Mini-Hamburgers - Frugal Food Friday

I know...you're shocked!  There hasn't been a Frugal Food Friday in AGES.  I'm going to try to post more often...but no promises.

We like hamburgers occassionally at our house as an easy meal to through together, and I came up with a great way to keep encourage you to eat more veggies and less of the hamburger. 

Buy the mini ones!  The package of mini-hamburgers was the same price per pound as the 1/4 pound hamburgers, but since they're smaller you get more per package (cheaper!) and they're fewer calories each...just 120.  This leaves you a little less full...and gives you more room for a delicious salad.

In this case we had Rainbow Cole Slaw, a favorite with the kiddos.  (And those are homemade whole wheat hamburger buns...probably not fewer calories than store bought, but delicious and whole grain.)

Frugal Food Friday: Green Pepper Tomato Salad

I'm back!  Sorry to be MIA for so long.  We were super busy with the move, getting settled, and then starting the school year that I've been pretty busy.  We LOVE where we're living and are just enjoying life.

Let me tell you, I am LOVING having a dishwasher.  It's making it a LOT more enjoyable to cook.  I wish I could say that all of the things I've been cooking are worthy of going on The Skinny...but they haven't all been. :)  One of my goals now is to be better at serving veggie based side dishes with dinner.  We've always had home cooked main dishes, but by the time I'm done cooking the main dish, I often skip the sides...or we just had green salad that the kids weren't very interested in eating.

But no more!  I've been experimenting with a lot more side dishes, especially salads.  This is a great one we tried a few days ago.

I didn't have cider vinegar, so I used balsamic instead.  I also used green onion instead of the red onion because our kids like the milder flavor better.

Green Pepper Tomato Salad
from Taste of Homes Light & Tasty Annual Recipes from 2005, pg. 53, submitted to them by Lili Hill

3 medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 medium green pepper, chopped
1 celery rib, thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped red onion
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper

In a large bowl, combine the tomatoes, green pepper, celery and onion.  In a small bowl, combine the vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper.  Stir into tomato mixture.  Cover the refrigerate for at least 2 hours, stirring several times.  Serve with a slotted spoon.  Yield 6 servings.

One 3/4 cup serving has 34 calories.  (Only 34 calories!!!)

Zucchini Boats!

Here's a "Frugal Food Friday" Fill-in for Polly, who is still waiting for internet access after her move.

Check out a yummy and healthy zucchini recipe for Zucchini Boats on my blog. I really hope you'll click over to the recipe, and be sure to read all the way down to the funny quotes from my family at the bottom.

Happy zucchini hunting!!

Lazy Days of Summer: Stir Fry

As I mentioned before, I have not been in the mood to cook all that much lately. Between the hot days, cranky tired kids by the time dinner rolls around, and a husband who has been gone for dinner most weeknights, I've been looking for easy dinner solutions. (Tonight was Hubby's last day as a teaching his evening college chemistry class though...so now he'll be home for dinner. YEAH!)

This week, I made some stir fry. If you have a garden, this is a great way to fix all those veggies that you're getting from your garden.  This is the extra easy version though, so here's what I did.  I pulled out the bag of stir fry veggies from the freezer (I like the Kirkland Signature variety from Costco).  I thawed them a bit by dunking them in hot water and stir fried them on the stove with just a bit of vegetable oil.  Then I mixed some cornstarch in with about half terriyaki sauce and half cold water.  Then I mixed it in with the cooked veggies and heated until it was thickened.  Then serve over brown rice.

Of course you'll want to look for low calorie/healthy terriyaki sauce.  There are probably healthier options out there...but like I said...I've been a lazy cook lately, and this is a great way to load up on lots of veggies.

And this is definitely kid tested and approved.  My kids love to call the baby corns "candy corn" and my oldest discovered she loves waterchestnuts.

And sorry no picture of my son...he chose to eat sans clothing.

Tasty Pineapple Turkey Burger Wraps: Frugal Food Friday

Hi All...I'm back.  Sorry I've been AWOL lately.  I've been busy with family reunions and crafts...and truth be told, I've been in a bit of a slump with cooking healthy, well-thought out meals.  Hubby is teaching a class that runs smack dab through the middle of dinner and bedtime...and it's been hot...so I haven't been very modivated to cook. 

I finally decided to cave-in and buy a bunch of hambergers and hot dogs last time I went shopping to feed the kids quickly when I'm too lazy to cook.  Not exactly healthy.

