55 calorie Lasagna!

John has been on a super diet. He has lost 30 pounds in the last 5 weeks! One of the major things that has helped is that we are sticking to 500-calories-or-less dinners. Grilled chicken and steamed veggies gets old fast! So I have been scouring the Internet for more inspirational ideas.

I found this recipe on Hungry Girl's website for Lasagna Cupcakes. Of course, as always, I changed things up a bit. In the end, I cut the calories of by half, and they are still REALLY good. The little kids loved them and even my teenage son went back for seconds & thirds! Bear with me though, when I cook, I don't do measurements and I wasn't actually planning on posting this since it is an adaptation. So this recipe is more of a guideline that really exact amounts.  There aren't many pictures, but I hope you enjoy otherwise!

Also, the sauce is made with ground turkey and Morning Star Recipe Crumbles (frozen ground soy). I know, it sounds gross. But I've been incorporating it in some of my recipes (made 100 calorie tacos the other night), and you really can't tell the difference when you combine it with ground turkey and a little beef bouillon. I wouldn't make a hamburger with it, and I wouldn't use it by itself in any recipe (yet, maybe we will get there, I mean we were the same way about ground turkey at first!) Really though, its not that noticeable. However, if you just can't stomach the soy crumbles, then don't put any meat in it at all. A veggie packed sauce would be just as good (and less calories). This sauce made enough that we can have it for spaghetti for another night (an entire pot of sauce!) So you could probably cut it in half. I just made it this amount because that is how everything came packaged.

The calories are figured by adding every calorie of every ingredient and then dividing by the total measured amount of all the ingredients. For example, the sauce comes to 37 calories for 1/4 cup etc. With all the figuring, the cupcakes come to 55 calories a piece! John could eat 9 of them if he wanted, and still stay under the 500 calorie mark. That is a TON of food!

Makes 24 cupcakes. I ate 3 of them for dinner.

What you need:
1 package wanton noodles (found by tofu and pre-cut veggies @ my grocer)
1 lb extra lean ground turkey
1 package Morning Star Recipe Crumbles (found in frozen foods, meatless section @ my grocer)
beef bouillon
1 lb sliced white mushrooms
1 onion
1 bell pepper
1 cup carrots
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 1/2 cup prepared spaghetti sauce (like Prego)
3 garlic cloves
garlic powder
onion powder
basil
oregano
parsley
salt & pepper
2 cups no fat cottage cheese or ricotta (John hates ricotta, so we use cottage cheese)
nutmeg
1 egg or 1 oz egg substitute
shredded no fat mozzarella cheese
shredded Parmesan cheese


Preheat oven to 375.

If you are using cottage cheese, place a paper towel in a colander and dump the cottage cheese on top. This will let the cottage cheese drain some and will keep the lasagna from being watery.

Mince the mushrooms, onion, bell pepper and carrots. I used my food processor to get them almost pureed, but you can mince them with a knife (although time consuming) for a chunkier sauce. Toss in a sauce pan over med-high heat and cook through.

In a saute pan, combine ground turkey and frozen soy crumbles. Season with 1-2 teaspoons of beef bouillon and pepper. Cook over med-high heat until cooked through. Drain and add to veggies.

Add tomatoes and tomato sauce, the 3 cloves of garlic (minced) and the seasonings (hold off on the parsley for now) to taste. I usually do a good couple of dashes of each. Taste before you add salt, because the beef bouillon is already salty. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer. Add 1 T of parsley. After simmering, if the sauce seems a little runny, mix a couple tablespoons of corn starch with a little water and add to sauce. Bring it back up to a fast simmer and watch it thicken.

Whisk the egg, a dash of nutmeg, few dashes of salt & pepper, garlic powder and parsley together. Combine with drained cottage cheese.

Using cupcake tins, spray with nonstick cooking spray. Push a wanton wrapper down into each cupcake hole. Spread 1 T of the cottage cheese mixture into bottom of cupcake. Add 1 T of meat sauce and sprinkle that with mozzarella cheese and a pinch of Parmesan. Layer another wanton, and gently push down to compress everything. Repeat layers, finishing with mozzarella and Parmesan on top. (I may have used a little less cottage cheese mix and sauce on the second layer because they were filling up pretty well already). Bake at 375 for about 10-15 minutes, until the cheese is melted and the wantons are golden brown.

