Day4

Breakfast: zucchini hash browns (recipe coming as soon as I perfect them)

Lunch: squash sliced thinly to act as noodles (sautéed) with one large tomato I put through my new food processor with oregano, basil, garlic, pepper , and red pepper flakes . Sprinkled with Parmesan.

Dinner: 1 slice of sausage pie, and a side salad.

Plus taste tests of waffles and waffle batter lol

I pretty much ate veggies all day so that I could have a slice of sausage pie for dinner. :) Not complaining!

For my sausage pie recipe click here! 

Breaded Pork Chops. Dinner to Lunch

Breaded pork chops with stuffing, corn, and green beans.

First, let me explain... a little thing about Travis, that I've probably explained before. Travis is super picky, I'm pretty sure that might be where Liam gets it from. The WHOLE time we lived in Montana we NEVER ate pork chops because he said he didn't like them, because he didn't like the way his mom use to make them. WHAT??? Yeah. So, fast forward a few years Travis and I are both back in SC in the middle of remodeling our house so staying between parents. I'm at my dad's house making dinner for everyone and I make BBQ pork chops. Then, I remember Travis doesn't like pork chops. Then, I think to myself..oh well if he doesn't eat them he will starve. Travis eyeballs them and I can tell he's like ewww but he won't say anything in front of my parents. We sit down and eat, and what do you know? Travis loves them. We've moved up since then to breaded pork chops. I try not to fry much these does so when I bread them, I bake them.

Another husband funny, he doesn't eat veggies. The past week and a half I've been cooking for just us..so I make our food and then I make a veggie on the side for myself. The other night I made some mini meatball subs for us with french fries for Travis and carrot fries for myself. He eyeballed my carrots and asked if he could try one and guess what...he LIKES them. The same thing happened the other night when I sauteed some summer squash, he asked if he could try them, liked them, and wouldn't get off my plate. Haha. SOO, yes! Wife win!

Breaded Pork Chops
6 pork chops
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon seasoning salt
2 eggs, beaten
¼ cup all-purpose flour
2 cups Italian-style seasoned bread crumbs
4 Tablespoons olive oil

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Rinse pork chops, pat dry, and season with garlic powder and seasoning salt to taste. Place the beaten eggs in a small bowl. Dredge the pork chops lightly in flour, dip in the egg, and coat liberally with bread crumbs. Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Fry the pork chops 5 minutes per side, or until the breading appears well browned. Transfer the chops to a 9x13 inch baking dish, and cover with foil. Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour.

And in good two-fer fashion this is how I turned leftovers in to a delicious salad for lunch. :) 

I tried to change the title on this after I realized that it is *sorta* fried...I'm going to let it go since its with olive oil. LOL

For the salad I did:
1 Cup Spinach
1 Cup Romaine
1/4 Cup Corn
1 Red Onion Slice
2 Slices Chopped Tomatoes 
1/4 Cup Reduced Fat or 2% Shredded Cheese

Any Dressing of your choice works, a light ranch is nice here though.

Squash Nuggets!

I attempted making squash in chicken nugget form the other day, it actually worked well but it didn’t fool Blake in to thinking it was chicken nuggets. Haha! But he still liked it. We’re already getting squash and potatoes out of Travis’s grandpa’s garden which is exciting because I LOVE summer squash. You’ll be seeing a lot of recipes with squash in them this summer.   These are made with simple ingredients you have in your fridge, it is quick and easy for lunch time!

 

Squash Nuggets

2 yellow summer squash, chopped in to thick diced pieces

1 cup bread crumbs

1 egg

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

½ tsp paprika

Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:  Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Spray cooking spray on baking sheet. Chop your squash.  Beat an egg in to a small bowl and mix together bread crumbs and seasoning on a plate.  Dip your squash in to the beaten egg and then coat in the bread crumb mixture.  Arrange on baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes, flip then bake another 10 minutes. Serve with ketchup or honey mustard! 

Also thanks Ma for the random vegetable shaped dishes. :) They shall be very cute with my future posts.

Happy Wednesday!

A Southern Favorite: Hushpuppies

In South Carolina you can get hush puppies as a side practically anywhere. However, they go incredibly great with BBQ and seafood. I like to make hush puppies and salmon patties at home. To me that pairing goes nicely together. :) I make them two different ways depending on my dietary needs at the moment. Regardless though, this isn't exactly a low calorie diet friendly treat anyways. I favorite is obviously when I fry it in the oven, you get the little crispy ends from dropping it in to the hot oil and its just delicious. Then, making them in the cake pop/ doughnut hole maker is slightly healthier because it isn't fried. The recipe is the same for both ways except frying them requires oil.

Fried Hushpuppies

Hushpuppies Recipe: 
Ingredients: 
1cup flour 
1 box Jiffy cornbread mix 
1/2 teaspoon sugar 
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk 
1 small sweet yellow onion or 1-2 green onions OR 1/2 yellow onion and 1 stalk green onion (I like to mix it up a bit sometimes =) ) 

Steps: Chop your onions. Mix together ingredients. Let mixture stand about 10 minutes. Drop batter 1 tablespoon at a time in to a deep fry or pot of oil.  

Hushpuppies in a Cake Pop Maker 

 Steps: The directions are similar to frying except with out the oil. Heat your cake pop maker and then add about 1 tablespoon of the mixture in to the holes provided. 

The Cake Pop and Doughnut maker I have is RIGHT HERE for $19.99 at Target, except mine is red! :) I like to think of different uses for my funky machines like this.  

Also, PS: Liam LOVES hushpuppies he practically fought Blake for the leftovers, it was HILARIOUS.  

Nom.

Happy for leftovers that we dipped in honey mustard.

 

Potatoes!!!!!!!!!!

Monterey Potatoes

4 large russet potatoes, cut in sliced

Monterey Jack cheese, shredded, 1 ½ cups

2 tablespoons chives

4 slices of bacon, crumbled

Garlic salt

Garlic powder

Onion powder

Ground black pepper

Olive oil cooking spray

Directions: Slice your potatoes and layer them in a large glass baking dish, sprinkle with garlic powder, chives, garlic salt, onion powder, and pepper. Then, cover with tin foil and bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft. When you take it out of the oven add the cheese, and bacon. Place the potatoes back in to the oven until the cheese is melted.

DONE!

My husband has a thing for french fries. Its much cheaper to just make them at home than to keep buying the frozen kind.

Roasted Potato Wedges

2 large russet Idaho potatoes

1 tsp Garlic powder

1 tsp Onion powder

¼ tsp Black pepper

Lawry seasoned salt

1 tablespoon olive oil

Cooking spray

Directions: Slice your potatoes in half, lengthwise. Then cut small slices off of the halves lengthwise. Add all the ingredients in to a bowl a mix well. Add to a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray, bake for 30 minutes at 375, turning the fries over with a spatula after 15 minutes. 

 

I'm kind of addicted to these right now! YUMsss!

 Cajun Fries

2 medium russet potatoes

2 tsp olive oil

1 tsp garlic powder

½ tsp paprika

½ tsp Lawry’s seasoned salt

1 ½ tsp Cajun seasoning

Olive Oil Cooking Spray

Direction: Make 4-5 slices lengthwise on each potato, and then make 4-5 slices on each slice. (I know that sounds kind of confusing.)Toss all the ingredients in a bowl then lay them out evenly on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, turn the fries over then bake for another 15 minutes.