Stuffed Tomatoes........mmmmm

I briefly saw an article about Stuffed Tomatoes recently, which of course made my mouth drool. I had never had a stuffed tomato before I whipped up our dinner tonight, but I have now found a new favorite dinner :)

 I wasn't quite sure how to cook it, so I googled a few recipes, then tweaked it to make it my own. Our taste buds were pleasantly pleased.

Its easiest to use the tomatoes with a good round shape and make sure they will have a good thick skin, so they won't fall a part as much when they cook. Then wash how ever many tomatoes you are going to need, and cut the top part off, making sure to get any green out from the stem. They would look about what the above picture looks like.

Then with a spoon, scoop out the insides into a bowl to put aside for the filling.

and like the above picture here too.

Then mix in your seasonings, I used about a tsp of the Nature's Seasons, I like it because it has salt in it and NO brain cell killing MSG :)  I put in some Italian seasoning too. mmm mmm

I noticed other recipes called for seasoned bread crumbs, so I just used croutons and they worked awesomely. The croutons I used worked great because they were smaller.I put about a cup of them in, you will probably want to use more though, depending on how many tomatoes you are stuffing. Mix them into the tomato mixture too.

This next part really made the flavor of these. My sweet beautiful mother in law planted me a Basil plant when she lived with me a few years ago. I am sorry to say I have personally never used it until now. Boy was I missing out!! Wow does it have flavor! I picked a few leaves, o.k. maybe 20 because they are small, and just put them in singularly into the mixture.  Such a good idea on my part I must say, hehe

Then I put filling in all of the tomatoes, stuffed them to the rims and a little above!

Then topped them each with a little mozzerella. Next time I am going to put about a Tbs of cottage cheese in each one.  Put each tomato in a cooking sheet, you can stuff them close together if you have a lot. More will actually help keep them from falling while cooking.

Set the heat to 400 degrees, and the timer to 30 minutes

I forgot to take a picture of them all once they were done, but this one was still in the pan (not for long).

We ate it with a chicken and spinach salad and some cottage cheese. It was delicious!! My only regret was that I didn't make more! This will definitely be repeated as a future dinner meal. I try personally to not eat a lot of cheese, but the cottage cheese was worth it this time, and my kids and husband got bigger chunks of chicken on their salad. Next time I want to add rice to the meal and put chunks of crispy bacon in the stuffing. Do any of you have any good ideas for stuffing tomatoes? I would love to learn about them!

Twice baked deliciousness-potatoes almondaise cheddar and broccoli

So first, I would like to tribute this deliciousness to Traci's Transformational Kitchen. These potatoes were inspired by her, and the official recipe for Almondaise is hers too :) You can get it from her awesome healthy cookbooks :)


I love a good baked potato...but even better, a baked potato, which is then gutted, and then stuffed again only to be shoved into the oven again! (that is about the extent of horrific cooking you will ever see come from this blog, [I don't cook meat that often].

Anyway, I always thought pictures of twice baked potatoes were drool worthy, yet I had never tried one, or tried to cook one for that matter. That is until I recieved Traci's Transformational cookbook, and discovered she has a HEALTHY recipe for twice baked potatoes!!!

Her recipe is different, and delicious, but this time I did it my way a little (meaning I didn't follow the recipe I just put it together out of what I thought would be yummy) :)

So here is how you would turn these:

Into these:

First
Don't underestimate the size of a red potato.(like I did)
6 people don't need 2 potatoes each. These potatos Will double in size once stuffed!:)

My bottomless pit when it comes to dinner time of a husband-if that made sense, said a small one would suit him just fine, so you don't need a big potato to fit a big appetite. You just need lots of yummy stuffing(not the bread kind) :) 

Second
Use red potatoes, because they are yummy! Any potato will do, I just love red potatoes :)and smiley faces.

Clean and scrub your potatoes, after you start to preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
Then prick each potato with a fork a couple of times on each side of the potato. 
Then using a small puddle of olive oil in your hand, coat the potatoes in the olive oil. 
This will help make your skins crispy, and it will help the potato not fall apart when you split it open to gut and stuff. (there I go again being gross, I am glad this is just potatoes I am talking about here.)

Then put your potatoes directly on the rack in the oven, and cook them for 45 minutes, or until tender inside. Bigger potatoes might take longer, but I told you not to use bigger potatoes anyway.

