Snack Edition: Baked Mini Churro Bites

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Hello again!  What's that you say?  Two blogs in one day?!?  I know, right?  I told you guys I was busy baking and cooking all weekend!  :)

This one got a little messy (not sure if it was the recipe or me haha) so Give yourself some time!  My husband had some serious dishes to do after this!

So first thing's first: I preheated my oven to 350 degrees, sprayed a mini muffin pan with cooking spray and set it aside while I prepped everything else.

I whisked together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a medium bowl and set that aside, as well.  Then, in my mixer bowl, I beat together some sugar and butter on medium speed for about 3 minutes, and then added an egg and some vanilla.  Once that was combined, I added the flour mixture slowly, alternating between the flour mix and milk.

Once that was all combined, I used two spoons to scoop the batter into the mini muffin pan and put it into the preheated oven for 17 1/2 minutes.  While that was cooking, I melted some butter in a bowl and combined sugar and cinnamon.

When they bites were done cooking, I put them immediately into the melted butter and then dipped it into the cinnamon/sugar mixture.  I also had to do two different batches as this recipe makes 30 bites and my pan only held 26, so I actually just had to cook four more.  They were delicious though!  The best part is they're only 85 calories per bite!  What a yummy snack and only $0.20/bite!  Whaaaaaaaat!

Here's the recipe!

for the churros bites:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 ground nutmeg

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

1/2 cup milk (we used soy milk for our little lactose intolerant guy!)

for the cinnamon sugar topping:

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Happy snacking everyone!!!!  :)

Snack Edition: Homemade Fruit Snacks

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Hellooooooo friends!  Did everyone enjoy their super bowl festivities??  :)  Also, if anyone has any suggestions on something they'd like to see me cook, please comment and I'll be happy to take it on!!
So today is my first NON-dinner blog and I'm STOKED people....STOKED!  I worked ALL weekend cooking and baking, making a bunch of little snack items SPECIFICALLY for the change up that I had intended to make, so get ready for some craziness!
This first one I did I got, of course, from Pinterest (the actual site it linked to is linked to that Pinterest!).  Anything that would allow me to use my skull and crossbones ice trays was a recipe I was down for!
So first thing's first: I had both frozen and fresh strawberries, which the recipe stated either could be used, but I chose to use up my frozen strawberries!  I put 2 1/2 cups into a sauce pan, along with 1/2 cup of fresh-squeezed lemon juice (not sure if the lemon juice needed to be fresh-squeezed or not, it didn't say, so I chose to do fresh!) and heat it on medium-low until the frozen fruit started to soften.
Once that was done, I poured it into my blender and blended it, putting it aside after that to cool a bit (maybe 3 minutes or so, maybe longer depending on how warm the mixture was prior).
When it was cooled sufficiently, I put the liquid mixture back into the saucepan, added 2 tablespoons of honey and then slowly whisked in 1/2 cup of unflavored gelatin.  Be careful with this stuff, you will need to really whisk it while you're pouring it (a great arm workout for sure!) because it starts to thicken very quickly.  This particular time I noticed I probably didn't need all of the gelatin, as the original recipe said to 'pour' the mixture into the molds and I actually scooped it.  NOT TO FEAR MY FRIENDS, as it still worked, so just make sure to keep an eye on the thickness.
So as I said, once I was done whisking, I scooped the mixture into my rubber skull and crossbones ice molds (any molds you have will suffice, I'm sure!), and put them into the fridge for about an hour to an hour and a half and VOILA!  Homemade fruit snacks!  My husband said they tasted like the frozen fruit bars taste like, just not frozen!  :)  I say yums!
So, if I did the calculating correctly, these fruit snacks are about 9-12 calories per piece, depending on size, of course, and much better than buying the prepackaged ones!  It was also only $0.15/piece!  Yay!
Here's the recipe!

2 1/2 cups strawberries (fresh or frozen and you can use any type of fruit, probably more like any kind of berry)
1/2 cup lemon juice (fresh-squeezed is better but try it how you like!)
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup unflavored gelatin

Happy snacking everyone!  See you back here for more snacking goodness soon!

Buffalo Chicken Meatballs

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Happy Groundhog Day everyone and let's all rejoice in the fact that spring is soon on its way!  Yay!!! Enough about Bill Murray and onto this meal!  :)

Oh...ma...gawd...this meal was soooooo good!  So I've been stalking Pinterest fairly frequently again and found this absolutely amazing recipe for Buffalo Chicken Meatballs.  Buffalo chicken ANYTHING is a must in this household, and I've even recently printed out a whole stack of 'to do' buffalo chicken recipes, so be prepared for more!

I've also decided that I want to start doing more variety on this site, so be prepared for more than just low calorie dinners!  Whoop whoop!

So, first thing's first: I preheat my oven to 350 degrees and lined a cookie sheet with foil, spraying it with cooking spray.  Once those were prepped, I set that aside and took some carrots (the recipe called for 1 carrot but I only had baby carrots so I used 6), 1 stalk of celery and green onions, chopping them into large chunks and putting them into my food processor, letting it chop it to a slaw consistency.

