Tomato Basil Pesto Panini

by Briana Carter on September 12, 2011

Do you have fresh garden tomatoes? This recipes is delicious with fresh garden tomatoes! This is yet another recipe I love because it is customizable for each family member’s preferences.

Tomato Basil Pesto Panini

Ingredients

• Bread
• Basil Pesto
• Fresh Mozzarella Cheese
• Tomatoes
• Pasta Sauce (optional)

Spread a thin layer of Basil Pesto on one side of the bread. Layer a thickly cut tomato with mozzarella cheese. Add pasta sauce to the other piece of bread if you want. Cook in a Panini Maker or cook like a grilled cheese.

I have the Cuisinart GR-3 Griddler Jr 3-in-1 Nonstick Countertop Grill which has been a good investment as we use it quite often. Kids can also use it by themselves as it is easy to operate than the stove.

Yummy and so easy!

For the little kids, I made half sandwiches with pepperoni, sauce, and mozzarella.

Post Dinner Analysis

Everyone loved the customized sandwich. For the little ones, I left off the pesto, since it’s green. For the older guys, I put pepperoni on it. My oldest daughter and I ate it vegetarian style. Everyone was happy.

Freezer Friendly

I’d skip the freezer on this one!

Meat it Up

Add pepperoni.

Meatless Mondays is a weekly feature which will showcase some of my hits and probably misses with living a meatless life. Many of you know I stopped eating meat about a year ago for personal reasons. While, I haven’t had any desire to go back to eating meat, it has been a struggle to find healthy foods to eat.

Everywhere you go, meat is the main dish. Since I was new to this lifestyle, it led me to eating unhealthy options. I’m on a path now to cook healthier options at home without meat. While going meatless is a personal choice for me, you can still save money by having one meatless meal a week.

Will you join me on this journey by preparing one meatless dish every week?

If you have any questions about the vegetarian lifestyle, you can read more about it at GoVeg.com.

Crockpot Cooking: Refried Beans

by Briana Carter on September 4, 2011

This recipe is so simple and so tasty. I love that you can use basically whatever you want to make it your own personal flavor. You will never go back to canned beans once you make these Crockpot Refried Beans. You will also love that they are super-economical!

Crockpot Refried Beans

Ingredients

• Bag of Dried Pinto Beans
• Green Pepper
• Jalapeno Peppers, Serrano Peppers, or whatever kind of peppers you like!
• Onion (optional)
• cumin, chili powder, red pepper flakes, or a packet of taco seasoning

Directions

Cook beans in a slower cooker with around 6 cups of water. Add your peppers, onion, and seasoning. I used what we had from our little garden – (2) green peppers, (2) jalapeno peppers, and (3) I don’t know what kind of little green peppers. I used a taco seasoning packet since we are out of cumin at the time along with a teaspoon or so of chili powder and red pepper flakes. I didn’t measure any of my ingredients, I just kind of tossed them all in.

Once the beans were cooked, I let mine cool because it was late. I then used my Ninja Chopper, my absolute favorite kitchen gadget, to mash the beans.

I adapted my recipe from Budget Bytes and she has some great step by step instructions with pictures.

Serves 4 – 6.

Post Dinner Analysis

Delicious enough to eat plain, on burritos, with chips, or however you like them! I left out the onion so that my picky onion hater would eat them too. However, I think if it was mashed up in there, he might not even notice.

Freezer Friendly

Freeze in freezer friendly containers. I broke my batch up into several containers about the same amount that you would get in a can. Next time, I’ll triple my batch to maximize my time even further.

Meat it Up

I’d leave these just as they are. No need for meat. Though, I know some restaurants will ad some type of pork products to flavor. I don’t think these need it at all.

Meatless Mondays is a weekly feature which will showcase some of my hits and probably misses with living a meatless life. Many of you know I stopped eating meat about a year ago for personal reasons. While, I haven’t had any desire to go back to eating meat, it has been a struggle to find healthy foods to eat.

Everywhere you go, meat is the main dish. Since I was new to this lifestyle, it led me to eating unhealthy options. I’m on a path now to cook healthier options at home without meat. While going meatless is a personal choice for me, you can still save money by having one meatless meal a week.

Will you join me on this journey by preparing one meatless dish every week?

