Snack Time

So I always seem to want to munch lately and I have no idea why. I will go from wanting something sweet to wanted something salty the next. Well in my attempts to finally get this weight that I put on this last year. I have been going crazy about what I don't want to eat and what I do. Aaron was complaining about not having potato chips and cookies and all those snacky foods but now he has decided that he does not miss them and he is even feeling better. Yeah. Anyway back to my snack food ramblings. I don't know what it is but I have never been a huge snacker actually I usually have a hard time even eating through out the day. Yes Cyndi some things never change, I don't know what my deal is with eating. But anyway I have decided that I do need to eat more food and boost my metabolism, I think that is why I have put on so much weight lately because I am starving my self and when I do eat I don't burn it. But that is not important right now. I have found something that I love to snack on and I can justify it by I don't think that it is that bad for you as far as snack foods go. I buy honey roasted sunflower seeds all ready shelled, in a bowl I mix cheese and the sunflower seeds and just eat with a spoon. I love the mix of the salty with the cheese. It is so good. Another thing that I have found for when I want something sweet I have been getting strawberries lately and just eating a few but the other day Kenzie was not eating she just kept feeding me her food. This has turned into a bad game that must stop. But I feed her cut up peaches but she is so picky that she will not touch the peaches because of the juices from the peaches. She cannot stand the feel of them . So an idea came to me to put granola on the fruit to soak up the juice. It has worked so great she loves it. Well when she fed me I thought that it could be a great snack it has just the right amount of sweetness so that your satisfied. All right you have read on about my ramblings I don't even know if it makes sense, but I never seem to make sense so you just have to bear with me.

Cheeseburger Rice

This is a recipe I got from a college roomate, Michelle Sorensen. It's sounds funny, but it's really simple and I think it tastes really good. I'm making it for dinner right now and I thought of Sarah and how picky Aaron is. (Do you remember Michelle making this Sarah?) I thought maybe Aaron would like this.

Cheeseburger Rice
1 lb. beef
1 3/4 c. water
2/3 c. ketchup
1 tbsp mustard
2 c. minute rice
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Brown beef in large skillet on med-high heat. Drain.

Add water, ketchup and mustard. Bring to boil.

Stir in uncooked rice. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover. Cook on low heat for 5 minutes.

As a side note, I use turkey burger now instead of hamburger on all my dishes. Turkey burger is half the price and it's a much healthier option. I think it tastes just the same with the turkey burger as it does with hamburger. Mark just barely realized like a week ago that I don't buy hamburger anymore, and that is because he went grocery shopping with me, and he's never, ever complained.

Grocery shopping

I have decided that taking Aaron grocery shopping is so hard to do. We went to the store and sat and stared at salads arguing over what kind to get. I love to get the spring mix and the big leafy green mix. I do not like to usually buy the iceberg lettuce mix. I feel like it does nothing but act as a filler. I have been trying so hard to get Aaron to eat better so we don't have junk food in the house so we can be healthy but it is a working progress. It is so frustrating. In the end we went with the iceberg so that he would at least eat I decided that it was better than nothing. I just wish I could get hi to try new things. I wouls love to make eggplant parmigan and all those other things that I love but I don't think that he would eat it. I am at a loss of what to fix other than corn which seems to be the only veggie that he will eat. I am worried Kenzie will end up just like her dad. But no matter how much I tell him this he will not budge. He is so stubborn, but I guess that makes me jsut as stubborn because I wont give in. I just keep thinking that one day he will not complain about something healthy that I have made and decide that he does like it. Maybe one day.

yummy CREPES

CREPES

1 Tbl Oil

1 1/4 cups Milk

2 Eggs

1/2 tsp Salt

3/4 cup Flour

• Add ingredients in order and whisk.
• Should be the consistency of light cream.
• Pre-heat pan on medium (4 1/2 -5)
• Pour 1/2 - 3/4 cup batter into the pan.
• Swirl around to coat the bottom of pan.
• Serve with lightly sugar sweetened fruit.... Berries are the best, but I use any canned fruit as well. Top with spray whipped topping.

Cheese Filling

1/4 of an 8oz cream cheese pkg

2-3 Tbl cottage cheese

2-3 Tbl yogurt (any flavor -I use plain)

• Warm cream cheese in microwave.
• Mix in other ingredients, cold.
• Place a small amount on Crepe, then top as usual.

This feeds my family... 2 adults and 2 kid's. If I am serving even one more person I make a double batch of each - the Crepes and Cheese filling.

Freezing instructions:

Cook Crepe, place on a paper towel and lay flat in freezer for at least 5 min. and longer if you have more than 4 crepes ready to be frozen at the same time (be sure to place a paper towel between each or they will stick together). Once they are cooled, place in a 1 gallon freezer bag. Re-heat in pan 2-3 min.

Fresh is always better, but frozen is faster!

Enjoy Elsie's FAVORITE meal... she would eat this moring, noon, and night.

Stromboli or whatever you want to call it

I came across a yummy way to make Stromboli. OK first I think of Stromboli as some sort of hot flaky rolled up sandwich. Here is what I do. I make or buy a pie crust, usually two 9 inch circles of dough. sprinkle the dough with Parmesan cheese layer ham, pepperoni, and than cheese. ( I always buy my pepperoni from the deli so I ca get thin sliced like lunch meat.) Sprinkle more Parmesan cheese on top. When layering leave about 1 inch around the edge of the dough. Now roll the dough like you would a jellyroll. Than fold both ends under. Lay on cookie sheet folds down to ensure it will not leak, bake a 350 about 20 min. Slice and eat with a salad. That is how Aaron loves it. I really like it with cut up chicken, spinach leaves, macadamia nuts, and cheese. You can put anything you want in the middle. I think that with the flaky pie crust it is Delicious. Let me know what else you think might be yummy inside.

Scrumptious Homemade Pizza

My family LOVES Pizza!! It costs so much money to order it out once a week, so we decided to start making it on our own once a week. Seriously, only like $5 for a large pizza. Plus, since I've been trying to count calories everyday and lose weight, it became a healthy alternative for me to be in control of what goes on the pizza.

All you do is buy one of the tubes of pizza dough in the refridgerated/buscuit isle, role it out to the size and crust-thickness desired, put some spaghetti sauce on it, a light layer of italian shredded cheese, all the toppings your heart desires, then the rest of the cheese, in a 425 degree oven for 13-15 minutes, and whalaa---A picture perfect pizza!!

I always buy the pre-shredded 2 cup package of itallian cheese and use the whole package. Yes, we love cheese!! We love combination pizza with pepperoni, olives, mushrooms, bell pepper, onions and pineapple, but our second love is hawaiin-style with ham and pineapple. I buy the little cans of sliced olives and mushrooms, and I try to incorporate the left-overs into another meal during the week so they don't go to waste--Like making spaghetti with the left-over sauce, olives and mushrooms.

And to top it all off, a serving size is one-sixth of the pizza, which is a HUGE portion. I usually cut the pizza in six slices then each slice again in half-once, so I get to eat two pieces. You are not going to believe this ladies, but it is only 450 calories. I know this because I calculated it all out. One slice alone from dominos or little cesaers is that amount of calories. Plus, we always have left-overs for lunch the next day. Last but not least, as an added bonus of making your own pizza, we haven't experienced the undesired heartburn from the pepperonni, like from the retailers.

My mistake

All right it is official I am a little retarded I spelled tummy with three m's oh well I guess. At least it was not taken with three m's hahahaha. I don't feel like changing it all right now so it gets left that way.