Half the Cholesterol Butter

My friend posted a while back about spreadable butter on her blog but I didn't really get just how much healthier it is until I borrowed one of her health cookbooks. I've been looking for ways to cut down on cholesterol and this is a great way to start! Thanks for the tip, Katey!

I'm using:
2 sticks (= 1 cup) of unsalted butter softened completely at room temperature
1 cup of saffola oil or canola oil (both are low in the bad fats and higher in the good for you fats)

Mix together with a whisk or in mixer till smooth. Pour into containers and refrigerate. It's almost as soft as margarine.

Using this method, you can cut your bad cholesterol in-take of butter by almost HALF. This is a great option compared to some of the store bought margarines or the yogurt based butters because this keeps the sodium very low which is important to me as well.

Quick Lasagna (using Raviolis)

This is such a fast way to make lasagna it's not even funny! The best part is that you can prep it ahead of time and then freeze it or refrigerate it till you're ready to make it. It's a wonderful freezer meal or fast throw together meal.


cooked ravioli
cooked ground turkey, beef, or Italian sausage (season your turkey or beef to taste like sausage)
pasta sauce
Parmesan cheese


Layer your casserole dish with sauce, then raviolis, then meat and repeat. Top with Parmesan cheese and bake for about 45 min. at 350 degrees. Longer if frozen and shorter if you are working with already hot ingredients.



You can also omit the meat and make this vegetarian.



It's been requested that I post what goes well with these main dishes whenever possible. I'm pretty flexible when it comes to side dishes and such but I'll attempt to put some suggestions. Personally I think Caesar salad goes well with Italian style dishes...not only that but Caesar salad is so easy it's my standby salad when I'm in a time crunch. Corn, green beans, and broccoli all go well with this meal. You can't forget garlic bread...that goes with everything! =0)

Breakfast Skillet

If you like those skillet dishes they serve for breakfast at several restaurants you'll like this healthier take on it. I know I post a lot of breakfast recipes on here but that's mostly because I make breakfast almost every morning. I'm not a big fan of cereal since we don't drink much milk. Hence, I'm always looking for a new healthy recipe for breakfast.

2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 a diced onion or 2 sliced green onions
2 gloves minced garlic
4 cubed Yukon gold potatoes
1 c baby portobello mushrooms sliced in half
8 oz. cubed turkey breakfast sausage pre-cooked
6 eggs beaten
1/2 c half and half
1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Saute in olive oil-onion, garlic, and potatoes till potatoes are tender. Add and saute sausage and mushrooms. In a separate bowl, beat eggs and half and half together. Pour egg mixture into skillet mixing consistently till eggs are cooked through. Sprinkle with cheese, salt and pepper and serve.

Sausage Breakfast Strata

I have so many things to post on here lately that I don't know where to begin sometimes! I'll post this one today since it was requested that I post it. I changed up this old loved recipe of my moms to make it healthier. With organic products and turkey sausage, it's not only healthy but really yummy. =0) I made this for our church Easter breakfast this last Sunday. Hope you enjoy it!

6 slices of white bread cubed
8oz. of cubed turkey breakfast sausage
2 chopped green onions
2 c grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 doz eggs beaten
1 1/2 c milk
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt

Spray a glass 9x13 pan with olive oil. Spread bread cubes evenly over the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle grated cheese over bread. Layer the turkey sausage over the cheese. Sprinkle green onion over turkey layer. In a separate bowl, beat eggs, milk, salt, and pepper together and then pour over the layers in the 9x13 pan. Be sure to cover all of the bread with egg that is sticking up.

You can prep this the night before and cover with cling wrap and refrigerate till morning.

If prepped the night before, remove cling wrap and bake uncovered at 325 degrees for about 50 min or until center is cooked through. Strata will puff up and be browned on the sides.

If not prepping the night before, bake uncovered bake 325 degrees for about 40-45 min. or until center is done.

Variations~
-this was originally a ham strata so you can substitute ham or regular breakfast sausage
-I haven't tried making it with whole wheat bread yet. If you try it, use a smooth whole wheat like Sarah Lee's homestyle whole wheat or whole wheat long sandwich loaves. Both of these are smooth in texture without nutty grains/seeds.