If you have any questions about the vegetarian lifestyle, you can read more about it at GoVeg.com.

Crock Pot Girls: New Site to Find Crock Pot Recipes

by Briana Carter on August 30, 2011

Crock Pot Girls is a brand spankin’ new Facebook page that has exploded within the last couple of weeks. Just hit refresh on the Facebook page to watch the numbers grow. It is amazing and I think a bit fishy!

This indicates people are excited about Crockpottin’ and sharing recipes. My favorite recipe to make in my Crock-Pot is my Crock-Pot Creamy Corn, which is so easy and tasty! I also have a new recipe up to kick the canned bean habit. This Crockpot Refried Beans recipe is so easy and customizable to what is in your cabinet.

I love to use my Crock-Pot for cooking dried beans, especially black beans.  A few weeks ago, I made a bag of dried beans by first fast soaking” them. Then I used a few peppers from my garden, which is actually just a few plants in my landscaping, and added a packet of taco seasoning and red pepper. I cooked in my Crock-Pot all day long. They were delicious and I was taking them to my aunt’s house for Taco night.

Of course, I cook from scratch and it doesn’t turn out. The beans turned out fabulously. However, I do not have a handy dandy Cook ‘n Carry Crock-Pot, which is now on my wish list.

Looking back the story is almost funny…

I was driving extremely cautious on my almost seven mile drive to my aunt’s house. Since there was some type of gas leak on the main highway, I took my county road all the way to “town.” Thinking of my precious beans, I was driving around 45 mph.

Since our road was now being used a parallel “highway” since the main road was closed, some impatient driver didn’t think I was going fast enough, tailgated me about a mile until we came to a stop sign, and then tried to pass me on a road that was not really meant for two cars to drive down it comfortably and proceeded to cut me off after passing me.

Needless to say this rattled me and caused me to veer and slam on my brakes.  At that moment, I screamed inside my head, my beans. Too late. Almost the entire pot of beans was now scattered in my vehicle. It took several days of cleaning, a whole can of carpet cleaning, and lots of airing out to get the stench out of my car, which conveniently I couldn’t smell at all.

I wish I could say this was my first Crock-Pot vehicle foul. There was an incident with my creamy corn in the Crock-Pot a summer ago….we won’t even go there….

I need a  Cook ‘n Carry Crock-Pot, right?

The Crock Pot Girls have several recipes on their website as well as their Facebook Page. Also, you will want to check out 365 Days of Crock Pot, which has a ton of recipes on it and Happy Housewife!

Find more recipes I’ve posted in the Recipe Category or find meatless recipes (usually with a meaty version too!)

Do you Crock-Pot? What’s your favorite thing to cook in the Crock-Pot? 

Meatless Monday: Spinach Puffs

by Briana Carter on August 29, 2011

Meatless Mondays is a weekly feature which will showcase some of my hits and probably misses with living a meatless life. Many of you know I stopped eating meat about a year ago for personal reasons. While, I haven’t had any desire to go back to eating meat, it has been a struggle to find healthy foods to eat.

Everywhere you go, meat is the main dish. Since I was new to this lifestyle, it led me to eating unhealthy options. I’m on a path now to cook healthier options at home without meat. While going meatless is a personal choice for me, you can still save money by having one meatless meal a week.

Will you join me on this journey by preparing one meatless dish every week?

Spinach Puffs

Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspon baking powder
• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup Cheddar Jack cheese
• Spinach, chopped

Combine flour, baking powder, milk, egg, and cheese until well mixed. Add in fresh chopped spinach. Spray muffin pan with non-stick spray. Fill cups 3/4 the way full.

Cook at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Makes 1 dozen regular size muffins or 2 dozen mini muffins.

Dip and serve with warm marina sauce.

Post Dinner Analysis

These were a tasty little snack. I wouldn’t consider this a full dinner but the kids seemed to enjoy the ones I made with pepperoni.

Freezer Friendly

Freeze after cooking.

Meat it Up

Add pepperoni.

Vegan Option

Use vegan cheese.

If you have any questions about the vegetarian lifestyle, you can read more about it at GoVeg.com.

Meatless Monday: Eggplant Parmesan

by Briana Carter on August 22, 2011

Meatless Mondays is a weekly feature which will showcase some of my hits and probably misses with living a meatless life. Many of you know I stopped eating meat about a year ago for personal reasons. While, I haven’t had any desire to go back to eating meat, it has been a struggle to find healthy foods to eat.

