Just what the doctor ordered: potato-leek soup

So, I’ve been sick since New Years Day though I finally seem to be on the mend. The problem is that when I’m sick, we tend to eat horribly and rely on takeout a lot. This probably isn’t helpful to the recovery process as takeout isn’t exactly the most nutritious food out there

So I mustered up some strength and tore apart the fridge, taking my cutting board and veggies into the living room to chop and prepare while sitting down as much as I could. (Standing for long periods of time just won’t do when you are lightheaded.)

Luckily, there were lots of veggies to choose from including leeks, which is something new to this household. I’ve wanted to try them out for a while and just thought to pick them up with the last grocery run. And when you’re ill, what’s the first thing you generally want to eat other than toast or crackers? Soup!

Now, I haven’t had any stomach problems with this illness, so I didn’t need it to be broth-based, so here’s what I did…

Low-carb adventures: chicken patty w/light Caesar salad

Recently, I’ve been trying to cut back here or there on my carbs. Due to my mother’s diabetes and my obesity (and therefore being in the danger zone), I figured it was a good move to make. So I’ve been browsing the diabetes-friendly recipes online and found this really interesting one: Chicken Caesar Burger at Taste of Home.

The idea intrigued me but I didn’t want the big white hamburger bun. I had bought some whole wheat English muffins, but I got to re-thinking that idea. I thought, Why do I need a bun?? So I considered deconstructing the recipe ever so slightly and presenting the patty next to a Caesar salad.

So, that’s what I did and boy, am I full! They were very filling and very satisfying. I was full after one patty and my salad. I only made a slight change to the patty recipe: I didn’t add the second bit of parmesan cheese to the top of  the patty and I didn’t have fresh garlic, so I used a teaspoon of garlic powder.

The recipe itself was extremely easy to follow. Everything for the burger goes into one bowl to be mixed, while the salad stuff is mixed in another. Grill these up on your indoor grill and within 6-8 minutes, they’re done (just make sure that the internal temp is at least 160F). I think the whole process took no more than 15 minutes to throw it together and cook. While the patties cook, make the salad. And the patties are very large, being 1/4 pound a piece.

The salad was about 2 cups of romaine lettuce, 3 slices of ready-made bacon (chopped and quickly cooked up in a non-stick pan), the parmesan I didn’t put on the burgers and some Renee’s fat free Caesar salad dressing.

Delicious! Even hubby agrees! I’d recommend this to anyone.

Nutritional Info

Serving: 1 patty

Cal: 298
Carbs: 4g
Fat: 12g
Sodium: 717mg
Sugars: 2g

Savory muffins: cheese, onion & bacon muffins

Sometimes you want something small to eat. Sometimes you want something bread-based. And sometimes you want a muffin, but you want something savoury at the same time.

Why not make savoury muffins? 🙂

I’ll warn that the dough seems dry when you make them. It’s up to you whether or not you add more liquid, but I kind of like how they turn out as-is. (These are based off an old recipe I found a few years back, but I don’t recall the source. I apologize if this looks familiar to someone else’s! I did, however, make adjustments based on my own tastes.) This makes 12 muffins.

How I saved my overcooked chicken

So last night, I knew I had several boneless, skinless chicken breasts which needed to be cooked up but I rapidly found myself running out of evening to cook them in. I thought I’d be clever and throw them into the crockpot with some honey-garlic sauce (VH), onions and a can of pineapple, let it on low and wake up in the morning to fantastic chicken.

Boy, was I wrong. Boneless, skinless chicken breasts are not good for the crockpot, because they dry out very easily, despite being drenched in liquid. I didn’t realize this.

Hubby said he’d eat it, but I told him to leave it alone, let me think about it and I’d see if I could salvage it and make it more palatable. I had a few ideas after searching through my cupboards. Here’s how I saved my chicken…

No eggs? Have leftovers for breakfast!

I woke up this morning and realized I had a problem: I had no eggs. I had planned on trying to make Eggs in a Basket for the first time for myself today, as I only have myself to look after in the way of meals today. (Hubby’s not an egg fan and isn’t fond of the smell of them cooking, so I could have experimented today.)

Well, I lie; I had eggs. But they apparently expired last week and I had no idea. Bummer!

Cereal wasn’t sounding too appealing. Neither was toast. Ooh, French Toast–err, wait, that needs eggs. Hm. Pancakes? I have a vegan recipe I could have used, but it just wasn’t what I was craving. Waffles? I wasn’t craving the super sticky sweetness of waffles and syrup this morning.

So I opened the fridge to see what I had: part of an opened package of bacon that needs to be used, a leftover baked potato which needed to be eaten before it went bad, some grated parmesan cheese, some clementines… even my tomato was just starting to turn. Slim pickings. But then I had a revelation. Here’s what I did:

Kelly’s Extra Cheesy-Cheesy Noodles

When I left for work this morning, it was a rather nice start to the day: cool, yet a little sunny.  When I left this afternoon, it was snowing and blowing again. I generally like the snow, but it made me really crave comfort food. What says comfort food to me? Mac ‘n’ cheese!

I’m horrible when I make mine because I tend to overload it with cheese. It’s very filling (I’m lucky if I get through one serving), very fattening, but oh-so comforting. I’m going to share my recipe with you, but be sure to tailor this to your own tastes. Not everyone will like it so loaded down with so much cheese. And I recommend starting with a half portion if you’re going to stick to my recipe, then serve some veggies or a nice, refreshing salad with it — that is, unless you’re a huge cheese-lover like me!

Pasta with a “quick” bolognese sauce & homemade garlic toast

I needed a break from all the Alfredo sauce I’ve had of late, as well as all the chicken! So tonight, I whipped up an old standby and a new dish for me.

Old standby: Pasta with a “quick” bolognese sauce.

New item: Homemade garlic-onion toast.

The garlic-onion toast was more out of necessity than anything: I had a French loaf that was going to go moldy if I didn’t make use of it tonight. So I cut it in half, slapped half of it in the freezer, then slathered this one with the fixin’s and broiled it. Here’s what I did for both…