For a low calorie Lasagna fix, this really hits the spot. You will not believe it is only 55 calories!

Cinderella pumpkin favors! (sorry, yet another craft!)

Okay, another post off topic! When it comes time for birthdays at my house, I get super crafty! When my daughter switched birthday themes from ballarina to Cinderalla, I had to quickly come up with a party favor idea. Then I stumbled upon Martha Stewart Pumpkin Treat Bags, from her Halloween Party page. I attached some cute Cinderella colored ribbon and viola! ~ Cinderella Magic Pumpkins!

Martha Stewart suggests using crepe paper, but I couldn't find crepe paper anywhere. So, I opted for orange tissue paper (which wasn't exactly easy to find either). I cut the sheets into 10 inche squares, and doubled them. I poured in 1/3 cup of m&m's (its Easter so they had pastel ones), twisted the paper up, taped it, and wrapped it in floral tape. So easy and super cute!

Cinderella Carriage ~ sorry, not a recipe ;)

Off the topic of cooking... but I just had to share this Cinderella carriage I made for my daughter's birthday. Sorry, but I don't have any step-by-steps! It was a hit-or-miss sort of project.

I used white coat hangers. I stretched them out straight, snipped off the ends, and rollen 5 of them into large circles. I then intertwined the 5 circles to make a globe. With my son's help, secured them at the top and bottom by weaving white pipe cleaners around the top.

I then took two more hangers, and rolled the ends of them around a gatorade bottle. Then, using needle nose pliers, I curved the ends into curly qs. I used two pipe cleaner to connect these to like axles. Then I balanced by globe on the axles. I covered the pipe cleaners with gorilla glue and used super glue where the hangers touched the axles. I'm sure a hot glue gun would work too, but I couldn't find mine. Also, super glue worked to hold it quickly.

Then I trekked to the hobby store and bought flowers to glue on the wheels, ribbon to top the pipe cleaner, and I bought one strand of wedding flower beads--there were 10 individual strands on this and I cut them off and hot glued/gorilla glued them along the coat hangers.

It took a while, (and caused a few blisters) but I think it came out adorable!

How to Dice an Onion

Dicing an onion is no problem, when you only have to dice one. When a recipe calls for a large amount of onions, dicing can become a tedious chore. It is so tedious that there are tons of gadgets to aid you in your onion dicing. However, there are several problems with these little gadgets: first, they don't work. They just mush the onion instead of dicing. Second, you still have to cut the onion into little pieces to use it. And finally, the little parts of the dicer have to be washed, meaning extra clean up!

This little dicing trick will save you tons of time and is super easy. Best of all, no extra clean up required!

The first step is to slice off the end of the onion. Not the end with the roots sticking out, the end where the bulb is coming together and where it will grow the sprout.

Now, slice the onion in half. Then peel the first below the skin away. Don't worry that you are wasting onion, usually this layer is often part of the skin even though it looks deceivingly like onion. If can't easily poke your nail into it, peel it off.

Now for the trick! You are going make slices in the onion all the way around. Just follow these red lines! The key is to not cut completely through the onion. The tip of your knife should never go through the end where the roots are. This will hold the onion together.

Turn the onion sideways, and slice the onion as if you were cutting slices for a sandwich. Tada! The onion is completely diced!

Shrimp, Chicken & Sausage Gumbo

The secret to good gumbo is the roux, the secret to great gumbo is homemade stock. Neither of these take much extra time, but are essential to this great recipe! With the "big game" coming up, I wanted something that would be inexpensive to feed a big crowd. This pot of gumbo will cost less than $30 and can make at least 10 bowls! Leave out the shrimp and you've got a great meal for under $20! It will take some time, this is not a whip-it-in minutes sort of recipe. But I promise it is Oh So Worth It!

