What's Happening?

I've been so busy  that I haven't had the opportunity to try new recipes and post them on this site.  However, that will change starting next month.

We have a new season of products that is available as of now.

Returning from prior seasons:

• Ah, Sugar Sugar! Cookie Mix
• Chocolate Ugly Cake Mix
• Creamy Wild Rice Soup Mix
• Nashville Hot Seasoning
• Oh My! Chai Drink Mix
• Peanut Butter Bliss Cookie Mix
• TS House Sauce
• Wahoo! Chili Seasoning

New this season:

• Applewood Smoked Cheddar Cheese Ball Mix
• Bold Berry Sauce
• Brown Sugar Vanilla Syrup
• Caramel Roll Quick Cake Mix
• Carmelita Bar Mix
• Chicken Parmesan Warm Dip Mix
• Chicken Tortilla Soup Mix
• Cinnamon Apple Seasoning
• Classic Ranch Mix
• Creamy Chocolate Fudge (avail 10/1)
• Everything Bagel Seasoning
• French Onion Skillet Sauce
• Maple Walnut Fudge (avail 10/1)
• Salted Butterscotch Cheese Ball Mix
• Salted Caramel Pancake Mix
• S'mores Frozen Drink Mix
• Tuscan Starter Sauce

Limited Time Offers - some of these were from prior seasons:

• Pumpkin Bread & Maple Glaze Mix
• Prickly Pear Cooler Drink Mix
• Orange Pepper Sauce
• Jalapeno Lime Hot Sauce (medium spice)
• Bloody Mary Mixer
• Caribbean Heat Wing Sauce (medium spice)

We have some interesting assortments, collections, and kits including:

• 5-Day Reset Kit
• Air Fryer 10-Meal Kit
• Breakfast for Dinner 5-Meal Kit
• Cutting Carbs 10-Meal Kit
• Healthy Swaps 5-Meal Kit
• My Main Dish 10-Meal Kit
• Skillet Dinners 5-Meal Kit
• Soups On! 5-Meal Kit

Watch for future postings as I check out some of these kits (I don't have an air fryer) that use seasonal and standard products.

Don't forget to check out my website.

Baked Orange Chicken

 Do you like Orange Chicken from Chinese restaurants?  Well, this matches it with one exception - it has some heat.  And I didn't use the full jar!  I didn't serve it over rice like the recipe indicates.  Oh, did I make a mess in the kitchen!  Warning - you need at least an hour to make this.

Here's the original recipe on our website.  Yes, I did some substitutions and other modifications based on our dietary needs.

• Liquid eggs (egg substitute)
• eliminated the salt
• Avocado Oil - reduced the amount for frying.
• snow peas instead of the red bell pepper
• reduced the Orange Pepper Sauce to about 3/4 of the bottle

If you don't like spiciness - then I would recommend using the Sweet & Sour Pineapple Sauce.

I was a little late on taking the pictures.  This is what remained of the chicken breast that was cut up into bite sized pieces.

Dredging the chicken pieces in cornstarch.

Then dipping them in the egg & Garlic Pepper Seasoning mixture.

Frying the chicken pieces.

Draining the fried chicken on a paper towel.

Placing the cooked chicken and the snow peas on an aluminum foil lined cookie sheet.  Covered with the sauce.  Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

The recipe says it serves 8 - I didn't dish up very well - had 2 servings leftover and we didn't have seconds!

We did enjoy it - even though there was a party going on in our mouths!

Pesto Turkey Burgers

 We love eating burgers.  However, we're not into all the bread with having to watch carbs and gluten.  Yeah, we had fried potatoes - that's kind of why we eliminated the buns.  I probably should have prepared a vegetable like green beans but spaced out on the time.

Original recipe is on a previous blog post from 2016 or you can print it out from our website.  Here are the modifications:

• Avocado Oil instead of the Olive Oil
• 99% fat-free ground turkey instead of lean
• regular bread crumbs instead of the panko bread crumbs
• Liquid egg substitute instead of regular egg
• sliced medium cheddar cheese instead of mozzarella cheese
• didn't mix the pesto with the mayonnaise
• no extra salt & pepper (not listed in the ingredients but mentioned in the instructions)

Oops!  I just noticed that the parmesan cheese was to go into the pesto and I had added it to the ground turkey.  Oh well, it was still delicious.  The pesto that was supposed to be mixed with the mayo, I sprinkled on top of the burger while I was grilling it before adding the cheese slices.

This makes 6 patties (except I only made 5).  Grilled 2 of the patties and froze the rest for a later meal.

This was the Dried Tomato & Garlic Pesto Mix with water.  Microwaved.  The Avocado Oil was added afterwards (another oops!) 

Here I was mixing the ground turkey, bread crumbs, egg, half of the pesto, and the parmesan cheese before forming into patties.

This is "grilling" the patties along with the potatoes.  After flipping, I topped it with the remaining pesto mix.  Then the cheddar cheese slices.

The whole meal took about 30 minutes. It's kind of nice to look back at some of the old recipes and make them again.

