Korean Night

At our community Halloween event, the PTSO was selling homemade Korean food. Man actually got in line quick enough to score some bugogi with sticky rice & spring rolls. Me? I had to give out copious amounts of candy & missed the bugogi.

Lucky for me (& for you too) my Korean neighbor showed me how to make bugogi last week and she offered to take me to the Asian store sometime soon.

Stay tuned . . .

Spaghetti

Food Category: PG, Southern Comfort
Difficulty: Easy

Basketti had to eventually end up on the menu, right? This is not a meal that I really plan for, it's more like a back-pocket meal that is ready to rock & roll with ingredients that are always on hand.

Meat Sauce:

• 1 lb ground sirloin
• one chopped onion
• 2 cans of spaghetti sauce
• oregano, basil

Pasta:

Barilla Plus Spaghetti
This pasta has wonderful nutritional value
& no one in my family even knows it's the healthy kind.

Side Salad:

• lettuce
• cucumbers
• shredded carrots
• freshly grated Parmesan
• Newman's Own Balsamic Vinaigrette

Garlic Bread:

• baguette, fresh from the local baker
• crushed garlic clove + 2 T evoo, microwave for about 30 seconds
• butter (I Can't Believe it's Not Butter Mediterrean Blend) the bread & brush with garlic/oil
• pan grill until lightly toasted
• sprinkle with salt & garlic powder

Leftover potential: I always make enough basketti for a least two meals & we either eat it for lunch or another dinner. Freeze leftover pasta & sauce separately for a quick heat & eat meal. Extra sauce can be added to soups or chili at a later time or used to top pizzas.

Taco Salad

Food Category: PG, Bum Lovin', High-5
Difficulty: Easy

Taco Meat:

1 lb ground sirloin
3 oz tomato paste, 6 oz water
cumin, chili powder, onion & garlic powder, paprika, cayenne pepper, salt

Salad were assembled with:

lettuce greens
sliced cucumbers
shredded carrots
shredded extra sharp cheddar
taco meat
sour cream
Haus salsa
crushed tortilla chips
jalapeño peppers
fat free Catalina dressing
garnished with fresh cilantro

Served with: bean & cheese nachos chips,
heated on lowest microwave power until cheese melts


Of course, you can seasoning your meat with a packet of taco seasoning, but I don't. I have the spices on hand & just shake everything in until it tastes good. Here's a recipe for homemade taco seasoning mix if you are into the HausFrau thing & saving money. Also, I've recently started adding tomato paste to my meat since cooked tomatoes are a SuperFood & this is a tasty way to consume more.

I mix up taco salads several different ways depending on what I have on hand. Other ingredients that work well: corn, pinto/kidney/garbanzo beans, avocados tomatoes, green/red onions, & grilled bell peppers.

Leftover potential: Extra meat, salsa & beans can be used later to make kick-butt tortilla soup. All extra salad ingredients can be used for a side salad for another meal.

Potato Soup

Food Category: Southern Comfort, PG

Difficulty: Easy

For the soup:

• Peel about 4 lbs of potatoes & cut into small cubes
• sautee one finely chopped onion & 3 celery stalks (with leaves) in evoo
• when onions are translucent, add about 4 quarts of water
• add 1-2 tablespoons of chicken flavored granules
• and 1 tablespoon of salt
• add potatoes and bring to a boil
• reduce heat and cook until potatoes are very mushy
• using either a potato masher or handheld blender, mix until about 1/2 the potatoes are pureed, about 1/2 will still be small bites
• add 8 oz of light cream and cook until cream begins to thicken
• salt & pepper to taste

Yummy Toppings:

• thinly slice with kitchen shears 6-8 slices of bacon
• cook until crispy
• drain all grease
• shredded extra sharp cheddar
• freshly chopped chives & parsley

I use most of a 5 lb bag of potatoes to make this soup because I am always aiming for leftovers. I add enough potatoes and water to fill a 6 quart pot. Tonight I made the soup without the cream because I didn't have any. I did substitute about 1-2 oz of light cream cheese & some milk, and it turned out very tasty. I'm taking the leftovers to "work" with me tomorrow to share for lunch. For potlucks, I take this soup in a crockpot to stay hot & bring the toppings on the side & everyone adds their own.