But never fear!  My kids won't be eating garbage all summer.  Instead of hamburgers, I found turkey burgers that are only 160 calories a piece and less than 1/3 of the fat of the hamburgers, but for the same price...$2 a pound which I consider a good price for meat. 

I didn't buy buns because I wanted to get them at a cheaper store...now I'm not sure I'll be buying buns at all.  As I pulled them out to start cooking some, I noticed the suggestion on the box to grill them with sliced pineapple.  We don't have a grill or sliced pineapple, but we do have a frying pan and chunked pineapple, so a new favorite recipe was born.  My pan can cook two burgers at a time, but if you have a bigger pan or grill, you could cook more at once.

Polly's Tasty Pineapple Turkey Burgers

Cook together in a frying pan or on a grill
2 turkey burgers
1/2 can chunked pineapple with a little of the juice (I let the kids drink some of it and used the rest)
some thinly sliced onion, amount to taste

When meat is thoroughly cooked and onions are translucent, place burger with some of the pineapple and onions on some lettuce leaves to wrap.  Drizzle about 1 tsp teriyaki sauce over the burger and wrap in the lettuce.

Serve fresh fruit on the side.

As close as I can calculate, these cost about 75 cents each and are about 265 Calories for the turkey burger wrap (not including the onion and lettuce, but I don't think those add much), so if you're trying to eat 400 Calorie meals, you've got some extra room for fruit and/or salad.  You could also make more of a salad and cut the turkey burger into pieces and sprinkle on top of salad.

For the kids, I sliced their burger up and served it with the pineapple and onion on top of a lettuce leaf.  They LOVED them and begged for more.  I liked it as a lettuce wrap, but Hubby preferred his on a bread.

I'm linking to:

Healthier Alternative to Syrup: Frugal Food Friday

Our kids love waffles and pancakes.  What kid doesn't?!?  We make them more frugal by making our own syrup, but that still isn't exactly healthy.  Hubby's family has a long tradition of putting ice cream on top of hot waffles...which is delicious...but neither healthy nor frugal.

We have come up with a good alternative.  It's certainly not as cheap as homemade syrup, but is healthier and delicious.  We don't do this everytime we make waffles, but it is a nice once-in-a-while treat when we can get fruit on sale. 

I found strawberries on sale yesterday.  I bought extra.  We ate one carton then and there.  The other three cartons I washed, sliced up, bagged them, and popped them in the freezer.  We also like to keep some bananas (already pealed and broken into chucks) in the freezer.  Then this morning we put the frozen strawberries, bananas, a little vanilla, and a little sugar( or other sweetener) in the blender and blend up some smoothie.  Then we put the smoothie on top of the waffled.

Almost like the ice cream Hubby grew up with on waffles...but healthier...and at least as affordable.

...and since I totally forgot I had Frugal Food Friday coming up today...I didn't take pictures...but they are SO yummy!

You can also make the waffles a little healthier if you make them with half whole-wheat flour.

Canned vs. Frozen: Frugal Food Friday

I've made several tasty healthy recipes to share since my last Frugal Food Friday post...and things were so crazy at dinner time, I forgot to take a picture...so now I'll just have to make them again...YUM!

Anyway, I thought I'd share something new that I'm trying.  The more processed a food is, the more nutrician and flavor it loses.  Therefore in general...fresh is best, frozen next best, then canned.  Canned food can also be quite expensive, not to mention all the packaging that goes into canned.  (We don't have can recycling here, so we save them up for a visit to parents who live in more enlightened parts.  I just cannot bring myself to thrown cans in the trash.)  I try to buy frozen veggies when possible, but then they tend to get freezer burned if I buy them in big bags.

So...maybe all of you already do this...but it just occurred to me.

I bought my big bag of corn a week or so and did the same thing I did with my beans a while ago.  I filled up an empty can with the corn.  Dumped those in a ziploc back and repeated until I had a lot of 1 can size baggies of corn, ready to pull out and substitute into recipes calling for canned corn.  Then all those little baggies go in a big baggie, so they're double protected from the freezer burn.

Lightened Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo: Frugal Food Friday

I love just about any kind of pasta, which of course are known for lots of carbs and especially creamy sauces (like most alfredo) are high in fat...but not this one!

I'm not an expert in Italian food, so I don't know what makes an alfredo "alfredo."  This isn't what I would normally have thought of as alfredo, but it's delicious and I like it better than most alfredos I've had.

