Homemade Spaghetti sauce with meatballs

Well we finally ran out healthy food to eat and dont have money right now to go to the store so we are eating what we have in the house. Which since we just barely switched over to eating healthy we have remnants of unhealthy food still in the pantry. So i decided to make our ever loving spaghetti sauce that we all love.

1 onion, diced

3 cans spaghetti sauce

2 cans diced spaghetti(we usually use my grandmas canned tomatoes but we ran out and don't live close by her so we have to deal with store bought now)

2-3 tablespoons garlic salt

2-3 tablespoons oregano

1 teaspoon basil leaves

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Throw the onion in a pot and saute it for about 5 minutes and then add everything else and let it come to a boil and then reduce the heat and simmer it. Stir it every now and then.

Since we just used what was in the house, we had a bag of meatballs int eh freezer that needed to be eaten so i threw those in with the sauce and let them cook fro about 20 min(as recommended on the package).

Boiled up some noodles and threw it all together.

Well i had my brother over fro diner since he is home alone and doesn't have mommy to cook fro him. Since the rest of my family went to Mexico this week for spring break. But the bag of meatballs didn't have to many in it and well my 19 yr old brother ate all the meatballs out of the sauce.

Well we had tons of sauce left over and i just put it in the fridge for the next night. And i cut up some chicken and threw it int he sauce and warmed it up on the stove top and made some penne noodles and we had chicken in it the next night.

Sorry no picture for that one, i totally spaced it. We have some leftover from that ill take some pics today at lunch and post it. LOL

Apple, Mango, Orange, Peach Juice

This morning i decided to make my own little recipe for the juicer. I had some fruits i hadnt used and were looking to getting yucky so i prepped thema nd juiced them fro this mornings breakfast.

3 Oranges

6 Apples

1 Peach

2 Mangos

Prep teh fruits and throw them in the juicer and you have a wonderful drink. It was so tasty. I wish ihad more stuff to make it.

Blackberry, Pear, and Grapefruit Juice

Now this one was nasty!!!! I guess if you like grapefruit and the bitter taste it has then you might like it. LOL But i will nver make or eat grapefruit again.

250g blackberries
3 ripe pears
2 large grapefruit, peeled

Throw them all together adn what do you get............A Nasty Drink!!! LOL No its up to yoour tast buds.

Blackberry, Blueberry, Strawberry and Lime Juice

This one turned out ok but not my favorite. It has a very tangy tast to it. It might be that i put to many limes int. It calls fro one and im guessing it means one big lime but we buy the key limes so i jsut did 3 of them.

Ingredients

18 oz blackberries

18 oz blueberries

18 oz strarwberries

1 lime, peeled

Throw them all in the juicer. Enjoy!!!!!!

Pineapple, Peach and Pear Juice

This is one of the recipes that came in my juicer recipe book. It turned out so yummy and fruity. LOL It contains pineapple, pears, and peaches.

1/2 small pineapple

2 medium pears

3 peaches

I had used pears that my grandma had canned and my husband had told me not to use them cuz theya re already all juiced and soggy and i should have listened to him, but oh well i made a huge mess and had to clean it up. But it still turned out so good.

I have been asking myself what to do with teh pulp or remenents from the juicer since i started to juice and i figure once i get my garden started i will put them in there but fro now i just have to throw them away. Well this mornings juiced items i had an idea with....

Then with all the left over remenents from the juiced items i purified them and put them int eh freezer for TexyAnn when she starts to eat baby food.

Dried-Fruit & Apple Strudel

My oldest brother Garson, says that these taste like Boklava. I have to admit it kinda does but nothing in them are the same. But they are mighty tasty.

http://www.besthealthmag.ca/eat-well/recipe/driedfruit-and-apple-strudel

2 medium apples, peeled and diced
1/2 cup (125 mL) chopped nuts
1/2 cup (125 mL) chopped mixed dried fruit
1/4 cup (50 mL) whole-wheat bread crumbs
2 Tbsp (30 mL) honey
1/4 tsp (1 mL) ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp (2 mL) ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp (2 mL) pure vanilla extract
1 Tbsp (15 mL) fresh lemon juice
3 sheets packaged phyllo dough, thawed
1/4 cup (50 mL) butter, melted (or use low-fat vegetable oil spray)

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a medium-sized bowl, mix together apples, nuts and dried fruit, bread crumbs, honey, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla and lemon juice. Lay one sheet of phyllo on the counter and brush with melted butter (or spray lightly with cooking oil). Repeat for the remaining sheets of phyllo. Place the fruit mixture along one end of the layered phyllo. Grasp that end and roll up the phyllo, lightly brushing or spraying the dry under-parts of the pastry as you go. Pinch and fold both ends to secure the filling. Brush the surface of the phyllo once more with a little butter or a quick spray of cooking oil.
Place on a non-stick baking sheet, seam side down, and bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool. To serve, gently slice the strudel on a bias in 2-in.- (5-cm-) thick slices. Serve with fruit preserves or low-fat frozen yogurt. Serves six.