In an effort to keep calories down, I top sparingly with bacon & use extra sharp cheddar because there's more flavor in less cheese. The cream can easily be omitted and even skim milk substituted. Top with lots of herbs - lots of flavor without calories.

Leftover potential: If you happen to have leftovers beyond what can be kept in the fridge for a few days & reheated, you can freeze it. Just use it later in other soups as a thickening agent.

Nachos

Food Category: G-Rated, with Food Porn tendencies
Difficulty: a monkey could make this

We used blue corn tortilla chips because they look like bat wings - also the dark purple of the chips & the orange of the cheese look like Halloween on a plate. We topped the chips with cheddar & Monterrey Jack. Melted the cheese on lowest power in the microwave. Served with Haus Salsa & jalepeños.

And, yes, the Kinder talked me into making more salsa. Now I have enough for taco salads on Wednesday night. Whoo Hoo!

Wicked Witch Hats

Food Category: G-Rated
Difficulty: Easy

Unroll reduced fat refrigerated crescent rolls and shape into triangles.
Top with pizza sauce, basil & mozzarella as shown below:

Roll bottom part of triangle up to resemble the brim of the hat.

Bake at 400F for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown. Garnish with freshly snipped basil.

Party

Because Man is still located about 5000 miles from home, the girls and I decided to throw a wild Halloween Party. We ended up with 8 teens, 4 little girls & 3 moms and a very interesting night.

On the buffet bar:

• Tyson chicken bites
• Lil' Smokies swimming in BBQ sauce
• Hotdogs wrapped in strips of pizza dough to resemble mummies
• veggie tray: cucumbers, carrots & brocciflower with dip
• artichoke hearts & garlic/butter
• tortilla chips & salsa

For drinks, we had sodas & punch.

For sweets: candy, caramel apples (that were made at midnight!), candy-coated popcorn & cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Check out Not Just Strudel for the cinnamon roll recipe.

Haus Kitchen - the Aftermath
The food disappeared too quickly for photographs!

Haus Orange Punch

• one can of Minute Maid orange juice blend & 3 cans of water
• one can of Bacardi Piña Colada frozen mix
• several scoops of tropical rainbow sherbet
  
• 2 liters of Sprite or Ginger Ale

Haus Salsa - Definitely the Best in Europe

• one large can of whole tomatoes in the juice
• large fistful of fresh cilantro
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed & mixed with a bit of salt to make a paste
• about 2 tablespoons of onion
• about 1 teaspoon of chili powder
• about 2 teaspoons of cumin
• one chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
• jarred jalepeños - to desired heat preference
• about one tablespoon of lime juice

Throw everything into the blender or food processor & thoroughly blend. Serve at room temperature.

Personally, I think I make kick-butt salsa & since the girls practically licked the bowl clean sometime during the night, I must assume that they concur. I'm glad they liked it, but my plan for taco salads the following day just went down the tubes.

Salsa Notes: I've never actually measure my ingredients, so this recipe is my very best guess as to what I threw together last night. On the peppers, I prefer to use fresh jalepeños &/or poblano - even better if they are grilled first, but my reality is that flavorful Tex-Mex peppers just aren't readily available here in Belgium. And, the Old El Paso out-of-the-jar ones work just fine and dandy.

Leftover potential: The salsa will keep in the fridge for a few days, but will taste mucho better if not cold when served. Allow to set out for a bit first or nuke for a few seconds on 1/2 power. Salsa can also be frozen & added to Tortilla soup later.

Yo-Yo

This is so bad. I left Laze-E & T-Girl at the Haus to babysit MiniMe while I snuck off to a Bunco game. According to the Kinder, they ate Lipton's Pasta Sides (Parmesan noodles) for dinner.

I had potlucky snacks at the game and Man just called me from the HardRock in San Antonio - he was just finishing up a burger.

Tomorrow, we are having a party & I promise to dish on the recipes.

Fish & Chips

Food Category: G-Rated, Bum Lovin'
Difficulty: Easy

This was yet another super exciting meal our the Haus tonight!