Bayou Pork Fried Rice

 Another delicious dinner prepared in about 30 minutes.  Of course, I did some modifications.  That's the neat thing about our Tastefully Simple recipes, they can be modified to meet your own tastebuds!

The original recipe is on our website.  My modifications include:

• 
  using our Avocado Oil instead of the vegetable oil
• using liquid eggs instead of whole eggs
• using Madagascar Pink rice instead of white or brown rice (note:  this takes longer to cook)
• eliminating the green onions

I also didn't use salt and pepper as the directions indicated.  I didn't use as much of the Bayou Bourbon Glaze or broth (actually used half the amount called for as I had ran out of the Bayou Bourbon Glaze).

Scrambled the eggs while waiting for the rice to cook.

browned the pork that was cut into strips.  I screwed up and bought chops that had bones instead of the boneless.  So didn't have as much meat as the recipe called for.

added the rice and frozen veggies.

added the sauce then the scrambled eggs.

This makes 6 servings.  Because I didn't fix another vegetable to go with it, we ended up having a second helping.  I froze the remainder to have at a later date.

Citrus Herb Chicken with Strawberry Salsa

Oh my!  This was delicious!  I plan on using the leftover chicken and salsa on my salad for lunch today.  This recipe came from our Dairy & Grain Free meal kit a couple of years ago.  Perfect Weight Watcher's recipe - it is only 2 Personal Points (due to the avocado oil).

The original recipe can be found on our Tastefully Simple website.  I did some modifications - actually I eliminated a couple of items that we don't care for.

• sliced green onions
• jalapeno pepper

This recipe calls for advance preparation - marinating the chicken at least 2 hours before cooking.

I also made up the salsa right before cooking the chicken so it had a chance to mingle the flavors.

We didn't grill the chicken but "fried" it on the stovetop.

I served it with steamed broccoli seasoned with our Seasoned Pepper.  This recipe makes six servings.  We will be using the leftovers for our lunches.  You could easily freeze the marinated chicken (before grilling).  Not sure what you would do with the extra salsa as that wouldn't freeze well.

You could use pork instead of chicken.

Bon Appetit!

Asian Beef & Veggie Skillet

 

I made the above recipe from our 14-Day Reset Program Guide.  We've had this a couple of times before.  I decided to try it again and this time it was much better.

Original recipe is on our website.  I did the following modifications:

• 99% lean ground turkey
• eliminated the sweet peppers
• used 1/2 tablespoon of the Si Si Cilantro Seasoning

Next time, I will probably only use one teaspoon of the seasoning as my husband could still taste the spiciness.   I sliced whole mushrooms instead of buying a package already sliced.  I also grated my own carrots.

The recipe said to use a large skillet.  But as you can see, mine was more like a medium size.  Here, I'm browning the ground turkey.

I then added the veggies and seasoning.  As I was stirring, I ended up cutting the mushrooms into smaller pieces. 

 

I then added the riced cauliflower.  Mixed it in real good and allowed it to heat up.  While that was happening, I did the thickening sauce.

Using a one-cup measuring cup, I used a low-sodium beef broth and added the coconut aminos to it.  Then using a small whisk, mixed in the cornstarch.

I then poured the liquid into the skillet and stirred frequently until the sauce had thickened.

This makes five servings.  We actually had seconds.  I was able to dish up a couple of small containers to freeze for later eating.

Chicken & Sausage Jambalaya

 Well . . . I haven't actually done the 14-Day reset as planned because I was sick with COVID.  Last night, I did use one of the recipes for dinner.  

The actual recipe is Shrimp & Sausage Jambalaya.  I did lots of substitutions so if you want to see the original recipe, click on the above link.  I will need to cut the spices for next time as it was a little bit too spicy for my husband (I liked it!).  Oh, we had stewed tomatoes instead of crushed or diced.  I will use the diced next time.  And I may add more mushrooms.

Here's my modified recipe:

1 Tbsp Avocado Oil

13 oz smoked turkey sausage, sliced

1 1/2 lbs chicken breast, cut into chunks

4 mushrooms, cut in chunks

1 cup sliced celery

2 tsp Onion Onion Seasoning

1 tsp Garlic Garlic Seasoning

1 (14 oz) can no salt added crushed tomatoes

3/4 cup unsalted chicken broth

1 1/2 Tbsp Simply Salsa Mix

1 tsp smoked Paprika

2 tsp chili powder

2 (12 oz) pkgs frozen riced cauliflower

1.  In large saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat.  Add sausage, chicken, celery, mushrooms, Onion Onion Seasoning and Garlic Garlic Seasoning.  Cook until chicken is no longer pink, sitrring occasionally.

2.  Stir in tomatoes, broth, Simply Salsa, paprika and chili powder.  Stir in riced cauliflower.  Bring to a simmer.  Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes.

Makes 5 servings.

Reset Day 5

 Yesterday (Saturday) was the final day of the 5-Day Reset.  I mixed a couple of the menus.  

Breakfast was the Breakfast Brocoli Hash.  I lowered the temperatures for cooking to Medium from Medium High.  That helped prevent some of the sticking - although, it took longer for the egg to cook to my preferred doneness (hard yolk & whites).

I had the Pistachio Chicken Salad for lunch.

