Blog Archives
French Onion Soup Burger
Ingredients
- 1lb lean ground beef or turkey
- 1 Packet of Lipton Onion soup Mix
- 1 Packet of Beef Seasoning or 1 packet of “Au Jus” seasoning
- 5 medium Onions
- 8 tbs. Butter
- Swiss Cheese or Gruyere Cheese Slices
- Burger Buns
Instructions
1. Slice up the Onions , keeping them thin…wipe your tears!
2. In a medium pan, add the butter and the onions and let them get golden & caramelized. Stir them to keep them evenly coated in the butter.
3. Mix the ground beef with the Soup packet and form burger patties.
4. Grill them up until they’re done to your liking!
5. While they’re grilling up, make the Au Jus! Add the packet with 2 cups of water to a medium pot and simmer.
6. Top those hot burgers with a generous amount of Swiss/Gruyere cheese, cover them with a foil tent and let it get melty!
7. Brush the buns with some warm Au Jus!
8. Now stack that big juicy, cheesy burger…You’ll need two hands and/or a knife and napkins for sure!
9. ENJOY!
Recipe Source & Photo Credit is courtesy of: Oh Bite It
Chicken Ranch Tacos
Ingredients
- 3 cups cooked chicken, cut up
- 1 pkt. taco seasoning (chicken or beef)
- 1/2 cup Ranch dressing
- taco shells
- taco fixin’s (lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, sour cream, ranch dressing, etc.)
Instructions
1. Heat a skillet over med-high heat. Add chicken & warm it for a few minutes. Sprinkle on the dry taco seasoning. Do not add any water! Heat for 5-7 minutes until heated thoroughly & seasoning is stuck to the chicken.
2. Add Ranch dressing and heat for an additional 2-3 minutes.
3. Serve in taco shells with all the fixin’s you love & ENJOY!
Recipe & Photo Credit is courtesy of http://www.pedersenfood.blogspot.com
Cheesy Vegetable Chowder
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1 cup finely chopped carrot
- 1 celery stick, finely chopped
- 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 2 large baking potatoes, peeled and chopped
- 1 Tablespoon flour
- 1/2 cup water
- 2/3 cup milk
- 2 cups chopped broccoli
- 2 heaping cups shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
1. Melt the butter in a large soup pot. Add onions, carrots, and celery and saute over medium heat until tender. Add garlic and cook 1 or 2 additional minutes.
2. Add chicken broth and potatoes, bring to a boil, and cook until potatoes are tender. Mix flour with water, add, and simmer until soup is slightly thickened. Add milk and broccoli and cook until broccoli is just tender and soup is heated through. Stir in cheese, allow to melt.
3. Serve & Enjoy!
Baked Shrimp Scampi
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 fresh thyme sprigs
- 3 large fresh rosemary sprigs, cut in half
- 3 fresh oregano sprigs
- 2 teaspoons black peppercorns
- 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
- 1 large lemon
- 2 lbs. extra-large shrimp (26 to 30 per lb.), preferably wild, peeled and deveined
- 2 Tbs. white wine vinegar
- Kosher salt to taste
Instructions
1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 400°F.
2. Cut the lemon in half top to bottom (tip to tip), then take one half of ther lemon, place it on its flat (cut) surface, and slice across into thin half-moon shapes. Take the other half of the lemon, place IT on its flat side, then cut it top to tip to tip again, then across into 10-12 chunks.
3. Place the peppercorns and coriander seeds in a mortar and pestle and crush until well cracked and broken.
4. Pour the oil into a 9×13-inch baking dish. Add the herb sprigs, pepper and coriander, and the lemon chunks. Bake until the oil mixture is fragrant, about 12-15 minutes.
5. Add the shrimp to the dish and toss with tongs until coated, and top with the half-moon slices of lemon. Bake the shrimp until pink and firm, 8 to 10 minutes.
