Eggs and toast

I know, I know, you already know how to make toast and eggs. Of course you do. But, I like to have reminders on here of some easy and quick lunches if I'm ever struggling with some new ideas for meals.

The other day I was home and trying to figure out what to have for lunch. I saw a picture of eggs on toast and it sounded so yummy! I just cooked two eggs in a skillet with some cooking spray and ate that along with some leftover black beans from the night before. Serve it up with some apple slices and a glass of milk ... you've got yourself a fast, yummy lunch!

Tilapia with Rice

We had tilapia for dinner last night. You can buy a big bag of frozen tilapia at Sam's Club for about $13, and there are about 12 pieces individually wrapped inside so they don't get freezer burn! They're great.

Ingredients:

2 frozen tilapia fillets (thawed)
2 T butter
2 T lemon juice

Directions:

Warm the butter in a saute pan. Place thawed fillets in the pan and cook over medium heat for about 4 minutes on each side or until cooked through. Sprinkle 1/2 T lemon juice over each side of each fillet. Transfer fillets to plates, and put over cooked, brown rice.

We had this with salad and some yummy home-made bread. It was a great and filling dinner!

Peanut Butter Cup Pie!

Ingredients:

1 2/3 cups chocolate graham cracker crumbs
7 large T sugar, divided
2 large egg whites, slightly beaten
Cooking spray
1 1/4 cups skim milk
2/3 cup reduced-fat crunchy peanut butter
1/2 t vanilla
1/2 cup fat-free cream cheese, softened
1 container frozen fat-free cool whip

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Combine crumbs, 3 T sugar, and egg whites; toss with a fork until moist. Press into bottom and up sides of a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate coated with cooking spray.

3. Prick crust with a fork before baking. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Remove from oven; cool on a wire rack.

4. Combine milk and remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Cook 2 minutes or until sugar dissolves, stirring constantly; transfer mixture to a bowl. Add peanut butter and vanilla, stirring with a whisk until combined. Cover and chill 30 minutes.

5. Place cream cheese in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add milk mixture, beating on low speed until combined. Fold in whipped topping; pour mixture in to prepared pie crust. Freeze, uncovered, 8 hours or overnight until hard. Transfer pie to refrigerator 30 minutes before slicing.

***Lightly coat your hands with cooking spray to press the sticky crust into the pie plate. The filling might be thin after you mix it, but it will harden in the freezer.

***The 30 minutes in the fridge before slicing is perfect. It's still very cool and hard enough to eat like a pie, but doesn't taste "frozen".

Creamy Chicken Pasta

This is a standard in our home. Today was rainy and cold and seemed like the perfect meal for us after church.

Ingredients:
1 chicken breast (cooked and shredded)
1/4 cup green pepper (chopped)
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup sour cream
1/3 cup milk cooked pasta

Directions:
1. Cook the pasta according to directions.

2. While the pasta cooks, combine the chicken, green pepper and chopped onion in a skillet with a little water to combine the flavors. Season the chicken with salt and pepper.

3. Add the soup, sour cream and milk. Continue over med-low heat until simmering and all is combined to a creamy sauce.

4. Stir in the pasta.

5. You're done! Serve with a green salad. Yum. This served both of us with a nice, big serving. Plus leftovers for about 1-2 more servings.

Stuffed Green Peppers

This is a recipe that I just kind of ... created. So, the measurements are not exact, but as close as I can recall. If you have some good green peppers, this is a great use for them! We got some beautiful ones at the Farmer's Market and they worked great. They were VERY filling. I think half a pepper would do for one person.

Ingredients:

2 green bell peppers
1 cup (uncooked) brown rice
3/4 cup chunky salsa (I used a salsa with black beans and corn already in it)
1/2 can diced tomatoes
1/2 can refried beans (not quite half a can, a little less than that)
1/2 cup finely chopped green peppers
1 cup finely chopped cooked chicken
1 clove finely chopped garlic
1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese

Directions:

Cook the rice as directed. Set aside. Chop the chicken into tiny pieces and cook over low heat until no longer pink in the middle. (I always put a little bit of water in my pan so it stays moist...a trick learned from Mom.) Remove the chicken from heat. Add the rice, salsa, tomatoes, beans, chopped pepper and garlic. Put back over low heat until all heated through and chopped vegetables are crisp tender.