The Protein:

Garlic & Herb Crunchy Fish Fillets by Gordon's, straight out of the box & cooked in the toaster oven.

The Veggie:

Frozen petite green peas that were nuked, sprayed with I Can't Believe it's Not Butter & sprinkled with salt

The Carb:

Oven Baked Potato Chips

• preheat oven & baking sheet to 450F
• peel & thinly slice potatoes
• toss with olive oil, salt &/or pommes frites seasoning
• line hot baking pan with parchment paper
• place potatoes on hot pan in a single layer
• baked for 10-15 minutes, turning frequently, until crisp & golden brown

The potatoes cook better if they are in a single layer, but I had more potatoes & just piled them up on the pan. If you eat single servings, this meal is about 500 calories. Load up on raw veggies if you need more volume.

Leftover potential: Peas can be frozen in the freezer soup container. Should you have leftover fish, it can be reheated in the toaster oven to make fish sandwiches later. Potatoes can be added to soups, but not frozen first. They can also be tossed into omlettes or breakfast burritos.

Haus Egg McMuffins

Food Category: G-Rated, Bum Lovin'
Difficulty: Easy

If you need help working the griddle magic, here's a recipe for McMuffins. We are having these tonight because I bought English muffins yesterday at the Shoppette for 50% off & had everything else to make them on-hand.

I basically followed the above recipe with the following exceptions:

• 3-4 deli thin slices of ham lunch meat, instead of Canadian bacon
• extra sharp cheddar cheese
• one slice of heat & eat Oscar Mayer bacon

Laze-E & I had poached/grilled eggs while MiniMe had scrambled. I used my big can of Contadina crushed tomatoes from last night's minestrone for the egg mold for both types of eggs. For the poached/grilled eggs, I covered the can with foil to get some steam action going.

These Haus McMuffins are around 300 calories each, give or take, depending on these cheese. You could shave a few calories by using low fat/fat free cheese. Whole wheat muffins would be great but I haven't seen those here in Belgium.

I did look-up the nutritional value on a real Egg McMuffin & it's (surprisingly) 300 calories also. But the Haus brand taste better & are way cheaper, so why bother with the Golden Arches?

Leftover potential: I only make what we are going to eat, but should you have leftovers, they could probably hang in the fridge for a few days. Heat & eat for a quick & easy breakfast.

Minestrone with Tortellini

Food Category: PG, Bum Lovin, High-5
Difficulty: Easy

The minestrone soup I make is very similar to this recipe on Allrecipes. With the following exceptions:

• one medium onion
• chicken broth or granules in water, not just water
• large can of crushed tomatoes instead of sauce
• red wine is never optional
• add one can of Northern beans
• frozen green beans, not canned, and double the amount
• season with dried thyme, oregano & basil
• tri-color cheese tortellini instead of shell pasta
• & I don't spray anything with evoo, what's that all about anyway?

garnish with freshly grated parmigiano/reggiano & fresh basil

Leftover potential: This soup will hang in the fridge for a few days & should freeze well, although I never have. Just keep the pasta and the soup separate until ready to serve.

Pita Pizza

Food Category: G-Rated, Bum Lovin'

Difficulty: Easy

It's just the girls and I for a few nights, so simple it is. Tonight we built our pizzas on whole wheat pita bread, topped with Contadina bottled pizza sauce, grated mozzarella, a sprinkle of basil-garlic seasoning, leftover chicken meatballs (chopped w/o the buffalo sauce) and snipets of fresh basil.

Here's the link to my Pita Pizza Debut for cooking method.

Orange Chicken & Rice

Food Category: Easy, PG, High-5

Difficulty: Easy

Stir-Fry Fresh Veggies

Sautee sliced onion, snow peas & Napa cabbage (that's what I had in the fridge from the night we had Asian Salads) in evoo & remove from pan.

Orange Chicken

Cook according to package directions. I also added a few small pieces of the Tyson chicken strips the girls had for dinner.

Add back the stir-fried veggies & a package of microwave steamed veggies.

Serve with:

Rice made in the rice cooker.

All said and done the "quick" meal from the freezer ended up being almost as much work as cooking from scratch. The portions were very skimpy, the taste "just okay" & not really worth the expense ($4.29).

