Spinach Souffle

1 10- ounce package of frozen chopped Spinach cooked and drained
3 Tablespoons of chopped onion
1/2 cup of low-fat cottage cheese
1 Teaspoon of lemon
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
Ground pepper to your taste
2 egg whites

Assembel all ingredients . In food processor blend all the ingredients except egg white.
Gently fold in Egg whites. Spoon the mixture in ungreased souffle dish or casserole dish. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Serve immediately.
This is four servings 1/2 cup each.

Although Patience does not like cottage cheese anymore....lol If she does not see the container she enjoys this. We had Spinach souffle when we were eating Bistro Md meals. I found this recipe in  Missy Daisy Cooks Light. Just something different and a good way to eat veggies in a not so boring way.

Simple Low cost "comfort food" Meal

Simple and Low cost comfort food…

Turkey Meat loaf and creamy veggies


I purchased turkey for $2.29 a pound.

The bag of veggies were from the huge bag Normandy Blend at Walmart for $7.50. Which last’s for about a week and half. And that is having veggies for at least 2 meals daily. For four people.


Onions we buy a bag weekly. Chopped whatever veggies I had and put in the meat loaf. (onions, celery) - We have used frozen spinach, shredded carrots- whatever you like. But we never use crackers or bread crumbs for the meat it isnt needed.

And just made a cream sauce with a tiny bit of heavy cream and shredded cheese. And seasonings.- (whatever you like) I used Cayenne pepper to give it spice.


The Home made cream sauce is a lot better than a can of Campbell’s cream soup. The sodium in can cream is terrible. A small container of cream is $ 1.25. I keep on hand to make easy sauces. Adding more veggies than sauce though. Just to give it flavor. Very simple- and low cost.  The cans of soup have so much sugar in them.

A meal like this will make Patience feel fuller longer than Traditional Mac and cheese. It is all about having what you like but modifying to be healthier.She of course eats the veggies with no sauce or cheese too. I just wanted to prove you can make your own Home made weight watchers type meals at home at a fraction of the price. We always use Sugar free Ketchup.

Cheezy Popcorn ;)

Cheesy Popcorn ( almost)


½ cup of popcorn

1 tablespoon of nutritional yeast



Cook popcorn in air popper , transfer to large bowl and sprinkle with the yeast.


Red Star nutritional yeast is a excellent source of  vitamin B- 12. It lends a cheesy salty taste without either. Nutritional yeast is not the same as Brewers or Bakers yeast, so don’t substitute.

Found in Eat Healthy Go Vegan.

Sweet Potato And Cauliflower chowder

I found this in the Healthy Vegan Cookbook...

Cauliflower and Sweet Potato Chowder

3 ¼ cups of veggie broth

4 large shallots minced

½ cup of chopped celery

6 cups of cauliflower (1 medium head)

1 cup of chopped red pepper

1 medium sweet potato peeled and cut into cubes

(about 1 and ½ cups)

1 bay leaf

1 cup of unsweetened soy milk

Salt and pepper to taste

. Heat ¼ cup of broth in a large saucepan over medium heat add shallots, celery and sauté for 5 minutes Add remaining cup of broth and 1 cup of water bring to a boil. Add cauliflower, Bell pepper, sweet potato and bay leaf. And bring to a boil.

2. Reduce the heat cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the bay leaf.

3. Add Soy milk and salt and pepper to taste.

This could be eaten year round soup is refreshing with a nice salad for lunch in the winter. On the days Patience isn’t interested in a sandwich for lunch I would give her a cup of soup with salad with grapes or apple.

 

Peanut Butter soup

Peanut Butter Soup

Serves 1

2 tablespoons each of diced onion and celery

½ cup of canned veggie broth

i½ cup of water

1 Tablespoon of chunky peanut butter ( all natural)

3 medium tomatoes blanched, peeled seeded and chopped ( or canned tomatoes diced )- as many as you like

Dash of salt, pepper, and hot sauce


Spray small saucepan with nonstick
cooking spray and heat: add onion and celery and cook stirring for 2 minutes. Stir in broth, water, and peanut butter, bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat let simmer for 8 minutes. Add tomatoes, salt and pepper and stirring, return mixture to a boil. Transfer to soup bowl and add hot sauce and stir to combine.


This is a nice snack when your hungry but not ready for a meal. It may sound alittle odd but Patience enjoys it . I would rather her sip on this soup than eat cookies or chips. I found this in my Vegan cookbook. We plan on doing alot of vegan recipes this new year.

One snack.....