While the potatoes are cooking, mix in a bowl, almondaise, or something creamy like unto it, probably mayonaise, about a cup or so for 9 potatoes, with a half a chopped onion, and some seasons. I used about a tblsp. of Thyme, and a small amount of "Natures Seasoning". "Natures Seasoning is a bunch of spices with some salt in it. Taste it to gauge how much you want in it.

Then......

Tenderize some broccoli, I boiled mine, two stalks

and add about 1/2 cup of cheese to the mixture. And when your broccoli is tenderized cut it into the mixture too.

 

mmmmmmm....................................DING!!

Once your potatoes are done, pull them out onto a cookie sheet. Watch out, they will be hot. Leave your oven on.

Now with a knife split open the potatoes like this

scoop out all the insides of the potatoes being careful not to rip the skins more, or burn your hands, and mix the potatoes into the cheesey broccoli spicey onionee, creamy mixture. You can mix it with an electric mixer to make sure it comes to a fluffy mixture.

Then stuff those potatoes back up with the completed mixture, there will be a lot so be generous with the stuffing :)

They will then look like the potatoes above. Sprinkle a little more cheese on each one, and put them back in the oven for 5 more min. Then you can put the oven on broil for a few minutes to make the cheese crispy, and then Ding! They should be done!

 

 

 

 

Here is another picture of them done:

And another one for a close up.

 

 You can freeze these, if you make extra, but the 3 left overs we had, didn't make it 1 day. Soooo Good!

Will someone try this recipe for me?

So the other night I was sitting down, watching a movie all by myself, eating jalepeno cream cheese poppers, when........
A big, yummy, fattening, delicious, mouth watering recipe popped into my head. The fattening part is why I haven't made it yet. So I was wondering, if someone else could try it and then let me know how it is, since I am supposed to be on a raw foods diet right now?
Think of chicken, cream cheese, jalapeno juice and a biscut crust.
You can experiment and make it your way, but here is how I was thinking.

1 jar of pickled jalapenos
1 4 oz thing of cream cheese
(to make biscut crust/ or your favorite biscut recipe)
1 cup of flour
1/4 cup of butter
a pinch of salt
little bit of water to mix dough

Now, I am not sure how to go about this next part.

Scenario #1
I am imagining boneless chicken strips marinated in the jalapeno juice overnight or something.
Then in a sauce pan, put the cream cheese in on medium heat and soften and warm and stir the cheese, then add the biscut dough and mix the cream cheese together with it. Then put the chicken strips in and coat them in the mixture, put it all on a cookie and bake it, for however long chicken would normally bake to reach the safe internal temprature.

or

Scenario #2
still marinate the chicken the same way with the chopped jalapenos. Melt the cheese in a sauce pan, and then put the marinated chicken in the cream cheese and coat it. Make biscut dough, like a pastry and leave it crumbly, ready on a cookie sheet, to roll the chicken in or layer it on the outside of of the cream cheese chicken somehow, and then bake.


So.........will you try it out and see what you can come up with? I would love to, I am just afraid of the lbs. I will gain back if I do :)

Butternut squash soup/chocolate covered cherries

So, we are to have butternut squash for dinner tonight. I started cooking squash for the first time last year, in all my 8 years of marriage, and it has become a favorite. I have been craving a squash soup, even though I have never tried squash soup, it just sounds soooooo good! I looked to see what a basic recipe would include as far as how to prepare the squash, and I found this great blog that teaches you how to cube butternut squash! One of those mysteries since I started cooking it. I always just washed the squash and then cut it in half, d-seeded it, and then placed each side into a 1/2 inch of water in a cookie sheet, and cooked it at 350 for 45 min. Worked great always, but then when I would scoop the squash out of the shriveled skins, I could never get it all out.
Cubing a butternut squash seemed hard enough, since it took all the force in my energy field just to cut through it once. Well, the Veggie Evangelist at this site:
http://kitchen-parade-veggieventure.blogspot.com/2009/11/how-to-cut-butternut-squash.html
helped me feel peace of mind that it didn't take wonder woman to be able to cube a butternut squash. You should check out her site and recipes, they are awesome, and I think I will be referring to them often. :)
Anyway, so I am going to be making butternut squash soup, my own style for dinner, Pictures will for sure be posted.

