Easy Low Carb Meatloaf Muffins

My plate is 1 meatball short... I ate one before I got the shot!

Ever since my husband heard his co-worker say "meatloaf muffins" he's been wanting me to make them. They taste exactly the same as my regular meatloaf, except it's now easier to transport for lunches and such. Anyways, here is my version of Meatloaf Muffins.  Of course, since we are still low carbing it, I made this slightly differently than I normally would have by replacing the bread crumbs with ground pork rinds. 

The only thing missing this time, which I normally add is the green bell peppers. We didn't have any and I didn't feel like going to the store. So, these are sans the peppers.  I made some cheesy cauliflower mash to go along with it. 

Source: Me!, Original Recipe
Rating - 5 forks

Ingredients:

2 lbs Extra Lean Ground Beef

3/4 cup of BBQ Pork Rinds, ground to a fine powder (measure after the pork rinds have been ground)

1/2 cup of small diced green peppers

1 envelope of Onion Soup Mix

1 extra large egg

3 Tbsp of Ketchup

2 tsp of Worcester Sauce

Pepper to taste

Instructions:  Preheat oven at 350.  Mix everything in a bowl. Careful, don't over mix! Use a ice cream scoop to make the same size "muffin" for each cup.  Bake for 25-30 minutes depending on your oven.

Makes 12.

White Bean Chicken Chili

Last week I broke out the crock pot!  White bean chicken chili! It was delish.  I didn’t really like any of the recipes I found, so I worked one out myself, and it was wonderful.  The jalapenos provide a slight kick when you eat it on the day that it’s made…even more heat the next day when you reheat it.  Be careful with the heat, because it increased over time.  Here’s what I did.

Throw all of the following ingredients into the pot, stir, then cook on low for 10 hours.

1 pound of raw chicken breast, cut into bit size cubes

2, 15 oz cans Northern Beans

1, 1.7 oz an of green chilies

1, 4 oz can of jalapenos (I used half the can)

1 ½ cups of low sodium chicken broth

1-2 cloves garlic, minced (I eyeballed it)

1 small yellow onion, diced

1 cup of frozen whole kernel corn

1 Tbsp chili powder

1 Tbsp cumin

1 tsp oregano

Salt & pepper to taste

Tip: To help thicken the chili a little bit, I rinsed and mashed 1 of the cans of beans.

Source: Me!, Original Recipe

Rating: 4 forks

Roasted String Beans



Let's eat!

A few nights ago I made roasted string beans for the first time. One word. Awesomeness.  I read several recipes to get a vibe of how to cook it and came up with my own variation.  Take out the bacon, and voila! You have a vegetarian friendly side.



Costco Salmon...my secret weapon!

With this I served one of my favorite short cuts...Salmon, prepped by Costco!!! Yay Costco! This salmon is in the deli area. It's fresh salmon topped with a herb butter and fresh dill.  All you do it bake it and it's ready to go.  I found that I only need to add a light sprinkle of salt.  It's so good I even served it as an additional protein at Christmas dinner.

Here's My Recipe:

fresh out of the oven

1 lb of washed string beans

Drizzle of EVOO

Kosher salt

Fresh cracked black pepper

2 piece of bacon, cut into small pieces

Preheat oven for 450 degrees.  Toss string beans in EVOO.  Lay on a foil covered baking sheet.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  I then sprinkle the cut bacon over top. 

 

prior to roasting

Bake for 10 minutes then take tongs and toss the beans and bacon around on the sheet and spread back out evenly.  Bake for 10 more minutes.  Serve immediately.

Source: Me!, original recipe

Rating: 5 forks

Baked Ranch Chicken & Philly Creamy Squash & Pasta

Ranch Chicken 101...I tried a recipe I found before that I couldn't taste the ranch flavor at all.  That one dipped the chicken in ranch dressing....the flavor was totally lost.  This time I basically took a envelop of the Ranch Dressing Mix (dry) and added a twist to it.  I loved how it turned out, dipping the chicken in butter raised the calorie count, but I swear this baked chicken was really crunchy! Just like fried.  The Panko even browned (which didn't happen before).


Baked Ranch Chicken
6 bone in chicken thighs
1 package of Hidden Valley Ranch Salad Dressing & Seasoning Mix
1/4 cup Panko Bread Crumbs
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese
2 Tbsp melted butter

Combine Dressing Mix with Panko and Parmesan Cheese in a plastic Ziploc storage size bag.

