świń w koc (Pigs in the blanket)

I know it has been a while since I posted. I'm sorry :( there have been several reasons...work has been crazy and this past week we ate out.. a lot. Also I have been sick and haven't felt like doing much. But I am feeling better now and have tons of pictures of things I have been making. I am going start with the świń w koc (Pigs in a blanket/stuffed cabbage) This is something that is very easy to make and it is cheap and pretty healthy. 


Did you know? Cabbage is an excellent source of vitamin C. It also contains significant amounts of glutamine, an amino acid that has anti-inflamatory properties. Cabbage can also be included in dieting programs, as it is a low calorie food.

Stuffed Cabbage served with Roasted Veggies

Ingredients:

3lbs ground turkey (you can use ground beef/chicken/pork if you like)

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 yellow bell pepper, diced

1 onion, diced

4 cups rice prepared (can use white, brown or quinoa)

1 large jar of tomato sauce

1 head cabbage

Salt

Pepper

Garlic powder

Italian seasoning

1 cup Parmasean cheese

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

**Pre-heat over 350 degrees F.**

1. Cut the core out of the head of cabbage and boil in a pot of water until leafs start to fall off and become plyable. Drain and set aside.

2. Heat a skillet with the olive oil and drop in diced veggies, season with Salt, Pepper, Italian seasoning, and Garlic. Saute until soft and set aside to cool.

3. In the same skillet that you used for the veggies brown your choice of ground meat. Season with salt pepper garlic and italian seasoning. (As always I do not use oil or spray or butter the meat naturally has enough fat for the browning process- often I have to drain the meat then continue to brown because of to much liquid released from the meat)

4. Once meat is done mix back in veggies, rice, and 1-1 1/2 cups sauce, mix and heat through.

5. Using a roasting pan use about another cup of sauce to cover the bottom of the pan. 

6. Take a leaf from the head of cabbage lay flat on your cutting board...

7. Take a 1/4 cup measuring cup of stuffing and place in the middle of the leaf...

8. Fold sides of leaf into the middle, the top down and flip over (creating a small pocket just as if you were rolling a burrito). Place in pan..repeat until pan is full.

9. Once Pan is full top with  Sauce and Parmasean cheese.

10. Bake at 350 for 20-25minutes until cheese is brown and sauce is bubbly.

You can serve this as is...it has everything you want, protein, carbs, veggies. But I think as yummy as a plate of these are I needed to serve something else with it. So I hunted and found veggies in the fridge. Broccoli, Mushrooms, Onions, Carrots, Celery, Potato and Tomatoes. Now I could have just made a salad but meh! I decided to make roasted veggies! Soooooooo yummy I don't know why I don't do this more often! Simply put what ever veggies you want on a baking sheet (cut into bite sized pieces) I topped with Salt, Pepper, Garlic and drizzled with Olive Oil. Mix to make sure everything is covered in the oil and roast at 450 degreese for 45 minues. Feel free to mix them on the try about half way through. When they came out of the oven I topped with Parmesan and Pecorino Romano Cheese and put back in for 5 min. Sooo yummy!

 

Normally I will continue the process of stuffing the cabbage until I run out of either filling or cabbage, unfortunetly the head of cabbage I bought was not very "leafy" and I stopped after the first pan. I made 12 rolls. Now this left me with more than half a head of cabbage and a ton of  stuffing. I have another recipe coming up this week that I will post that uses these left overs. This recipe will easily feed a crowd on very little money. Great for dinner parties, or pot lucks.

To make my life easier later in the week, before I put the cabbage away I ran my knife through it and shredded it up. Pre-planning and prepping -go me!

Reviews-  I make this every few weeks and we usualy have left overs for a few days to feed me on. Depending on the size of the roll I can usually eat one. So these are definetly WLS friendly! Great for those weeks we are running tight on a budget too! They are healthy but shhhhh don't tell him that!!

Enjoy!