Lightened Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo

Taken from Cook It Light: Pasta, Rice, and Beans by Jeanne Jones, Pg. 163

Heat in large skillet (you can reduce this some to make it slightly lower calorie):
1 Tbsp margarine
1 Tbsp oil

Add the following and cook until chicken is no longer pink:
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, cut up
3 green onions (about ½ cup)
¼ cup shallot (one medium sized one)
3 cloves garlic

Add the following to the skillet:
1 Tbsp cornstarch (add to 2 Tbsp of the milk)
1 cup milk
½ cup (2 ounces) Romano cheese
12 ounces sliced fresh mushrooms (It says 4 cups, but 2 cups works just fine)
1 (16 oz) can of diced tomatoes, drained
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper

Bring to boil over high head, then reduce to medium and simmer until the sauce is slightly thickened, 5 to 10 minutes.

Stir in the following and remove from heat.
2 Tbsp dried basil
1 pound cooked fettuccine noodles

Top with grated Parmesan or Roman cheese if desired.

Makes 8 servings. Each serving contains approximately 388 calories; 43 mg cholesterol; 8 g fat; 582 mg sodium

A few notes for making this cheaper.  Romano cheese is expensive...especially at a regular grocery store.  Once we tried this recipe and decided we liked it, I buy the Romano at Costco in a big block, cut it into single recipe size pieces and freeze it in the freezer until I'm ready to make it the next time.  It's been a while since I compared prices, but last I checked the big block at Costco was about 2-3 times as expensive as from a grocery store, but was 10 times or more larger.

I also didn't know what a shallot was before making this.  It's kind of like an onion crossed with a garlic and is slightly pinkish/purplish and you find it in the produce section.  They're not really expensive since you don't need very much, but not all stores will carry it.  I don't always have it since some of the grocery store here don't carry them and I don't like making a trip to another store just for that.  When I don't have shallots, I just use a little bit of onion instead.

Wal-Mart has a great low cost whole wheat pasta option.  We're still getting used to whole wheat noodles, and if you are too, mixing half white noodles and half whole wheat noodles is a good middle ground (if they have the same cooking times.)

Experiments in Sprouting: Frugal Food Friday

I've heard a lot of things about sprouting the last few years and keep meaning to try it.  The nutritional content goes up a lot when you sprout things and they taste really good.  So I finally tried it! 

So far I've just tried sprouting wheat, but I think I'm going to try sprouting beans and rice next.  This is what they looked like after just a couple of days.

So we added a few to salad and they gave it a nice added texture.

This is what they looked like aftr about 4 days, so we added a few more to our salad.

I don't really know enough about sprouting yet to give much advice, but you can see Dorothy's post about sprouting rice here.  I've just been using a plastic container, but next time I'm going to use her glass jar/rubber band set up.

Next time I make it to Yakima, I'm going to buy some other things for sprouting like alfalfa and radish seeds, so stay tuned for some more sprouting posts in the future.

Garden Linguine - Frugal Food Friday

This is one of our favorite summer recipes.  Just thinking about it makes me miss having a big garden because it's such a good way to use all those yummy veggies.  I used whole wheat linguine noodles for the first time in this last time I made it and they were really good.  (Wal-Mart has a line of whole wheat noodles now that is just as cheap as their regular generic line.)  Pretty much all of the veggies in this are optional and you can add just about any other garden veggies you want as well and in just about any amount.  I love to choose veggies that are different colors to make it more colorful.  Watch for whatever veggies are in season and on sale (or free from your garden.)

Garden Linguine from pg. 288 Favorite Brand Name Best Loved Casseroles
8 ounces linguine
3 tablespoons olive oil (I use less.)
1 tablespoon butter (You can use less or omit it altogether.)
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup sliced onions (I use a whole one.)
2 cups snow peas, cut in halves
2 cups diced zucchini
1/2 red pepper, cut into strips
1 teaspoon dried basil leaves or 3 tablespoons fresh
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Cook linguine as directed on package; drain.  Set aside.  Heat oil and butter in saucepan; saute veggies until crip-tender.  Remove saucepan from heat.  Add seasonings to vegetable mixture.  Toss with linguine.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese over the top.

Sorry, there is no nutrition information that came with this one.

Oriental Pork Cabbage Stir Fry - Frugal Food Friday

I've been a bit more in a cooking mood this week.  I think it has a lot to do with the fact that Hubby is finished with classes for the semester, so dinner is not a rush to have him out the door by 4:45 to get to class every night.  I cooked Sweet and Sour Chicken one night, but then wanted to try something new.  I opened up a cookbook my mother-in-law gave me for Christmas (Taste of Home's Light and Tasty Annual Recipes 2005) and came across Oriental Pork Cabbage Stir-Fry.

