Quick and Easy Lower Carb Dinners

My husband's reached the point in hie diet where he can start adding in some whole grain carbs so I'm trying to introduce them slowly. I made two dinners in that vein and I'd like to share them with you. Tuesday, I made a veggie-packed tomato sauce with all meat meatballs. Sautee up some chopped bell pepper, half an onion diced, 2 cloves of garlic, smashed and chopped and a can of diced tomatoes (with or without Italian seasoning.) I added a half cup of pureed pumpkin I had made over the weekend, plus half a cup of leftover vegetarian spaghetti sauce from the freezer. I added some frozen meatballs to the sauce and let that all simmer while the water boiled for the whole grain pasta. When the pasta was cooked I drained it quickly and served the kids pasta and sauce, hubby got the meatballs and sauce over wilted spinach and I ate mine with pasta, wilted spinach and sauce over all. I also steamed a large bunch of asparagus to serve as a side dish. The next day I still had pasta leftover and asparagus, so I decided to make a "Hamburger Helper" type recipe using them. I chopped up one whole orange bell pepper, half an onion and 2 cloves of garlic and cooked them in olive oil. I added 1 pound of ground turkey meat when the veggies had gotten soft and seasoned the meat with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. I let the meat cook while I whipped up a quick cheese sauce. In a separate pan I made a quick roux and thinned it with milk. I added about 1 cup of shredded cheese (I used a 5 cheese blend) to the pan and stirred and melted it in. I added 1/3 C of my leftover carrot soup to the cheese sauce, just to add some orange color and nutrition. I chopped the asparagus into bite sized pieces and added it to the meat and veggies in the pan. When that was heated through I added the leftover pasta and the cheese sauce overall and stirred it together. Dinner was ready to serve in big bowls, some lovely orange and green veggies, whole wheat pasta, lean protein and calcium all on one dish.

Tasty Tuesday: meatloaf, rice, steamed asparagus

I came to a realization tonight; we are no longer a 1 pound meatloaf family. In the past when it was just me and the hubby and then when the kids were small I used the same recipe for a meat loaf I always have, 1 pound of meat, plus enough eggs, oatmeal, peppers and onions to make it tasty. This was always a sufficient amount with enough for leftovers the next day, provided I served enough veggies on the side anyhow.

Tonight we wiped out that meatloaf. I guess to insure leftovers I need to make a 2 pound meatloaf. Which means rejiggering my recipe somewhat, but at least it will all still fit in my baking pan. When I make meatloaves I usually make 2-3 at a time and the portion them by weight into foil lined baking pans. I wrap them and freeze them and then pop them out of their baking pans like ice from an ice cube tray so I can use my pans in the mean time for baking bread. When I am ready to make the meatloaves I do one of two things, either pop them back in the pan to defrost in the refrigerator all day (preferred method) or I painstakingly peel every bit of foil from them and defrost them in the microwave and then put them in the pan and bake them.

I also made a package of broccoli cheese rice/pasta mix. It is sold in bags on the rice and pasta aisle and cooks in 7 minutes, the asparagus I simply snapped the ends, drizzled them with olive oil and salt and and steamed them with a scant amount of water for about 5 minutes. Let's just say my energy level took a big dip today and I wasn't quite ready to shuck and cut off the cob 4-5 ears of corn.

I have been thinking today about families who face the very real danger of food insecurity; people, our friends and neighbors who literally do not know where their next meal is coming from. Every time we say grace at the table I send a silent prayer to the God of my understanding to protect those people. I also donate regularly to the Food Bank in my town and I encourage you to do the same. It is so hard to concentrate in school when you're hungry, it is hard to seek work, it is hard to love one another when you can't remember the last time you had a full meal. Get involved! There are so many wonderful organizations out there.

Feeding America is a great one, I worked with them in High School when they were still known as America's Second Harvest. There are lots of good charities out there. And get your family involved. When you serve a simpler or even vegetarian meal, take the money you've saved from making a more complex meal and plop it in a bowl right in the middle of the table. Explain to the kdis where that money is going. My daughters' religious education classes make regular contributions to the church food pantry. Every week I let them select something THEY like to eat to contribute. It brings it home to them; "Maybe some other little kid will like this cereal!" If you had enough to feed your kids tonight, then please also feed your spirit by making a contribution! Thank you!

