Blog-Slacker!

I am not going to say, "oh I have been so busy", because like a friend reminded my Faith and Friendship group, "We have the same number of hours in a day as Mother Theresa had". (I was especially productive after that meeting.)

My issue in the New Year is that I only have a certain amount of computer time and I have been getting our budget in order, working on taxes and reading other blogs that motivate me re: my budget and good eating.

On that note, I will share 3 items that I recently have started eating that are SOOO good - I wonder where they have been all my life.

My friend C. in Omaha shared the first recipe with me in the middle of the summer, but I didn't start making it regularly until recently. Now I make it most days and eat it with apples or bananas. YUM. My friend C, even freezes a bit on banana rounds, but I just eat it at room temp......Mix 1/3 cup plain non-fat yogurt with 1 tablespoon of nut-butter (I use almond butter or peanut butter.) It makes a plain apple into a wonderful treat. I dip the apples, but do make a plate of banana rounds and add a dollop to each.

My friend K from Omaha brought the next recipe to my house when she visited in November. It is a fantastic way to eat low fat dairy + a ton of veggies.....
Mix:
1/2 C cottage cheese (I use 1%)
1/4 C nonfat plain yogurt
1 T light mayo
1 T of feta or a triangle of Laughing cow cheese for flavor
cut up cauliflower and broccoli and/or spinach
seasonings (garlic for sure and Italian or Mexican seasonings are great)
mix together and eat with crackers or veggies if you are really inspired - I prefer crackers :)

My kids love this dip, and they are not big cauliflower fans. It hides in the cheese and adds a great crunch. My friend K added bacon, which they really loved too. I don't make bacon much, but we had some bacon bits (yuck) that they added once to their portion. I even put a small bowl of this in their lunches sometimes.

The last recipe came from Dr. Oz, in a magazine my mother-in-law gave me after she had read. (Probably Woman's Day).

It is called Roasted Indian Pumpkin Soup...but I used canned pumpkin and just roasted all the other veggies.
1 can broth (Dr. O called for vegetarian broth, but I had chicken broth)
1 can pumpkin (after growing my own pumpkins one summer, I decided they are A LOT of work and prefer canned) I could see myself roasting butternut squash for this recipe.
1/2 C milk (Dr. O called for coconut milk, but I used skim the first time and almond milk the second time since I didn't have coconut milk)
1 T honey

at 425 degrees for 30 minutes, roast 1 apple (peeled and cut into chunks), 2 carrots, 1 onion, that have been coated (I use my Pampered Chef sprayer) with olive oil and turmeric, cardamom, curry and garlic powder (or fresh garlic) (if you don't like Indian spices, just sprinkle on what you do like)
I added cabbage the 2nd time I made this soup and although it tasted good, I don't recommend it unless you are going to spend the rest of the day alone...enough said!

Grind up the roasted veggies and then mix with your pumpkin/broth/milk.
I love it as a tasty way to eat more veggies.

A forth recipe I made recently just takes 1 can pumpkin and 1 chocolate cake mix. (I was given this recipe by a woman at Walmart after I picked up a can of pumpkin. She told me her grandkids loved them - my kids did too.) Mix your two ingredients and put into 48 mini muffin tins, if you are blessed to have so many, otherwise you can make bigger muffins. Bake at the temp per the recipe on the cake box. They are so tasty - sort of fudgie! I actually had to freeze 1/2 to keep from eating them too quickly - all things in moderation!

Have a great weekend.