6. Remove the dish from the oven, add the vinegar and kosher salt to taste, toss well, and let rest at room temperature until the oil cools slightly, about 5 minutes, before serving.
Source: Fine Cooking Magazine
Broccoli Cheddar Soup
Broccoli is my favorite veggie and I will eat it any way I can get it. In a salad, in a soup or just plain ole’ by itself. Which brings me to this recipe; Broccoli Cheddar Soup. I love me some soup just like I love me some salad. So if you’re looking for a broccoli cheddar soup recipe that is flavorful, creamy, comforting and downright addictive then whip this baby up ASAP. I’m so adding this as a regular to our fall/winter lunch & dinner menu.
Ingredients
- 2-3 cups fresh broccoli
- 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
- 1/2 cup white onions, finely diced (can use more)
- 1/2 cup baby carrots, finely diced *optional*
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
- 1/2 cup smoked gouda cheese
Instructions
1. Place broccoli in a large bowl with about 4 tablespoons of water. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and microwave for 7-10 minutes or until broccoli is steamed and tender. Chop broccoli into tiny pieces. Set aside.
2. In a medium pot, add broth, onion, carrots and garlic. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes or until onions are tender. Set aside.
3. Add milk and heavy cream to a bowl and microwave until warm. Set aside.
4. In a large pot or deep skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Whisk in flour, stirring constantly for about 1-2 minutes. Reduce heat if flour starts to brown. Add in salt and pepper and continue to stir for 1 minute.
5. Next slowly stir in milk and heavy cream. Stir in chicken broth mixture. Stir in cheeses and add the broccoli. Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed.
6. Serve hot in bread bowls or regular bowls & Enjoy.
“Funeral Sandwiches”
I recently discovered this recipe while browsing one of my favorite forums. The name along intrigued me to take a look-sy. I never heard of “Funeral Sandwiches” before now but anything that involves a sammie I’m all in. Talk about Total Yum factor; Not to mention the recipe calls for brown sugar and King’s Hawaiian Rolls. Double Yum! This would be a perfect dish for tailgating or entertaining.
Ingredients
For the sandwiches:
- 24 King’s Hawaiian Rolls
- 24 slices deli slice Honey Ham
- 24 slices deli slice Swiss cheese
- Mayonnaise
For the glaze:
- 2 sticks butter, melted
- 4 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
- 2 Tablespoons mustard
- 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 Tablespoon finely minced onion (or 2 tsp. dried minced onion)
- Poppy seeds, for sprinkling
Instructions
1. Cut the rolls in half and spread the insides lightly with mayonnaise. Lightly oil or spray baking pan with Pam. Line the bottom of a baking pan with the bottoms of the rolls. Layer the ham slices, then cheese and place the top half back on.
2. In a medium bowl mix together the melted butter, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, brown sugar and onion. Pour the entire concoction over the buns, drenching each one. Sprinkle each sammie with poppy seeds. Cover tightly and marinade anywhere from 4-24 hours.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 15 minutes, uncovered or until cheese is melted and bun tops are a bit golden. Serve warm!
*CHEF’S TIP – BYOC (Be Your Own Chef) Mix and Match your favorite deli meats and cheeses to truly personalize it and make it your own.
Bubble Up Pizza Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 pound 96% lean ground beef or ground turkey
- 2 teaspoons onion powder, or 1 onion, chopped
- 16 ounces tomato sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 15 ounces refrigerated buttermilk biscuits, buttermilk
- Add whatever typical pizza toppings you like, green pepper, turkey pepperoni, mushrooms, etc.
- 1 1/4 cups part skim milk mozzarella cheese, shredded
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350 F. In skillet, brown meat over medium high heat until browned, stirring to crumble. Stir in onion powder, tomato sauce, basil, garlic and Italian seasoning.
