Taco Mac

Courtsey of Semi Homemade Mom

Link to recipe at Semi Homemade Mom

I'm sorry I've been slacking so much on posting these recipes as we make them!  But school is really kicking my butt since it's the end of the semester. 

Anyway, a couple of nights ago I introduced Shannon to Taco Mac.  Once we dove into the cheesy goodness, it was a moment where we asked ourselve "why haven't we thought of this?"  The recipe is very simple and very tasty so I won't keep you waiting any longer!

Ingredients:

• 1lb ground beef or turkey *we used turkey*   

  
• 1 box of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese
• 1 packet of taco seasoning
• 2/3 cup of water
• 2 Tbsp butter or margarine
• 1/3 cup of milk
• 1 cup shredded cheese
• 1/3 cup sour cream

*Changed from original recipe--we omitted 2 Tbsp of butter because it doesn't need it, and we omitted the salsa because we didn't have any on hand, but it was still good!*

Instructions:

Make boxed mac & cheese using butter, milk and sour cream, set aside.  Brown ground meat in a skillet, drain access fat, and add the taco seasoning and 2/3 cup of water.  Heat to boiling reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes until most of water mixture is aborbed.  In a small sprayed oven dish, layer half the macaroni mixture on the bottom.  Top with half the meat mixture and 1/2 cup shredded cheese.  Repeat the layer.  Put the dish in an oven preheated to 250 degrees and warm until cheese on top is melted, about 5-8 minutes. 

Nutritional information:

This is definitely not the healthiest dish, but we have to indulge and take shortcuts sometimes!

Healthy Turkey Clubs with Mini Strawberry Parfaits

This is an original recipe and was inspired by my need to get healthier!

Alright blog fans, as you know yesterday was April 9th, but what you may not know is that day marked exactly TWO months until my wedding day.  I had already told Shannon that starting on April 9th we were going to eat healthier and both try to get into our best shape before our nuptials.  Well due to having SOOO much bad food left in our house, we actually started today, April 10th.

Plus yesterday was free scoop day at Ben & Jerry's and you know that we couldn't miss that!

Today I didn't have such a healthy breakfast and that was mainly due to not having a lot of healthy food in the house, but I made up for it with a very healthy lunch.  I love pita bread or flatbread whatever you want to call it.  I like that it has a lot of whole grains but still tastes good to be exact.  At the grocery store this morning I discovered a new favorite in the pita/flatbread world.  Flat-out's Foldit Everything Artisan flatbread.  OMG was it delicious!  And OMG was it healthy...weighing in at only 100 calories, 1.5 grams of fat and 19 carbs for an ENTIRE flatbread!

Then of course, I gotta have dessert after lunch, it's just a fact of life.  Well I'm trying to get used to yogurt, especially greek yogurt, so why not have a parfait. Well we all need a little chocolate in our day too, right?  I think you'll like my version of a strawberry parfait. 

Below you will find my version of the turkey club, minus the lettuce.

Ingredients:

1 Flat-out Foldit Everything flatbread

1 slice Oscar Mayer Smoked Turkey Breast (or any other type of turkey lunch meat)

1/8 cup shredded 2% milk cheese

1/2 Tbsp real bacon pieces

Spray butter (like Parkay)

Salt & Pepper

2-4 slices of roma tomato

Instructions:

Spray both sides of the flatbread a couple of times with the spray butter.  Place the flatbread in a toster oven set to toast for around 3 minutes or until slightly toasted.  Remove the slightly toasted flatbread from the oven and place the turkey cheese and bacon on top.  Place the flatbread back in the toaster oven and toast for another 3-4 minutes until cheese is melted.  Remove flatbread and add the sliced tomato, salt and pepper, then fold in half.  

I served my sandwich we a could more tomato slices, some celery stalks and about a Tbsp of light blue cheese dressing.

Nutrition Info:

 Now onto the mini strawberry parfait!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup fat-free Greek Vanilla yogurt

1/4 sliced fresh strawberries

1 packet splenda no calorie sweetner (you can omit this but I wanted it to be a little more sweeter)

1 bar (half of package) Nature Valley's Oats & Dark Chocolate granola bars, crumbled.

Small 8 oz container, like a coffee mug

Instructions:

Start by placing half of the sliced strawberries in the bottom of your cup.  Then sprinkle 1/3 of the splenda packet on top.  Add half of the Greek yogurt.  Sprinkle with half of the crumbled granola.  Repeat layer of sliced strawberries, splenda and then top with remaining granola.  Sprinkle remaining 1/3 of the packet of splenda on the very top for extra sweetness, if you'd want it, discard.  Enjoy!  

Nutritional info:

Chili Cheese Nachos--the EASY way

Recipe courtesy of Semi Homemade Mom

Link to Semi Homemade Mom

So Saturday night, Wichita State faced off against Louisville and Syracuse faced off against Michigan in the NCAA Final Four.  For those of you who know me well, you know that March is my FAVORITE time of year because I LOVE basketball, especially college basketball. 

In honor of the sporting event I thought I would make some great game day food.  I found this recipe, and oh MY is it SIMPLE on one of my favorite food blogs, Semi Homemade Mom.   This blog features some great recipes that are made with love, but a lot of the ingredients are made from box mixes (much like the way I cook!). 

I will warn you, this is NOT the healthiest recipe in the world by any means.  I did save a few fat grams and calories by substituting fat-free and turkey ingredients, but still the nutritional info might shock you.  Now I halfed the original recipe because it is just me and Shannon.  Granted, Shannon could probably eat the other two servings by himself, but I thought I'd save some money.

Ingredients:

• 1 can of Hormel turkey chili with no beans (you can use any kind of chili you want though)
• 1/2 bag of restuarant style tortilla chips
• 1 cup of fat-free shredded cheddar cheese

Optional ingredients:                                    

• sliced jalapenos
• sour cream
• quacamole
• diced tomatoes, onions and lettuce

Instructions:

Place tortilla chips in two separate bowls (or one large serving platter if you're the sharing type).  Warm the chili on the stove or in the microwave until at desired temperature.  Pour warm chili over the chips, then top with 1/2 cup cheese for each bowl (or obviously the entire cup of cheese for a platter).  Then feel free to top with any toppings that you'd like and bam, you got dinner!

Nutritional information: