Welcome everyone to the President's Day edition of Mama Feta's Meals! (Not that there's anything remotely presidential about what I decided to cook today, just felt like reiterating what day it was). ANYWAY, this meal I got directly off of the Rhodes Bread website, AND I managed to make this a Meatless Monday edition, as well! Woo!
This meal was fun to make, and my boys and I have discussed the many other ways we'd like to use our remaining two loaves of Rhodes bread and what we plan on stuffing into it. That'll be for another day but for now onto the Braided Spaghetti Bread!!
First thing's first: I had taken my package of Rhodes bread out of the freezer yesterday and put it in the fridge to let it defrost for today (I would suggest doing it that way, as well) Make sure to take it out early enough to make the dough room temperature. As the recipe suggested, I wiped down my counter and sprayed it with cooking spray, and then rolled out one of the loaves until it was around a 12x16 rectangle (not sure if I made it the appropriate size, but I worked on it!). I covered it with plastic wrap and let it sit while I cooked 6 ounces of whole wheat angel hair.
After I drained the pasta and let it cool for a moment, I removed the wrap and added the pasta in a line down the dough. I also added 1 cup of spaghetti sauce, as well as 8 ounces of mozzarella cheese. The recipe called to cut an 8 ounce block into cubes, however, I only had already shredded cheese, so I used that instead. I made several cuts in the dough (I knew I messed this part up based on what the recipe said, but I'm certain I'll get it right next time!). Side note, have a picture of what kind of cuts are needed, otherwise you'll end up making too many cuts, like I did! :)
I folded the strips in, covering everything, and moved the bread to a cookie sheet that I had already sprayed with cooking spray. Then I took an egg white (beaten), and brushed the outside of the dough with it, as well as added some Parmesan cheese and parsley flakes to the top.
I cooked that in a preheated oven (to 350 degrees) for 33 minutes. Once it was done, I let it cool for just a few minutes, sliced and served!
Num yummies! This was really good. The meal was 400 calories and only $2.73/serving!!!
Here's the recipe!
1 Loaf Rhodes Bread Dough, thawed to room temperature
6 ounces spaghetti, cooked
1 cup spaghetti sauce
8 ounces mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 egg white, beaten
Parmesan cheese
parsley flakes
Happy cooking everyone and happy President's day!!
Hello everyone and happy Sunday to you all!!! Today's meal I got from www.recipegirl.com and it was delicious!!
So first thing's first: I preheated my oven to 350 degrees and while that was heating I cooked 7 ounces of whole wheat angel hair pasta until it was al dente (about 6 minutes), drained it and set it aside.
Then I sliced 2 cups of mushrooms, chopped 1 medium onion and then 1/2 cup (each) of celery and red and green bell peppers. I also chopped 2 cups of cooked chicken to use in later step. Is it just me or are meals so much more fun to make when the ingredients are as colorful as these??
I melted one tablespoon of butter and added all of the veggies (um yum!). Seriously, look below at how pretty this is!
I know, right? While that was cooking for about 4 to 5 minutes, I mixed 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup with 1 cup of milk. The recipe called for nonfat milk, however, since we have 3/4 members of this family that are lactose intolerant, I used lactose free and fat free milk, and it worked just fine. I then added that mixture to the veggies, along with 8 ounces of cheddar cheese.
I mixed that until the cheese melted and the sauce was smooth. Then I added the chicken I had previously chopped, the pasta I had previously cooked, and 1 teaspoon of hot sauce. The recipe called for Tabasco sauce, but I didn't have any so I used what I had, which was Tapatio (I LOVE me some Tapatio!). I also added a bit of salt and pepper to taste.
I mixed it together and then put it into a casserole dish that I had previously sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. I added 1/2 cup of shredded Monterey Jack cheese and put it into the preheated microwave for 35 minutes.
Once it was done I took it out and let it cool for a moment because it was HOT! Then I put it into bowls and voila! Dinner was served (yum)!
Very filling and very delicious! The meal was 490 calories and only $3.93/serving! What?!? I know, I hardly believe it myself sometimes...:)
Here's the recipe!!!