Shrimp, Chicken & Sausage Gumbo

The first step is to start with your stock. Homemade stock is so cheap and easy! And it adds much more flavor than the canned store-bought stock. Since you have to cook the chicken anyway, why not make the stock at the same time? I used 4 chicken thighs, but any cut of chicken would be fine (about a 1lb). Place it in a small pot with celery, onion, a few carrots (I didn't have any this time) and 3 or 4 cloves of garlic. Season with salt, pepper and a few dashes of poultry seasoning. If you don't have poultry seasoning, use a dash of thyme and sage. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cover.

chicken stock

If you have decided to splurge on shrimp, go for the 34-40 ct and buy the ones with the shells on. (I like the ones that have been deveined). Thaw them under luke warm water (only takes a minute of rinsing) and shell them. Place the shrimp back in the fridge and put your shells & tails in a small pot. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cover.



shrimp stock



Now that your stocks are working, you need to chop up the "trinity". The trinity is essential to cajun cooking and includes onion, bell pepper and celery. I use about 2-3 yellow onions (I used some red this time because I had that's what I had on hand), 5-6 stalks of celery and 3 bell peppers. There is no wrong amount to use, but make sure there is about equal amounts of the three.



The Cajun Trinity



Time for the sausage! Use a good cajun sausage for a spicier flavor, but any keilbasa-type will work. Cut the sausages in half, and then slice into 1/4" pieces. Sautee over medium heat in a nonstick skillet. Remove to a paper towel, leaving the fat in the skillet.

The next step is the roux. This will take about 20 minutes to make a dark roux and will require constant attention. Make sure your kids are preoccupied because you cannot walk away while you are cooking roux! In the pan that you sauteed the sausage, add 3/4 cup of vegetable oil and 1 and 1/4 cup of flour.

*Quick tip: I am a one-pot queen! When I first started making gumbo, I tried making the roux in my heavy-bottom pot that the gumbo would be in also. I found that the roux kept sticking and was much too difficult to keep from burning. When I started using the nonstick skillet, I could cook the roux at a higher temp and it wouldn't stick. You also need to use a wooden spatula. The roux cooks to a high temperature, and will melt a plastic spoon (trust me!), and of course, a metal spoon will scratch your pan. A silicon spatula will work fine too.



Over medium heat, cook the flour and oil. The flour will slowly begin to brown. You should be constantly stirring the roux in order for it to cook evenly. It should be darkening all at the same time. If you find that you can't stir it fast enough, and parts of it are browning faster than others, then turn the heat down. On the other hand, if you feel like you're standing there stirring and nothing is happening, nudge the heat up a bit. When you first try it, you'll want to cook it at a lower heat and let it take its time. Don't be surprised if it takes 30 minutes to darken.

Also, if it is cooking too fast, I will lift the pan away from the heat and get it stirred before putting it back on the stove. You will want to flour to darken, they say until it looks like coffee. I haven't figured out what "they" mean by coffee, because black coffee is too dark and if "they" are talking about coffee with cream then who knows!! I would say that it needs to be darker than peanut butter. This is where your gumbo gets its distinct flavor!

Once your roux gets the right color, turn off the heat and add your trinity. The hot roux will begin to cook the veggies. Mince 3-4 cloves of garlic and add to the trinity.

Notice the roux continued to darken even after I added it to the veg 

I'm not one of those people that thinks you have to have every kitchen gadget in order to be a great cook. However, there are a few things that are essential. One of those is a fat separator.

You pour the broth into the skimmer, with the rubber stopper in the spout. Let the fat rise to the top, and pour out the broth. The spout pours from the bottom, leaving the fat in the cup. If you don't have one of these, STOP and get one.

  

Using your new fat separator, strain both broths into the trinity and stir until it is completely incorporated.

Now add your seasoning. I do not measure, so everything I give is an estimate. Taste it and adjust as necessary. Add 1 or 2 bay leaves, 1 t. thyme, 1 t. onion powder, 1 t. garlic powder, and 1 to 2 t. of cajun seasoning and a couple dashes of worcestershire sauce and hot sauce. Mix in the sausages and bring the mixture to a simmer. If it looks too thick, add water.

While that is simmering, debone the chicken. Put your loaf of french bread in a preheated oven to get warm and crispy (don't forget it!) Also, start a pot of rice. I usually make enough for 6 servings. Add a little salt and garlic to the water to give the rice a little flavor boost. After the rice is started, add the shrimp to your simmering gumbo. Once the shrimp is pink, add the chicken. Now its time to add 1-2 t. of gumbo file. Taste and add salt, pepper and cajun seasoning if needed. *Cajun seasoning is usually very salty. So, I suggested adding it before you add more salt.

Slice up your crusty bread and you are ready to enjoy homemade gumbo!