2. Add quartered biscuits; stir gently until biscuits are covered with sauce. Mix in toppings of your choosing. Spoon mixture into a 9×13 inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake for 25 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese; bake an additional 10 minutes or until biscuits are done. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
Source: Weight Watcher Boards
DIY Monday: Homemade Lunchables
Re-blogged From: The CSI Project
Homemade Lunchables
By: Nike
I’m thrilled to be here sharing back to school ideas this morning to help me and my six kiddos this year!
So here’s the deal:
I have a love/hate relationship with my kids’ lunches.
I hate shopping trips with my kids begging for all the pricey, pre-packaged lunch stuff that’s loaded with preservatives and wasteful packaging.
Sheesh that junk is expensive.
But the convenience? Oh how I love the convenience.
And there are times of the year when our schedule is so crazy that I cave and load up the cart with lunchables, little bags of crackers and jello packs just so that we can pull a lunch or snack together in two seconds flat.
But no more!
I’m here today to share my plan to eat healthier, save money and still enjoy the convenience that me and my kids crave. And I hope you’ll tweak the ideas below to fit your family’s budget and nutritional preferences.
#1 – The Lunchable
Why?
Reusing the store bought tray and packing your own lunch meat, real cheese, crackers and a little treat will save you 40% — $0.60 for homemade vs. $1.00 for the store bought one. Plus the homemade version boasts real cheese, extra calcium and fewer preservatives.
A quick layer of Glad press ‘n’ seal or aluminum foil keep everything in place just like the original.
Don’t have a left-over lunchable tray? Or want a bigger tray to up the serving size for older kids?
No problem. You make your own dividers like I did for this dollar store container using an empty milk jug.
And that extra space means you can supplement that lunchable with some fruits and veggies without spending more than the store bought version.
Which $1 lunch would you rather send with your kids?
For a drink my kids prefer the juice pouch …
… while I’m more in favor of the reusable water bottle which make lunch $1.20 the first day and $0.98 every day after.
So we’ll do both: water most of the week and juice boxes on Friday for a little bit of a treat.
Either way these lunches come in significantly less than our $1.60 school lunch and WAY CHEAPER than the big-drink-included-lunchables at the store:
Really? $3.00 for a $1.00 lunchable and $2.00 juice pouch? Um, no thanks.
#2 – The Pudding & Jello Packs
Why?
Reusing those little cups (or the small tupperware containers with lids) and making your own will keep the cost and preservatives way down.
Same thing for the gelatin cups:
Making just this switch alone will save you a truck load. Six cents a cup vs. $0.56 for Jell-o brand? You could easily cover back-to-school paper supplies, back packs and shoes with just that little switch.
#3 – The Fruit Cups
The reduction in packaging, costs and preservatives make these easy switches.
#4 – The Mini Cracker Bags
You can enjoy the name brand crackers and still save almost 40% when you prepackage them yourself using $0.01 snack size sandwich bags. Just check out the cost per serving:
If you don’t mind generic, you can reduce those costs another 50+ percent.
And it’s just as convenient to grab a home-packed bag as the store packaged variety. The only difference is the price.
A few more THRIVE tips:
1. The ideas above are only guidelines. Each family will have their own nutrition and budget preferences. The idea is that by getting creative with recycled/reusable packaging, you can still enjoy the convenience of off-the-shelf while controlling costs and ingredients. So feel free to make your own tweaks with whole grain crackers, organic produce and nitrate-free meat. Or try packing a lunchable with mini tuna or PB&J sandwiches. Have fun!
2. Make your kids help with the prep work! They’re the ones asking for the “cool” packaging so they can help. It’s also a great way to teach basic food prep and math skills like measuring ingredients and dividing portions.
3. Have your kids help you shop! Don’t laugh — I’m serious. This is a fantastic chance to practice real life math skills as they determine price per unit, ounce or pound. There’s also lots of fun ways to to teach math, spelling and budgeting with kids during shopping trips here.
