Smothered Green Beans with Ham and Potatoes

I have always loved this dish and finally decided to make it. For full nutrition information, I entered it at Spark People. Second picture in pot is before cooking down.

1 tbp EVOO
Approx 50 fresh green beans, cleaned (I'll use more next time)
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
8 oz mini cubed ham (you can use bacon or sausage too)
2 white potatoes, peeled and diced
1 tsp salt (use less if using bacon or sausage)
.5 tsp black pepper
2 cups water

Heat up EVOO in a pot and add garlic, onion, and ham. Let sautee until onion is translucent.
Add potatoes, green beans, salt, and pepper.
Pour in 2 cups of water. Stir, turn heat to low. Cover pot and let cook at least 45 minutes stirring every so often.

You could cook all day in crock pot on a low setting.

Creamy Basil Tomato Soup with Gorgonzola

The original recipe was from sparkrecipes.com and I am posting but this batch had way too much gorgonzola cheese for me. Might have been better without so much cheese.

56 oz diced tomatoes, no salt added, drained
1 tsp EVOO
2 tbsp tomato paste
6 cloves garlic - pressed
1 pint fat free half/half
2 tbsp fresh chopped basil leaves (I used 1/4 cup)
3/4 cup cumbled gorgonzola (I used 4 oz)

Pulse the drained tomatoes in a food processor until smooth.

Cook garlic, EVOO, and tomato paste in saucepan over medium heat about 2 minutes stirring constantly.

Stir in pureed tomatoes and cook about 5 minutes or until bubbly. Stir in cheese and mix until its all melted.

Add 1 pint of half and half and remove from heat before boiling.

Stir in basil and serve. I added some crouton and parm cheese on top of mine.

Chicken Pot Pie

This took quite a while to prepare but it was sooooo good. And I made three smaller ones so I can freeze. I use the Casserole Queen Pot Pie Recipe from Food TV. I used the chicken recipe from below (Roasted Chicken Breast) instead of a full roasted chicken and once the chicken breast were done, I let cool for a little while then sliced up with a knife. I also used green bell pepper instead of sweet red which is a good thing because the filling still has a sweet taste to it. I also added about 1 tsp more of salt once I had everything mixed together before pouring into baking dishes.

I ended up with 1 - 1 quart and 1 - 1.5 quart size and still had a little left so I had a single serving baking dish which I filled and just did a quick bisquick mix to top that one with. I baked the two larger ones for 45 minutes and the smaller one for about 30 minutes.

TIP: Do the slits in pastry puff before baking but mine closed back up so about 15 minutes into baking, I re cut the slits.

The picture is of the 1 quart and the individual size. The 1.5 quart was still real liquid like on top so I put it back in the oven at 350 for an extra 20 minutes.

Update and Roasted Chicken Breast

I am currently 13.5 weeks pregnant (due November 6)!!!! So I haven't been doing much, well any, cooking for the past 9 weeks or so. But I am feeling better and trying to get back into the habit of making nightly dinners.

Tonight I am doing Casserole Queen Chicken Pot Pie (which I will review after I eat tonight) but I have no idea how to fool with a whole chicken so I decided to roast chicken breast (another first for me). I don't have any measurments bc I wasn't sure what I was doing but it came out YUMMY and very moist. Could use as is with a side or cube/shred for many other things such as salad or chicken pot pie.

Roasted Chicken Breast
4 - Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast (approx 2 lbs)
Water
EVOO
White Wine
Salt
Black Pepper
Paprika
Dried Parsley
Dried Tarragon
Fresh Lemon Thyme
Butter

Preheat oven to 400

Put a little water, EVOO, and white wine in a roasting pot large enough to hold all chicken without over lapping. Lay chicken breast into pan and season each with S&P, paprika, a pinch of dried parsley, and a pinch of dried tarragon. I placed a fresh spring of lemon thyme on top of each breast but you could also use regular thyme with a little lemon juice. Put a little butter on top of each breast.

Cover and bake for 45 minutes.

Cheesy Beef Enchiladas

I don't really like the Taco kits from the store so I decided to make my own. Very easy and really good.

1 pack lean ground beef (mine was 1.40 lb of ground round and then I drain and rinse in colander after cooked before adding seasonings)
1/2 medium onion diced
1 heaping tablespoon cream cheese
1 slice pepper jack cheese
1 16 oz can enchilada sauce
6 flat out whole grain wraps (or other low carb wrap)
1/2 cup cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 375

Cook beef and drain if needed.

Add onion, 1/4 can enchilada sauce, cream cheese, and pepper jack cheeese to beef. Let cook down about 10 minutes. Divide meat mixture into each wrap and roll up. Put in casserole dish, pour rest of enchilada sauce and top with cheddar cheese. Bake about 30 minutes.

Cajun Smoked Sausage and Veggies

This is one serving, at least for me it is.

1/4 cup EVOO
1 tsp minced garlic
5 oz smoked sausage (one link)
1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 summer squash
2 slices eqqplant (about 1/2" thick)

(you could use any veggies you have on hand)

Heat olive oil and garlic in saute pan on medium heat. While heating chop up all veggies and sausage. Add and let cook down about 15 minutes. Serve.

Crockpot Mexican Bean Soup

I was trying to copy La Caretta's bean soup. Didn't taste like it but it was pretty good, a little spicy but I modified the recipe so it shouldn't be as spicy next time.

10 cups water
1 3/4 cup dried pinto beans
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 chopped chipotle peppers (I had a can of some in adobo sauce)
12 oz crispy center cut bacon broken up
1 bunch chopped cilantro
1 link andouille sausage (I will use smoked next time)
1 onion, chopped

Turn crockpot on (I cooked mine on high for 4 hours).
Fill crockpot with 10 oz of water. Add rest of ingredients. Mix and cover. Soup should have a good amount of liquid in it once done.

Taco Soup

Another recipe from Spark People, member leighwoman. This was very good, Staci and Jenna even loved it. Here is my version with a few minor changes

2 lb. Lean Ground Beef
1 lg. Yellow Onion, chopped
1/2 cp dry Pinto Beans
1 16 oz. can Kernel Corn
2 28 oz. can Crushed Tomatoes
1 can Rotel Chopped Tomatoes
1 pkg. Low Sodium Taco Seasoning (I will use 2 next time)

You can use a can of pinto beans if you don't want to cook your own.

Boil water and cook pinto beans for about an hour or until soft.

Brown ground meat, drain if needed. Add onion and cook down about 10 minutes. Add rest of ingredients and let cook down at least 30 minutes. Can top with sour cream and cheese when served. Freezes well.

Cream Cheese Pancakes

So, I started a diet a couple weeks ago and now I have some catching up to do with posting my new favorite low carb recipes. I joined Spark People and I love it. Easy to keep up with my daily intakes and some great recipes plus message boards.

This morning I made cream cheese pancakes, original recipe by Spark Member mainstreetalto.

2 ounces Cream Cheese, softened
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 pkts stevia
Dash of cinnamon
1 tbsp Smuckers Simply Fruit

Blend everything together (I didn't blend the fruit in, I used it as a topping instead). Spray a small non stick pan and heat on medium. Pour batter into pan and cover (I didn't have luck flipping mine so I covered and let cook until there wasn't anything left runny on top). Serve, it is good by it self or topped with fruit.