Next time, I'll make something more along the lines of this Tyson's Sweet & Sour recipe. I may even use cut up breaded chicken strips (or nuggets!) so that it's more like real take-out. It really depends on how much we need to watch calories that particular night.

Ok, so dinner wasn't anything to brag about, but breakfast was! Check out the pancakes MiniMe & I made this morning. We used a medicine syringe to make the faces & had a Spook-tacular time.

Potluck

How to thoroughly enjoy the Hispanic Heritage Potluck:

1. Repeat as necessary until totally satiated, but don't let that stop you from sampling tasty new menu items as they become available. Don't miss out on the empanadas, fried plantain, tacos & made while you wait guacamole.

2. Be prepared to wrestle with Mariachi Dude for that last bite of flan.

3. Kick back 3 Coronas super-duper quick (Man) so that no one else (HausFrau) can protest about being slammed with DD duty.

Chicken Club Wraps & Sweet Potato Fries

Food Category: PG, Bum Lovin'
Difficulty: Easy

Chicken Breasts

You can use any kind of chicken meat you want: leftover, Rotisserie, grilled, prepacked/precooked, lunch meat, etc. What I had available was 3 split chicken breasts, bone-in. I cooked them in the crockpot on high for 4 hours with:

2 celery ribs
1 carrot
1/4 onion
some all purpose chicken seasoning
2 rosemary sprigs

Clubs were assembled with:

Whole grain, low carb wrap
chicken
lettuce/spinach
sliced red onion
medium cheddar
dill pickles
bacon slices
sliced avocado
spicy mustard
low fat Ranch
snipped basil leaves
tomatoes, optional


Sweet Potato Oven Fries

peel potatoes & cut into thick steak fries
toss with olive oil
season with Essence
bake at 425F for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown

My buddy Paula Deen has this recipe if you need more guidance. I used Essence because that's what I had mixed up & ready to go -- didn't feel like mixing up House Seasoning.

This meal is loaded with the good stuff that is super-healthy. The only thing questionable is the bacon, and the Oscar Mayer precooked bacon is only 70 calories for 3 slices. Oh, and the cheese. Just go easy if you are looking for lower calorie.

Leftover potential: I have enough chicken leftover to make soup or chicken salad later in the week. I'm not sure how the sweet potatoes would re-heat, but they can be frozen and added to soups later.

Pork Gyros & Garlic Potatoes

Food Category: PG-13, bordering on Food Porn
Difficulty: Easy

Pork Gyros

• season thinly sliced pork loin with prepackaged Greek seasoning
• or a combination of: oregano, crushed garlic, salt & pepper, paprika, mint
• in a tiny bit of evoo, sautée one thinly sliced onion until tender crisp
• add pork and continue to stir fry until the meal begins to crisp
  

If you need the basics of cooking gyros, try this recipe.

The Rose's Garlic Potatoes

• wash, peel & thinly slice potatoes into circles
• deep fry until golden brown
• drain excess oil & season with salt or pommes frites seasoning (all purpose seasoned salt)
  
• top with fresh minced garlic & chopped parsley

Tzaziki

• line a colander with paper towels & place over a bowl
• place approx. 20 oz of low fat plain yogurt on the paper towels
• refrigerate for several hours to drain excess water from yogurt
• mix 3 parts drained yogurt with 1 part light sour cream
• crush 2 cloves of garlic & mix with a bit of salt to make a paste
• add paste to yogurt/sour cream
• finely grated 1/2 cucumber, and drain all excess liquid by squeezing between paper towels
• 2 splashes of red wine vinegar
• 1 splash of olive oil
• few shakes ground black pepper

If that is way too confusing for you, this looks like a decent alternate recipe. I don't know for sure, but I'm going out on a limb here and declaring it not as good as mine.

Salad

• mix of red tipped lettuce & spinach leaves
• sliced red onion
• cherry/grape tomatoes
• sliced Greek peppers
• Kalamata olives
• seasoned crumbled feta
• sliced cucumbers
• Greek salad dressing or other oil/vinegar dressing

Flat Bread

I used warm Naan bread because I can't find decent pita bread. Any kind of yummy flat bread would work great.