7 ounces thin spaghetti
1 tablespoon salted butter
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped green bell peppers
1/2 cup chopped red bell peppers
2 (10.75 ounces) can fat free cream of mushroom soup
1 cup nonfat milk
8 ounces cheddar cheese
2 cups cooked, chopped chicken
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
Happy cooking everyone!!!
Hello my fine feathered friends! Another installment of my meals is headed your way right now! I pulled this recipe off of Pinterest (um duh), but THEY had it from www.food.com. Really delicious and perfect for the colder weather Sir Punxsutawney Phil told us would be coming!
So here's everything you will need: Italian sausage with the casings removed, garlic, fresh spinach, chicken broth, capellini (I had an issue with this pasta I will explain in a bit!), French bread, olive oil and Parmesan cheese. Oh, and don't forget an apron! Don't want to mess up clothing! :)
Okay, so as you can see in the photo, I have cavatappi and NOT capellini. First, the recipe called for capellini OR vermicelli, so I added vermicelli to my shopping list as I was more familiar with that pasta name than the other. However, when I got to the store they didn't have vermicelli (I may have to shop elsewhere now ;)), and I didn't remember the name of the other pasta once I was there, so I guessed! Once I got home, took the photo and realized, I just used some whole wheat angel hair I had also bought, instead, so you'll see the pasta change in the recipe. My suggestion is to try to find the ones the recipe suggests, otherwise angel hair worked perfectly fine.
So first thing's first, I removed the stems from my spinach and threw them under some cold water in a strainer because they were kind of gritty (ew). Make sure to wash your veggies before use! I also chopped up 1 tablespoon of fresh garlic to prepare for the next step.
Once this was done, I added the sausage (I got hot, but you can choose to get the sweet, as well) to a sauce pan. The easiest way I found to removing casings off of sausages is to just run a knife down the middle, to put a slice into it, and peel it off. Easy peasy! I cooked that on high heat until it was browned, and then added the chopped garlic and cooked that for another 30 seconds.
Then I added the chicken broth (the recipe calls for 3 14.5 ounce cans), plus the spinach. The recipe also calls for one of those cans to be filled with water and added to the pot, as well, and then I covered it and brought it to a boil. After that started to boil I added 1/2 cup of my angel hair (i broke it into tiny pieces), and cooked it until the noddles were done. The recipe says for another two minutes, however, my previously discussed lack of knowledge in pasta names required me to cook it longer to make sure the angel hair was done! :)
Now, of course, I forgot to take pictures of the bread before I finalized the dish, but I will still explain everything here. I made four 1/2 inch slices, threw them in the broiler to broil for one minute on each side, and then added 1 teaspoon of olive oil to each slice and 1/2 teaspoon of Parmesan cheese to each slice. I put the soup into bowls and topped the soup with each slice of bread and voila! Dinner was served!
It was really good with the bread but dang the soup absorbs into the bread FAST! The meal was 495 calories and only $4.31/serving! Yeah!
Here's the recipe!!
1/2 pound Italian sausage, casings removed
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 pound fresh spinach, stems trimmed
3 (14.5 ounces) cans chicken broth
1/2 cup broken pieces capellini or vermicelli
4 slices French bread, 1/2 inch thick
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons grated Parmesan cheese, divided
Happy cooking!!!
Okay people, so I think I've gotten prettier pictures to make you happy today, yay! Not to mention this meal was so delicious! Or 'ono' as we say in Hawaii...;)
I remember as a kid my mom used to make this meal a lot! One of the most amazing things I realized when I cooked this meal was the smell brought back memories I had forgotten I had of my mother always making this. It was really nice. :)
So this meal actually took the evening prior as well, but you can take less time, up to your desires. I mixed 1/3 cup (each) of apple cider vinegar and soy sauce, 6 ground peppercorns, 1 small head of garlic crushed and 1 jalapeno that I chopped. You can choose to leave the jalapeno out, however I will note that there wasn't any spice, probably due to the prolonged marinating!
Then I added 8 chicken drumsticks with the skin removed and let that marinate overnight. If you don't want to marinate it that long, marinate it for at least 1 hour.