Almost every day I will pack fresh fruit in Patience backpack for her snack.

Every now and then I will pack low sugar dried apple chips.

Whole Wheat Brownies

Since Patience eats so healthy 99% of the time. I made the girls a treat. This is a every now and then treat. Honestly Patience ate one serving size brownie and did not ask for more. And she runs in the afternoons and jumps on the trampoline. So I'm not to concerned about a weight gain. She is maintaining everything so nicely. And even went down another size in shorts recently!!! ( she is growing taller) I have taken her sugar a couple times and it has been right on track. - She asked me to take it because she seen me taking mine. Bless her I hope she never has to.

3/4 cup of butter ( we use the better brands, I cannot believe its not butter, country crock light) anything with no hydrogenated oils

1 and 1/2 tsp of vanilla

1/2 cup of cocoa

1 cup of brown sugar ( we use light)

3 eggs ( or you could use egg beaters)

1/2 tsp of baking powder

Blend all together and then add 3/4 cup of whole wheat flour

Cook for 40 minutes at 350.

These are fluffy texture and the girls still enjoyed the brownie experience. In the future we will use recipes with Carob powder.

Pasta Salad..

We really try to stay clear of noodles, bread, crackers. And if we do have them we be sure to make sure to eat the correct portion. And they are whole wheat noodles with fiber.

Patience bless her heart almost everyday will eat a sandwitch on whole wheat bread with her fruit. Or salad with grilled chicken. Or a wrap. But today I switched it up and put a cold pasta in her lunch with fruit and  small piece of grilled chicken.

Whole wheat pasta
Diced can of tomato
Diced peppers
Diced onions
A few diced olives
A sprinkle of basil

This photo is quite a few servings...But to be honest in the past I could have ate the whole thing. When we give Patience a pasta we usually pack it full of veggies and she knows once that serving is eaten that's it.

We all measure our pasta servings now. Like i said we really try to stay clear but every now we will have whole wheat. Maybe once a week if that. Making sure veggies are the main items on the plate. Any other veggies would be great: cucumber, carrots, spinach, broccoli. I just made it simple. Because Patience talks alot at lunch...LOL I would never want to buy those pasta kits because those are loaded with soduim. I like to make it because fresh veggies are so good for you.

I'm so proud and amazed how she has maintained her weight. :)

Sweet Treat..Yogurt with fruit

One of the sweet treats we all love is plain yogurt with berries or fruit. Greek Yogurt is excellent for you. The yogurt in the store that is already sweetened is not so good. The fruit gives the yogurt a sweet taste. It's like eating McDonald's yogurt at home.

We always buy the big bag of frozen strawberries each week and use it for smoothies and shakes or this. It is only like $7.00 at Walmart and it last all week. I defrost the berries and put in Patience lunch sometimes at school. This is a treat food for Patience I have no guilt about. She likes a sprinkle of cinnamon on her yogurt.

Very low carb snack: Deviled Lettuce Leaf

I have not yet give up eggs. And since we are watching the carbs.
I make egg salad on lettuce leaves.

Boil about 4 eggs
Chop 1 celery stalk
About 1/2 cup of onions
And any other veggies :bell pepper, carrots (a food processor chops everything in nice bite size pieces)

After the eggs are boiled and cooled peel and put in the food processor. And pulse about 6 times. You do not want mushy egg salad.  Then I add about 3 Tablespoons of Mayo
And one teaspoon of mustard. And all the veggies. And a sprinkle of dill weed.

This is a snack when you miss having dip. The lettuce leaf is lot lower in carbs than chips. This makes about 4-5 generous servings.
This is a snack I make for Patience and it is Patience approved.

Jerry made Breakfast...Asparagus-Zucchini Frittata

Recipe from Diabetic Living suitable for Everyone

I had to swipe this photo from the net because Simplicity new puppy had chewed the cord to the other computer that i down load photo's. Luckily the photo was from the magazine he got this from. Jerry's turned out just as pretty and it was so good.

11/2 pounds fresh Asparagus trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 medium yellow pepper cut into strips
1/3 chopped onion
1/4 cup bottled roasted red sweet peppers drained and chopped
1 small zucchini halved lengthwise and cut into 1/4 inch slices
10 eggs or 2 and 1/2 cup or frozen egg product thawed
1 cup of soy milk or fat free milk
1/2 teaspoon of dried dill

Preheat oven to 350 Coat baking dish with non stick cooking spray.