We eat very little pork...as in I can't even remember the last time I cooked it...but we had a bunch of cabbage in the fridge left over from making Rainbow Cole Slaw as well as some carrots that really needed to get used up.

Unfortunately, I did not remember to take a picture of it, but a quick internet search turned up the picture from the book itself.  I could take a picture of the leftovers, which are quite tasty.  The only problem with that is that the purple cabbage color has spread a bit and doesn't really look good enough for a picture...but is yummy none the less.

Oriental Pork Cabbage Stir-Fry
6 cups cabbage chunks (1 inch pieces)
3 teaspoons canola oil, divided
4 medium carrots, julienned
1 pork tenderloin (about 1 pound), cut into 3/4 inch cubes
2 tablespoons minced fresh gingerroot
1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth, divided
1/4 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
4 teaspoons cornstarch

We also served this over brown rice.

In a large nonstick skillet or wok, stir-fry cabbage in 1 teaspoon hot oil for 1-2 minutes.  Add carrots; stir-fry 3-4 minutes longer or until carrots are crisp-tender.  Remove and keep warm.

Stir-fry the pork in remaining oil for 2 minutes.  Add ginger and stir-fry for 2 minutes or until pork is lightly browned.  Stir in 3/4 cup broth and soy sauce.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 3 minutes or until meat juices run clear. 

Combine cornstarch and remaining broth until smooth.  Gradually stir into pan.  Return cabbage and carrots to skillet.  Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2-3 minute or until thickened.  Serve over rice if desired.

One serving (2 cups stir-fry calculated without rice) equals 252 callories, 8 g fat, 63 mg cholesterol, 855 mg sodium, 19 g carbohydrate, 5 g fiber, 27 g protein.

Note:  We served it over rice and got far more than what we consider 4 servings from this recipe.

Healthy Up Your Favorites - Frugal Food Friday

I took all the pictures and everything for this post...but then I almost scrapped it...because it's about pizza.  Pizza is not exactly known for being a weight loss food, and I don't have calorie counts for this either.  So more than being about pizza, it's more about taking some of your favorite recipes and making them healthier.

Last Friday my daughter asked for pizza.  We were a bit in the mood for celebrating since the Hubby had a job interview that day (which we'll hopefully find out today if he got it)!  The frugal part of this is that making your own pizza is WAY cheaper than buying it when you're in the mood for something special.

The healthy part of this somes in some modifications you can make to typical pizza.

1. Use whole wheat flour.  I typically use 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 white flour.  We also love to add 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder and 1 teaspoon of oregano to our dough to make it taste yummier.  (Can you see all that whole wheat and spices goodness?)

2. Go HEAVY on the veggies.  Load it up!  We love to add bell peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, and onions.  Some other great options I've seen and are tasty is artichoke hearts, spinach leaves, fresh oregano or basic leaves, zucchini.  If there are other things you love, please leave them in the comments!

3. Switch out the meat.  You can either leave the meat out altogether or substitute something like low-fat sandwich meat for the higher fat pepperoni. 
4. Go LIGHT on the cheese.  Just use less.  It's nice to have a little to help "glue" all the toppings on, but you don't need a lot.  You can also buy lower fat cheese, because it's usually quite a bit more expensive, so we prefer the use less option.
5. Drink some water and eat your salad first.  This helps fill you up, so you don't eat as much pizza in one sitting.

One more frugal pizza tip...make your own pizza sauce.  This doesn't make it healthier, but it does make it cheaper.  We do this by mixing one part tomato paste with one part water.  You could also add some spices, but we don't because we've already added garlic powder and oregano to the bread dough.

I'm not going to put my pizza dough recipe up here because I really have no idea what the calorie counts and everything.  Whatever recipe you use, though, you can always look for ways to make it healthier.  For example last time I made it, I substituted oil for the shortening.  It worked great, it's healthier...and I didn't have to wash out a nasty shortening measuring cup.  (Not a big deal if you have a dishwasher, but I HATE washing those by hand.)

Mandarin Orange Cake: Frugal Food Friday

This week the Hubby and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary.  It's hard to believe that we've already been married 10 wonderful years...but it's true!  (Believe it or not, no wedding pics have been scanned into our computer, and we were married before the digital boom...but here's one from our honeymoon.)

We had a pretty low-key anniversary celebration since he had class that night, but we'll do more to celebrate when the semester is over.  I thought about making pineapple cake since I'd made it for our one week anniversary, but the kids were helping me and wanted to branch out a bit, so we made Mandarin Orange Cake.

