Wednesday, October 26, 2011

baked potato soup-healthified

oh my, people. do i have a bowl of fall for you to try! every spoon full i ate of this deliciousness made me fall more and more in love with it and with the weather for being chilly enough for me to eat it. sooo good. also, it's from this blog which is all about low-cal and healthy foods, so that is an added bonus. honestly, though, if i didn't know it was low-cal, i would have been putting on my fat pants because it tastes like added pounds to the thighs. but it's not** score!


you need:
2 potatoes
1 small head cauliflower
1 can (or 1.5 cups) fat free chicken broth
1.5 cups milk
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup sour cream
cheese, bacon, and green onions for topping

cook the potatoes in the microwave for 5 minutes on high. turn them over, and cook for another 5 minutes or until tender (or you can bake them. or put them in the crock-pot all day. you choose)
while potatoes are cooking, cut cauliflower into florets and steam until soft.
when potatoes are tender, peel them and cut them in half.
in a blender or food processer (she says use an immersion blender. whatever that is), combine potatoes, cauliflower, milk, and chicken broth. mix until smooth.
return potato mixture to a sauce-pan, add sour cream and s&p, and heat until boiling. once it boils, turn it to low and simmer for 5ish minutes.

top with your heart's desired amount of cheese, bacon, onion. 

**obviously if you want it low-cal you need to use fat free or light sour cream, skim or 1% milk, and fat free chicken broth. and probably don't put cheese to your heart's content (i'll take 1 cup per bowl, thank you).

happy fall eating!

Monday, October 24, 2011

meal plan monday

very excited about this week's menu! lots of new recipes :)

monday: chicken fajitas

tuesday: baked potato soup

wednesday: french dip sandwiches

thursday: grilled chicken and crock-pot "baked" potatoes

friday: family halloween party!

saturday: pork barbacoa

sunday: spinach lasagna

Saturday, October 22, 2011

dinner in a pumpkin, or...

...pumpking brains. or goblin guts. or whatever you want to call it.

with halloween only a week away, this goodness has been on my mind. you can be sure that if you stop by on october 31st, you will find us eating this.

the funny thing is, my husband and i both grew up eating this on halloween. when we asked our mom's for the recipe, we got different versions. both are similar and delish, and here is the combination of the two. it may sound random, but it is delish. i know it doesn't look too appetizing, but i promise it is!
don't knock it 'til you try it!

ingredients:
1 medium punkin--cleaned out
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 C. chopped onion (i just use dehydrated onion)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 can mushrooms
1 1/2 C. cooked rice
1 can sliced water chestnuts, drained (i will NOT be adding these)
and this isn't on the recipe, but i think i am going to throw in some peas because i love them

brown the hamburger with the onion and then mix with soup, brown sugar, soy sauce, and mushrooms. simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. add cooked rice and water chestnuts (if you're really gross enough to like them). put the entire mixture into a cleaned-out punkin. put the top/lid back on the punkin, place on baking sheet, and bake at 350* for 1-2 hours or until "meat" of punkin is soft.

my husband likes to scrap the pumpkin off the insides and eat it with the mixture, but i like it just fine without the punkin guts. you choose.
happy booking! (a ghost's version of cooking).

okay. that was lame. pretend i didn't say that.