Carrot sticks were my afternoon snack.

Dinner was the Asian Beef & Veggie Skillet.

Evening snack was apples with peanut butter.

Stepping on the scales this morning showed a total weight loss of 4.6 pounds.

Today, I did have an English muffin and hashbrowns with my breakfast since we were eating out.  Lunch was a chef salad (contained cheese).  However, if I continue to limit the grains and dairy, I should be good.  We will probably have popcorn this evening since we haven't had a dinner.  Been no snacks.  Did drink quite a bit of water while at the restaurant watching the Seahawk game.  What a game!

I plan on doing the 14-Day reset starting next week.  So, stay tuned for articles on how that goes.

BTW:  This posting is late as I was waiting to copy the pictures from my camera.  Today was the first.

Reset Day 3 & 4

 Thursday was a busy day away from home.  However, the scales indicated another pound lost when I stepped on them yesterday morning.  Good choices were made!

I used Day 2 menu as a guide for the day.  Breakfast was the Broccoli Hash.  Slight problem in that the egg stuck to the pan and some of the "hash" got a little done.  Other than that, it was a very filling breakfast along with a cup of mixed berries.

Then it was off to bowling . . . Had a large glass of ice water with lemon to drink while bowling.  Afterwards, I went to my parent's house and reheated some leftover Balsamic Chicken & Veggie Skillet for my lunch.  Oh, I also had to dry out . . . had to wade through flood waters to get from my car into their house.  Not fun!

Then it was off to our Grange meeting that had a Pizza dinner with potluck of salads and desserts.  I made a variation of the Chopped Chicken BLT Salad.  I did not touch the pizza or the desserts (that was a big deal for me as I love Pizza!).

    Ingredients

2 1/2 C chopped prepared Makin' Magic Chicken

 1 Tbsp Aged Balsamic Vinegar of Modena

1 Tsp Citrus Herb Seasoning

18 oz Baby Spring Salad mix 

5 slices turkey bacon, chopped & cooked

4 mini-sweet peppers

2 celery stalks

1/2 cup Citrus Herb Vinaigrette 

    Directions

1. In large bowl, combine chicken, Aged Balsamic Vinegar of Modena and Citrus Herb Seasoning.  Toss to coat.  (I actually mixed it in the zip lock bag that was holding the chicken).
2. Divide lettuce, bacon, veggies, chicken, and dressing among 4 dinner salad bowls and 1 storage container.

My evening snack was a granny smith apple with peanut butter and about an ounce of almonds.

Yesterday, I followed Day 5 menu.  So breakfast was the same as Day 1.  Lunch was leftover Chopped Chicken BLT Salad.  Dinner was the Turkey Veggie Meatloaf.  I did some modifications so listed below are what I used to make it.

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs 99% lean ground turkey

1 cup chopped fresh baby spinach leaves

1/2 cup chopped fresh button mushrooms

1/2 cup shredded carrots

1 Tbsp Onion Onion Seasoning

1 Tbsp Spinach & Herb Seasoning

2 tsp Garlic Garlic Seasoning

1 tsp yellow mustard

1/4 cup egg substitute

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. 
   In large bowl, combine all ingredients, mixing by hand until just combined.  Transfer to a greased 9x5-inch loaf pan.
3. Bake 50-55 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F on an instant-read food thermometer.

Makes 4 servings.

Served it with steamed green beans.

My evening snack was the Prosciutto Wrapped Melon.  Instead of the prosciutto, I used deli sliced ham.

I'll post today's final menu tomorrow along with my results.

Healthy Eating!

Reset Day 2 plus some Prep

 Yes, some prep for tomorrow's breakfast.  I was finally able to find the broccoli slaw at a local produce market.  

Results from yesterday - had a hard time getting to sleep last night as I had a slight headache and my stomach was making noises like it was hungry.  However, this morning was much better.  Stepped on the scales and I'm down 2 pounds!  Love it.  The headache was probably the result of sugar withdrawals.

Breakfast this morning was the same as yesterday.  Like I indicated, I had to do some switching of menus.  We ate lunch out today.  So, I had a small chef salad with vinegar & oil dressing.  About the only thing on the salad I probably shouldn't have is the cheese.

My afternoon snack was Turkey Avocado Bites.  I used some of our leftover smoked turkey breast.  Since I don't care for avocados or grape tomatoes, I used a sweet mini-pepper.

This afternoon, I prepped tomorrow's breakfast, Breakfast Broccoli Hash.  I did not make any substitutions.  I did use the Spinach & Herb Seasoning rather than our favorite Rustic Herb Seasoning.  In the morning, I'll do steps 3 & 4.  Will let you know what that will look like.

  

Tonight's dinner is one of my favorites - Citrus Herb Roasted Salmon.  No substitutions.  However, if you don't like fish, you can substitute chicken.  The menu indicates to serve it with Sauteed Green Beans.  However, we are having steamed broccoli.

    

My evening snack will be an apple with peanut butter (menu says to use unsweetened almond butter - the peanut butter we use is pure peanuts, no added sugar or any other ingredient - doesn't even have salt).

Hope this encourages you towards a reset to healthy eating.