My Pizza Obsession . . . OLE!

Using my Xpress Redi, Set, Go I made this scrumptious Mexican pizza.

First, I mashed a 1/2 cup of black beans and then spread the beans over a corn tortilla.

Next, I placed another tortilla on top and and covered that tortilla with 2.5 oz of ground turkey and 28 oz ounces of cheese.

After the pizza cooks for 5 minutes, remove from the RSG and top with lettuce and tomatoes.

Did someone say pizza?

Pizza...pizza...pizza...my kryptonite! I could eat pizza morning, noon , and night! On this particular day, I created a pizza for breakfast.

I started by preparing 2 egg whites in my Redi, Set, Go.


I toasted a Joseph's brand pita in the oven until crisped to my satisfaction.


Next I placed my egg on to the toasted pita.


For sauce I used HEB's salsa. I chose to spread the salsa on the egg rather than the pita. I figured the sauce would make the pita soggy.


I added Morning Start Vegetarian Italian Sausage and 1 serving of Kraft's Mexican 2% Cheese.


Ooops, I almost forgot to add my HEB pico de gallo! Lastly, I baked the pizza in the oven for about 8 minutes.


I removed the pizza from the oven and devoured it. I wanted to add bacon instead of the veggie Italian sausage, but I forgot to pick up some veggie bacon during my weekly grocery gathering excursion.

What's Popping?

...caramel corn that's what. My mom made some "waistline friendly" caramel corn.

Waistline Friendly Caramel Corn: serving size 1 cup

6 Caramel Squares
1/2 tsp Water
2 TBSP Corn Syrup
10 Cups Popcorn

1. Air pop 10 cups of popcorn. Or you can use the popper from Target pictured below.
2. Next, place the caramels, corn syrup and water in a microwaveable cup or dish.
3. Microwave for 40 seconds.
   
4. Stir.
5. Microwave for another 30 seconds until melted.
6. Place the popcorn in a glass or ceramic dish.
7. Carefully pour the HOT caramel mixture over the popcorn and stir to coat.
   
8. Spread the caramel coated popcorn on a cookie sheet and bake for 6 minutes at 350º.

What a perfect snack to take care of cravings for sweets!

Lean Green Eggs and Ham Cups...That Sam I Am

This recipe hails from the Abs edition of Oxygen magazine:

Preheat oven to 350° F. The green of the lean green eggs and ham cups...green onions.


This recipe serves 2. Whisk together 1 whole egg and 3 egg whites with a bunch of green onions. The recipe called for 1/3 chopped chives for a serving of 4. I chopped and chopped. I love green onions or onions period.




Next, spray a muffin tin with cooking spray. Then, take 97% fat free ham slices and mold them into a muffin tin. After molding the ham into the muffin tin, evenly divide your egg mixture amongst the ham cups.


Place in oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Top with cheese and bake for 5 more minutes.


Remove your cups from the muffin tin and voila...Lean Green Eggs and Ham Cups. Now you may experience a little seepage off the eggs into the muffin tin, but everything should just pop out of the tin.

I paired the ham cups with some leftover beans w/salsa and mixed fresh fruit.

What a JERK!

My Mom made some homemade jerk seasoning. The Recipe....COMING SOON!

MOM, send the recipe. Thanks.

Ballin on a Budget!

Ballin: To live the good life. (Used in a coherent, non-Ebonics sentence) "I'm still ballin!" To ball on a budget means to live the good life within my means...not tying to keep up with the Joneses or anyone else.

With my kids home for the summer, I find myself trying to prepare inexpensive meals that stretch. Even more of a challenge, creating inexpensive HEALTHY meals. We all know, healthy foods put a dent in the ole' pocketbook, so please share any money saving tips and dishes in your "meals on a dime" repertoire.

Displayed for your viewing pleasure, meals with components that stretch to create leftovers:

Grilled drumsticks go a long way, minus the skin of course: drumstick, 1/2 c brown rice with gravy, and 1/2 c frozen green peas.

Our friend the grilled drumstick making another appearance. Also pictured, homemade coleslaw that stretched for 2 days (coleslaw recipe: Eating for Life cookbook by Bill Phillips). Lunch: drumstick, 1/2 c coleslaw, and 3/4 c strawberries.


A bag of chicken breast produces a variety of meals. Take a look at my chicken quesadilla: 2 Mission Low Carb Whole Wheat Tortillas, 4 oz chicken breast, 28 oz Kraft 2% Mexican Cheese and of course pico from HEB.