Biscuits

2 c flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 c softened butter
3/4 c milk (or buttermilk)

mix together by hand till blended (do not over mix). Roll out to desired thickness (they will only bake up a little so make them close to as thick as you'll want them). If making individual biscuits, use a floured biscuit cutter to cut them. If you don't have a biscuit cutter you can use a mason jar lid ring. Place on a cookie sheet and bake at 450 degrees for about 10-12 min or golden brown on top. If using for a bakeover crust, roll it out into a circle shape the size of your pan and place on your pan.

Variations:
-use whole wheat flour (add a little more butter if using all whole wheat)
-add seasonings like basil, oregano, Italian seasoning mix, garlic
-add fillings like some grated sharp cheddar cheese, Parmesan cheese, or 2 tbsp pesto

Breakfast Brown Rice

Brown rice is about the only food (other than green veggies) I can think of that every diet and every nutritionist agree on. I've never heard anyone say "don't eat brown rice". In fact, I keep hearing doctors, nutritionist, and diets say the opposite,,, "you better be eating brown rice!" Why? Cause like most whole grains it helps bind and cleanse you from all the "bad" stuff. Ya know, toxins and all.

It took a long time to get my family switched over. We were a "white" family as Dr. Oz says....white not by our skin but by what we ate. White flour, white bread, white biscuits, white rice, white pancakes, white dinner rolls, etc. You get the idea. So, now we are trying to be a "brown" family. My kids finally LOVE brown rice! Woohoo! Victory. For those of you discouraged by trying to "switch over" your kids or in my case, my most difficult customer, my husband, be encouraged that it can take years of slowly introducing brown foods until they get used to them and develop a taste for them.

Meantime, here are some tips about brown rice.

~buy good quality long grain brown rice. It makes a big difference. Don't buy brand-x at your store, buy a brand like S&W that is "premium" brown rice. I thought I hated brown rice till I tried a good brand.
~introduce it first in other recipes before serving it plain as a side dish. Put it in soups or use it to stuff bell peppers, etc. This helps your family develop a taste for it before having to eat it as a side dish.
~try substituting chicken broth for the water when cooking it as a side dish. It gives it the familiar flavor of chicken. Butter and salt it as well when introducing it.
~it takes longer to cook than white rice so be sure to allow yourself about 45 min. prep time. I often like to pre-cook my rice earlier in the day or the day before because it re-heats well.
~don't use instant rice. It's been processed.
~try it for breakfast if you already like it. Here's a recipe idea that my brother's girlfriend, Holly shared with me and we love it.
~if someone in your house is having tummy trouble try having them eat mainly brown rice through out the day (breakfast, lunch, and dinner). It's easy on the tummy, helps pull toxins out of your body, and is filling.

Dice one apple very tiny and cook it in with your rice. You can also substitute part of the water for apple juice for more apple flavor. When it's done cooking add a dash of salt, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Serve with butter and a bit of milk like you would oatmeal.

Hope you enjoy this whole grain breakfast!

Featured Product- Roasted Red Bell Peppers

These are great! I first heard about them from Rachel Ray. She purees them and adds them to her jarred spaghetti sauce. So, I had to try it and holy smokes it was fabulous! That fire roasted flavor was like zazing! Yum. They are also very good for you and it's a great way to sneak in some extra veggies into your kids. I also like to add about 1 tbsp sugar to my jar sauce to sweeten it. I find that jar sauce tends to be on the tart side so adding a bit of sugar makes a huge difference. I know, adding sugar isn't the healthiest thing I could do to my sauce but it makes such a huge taste difference that I'm happy to cut back on sugar somewhere else. I also add a dash of anise seed for that Italian sausage flavor even though there is no sausage in my sauce.

I've also heard that some sandwich places like to dice the roasted bell peppers and put them on their italian style sandwiches. They are sweet and yummy.

Macaroni Bake

1 lb ground turkey, veal, or beef

1 bag of large macaroni, penne, or ziti

1 jar of pasta sauce

1 tsp anise seed

1/4 tsp of poultry seasoning

2 cloves of garlic minced

1 tsp sugar

salt and pepper

1/2 tsp minced dried onion or 1/4 diced onion

1 cup shredded cheese

Brown the ground turkey with onion, anise seed, poultry seasoning, and garlic. Meantime boil the macaroni till done and drain. Add jar of pasta sauce to the cooked meat and add sugar. Then add salt and pepper to taste. Add pasta to the meat and sauce mix and then stir in cheese leaving a little to sprinkle on the top. Spray a deep baking with olive oil and pour pasta mix into baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese and put under broiler just till cheese is melted and bubbly.