The Rose, located in Giebelstadt, Germany, is my absolute favorite restaurant in the World. For those of you who have eaten there, you know what I'm talking about. I've been on a mission for several years now to duplicate some of our favorite menu items.

So far, I've totally mastered the tzatziki & the garlic potatoes. If you are located in Germany, you can find frozen Bratkartoffeln at any store. Deep fry those. This is exactly what The Rose uses to make their food porn potatoes. If you must use real potatoes (like me) use small ones with a diameter no bigger than 2 inches.

My gyros tonight were made with pork loin that was packaged with gyros seasonings. Any commissary in Europe should carry them. It's the stir fry pork loin, gyro style w/onion. If you are in the States, you probably have lots of options for pulling this tasty meal together.

Just make sure that you take the time to drain off all excess water from both the yogurt & the cucumbers. Tzatziki is supposed to be very thick & creamy, not runny & watered down.

This meal is wonderful with an opening shot of Ouzo, followed by a medium Greek red wine. My favorite is Imiglikos. That's a #80 on The Rose's Menu.

If you want to lighten up this meal, skip the potatoes or make oven fries instead. The tzatziki is made with a low fat superfood, and you just can't go wrong with that. The salad is a bowl of total health & the pork is a lean white meat. Skip the bread or serve with the low fat, whole grain flat bread. This meal could be very Bum Lovin' under the right circumstances.

HausFrau Wisdom: To remove obnoxious odors (like onion & garlic) from your hands, rub them over a stainless steel sink or carefully along the flat side of a knife.

Leftover potential: Tossing leftover meat & tzatziki in with leftover salad makes a great entree salad for lunch. We never have leftover potatoes. If you do, you might want to seek counseling. Seriously.

The only way to add to my perfection would be if BB Lady would come over tonight locked and loaded with a warm pan of baklava for dessert.

That's a hint. We are all awaiting your recipe over on Strudel.

Asian Salad

Food Category: PG, Bum Lovin', High-5
Difficulty: Easy

Here's my first official repeat with Asian Salad with Tuna

This time the salads were made with:

• red tipped lettuce
• Napa cabbage
• sugar snap peas
• shredded carrots
• chopped red onion
• sliced cucumbers
• pineapple chunks
• Sweet & Spicy Starkist Tuna
• rice noodles
• a drizzle of teriyaki garlic sauce
• Newman's Own Low Fat Sesame Ginger Dressing

And, we had smoothies for dessert:

• frozen chunks of bananas & pineapple
• frozen whole strawberries
• mixed with just enough orange juice & skim milk to blend

I made Chex Party Mix in the crockpot yesterday & it turned out great - so great that it's all gone today. There are lots of great recipes at the Chex Website if you need inspiration.

For this mix, I used wheat, rice & corn Chex, oyster crackers and broken stick pretzels, packet of Ranch seasoning mix, several generous shakes of parmesean cheese, a bit of seasoning salt & just enough butter & olive oil to coat the mix, probably about 1/4 cup total.


Melt the butter in the microwave, mix in the oil & seasoning, then pour over the cereal mix (already in the crockpot). Stir to evenly distribute the butter & cook on high for 15-20 minutes or until the cereal starts to warm up. Switch to low for about 2 hours, keep uncovered. Stir occasionally & sample often.

Have the kids make some for your next get-together. It's really, really good served warm right out of the crockpot.

Buffalo Chicken Meatballs

Food Category: PG, Bum Lovin'
Difficulty: Easy

Buffalo Chicken Meatballs

I followed Rachel Ray's recipe.

Except: I used ground chicken (not ground chicken breast) because that's what I can find here. If you can find ground chicken breast, use that -- it's lower calorie/fat. I sprinkled in some paprika, cayenne & dry mustard for extra flavor & only used a fraction of the butter in the sauce. Also, I cooked the meatballs on the stove top in a tiny bit of olive oil because I had potatoes in the oven.

Meatballs were shaped using the medium Pampered Chef scoop. 2.5 lbs of meat made 40 meatballs - plenty for leftovers.

