Fruitful Words

Remember the Banana Stuffed French Toast I was grateful for on Day 26?

I made them for myself this a.m. and they are still delish. And I’m still grateful for them.

Below is the figure-friendly recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon butter
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup fat free milk
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 Tablespoons light cream cheese, softened
• 4 slices cinnamon raisin bread
• 1 ripe banana, sliced

Directions:

1. Put butter into the frying pan to melt and cover pan.
2. Beat together the egg, milk and vanilla.
3. Spread 1/4th Tablespoon cream cheese on each slice of bread.
4. Put half of sliced bananas on two of the bread slices.
5. Put the other slice on top, cream cheese side down. Now you have two banana cream cheese sandwiches.
6. Put the sandwiches in the egg-milk-vanilla mixture and soak for about 10 seconds on each side.
7. When the pan is ready ( drops of water sprinkled in the pan dance around), put the sandwiches into the pan.
8. Cook until golden. Turn and do the same on the other side.
9. Serve with butter and 1 Tablespoon syrup.

Do you have a favorite French Toast recipe? How about sharing it?

It’s Menu Plan Monday again. I went shopping last night so I am all ready to make up some food this morning. I’ll make up a batch of the following foods for the freezer: Burritos, Quiche, Irish Soda muffins.

1. Burritos (refried beans, salsa, browned ground beef, crushed pineapple, shredded cheese), Jello with yogurt.
2. BBQ chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, steamed corn/pea mixture.
3. Hamburger with Gorgonzola cheese (came with a $1.00 off coupon so each quarter pounder was $0.50 each. There are two in the pack). Corn on the cob - first ears of the season and mixed green salad.
4. Stir fry noodles with chicken (leftover from BBQ), carrots, cabbage, and mushrooms.
5. Ham quiche made with hash browns, liquefied corn and carrots, mushrooms, onions and cheese. Irish Soda Muffins.
6. Leftovers.
7. Leftovers.

Click here to see the menus of other Monday Menu Planners.

One of the reasons I like to participate in Menu Plan Monday is so I’ll save money by not eating out or pigging out on convenience foods. Mary at Owlhaven (mom to 10 kids) has had an interesting frugal cookin’ carnival, a 3 day smack down: cook cheap, cook yummy. 15 blogger/cookers participated by shopping for and preparing their cheapest menus for 3 days. I gleaned some good ideas and recipes from these women. Click here to see Mary’s post.

Recently Mary was on a telephone interview (while at a soccer game) with CNN about frugal tips. Click here to read the 3 things she didn’t get to mention.

In a nutshell they are . . . .

1. Clarify your own big picture. She asks, “Why are you living so frugally?” I want to pay off my student loans, help my kids and tithe more. I’d also like to visit friends in England. Mary says that having this big picture in mind will help me avoid the “poor me” syndrome when I decide to say “no” to that Tuesday staff lunch or beautiful plant.
2. Tally your actual food expenses. This includes eating out. I can’t reduce the amount I spend if i don’t know the amount I spend. Do this for a month.
3. Chop at your 10 list. After determining where the money is spent, look at the top 10 in terms of cost. Reduce the use or buy it cheaper. Mary has more to say on this and #1 and #2, so be sure to go to this post to read it in full.

I’ve never heard anyone mention #1 and #3. Between the tips from the cookin’ carnival and this list of 3, I’m hoping I can reduce my food spending 10%-20%.

Do you think that’s possible? I’m not sure cuz I’m not sure how much I spend on food per month.

What are your frugal menus? Shopping tips? Menu for the week?

Do you serve different food in the Spring than in the Winter, Fall or Summer? What meals do you indulge in only during that season?

The one obvious change I make is the availability of fresh fruit and/or veggies. If pears are cheaper, I eat those. If asparagus is a good deal, that’s on my plate. However, I don’t tend to make things with the produce. I like it plain. Maybe because I don’t get it very often.

Although, CatLady makes a great pear salad. I don’t remember what’s in it. But I do remember my tongue being very impressed.

Like here is a great sounding recipe for a Strawberry Cream Dessert. It calls for 3 cups of fresh strawberries - that you mash up and mix with the other ingredients. I would rather EAT those fresh strawberries plain - with a dollop of whipped cream.

But I don’t have menus or recipes that reflect a season. Since it is Spring, I suppose salads are more popular. I’m not much of a salad eater, nor do I have many salad recipes. I have one for potato salad (killer recipe with a secret ingredient), macaroni salad and green stuff (cottage cheese, pineapple, pistachio pudding concoction).

For a mixed green salad, I just throw in stuff from my fridge - which doesn’t normally harbour many things from the veg department. Currently I am partial to adding orange segments and cooked walnuts. If you haven’t tried this, you MUST.

One website recommends that you eat these 20 foods because it’s Spring and these foods are good for you.

I googled recipes+spring thinking not much was out there. Boy am I wrong! 940,000 times wrong.