Cut the tops off of the green peppers. Stuff with the rice mixture. Place both stuffed peppers on one plate, cover with saran wrap. Microwave on high for 3 minutes or until peppers are soft and warm.

Remove saran wrap (don't forget that step, haha) and top with a sprinkle of cheddar cheese.

Zucchini Bread

This is really good bread, especially if you eat it when it's hot out of the oven!!!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup flour (I did half whole wheat)
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. nutmeg
1 cup sugar
1 cup zucchini
1/4 cup cooking oil
1 egg
1 t. shredded lemon peel
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional, but .... really, it makes it SOOO good!)

Directions:

1. Grease a 8x4x2.

2. Combine flour, cinnamon, soda, powder, salt and nutmeg.

3. Combine sugar, zucchini, oil, egg, and lemon.

4. Add flour mix to other, and stir until moist.

5. Put in pan and bake at 350 for 55-60 minutes. Toothpick will come out clean.

6. Cool 10 minutes. (16 servings for 1 loaf)

Pork chops with apples

This is really tasty and a nice, warm supper for the winter. The recipe is for four pork chops, but since it's just the two of us, I just halved everything and it worked great!

Ingredients:

2 T vegetable oil (I used EVOO)
1/2 cup chopped onion 4 (1/2 in. thick pork chops)
1/2 teaspoon salt
ground black pepper to taste
2 apples - peeled, cored, and sliced
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard (I used regular mustard)
1/8 teaspoon cloves
3/4 cup hot water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Heat oil in large skillet. Saute onion in oil for 1 minute, or until tender. Remove onion and set aside. Brown pork chops on both sides in oil.

3. Place chops in 8x12 baking dish and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover the chops with the apples and cooked onion.

4. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, mustard, cloves and water. Pour over chops. Cover and bake in oven for 30-45 minutes.

Enchilada Casserole

I was getting ready to make chicken enchiladas one night and I decided I didn't feel like stuffing each enchilada individually, so I made an "enchilada casserole."

Ingredients:
About 8 whole wheat tortillas
1 chopped green pepper
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 lb. cooked and shredded chicken
1 can low sodium cream of chicken soup
1 cup low fat/fat free sour cream
1 can black beans
shredded cheese
cooked rice (optional)
refried beans (optional)

Directions:

1. Cook the chicken with some onion in a skillet until white all through. Shred chicken. Keep the onion.

2. In a separate bowl, mix together the cream of chicken soup and the sour cream.

3. Layer two tortillas (I used the small tortillas so it would fit in my pan), then some of the shredded chicken, then some black beans, then some of the sour cream mixture. Then, put some of the green peppers and shredded cheese on top. Repeat these layers once or twice more depending on how thick you want your casserole.

4. Cook in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes or until hot throughout and cheese is melted. Sprinkle some more cheese on top and bake for 5 more minutes. Serve with refried beans and rice if desired.

KFC Chicken Bowl

My husband saw a commercial for the KFC chicken bowl and thought it looked mighty tasty. I agreed, but decided to forgo killing ourselves by clogging our arteries...so I came up with this alternative to the chicken bowl, but it's just as tasty. (Even admitted by the hubby) Of course, it's pretty self-explanatory, but it was a fun dinner for us. I served it with whole wheat biscuits on the side. Ingredients: potatoes (I used instant in this case, but I love home-made mashed potatoes with sour cream, some butter and some milk mixed in!) grilled chicken strips corn (frozen worked great) grated cheese Layer the potatoes, chicken strips, corn and cheese. If you layer these while they're hot and just wait a few minutes to serve it, the cheese gets all nice and melty as the picture shows.

Home-made Pizza

What's better than home-made pizza? Really.

I have found a great recipe for crust. You can make it with all whole-wheat flour or do half and half. Either way, it's a great crust.

Ingredients:

1 (.25) package active dry yeast
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 cup warm water
2 1/2 cups flour
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450. In a medium bowl, dissolve the yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. Stir in flour, salt and oil. Beat until smooth. Let rest for 5 minutes.
3. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat or roll into a round. Transfer crust to a lightly greased pizza pan or baker's peel dusted with cornmeal. Spread with desired toppings and bake in a preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown. Let baked pizza cool for 5 minutes before serving.


We usually turn our pizzas into chicken pizzas. I spread a thin layer of EVOO on the crust and then put a layer of cooked, shredded chicken, green peppers, mushrooms, olives, fresh tomatoes, and cheese. It tastes great and is good for you!