Oven Fries

Peel & cut potatoes into thick fries
toss with olive oil
season with salt, pepper & pommes frites (or all purpose) seasoning
Bake @ 450F for 20-30 mins until golden brown, turn frequently

Serve with:

carrot/celery sticks & cucumber slices
Low Fat Ranch or Bleu Cheese dressing


Leftover potential: Extra meatballs can be stored for a bit in the fridge, or freeze them for a quick meal later on. Meatballs (with/without the buffalo sauce) can also be added to soups or find their way into spaghetti. Leftover potatoes can be added to omlettes.

Sandwiches

Monday, 13 October 2008

Back to reality at the Rockin'Bauer Haus. We arrived back in Brussels around 3:30pm & it took a long time to unload the Pilot. I didn't do hard core grocery shopping, but I did buy enough so that I won't have to make the trip to the commissary before November. The fewer trips, the better.

Technically, it was a YoYo night, but everyone decided on sandwiches.

Chili's

Sunday, 12 October 2008

We had dinner at Chili's on Ramstein. For once, the service was not terrible & the food, not 1/2 bad.

Man ordered the steak quesadillas, I had the quesadilla explosion salad, MiniMe had baked potato soup & Laze-E had the Texas fries.

Tex-Mex

Saturday, 11 October 2008

We had dinner out at a Mexican Cantina in the Kaiserslautern area. Hands down, they serve the best Tex-Mex in Europe.

Between the four of us, we ate: a very large burrito, flautas, tacos, nachos, beans & rice.

No pictures, but you know what that stuff looks like!

Schnitzel und Rumpsteak

Friday, 10 October 2008

As promised, we made the voyage to Germany and ate our way through the weekend. We had dinner at a great restaurant in the Bitburg area.

Hey, I'm just happy that someone else is doing the cooking & dishes.

I think Man is just enjoying the Bitburger Pils.

The salad was totally awesome. I ate mine & Laze-E's.

The girls ate Wiener Schnitzel and Pommes Frites.

It was a tough call, but I finally decided on Jägerschnitzel & Bratkartofflen.

Man ordered the Rumpsteak with pan fried onions.
And a second Pils.

Laze-E had no problem finishing off her ice cream. Salad? No. Dessert? Yes.

Yo-Yo

Which is Rockin'Bauer slang for "you're on your own".

3 of us had HotPockets & the littlest one had PB&J.

We are going to Germany tomorrow, so I will definitely have more excitement to report for tomorrow's dinner.

I'm thinking Schnitzel . . .

Stir Fry Chicken & Veggies

Food Category: PG, Bum Lovin', High-5
Difficulty: Easy

Stir Fry Chicken

marinate 2 chicken breasts in soy sauce
cut into tiny bite size pieces
stir fry in olive/canola oil
season with teriyaki garlic sauce
remove from pan, set aside

Stir Fry Veggies

stir fry broccoli florets & sliced carrots in oil
remove from pan

stir fry frozen Mandarin veggies in oil
when cooked, toss back in the broccoli & carrots
season with teriyaki garlic & soy sauce

Rice

plain old white rice cooked in the rice cooker

Leftover potential: Straight-up leftovers for later in the week. Extra meat & veggies can be frozen & added to soups later. Leftover rice can be re-invented into fried rice w/meat, veggies & scrambled eggs.

Patty Melts

Food Category: PG
Difficulty: Easy

Patty Melt Sandwiches

lean ground beef patties, pan cooked
topped with sauteed onions
provolone cheese
piled onto griddle-toasted wheat bread

Served with side salad, carrot sticks and potato chips.

I'm still on a mission to use up food in the freezer & not make a commissary trip until sometime next week, maybe even later.

Leftover potential: I'm making just enough for tonight. Extra meat & onions can make sandwiches for another meal, be frozen for soup, be used as pizza toppings, make a breakfast burrito & be tossed into spaghetti.

Crispy Chicken Salads

Food Category: PG, High-5, Bum Lovin'

Difficulty: Easy

Crispy Chicken

Tyson's Crispy Chicken Strips,

baked in the oven until crispy

When cripsy, cut into chunks &

toss on the salad greens.

