Quick Lasagna Stack

When I made lasagna a month or two back, I had two lasagna noodles left over. Since they are the hard to come by Dreamfield's variety, I saved them. Tonight's menu called for a meal made from my Turkey Red Sauce. I usually serve that over sauteed vegetables, but tonight I decided to add those lonely noodles. After all, Christian was finishing up some spaghetti noodles too, so the hot water was already waiting.

First, I boiled the noodles while sauteing the veggies. I love lots of green peppers with this sauce, but I also threw in a couple handfuls of coleslaw mix. No need to chop and dice the day away. When those were done, I simply pulled them from the boiling water and set them aside. In went those evil carby noodles. (Have not yet convinced this boy that cabbage is a good substitute for spaghetti) While they were boiling away, I made these awesome little lasagna stacks. I just plopped about a third of a noodle in the base of a dish. Then I added a slice of cheese to hold it steady while cutting. Then on with a layer of Turkey Red Sauce. Added to that, a spoonful or two of vegetables. Then I just repeated layers until the noodle was gone, and made the next lasagna stack the same way. They are very good, and take no oven time!



I had sauce left over, so I made a stack without the noodle too. That is closer to the way we would generally be eating, since Dreamfields is more for special occasions for us. The layers are the same, minus the pasta. Cheese, sauce and veggies. It is pretty rich, but very tasty. Just add a green salad and you are set to go. Because the Turkey Red Sauce is slow cooked before going in the freezer, this meal doesn't taste quick at all! It has the savory goodness of an Italian grandmother! Because I don't happen to have one of those, this is a fantastic substitute.

Green Chile Sausage Puff

With a wonderful day off from cooking for my anniversary, I am ready to jump back into cooking for my prep day. We had a delicious meal last night after church to celebrate 23 years, but I did forget my camera. I still do think I will try to duplicate that Mexican Grill sometime soon.

I played around a bit today with my breakfast casserole for the week. I was hoping to find something with a little less egg since they have been bothering my stomach more lately. This is pretty good, especially if you like green chiles. I do. I doubled the recipe and made one to freeze for later.

Green Chile Sausage Puff

4 eggs
8 ounces cream cheese
1 pound sausage
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup Carbquick or any low carb flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 ounce can of green chiles
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup shredded Jack cheese

Brown sausage and drain. Save a bit of the drippings to grease the casserole dish. In a medium bowl, mix eggs,cream cheese, and cream until well blended. Add the salt, baking powder and Carbquick and mix until smooth. Stir in the sausage, cheese and chiles by hand. Pour this mixture into a greased casserole dish and bake about 30 minutes at 350 degrees until the center is puffed and set and the top is golden brown.

Just took the Cheesecake Muffins out of the oven. These are flavored with the Capella drops strawberries and cream flavor. I haven't tried them yet, but the batter tasted good. Happy to have those done. I still need to make a Steakhouse Special Dump, assemble our salad, and grill the Chinese Chicken that is our Triple Play recipe this week. I'll wait until later tonight to grill that so the chicken can marinate all day. Oh yeah, I also need to work on the newsletter for September. Brown baggers will love the featured recipes and cool ideas for low carb meals on the go. If you have a favorite lunchbox idea, send it to me and I'll share it in the newsletter.

Beef Medallions to the Rescue

Today was my toughest day at school, so I planned an E.Z. Fix dinner of grilled burgers. Little did I know that the dear hubby grilled up ALL the burger patties last weekend. I had thought he just made a few extra for his snack purposes. Tonight, I found out that I had no easy dinner as planned. But I am never completely caught off guard, because...well, this stuff seems to happen to us more times than I care to admit. So, the moral of this story is that scheduling is great, but add some flexibility and it is even better.

I had a couple packages of cooked beef medallions out in the freezer for emergencies. These are easy enough for a teenage boy to cook up for himself, which is really what I intended. Tonight, they made a quick supper for the family. I simply heated them up in my cast iron skillet, until they had gone from frozen to warm. Being precooked, they don't give off much fat for gravy, so I improvised. I didn't have the barbecue sauce I usually serve. Here's the recipe for what I did:

Quicky Beef Glaze

1 cup water
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 bouillon cubes
2 tablespoons cooking sherry
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum or another thickener

I added the water to deglaze the pan. Use this water to dissolve the bouillon cubes. Add the cream and sherry. Heat to boiling and sprinkle the xanthan gum over while stirring. When mixture is thick, stir in beef to coat.

