Incredibly blog-worthy!!!

It has been a couple weeks since I have posted any new recipes. With the little man getting bigger and becoming so active, I spend a lot of my time entertaining and keeping up with him. That’s definitely a job all of it’s own!!

However, yesterday I finally had the chance and TIME to cook something new. Inspiration for this meal I have to give to my mother-in-law and her donation of a large green cabbage. I love cabbage in all it’s forms, but I do not recall I time that I have ever cooked it myself. So in my typical fashion, I took to Pinterest for some recipe idea. I even asked some coworkers if they had any suggestions.

Next, I needed to come up with something to accompany it. I had plenty of boneless, skinless chicken breast in the freezer thanks to a great sale a couple weeks ago at my local grocery store. So, as usual, without knowing how I was going to prepare it, I sat some out to thaw. Then, again took to Pinterest.

Below are two of the MOST DELICIOUS recipes I have ever made. So delicious, I got myself seconds….which is SO rare!!!

Cheesy Baked Chicken

Chicken:
3 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2-3 cups multi-grain Club crackers, finely crushed in food processor
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 cup low fat milk
3 cup shredded cheese (I used a 4-cheese Mexican blend)
1 tsp dried parsley

Sauce:
1 10 ounce can cream of chicken soup, fat free
2 tbsp fat free sour cream
2 tbsp butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Pour the milk, cheese and cracker crumbs into 3 separate small dishes. Toss the salt and pepper into the cracker crumbs and stir the mixture until combined.

Cut each chicken breast into 3 equal pieces.

Coat each piece of chicken in the milk. Then press into the shredded cheese. Lastly, coat in cracker crumbs. (Note: You are likely to lose a bit of cheese while coating in the cracker crumbs. Don’t worry! It will still turn out cheesy and delicious!)

Place chicken pieces in single layer in prepared glass baking dish. Sprinkle with parsley. Cover with foil.

Bake covered at 375 for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 10 minutes until golden brown.

While chicken bakes, in a small sauce pan combine cream of chicken, sour cream, and butter. Stir with a whisk and heat until well combined. (Be careful: It will come to a boil quickly!)

Top chicken with sauce.

**Recipe credit: Jamie Cooks It Up

Cabbage Custard Casserole

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
1 green cabbage (about 2 -/2 pounds), cored and thinly sliced
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups of low fat milk
4 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup multi-grain Club crackers finely crushed
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Directions:

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Coat 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray.

Melt 1/2 cup butter in large pot. Add cabbage and onion; cook over medium heat until softened, about 20 minutes.

Stir in milk; bring to boiling. Lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove pot from heat. Let cool slightly.

Gently stir in eggs. Add 1/2 cup crushed crackers, salt and pepper.

Pour into prepared casserole dish. Dust top evenly with remaining crushed crackers.

Bake in 375 degrees oven for 30 minutes or until heated through and top is golden brown.

**Recipe credit: Recipe.com

As I mentioned above, these are two of the most delicious recipes I have ever made. Both my husband and my son loved them as well. My son repeatedly asked for more “doodles” ( his word for noodle, which is what he though the cabbage was)!!!

ENJOY!! 🙂

Looks Can Be Deceiving!

Looking at the picture above, what do you guess it is????

Yes….it looks like an ordinary biscuit, but if that was your guess, then you would be wrong!

Yesterday someone had asked for suggestions of an appetizer to make for an upcoming holiday party. It had to be simple! So, I took to my Pinterest profile to look at some recipes I had already pinned to my “Small Bites and Appetizers” board. One of the first things I ever posted was a pepperoni monkey bread (here). It looked so good, and I had been thinking about that recipe ever since. I had most of the ingredients, but wanted to change it up and add a few things. Below is my version!

Stromboli Pockets

Ingredients:

1 pkg whole wheat Pillsbury Grands biscuits
2 tbsp butter or margarine
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
Turkey pepperoni (about 24)
Turkey sausage (casing removed), about 1 tbsp per biscuit
Shredded mozzarella cheese, about 1 tbsp per biscuit
Green pepper, thinly sliced or chopped
1 small onion, thinly sliced or chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line large baking sheet with foil and coat with cooking spray.

Melt butter in small sauté pan. Add garlic. Cook on low while assembling Stromboli to allow the butter to absorb the garlic flavor.

Cut pocket in each biscuit, being sure not to cut through or create any holes other than the opening for the pocket. Fill each biscuit with the desired ingredients. I made 4 biscuits with pepperoni, green pepper, onion, and cheese. The other 4 then had pepperoni, sausage, and cheese.

Once filled, seal opening by pressing ends firmly, still maintaining overall biscuit shape. Place on prepared baking sheet. Brush the top of each biscuit with garlic butter.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Let cool a few minutes before serving.

This in an extremely versatile recipe. You call fill the biscuits with anything you and your family like. Ham and cheese would be delicious!!

ENJOY!! 🙂

Weekend Recovery

The weekends are always the hardest for me to stay on track and eat healthy. Since I typically do not work on the weekends, there naturally tends to be less structure throughout the day. We wake up whenever little man decides its time to get up. Thankfully, that was not until 9AM this past weekend. 🙂

The time we wake up influences what we do for breakfast. Since I knew we had some things to get done Saturday, we just had some fresh fruit and yogurt, then we got ready and got on our way. My husband was beyond excited that a Trader Joe’s had opened up near us. It was out favorite place to grocery shop when we lived in Philadelphia, and have been waiting 5 years since we moved to Tampa for one to open. Now, we still had to drive an hour to get to it, but it was so worth it!! And since we were near the outlet stores, we stopped there for a bit. Little man needed some new clothes. He is growing far too fast!!! I also needed to pick up a birthday present for someone, but can’t say who, just in case he/she reads this!

So, because of a busy weekend, and usually eating on the go, I like to try to go vegetarian for our dinner on Monday which will typically include fish or seafood of some sort. Tonight that was cod that we picked up while at Trader Joe’s for a fantastic price! I took to the Internet to find something I had never made before, but something that was also easy and quick since I do work. Below is our healthy Monday meal.

Creamy Fish Bake

Ingredients:

2 (10 ounce) packages frozen broccoli spears, cooked and drained
4-5 pieces cod fillet (may be able to fit up to 6 pieces depending on the size of the fillets)
2 (10.75 ounce) cans cream of broccoli soup
2/3 cup 1% milk
1/2 cup reduced fat Cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
2 teaspoon margarine, melted
1/4 teaspoon old bay seasoning, plus extra to sprinkle on top
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spray 13×9 glass baking dish with nonstick spray.

Arrange cooked broccoli in the bottom of the baking dish. Season with salt and pepper.

Place fish on top of broccoli. Season fish with salt and pepper.

Mix soup and milk and pour over fish. Sprinkle with cheese.

Mix bread crumbs, margarine, and old bay. Evenly distribute on top, then sprinkle with additional old bay on top.

Bake uncovered at 450 degrees for 20 minutes or until fish is done.

**Recipe credit: All Recipes

The addition of the old bay seasoning was a suggestion I came across as I read through the reviews. It was a fantastic substitute for paprika. Definitely made the dish taste better!!

This was a delicious, healthy, and easy weeknight meal. Even better that little man liked it too!!

ENJOY!! 🙂