Melt the butter in the microwave in a wide mouth bowl.

One piece at a time, dip the clean and trimmed chicken into butter then into the dry mixture.  Shake the chicken in the dry mixture bag until completely coated.

Place the chicken on a raised rack (to allow the fat to drip off of the meat) on a foil lined cookie sheet.  (Tip: lining the cookie sheet with foil makes for easy clean up,

Bake for 50 minutes on 375 or until no longer pink in the center and the juices run clear.

Rating 4 forks
Source: Me!, original recipe

Philly Creamy Squash & Pasta - An experiment gone good! At first I was leery about Philadelphia’s Cooking Crèmes…I was very nervous to try it. My friend, Denise had made a dish with it and she kindly brought me some for lunch. There was my chance to taste it. So…(drum roll please!) surprisingly, it was pretty good! I decided to get some myself. When I brought the container home, I wasn’t really happy with the recipes provided so, I made up my own.

I  needed a veggie side dish to go with the ranch chicken that I made (above). I wanted to cook zucchini and summer squash. My husband doesn’t really care for either of these veggies, BUT, he liked this! He even ate leftovers of it! So, I would consider this a clear “win”!

I’ll be making this again, I may even do some variations, possibly with broccoli & pasta.

Here’s my recipe for Philly Creamy Squash & Pasta

2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup dry Ditanili Pasta
1 Tbsp of EVOO
2 green onions, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
2 small Zuchinni, sliced
2 small Yellow Squash, sliced
2 med Roma Tomatoes, diced
1/2 container of Philly Garlic Cooking Creme
1/2 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
Kosher Salt to taste
Fresh Ground Pepper to taste

Boil pasta in chicken broth until al dente.  Drain pasta, but retain 2 Tbsps of broth liquid.

Use medium heat.  In a large sauce pan, heat1 Tbsp of EVOO.  Add onions & garlic. and saute for 2 minutes.  Add zucchini and squash, saute 3-4 minutes.  Then add tomatoes & pasta and 2 Tbsp of broth. Add 1/2 container of Philly Creme.  Cook for an additional 3-4 minutes.  Add Parmesan, stir and serve while hot.

Rating 4 forks
Source: Me!, original recipe

Salmon Croquettes and Three Cheese Garlic Scalloped Potatoes

Tuesday night I made Salmon Croquettes…and they were awesome! That was my third time making them and every time they get better. So much so, I’ve finalized my recipe. Both hubby and I LOVED these. They were so good. Perfectly cooked, crunchy outside, moist inside and perfectly seasoned.

Along with my amazing salmon croquettes, I decided to cook Three Cheese Garlic Scalloped potatoes. Sadly, I we didn’t enjoy this dish as much as I hoped we would. These potatoes had WAY too much garlic for my taste. Serious overkill. My husband said it was “good”, but he also doused it with hot sauce and ketchup…so he obviously was masking something. Probably all that garlic. LOL. BUT, on the upside my sister and my little niece came over last night and ate some. They loved it! They both are garlic lovers, the more the better.

Also, the cook time was ridiculous! I cooked it at 350 for like 1 ½ hours. That was 25 degrees warmer and 45 minutes longer than what the recipe called for. If I had cooked it at 325 (per the instructions), it would have taken even longer to cook. I know it wasn’t the thickness of my potatoes, because I sliced them very thin using a mandolin, so they were all uniform in thickness. This recipe just wasn’t to my liking.  I may try to make scalloped potatoes again, minus half the garlic.


Sources w/ Ratings:      Three Cheese Garlic Scalloped Potatoes ~ 3 forks
                                               Salmon Croquettes (Me!, original recipe) ~ 5 forks

Awesomely Delicious Salmon Croquettes
Yields 9 croquettes

Ingredients:
18 ozs of canned Pink Salmon, drained (I used 3, 6 oz cans of the boneless & skinless Pink Salmon)
2 eggs, beaten
2 green onions, finely chopped
small handful of fresh flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
1 cup of Italian bread crumbs
1 good squeeze of fresh lemon juice, to taste
1-2 Tbsp of lite sour cream (start with 1 Tbsp, then add more to get the correct consistency)
Old Bay seasoning, to taste (approx 1 tsp)
fresh ground black pepper, to taste (approx ½ tsp)
½ cup of Panko bread crumbs
small amount of vegetable oil, for frying

Directions:
Using a fork, flake apart the Salmon in a medium sized bowl. Add the beaten eggs, green onions, parsley, Italian bread crumbs, lemon juice, sour cream, Old Bay and black pepper. Form into 9 patties and dust with Panko bread crumbs. Don’t make the patties to thick or they will take longer to cook.

