bill).  I try not to go hungry and I try to stick to only what is on the list, unless it is just a "too good to pass up deal". I try to add match or go to more than one store if needed for sales by checking the ads and try to use coupons to.  Dont worry if you dont feel like making what is on the list for a certain day, switch em around, just know that at the end you are stuck with what is left on the list...lol.

Kid favorite: Chicken Cordon Bleu (easy version still under 500 calories)
 Bake 8 frozen chicken cordon bleu according to the package.  For the sauce 1 can cream of chicken soup and 1 can of cream of celery soup, 3 green onions finely chopped, pepper and garlic to taste, heat it all in a small sauce pan and pour over chicken, serve with green beans and mashed potatoes.  I have made the from scratch and it is much better, but this is a good busy work night meal. For the from scratch pound out 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts to 1/8 inch thickness, roll sliced swiss cheese and shaved ham in the chicken breasts. Dip the rolls in seasoned flour, then egg/water mixture, then italian bread crumbs and bake at 375 for 30 to 40 minutes until chicken is done still use the same sauce:)

Our First Favorite under 500 calories

Italian Sausage Stew - yummy!  When we decided we wanted to start losing weight we tracked what Russ was eating and decided we would cut calories down to 500 a meal, he has since lost 25 or so pounds.  We just have looked through cookbooks and things and have been trying new things, this was the first big hit!
1 lb italian sausage browned in olive oil along with red onion, two cloves finely diced garlic, two sliced small zucchini squash , green, red and yellow pepper strips, black pepper to taste cook til onions and pepper are tender, add in 1 can diced italian tomatoes and one can garbanzo beans (drained). Cook for 20 minutes and it is done.

Here we go!

I have decided to start a blog.  Why you say?  I have no idea, I don't even know what I am going to blog about.  But I'm thinking of it as an adventure.  I will be posting some 500 calorie or less recipes with photos.  I will be posting interesting things, to me at least.  Craft ideas, family fun things, 500+ calorie recipes and whatever else comes to mind.  Hope you have fun on this journey with me:)  Learn something new and have fun, always!