Marinated meats - going back to work

Edit: I have been back at work for a month, and it has been crazy to say the least. I forgot to add the recipes and post this, so I'm posting now! 

Next week I will be entering back into the formal workplace. So I've been cooking up a storm! Well, not so much cooking as prepping and freezing. Batch cooking and freezer cooking are one of my favorite ways to stay on plan during the week, especially when I've got a little one who will be needing some mommy time when we get home. I'm sure as we have more kids and those kids grow up, we will have practices and competitions to go to so I will depend more and more on the good quality food I have prepared for our freezer. 

One of my favourites for the freezer is marinated meat, especially chicken. We've tried a few steak marinades but in all honesty if we are having the treat of a steak we tend to like it as is. Chicken and pork on the other hand, we have a lot more often and cooking them plain can get old fast. We buy pork at costco in the large loins and remove the fat before chopping up into roasts, chops and chunks.  I watch at costco and other grocery stores for chicken to go on sale. Freezing them in marinades keeps the meat from getting freezer burned, plus it adds a ton of flavour without adding a ton of points. Here are the ones I made this week, but note that I have never tried the creamy Greek or coconut lime before, so I can't say how they will taste! We love the tandoori chicken (even Steven who isn't a big curry fan) and the regular Greek! 

Tandoori Chicken 

(Adapted from "Not Your Mothers Make Ahead and Freeze Cookbook) 

* used fat free Greek yogurt, little less oil. 

Creamy Greek Chicken 

Coconut Lime Chicken 

Coconut milk is not a power food, so use light and count a few points for it (or not... I find marinades tricky to count points with). 

Greek marinade (pork or chicken) 

Miracle Cauliflower - "Cream" soups and Alfredo sauce

My first foray into cooking with cauliflower other than eating it steamed or baked came in the form of a mashed potato substitute. It works... Kind of. The best results I had with it was when I added half mashed potatoes and half cauliflower. But I wasn't fooling anyone. It was still mashed cauliflower. 

Recently I came across this recipe http://www.healthfulpursuit.com/2013/01/grain-free-vegan-cream-of-mushroom-soup/ (this blog looks really great actually, I've pinned a few things to try!) that uses the cauliflower to help with the creaminess of the soup. I was skeptical at first but it really honestly worked (ok, my first batch the mushrooms got a little burnt. Oops) and tasted even better than the canned stuff. I wonder if a) it can be frozen and b) if it would work in place of canned mushroom soup. I'm definitely considering trying it! 

Also in the same blog was a cream of broccoli substitute. I figured if the mushroom soup was this good, the broccoli had to be decent too! I'm going to try it later today! 

http://www.healthfulpursuit.com/2013/10/grain-free-paleo-vegan-cream-of-broccoli-soup/

Secondly, I was trying to come up with an Alfredo sauce using as many power foods as I could. My first attempt using fat free cottage cheese -tasted- promising... Until I tried to warm it up in the pan and it went back to its clumpy form. Not so appetizing. Then someone shared this recipe so I thought I would try it out.http://pinchofyum.com/healthy-fettucine-alfredo  

If you kept it as is, you would need to count points for the cream and butter. I also found this adaptation, and decided to wing it a bit http://pinchofyum.com/creamy-cauliflower-sauce (original:) 

I decided to halve the recipe as I was planning to eat it with just my daughter and myself. 

4 cloves garlic (I used my pampered chef garlic press) 

1 tsp oil 

1.5 - 2 cup skim milk 

3 cups of cauliflower (I used 1/2 of a large cauliflower) 

Pepper 

Parm cheese (count points for this, depending on amount used) 

* see note for seasoning suggestion 

1. Sauté garlic in oil

2. Add milk (I used 2 cups), pepper and cauliflower, cover and reduce heat. 

3. Cook pasta (reserve water to add if needed, but I didn't since I used more milk) 

4. Once cauliflower is cooked, add cauliflower and milk into your blender. Add water if needed for smoothness. 

Note: I ran out of parm so I searched my pantry for an alternative. I got this at costco and haven't used it yet, so I tried adding 2 tsp to the mixture and it was just right! 

Serve pasta and sauce (about 1 cup serving). Enjoy! I'm going to try to freeze portions and see how that works (my "half recipe" still made a ton! 

Weekend - banana pancakes

Every time I see a banana pancake recipe I can't help but hear jack Johnson's "banana pancakes" song in my head. We love having big breakfasts on the weekends with pancakes and scrambled eggs, but since starting simply filling I've been missing out on the pancakes (I could count points of course if I wanted to). My friend passed on a basic banana pancake recipe that had just 1 banana and 2 eggs blended up. I added vanilla and cinnamon and they weren't bad, almost like a French toast taste to them. If you are trying to do no grain, these are going to be a staple breakfast for you!

Enter in my Pinterest addiction, and I found a different recipe on there that sounded a little more on the pancake side than the previous recipe. I followed it  pretty much to a T, so I will link it up below. I did add a splash of vanilla and it was definitely yummy. Also, I blended the oats first so they were flour like then added everything else. Some people argue that uncooked oats are not a power food but since I was going to cook them (and only eat these maybe once a week if that) I decided it was ok. If not, you can count the points for the oatmeal. I had a bit of troubles finding the right temperature to cook them so mine ended up darker than I wanted, but they were still tastey! I served with a bit of fat free frozen cool whip as a treat. 

http://www.ambitiouskitchen.com/2013/04/oatmeal-cottage-cheese-banana-pancakes-high-in-protein-gluten-free/

Hangover Soup - Sans Hangover

This soup is a favorite in these parts. Everyone seems to have their own recipe, but the basic ingredients that seem to be common are tomato, macaroni and ground beef. I read a few recipes to get an idea of what I wanted to have then I winged it. Like usual :) I think the idea of this soup is to really use what you have on hand to fill your tummy. Please note this made A LOT of soup, and can easily be halved. I just had a bunch of meat defrosted and used half in this recipe and plan to put half in chili tomorrow. 