Place the patties into the refrigerator until the oil heats up. Cooling the patties also help them keep their shape while frying.

Over medium heat, heat oil in medium skillet. Put 3 patties into the skillet. Fry until golden brown, 2 minutes on each side. Repeat two more times, cooking 3 patties at a time.

**If you use my recipe in your blog, please cite appropriately.

Slow Cooker Smothered Pork Chops, Rice Cooker Macaroni and Cheese & Sautéed Collard Greens

Sunday – Slow Cooker Smothered Pork Chops, Rice Cooker Macaroni and Cheese & Sautéed Collard Greens

Very yummy meal. This was a true “Sunday dinner”. The pork chops were awesome. When I plated the meat, they didn’t really look like pork chops anymore since the meat fell off the bone! I didn’t have any bay leaves, so I omitted it and it was still very good. This did have a lot of prep work and even additional work prior to serving it, which was a bit more work than I usually like to do for a crockpot meal, but well worth it in this case.

The macaroni and cheese was a perfect match up with the greens and pork. I usually make the macaroni and cheese this was when I want to do a 20 minute version, and trust me, the tastes is identical to the oven baked kind. The only difference is that you won’t have a crispy top.

I love making my greens in this manor because I don’t like greens sopping in juice. So this cooks them, adds nice flavor and it’s the texture I like.

Source w/ Ratings: Slow Cooker Smothered Pork Chops ~ 4 forks

                              Rice Cooker Mac and Cheese ~4 forks
                              Sautéed Collard Greens ~ 5 forks (Me!, original recipe)

Sautéed Collard Greens

Ingredients:
1/2 medium yellow onion, finely diced
1 clove of garlic, minced
8 oz of 99% fat free, low sodium chicken broth
1 tsp red pepper flakes
5 dashes of seasoned rice vinegar
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 pound of collard greens
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:
Saute onion in a deep skillet with olive oil.  Once onion becomes translucent, add garlic and saute for a few minutes longer.

Reduce to medium heat.  Add chicken broth, red pepper flakes, salt & pepper.  Add greens and stir.  Add seasoned rice vinegar.  Stir.

Cover and steam for 20 minutes until it reaches the texture you like.  Stir every 5 minutes or so.

Serve warm.

**If you use my recipe in your blog, please cite appropriately.

Easy Crockpot BBQ Pork Ribs, Garlic Parmesan Oven Fries & Coleslaw

Saturday: Easy Crockpot BBQ Pork Ribs, Garlic Parmesan Oven Fries & Coleslaw

Now this was a really tasty dinner! This is a great alternative when you want to kill that craving for ribs but can’t fire up the charcoal grill. The ribs were supper easy and not much work at all. I think the only thing I would change for next time is take them out the crock pot and try to “dry” the outside of them a little in the oven. I’ll probably try flashing them at a high temp for a short amount of time. Maybe even put them under the broiler for a few minutes. I hope doing that would make them seem more like they are off the grill and not out of the pot.

The oven fries were also good. It was welcome different take on potato wedges. The cold and crispy coleslaw was a perfect match for this meal.

My ribs are supper simple.

Sources w/ Ratings: Easy Crockpot BBQ Pork Ribs – (Me!, orignial recipe) ~ 4 forks
Garlic Parmesan Oven Fries ~ 5 forks

Easy Crockpot BBQ Ribs

Ingredients:
1, 2-3 lb rack of pork spare ribs
1 medium red onion, finely chopped
1 bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce
2 Tbsp Lawry’s seasoning salt
2 Tbsp of ground black pepper

Directions:
Chop the onions and evenly lay into the bottom of Crockpot.

Clean the ribs. Dry them with paper towel. Cut off excess fat. Cut the ribs into pieces of 2 bones at a time. Season with seasoning salt and pepper. Added them to the Crockpot and top with BBQ sauce. Cook on low for 9 hours.