Ready to Juice!!!

Well today i went and found some recipes for juicers and got some from the book that came with it and made a grocery list and went shopping. I have $80 bucks to spent and thought "Oh i will for sure stay under that!" Well i did surprisingly at $66 for all the produce i needed for another 2 weeks of juicing. Well i have it all put away and somewhat stored but need to get another storage for all these fruits and veggies. But here is what i have now.

In the above picture, in the bowl is oranges, grapfruit, peaches, and mangos. Also there is 4 bags of apples and a pineapple.

Sorry dont mind the beer int eh fridge, its not healthy but its what Jez's friend got him as a thank you gift fro all the help we have given him. LOL

In the top shelf is the water and then bananas behind it. My kids love to eat bananas so thats why we have them in two places. One where the kids can reach and eat them and then ones i have for my stuff, if i left them all in reach of the kids they would be gone and none for me. LOL In the first drawer is limes, lemons and tomatoes. The second drawer has onions( yellow, white, and red).

And this is our counter top. Here are more tomatoes that need to be used soon. LOL A cantaloupe and bananas. There are also two more bags of apples on the counter by the juicer but only like 3-4 in each bag.

Well that is our house now fulllllllllllll of fruits and veggies. Thank you to Neil that got me eating healthy. I will so thank him for the rest of my life for asking me to help him with recipes.

Scallopped Cabbage with Chicken

We had this on Wednesday night for dinner. It was quite tasty but would need some spices to taste. Maybe salt and pepper would even be good. I dint add any spices to make it have a taste. You can taste the cabbage which isnta problem for me, i love cabbage. But others might not. My 3 yr old thinks cabbage is lettuce and she loves lettuce so ill keep it that way. LOL She inhaled this dinner, only cuz it has tomatoes and so called lettuce in it and cheese on the top.

Also we had our asparagas taht we love. LOL It is sauted in lime juice and salt. You add quite a bit of salt on top of them as you are stirring them around. I usually squeeze 4-5 key limes(the little ones) into teh pan ontop of the asparags. And just let them saute for about 10-15 minutes stirring every now and then. They are so yummy.

http://southernfood.about.com/od/cabbagerecipes/r/bl30727h.htm

Sorry for the pictures. Some night we forget to take pics before we eat teh dish and so these are Jez's half eaten plate of food. Mine was gone before i remembered to take pictures.

Carrot, Celery, Apple Juice

So we got our juicer the other day and have been making grovery lists of what produce we need and i thougth we needed most of evrything. Well i was layingin bed this moring waiting fro jez to go to work and thought to myself what produce we had in the fridge and kept thinking i didnt have anything to make a drink but then it clicked that we had gotten carrots from teh store the other day so i jumped up out of bed(litterally, it scared Jez and he asked what i was doing and i said "I'm going to juice.") So i ran down stairs and sure enough i had carrots in the drawer of the fridge so i was off to get things ready to juice. Jez came down and said "Wow that was a fast trip to the store!!" LOL i said no we had them int he fridge. So here is our morning breakfast.

4 apples( i did 2 golden deliciou and 2 red(forgot the name))

4 celery

3 medium carrots(peeled)

Throw them all in the juicer and ENJOY!!!! We both liked this drink, you can taste all of the different ingredients but i was really good. I really love how well Jez has taken on the juicer. I thought he was going to kill me for buying it.

Chewy Granola Bars

A mom from DS, Diaperswappers.com, had posted this recipe that her family liked them so i jumped upa nd made two different versions. The one that is exactly on the recipes and then i made one of my own version kinda following the recipe.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chewy-Granola-Bars/Detail.aspx

The Original recipe pic

And for the second batch that i made that i did my own version, I did the following:

2 c oats

1 c rice crispies

1 1/2 c honey bunches of oat cereal( only cuz i ran out of rice crispies)

2/3 c butter

2/3 c honey

1 c white chocolate chips

1 cup coconut

Then from the original recipe:

1 c flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla extract

And i did no brown sugar like in original recipe.

And when you put them in the pan, firmly pack the mixture and then when it comes out of the oven pack it again so they are firm.

My version pic

My new Juicer, Green Lemonade!!!

OH MAN!!!!!!!! I so wish i had a juicer prior to this. It is so great. Even Jez is amazed how it juices and grinds stuff. It has a powerful engine is what Jez says.

I got this recipe from a friend of mine and i tried it once in a blender and was so discouraged when it didnt turn out so i went and bought me a juicer to see if it would turn out better. Well it turned out great.

Kale( You could use Spinach)

Celery

Lemon

Apples

2 handfuls of spinach, 2 stalks of celery, 3 apples (2 red delicious and a granny smith is what we used this time, but could use any kind), and 1.5 lemons (peel and all!). Throw it all in the Juicer and you got your self a yummy delicious Green Lemonade!!!