“Lord, to those who hunger, give bread. And to those who have bread, give the hunger for justice." -- a Latin American prayer

Fish Friday: Cobia Wrapped in Bacon

This one goes out to my friend, Katie Collins, who believes deeply and spiritually in the healing power of bacon.

Dry the fillets with paper towels. Season the cobia fillets all over with pepper and lemon zest. Wrap the fillets in overlapping rashers of bacon. Heat a heavy bottomed skillet on the stove. Place the fillets in the pan and brown and crisp the bacon, then flip. Put the pan in the oven at 400 degrees for 8-12 minutes (depending on thickness of fillets). You can use toothpicks to keep the bacon on if you need to, but take care not to pierce the fish. Fish is done when it is opaque and flakes easily with a fork.

Served this with steamed broccoli, whichu made me realize I am the luckiest woman on earth, as my kids actually CHEERED at the thought of having more broccoli. If you still had say, some asparagus, leftover you could steam it, season it with sea salt and serve with a simple dressing of mayo thinned with lemon juice and a few capers stirred in it. Very good and easy recipe I got from my Mother in law.

Have a great weekend everyone!

At my MIL's house, steak and asparagus

My in-law's are big on steak, and I love them for it. 1 rib-eye at their house can easily feed me, my husband and one of our kids. They also do an incredibly simple seasoning and marinade routine that I think everyone should know about.

Season steaks all over with Montreal Steak Seasoning Blend, then marinate the steaks in half Worcestershire sauce and half soy sauce. Turn the steaks half way through whatever marinating time you have as little as an hour even, though these are really great the longer you marinate them. I think I accidentally marinated them for 2 days once and they were delectable!

So the steaks were seared in a hot pan and cooked on the stove-top and were great, as usual. The real star of the show was this new asparagus recipe my MIL wanted me to try and make. She got it from Pier 1 and it called for some ingredients that come from the Pier 1 store. Well, we didn't have any of the ingredients, so here is the recipe with notes on what I subbed in for the missing stuff.

Grilled Asparagus

1 bag of Pier 1 Apple Cider (yield 2 cups) -- I used 2 C apple juice
1/3 C Pier 1 Apricots in White Vinegar (use a few pieces of apricot) -- I used my MIL's homemade pickled peaches
1/4 C fresh squeezed orange juice -- I used 2 rounded tablespoons of OJ concentrate
1 TB fresh thyme chopped -- I used 1 tsp of dried ground thyme
3 TB sugar
1 TB salt
1 tsp pepper
32 stalks of asparagus (are you KIDDING me? I used 2 packages that totaled about 2 pounds. Who has time to COUNT asparagus??)
Oil to coat
Garnish with organic baby greens, feta (we used bleu cheese) and orange segments (didn't have any, skipped it.)

Make apple cider with 2 C of water, let steep for 10 minutes. (I put the juice right in the blender.) In blender combine cider, vinegar with apricots (vinegar with peaches), OJ, thyme, salt, sugar, and pepper. Puree and reserve. Grill asparagus for desired amount of tenderness (4-5 minutes). (I cooked my asparagus on the stove top in olive oil and butter with a dash of coarse grained salt.) Place on serving tray and pour vinaigrette over them, garnish with greens cheese and orange.

These were possibly my favorite asparagus of all time and I LOVE asparagus. They are so tasty and awesome it is worth having funny smelling pee later. The lovely little mesclun salad on top with the creamy, dreamy bleu cheese was a wonderful combination of tastes, textures and temperatures. I literally could not get enough of the stuff. I did not pour the dressing over all as I like to let people add their dressing to taste, so I think you could safely halve this recipe and have plenty to put a few tablespoons over each portion. As it is we had lots of leftovers, but we are going to put it in the fridge for a salad tomorrow. What a treat! A great new side-dish for dinner and freshly made salad dressing for the next day! SCORE!

****If I were doing a vegetarian meal with this, I'd pair the asparagus salad with a nice warm rice pilaf and some crusty bread and call it a day!! ****