A repeat performance by none other than: grilled chicken. I call this dish pictured below "Jambalaya."

Jambalaya

1. Boil brown rice in reduced sodium chicken broth.
2. While cooking rice, saute shrimp in onions and olive oil.
   
3. Add leftover chicken.
4. Add a can of Rotel or spicy diced tomatoes to the shrimp and chicken mixture.
5. After rice cooks, add to shrimp and chicken mixture.
6. Mix. Voila, Jambalaya!

Using the last of the chicken breast, I concocted a salad. Of course I made my own dressing.

After peeling shrimp for Jambalaya, I bagged the remaining shrimp and cooked "Shrimp Scampi" the next day using the recipe from Bill Phillips' cookbook, Eating for Life.



If you decide to use my pics, please site http://mesohongry.blogspot.com/ as your source. Honesty is the best policy.

Chick-Fil-Who?

Who needs Chick-Fil-A when you can create one of these?

Morning Star Veggie Chicken Patty (How do they make the patty taste like chicken...amazing?), 2 egg whites, Melissa's Soy Slices Jalapeno "cheese", and Nature's Own 100% Whole Wheat Hamburger Bun...

It just so happens, this week's Weight Watchers (WW) meeting topic focused on breakfast...the most important meal ot the day. My main intent for today's meeting...gain new and fresh ideas for breakfast meals. Well, new and fresh ideas were few and far in between. Everybody kept talking about different crap to pour into yogurt and cottage cheese. WTH? I swear about 5 people offered a variety of crunchy crap to compliment yougurt: crumble nature valley bars, plain uncooked 1 minute oatmeal, fiber one (you know, the cereal that resembles twigs or cat food), and so on, and so on, and yadda yadda yadda. ENOUGH!

I wanted to stand up and shout, "Does anyone eat real food for breakfast...huh? Well...do ya?" I cannot speak for anyone else, but I eats me some real food (intentional bad grammar). For anyone wanting NEW and FRESH breakfast ideas feel free to look at my post Fast Breakers.

Needless to say, I walked out of the WW meeting disappointed. The spell check went wonky on me so, some words may be mispelled.

Bun Busting Burgers!

Whooooo doggie...take a look at this burgah!



Grilled Turkey Breast Burgers (4 oz.), lettuce, tomatoes, grilled onions, Nature's Own %100 Whole Wheat Sugar Free Buns, and Melissa's Soy Slices Jalapeno Cheese.







Accompanying the burger, Alexia's All Natural Gourmet Olive Oil, Rosemary & Garlic Oven Fries. I also made coleslaw using the recipe from Eating For Life by Bill Phillips.

Fast Breakers!

My son asked the other day, "Why is breakfast called breakfast?" I replied, "Breakfast, breaks the fast. When you sleep at night your body fasts. When you wake up and eat, you break the fast." His reply, "O." My fast breakers from the last 3 days:

Friday: Mini omelet with sweet onions and tomatoes, cherries, 1 serving of hash browns and 2 slices veggie bacon...5.5 points

Saturday: Breakfast tacos containing 1 egg and 1 egg white, 1 serving of potatoes O'Brien hash browns, 1/8 c. cheese, and cherries...6.5 points.

Sunday: Oatmeal and bananas with a lil pat of ICBINB (I Can't Believe It's Not Butter)...4 points.

Get IN My Belly...! (GOOD)

What movie comes to mind when you read my post title? Since I have nothing but time these days...NO excuses for not cooking my meals. I present a small compilation of my edible creations. Enjoy...I did!

I usually start my morning with a Weight Watchers smoothie before my workout. This morning I chose Wild Berry. In addition, I added 1/2 a banana. The 1 point smoothie serves as 1 milk serving, 2 servings when mixed with milk. I mix my smoothie with water because I don't want to spend the remainder of the day on the toilet. Milk and I are frenemies.

My breakfast choices this week consisted of Cheerios (or as I like to say Chairy-os) and oatmeal.

This week I tried something different...peaches on my oatmeal. Yummy for my tummy!

For lunch I made a shrimp salad: 6 shrimp, cucumbers, tomatoes, green leaf lettuce, homemade pita chips, and self-made pita chip dip. Pita chip dip: 1 TBSP whipped cream cheese, and 2 TBSP roasted salsa from HEB. I created my own salad dressing by mixing random ingredients I found in the pantry: white cooking wine, EVOO, and apple cider vinegar.