Now, the chocolate covered cherries. I came across a recipe for mint patties. I love myself a big York Peppermint Pattie, my favorite, especially after its been in the freezer for an hour or two. I plan on making them, but I thought I would throw a twist on them and add some maraschino cherrys to the mix : ) I might not be able to add the peppermint, I forgot to buy some extract, but I have almond and vanilla, that I think will make them just as delicious!
Now the question is, do I keep all those chocolate covered cherries and make myself fat, or find someone to share them with :)

Stay tuned for pictures and recipes :)

Steamed spinach (not the way you think)and rice Dinner

My kids like it, and that's a good thing.

Recipe:
1 cup of rice for 2 cups of water (for a family of 4 people with teeth, sorry baby you will have to grow some more teeth first) :)
a small pile of fresh spinach on each family members plate.Not layered to thickly
 1 cube of organic vegetable bullion
1 tbs of olive oil
1 small chopped onion
1 chopped green pepper
butter
salt
pepper
cashews
pineapple
if you like meat, you can add some cooked turkey or chicken
shoyu or soy sauce if you would like

Bring your water to a boil, then add oil, rice, onions, and green pepper, and bullion,
reduce heat to low and cover with a lid. Let rice cook until tender

While you are waiting for the rice to cook, serve some fresh fruit to your family. :) (This is a key ingredient to a nice family dinner) :)

When rice is done, serve it on top of the spinach before it cools. The heat will steam the spinach.
Add all other ingredients on top of the rice and enjoy!
Simple, healthy, filling and yummy!

Add to the scones

I made scones again yesterday..........this may become a problem.........
  Plus I will be making them again on Monday, hmmmmmmmmm, sounds great.

Anyway, I did it again, I thought of a way to make these scones even more tasteful than my palette already thinks they are. And my husband contributed to the mess also.

Pizza, one of my downfalls. I like to make Pizza.
you will need the following:
Your scone dough rolled out
1 tbs of pizza sauce per pizza pocket
a cup of shredded mozzerella
pepperoni if you would like
sliced jalapenos
olives of your choice
whatever else you like on a pizza

or apple pie filling (my husbands idea, shame on him)

here is a link to a great apple pie filling http://www.myhomecooking.net/apple-pie/apple-pie-filling.htm
I would make up my own, but I haven't tried it yet, so I don't want to lead you astray. :)

slice dough with a knife or pizza cutter into rectangles about 3x6 or however wide you want your pizza pocket.
layer ingredients like a pizza on half of the rectangle, and sauce on all of the rectangle. Make sure you leave1/4 of an inch of edge to pinch the dough closed.
Or if you are making apple pie goodness, layer your filling on one half. 
Fold over the top half of the rectangle with only the sauce on it, and pinch the edges closed.
Now fry like a scone, and be careful to not get holes in the crust while frying to make sure filling doesn't come out into the oil.
You can also, slather the outside of the uncooked pizza pocket with olive oil, and cook it in the oven at 400, for about 12 minutes, and watch carefully so they wont burn.
There ya go, easy pizza. Or Apple goodness
You can top the apple goodness with a glaze or butter.
Just don't eat them to often, because this recipe does not belong on a weight watchers website...............hehe
Pictures soon to come..........(which means I might be making some for dinner tonight)

Valentine Scones

I made these the other day and plan on making them again for Valentines day coming up.
2 1/2 to 3 cups of bread flour
1 tsp stevia or 2 tsp sugar
1 tbs baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/3 cups water or milk. (I like water, I never cook with dairy milk)
olive oil to fry in

Combine dry ingredients and mix well, then slowly mix in water. When dough is to much to stir, start to knead it until it is all mixed well, add more flour if it is to sticky, but don't let it get to dry. Let it sit for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, roll dough out to 1/4 inch or less, the thinner the better before it gets holes in it. :)
Prepare your frying pan with oil at medium high heat
Now cut with a heart shaped cookie cutter, and place heart dough in oil. Turn when the bottom side starts to get golden brown, then remove from oil when both sides are golden and puffed up.

After you take it out while its still hot you can lay it in a bowl of sugar and cinnamon and coat each side, or decorate it with frosting when it cools, or just eat it with honey, or salsa, or any scone toppings. :)
Yum.