<3Laura ^.^

Happy BBQ'd Accidents

So Saturday morning I decided I would make ribs for dinner...in the crock pot. Nothing better then a taste of summer bbq in the middle of winter right? Well I had good intentions anyway....When getting the meat out of the fridge in the morning I found that something was leaking so I ended up having to clean out the fridge and I somehow put the ribs back and took the Angus Beef roast out instead. And I don't know maybe it's because I had other things on my mind :) but I didn't even realize it till everything was mixed in the crock pot and cooking. It was an official *DUH*  cooking moment! I'm allowed to have one of those every once in a while right? So my planned BBQ Ribs dinner turned into BBQ pulled Beef instead. It was still really yummy and I still have the ribs for later this week :) win-win if you ask me.

Dinner Menu: BBQ Pulled Beef....Spicy Cajun brown rice, and veggies with a side green salad

Crock Pot BBQ Pulled Beef:
3-4lbs Angus Beef Roast
1 40oz bottle of favorite BBQ sauce ( my family LOVES this stuff Feel free to make your own and WLS folks can use SF BBQ sauce like this)
2 Medium white onions cut into rings
3 TBSP Worcestershire Sauce
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder

1. Spray your Crock Pot with cooking spray (makes for a  much easier clean up)
2. Cut onions into rings and line the bottom of your crock pot (this step keeps the meat from sticking to the bottom and the onions caramelize and melt into the sauce mmmmmm)

3. Season your meat with Salt Pepper and Garlic Powder, make sure you get all sides of the roast

4. Place meat on top of onions in crock pot

5. In a medium mixing bowl mix the BBQ sauce with the W.Sauce more pepper and garlic powder (I did not add extra salt here due to the W.Sauce it's salty enough for me but salt to your taste). The W.Sauce makes the BBQ sauce dark and rich.

6. Dump sauce over meat making sure to cover all sides.
7. Turn Crock pot on HIGH for 8 hours
8. At the 7 hour mark take the roast out of the crock pot and shred. The roast will be tender and moist and will easily pull apart by using two forks pulling in opposite directions. Dump Pulled beef back into sauce and cover till the 8 hour mark.

(pre shredded)

(after pulling)

While the roast is bubbling away for the reainder of ~45min prepare your side dishes. I made mixed veggies (peas and carrots) with salt pepper and a small amount of butter. My starch side dish was Spicy cajun brown rice. Now this crappy rice was out of a boxed mix...I was *NOT* impressed. I thought it had no flavor, that's what I get for not making my own right? Sam didn't like the rice but my father did. Other great side dish idea's could be: Oven baked fries, or a Quinoa Black Bean Salad.

Now I wanted to run out and get sandwich rolls but the Family said not to worry. So I just served this alongside the side dishes. Of course after they ate they said "That would have been really good as a sandwich" I just stared at them....

I have to say yay to happy accidents because this turned out really really good. My tiny tumy even likes it, which as many of you know is very hard to find things to eat that aren't just protein shakes for me. And I am happy to report that there are left overs that I will definetly be eating some of for lunch today :)

Enjoy!

<3Laura ^.^

Caramel Apple Cinnamon Walnut Muffins

Ok so I have been on a Muffin kick lately. I don't know why but they are fun to make.  I have been throwing around flavor ideas in my head, I was told I need to have ideas that included things we already have on hand. Lol well I had everything except the apple, so I did have to buy one but I don't think they will mind :)

I have fallen in love with BIG muffins! Not that I get to eat them...but they are pretty to look at..while they last that is. I use almost the same recipe as the Blueberry Crumb Muffins. They come out big and warm and cakey with that crumbly topping that I added some icing and caramel to top it off. Mmmm if only I could have a bite without dieing!

Ingredients:
1 Medium size-Large Red Delicious Apple
3 tablespoon Sugar Free Caramel Syrup ( I use this )
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon Sugar Free Caramel Syrup
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk

1 cup chopped up walnuts
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 cup caramel sauce (I used this )
  
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Line with muffin tin with  liners. 





In a skillet warm up 2-3 tablespoons of sugar free caramel syrup

Peel, Core and Small Dice the apple, drop into warm skillet and heat through.(Don't let the apples brown you just want them softened and soaked in the syrup) Set aside to cool.

Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. 

Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup top off with vanilla extract and sugar free caramel syrup.Mix this with flour mixture. 

Fold in Apples and Walnuts. 

Fill muffin cups *right to the top* 

To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.Really pack this on the tops. 

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven.

Set on a rack to Cool...and make sure you really let this cool before you try to add the icing. You don't want the icing to melt and run all over the place.

 Take the one cup of powdered sugar mix with 3 tablespoons of heavy cream. mix until thick and let sit for a few minutes. Spoon into a zip-lock bag, snip a SMALL corner and pipe the white icing onto the muffins in any desired design.

Take the caramel and spoon it into another zip-lock bag. Snip a small corner and pipe the caramel in the opposite direction of the white icing. 

Let the icing set up before you serve. Can serve these warm but they are just as good at room temperature. I would only warm them in the microwave for about 10-15 seconds. You don't want the icing to melt and run off and make a mess.

Sugar Free Caramel Syrup  can be bought following that link, but Wal-mart also carries several flavors. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE these syrups. I use them in everything...making ice cream, protein shakes, baking, coffee, etc.

I have a few other blogs to post this week. And they won't be sweets, they will be meals :) I hope everyone had a great MLK Day!!! It looks like we will be getting an ice/snow/sleet/rain tomorrow morning, I'm hoping for a delayed opening or a snow day :) A girl can hope right?

Enjoy! :)
<3 Laura ^.^

oooey gooey warmth

I think the title just about sums it up! What is it you ask? Cinnamon Roll Muffins...yes you read that right. Swirly muffins of warm and gooey cinnamon sugar drizzled with simple icing. mmmhmmm good stuff! These are definitely something you want to serve warm! Feel free to make ahead just pop them in the microwave for about 20 seconds to warm them up :)

Makes 12 muffins

1 cup milk with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice (or 1 cup buttermilk)
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 egg
3 cups flour

Cinnamon Spread:
2 TBL butter, melted
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon

Drizzle:
1 cup powdered sugar
 2-3 tbsp cream


1. Pour milk into a measuring cup and add the lemon juice or vinegar. (Skip this step if you are using buttermilk.)

2. Measure the brown sugar, baking soda, salt, vanilla and egg into a mixing bowl.

3. Add the milk. Add the flour. Stir until thoroughly combined. Alternate adding the flour and milk, start with flour end with flour.

4. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for a minute or two.

5. Roll the dough into a 12-inch by 24-inch rectangle. Feel free to trim your dough as needed, I did :)

 
6. Spread with butter (I melted the butter and used a pastry brush to brush it onto the rolled out dough.) Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. (cover the entire rectangle, no need to leave a boarder for this)

7. Roll the dough into a log beginning at the wide side. Stretch the log slightly. Cut into two-inch pieces and put the pieces into greased muffin tins or muffin tins lined with cupcake papers. (For an added bonus I sprinkled a small amount of brown sugar on the bottom of the cupcake papers it formed a crust on the bottom)

 8. Bake at 375° Fahrenheit for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

 
9. Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes and then remove from the muffin tins.
10. Make icing by mixing cream with powder sugar mix until shiny and smooth. Drizzle over muffins.

Reviews you may ask? Well my father LOVED them but really what father doesn't love something his daughter has made?
My mother thought they were good, and she's picky

Honestly these were a little more labor intensive then I have ever done before. I've never actually made a dough but they came out tender not tough. *IF* I decide to make these again they will have to be highly requested they won't be made on a whim again. I personally did not eat one because well wow I would die, but they smelled really good and that was enough for me :)

Enjoy :)
<3 Laura ^.^

Tiramisu

Tiramisu is a decadent creamy dessert originating from Italy. In Italian, its name literally means, “pick me up.” That describes this tiramisu recipe perfectly, referring to its high-energy ingredients, strong coffee and sugar. Traditionally this is made using lady fingers. But if you are unable to find them you could use pound cake, biscotti, sponge cake, vanilla cookies, or angel food cake. To cut down on calories, you can trade the mascarpone cheese for skim milk ricotta, and use splenda or truvia in place of the sugar.  Tiramisu’s flavors taste even better when they've had a chance to blend overnight. Make this dessert the day before you serve it.