Pretty healthy if you use ground turkey and whole wheat pasta and go easy on the cheese. Tomato sauce is super great for your body so getting that down the kids is easy with this dish. I made this recipe up on the spot but it was a huge hit with the family. Hurray! It also makes a wonderful freezer meal. Prepare it up to sprinkling the cheese on top and then cover it and freeze. Defrost it later and bake at 350 for about an hour or until bubbly.

Eggplant Au Gratin

I found this recipe in a french cookbook. Since I've been searching for more veggie dishes I thought this one sounded good. Now, I know not everyone is a fan of eggplant and honestly, I wasn't either for a long time. My mom made me an eggplant sandwich once though and I realized that I really do like it just not the skin. So, now I love it but it has to be peeled. =0) If you are vegetarian or on a diet, eggplant can come in handy! It's a great meat substitute because it's thick and filling. I'll post the eggplant sandwich on here as well but first, the Eggplant Au Gratin (minus the cheese). =0)

Cut off the ends and peel one egg plant.

Slice the eggplant in at least 3/4 of an inch sized slices (it shrinks down significantly)

Drizzle olive oil in the bottom of a shallow pan or glass 9x13 till the bottom is well coated.

Sprinkle with about 1/2 tsp of Italian seasonings

Layer the eggplant in the pan overlapping each other

Mix together Italian bread crumbs and olive oil and sprinkle on top (the recipe called for grated Parmesan mixed in as well but I omitted it)

You can drizzle a little more olive oil on top if you'd like to

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 min or until tender, bubbly, and bread crumbs are crunchy.

Variations:

-you can use plain bread crumbs mixed with about 1/2 tsp Italian herb seasonings instead.

-you can add about 1/4 cup grated Parmesan to the bread crumb mixture.

-you can add other veggies and layer them overlapping each other in rows...such as sliced zucchini and sliced tomatoes. Tomatoes go really well with eggplant. So lay a piece of eggplant and then a row of zucchini and then a row of tomatoes and repeat.

-in the pictures I used half an eggplant and a pan that was half the size of a 9x13.

Corn Chowder

My friend's mom, Kelli, was a wonderful cook and I remember being at her house one time when she made corn chowder. Like my mom she made yummy meals that were usually from scratch. When I say from "scratch" on this one, I mean it. I watched as she cut all the kernels off of each ear of corn. After she had shaved them all down, she began making her corn chowder. I thought it tasted wonderful and so she went out and bought me the 20 something volume cook books that the recipe had come from. She was amazing that way. =0)


So tonight it popped in my head and I couldn't get it out of my mind. I don't have those 20 something volumes anymore but I figured I could come close to something that resembled corn chowder.


I made a base for chowder which is flour cooked in butter making a rue. Once it's cooked (not too long or it looses it's thickening ability) add chicken broth. About 4 cups of broth. Then add about 2 cups of diced potatoes (I used about 4 large Yukon golds). Let this simmer till the potatoes are nice and tender. Add the corn (I used frozen sweet white corn). Then add your seasoning. Sorry I didn't measure...just kept adding seasoning and tasting till I got it right. I can tell you what I did put in though:

minced dried onion (you could dice 1/2 an onion in the beginning though and add it when you added the potatoes

dried parsley

celery seed

salt

pepper

garlic



Let it simmer till everything has cooked and the flavors have melded together.


We had this with bread and butter.


Substitutions:

You could add diced celery when you add the potatoes instead of celery seed.

You could use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth for a truly vegetarian meal.

Panini

It's Panini time!

This is a great lunch or simple dinner if you like Paninis! You can make it really healthy too if you want to.