3. Have cheese for sandwiches or lunchables pre-sliced at the deli. I buy the economy loaves and have them sliced right there at the store for no extra charge. It saves so much time and keeps the portions equal.
4. Rock What Ya Got! If your kids are like mine and want the meat for their homemade lunchables to be round like the store bought variety, trying using the lid of a spice jar. (My cookie cutters aren’t the right size). Stack the meat in three layers and cut away. The lids from my 2/$1 Walmart spices worked perfectly.
And don’t toss those scraps! I save mine in a ziploc bag in the frig to use in omelets and salads.
5. Incorporate fresh produce from the garden! Now is a great time to up the nutrition with yummy, home ground fruits and veggies. I love it when I can ditch the high fructose corn syrup fruit snacks and send my kids with the homemade variety.
They have a soft, chewy texture like other dried fruits and are only $0.01 per serving vs. $0.20 for the cheapest store bought variety! You check out the recipe here.
Yum!
… and finally …
6. Pennies add up! I know some of you may look at $0.25 or $0.50 savings a day and think it’s not worth it. But trust me – it so is! My kids have been back to school for a month now (year round school) and I’ve kept track of what we would have spent to buy the prepackage stuff vs. packing our own. So far our averaging savings is around $8 a week.
If our family takes out the money saved each week and transfers it into savings (or puts it in an envelope Dave Ramsey style), that $8/week times 25 weeks of school should work out to $200 by the end of the year. And $200 divided between my four school-aged kids equals $50 a piece, or enough to buy a new pair of shoes, back pack and classroom supplies for each of them.
Eating healthier, using less packaging, teaching my kids about cooking-meal planning-math-budgetting AND financing back-to-school shopping for next year? That’s so worth it to me!
Hope you and your kids have fun shopping for your own creative ways to make smarter lunch choices! And be sure to stop by THRIVE for more ideas for living and crafting without spending a dime. Hope to see you soon!
COPYRIGHT © 2012 · GENESIS FRAMEWORK
Porter House Tuna Salad
This is it, folks, a simple, traditional, classic tuna salad. Nothing fancy, nothing exotic. Just everyday ingredients transformed into something that is Just Plain Good!
INGREDIENTS
- 2 cans of solid white tuna in water, drained
- 1/4 cup sweet pickle relish, drained
- 2 hard boiled eggs, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- salt
- ground pepper
- garlic powder
- onion powder
- sugar
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Combine all ingredients except mayonnaise in a large bowl. Add the mayonnaise in increments, until the chicken salad reaches the desired consistency: rich, but not too creamy. Add salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and sugar to taste.
2. Serve with crackers, or on soft rolls or whole wheat toast.
Porter House Chicken Salad
Chicken salad is becoming one of the Porter House faves. YES! my friends we have graduated from tuna, tuna all the time. But don’t get me wrong we still love tuna just as much. But when we are in the mood for something different, something “Porter House Gourmet”. We crave chicken salad. But not just any chicken salad. One that will satisfy the sweet and the savory. Mmmm, Tasty!
Ingredients
- 2 large bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts (about 2 1/2 pounds)
- 3 strips turkey bacon, cooked and crumbled
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- salt
- black pepper
- garlic powder
- onion powder
- 1 cup red seedless grapes, sliced in half
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon leaves
- 2 celery stalks, chopped
- 1/2 onion, finely chopped
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil..
2. Place the chicken on the prepared baking sheet. Drizzle lightly with the olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. Roast until golden and completely cooked through, about 50 minutes. Cool completely.
3. Remove the skin from the chicken. Shred the meat with a fork and then roughly chop. Add to a bowl with the bacon, grapes, mayonnaise, tarragon, lemon juice, celery, onion and salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder to taste and mix well.
4. Serve & Enjoy!
*CHEF’S NOTE – Jazz this salad up by serving it in an edible toast cup, an edible tomato cup or in a lettuce cup/wrap
I Am Lady Fab 