Take A Load Off.....

A load of carbs off your daily diet that is.  I've really been watching my carbs & sugars the past month and trying to be better about substituting while cooking.  And you know how you feel weighted down after a huge pasta meal?  Yeah, you won't feel that way with a plate of veggie noodles that's for sure.

Tri-Blade Plastic Spiral Vegetable Slicer 

 Which led me to purchase this handy, dandy machine.....may I present the Spiralizer! There are lots of different models & types out there but I read reviews diligently and this one seemed to suit me best. I liked the different blades, ease of use and easy clean up.  You can use it for fruits AND veggies...so mix it up and try new things I say :)

Which led to me getting it, washing it & putting it right to use because I was super excited! 

(it doesn't take much folks, trust me)

I decided to use zucchini & yellow squash to make spaghetti noodles first. I snapped in the right blade, cut the ends off of my veggies and spiraled away...its pretty fun to twirl that handle. Reminded me of the Play-Doh Hair Salon I had as a kid hahaha!  The spiralizer has suction cups on each leg to keep it in place while you are twirling away...don't get too excited now..hehehe. AND keep the skins on for extra source of fiber too (after you've washed them all really well).

And I ended up with a blow of these yummy veggie noodles.  I used 1 each of the zucchini & yellow squash to make enough for two servings (my veggies were med sized).

Cook or Raw?

Now you can eat them raw if you like or to soften them a bit you can cook them up quickly.

I put a TBS of Olive Oil in my pan along with 2 diced cloves of garlic and sauteed them for about 2-3 minutes.  Easy peasy.  (I also drained them on paper towels because I wanted less oil on them)

Don't have a Spiralizer or don't want to buy one? 

 Use a julienne slicer or peeler and make long, thin strips instead...it may take a bit longer but results will be similar.

I also had some homemade marinara meat sauce simmering and ready on the stove.  Mine has onions, mushrooms & ground turkey in it...yummmm!

And direct from a Healthy Eating Website here is the low-down on zucchini spaghetti:

Each medium zucchini provides 33 calories, 6.1 grams of total carbohydrates and 2.0 grams of fiber, which works out to only 4.1 grams of net carbs.

A typical plate of spaghetti can easily provides 100 to 150 grams of carbohydrate, and that is before you even consider the garlic bread and soft drink that might go with it. Most low-carb diet plans recommend limiting your daily carb intake to fewer than 100 grams a day.

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How is that for a comparison huh?  I think this girl will be sticking to her veggie noodles and feel much better after enjoying it too!

And all these pics were with my iPhone..sorry..I didn't realize that BOTH my 

camera's batteries were dead until I of course needed them lol!

And that turned into a yummilicious dinner...I swear it was so good I could've eaten 2 bowls.  The veggie noodles were softer and took on the flavor of the sauce...you'd never know if you weren't told what they were.  Definitely a winner!  I served it up with a field greens salad & balsamic dressing..nummers.

I will be using this Spiralizer a lot me thinks!

I also pinned quite a few recipes using a Spiralizer on my LOSE WEIGHT RECIPES board on Pinterest if you are interested.
Oh and there is a blog dedicated to only Spiralizer recipes..check it out too!

Italiano!

I love me some Italian food and I married an Italian guy because of it too!

WAIT!!!!  

WHAT??

No I'm just kidding...my hubby IS half Italian but I didn't marry him because he was.  

The man can barely cook, I mean c'mon LOL!

But we all enjoy some good Italian food in our house that's for sure.

And its always best when made from scratch!

I thought I'd share my simple & quick Chicken Parmesan with Roasted Tomato Sauce

with you all today!  And pretty healthy as well (well minus the cheese lol) but other than that its fairly Paleo friendly too!

One of my favorite ways to cook up a good hearty tomato sauce is by roasting some tomatoes (I like to use a mix of cherry and larger tomatoes) with some garlic, salt & pepper, olive oil, balsamic, brown sugar and a bit of hot red peppers to give it a good kick.  

After they've roasted up, put them in a blender and puree into your sauce.