While that was heating, I steamed some fresh cauliflower and some frozen broccoli from Sam's Club. I love Sam's frozen broccoli. Generally, I dislike frozen blends because they contain too many stems which just never get to a good texture. Fresh is better, but these are so close and much more convenient.

Somehow, these tired old bones made a really good impromptu dinner. It is odd to think that I used to cook like that all the time--making up dinner while staring into the fridge. That would make me a nut case these days!

Probably won't be blogging tomorrow. It is our 23rd anniversary, and we plan to dine out. Nothing too fancy, just a local Mexican food place that really knows how to use a grill. It is easy to pass up the tortillas when your plate is full of steak, sausages and veggies cooked up until they caramelize on the grill. Mmm. Can't wait. Maybe I'll take a photo to show you and try to duplicate that grill at home.

Mini Minute Microwave Omelet

I have a really busy day today, complete with an orientation meeting for one of my classes tonight. It is definitely a Multiply Meals casserole for dinner. I'll just leave it in the oven for the hubby. Since I will be running, I am taking a bit of time to show you my equally quick breakfast from this morning. This omelet whips up in almost no time.

This morning's flavor was cream cheese and chive. I simply mixed three chive leaves into about 4 ounces of cream cheese. That is enough for two omelets. John got a two egg omelet that I made in the skillet, but I have to limit my eggs, so I just wanted one. If you want to make a mini omelet like this one, one egg is great and the microwave cooking makes it easier to make in a small size.

Mini Minute Microwave Omelet

1 egg
2 ounces cream cheese
chives to taste
dash of salt

Blend the chives in with room temperature cream cheese, or use purchased cream cheese and chive spread. Beat the egg in a cup. Spray a microwave safe bowl or plate with non stick spray. Add the egg and cook in the microwave for about one minute. Microwaves vary, so take it out when no liquid remains. Spread the cream cheese onto the egg. Sprinkle with salt. Flip the egg into a half circle and serve.

I just added a small serving of cantaloupe cubes and blueberries on the side. (I smeared a bit of cream cheese on the top too, but that is just to be frugal and eat the last little bit in the bowl. It is not necessary by any means.) So easy and fast.

Cranberry Roast--kinda

It is so quiet around here. Now my two big guys are all moved in back to college, and it is just the three of us left here at home. We had big portions tonight at dinner, and I have more leftovers than I am used to. I will adjust soon enough, but it is kinda sad ...

Tonight we had a Cranberry Roast that mimicked an old crock pot recipe I used to make with a can of cranberry sauce. Since that is loaded with sugar, I tried to replace a few ingredients. My experiment wasn't a complete success, but I will keep working on it. I won't post a recipe just yet. I will wait until everyone is happy. I liked it but John thought the sauce was too sweet. I know what to do differently next time. This time, I baked the roast with some cranberry beverage from Aldi. When the roast was done, I couldn't taste the flavor at all, so I added some dried cranberry drink to make a gravy. I think I got it a little too strong, and it was definitely too red. So look for another attempt as soon as roasts go on sale again.

For sides, I made crock pot green beans and a mashed rutabaga with parmesan cheese. I love rutabaga. This time I just peeled, boiled, mashed and added cream, butter and a couple of tablespoons of cheese. Very yummy. I can't believe the teenager prefers instant potatoes to that. Maybe it is just the name.

Emerald Cocoa Roast Almonds

One of the treats we grabbed for our road trips to college were these chocolate powdered almonds. I love them--especially when the urge for something sweet hits. These almonds are not overly sweet, just a dusting of cocoa. But they are crunchy and satisfying. These are the best thing in the world when everyone around you is eating a candy bar! The thing I love most is that they come in an individual serving pouch. That is SO necessary for me to control portions. Nuts are a real problem for me in that area.

Even though I had to fight from opening a second package after my lunch on the road yesterday, in reality, the 100 calorie serving size is just right. These pouches are better than anything we can pick up in vending machines, and at least as good as a stop at the quicky mart. I am going to keep a couple tucked away in my purse or the glove box for impromptu snacking.