Salad

• lettuce
• shredded carrots
• radishes
• cucumbers
• real bacon bits
• chopped boiled eggs
• tomatoes (for Man only!)
• croutons

Honey Mustard Dressing

Mix together until it looks/tastes right:

• Lite Ranch dressing
• spicy mustard
• honey
• pepper
• sprinkle of onion/garlic powder/dry mustard
• chopped fresh parsley (optional)

This meal is quick and easy & only 600-800 calories depending on how much of the bad good stuff you add to the veggies. I'm all out of fresh spinach or I would have mixed 1/2 lettuce, 1/2 spinach. Grated cheddar cheese is also good with this salad, but we don't have any. It's been over 3 weeks since my last commissary trip & I'm not going this week either.

Leftover potential: The dressing will hang in the fridge for a while & extra chicken can be reheated in the toaster oven.

Leftovers

Dinner was crazy-exciting around the Haus tonight. Straight-up leftovers with no embellishment whatsoever.

Man & I had leftover meatloaf, mashed potatoes & broccoli/carrots, all of which was nuked to perfection.

The girls had Pita Pizza again tonight, made in the toaster oven.

Dessert was wonderful though . . .

Check out Laze-E's Iced Pumpkin Cookie recipe over at Not Just Strudel.

Pita Pizza

Food Category: PG, Bum Lovin', High-5
Difficulty: Easy

This one is dedicated to all the working mamas who are too darned tired to cook after work. Have the kinder assemble their own pizzas & serve on paperplates.

Pita Bread Pizza

whole wheat pita bread

topped with:

• crushed tomatoes, seasoned with oregano, basil, garlic
• mozzarella & parmesean
• ham
• fresh snipped basil (toss on when pizza comes out of the oven)

Side Salad

• lettuce
• shredded carrots
• cucumbers
• tomatoes (for Man only!)
• Newman's Own Light Balsalmic Vinaigrette

Preheat oven & baking stone to 400F. Assemble pizza & place onto hot stone (the stone keeps the bottom crust from being undercooked & soggy). Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the cheese is golden & bubbly.

The pizzas can also be cooked in a preheated toaster oven.

I've also made these with various kinds of whole wheat flat bread with great results.

This meal is totally diet friendly & healthy. Enjoy!

Leftover potential: I never have any because I make "just enough". Should you have leftover pizza, encourage kinder to eat it cold out of the fridge, it's way less effort on your part.

Fillet of Fish

Food Category: G-Rated, High-5, Bum Lovin'
Difficulty: Easy

Fish

Totally out of the box Gorton's:

• Garlic & Herb Crunchy Breaded Fillets
• Garlic Butter Grilled Fillets

Tartar Sauce

• Light Miracle Whip and/or Light Mayo
• dill pickle relish
• lemon juice
• finely grated onion
• pepper & lemon herb seasoning

Oven Fried Potato Wedges

• sliced unpeeled potatoes into skinny wedges
• toss with evoo & season with salt, pepper, garlic & onion powder, seasoned salt or pommes frites seasoning
• bake at 400F for 20-30 mins, turning frequently until desired crispness

Broccoli & Carrots (both fresh & steamed in microwave)

I don't measure anything when making the Tartar Sauce. Just throw ingredients together until it looks/tastes good. However you mix it up, it will taste mucho better than the kind in the jar.

To speed up the baking time for the potatoes, place unseasoned potato wedges in a microwave safe bowl & cover with plastic wrap. Microwave on high for a few minutes. This little bit of precooking will pull a lot of the water out of the potatoes. Don't overcook potatoes in the microwave - you want the potatoes to still be "hard" to the touch - just with less water. Drain water, pat potatoes dry with papertowels. Then add olive oil and seasoning & bake in the oven. These potatoes are really good sprinkled with parmesean cheese right before serving.

For a healthy dessert:

Orange-Pineapple-Banana Smoothies

• frozen bananas (peel and freeze in chunks)
• frozen pineapple (freeze either fresh or canned - reserve the juice)
• 1 orange, zest first, then peel & remove seeds

Blend orange zest & whole orange with just enough skim milk, orange juice or pineapple juice to get the blender going & pulverize the orange. Add frozen fruits & more liquid. Again, just enough liquid to keep the blender going. You may have to stop frequently and spoon the frozen masses down to the blades & add small amounts of juice or milk.