{recipes are below}

I like to buy the thinner chicken breasts for my Chicken Parmesan.  They cook up faster and you don't have to waste time beating them down...course if you need to expel some bad juju then go right ahead and bang those chicken breasts into thinner pieces LOL!  I cook mine up in a skillet with olive oil and fresh herbs when I can to get a head start on the cooking. Then I layer everything into my baking pan, top with sauce & cheese and store it in the fridge until I'm ready to cook it up for dinner.  Easy to make ahead and tastes soooo good!

Roasted Tomato Sauce

1 - 1.5 lbs of tomatoes 

1/4 cup of Balsamic Vinegar

1 TBS brown sugar

1/2 cup of Olive Oil

3-4 cloves of Garlic Smashed

A few snips of fresh Thyme, Basil & Parsley

(use dried herbs if you have no fresh on hand)

Salt & Pepper

Red Pepper Flakes for kick

Mix up all the ingredients in a small bowl except for the tomatoes.  Place tomatoes in a glass or stone pan (not metal) and drizzle mixture on top. Roast at 350 degrees for about 1 hour.  Once roasted pour the tomatoes and sauce into your blender and puree.  Add salt/pepper to taste as needed.

Chicken Parmesan

4-8 Chicken Breasts (thin cuts)

1/4 cup Olive Oil

Salt/Pepper

Italian Seasoning

Shredded Parmesan Cheese

Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Mix in a small bowl Olive Oil and seasonings and dip chicken breasts in mixture.

Heat skillet and brown each side of chicken quickly, no more than 1-2 mins on each side.

Then place chicken breasts in a greased baking dish, pour roasted tomato sauce on top, and cover with shredded cheeses.  Cover with foil and cook at 400 degs for 15 mins, then remove foil and cook last 5 mins to melt cheeses well.

Bon Appetit!

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*****

WINNER of the Parking Tix
(sorry I'm behind on this)

Kim of "My Pink Tiara" 
has won a pack of my parking tickets LOL!
Email me at sjdean@smartneighborhood.net with your mailing address so I
can ship them out ASAP to you!

And if you would like your very own parking tickets...Amazon has them right here below!
Citation those idiots away I say ;)

Sloppy Style!

Hi all!  Hope you had a lovely weekend!  Its raining in VA today and we have needed it badly. We've barely had ANY rain in the past 3 months.  But the temps went from the 90's to the 50's and I'm NOT digging that at all.  Especially since I have to man ticket taking duties at the high school for 2 hours for the freshman football game...then sit in bleachers for son's JV game at 7:30 pm.  Gonna be a cold, chilly night...boots and sweater weather!

Thought I'd share one of my fave recipes with y'all today.  Nothing hard, nothing earth shattering...just something my mom always made for us growing up that I continue to make.  Especially good for cooler weather and so easy to make ahead..I'm all about dinner prep that I can do ahead and then easily heat up when we get home after games or practices.  

Pizza Style Sloppy Joes...mmmmm so good..and sooooo easy to make!

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Ingredients:

-1 to 1.5 lbs of ground beef, turkey or chicken

-1 small onion or 1/2 large onion diced

-2-4 cloves of garlic minced

-olive oil

-1 jar of pizza sauce (I use the Ragu below) or use homemade

-1 pkg shredded Mozzarella or Pizza cheese

-salt/pepper

-red pepper flakes if you like some heat

-hamburger rolls

Cook onion and garlic till softened in olive oil.  Add ground meat to pan and brown.

Drain oil/liquid from pan.  Add pizza sauce and cook for 10 mins more stirring well.

Turn oven on BROIL. Line a 9x13 pan with foil and add buns, load them up with meat sauce and top

with cheese..keep buns open while broiling.  Broil them for 2-5 mins until cheese bubbles and buns brown..watch carefully as you don't want charred buns.  EAT & ENJOY!

*****

Depending on how much ground beef you cook up will help you figure out how much onion to cut.

I cook between one and one-half pounds of ground beef for my recipe..its enough for 6-8 sloppy joes depending how much you load the buns up.  So a small onion or half of a large onion gets chopped up and put in with some extra-virgin olive oil and minced garlic (2-4 cloves).

Once onions and garlic are softened and cooked a bit (mmm love that smell) add your ground beef to the mixture.  And yes you could do this with ground turkey/chicken easily as well.  Cook beef until its cooked thru and browned.

Then you need to drain it...yup drain all that grease and liquid out of there so the mixture isn't runny.

