Protein Shake(s)

I make these for my son every morning and he absolutely LOVES them. Who knew? Anyway, this is a great way to sneak some more protein into your diet. And you can mix up the flavors every day so as not to get monotonous. It just depends on what fruit and protein powders* you choose. So you could have a peach shake, a tropical shake, a chocolate/peanut butter, etc. The possibilities and health benefits are endless here! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c. vanilla rice milk
• 1/3 c. plain yogurt
• 3 oz. tofu (1 large spoonful)
• 1 ripe banana
• handful of frozen berries/fruit

Directions:
1. Blend rice milk (or dairy of choice) with yogurt and tofu.
2. Add fruit and turn up the juice (of the machine that is).
3. Serve cold, with a straw of course! And be careful, because this will stain if let to its own devise.

PS- I make *Brad's pretty much the same: increase rice milk to 1 c. and add 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder (and omit banana).

Break Over

I apologize for just leaving you hangin' there high and dry! But amidst our kitchen woes (such as flooding and an ant invasion, plus the extra stress of working around a diet), there were many a-times where I ended up not cooking and my whole plan went bonkers! So to save myself from insanity, I just opted not to post any more meals for the month, especially since it was just me and maybe one other person that I know of that was following along... But if there was something on the plan that sounded like it was something you wanted to try, then let me know and I'll get it up on here.

I also have been feeling weird about posting recipes that I haven't even tried! I'm not sure how to circumvent that problem... unless I just post the meal plans and if you choose to follow it, just push everything back a day. That way I can make my meals one night and the next day post it (since so many of my recipes I personally modify) for you to follow for that night. Make sense? Is anyone getting any of this???

Anyway, there's also enough meal ideas already posted on here to help you guys in your quests for dinner that I'm rather confident you were all ok while I was MIA... So, I'm going to try this again but try to not let myself get stressed out about things. I'm working on my meal plan for February since I'll be shopping tomorrow. So I will get that up as soon as I can, with the shopping list. And for those of you who are wanting to try this whole method of cooking via planning on your own, then please refer to the shopping tips and start coming up with your version of meal plans and shopping lists (then you won't suffer if I do decide to take a break). I really do think that this method has helped our family in so many ways and promise that it can help everyone out there (who doesn't have a personal chef), so do give it, or a variation of it, a try and let us know what you're doing (successes, failures, etc.).

Oh, and I'm not going to post which version of the diet that the dinners go with anymore, because I think my family is the only one it concerns and I've already got everything down on paper and it would just be one more thing for me to figure out and develop migraines over...

On a side-note: please comment on this post if you are even reading this blog! I would like to know who is even interested in any of this and what meals/plans have worked for you. And please share some ideas with us! I don't want to be typing to myself, it's rather lonely...

Thanks!

*Beth

Hiatus Time

I'm just taking a break...

and that's all I have to say for right now...

It's Updatin' Time!

It's not yet "Saturday, January 20, 2007." Ok, so you probably all know that I try to have the meals posted by the week. Since I date them according to the plan, it gets a little confusing at times when trying to navigate your way through this site. So I will post this exact post each time I update a week's meals.

The purpose of this post, the very one you're reading, is to give you the links you might need for that week. And this very post will also be updated each time I re-post it, and will be removed from its former location.

Who knows if that really makes much sense when reading it, but it is typed and done. Hope this helps... Heck, I hope any of this helps (not just this particular post)!!!

Helpful Links:

Meals for the Month (January)
Shopping List (January, part I)
Shopping Tips
Diet plan (and explanation)

Leftovers/ Scrounge Night

Click here and enjoy!

Mexican Pasta w/ Chipotle Sausage

Yummy in my tummy! SO excited for this one, but haven't done it yet. This will be an experiment y'all, so make the necessary adjustments for taste and consistency, m'k?

Ingredients:

• 2 links Chipotle Chicken Sausage, chopped
• 1 small can diced tomatoes w/ green chillies
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1-2 garlic cloves, minced
• cilantro, chopped
• cheese, shredded
• chicken bouillon, maybe

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 and bring a pot of water to a boil for the pasta if you didn't make any/enough from last night.
2. Preheat skillet over medium-high heat, spray with a little olive oil or water.
3. Cook sausage in skillet. Once their juices get flowing and they start to brown a bit, add onion and garlic; cook.
4. Add tomatoes w/ chillies and simmer until it reduces and becomes nice and "saucy." Taste test it and add bouillon and seasoning if needed.
5. Toss with pasta (1 c. pasta per person) and top with cheese (1 oz. per person).
6. Option: place in casserole dish and pop it in the oven for a pasta bake.
7. Top with cilantro and serve with a salad.


VERSION 1.3

Italian Garden Veggie Minestrone

I loooove this one. It's my kind of comfort food. Who needs chicken friend steak and mashed potatoes when you can have this (and not the added inches to your waistline!)! Need I mention it's a slow cooker recipe! Yup, definitely a favorite...

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts
  
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 zucchini, chopped
• 1 can mushrooms OR 8 oz. fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 yellow squash, chopped
• 28 oz. can diced tomatoes
• 2-3 c. chicken broth
• 1 c. bell peppers, chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• Italian Seasoning, to taste
• Dried Basil, to taste
• Parmesan cheese

Directions:
1. Place all ingredients except dried herbs and cheese in crock pot; cook on low for 6 hours.
2. Stir in dried herbs into pot for last 15-20 minutes.
3. Cook pasta in separate pot. The point of this is for leftover purposes. You can cook pasta with the crockpot, but they may end up too soft or too hard upon serving. But if you let the pasta sit overnight inside the soup, they expand and you end up with goulash.
3. Serve; add pasta to each bowl and top with Parmesan.


VERSION 1.3

PS- this is minestrone people, so keep that in mind when you cook and add the pasta. However, if you're not concerned with the diet, then you could morph this into a pasta dish. Just omit the broth and make it into a sauce and serve on top of pasta. You may want to add some bouillon to the sauce; taste test it first.

Time Saver: as you cook the pasta, make enough for tonight and for tomorrow's pasta bake.