The first time I made this I used Rum. This created a much stronger flavor then when I used Brandy the second time I made it. I was never able to get a straight answer as to which version my family liked.

1/2 pound mascarpone cheese (found in the specialty cheese case in the grocery stores)
3 egg yolks
1 package ladyfingers (24 cookies in total)
4 Tablespoons sugar
4 Tablespoons brandy or unflavored rum (although they do sell an espresso flavored rum I'm going to try using next time I make this)
1/4 cup whipping cream
1 cup strong espresso coffee, cooled
3 egg whites
cocoa powder

1. Beat cheese, egg yolks, 2 Tablespoons sugar and 2 Tablespoons brandy.
2. Beat egg whites until stiff and shiny,set aside then whip cream.
3. Gently fold egg yolk mixture, egg whites and cream together. Mix espresso with remaining sugar and brandy.
4. Dip ladyfingers in espresso mixture 30-45 seconds per cookie. You want them soft but not soggy and falling apart, line dish and add 2-3 tbsp of espresso to the bottom of the dish top with half the cream mixture dust with cocoa powder. Add another layer of cookies with 2-3 tbsp of espresso and the remaining cream mixture.
5. Dust with cocoa powder.
6. Place plastic wrap over the dish
7. Refrigerate overnight.


Enjoy :)
<3 Laura ^.^

Warm soup on a cold day

Okie so I've done tons of posts on sweets so here's a real meal. I *LOVE* this soup. It's something I can make that the family loves and I can eat too. This makes a ton of soup too! Would be great for a pot luck, and better yet I make it in the crock pot. Set it and forget it! I can put everything in the morning and its done and smelling good when I get home at night.



White Bean Beefy Turkey Soup

1 1/2 lbs Ground Turkey (I use 98% fat free)
1 1/2 lbs Ground Beef (I use 80% lean)
1 green pepper, diced
1 medium onion, diced
5 carrots, cut in bite size pieces
5 celery stalks, cut into bite size pieces
5 15oz cans white beans ( 3 drained and rinsed, 1 pureed with liquid and 1 pureed after being drained and rinse- I just do this with a potato masher)
1 15oz can corn
2 4oz cans mild green chilis
1 8oz can peas
1 8oz can Mixed Veggies
2 32oz boxes low sodium chicken broth
Salt, Pepper, Crushed Red Pepper, Garlic, Mrs.Dash Original Blend
Egg Noodles or Rice (optional)

1. Brown ground meats in a skillet. I dont use oil spray or butter while doing this, there is enough natural fat in the beef that when the turkey and beef are in the pan together it browns nicely. Add seasoning as much/little as you like.

2. While you are waiting on the meat to brown start working on the veggies. Cut in bite size pieces don't cut to small or thin as they will disappear when the soup is simmering. Once they are chopped drop into the crock pot.

 Carrots

 Celery

 Green Peppers

Onions

3. In a bowl open the cans of  veggies and 3 cans of beans (drained and rinsed) mix in a bowl and drop into crock pot.

4. Mix veggies in crock pot top with browned meat. 

5. Puree 2 cans of the white beans and place in Crock Pot Mix all ingredients (this helps to thicken the soup without using flour or a rue)

6. Top with more spices to taste, stir.

7. Cover Crock Pot 4 hours on high 8 hours on low. 

8. Can serve soup over Rice or Noodles or with some crusty bread. Can also top with tortilla strips,  a dollop of sour cream and shredded cheese, or fresh herbs.

Yes I am aware that this is  a TON of soup. And there may or may not be a "Do not fill past this line" on your cock pot...only a mear suggestion right? lol You can freeze the leftovers or feed your neighbors. Either way this stuff is soooo yummy!!

Enjoy!

<3 Laura ^.^