Instead of the suggested brown sugar/milk glaze, we topped it with some whipped topping.  It was delicious!  We were a bit surprised that you couldn't really taste the oranges in it.  Of the two, the pineapple cake I shared earlier is our favorite, but this is a great choice if you want a smaller batch and less fruity flavor.

My 5-year-old had her heart set on frosting the cake with the whipped topping.  I'm not sure exactly what went wrong.  I think maybe stirring the food coloring in while it was still partially frozen was partly to blame, because it was a runny...but delicious mess. 

I plan to experiment more with whipped topping as frosting and get back to you.  I had some great success with a previous experiments decorating a baby food lid.  This one stayed looking this way for half and hour or so in the warm kitchen before it was eaten, while the "flowers" on our anniversary cake turned to blobs in less than a minute.

No matter how it looked, though...it definitely got the kids' stamp of approval.  The especially had fun with the mashing the oranges step.

This is once again from one of my favorite cookbooks "Quick and Healthy Recipes and Ideas" by Brenda J. Ponchtera, pg. 217.

Mandarin Orange Cake

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup unbleached flour

1/4 cup egg substitute (equal to 1 egg)

1 can 11 oz. mandarin oranges, drained

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt (optional)

2 Tbl. oil (canola)
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix all ingredients, mashing the oranges, and pour into a 9-inch by 9-inch pan that has been sprayed with non-stick coating.  Bake for 30-35 minutes.  Prepare topping (below).

Topping: 2 Tbl. firmly packed brown sugar
2 tsp. skim milk

Combine sugar and milk.  In the microwave, heat on high until mixture starts to boil.  Drizzle over hot cake.

Yield: 9 servings
One Serving: 1 piece
Calories per serving: 140
Fat: 3 grams
Exchanges 1 3/4 starch

Mustard Chicken - Frugal Food Friday

This isn't the most frugal of our favorite family recipes...but it is super easy.  Sometimes a super easy and healthy recipe that costs just a bit more is still frugal because you can throw it together on one of those nights when you otherwise might be tempted to eat out.  This recipe originally came from a recipe card a grocery store was giving out...sorry I can't remember which one.  I also don't have nutrition information on this, but maybe someone with a nutrition calculator can figure it out for us. 

I usually buy the frozen veggies at Costco in their frozen foods section.  I've had good luck finding inexpensive honey mustard or brown mustard at dollar stores are as a generic brand.  I also buy the chicken ahead on sale and freeze it in single meal portion quantities.

Mustard Chicken

Cook: 2 cups brown rice in rice cooker or on stove.

Cook:1 lb. Chicken breast, cut up with water or a little oil in frying pan.  (I usually start with a little oil to cook the chicken and add a little water to help cook the veggies.

Add: 1 pkg. Frozen stir fry vegetables. Cook until thawed and tender-crisp.

Separately combine:
1/4 cup Dijon mustard (We always use honey mustard or brown deli mustard.  We never have dijon on hand to use.  We've used regular yellow mustard.  It can work, but we don't like it as well.)
2 tbsp. Chicken broth (can add 1/2 tsp. Chicken bouillon instead)
1 tsp. Cornstarch. (I usually add more like a tablespoon, especially if you've added a bit of extra water to cook the veggies and/or chicken.)  Stir into cooked vegetable and meat mixture. Heat until thick and bubbly. Add a little water or more mustard/cornstarch mixture until sauce is desired consistency.

Add: 1/4 cup unsalted peanuts (optional)

Serve over cooked rice.

Meat Loaf - The Cupcake Way

No, this is not an April Fools Joke...well...it started out as one, but this is a real post about meat loaf made like cupcakes.

I saw these meatloaf cupcakes with mashed potato frosting on Isha Foss Events via Be Different Act Normal.  I thought the kids would get a kick out of it for April Fools Day.  Mine don't look quite as glamous as Isha's, but I was still happy with how they turned out.

The kids were super excited when we announced we'd be having cupcakes for dinner.  They were a little taken aback when they realized they weren't normal cupcakes...but in the end they said they were yummy.

Instead of using the recipe posted with the original idea, I turned to...none other than my favorite Healthy cookbook..."Quick and Healthy Recipes and Ideas" by Brenda J. Ponchtera, pg. 199.  The recipe on Isha's site called for several specialty-type ground meats and some yummy but fattening things, and I wasn't going to go buy expensive meat for an April Fool's Joke.