You want the smoothies so thick that you have to spoon them out of the blender & eat with a spoon (not straw!).

Hello, my name is HausFrau and I am hell on blenders, but I make awesome smoothies.

The fruits & veggies & grilled fish are all totally bum lovin'. If you are dieting, just be careful with the breaded fish, the potatoes & tartar sauce.

Leftover potential: Tartar sauce will keep in the fridge for a few days. Straight-up leftovers are an option. Potatoes can be added to omlettes. Veggies can be frozen for soups later. Fish can be used to make fish sandwiches for lunch. Leftover smoothies are yuck -- so bottoms up!

Meatloaf & Mushroom Gravy

Food Category: PG, Southern Comfort
Difficulty: Easy

If you are searching for schnitzel with a mushroom gravy, here's my recipe & method for Jaegerschnitzel.

Meatloaf

2 lbs ground sirloin, extra lean
one finely chopped onion
1 cup old fashioned oats
2 medium eggs
1/2 c skim milk
season with: Worcestershire & steak sauce, salt, pepper, onion & garlic powder

Here is a basic meatloaf recipe if you need one.

Mushroom Gravy

slice package of mushrooms
cook in a non-stick skillet with evoo & butter
once most of the liquid is cooked off, add a splash or three of red wine
(make it worth the effort of popping the cork)
reduce wine by half
packet of brown gravy + 1 cup cold water, add to mushrooms
cook until thickened

Prinzessin Bohnen - Princess Green Beans

cook 2-3 slices of chopped bacon (center cut, reduced fat) until fat is rendered
add one clove fresh garlic, minced
add fresh (or frozen) whole green beans
add a little water if needed
stirfry/sautee until done
season with salt & pepper

If the green beans get a little "blackened" in the cooking process, that's okay. They always look like that at the German restaurants.

Serve with:

Mashed Potatoes
Pillsbury Frozen Dinner Rolls

I realize that most meatloaf recipes strictly forbid using lean meat as not to produce a dry product. Since moist=fat, a little dry is okay with me. That's what the gravy is for.

Oatmeal is one of those SuperFoods that we should all eat more of because of the fiber and cholesterol reducing properties. I know that SuperFood integrity is probably not totally maintained when added to red meat, but it's better than using worthless white fiberless crackers or bread crumbs as a binding agent.

You can brush a ketchup glaze onto the meatloaf. I don't because Laze-E won't touch it if I do & it's not that big of a taste issue. Again, that's what the gravy is for.

Meatloaf can be cooked in the crockpot. 2 lbs of meat can cook for 8-10 hours on low. I would add some beef broth if using a leaner meat.

Nothing in this meal is difficult to make, just time consuming and definitely makes for some dirty dishes. If you are going to all this trouble, make enough to have leftovers for at least a whole other meal. Cook once, eat twice . . . or thrice.

Leftover potential: straight-up leftovers out of the fridge or meatloaf, potatoes & beans can be frozen - either for a complete meal or for a future soup. Gravy usually can be frozen, but I'm not sure how the mushrooms would fair. I wouldn't.

Leftovers

Food Category: Leftovers, Junk Food, PG & G-Rated
Difficulty: Easy

Leftover Enchiladas & Rice

I had enough leftover from the other night for 2 people.

Frozen Chicken Nuggets & Lipton Alfredo Pasta Side

This was enough food for 2 people

Side Salad: lettuce, cucumbers, radishes, carrots, croutons

Although I started out with grand dinner plans, I just couldn't work the magic tonight. I have had a nagging headache all day, and it was raging by afternoon. Quick and easy was the best I could do.

My advice is to always have something on hand that can be thrown together for a quick meal. Frozen pizza, chicken strips or straight-up leftovers. Regardless of how bad the nutritional info on the prepackaged junk, it's probably better than most take-out food & most likely cheaper.

Leftover potential: Not really. Unless there are a few leftover nuggets that can be tossed in to tomorrow's school lunch box or used for a snack later.