My gram got me this gadget eons ago when I was first married...love it.  I think you can find them in Walmart/Target for around $2...it has little ledges on it that hold it to the pan when you are draining. Then you hold pan over sink or bowl and drain all that grease/liquid out easily.  I drain my grease into a cup so not to overwhelm the sink/septic...I'm a good girl...I do as told by the sink people ;)

Ta-Da!  The secret ingredient!

Ragu Pizza Sauce...in traditional or homemade..either works.

You can make your own sauce too..I do that on occasion but when I'm rushed for time during the week...cracking the ole' jar open is sometimes VERY worth it...and it tastes good.  

Add enough in so all the meat is covered nicely but you don't have a liquidy mess.

I use about 3/4th of the bottle of sauce most times.  Mix it in good, turn up heat for 10 minutes and stir well.  Add any spices at this time too...I add some salt/pepper and some red pepper flakes for a bit of heat.  At this point once cooked you can serve it right away or pack it up for later.

Put your oven on BROIL now.

Next line a large 9x13 pan with foil...add your buns (I like potato rolls because they have enough bread/thickness to them that they don't get soggy and fall apart)...top with meat mixture..and then your cheese.  I use mozzarella on my sloppy joes...but you could use whatever your heart desires!  Keep the buns OPEN when they go in oven...ya hear?  Broil until cheese bubbles and buns start to turn brown...this doesn't take long so keep a close eye on them.

They come out of the oven all warm and gooey...omgoodness yum-yums for your tum-tums I tell ya!

My boys, Riley & hubby usually eat 2 or 3 of these bad boys at a time!

And there ya go...super yummy...easy to make!  Your family will thank you!

I serve mine up with roasted potatoes or sweet potato fries and a salad most times.

Enjoy!
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Mama Mia!

Calzones Mama Suzanne Style!!

I love Italian food....and Asian food...and Mexican food...sighhhhhh

I just love good food!!

I sometimes think I was an Italian mama in my "other" life.

Pizza, spaghetti, ravioli, bruschetta, calzones...its all good right?

I've had lots of calzones at restaurants but I must admit I like mine best.

Why?

Well because I can add what I want to them and so can YOU!!
And you can make them cheaper...score!

Start with some pizza dough all rolled out into a nice sized triangle.

Don't roll too thin, you need a thick crust to surround all those yummies inside.

Then cut (with a pizza cutter or knife) into four even triangles like above.

Then add some of your favorite pizza sauce to the center of each triangle.
Not too much, just enough...you don't want soggy calzones remember?

I made my own pizza sauce with tomatoes from my garden...mmm it was divine.
(more on that soon)
However Ragu Traditional Style Pizza Sauce in a jar is pretty good too :)
Just sayin'....

Then add nice scoops of ricotta cheese to each triangle...use reduced fat if you like.
I happen to love lots of ricotta so I add a lot...you might want to add less...
its Calzones YOUR style remember!

Then sprinkle that cheesy goodness in the form of mozzerella and parmesan
all over that scoop of ricotta.

I add another lil' scoop of pizza sauce on top of my cheese mixture just because...
but its not required.  Just a "Suzanne" style add on!

Then wrap those babies up like a baby's diaper/nappy nice & tight :)
Fold one side all the way over and tuck, then the next side...then finish up with the middle
triangle point and wrap over center and tuck well.  Pinch any open areas closed.

Then you are gonna melt some butter and baste the butter on the top of each
calzone.  Finish them off with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.

Look at that wrapped up gift of goodness you've made...mmmmmmmm!
Nothin' says LOVIN' like yummies from the OVEN :)

Cook at 375 degs for 22 mins or more...
Cook until its nicely browned, insides are gooey & melted...dish up some extra sauce (warmed of course) and TA-DA!!  Dinner is done and finished and GOOD!! mmmmmm
Most calzones cost from anywhere $6-14 each at restaurants....these cost on average $3 each...yeah
BIG SAVINGS!

NOTES:
**make them ahead of time and cover and put in fridge for a bit if you need to
**add other ingredients inside like carmelized onions, mushrooms, pepperoni, etc...the sky's the limit for how you can make these.
*This is just how I made them this time, as I like just cheese in mine with an occasional onion & mushroom added now and again!