Ingredients: 

2 cups each of carrots and celery chopped

(give or take to your preference. This would also be good with green beans and/or peppers) 

2 onions, minced 

2 large cans (28 oz each) of whole tomatoes

(I blended mine before adding, but they can be roughly chopped if you prefer) 

1 small can (5.5 oz) of tomato paste

16-24 cups of beef broth 

(I only had powdered, but I prefer tetra packs, or even better yet, homemade!)

3-4 tablespoons oregano

2 Tablespoons thyme 

3 Tablespoons parsley 

2-3 bay leaves

Salt and pepper to taste 

Ground beef (I used approximately 2.5 lb) 

2 cups of macaroni (it was pretty much the whole box, so I dumped in the rest, see pic below) 

(Note: I didn't really measure the spices. I just eyeballed them! Go with what tastes good!) 

Instructions: 

1. Brown beef in a pan. Rinse and strain. Set aside. 

2. Add veggies to pan with a bit of oil or Pam. Cook until tender. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, broth and spices and bring to a simmer. For best taste allow the soup to simmer for a bit (I did dishes). 

3. Add uncooked noodles and cooked beef, simmer until noodles are cooked (about 10 minutes) making sure to stir often to make sure noodles don't stick to the bottom. Check taste (may need to add salt). Enjoy! (Zoey sure did!) 

This would be considered simply filling. 

Gyros Spice - trying out simple start

I have been chugging along doing mostly points plus days sprinkled with simply filling. I've been gaining and shedding the same 5 lb for a few months and I know in the back of my mind that if I don't fully embrace simply filling that I'm really not going to be able to get rid of this baby weight. Oh...and start exercising more...but more on that later! I decided to dig out my simply filling recipes to compliment the simple start plan that weight watchers rolled out in the new year. 

I was going through my blog posts for inspiration and found an idea I had started but never finished. So here it is, a little background info and a recipe that my whole family loves! 

When I lived in The Netherlands after high school my family came to visit and we took a holiday together. My youngest brother was 12 at the time, so we were all old enough for the longer days that were involved in a trip like this. One of our favorite memories was visiting a little gyros shop on the island of Crete where there was a little old man serving up the delectable meat wraps. Years later I went back with my husband in search of the shop, but it had disappeared. There really isn't anywhere local in Saskatchewan that compares to the gyros we ate there (and maybe part of it is the sunshine and atmosphere that just can't be copied). I am always interested in making things that are special to us a bit lighter so I went on a search for a recipe. I found a rough idea on Wikipedia and started experimenting. Each time I make it, it is a little different, but that is just the charm of the recipe. Here is the basic idea: NOTE! Do not use this much salt! I usually change it to be 4 tsp or less. 

I would suggest making this quantity to decide if you like it. Then you can multiply it and make a much larger batch (I store in mason jars, and give away a jar to my parents and brothers). Remember that technically a pinch is 1/16 of a tsp. here is my math for the "big batch". You will have this spice for a loooong time if you make the big batch.

2 to 4.5cups (32-72 tsp) salt (or less, see note above) 

2 cups (32 tsp) paprika 

1 cup (16 tsp) pepper 

1.5 cup (24 tsp) parsley

1 cup (16 tsp) garlic powder 

1.5 cup (24 tsp) oregano 

1/2 tsp each of the remaining ingredients: Cinnamon, nutmeg, cumin, anise, coriander, fennel, allspice

The basic way I use this as a rub for pork tenderloin. I trim the fat and then coat the meat, roasting in the oven or BBQ until the internal temp reaches the correct temp. Another way is to cut the pork into "chops" and sprinkle with the seasoning and BBQ or pan fry it. I bet it would work well in a slow cooker to make sort of "pulled pork", esp if you planned to serve at a gathering (I will try this sometime and update on how it was). I will be doing a post at a later date on how I make my gyros, but the basic composition is pita filled with gyros spiced meat (lamb is traditional, but as I said I use pork), tomato, cucumber, red onion and tzatziki sauce (which I also have a yummy recipe for!). Lots have French fries right in there as well (which I don't care for, but my hubby loves).  It is also yummy served as just the meat (the chops) with roasted potatoes and a Greek salad with tzatzoki to use as dipping sauce (and that would be a simply filling meal). Happy experimenting, leave a comment if you tried it and any changes you made to the recipe! 

New Years - catching up - tomato soup

Lets just say weight watchers didn't really exist in my world during the holidays. And I gained. So I, like millions of others vowed to be better in the new year. Such a cliche but it's the truth. 

A while back I made this soup and I was busy getting ready for the holidays so I didn't have a chance to blog about it. I was babysitting my 3 year old niece, and I didn't have much in my house that I knew she would eat. I remembered pinning a recipe on pinterest to try so I gathered my ingredients and got to work while she buttered her bread and put together her grilled cheese sandwich (gotta start learning somewhere!). I followed this recipe pretty much exactly so I will link it here: http://rainydaygal.com/2010/09/06/homemade-staple-tomato-soup/  

 I quite enjoyed the taste but I will say my niece did not. Although I'm not sure she would even eat regular tomato soup! I will note that, like many of the commenters, I also had my milk curdle a bit and in retrospect I maybe should have heated the soup then added the milk right at the end. I might try that next time. I figure the sugar is countable, or you could try a sweetener of your choice, otherwise the other ingredients can be simply filling. Happy New Years resolutions everyone!