Family Fun has a whole page of ideas. From desserts, drinks, snacks, salads to grilling. Hey, I don’t just BBQ in the Spring/Summer. I grill year round - even in the rain or snow.

Gastronomical Three has Three Simple Dinners That Look Ahead to Spring. The pics make you wish you were invited to sample.

Click here to find the top 10 Spring recipes. This Chicken Focaccia Sandwich is a must on my list. You make the bread with refrigerated bread dough. Even I could do that. This Fruit & Cheese Salad looks good too. I’d like to give this Pear Bread a try.

Recipe Zaar has 4,9,29 Spring recipes. Click here to start on this Spring tour. What do you know! One of their top featured recipes is green stuff. My recipe is a little different, but this one looks yummy too.

About.com has a page with 10 low fat recipes for Spring. Besides the obligatory fish recipes, there is even a low fat version of creme brulee.

Simply Recipes is a great source of ideas and inspiration. She lists 17 Spring recipes. Look at this Crab Mango Salad.  This Ham & Asparagus recipe comes with step-by-step pictures.

YumSugar has compiled a slide show (with links) of 10 recipes that announce Spring.  I’d like to try this butterfly cake. This Spring Minestrone Pasta. This Seared Fish With Spring Vegetables because I am trying to like fish and beets better.

 I could go on. There are still about 940,000 pages to visit. Spare me this time-consuming journey and share.

What are your Spring recipes?  Spring meals? Educate me; so I, too, can join in the Spring fun - this Spring.

Here’s my menu for the week.

Monday: Roomie cooked: Steamed beets (so tasty); salmon stir fry with brocolli, spinich and mushrooms.

Tuesday: Chicken Tortilla Soup, Jell-o Fruit: Great for April’s Fools Day.

Wednesday: Chef Salad, Carrot Soup

Thursday: Sweet Potato Lentil Stew, Beer Bread

Friday: Pasta Primavera

Saturday: Soup leftovers, salad, bread

Sunday: No plans yet. 

 The Carrot Soup, Sweet Potato Lentil Stew and Beer Bread are all new recipes. If they turn out, I’ll post the recipe.

I’m getting into soups. Have an easy one to share?

 Go here for more Menu Ideas from I’m an Organizing Junkie.

1. Vegetable Quiche - I made this Saturday for Sunday and have enough leftovers for today. It’s been a long time (decades even) since I’ve made a quiche. I forgot how easy and tasty it is to make. I sauted about 2 cups of veggies (celery, onions, thinly sliced carrots, zucchini) with 15 hash browns and put it in the bottom of my partially baked pie crust and topped it with 2 cups cheese. I blenderized 1 cup of frozen corn, 2 handfuls of spinach leaves, 4 eggs and 1.5 cups cream. I put this in the plate and then covered it all with another crust. The blenderized spinach gave it a nice green colour and no “leaves in the teeth” look.
2. Vegetarian Chili over Brown Rice- Isn’t chili the easiest meal ever? Just open cans of 2 types of beans, tomatoes and corn. Mix all with chili seasoning pack. I have some zucchini and carrots in the fridge, so I’ll probably put those in with some diced onion. Yummy, easy and fast.
3. Pasta with Creamy Broccoli and Tuna (aka Tuna Helper) - Doesn’t the fancy name make it seem like it’ll taste better?
4. Mushroom-Filled Tortellini with Roasted Garlic and Onion Pasta Sauce - My sista gave me these delicious dry noodles. I am looking forward to this meal.
5. Homemade Cheese and Vegetable Pizza- Well really the crust is one of those mixes from Betty Crocker where you add water. My taste buds like it though.

There is plenty of food here for the other two nights and/or lunch.

I am trying to clean out the pantry and this week’s menu is doing just that. What meal can you make with ingredients just from your pantry?

Go on over to I’m An Organizing Junkie for more Menu Plan Monday ideas. Or leave a link for your menu there.

I know I said I was going to bring a dump cake to my hospitality class, but I didn’t have a cake mix. So I did a Google search on “brownie mix with cherry pie filling.” With 268,000 results I had quite a few recipes to choose from.

I finally settled on the following one:

Ingredients

• 1 box fudge brownie mix
• Ingredients listed on box of brownie mix
• 1 can cherry pie filling
• 1 small jar marshmallow creme - I didn’t know there were different sizes.

Directions

1. Mix fudge brownie mix according to directions on the box.
2. Pour into pan. (My directions said to put into a 9 x 13 inch pan.)
3. Place cherry pie filling by drops on top of brownie mixture.
4. Place a drop of marshmallow creme beside cherry drops.
5. Swirl the marshmallow creme through brownie mixture by pulling a knife through the batter.
6. Bake brownies according to directions on the box.

Notes

• I had trouble with swirling the marshmallow creme through brownie mixture as the creme was too solid. I ended up using my finger to pull it apart.
• I did swirl my knife through the cherries.
• When I took it out of the oven, the marshmallows had exploded and covered most of the top of the brownies.
• The brownies must’ve tasted great because by the time I got to them several adult males were getting every drop of brownie from the pan.

