Deluxe Cheeseburger Melt

This was a quick and easy meal that I threw together for supper the other night! It reminded me of a healthier version of shepard's pie - minus the yummy potatoes! :) I added the whole bag of vegetables - why stop at 1 cup if you are going to go healthy?? Plus I hate when there is just a tiny bit left, but that's just me! :)



Deluxe Cheeseburger Melt
(recipe found at www.bettycrocker.com)

1 1/3 cups bisquick
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup fat free egg product or 4 egg whites
1 1/2 cups shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese
1 pound extra lean ground beef
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) condensed fat free cream of mushroom soup
1 cup green giant valley fresh steamers frozen mixed vegetables

Heat oven to 400. Spray a 13x9" pan with cooking spray. In medium bowl, stir together bisquick mix, water, egg product and 1 cup of cheese; spread in pan. In 10" skillet, cook beef over medium high heat until browned, stirring occasionally. Stir in soup and vegetables; heat until hot. Spread over batter in pan. Bake 25 minutes or until edges of light golden brown. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese. Bake until cheese is melted.

Roasted Potatoes with Old Bay & Secret Recipe Club

It's that time again... the Secret Recipe Club is posting once again and I found another fun blog to take a glance at! You can check out more amazing recipes from Barb by clicking here. She's got some amazing oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookies that I can't wait to try some time!

For this post though I was looking through her blog right about the time I was planning on grilling up some burgers and having potatoes as a side... These fit perfectly with that plan! I also have a couple of containers of Old Bay (whoops, who didn't look in the spice cabinet before she bought?) in my cupboard that need using up... Such a simple recipe and super good too! :) They didn't go over well with Beau, but what potato does? As for the rest of us, we inhaled them quickly, leaving just a few leftover for Josh to take for lunch!



Roasted Potatoes with Old Bay
(recipe found at www.sfomomfridge.blogspot.com)

6 russet or yukon gold potatoes, unpeeled, sliced about 1/4" thick
2 tablespoons old bay seasoning
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 400. Cover a heavy baking sheet with foil. Brush with olive oil. (I just used my olive oil cooking spray...) Toss potatoes, seasonings and 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large bowl. Pour out onto prepared pan and spread so that they are in a single layer. Bake for 25 minutes at 400. Turn potatoes over and bake another 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Weekly Line Up - 7/16-7/22

A little too mych wandering last week so a lot of my last week's menu is sliding through to this week! :) That's what summer is for though... This week promises to be more of the same, so I am keeping it simple this time! :)

Friday - Camping
Saturday - Camping
Sunday - Sandwiches
Monday - Cereal
Tuesday - Rigatoni with bacon and asparagus
Wednesday - Tacos
Thursday - *Crunchy Onion Barbecue Chicken

Extras:
* Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

* New Recipes

Sugar and Spice Popcorn

I LOVE popcorn - it is one of my favorite healthier snacks... The hubs and I have a stir crazy popcorn popper that we got for our wedding and it is usually sitting out on our cupboard, that how often we have popcorn! I found this recipe and I had to try it - kettle korn is another favorite of mine. There is just something about the sweet and salty together, yummm!

So, this was a new spin on popcorn that we tried while we were playing cards the other night. Not the healthiest version, but worth a try. Truthfully - not my favorite. It had a good taste to it, but I wasn't so wowed by it that I need to go through the effort of it all the time. Try it, decide for yourself - it just might be your new favorite way to eat popcorn!

Sugar and Spice Popcorn
(recipe found at www.creative-culinary.com)

8 cups popped popcorn
1/3 cup butter
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Put popped popcorn into a large bowl with enough room to mix ingredients. Melt butter and add sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Drizzle over popcorn and toss until well coated.

Chicken Bacon Alfredo Pizza

This was one of the best pizza recipes that I have tried so far! It might be the fact that it doesn't use pizza sauce and I'm not a big fan of red sauces, but none the less - it was delish!! We had a picnic out in our front yard and we gobbled this down with a big pail of watermelon... what a great way to spend a summer day.



Chicken Bacon Alfredo Pizza

Pizza Dough Crust
4 1/2 cups flour
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon salt
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon yeast

Toppings
olive oil
garlic powder
1/2 jar alfredo sauce
1 pound cooked and chopped chicken
3/4 pound mozzarella cheese
sprinkled parmesan cheese
sprinkled cheddar cheese
crumbled bacon

Proof yeast in warm water. Combine all dough ingredients and mix until well blended. Knead until dough is smooth and elastic. Let rest and rise. Divide dough into 2 crusts and roll or spread out onto a pizza plate. Prick crust with fork. Brush crust with olive oil and sprinkle garlic powder over top. Spread 1/2 jar of alfredo sauce over dough. Sprinkle chicken, mozzarella, cheddar and parmesan cheeses over sauce. Top with bacon. Wrap and freeze at this point, if desired.

To serve: Let thaw completely. Bake in a well preheated oven at 475 for 8-25 minutes or until done.

Cajun Sweet Potato Fries with Yogurt Dipping Sauce

Have you tried the sweet potato fries at restaurants lately? They are super yummy and I feel like they are much healthier for you then regular french fries... I wanted to try these out at home and here is the first recipe that I found. Not my favorite, but they got eaten! :) They were a little spicy for the kids, so Josh and I got most of them. The sauce had too much of a yogurty taste to it when I first mixed it up, but then I popped it into the fridge while the fries were baking and it went beautifully with the fries...



Cajun Sweet Potato Fries with Yogurt Dipping Sauce
(recipe found at www.bettycrocker.com)

Fries
3 large dark orange sweet potatoes (3 pounds), peeled
2 teaspoons cajun seasoning
1 teaspoon ground cumin

Sauce
2/3 cup fat free plain yogurt
1/4 cup chili sauce
1 teaspoon soy sauce

Heat oven to 425. Cut each potato crosswise into about 4" chunks, then cut lengthwise into 1/2x1/2" strips. In large resealable plastic bag, mix cajun seasoning and cumin. Add potatoes; toss until evenly coated. In ungreased 10x15 pan, arrange in single layer.

Bake 35-40 minutes, turning once, until potatoes are lightly browned and tender. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix all sauce ingredients. Serve sauce with fries.

Classic Cashew Beef

I love chinese! It's easy to make up at home, if you don't count all the chopping that is usually involved! :) I found this recipe and it sounded wonderful... It was all that I thought it would be and it didn't even require that much chopping!



Classic Cashew Beef
(recipe found in Taste of Home)

4 teaspoons cornstarch
4 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon oyster sauce
1/4 teaspoon ginger
dash of cayenne pepper
1/2 cup cold water
1 pound beef top sirloin steak, cut into 1/2" pieces
2 tablespoons canola oil, divided
8 green onions, cut into 1" lengths
2/3 cup lightly salted cashews
hot cooked rice

In a small bowl, combine the first seven ingredients and whisk until smooth; set aside. (I didn't have any oyster sauce, so I omitted this ingredient. I'm not a big fan of buying something that I only need a tiny bit of...)

In a large skillet or wok, stir fry beef in 1 tablespoon oil until no longer pink. Remove and keep warm. Stir fry onions, cashews and garlic in remaining oil for 1 minutes. Stir cornstarch mixture and add to the pan. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Add beef; heat through. Serve with rice.