Spaghetti

This recipe is from Mr. Picky Pants' mom.  This is how she makes her spaghetti and I think it's a great way to "doctor" some jarred pasta sauce into a more robust meal.  You can use any brand of pasta sauce you like.  Just make sure it's meat-free since you're adding meat.  You can add any veggies you like or omit whatever you don't.  I like that I can alter this depending on what I have on hand and it usually tastes about the same.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef

1 small onion,  diced

1 - 2 cloves garlic,  minced

1 small green pepper,  diced
1 T. Italian Seasoning
1/2 tsp. celery seed
salt/pepper
1 can stewed tomatoes, diced (you can also use just diced tomatoes)
1 jar pasta sauce (marinara)

2 good handfuls of dried Spaghetti noodles

Here's how to pull it all together:

Brown ground beef until no longer pink.

While the beef is browning, dice up your onion and pepper.  I used red pepper since that's what I had.  The color of the pepper tends to only affect the sweetness.  Green pepper is a bit stronger and a little more bitter than red which is sweeter.  Use whatever peppers you have on hand.

**Tip**  You can freeze peppers for use in recipes like this.  Just cut in half and remove the seeds/stem, put in a resealable bag, and toss in the freezer for the next recipe. 

Once the meat is browned, it's up to you if you want to drain it.  If you have really lean beef, you probably don't need to.  See how much fat has accumulated and make the call for yourself and your family.  We don't normally drain this unless I'm using less than 85% fat.

Add your onion and peppers and the minced garlic.  Stir to combine and get those veggies cooking.

Add your tomatoes.  The original recipe calls for stewed tomatoes which contain onions, celery, and bell peppers.  Since these are already present in this recipe, it's not vital that you use stewed tomatoes.  Additionally, they only come as whole tomatoes which requires you to dice them up.  I'm all about cutting steps, so I've taken to using diced tomatoes.  I sometimes use the seasoned diced tomatoes with oregano, garlic, whatever I have.

Drain the juice into the meat mixture when you add the tomatoes.

Add all your seasonings at this point.  Mix it all together to combine.

Now add your pasta sauce.

Stir it all together and let it simmer for a bit to let the flavors combine. 

Cook your dried spaghetti noodles in boiling water according to the package instructions.  We use about two good handfuls of noodles for this recipe. 

Add the cooked, drained spaghetti noodles to the sauce and let simmer on the stove for about 10-15 minutes or longer.  Cover with a lid to prevent splattering.  

This is even better the next day, so don't stress about making too much.  It's even better if you make it in the morning and put it in the fridge and then pull it out and heat it up on the stove for dinner.  Yum!

The Verdict:

Mr.  Picky Pants loves this.  Since he grew up with it, it's one of his comfort foods.  He's even capable of making this himself (though it's a bit of a production).  This is definitely something we have often.  Overall it's a pretty healthy recipe...until you eat an entire loaf of garlic bread yourself.  But we don't talk about that.  Enjoy!

Italian Chicken-Zucchini Skillet

This recipe was adapted from this recipe from Hunts.

This was something I threw together after googling a few ingredients one crazy evening.  I am trying to really watch what I eat and eliminate as many processed and unnecessary ingredients as possible.  The benefit of this dish is that it has tons of veggies and cooks really quickly and in one pan!

If you have really hungry folks, you may need to add some pasta to increase the staying power of this.  Or you could add more chicken to increase the protein. If you are going to mix with pasta, you may want to add some tomato sauce to make it less dry.

Ingredients:
Boneless Chicken (I used about 4 chicken tenders; about 1 lb)
Herb and White Wine marinade (or Italian dressing/marinade)
Cooking Spray
1 can diced tomatoes with Basil, Garlic & Oregano (or whatever Italian blend you enjoy)
1/2 small onion diced
1-2 zucchinis peeled and sliced
Parmesan cheese

Here's How it all Comes Together:

1. Dice the chicken into bite sized pieces.
2. Marinate the chicken for about 15 minutes in marinade.
3. While the chicken in marinating, dice up your veggies.
4. Spray a large skillet with cooking spray.
5. Cook chicken in skillet until no longer pink.
6. Add veggies and undrained tomatoes.
7. Cook for about 15-20 minutes or until the zucchini is tender.
8. Garnish with Parmesan cheese.
9. Serve over pasta (orzo, rotini, penne, etc.)

The Verdict:
Mr. Picky Pants actually really liked this.  It was a little to "light" for him, so he would benefit from the pasta as I noted above or an additional side with some carbs.  I was really surprised he enjoyed it since it had so many veggies in it, but he said it was actually quite tasty.  I was just happy I didn't have to make him a separate dinner. 

Lifeway Kefir

As a participant in Influenster, I received a coupon for a free Lifeway Kefir product.  I grabbed the Lowfat Kefir Cultured Milk Smoothie in Strawberry Banana.


Well, tonight I gave it a try.  It has a good flavor, but the overall kefir flavor was just too sour for my liking.  So, I decided to "enhance" it a bit.




Ingredients:
1 cup Lifeway Kefir Smoothie in Strawberry Banana (most flavors would work)
1/3 cup Vanilla Greek Yogurt
1 cup frozen blueberries (or your favorite berry)
1 T honey

Here's the easy part:
Combine it all in the blender and blend.

The result is a tangy, sweeter smoothie with all the benefits of the kefir.

Unfortunately this is not something that Mr. Picky Pants would even dream of tasting, so I didn't even try.  Oh well, his loss.

Please note:  I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.

Tastykake® Kandy Bar Kakes

I am participating in a testing program called VoxBox from Influenster.  I received a really fun box of goodies to test out and share my opinions.  I know this blog isn't really designed for this, but since it's food related, and Mr. Picky Pants related, I figured I give it a shot.

The first thing Mr. Picky Pants saw when I opened the box was the Tastykake Kandy Bar Kake - S'mores flavor.  He grabbed it out of the box before I knew what happened.  I've been trying to prevent him from eating it for a couple days, but gave in today.  I didn't even get a picture of the cake, just a sad, empty wrapper.



Having had MANY S'mores treats before, Mr. Picky Pants expected this to be messy - as most are.  Usually the graham cracker portion crumbles when you bite into it.  He was pleasantly surprised when it was a moist, soft cake surrounded in chocolate with a marshmallow filling.  Needless to say, we'll be looking for these in the near future.

Visit http://www.tastykake.com/ for more information.

**I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.**

Cheesy Chicken Biscuits

This is a new take on Chicken Tortilla Bake but slightly more Picky Pants friendly.  The cheesy chicken mixture is the same as in the chicken tortilla bake.  The biscuit part is literally just canned biscuits (though I suppose you could make your own if you're cool like that).  It was actually pretty easy and they came out much better than I expected.

Ingredients:
1 can refrigerated biscuts
Boneless Chicken
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 small onion
1-2 cups cheddar cheese (enough for the tops reserved)
1 cup peas/broccoli or any other frozen or canned veggie

I don't have pictures of making it, but it's pretty simple and you can refer to the Chicken Tortilla Bake recipe for help.

To start, spray a muffin tin with cooking spray.  Cut the biscuits in half like you would when they are baked so you have two discs for each one. 

Roll each half biscuit into a disc large enough to fill one muffin cup.

Press into the muffin cups so they come up the sides as far as possible.

Bake these unfilled following the directions on the can of biscuits for about 8-10 minutes.  About half way through pull them out and push down the middles since they puff up (you need this space for the filling).

While the biscuit cups are baking, brown the chicken and onion and combine the remaining ingredients in a bowl.

Pull out the biscuit cups when they are done baking and push down the middles again.

Fill each biscuit cup just to the top with the filling (don't overfill or you'll make a mess).  Top each cup with a little extra shredded cheese.

Bake for about 5 minutes more - keep an eye on them so the biscuits don't get too brown.  Remember you're just heating the filling through and melting the cheese.

Once they are done, they should pop right out and be ready to eat.

The Verdict:
Mr. Picky Pants really liked these.  They were devoured quickly and were easy to eat.   These were definitely a meal fit for a 4-year-old since they combine all the food groups into one little package that's fun to eat.  I will definitely be making these again and will probably try new fillings.  I'm thinking of a sloppy joe biscuit next.