I then added that mixture to 1 pound of ground chicken, 1 egg, 1/2 cup of panko breadcrumbs (yum!), 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 2 tablespoons of blue cheese and 1/4 cup of Frank's Red Hot Sauce.  You can certainly use whichever buffalo sauce you prefer but, really, what other kind is there??  :)

I combine all of that together and formed the mixture into 28 small meatballs (I know right??) and put them on the prepared cookie sheet.  Once those were formed, I put the cookie sheet in the oven for 20 minutes.  As there were about 2 minutes left to cook, I put 1 tablespoon of butter and another 1/4 cup of Frank's Red Hot Sauce into a bowl and microwaved it for about 45 seconds, to ensure the butter was melted and the sauce was warm enough.

The calories were so low for this (157 calories for 4 meatballs), that I split the meatballs equally and served them over pasta with the additional butter/hot sauce mixture over it, like a pasta!  It was soooooooooo yummy!  So WITH the pasta and extra meatballs, it was still only 470 calories, which stayed under my 500 calories!  Woo!!  Also, including the pasta, this meal was only $2.02/serving!!!  Yay!  Voila!!!  Dinner was served with minimal work, calories and money!

Here's the recipe!

1 pound lean ground chicken

1 egg

1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs

1 carrot

1 stalk celery

2 green onions

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons blue cheese

1/2 cup Frank's Red Hot Sauce, divided

1 tablespoon butter

Happy cooking everyone!!

Dr. Pepper Chili

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You heard me right...Dr....Pepper...Chili.  This was sooooooooo delicious!
Oh, hello all, by the way!  Sorry for the bit of delay in a new blog.  This past week was my sister's birthday, which ended up turning in my sister's birthday week, so I didn't actually cook very much as we were eating at my parents house or going out.  I'm not complaining but I did severely leave you all hanging and for that, I give my sincerest apologies!  :)
So I actually originally got this recipe from a Twitter post from my husband's company he works for, Camden, which linked to their Pinterest.  I always like recipes that use a unique ingredient or two and I was intrigued!
So, first thing's first: I diced 1 medium red onion (the recipe called for a yellow onion, but I like to use red in chili recipes) and minced 2 cloves of garlic.  The recipe then called to saute the onion and garlic in 2 tablespoons of olive oil, however, I was trying to cut down on the calories to stick within my 500 calorie limit so I used some cooking spray to coat the bottom of a Dutch oven and sauteed the onions on garlic until they started to soften.  Once there I added 2 teaspoons of Kosher salt and chili powder, 2 Chipotle chilies in adobo sauce (which I had previously chopped) and 1 tablespoon of the adobo sauce.  I mixed that together and let it cook for about a minute.
After that warmed, I added 1 pound of extra-lean ground beef (the recipe called for lean) and let that cook in the mixture until it was browned and cooked.  Once that was cooked, I added 12 ounces of Dr. Pepper to the mixture and cooked it until the liquid reduced to about half, which took about 10 minutes or so.
After that I added 28 ounces (1 large can) of whole peeled tomatoes that I had coarsely sliced in the can beforehand, 14.5 ounces of fire-roasted diced tomatoes (1 can) and 8 ounces of tomato sauce (1 can).  Once those were mixed well I let that simmer for about 20 minutes.  I noticed the original recipe stated it was to go for about 30 minutes to thicken, however, mine hadn't gotten close and, once I actually added the final ingredient (1 can/15.5 ounces of kidney beans that were drained) that actually helped it to thicken, as well as once I turned the heat off.
Then voila!  Dinner was served!  The original recipe was fairly high in calories when I calculated it so, after trying to minimize things, I was able to get 6 servings out of this meal for only 209 calories per serving!  It was so low I let everyone use some Frito's Scoops! to eat their chili with, as what chili isn't delicious eaten off of a chip of some kind?  :)  The meal was also only $1.40/serving, whoa!!
Here's the (original) recipe, make changes as you see fit!

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons Kosher salt
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 chipotle chilies in adobo sauce, plus 1 tablespoon of adobo sauce
1 pound lean ground beef
1 can Dr. Pepper (12 ounces)
1 can whole peeled tomatoes (28 ounces)
1 can diced fire-roasted tomatoes (14.5 ounces)
1 can tomato sauce (8 ounces)
1 can kidney beans (15.5 ounces)

Happy cooking everyone!!!!

Sausage Pasta

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Howdy friends!  This meal I made the other day and it was very yummy!  I originally got the recipe from allrecipes.com (I seem to use the website a lot!).
First thing's first: I chopped 1 small onion and minced 4 cloves of garlic and set that aside and then I cooked 3/4 pound of pasta in boiling water for about 10 minutes until al dente.  I drained that and set it aside, as well.
In a large skillet I heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil and cooked 1 pound of Italian sausage until it was no longer pink.  Then I added the onion and garlic and cooked that for about 5 minutes.  Once that was cooked, I added 1 can of chicken broth, 1 teaspoon of basil and 1 can of diced tomatoes with the liquid.  I let it cook over medium heat for 5 minutes to reduce the liquid somewhat.  Then I added 10 ounces of frozen, chopped spinach to the mixture, covered it and let it simmer on reduced heat until it cooked the spinach tender.
Once that was heated through, I added the cooked pasta to the mix and voila!  Dinner was served!  The recipe originally called for Parmesan cheese to be on top but I seem to have a hard time finding non-dairy Parmesan cheese so I just omitted it on my dish, but add it to yours and tell me how it was!  This was STILL delicious without it!
The recipe made 6 servings and, with the cheese, was 418 calories.  It was also only $1.14/serving!  Yowza!
Here's the recipe!

