Tuna Sandwiches & Soup

Ok, folks, I think I'm back. Not full-force HausFrau, but back nonetheless. We are happily living in the new Haus in Virginia with the bare minimum of everything - including kitchenwares. Currently, my kitchen utensils include:

one big pot, one little pot, one sautee pan
spatulas & serving spoons
2 decent knives
cutting board
metal bakesheet & large stoneware bar board
grater, strainer
few pieces of plastic storage containers w/lids
2 sizes of Ziplocks

What I am missing that I should have thought of . . . vegetable peeler, can opener & corkscrew.

Yep, I'm subsisting on screwtop individual bottles of wine.

Not only is the kitchen mostly bare, Man is in class for the next 4 weeks at Belvoir & I have to play taxi service (both AM & PM). Obviously, there's preciously little time for cooking & working the magic. So, for the next month, our dinners will be as simple as possible.

Tonight's meal (right after I borrow a can opener from one of my uber-nice neighbors):

Tuna Salad Sandwiches on Whole Wheat Bread

albacore tuna, celery, apple, eggs, red onion, Kosher dill pickles, Miracle Whip & pepper

Served with:

celery & carrot sticks, cucumber slices
chips
canned soup: choice of beef or chicken (I loaded up a Costco last week)

I also found some awesome raspberry/vanilla swirled gelato & we will be having that for dessert.

Pasta with Pesto & Shrimp

Food Category: PG, Bum Lovin'
Difficulty: Easy

Boil whole grained pasta according to package directions. Once cooked & rinsed, toss with pesto sauce.

Serve with shrimp. Sautee 1/4 cup chopped onion & 5 slices of center cut bacon. Drain the fat. Sautee raw (peeled, tail on) shrimp in a bit of evoo & add back the bacon & onion. Season with basil, salt & pepper.

Side dish: frozen, nuke-in-the-bag mixed veggies (corn, baby carrots, asparagus) and green beans.

Stir Fry Veggies & Rice

I've been so far behind that I am posting this just so I can have it on record -- for when I run out of meal ideas!

Stir Fry in evoo: shredded cabbage, carrots, bean sprouts, onion & pineapple. Season with soy sauce & sweet chili sauce. Add leftover Sticky Chicken.

Serve with Jasmine rice.

Chicken Club Salads

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

The good stuff:

lettuce
shredded carrots
sliced cucumbers
radishes
avocados
chopped leftover Sticky Chicken breast.

The really good stuff:

2 slices center cut bacon
1/2 serving grated cheddar
1 boiled egg
croutons
fat free 1000 Island dressing

Beef Enchiladas

Food Category: PG, Bum Lovin'

Difficulty: Easy

Yesterday, I noticed that I had defrosted some beef but failed to do anything with it. So, I cooked it & socked it in the fridge for tonight. Any kind of leftover beef (roast beef, brisket, etc) would be great for these enchiladas -- just add the right seasonings: cumin, chili powder, paprika, smoky sweet pepper, cayenne & salt. I used 1/2 tsp each to season to beef loin steaks.

Sear the meat on both sides, then reduce heat to very low & cook with a splash of red wine or beef broth, chopped onion & crushed garlic until the meat is very tender. You could also use the crockpot. When the meat is cooked, chop & add pan juices. Either use immediately, or refrigerate or freeze for later use.

Assemble the enchiladas:

Fill whole wheat flour tortilla with the chopped/shredded beef, grated cheese (cheddar/jack) & sauteed 1/2 onion & tri-color peppers (about 1/3 of each).

Place into a 9X13 baker on top of enchilada sauce. This particular red sauce is a mixture of crushed tomatoes (still had some hanging in the fridge from pizza night) & the same seasonings I put into the meat.

Top with canned enchilada sauce (I also mixed in the rest of the crushed tomatoes) & grated cheese. Cover with aluminum foil & pop into a preheated oven - 400F.

Bake covered for 20-30 minutes, until cheese is bubbly. Uncover & continue to cook until the cheese begins to brown.

Serve with a side salad: lettuce, shredded carrots, cucumbers, Catalina dressing & Fritos.

I'm calling this meal Bum Lovin' only if you use whole wheat tortillas, drain the fat off the meat, use cheese sparingly & load up on salad (with fat free dressing). One enchilada and a salad is more than filling. But, I ate another 1/2 of one just for flavor's sake.

Leftover potential: The salad won't keep, but the enchiladas will be fine in the fridge for a few days. Microwave on medium power to reheat.

Leftovers

For dinner we had leftover chili, grilled cheese sandwiches & raw veggies with Ranch dip. While I didn't actually "cook" dinner, I did make muffins before I went to "work" this morning. Yes, I do have a food porn banana bread recipe, made with a cup of butter, white flour & lots of sugar. I'll save that one for Not Just Strudel. This particular muffin recipe is definitely the healthier, lower fat version.

Whole Wheat Banana Muffins

Sift together & set aside:

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/4 cup wheat germ
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4-1/2 teaspoon each: cinnamon, ground cloves, nutmeg

In a separate bowl, cream together with an electric mixer:

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup pack Splenda Blend - brown sugar

Then:

• Add 2 eggs & beat until smooth
• Mix in 4 über-ripe bananas (I leave mine a little on the chunky side)
• Stir in 1/2 cup applesauce

Gentle stir dry & moist ingredients together just enough to incorporate the flour mixture.

