BEEF STROGANOFF

• 2 new york strip steaks, cut into 1-inch strips
• 2 cooking onions, sliced (1/4 inch thick) and separated into rings
• 227g package sliced mushrooms
• 1-3/4 cups beef broth
• 2 tbsp dijon mustard
• 2 tbsp paprika
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 cup low-fat sour cream
• 454g box pasta (I used rotini)

Cook pasta according to package directions.  Drain and set aside.

Mix beef broth, mustard, paprika and garlic powder together.  Set aside.

Brown beef in a large pan, in one tablespoon olive oil.  Remove from pan.  DO NOT DRAIN!

Place mushroom and onion in pan, and saute until soft, but not brown.  Return beef to pan with broth and simmer 10-15 minutes until beef in no longer pink.

Gently stir in sour cream and heat through.  DO NOT BOIL!

Stir in cooked noodles and serve.

Makes 6-8 servings

If desired, one pound stew beef could be used in this recipe.  Just brown the beef and place with other ingredients (except sour cream and noodles), and cook on low for 6-8 hours until beef is tender. 

Then stir in sour cream and noodles.

THE QUICKEST OATMEAL EVER!!!

• 1/4 cup quick cook oats
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon

Place oats and water in microwave safe bowl.  Heat in microwave 45-seconds.

Add brown sugar and cinnamon.  Stir immediately, and let stand for 1-minute.

Enjoy!!

** Could add diced fruit such as apple, peaches or pears before heating **

Quick Oatmeal

 

NO EGG, NO MILK COOKIES

• 3/4 cup margarine
• 1-1/2 cups self-rising flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 cup quick cook oats

Preheat oven to 375F.

In a large bowl, cream together margarine and sugar.

In a separate bowl, sift flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and oats.

Pour dry mixture into wet mixture, and mix gently with hands until soft (not wet) dough forms.  If is too tacky add more flours a tablespoon at time.

Drop by tablespoon on parchment lined cookie sheet.  Gently push down.

Bake for 12-14 minutes, until golden brown.

Yield:  30 cookies

Top, plain cookies (Omit oatmeal); Bottom, Oatmeal Cookies

LOW-CAL CHICKEN PARMESAN

• 4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of extra skin if needed
• 3-4 slices whole wheat bread
• 2 tbsp blanched, unsalted almonds
• 1 tsp each garlic powder, onion powder and dried parsley
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 (28-oz) can diced tomatoes with italian seasonings
• 1/4 cup jalapeno-jack cheese, grated
• olive oil for frying
• 1 cup whole wheat pasta or no yolks noodles, cooked

Preheat oven to 350F. 

In a large heavy bottom pan, place about an inch of olive oil, and heat on medium heat, until it just smokes.

Pound out chicken breasts to 1/2 inch thickness between two sheets wax or parchement paper, using meat mallet.

Buzz up bread and almonds (separately) in food processor until fine.  Pour into shallow dish (I use a glass pie plate).  Add garlic powder, onion powder, parsley, thyme and oregano.  Mix with fork until combined.  In a separate shallow dish add flour.  And the eggs in another shallow dish.

To bread chicken, dredge (cover chicken, and pat off excess) in flour.  Dip in egg (until coated).  Coat in crumb mixture.  Do this with remaining chicken breasts.  Place in pan and brown on both sides (about 3 mins per side).  Drain on paper towel.  Place in 9x13 casserole dish.

Drain tomatoes, and reserve half of the juice.  Mix tomatoes with the reserved juice, and pour evenly over chicken breasts (It will soak in a bit).  Top evenly with cheese.

Cook for 25-30 minutes, covered.  Uncover and brown cheese for an additional 5 minutes.

Serve over warm noodles.

Makes 4-6 servings (1 chicken breast and 1/4 cup noodles each)

THE BEST RICE PUDDING RECIPE EVER!!

CHOCOLATE WAFFLES

I decided earlier last week that I wanted to make life a little easier for my boys... They get sick of the same old stuff for breakfast in the morning, and it always seems like a mad dash for the door... Especially for my oldest, who has to catch the bus every morning for High School... So this is one of my solutions! 

Make a batch of waffles, and freeze them on a cookie sheet, then bag and label... When they want thier breakfast, they pop them in the toaster, and voila!  Instant Breakfast!

• 1-1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 4 tbsp butter or margarine, melted

Heat waffle maker to manufacturers directions.

In a large bowl, sift flour, baking powder and cocoa powder until combined,

In another bowl, mix sugar, milk, butter and eggs until combined and sugar is dissolved.

Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients until just combined.  Overmixing will make batter tough.

Place batter in waffle iron and cook to manufacturers instructions.

Makes 8-10 waffles

** Note: The batter should resemble the bottom pic.  Light and fluffy **

Finished Waffles on top; Batter on bottom

Changes

It has come to my own attention that we are not very good at keeping up with the structure we decided on and sometimes are just too busy (or in my case sick) to keep up with even 3 recipes a month (or that the ones we pick sometimes don't work for the time we picked to make them-baking in the oven in a heatwave for example) so I am making a couple of changes and have taken away the structure so that we can just post new recipes we have tried or tweaked or created whenever we make them and share them with you that way. The original ones will stay and we of course will share links to the recipes we began with as well as suggestions for tweaking them from now on. We hope you'll bear with us as we learn and play with recipes SLOWLY. LOL