I added 1/2 cup of water, 4 bay leaves and the chicken and marinade to a deep skillet and cooked that (covered) on medium-low heat for 45 minutes.
After the 45 minutes were up I uncovered it and cooked it for another 15 minutes. This meal was actually so low in calories that I was able to add rice AND corn to the meal. AMAZING!
Really it was very, very delicious, and reminded me of younger years. Glad I could share it with my men! :) The chicken was only 175 calories, but with the rice and corn STILL managed to be under my 500 calorie limit at 443 calories and only $4.04/serving! Woo hoo!!
Here's the recipe!
8 chicken drumsticks, skin removed
1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1 small head of garlic, crushed
6 ground peppercorns
4 bay leaves
1 jalapeno, chopped
Happy cooking everyone!!!!!!
Okay, so I wasn't even going to do this meal; I started it yesterday and deleted it. Not because it didn't taste good; because it did; but because I really didn't like the way the pictures turned out! This meal, visually, I felt, was kind of unappealing. Then I realized it's not about ME, and maybe someone else might like it! :) So here we go with my Valentine meal from yesterday! I got this recipe from allrecipes.com.
First thing's first: I added some salt and pepper to four pieces of chicken thighs (the recipe called for chicken breasts but I used what I had!). Then I added 1 tablespoon (each) of olive oil and butter to a skillet that was warmed over medium heat. I cooked the chicken about 5 minutes per side, and then removed from the skillet.
Then I added a 14 ounce can of artichoke hearts (quartered with liquid reserved) and 1 cup of sliced mushrooms to the skillet and sauteed them until the mushrooms were browned.
Then I added the chicken back into the skillet along with the reserved artichoke liquid and 1 cup of chicken broth. The recipe called for white wine but we didn't have any in the house so I improvised! I put the heat to low and simmered the mixture for 15 minutes so the chicken could finish cooking. Then I added 1 tablespoon of capers and let that simmer for another 5 minutes.
Then voila!! Meal complete! There was quite a bit of liquid that I felt would go unused so I also decided to whip up some red skinned garlic mashed potatoes to put beneath it and guess what?? Delcious!
The meal, with the garlic mashed potatoes, was only 413 calories! If you decide to only do the chicken then the calories on that was only 312 and only $3.80/serving! Happy Valentine's Day indeed!!!!
Here's the recipe!
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 (14 ounce) can marinated quartered artichoke hearts, drained, liquid reserved
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1 tablespoon capers
Happy cooking!!!!!
Good evening ladies and germs!! Tonight's meal was so RIDICULOUSLY easy that I almost had to reread the recipe a few times to make sure I wasn't missing a step!
So here are the items that are required for this meal:
One of the things I love about meals like this is when I come home from work and have to help my two boys with homework or projects (or filling out Valentine's cards!), I don't really have to worry about setting up a slow cooker meal, I can still manage something delicious in a smaller amount of time, while still helping them!
So first thing's first: The recipe, from the Taste of Home website, calls to brown 1 pound of ground beef, but as my fellow readers know, I prefer to use ground turkey instead! I browned it on medium heat.
Since it was the leaner ground turkey, I didn't even have to drain it! Then I added 1 package of taco seasoning, 2 cans (each) of Ranch Style beans, corn and diced tomatoes. Then I simmered it for about 15 minutes.
Then that was basically it! The recipe also suggested to add tortilla chips, cheddar cheese and serve it with tortillas. After deciding to use the chips as the way to scoop the soup out (YUM!), I thought the tortillas might have been too much, so all I did was topped it with cheese and everyone used the chips as forks!
It was very delicious and filling, and there were a TON of leftovers! The meal stated it was 380 calories but I'm assuming it would be less with the ground turkey. It also cost only $3.40/serving!
Here's the recipe!
1 pound ground beef
1 envelope taco seasoning
2 can (15.25 ounces each) whole kernel corn, undrained
2 can (15 ounces each) Ranch Style beans
2 can (14.5 ounces each) diced tomatoes, undrained
Crushed tortilla chips and shredded cheddar cheese
Happy cooking everyone!!!!!