Everywhere you go, meat is the main dish. Since I was new to this lifestyle, it led me to eating unhealthy options. I’m on a path now to cook healthier options at home without meat. While going meatless is a personal choice for me, you can still save money by having one meatless meal a week.

Will you join me on this journey by preparing one meatless dish every week?

Eggplant Parmesan

Ingredients

• 1 Eggplant
• 1 cup Freshly grated Parmesan or Romano Cheese (Of course, I like using my Ninja Chopper to grate mine easily and quickly! We’ve said GOODbye to the fake parmesan forever!)
• 2 cups Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
• 1 1/2 cups Spaghetti or Marina Sauce

Slice eggplant 1/4″. I leave my eggplant unpeeled. Layer eggplant  in 8.5″ x 11″ dish. Then layer half of the parmesan cheese, half the mozzarella, and half the sauce. Repeat. Sprinkle with additional parmesan cheese.

Cover and bake for 45 minutes at 375 degrees.

Serves 4 .

Post Dinner Analysis

Great recipe for eggplant during the summer season.

Freezer Friendly

Freeze before or after cooking.

Meat it Up

Add sausage.

Vegan Option

Use vegan cheese.

If you have any questions about the vegetarian lifestyle, you can read more about it at GoVeg.com.

Meatless Monday: Spinach & Tomato Pizza

by Briana Carter on June 20, 2011

Meatless Mondays is a weekly feature which will showcase some of my hits and probably misses with living a meatless life. Many of you know I stopped eating meat about a year ago for personal reasons. While, I haven’t had any desire to go back to eating meat, it has been a struggle to find healthy foods to eat.

Everywhere you go, meat is the main dish. Since I was new to this lifestyle, it led me to eating unhealthy options. I’m on a path now to cook healthier options at home without meat. While going meatless is a personal choice for me, you can still save money by having one meatless meal a week.

Will you join me on this journey by preparing one meatless dish every week?

Spinach and Tomato Pizza

Ingredients

• Spinach
• Roma Tomatoes, sliced
• Vidalia or yellow onions
• Alfredo Sauce
• Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
• Freshly grated Parmesan or Romano Cheese (Of course, I like using my Ninja Chopper to grate mine easily and quickly! We’ve said GOODbye to the fake parmesan forever!)
• Pizza Dough (I used Meijer Organics pre-made for convenience)

Brush a little olive oil on the dough. Coat with alfredo sauce. Top with spinach, roma tomatoes, onions, mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle with Parmesan-Romano Cheese.

Cook until cheese is melted.

Serves 4 .

Post Dinner Analysis

This is my favorite pizza. Use leftover alfredo and vegetables to utilize those leftovers.

Freezer Friendly

Freeze before cooking.

Meat it Up

Add chicken.

Vegan Option

Use vegan cheese.

If you have any questions about the vegetarian lifestyle, you can read more about it at GoVeg.com.

 

Meatless Monday: Southwest Pasta Skillet

by Briana Carter on June 14, 2011

Meatless Monday (Tuesdays edition!) ;)

Meatless Mondays is a weekly feature which will showcase some of my hits and probably misses with living a meatless life. Many of you know I stopped eating meat about a year ago for personal reasons. While, I haven’t had any desire to go back to eating meat, it has been a struggle to find healthy foods to eat.

Everywhere you go, meat is the main dish. Since I was new to this lifestyle, it led me to eating unhealthy options. I’m on a path now to cook healthier options at home without meat. While going meatless is a personal choice for me, you can still save money by having one meatless meal a week.

Will you join me on this journey by preparing one meatless dish every week?

This recipe is inspired by one I found on the Philadelphia Cooking Creme package. I omitted the meat & green peppers, added black beans and tomatoes w/green chilies. This was as tasty as some of the Southwest Pastas we have had in restaurants so we were very pleased with the result!

You will see I’ve added in the cost I paid for each item in the ingredient list. Sometimes I know these costs and sometimes I don’t but all of these items were recent purchases. I’m excited that the total cost of this meal is just a fraction of what you would pay at a sit down restaurant for one entree! It was a super quick and easy meal to prepare.

Southwest Pasta Skillet

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