We had plenty of ground turkey in the freezer though, and that's what Brenda's recipe called for.  We almost always buy ground turkey because it's the cheapest way to get lower fat ground meat.  You can get ground beef for cheaper than turkey, but only at the higher fat contents.  I buy my ground turkey in 4 packs at Costco and put them in the freezer.  It's the cheepest way to buy lower-fat ground meat that I've found so far.

Now I'm guessing that most of you aren't going to go to the trouble of piping bright pinky-purple-beet-juice-tinted mashed potatoes on top of your meat loaf, but there are still advantage to making it cupcake version.  (If you want directions for the beet-tinting, you can follow the link above.)

• 
  
  They come already packaged in easy to measure serving sizes.  One serving is 2 meat-cakes and 205 calories if you make it with turkey and it can fit right in with a 400 calorie meal.  If you've got some veggie side dishes, though, you'd probably be satisfied with one meat-cake anyway.
• 
  
  They cook faster as cupcakes.

Meat Loaf

1 1/2 lbs extra lean ground beef (9% fat or less) or ground turkey (7% fat)

1/4 cup egg substitute (equal to 1 egg)

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped green pepper

1 Tbl. dried parsley

3/4 cup finely chopped celery

3/4 cup oatmeal

3/4 cup skim milk

1/2 cup catsup

1 tsp. dry mustard

1/2 tsp chopped garlic

1 tsp salt (optional)

1/2 tsp ground pepper

To make it, you stir all those yummy things up in one bowl.  I sprayed the cupcake tins with non-stick cooking spray.  Then I filled them all the way up with the meat mixture.  You might want to leave about a 1/4 inch empty at the top though, because mine bubbled over a bit.  The recipe says to cook at 325 for an hour.  I cooked them at 350 for somewhere between 35 and 45 minutes, since they were in cupcake form.  The nutritional info does not include the mashed potatoes...or the beet juice coloring.

Yield: 8 servings (I got 15 cupcakes out of it.)

One serving is 1/8 the recipe or 2 cupcakes

Calories per serving: turkey 205; beef 230

Fat: 9 grams (turkey); 11 grams (beef)

Exchanges 2 medium fat meat, 1 vegetable, 1/2 starch

And just for cuteness factor...here's my littlest darling enjoying her beet-tinted mashed potatos and a beet.

And in case you were curious about how her fat-free birthday cake turned out, here's a picture.

And if you want more details about how it was made, you can click here.

Experiments with No-Fat Pineapple Cake: Frugal Food Friday

Writing for The Skinny is good for me because it's helping me think about healthier recipes, and the more I share, the more I need to come up with more material.  Our youngest "Sweet Pea" is turning 1 this weekend, so I'm starting to get ready.  I thought I'd pull out my favorite cookbook with easy, healthy recipes "Quick and Healthy Recipes and Ideas" by Brenda J. Ponchtera, pg. 218.  She's got several ideas for cakes that are a lot healthier than regular cake.  They still have sugar, but little or no fat.

I first made this recipe for mine and my husband's 1 month anniversary. He tried it and said, "Yum! But it's not very sweet." "Yes," I said, "That's the great thing about it! It's sugar-free!" Then I looked at the recipe and realized it's not supposed to be sugar-free. I'd just forgotten the sugar. We've joked about it a lot, but dubbed it pineapple bread...so if you're looking to make this even lower calorie, you can leave out the sugar and it is still enjoyably edible.

Canned pineapple can be a bit expensive, but if you watch for sales, I can often find it for $1 a can or a little less and I stock up.  That's about the same as a cake mix on sale and this is a lot healthier, and I will say yummier.  These stand on their own without a topping better than typical cupcakes, in my opinion.

The recipe calls for egg substitute, and I used 2 whole eggs instead.  A healthier option without buying substitute could be to use just egg whites.  If you try that you'd want to use 4 egg whites.  I might try that when I make these for Sweet Pea's Big Day.

I'm planning on making a cupcake-cake for Sweet Pea, so I thought I'd better try out making this into cupcakes rather than baking it in a dish.  (And of course I needed pics earlier for my Frugal Food Friday post.)  The verdict:  It cooks up great as both a cake and as cupcakes.  If you don't have a particular need for cupcakes, I'd go with the cake though.  (The cupcakes look a little burned in the picture and they were in fact browner than typical cake, but they were not burned at all.)

If you make them as cupcakes, they stick to the paper quite a bit when still warm, but once they cool, they peel out pretty easy.  (Here's a hint as to what Sweet Pea's cake will be.  Any guesses who the character is?  You can see the finished cake here.)