Fill lined muffin cups about 3/4 full. Bake in a preheated oven at 350F for 20-25 minutes (or until passes the Toothpick Test). Makes 16 muffins.

Teriyaki Chicken & Stir Fry Veggies

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

Stir Fry Teriyaki Chicken

• Marinate 3-4 servings of chicken breasts in Teriyaki-Garlic sauce for 3-4 hours.
• Slice chicken into thin strips & pat dry with paper towels.
• Sprinkle with ground ginger.
• Stir fry with evoo over medium-high heat with thin slices of onion & one garlic clove.
• At the very end of the cooking process, season with Teriyaki sauce, sesame oil, salt & pepper.
• Once chicken is browned, remove from pan, cover to keep warm & set aside.

Stir Fry Veggies: Zucchini, Carrots, Sugar Snap Peas

• Slice one large zucchini into half-moons.
• Sautee in evoo until tender crisp.
• Season with sesame oil, soy sauce, salt & pepper.
• Remove zucchini from pan & set aside.
• Add more evoo to the pan & sautee sliced carrots until about half cooked.
• Add sugar snap peas & continue to cook both the carrots & peas until tender crisp.
• At the end of the cooking process, season with sesame oil, soy sauce, Teriyaki/garlic sauce, salt & pepper.

Serve with rice cooked in the rice cooker.



Leftover potential: Straight-up leftovers work. Also, everything will keep well in the fridge for a few days. You can stir fry the whole kit & kaboodle to make fried rice. Veggies & chicken can be frozen and later added to soup.

Shrimp & Pasta

Food Category: Bum Lovin', PG

Difficulty: Easy

Garlic Pasta

Cook Barilla Plus Thin Spaghetti according to package directions. When cooked, rinse under cold water to stop the cooking process & prevent pasta from sticking.

Toss pasta back into pan with 2 large crushed cloves of garlic (don't cook) & evoo. Season with sprinkles of salt, oregano, basil & a tad of ground cayenne pepper.

You could just stop right here. My kids could live off garlic pasta without complaint.

Or you could add the shrimp . . .

Gorton's Shrimp Temptations, Shrimp Scampi: cook according to package directions. I add more shrimp (uncooked, tail on) because the Kinder have wised up. I tell you, it's a sad, sad day when children decide to like shrimp. It's almost as bad as when they figure out that chicken legs are not the most desirable part of the bird. Or that hotdogs pale in comparison to ribeye.

Don't be afraid of the scampi. It's only 120 calories per serving.

Served with frozen broccoli, microwaved to perfection.

Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bon appetite!

Leftover potential: All of this will hang in the fridge for a few days. Makes a great lunch for during the week. Extra broccoli can be frozen and later added to soups.

Honey Mustard Grilled Chicken Sandwiches

Food Category: Bum Lovin', PG
Difficulty: Easy

Chicken Sandwiches:

I used 2 frozen chicken breasts (they were huge) that I cut in half crosswise while partially still frozen. I ended up with 4 thin chicken filets about the size of the bread. Season with garlic & onion powder, pepper & all purpose chicken seasoning. Let the chicken marinate in the dry rub for about 30 minutes.

Pan grill the chicken in a bit of evoo. Baste with a honey-mustard mixture (half honey, half spicy mustard). Remove from heat & set aside until ready to assemble the sandwiches.

I toasted the bread on a stove-top pan grill.

Sandwiches were assembled with:

lettuce

sliced Kosher dill pickles

sliced red onion

3 slices Oscar Mayer precooked bacon (70 calories, lots of flavor)

Miracle Whip

honey-mustard chicken breast

Served with:

Thick cut oven fries.

Here's the white bread, white potato version:

And, the healthier, whole wheat & sweet potato version:

With sweet potato fries as a side, you can easily get 3 veggie servings (one for the lettuce & 2 for the fries).

Here's a recipe & cooking method for garlic oven fries. My only suggestion would be to definitely cook the potatoes on parchment paper to prevent sticking. Other than that, I think I'll give these a try soon. Just like mine, only better because of the garlic!

Again, here's Paula's sweet potato fries recipe.

Wine & Cheese or Tuna Sandwiches

Food Category: Bum Lovin', PG-13 (because of the rotwein)
Difficulty: SuperEasy

This is HausFrau's favorite go-to meal for no fuss, no mess.

Whole grains, calcium, good fat, heart healthy red wine . . . eat & repeat.

Others in my family had tuna sandwiches with leftovers from lunch. I make my tuna with:

• Solid white albacore or chunk light Starkist (the big can)
• chopped celery ribs with leaves
• finely chopped red onion
• 2 chopped boiled eggs
• chopped Kosher dill pickles
• 1/2 chopped red apple
• Miracle Whip -- the bare minimum needed to hold it all together
• pepper, lemon herbed seasoning, fresh parsley

Served preferrably on whole wheat. Certain family members prefer worthless white (Man, Laze-E).

Sandwiches

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

Plain old sandwiches & chips for dinner. Browned turkey, pepper jack, red tipped lettuce, sliced Kosher dill pickles on whole wheat. Served with Cool Ranch Doritos, Funyuns, cucumber slices, carrot sticks & dill/sweet pickle spears.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.