I will try this again and make sure I get a taste. I am also looking forward to trying the other 3 recipes as well.

Do you have a favorite cherry brownie recipe?

This week I am cooking according to an unambitious menu plan: 3 dinner meals. Unambitious is better than “paring Fritos with chocolate pudding or having popcorn and canned corn for dinner.” Go to Menu Plan Monday for a wider variety of menus.

Monday: Chicken Tortilla Soup. See the middle of this post for the recipe. Truly yummy and easy!

Tuesday: Spaghetti sauce with chicken chunks over elbow macaroni.

Wednesday: Chicken Tortilla Soup.

Thursday: Ham fried rice (with lots of veggies) over chow mein crispy noodles.

Friday: Spaghetti sauce with chicken chunks over elbow macaroni.

Saturday: Ham fried rice over chow mein crispy noodles.

Sunday: Potluck at my hospitality group. I have pineapple and cherry pie filling, so I’ll be bringing dump cake. Click here and read comment #7 for the recipe.

What are your standard go-to meals?  

Hospitality Homework for last week was to invite someone over for a meal.

Tuesday night my guest showed up along with the torrential rain that has inundated northern California.

Problem - I thought our meal was for Thursday and I was in the midst of writing two papers due for Wednesday. One of the papers was on communication! Good thing my prof didn’t know that in reality I flunked that test.

Afterwards I thought about how I could’ve handled it better. My house was astrew with books, papers and projects. Not much food of the healthy kind was available. But I could’ve taken us to a nearby restaurant, since I needed to eat as well.

On Sunday we finally had a meal together: Chicken Tortilla Soup, oranges, Best Ever Muffins (which weren’t) and water. No salad because the fixings were yuck. Despite all this, we had a tasty meal and fun time.

My guest even asked for the soup recipe; which could be renamed as dump soup. So here it is as given to me by Lori.

Dump the following in a soup pan and heat until warm:

• 1 can (12.5 oz) chunk chicken breast
• 1 can (15 oz.) of black beans
• 1 can (15 oz.) of kernel corn
• 2 can s(15 oz. each) of chicken broth
• 1 1/2 cups salsa

Serve over tortillas and top with shredded cheese, avocado slices, sour cream and olives.

If you have more time, money and a sensitive palate you could try this version that tastes like it came from Applebee’s. Truth be told, I prefer the one that tastes like it came from Lori’s.

What are some of your hospitality goofs? Favorite dump meals?

P.S. A good dump cake recipe is here. Read the 7th comment for the actual recipe.

I am grateful that it’s Monday because that means it’s Menu Plan Monday. Particpating in this internet event organized by I’m an Organizing Junkie helps me to actually think about healthy eating. Otherwise my eating plan is more like a tumbleweed blowing here and there sticking to whatever comes into my path (mouth).   So here’s the plan for this week.

Monday: Leftover Oriental Chicken salad, orange segments

Tuesday: Vegetarian burrito, fruit salad.  (Make 3 extra burritos for leftovers/freezer.)

Wednesday: Chicken Tortilla soup, green salad. (Make 3 extra servings of soup for leftovers/freezer.) 

Thursday: Baked potato with beans, orange segments.

Friday: Omelet with bacon, cheese, and veggies, toast with home-made jam (which I bought from BN at church. So yummy!)

Saturday: Leftovers

Sunday: Potluck dinner at my Hospitality Study. I hope to bring graham cracker ice cream sandwiches.

All done. Hopefully I will stick to this 90% of the time. 

So what’s on your menu for the week?

The planning of this week’s menu is inspired by the group participating in Menu Plan Monday at I’m An Organizing Junkie.

1. Sunday Dinner, salad. When the kiddos were growing up, we had this every Sunday.Throw the following in a crockpot before leaving in the morning and it’s already to eat when dinner rolls around. 3 pieces of chicken, sliced veggies, can of creamed soup, 1/2 packet of Lipton’s onion soup mix and one can of some kind of liquid (beer, wine, apple juice). Cook until tender, about 6 hours. Divide leftover chicken  for 2 other meals this week.
2.  BBQ Hamburger (no bun), brown rice, leftover veggies (from Sunday Dinner). Make enough rice for dinner on day 6.
3.  Chicken Tortilla Soup, mixed salad. To make the soup add all the follwing into a pot and heat until hot: shredded chicken, 1 can chicken broth, 1 can mexican style tomatoes-undrained, 1/2 can black beans drained and rinsed, 1 cup kernel corn (frozen or fresh). Place crushed tortilla chips in bowl. Pour in soup. Top with avocado.
4.  Tuna Salad, jello, tortilla chips and salsa.
5. Baked potato with baked beans and cheese.
6. Chicken Taco with salsa, brown rice, black beans, green salad.  Mix shredded chicken with 1/2 pkt chicken taco seasoning and some water - heat up until spices are thoroughly mixed in. Put in taco shell with lettuce, diced tomatoes and cheese.
7. Veggie patty, (healthy) baked potato soup, mixed salad, jello.