First grill up in a little olive oil (1 tbsp) all the sliced veggies you want on your sandwich. Meantime, lightly butter two slices of sour dough bread (or you can omit the butter or substitute a little olive oil in the pan). Add a few slices of your favorite lunch meat or roasted chicken to the grilled veggies. Last, top the pile of meat and veggies with two slices of your favorite cheese. In a grill pan or panini maker, lay down your first slice of bread. Next pile on your veggie, meat and cheese pile. Top with the other slice of bread and place another skillet on top of it if you don't have a panini maker. Press the skillet down on top of it till the cheese melts everything together and then give your sandwich a flip. You can cut it after it's done or in my case I couldn't flip the whole thing so I cut in half while it was in the pan so that I could flip it. =0)

In the pictures, I loaded this one with way too many veggies! They were coming out everywhere. Of course, I forgot to take a picture of the one that turned out all nice and neat like in a restaraunt. The one in the picture is just veggies and cheese, no meat.

What you can fill your panini with:

VEGGIES:

fresh spinach

green onion

red onion

yellow or white onion

olives

egg plant (peeled and grilled is delicious)

mushrooms

bell peppers (any color)

artichoke hearts

sun dried tomatoes

sliced tomato

MEAT:

turkey

chicken

steak

salami

pastrami

ham

CHEESE: (be creative)

provolone cheese

Parmesan cheese

Munster cheese

Havarti cheese

cheddar cheese

jack cheese

pepper jack cheese

You don't have to use seasoning unless you want to. The olive oil gives it a nice flavor and the meat and cheese is usually salty enough. If you make it vegetarian you may want to add a little salt or pepper. You can also add some minced garlic to any of the combos and that would give it a yummy taste too!

Chicken Salad

This is a super easy thing to make.

You can either bake chicken to make it or in my case, I just make it anytime I have left over baked or roasted chicken. I'm not a big fan of reheated chicken because it's always dry the second time around so this is a great way to use up leftovers.

Chop the chicken (I use about 2-3 chicken breast)
Add about 1/2 - 1 c real mayo (not miracle whip)
1 can sliced water chestnuts chopped
1/4 c sliced almonds
salt and pepper to taste

Notes-
You can use light mayo but if you do you'll need to increase your seasonings.
You can add all kinds of additional seasons to taste (such as dried parsley) but you may not need any seasonings if your chicken was already well seasoned.
You can add other things like sliced grapes, diced tomatoes, sliced avocado if serving it as a sandwich, etc. I like to use spinach instead of lettuce on my bread or wrap.
You can serve this on bread like a sandwich, with lettuce wrapped in a tortilla, with corn chips, or on crackers as a hefty dip (like you would tuna on crackers) for a luncheon appetizer.

In a hurry? Use canned chicken (found by the tuna in the store) and drain it well. Season it well and toss with remaining ingredients.

This is a great summer lunch or light dinner and is also a great main dish for a baby shower, bridal shower, or tea party.

Potato Skins

Okay, until I can go grocery shopping there are going to be some unhealthy recipes posted on here so I apologize for all of you out there that are trying to start your New Year's weight loss resolutions! =0)

I tried a new way of making potato skins for new year's eve that is similar to a style that one of our local restaurants does and it came out really well.

I pre-baked the potatoes to soften them up a bit...about 20-30 min. will do. I like to bake them in a muffin tin so that they aren't rolling all over the oven. Then I cut them in wedges and cut a slice of their white center off to make them flatter. Then I layered them in a casserole dish (sprayed with olive oil) like you would lasagna except with cheese, chopped cooked bacon (I was in a hurry so I used that crumbled real bacon that's in the salad dressing section of the store), chopped green onion, chopped cilantro, and a sprinkling of salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Top the last layer with cheese and bake in the oven for another 20 min or so until the whole thing is melted through the center. I made some ranch dip and our potato skin casserole was enjoyed. Believe it or not, the layers separated just fine for those who wanted to take a layer right off the top.

You can make this vegetarian by using soy substitute bacon or leaving the bacon out. For a healthier version you could use turkey bacon if you'd like to.

Featured Product- Ground Turkey

Trying to cut back on beef or sausage?

Ground turkey has become my new found love. I use it to substitute beef and italian sausage. To give it that sausage taste, I season it was anise seed (tip from mom), garlic, and salt. It works well for a meaty pasta sauce, in your lasagna, as meatballs, stuffed peppers, shepherd's pie or just about anything with ground beef or sausage.