3/4 pound pasta (I used Penne)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound Italian sausage
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 (14.5 oz) can chicken broth
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 (10 oz) package frozen chopped spinach
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Happy cooking everyone!!!

Italian Crescent Casserole

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Hello fellow foodie friends and thank you for coming back for another edition of Mama Feta's Meals, woo!  This meal I made a few days ago was very simple and delicious.  I was told, in fact, by my oldest son that I needed to make this meal for every day after that and that each person, next time, should get their own 'pie' haha!  It was really good!
So first thing's first: I preheat my oven to 375 degrees and started to brown 1 pound of ground turkey (recipe called for ground beef but you all know how this family is!).  While the turkey was browning and the oven was preheating, I opened a can of refrigerated crescent rolls and separated the dough into 8 triangles, laying it in a spoke pattern in a pie plate.  The narrow ends of the triangles overlapped the pie plate and the remaining dough inside I pressed to form a crust.
Once that was done I finished cooking the meat and added 1 cup of pasta sauce (I used garlic and herb but I think any flavor you'd like would work), letting it heat to boiling over medium-high heat.
When that finished warming, I added 1 cup of mozzarella cheese (with our youngest having a dairy allergy, we used the Veggie Shreds brand) to the bottom of the prepared crust, and then added the meat/pasta sauce mixture.  Then I brought in the edges of the dough over the meat and topped it all with an additional 1/2 cup of cheese and 1/4 teaspoon of dried oregano.
I let that cook for 20 minutes and, once I cut it, voila!  Dinner was served!!

 The meal said it made 6 servings but I actually cut it into 8 so everyone was able to get a second smaller piece.  Apparently that still wasn't enough haha!  The meal was 390 calories and only $1.30/serving (this is all based off of the 6 servings.  Depending on whether your family is as hungry as mine, you may want to make two pies to appease everyone!
Here's the recipe!

1 pound ground beef, cooked and drained (or whichever type of meat you prefer!)
1 cup pasta sauce (the recipe called for basil and garlic)
1 can (8 ounces) refrigerated crescent rolls
1 1/2 cup shredded Italian cheese blend (6 ounces) (I used mozzarella Veggie Shreds for our family)
1/4 teaspoon dried basil leaves (I didn't have any basil so I used oregano, it was still good!)

Happy cooking everyone!

Cheeseburger Tacos

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Oh my goodness, how I love this meal!  I love it so much I made it twice within a week (I know, I'm going against my whole 'different meal for every day' but I don't care!  This meal had two of my favorite things in one dish: cheeseburgers and tacos.
Do you want to hear the best part about this meal, because I'm ready to tell it to you!  It was only 220 calories for two tacos...WHAT?!?  I know, right?!?
This meal was simple, pretty and DELICIOUS!  I found the original recipe in my Pillsbury Savvy Shopper's Cookbook (I love this cookbook!).
So first thing's first: I preheated the oven to 350 degrees and then started to cook the ground turkey.  While that was cooking, I put 12 taco shells on a cookie sheet and lined them each with a slice of American cheese.  I let those shells bake in the preheated oven for 7 minutes while I finished up the turkey.
Once the ground turkey was done cooking, about 5-7 minutes, I added 1 cup of some delicious SALSA CON QUESO dip and cooked that until heated through.
While all of that was finishing up, I tore off some lettuce leaves and sliced a tomato.  Putting it together was fun (I tell you, I get a kick out of the smallest things).  I put some of the meat mixture into the taco shell and then topped it with the lettuce leaves, tomato slices and the salsa and voila!  Dinner was served!  The family all have different preferences on what salsa they like, so the image above doesn't show the salsa as I usually let everyone pick their own!  :)
As I said, the meal was so low in calories (220 for two, what?!?), that I was also able to put some black beans on the side.  MMMMMMMMMM.  Also, I seriously feel like I've done my math wrong, however, this meal came out to $0.94/serving!  WHAT?!?  I know, right?  With the beans, it adds up to $1.10/serving.  I CAN'T STAND THIS, IT'S SO AWESOME!  :)
Here's the recipe!

1 box (4.6oz) Taco Shells (12 shells)
12 slices American cheese
1 pound Ground Turkey (the recipe called for Lean Ground Beef but use your preference!)
1 cup Salsa Con Queso
12 Lettuce Leaves
12 Tomato Slices
3/4 Cup Chunky-Style Salsa

Happy cooking everyone!