**If you use my recipe in your blog, please cite appropriately.

Mexican Lasagna

Tuesday – Mexican Lasagna


This is one of my favorite quick dinners. I’d seen something like this a few years ago, but it was so basic that it really needed a lot more flavor. It was basically only meat, taco seasoning, cheese and flour tortillas…not very dynamic with the flavors. So I decided to take my own turn at it. I’ve been making this for a while now and I love it. It’s a nice change when you don’t want tacos. This Mexican Lasagna taste great and it’s supper easy. On the down side, you must be warned, it probably has tons of sodium in it because of the canned ingredients. I tried to offset that and make it a little better by using frozen corn and the leanest beef, Ground Sirloin. Top it with a sprinkle of fresh flat leaf parsley, a few sliced black olives and a dollop of sour cream. If I had it, I would have also put a spoonful of guacamole on it too!

Source:  (Me!, original recipe) ~ 5 forks

Mexican Lasagna
8-10 servings

Ingredients:
2 lbs ground Sirloin Beef
2 packet of low sodium Taco Seasoning
1 cup of diced onions
1, 14.5 ounce can of regular diced tomatoes
1, 14.5 ounce can of Original Rotel diced tomatoes
2, 4 ounce can of mild diced green chilies (I use the La Preferida brand)
1 fresh jalapeño, remove seeds and finely
1 cup frozen sweet corn
1, 14.5 can of Spanish rice (I use the La Preferida brand)
15 flour 8” tortillas
1 ½ cups of salsa
2 cups of Mexican Blend shredded cheese

Directions:
Saute onions. Add ground beef and brown. Once meat is brown, add jalapeño and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Stir in Taco Seasoning.

Stir in canned tomatoes, green chilies, sweet corn and Spanish rice. Simmer for 5-10 minutes.  While the meat mixture is simmering, cut the tortillas in half.

Spray an 9x13 dish with nonstick spray.  Spread out 1/3 of the tortillas evenly to cover the bottom of the dish, placing flat edge along the sides. Add ½ of meat mixture.

Layer the 2nd 1/3 of remaining tortillas on top of the meat. Top that with last remaining ½ of meat mixture.  Finish off with topping the meat mixture with the remaining 1/3 of tortillas.

Top with salsa and cheese.

Bake approximately for 30 minutes in 350 degree oven until cheese is melted.

Top with a sprinkle of fresh flat leaf parsley, sliced black olives, sour cream. If you like, you can add a dollop of guacamole also.


**If you use my recipe in your blog, please cite appropriately.

Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf and Veggie Marinara Sauce

Sunday: Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf w/ Rigatoni, Salad & Garlic French Bread

One word. Delicious! We will be eating this meal once a month for sure! It was super easy to make and very tasty. Full of flavor and it seems healthier than traditional Chicken Parmesan. The one thing I did notice is that if you like your meatloaf to fill up the dish you need to use a smaller than normal meatloaf pan to bake it in. The pan I used was a standard size, which was pretty big for only 1 lb of meat. So it wasn’t shaped perfectly and didn’t fill the pan…but that’s not a big deal.

In addition to the meatloaf, I made an awesome veggie marinara sauce and tossed it with Rigatoni. Topped it with fresh parsley and some shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano. Added a nice salad full of veggies and some warm garlic bread. Perfection!

Sources w/ Ratings: Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf  ~ 5 forks
                                 Veggie Marinara Sauce (Me!, original recipe) ~ 5 forks

Veggie Marinara Sauce

8-10 servings

Ingredients:
1 med yellow onion, finely diced
1-2 Tbsp pre-minced Garlic (to taste)
½ large green bell pepper, finely diced
½ large red bell pepper, finely diced
1 ½ cups chopped fresh mushrooms
4-5 Tbsp of Italian Seasonings (to taste)
Salt & Fresh Cracked Pepper (to taste)
3, 14.5 cans of diced tomatoes
2, 14.5 cans of tomato sauce
2 Tbsp of Tabasco Sauce (to taste)
Handful of Fresh Flat Leaf Parsley, roughly chopped

Directions:
Add onion, sauté for a few minutes, until onions soften. Add garlic, and sauté for a 1-2 minutes. Add finely chopped green bell pepper and red bell pepper and mushrooms. Sauté for a additional 3-4 minutes. Add Italian seasonings, salt and pepper.

Add all of the sauce and tomatoes. Add Tabasco sauce. Stir everything together.

Bring to low boil then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 30-45 minutes.  At the end of cook time, add a handful of fresh flat leaf parsley and stir in.  Toss a pound of your favorite pasta with sauce and serve.

**If you use my recipe in your blog, please cite appropriately.