I adore the cocoa flavor, but the food demonstrator at WalMart, where I got these, had them available in dry roasted and natural too. I think I'd only pay the premium price for the cocoa flavor, and for the travel packs. If I had more will power, I would portion out bulk nuts into snack bags. But somehow, I always end up going back to that bulk container and eating more than I should.

Cucumber Heaven

When it is hot hot hot, what is better than a cool cool cucumber? My sweet mom brought me the only cucumber her garden produced so far this year, which just happened to be hiding behind another vine. Neither one of us seems to be getting a bumper crop this year. I really wanted to honor this cuke since it is the only one to offer itself up this year. Normally, I am not a huge cucumber fan. I try, I really do. I know how low calorie they are and all. I should love them. Instead I generally just tolerate cucumbers. Unless, that is, they get to play around with other ingredients I am more passionate over. That is what I tried to do today. I made these recipes in between mourning the absence of my eldest son, and being all glum about the all too soon departure of my number two boy. Well, that and doing some prep cooking too.

I have a Triple Play meal of pork roast in the crockpot, so I played around with this cucumber while it was still at the peak of freshness. I have to admit, I like these recipes better than a plain cucumber added to salad.


The first dish I made was a low carb take on Tabouli. My family once owned a barbecue restaurant, and we made gallons of this stuff. I grew to love it, and still demand it on major holidays. None of my men will eat it however, so I chose to make just a teeny tiny batch. Of course, I have had to modify that old recipe quite a bit to make it low carb. I used cauliflower as the base ingredient rather than bulgar wheat. Not quite as good, but still a tangy taste sensation. This is one of those recipes that you can add or subtract ingredients to your liking. I would like some green bell pepper in this too, but didn't add any today. The tomatoes and parsley were homegrown. Yum.

Cauliflower Tabouli

1/2 head fresh cauliflower
1 cup of fresh parsley, loosely packed
1/3 cucumber
3 green onions
4 cherry tomatoes
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
lemon pepper to taste (my brand also has salt in it)

Use a food processor to grate the fresh cauliflower. When it is nearly done, throw in the parsley for a quick chop. I used my old manual salsa maker. Chop the remaining vegetables by hand into bite sized chunks. Mix dressing ingredients and pour over chopped vegetables. Add a sprinkle of lemon pepper and let the salad chill for several hours. Taste before serving and adjust the seasonings to your liking.


The next side dish I tried was Sweet and Sour Cucumbers. I read about that on one of the low carb boards a while back. Sorry, I didn't use an exact recipe. Just mix sweetener and vinegar on a one to one ratio. Pour that over the thinly sliced cucumbers and let them marinate for an hour or more. These make a very tangy yet cool side dish for spicier foods. I really like cucumbers this way. They might even find their way into my lunch box now. Today I used Truvia sweetener. I have never tried it before, but had a coupon from the paper. I like it well enough, but it is probably too costly for me to use all the time. I often use liquid sucralose, but it is very concentrated. Today, I wanted to sprinkle a bit of the sweetener over the cucumbers slices. I was able to do that with the Truvia because it is bulky. I then mixed the rest with the vinegar to pour over the slices. It worked well, but I have decided the sprinkling step is not necessary. This will work with whichever sweetener you choose. Just remember the 1:1 means the sweetener's equivalent to sugar, not an actual measurement.


Lastly, on my mom's request, I tried some Cucumber Water. My niece recently served this at a shower she was hosting. It is a pretty, refreshing spa type drink. It does perk up the water a bit. Not being a cucumber devotee, it will probably never be a favorite for me. Although I prefer my Lemon Balm Tea, this is easier! Just slice some cucumber and add it to some filtered water. Some add fresh lemon as well, but I don't have any lemon trees here in Oklahoma. I just made about three servings in the antique glass pitcher that was my great grandmothers. It is very pretty, but not typical Diner food. The guys in the house gave me funny looks and kept walking. Kool-aid is definitely more their style, sorry to say. Being the only female, I think it is nice. Some say it gets better when it sits overnight.

Now I am off to make some muffins. They will be good to take on the road as we head back to college tomorrow.