And most importantly, Sweet Pea approves. so this is a go for using them for Sweet Pea's birthday. 

Pineapple Cake

1 can (20 oz) unsweetened crushed pineapple, in juice (undrained)

1/4 tsp salt (optional)

2 cups unbleached flour
1 cup sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup egg substitute (equal to 2 eggs)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix all ingredients and pour into a 9x13 inch pan that has been sprayed with non-stick coating.  Bake for 30-35 minutes.  Cool before adding a topping.  For cupcakes, I baked them for 25 minutes and might even do it a few minutes less next time.  Also, I mixed things in this order...pineapple and juice, sugar, eggs (whipped), flour, and baking soda last.  I put the baking soda in last, so it wouldn't immediately react with all the acid in the pineapple juice.  It's kind of fun when you stir it in to see the trails of little bubbles.

She recommends serving this plain, dusted with powdered sugar, or topped with lite whipped topping.  This got the kids' stamp of approval just fine, without any topping.

Nutrition Info (although this will be slightly differnet if you use whole eggs):

16 servings (If you make cupcakes out of this recipe, you would get more servings that are fewer calories each.)

One serving: one piece 2''x3''
Calories per serving: 130

Fat: 0 grams

Exchanges: 1 fruit, 1 starch

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Frugal Food Friday: Rainbow Cole Slaw (Cooking with Kids)

For those of us with kids, it's important to not only cook healthy foods for them, but also get them to actually eat and love them.  One great way is to have them help in the kitchen.

Here's another salad recipe for this week...and this was a big hit with our kids.  Okay, so my 11 month old wants to eat it, but it's really doesn't work for her with only four teeth, but the other two LOVE it.

I was introducted to Mollie Katzen's cookbooks via this post on Little Page Turners.  (Okay, not at all weight loss related, but if you don't know Little Page Turners, you definitely need to check it out.  Christianne highlights several children's books each week and a fun activity to go along with them.  Lots of great ideas for moms, dads, grandmas, etc.)  I tried to find "Pretend Soup" in our library system, but for some mysterious reason it wouldn't let me place a hold.  It did let me request the sequal "Salad People," though, and so far it's a hit at our house.  It has recipes that are easy to have young children help with and the recipes are written in a format easy for young helpers.  While not all the recipes are low-calorie, they are all on the healthier end of things and introduce kids to food that you don't necessarily think of as kid-foods.

One of our new favorites is Rainbow Cole Slaw from page 33:

Put in salad bowl (I've doubled this each time I've made it and it's still be gone in just a day or two):

1 1/2 cups (packed) shredded green cabbage

1 1/2 cups (packed) shredded purple cabbage

1/2 small red bell pepper, minced or cut into thin slices

1/2 small yellow bell pepper, minced or cut in thin slices

1 medium carrot, grated

1/2 cup raisins (black, golden or both)

For dressing, mix together in seperate bowl and whisk.  Pour over veggies:

1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Options for making it healthier:

Make sure to use low-fat or non-fat mayonnaise or you can substitute non-fat plain yogurt for the mayonnaise as well.  You can also use sugar substitutes in place of the honey to cut down on calories as well.  Sorry I don't have calorie information on this since it didn't come in the cookbook.  Maybe someone else can use one of their handy calculators to figure it.

Rice and Bean Salad: Frugal Food Friday

Sorry I have been MIA for the last two weeks.  It's been a combination of substitute teaching every weekday, being a mom to my three kids, and making sure the hubby gets the homework time he needs...oh, yeah...and mostly forgetfulness by the time Friday rolls around.  Maybe I need to research recipes to help my memory.

Anyway, here's a recipe that our family loves from page 243 "What to Eat When You're Expecting" by Eisenberg, Murkoff, and Hathaway.  It's healthy for everyone though, and super yummy!  Now our kids used to eat this, but my 5 year old doesn't like "spicy" food as much as she used to, so was turned off to the raw onions in this the last time around.  Then of course since she complained about it, the 2 year old wouldn't eat it either.  Our 11 month old gobbled up the beans and rice from it though.  So I guess I can't guarantee that your kids will eat it...but ours used to.  It's colorful and has lots of crunchy texture.  I especially love the walnuts in it for that.