Stuffed Cabbage Head

Man this was a mess to make. You have take the leaves apart from the main cabbage growth section. That was fun!!!! But then the rest of the cooking was pretty good. It says to use spaghetti sauce for the topping and we just had some sauce left over from what me make homemade pizzas from. So i used that and it turned out so yummy.

http://southernfood.about.com/od/cabbagemaindishrecipes/r/blbb585.htm

25 to 30 Cabbage leaves
3/4 cup uncooked rice
1 1/2 pint boiling water
2 tbsp. bacon drippings
1 med. onion, chopped fine
1 stick celery, chopped fine
1 cup lean ground beef
1 cup ground pork
1/2 cup cooked ham, chopped fine
1 egg, well beaten
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. red pepper
1 clove garlic, mashed
A large white cotton cloth about 28 " square
American or Velveeta cheese to grate

Preparation:Immerse cabbage leaves in salted boiling water; cook 2 to 3 min. or until wilted, adding a few at a time. Avoid crowding; drain and cool.
Cook rice in boiling salted water 12 minutes; drain and transfer the rice to a large bowl.
Cook ground pork in bacon drippings until brown, stirring occasionally. Add slat, pepper, garlic, onion, and celery, cook 5 minutes longer. Pour into cooked rice.
Combine, rice, pork mixture, ham, ground beef, nutmeg, thyme, and egg, mix well and add more salt and pepper if necessary.
Spread out the cloth. In center, place 4 cabbage leaves, to later resemble growing end of cabbage. Place about 1 tbsp. of mixture in center of each leaf and spread a bit.
Continue building up the the head, using up the least attractive leaves first and placing dressing over each. Then at the last try and cover top and sides with the more perfect leaves, having used up all the dressing in the center.
Bring up all 4 corners of the cloth and tie a string tightly and closely to the cabbage. In a large pot, pour 1 pint or more of water; place a rack or crumpled aluminum foil in the bottom. Place wrapped cabbage on rack, cover with a tight fitting lid and cook over med. heat. When water comes to a boil, reduce heat and cook 1 hour.
When it is done, turn off the heat and let set covered for 10 minutes. Then untie string, unwrap, grate cheese over top, cover again for a couple of minutes, then gently lift our cloth and slip onto a platter.
Serve sliced in wedges, cut like a cake, pass your favorite tomato sauce over each helping.

Romaine pesto and egg-stuffed tomatoes

This was so yummy, but my newborn didnt like it to much. She was up all that night that i ate it and then during the next day while we were out grocery shopping she decided to blow out her diaper. And it wasnt fun to clean up. But i enjoyed this meal. We had it as a main meal but i would recommend it s a side dish or as an appetizer.

http://smittenkitchen.com/2006/09/like-the-lettuce/

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 large head romaine (about 1 1/2 lb) *

1 large garlic clove

1/4 cup loosely packed fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/8 teaspoon black pepper

1 oz finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (1/2 cup), plus additional for serving

6 large tomatoes (about 3 inches in diameter)

6 large eggs at room temperature

Strip romaine leaves from stems, reserving both separately, then tear leaves into roughly 2-inch pieces. Measure 4 loosely packed cups of leaves and reserve remainder. With motor running, add garlic to food processor to finely chop. Turn off and add the 4 cups romaine leaves along with the parsley, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and cheese, then pulse until finely chopped. With motor running, add remaining cup oil in a slow stream, blending until incorporated.
Put oven rack in upper third of oven and preheat oven to 400°F.
Cut off about 1/8 inch from top of each tomato with a sharp knife.** Gently scrape out pulp and seeds with a spoon and discard them. Put tomatoes, cut sides up, in a 9-inch glass or ceramic dish and spoon 1 tablespoon romaine-parsley pesto into each tomato (you will have extra pesto). Crack 1 egg into each tomato and season with salt and pepper. Bake eggs in tomatoes until whites are set and yolks are still runny, 18 to 22 minutes.

Apple, Banana and Sweet Potato Smoothie

Ok i had attempted to make a drink that my friend had recommended but then it didnt turn out, so when i went to make this drink i was a bit skeptical on it. But once it was made and i started to drink it, no more skeptizism. It was yummy and will be making it again.

http://vitamix.ahoy.com/recipe/recipe.cgi/0/205/

1 (114 g) medium sweet potato, cooked, unpeeled and cooled
1/2 cup (120 mL) skim milk
1 (120 g) small banana
1/2 (70 g) golden delicious apple, cut in half
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon honey or other sweetener, to taste
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups (480 mL) ice cubes

Place all ingredients in Vita-Mix container in order listed. Secure 2-part lid. Select VARIABLE, speed #1. Turn on machine and quickly increase speed to #10; then to HIGH. Run for 1 minute or until smooth. Serve immediately!