In large saucepan bring about 1 inch water to boiling add Asparagus, sweet peppers strips, and onion. Return to boiling reduce heat. Simmer covered about 1 minute or until crisp. Drain well . Stir in roasted peppers from a jar. Evenly spread asparagus mixture in prepared baking dish.

Layer zucchini slices on top.
In a large bowl beat eggs. Beat milk add dried dill, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper. pour veggies in baking dish. Bake uncovered 40-45 minutes.  Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

This is a very pretty dish to take to a brunch.
Patience loved it and ate every bite. Veggies and all.
Btw I survived my week of just eating vegetarian and plan to stick to it. There are so many veggie recipes I want to learn and the scale dropped 4 pounds this week :) My mom had given me some of her old clothes And I was able to wear a beautiful dress she had given me to church.(my mom looks so young for her age, she always wears the latest styles) To be honest people have always thought I was the mother and she was the daughter!!!
 I'm not used to wearing hip clothing. Im used to wearing dresses that look like potato sacks. That are huge.
So today im starting to feel  more my age. And feel like going shopping. ;) I wasnt even aware that I could fit into the dress!!!

Starting to make Juice for Patience...

This is a image of the Juicer we got at Walmart for alittle of nothing last year.

This morning Patience seen me making my celery, tomato, apple juice. And wasnt to keen on the

celery. So I made her  apple. Of course it didnt look or taste like the apple

juice from a store but she liked it.

So to make sure she is eating enough I am going to start to make her homemade juice.

Since she has been eating healthier I can tell her skin shines. :)

Mock Mac and cheese

Cauliflower cooked or steamed, after cooked chop to resemble mac noodles, Add  2Tablespons of Mayo, 2 Teaspoon of mustard,(small amount of butter)
Monterrey jack cheese and cheddar, and Little grated Parmesan cheese on top and put under broiler till top is browned.  I never have been crazy about mac and cheese but Patience and Jerry love it. And we all loved this. Just a small replacement that saved our family the calories.

At a later time i will post a photo of mock potato salad, very close to this recipe. Using Cauliflower also.
We always explain to Patience not every mac and cheese is good for her and we used veggies to make it. So she will not be confused. Kids adapt so much easier than adults. :)

Spinach chips?

Instead of potato chips for
Patience I  make spinach chips Heat the oven for 375 and place spinach on baking sheet
Slightly drizzel with olive oil. ( not drown)  then season and cook for about 15 minutes.

She loves these, and i dont have any worry . They are crispy. I am sure Popeye would approve. :)

Crock Pot Chicken

,

 Whole Fryer chicken, carrots, onions, celery, Cabbage.
Clean rinse chicken, take out the gross parts...LOL  And season. We used parsley, onion powder, chili powder.

And cook on high for 5 hours in crock pot. No it isn't the typical roast beef meal but it is Little more healthy.
I took Reynolds wrap and made a layer of small balls so the chicken would not lay in the chicken liquid.

After the chicken is done you could take off the fatty skin.  This is a meal Patience approves of.
We shred her chicken and put a Little bit of low sugar baraque sauce. She loves cabbage also. :)
And all the veggies :)

Roasted Asparagus

1 pound of Asparagus
Ground pepper
Drizzle olive oil

Rinse and clean the Asparaguss and cut the ends, Drizzle the oil, and pepper.
Put on baking sheet and cook for about 20 minutes
Or until crisper. Sometimes we add  lemon.
Since it was March we called them Leprechaun trees and said that is what they build their house with. The girls loved them.

Asparagus is not alot of money. Just another reason to eat healthy and stay away from the pre packaged foods. We had this with carrots, and baked fish.
And the cost of the meal was very little.

Chicken Spagetti ( squash)

Instead of feeding Patience pasta, and have her say may i have more.

Of course we have used whole wheat. Another healthy alternative we use is spagetti squash. Alot lower in fat and she is eating her veggies. We purchase a spagetti squash cut in half and cook  according to direction i think it is about 20 minutes in the oven. Then shred her chicken and add marnia sauce. Cheese is optional. Squash is just as good as noodles

This could be made without meat and use many of

your favorite veggies.

Pizza ( It's a mushroom not real pizza)

One of things that I have made is portabella mushroom with a small amount of cheese and Parmesan cheese melted. I broil this in the oven.With Tomato sauce. Patience really likes this. I could put some grilled onions on it also or sauteed bell pepper or grilled tomato  with basil or italian herbs on the top.

Like I said we have found different ways of cooking veggies. This is a nice meal when you really would love to have pizza but do not need the calories or carbs. She likes her to be alittle crispy on the top.