Bean and Brown Rice Salad:

Combine in salad bowl and mix:

4 cups cooked brown rice

1 can dark red kidney beans, drained

1 can chickpeas, drained

2/3 cup finely minced red onion

1 cup finely diced red bell pepper

1 cup finely diced green bell pepper

1/3 cup coarsley chopped walnuts or whole pine nuts

Combine and pour over salad:

1 cup apple juice

2 tablespoons vegetable oil (we like it better with only 1 though)

1/4 cup tarragon vinegar (which we don't have, so I use regular white vinegar or red wine vinegar)

1/4 teaspoon dry mustard

Salt and pepper to taste

Mix well and chill.  You can eat this right away, but it tastes even better if you wait a day for the flavors to mingle and the onion to lose a bit of it's kick.

Sorry, there's no calorie info, but this book has a sort of diet system with it and for that system it says 1/4 of this recipe = 1 protein, 1 whole grain, 1 vitamin C serving, and 1/2 yellow vegetable serving.  I'm not sure how that translates to other diet programs.

The Family Home Evening Treat Dilema

Okay, so when I first started these, I mentioned everyone's idea of "healthy" can be different.  This is not the healthiest idea out there, but it's been an improvement toward healthy in our family, so it might help someone else out too.  If you're going to bake cookies you might want to give this a try.

Our kids LOVE Family Home Evening.  We set aside one night a week (usually Monday) to spend time together as a family playing games, learning a Gospel concept or story, sing songs...and...it ends with a treat.  Being consistent with have a dessert-y treat was the key to us being consistent with having Family Night EVERY week because our kids look forward to those treats and will remind us that we HAVE to do Family Night.  Sometimes we're successful in making these treat healthy...like fruit smoothies...but a lot of times not.  Especially lately, we're in a bit of a hurry because my husband has night classes almost every night, so we have to get him off to class in time.

One of my biggest downfalls is homemade cookies.  I don't make them all that often...but when I do, I just can't get enough.

So the last month or so I've started doing something new...we bake just one cookie sheet full of cookies...

...and freeze the rest.  I freeze the dough usually in two balls, wrapped in plastic wrap and then put inside a freezer bag.

This is a great idea for us for several reasons.

1. Mom eats a lot fewer cookies.
2. We get THREE batches of cookies for three different weeks (not necessarily consecutive) for the price of one...so it's cheaper.  It's also a TON cheaper than buying ready-made cookie dough at the store.
3. We get THREE batches of cookies for the price of only one mess in the kitchen.  (A big benefit when you have no dishwasher and 3 little kids.)
4. Mom eats a lot fewer cookies.

P.S. Don't forget to ENTER for a chance to win a CD of some great workout music!

Brown Rice...Switching Over

Beans and rice are the classic foods for eating cheap, so we eat them a lot!

One of the best ways to eat healthier is to take things you're already eating...foods you love...and find a way to make them healthier.  Every little small change helps!  When we were first married and cooked with rice, all we ever used was white rice.  It never even occurred to me to use anything else.  As we learned more about nutrition it seemed like a no brainer to switch to brown rice.  It's one of those substitutions that's pretty easy.

 At first brown rice was a little hard to get used to, but we've discovered some simple secrets.

Not all brown rice is created equal!  When we first converted to brown rice we were buying long grain brown rice which has a drier, more granulated consistency that was hard to get used to.  This is also the kind that is most cheaply available in the supermarket.  Our favorite less expensive option is the brown rice from Costco that is either short or medium grain.  Unfortunately we're out of it, so I couldn't take a picture for you.  What we do currently have is the regular long grain brown rice from the store.  I combined two packages that were two different brands into my rice container and as you can easily see not even all "long grain brown rice" is the same.  So try out different varieties and see what your family likes the best.  

Do it gradually!  If you (or more like your family) are having a hard time making the conversion do it gradually.  If you're making 4 cups of rice, start with 1 cup of brown rice and 3 of white rice and gradually increase the amount of brown rice in relation to white rice.  When we use the rice from Costco, we don't usually add any white rice.  When we use long grain brown rice, we usually add a cup of white rice to make it just a little stickier. 

We've found that now that we're used to brown rice, the white rice seems kind of flavorless and bland.  We've got some white rice in our food storage that is up for rotation and it's almost a chore to work our way through it.

(And speaking of food storage...if you use the LDS Home Storage Centers for food storage...they don't offer brown rice.  If you want to store brown rice, though, you can buy it yourself in bulk and they will let you borrow a canning machine to put the rice into the #10 cans yourself at home.)

And finally, my cooking advice...is to use a rice cooker.  Sadly, it's the only way I even know how to do it.  If you don't have a rice cooker, though, it's still pretty easy to do on the stove.