Berries and Carrots and Tomatoes, Oh my!

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Mo

Somewhere around the end of last month I made a decision.
We need alot more fruits and veggies in our diets. No more of this crackers for most snacks business (really bad, I know).
Well, when I decide to do something, especially for our health, I stick to it! So, now I (Justice doesn’t always participate and the hubby doesn’t always have room to store fruits and veggies at work but they’re both working on it) have at least one serving of fruits and/or veggies with each meal as well as having them for snacks. Justice knows that if she wants a snack she’s getting fruits or veggies except for a rare treat of (lower sugar) animal crackers or goldfish or something.
And let me tell you, I love it!!
My typical choices are things that are easy to chop and store.
Watermelon, strawberries, raspberries, black berries, pears, apples, grapes, kiwi, and clementine oranges.
For veggies I tend to stick to grape or cherry tomatoes, cauliflower, baby carrots, orange and yellow peppers, celery, and cucumbers.
One tip I have found that helps immensely is cutting everything up as soon as we get home from grocery shopping. I was doing it at each meal time but by the time I was done, the meal was almost over. So, yesterday after I got everything put away, I proceeded to wash and chop about 5 lbs. of fruit. The veggies get pieced today. Talk about easier and more efficient. Wooo!

So I just thought that I’d share this morning’s addition to breakfast.

Yummm!!!
(and Justice discovered she loved the rasp/black berries.

(sorry for the blur, it was a quick phone pic)

I hope that you all rethink your fruit and vegetable consumption (if it’s not already sufficient) and use this as inspiration on how you can better your diet. You’ll still get plenty of sweetness but packed with vitamins and antioxidants and fiber! Wooo!
I’m so loving it. And so is my body.

Spaghetti sauce a la crock

Posted on March 16, 2012 by Mo

So I’m not sure why I’ve never thought of this before but I haven’t.

Courtesy of Flickr

Well, ok, it’s not that I’ve never heard of slow cooker spaghetti sauce, it’s that it’s never occurred to me to put MY spaghetti sauce in the slow cooker. I’ve pretty much always reserved spaghetti nights for Fridays because of the time it takes to make it and Friday is the only week night that allows for it in the schedule. But no more! We, fab fans, had spaghetti last night! I dumped everything in the little crock, turned it to low and out the door we went. Yay!

When we got home, all I had to do was cook the pasta and bake the crescents. It was lovely!

So here is my easy spaghetti sauce and now, all you have to do is Dump & Ditch (I did low for 4.5 hours).

Wooooooo!

Do you have any D&D spaghetti sauce recipes?? Share them with us!

Pretty tasty Pineapple Chicken

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Mo

I found this one on one of my massive recipe searches. You know the kind; where there are 3 or 4 windows with 7-10 tabs each and you’re (well, ok, I’m) clicking and toggling back and forth waiting for pages to load and gathering as much as you can. The last one I did was a few weeks ago and this was one of the triumphant finds courtesy of Six Sisters Stuff.

Pineapple Chicken

Cook Time: 4 hours

Yield: 6-7

Pineapple Chicken

This one is easy and tasty. The flavors blend well without being too sweet or tangy. The chicken was moist and, since I used the precooked diced stuff, it was ready to serve and eat with no fuss.

Ingredients

4 frozen chicken breasts (I used 1 bag frozen diced grilled chicken)
1/2 c. soy sauce
1/2 c. teriyaki sauce
1 can pineapple chunks, drain half the juice out
Crushed red pepper flakes - optional (I omitted)

Instructions

Spray the crock pot with nonstick cooking spray (I used a little bit of canola oil on a paper towel) and add chicken breasts.
Pour soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, and pineapple chunks (with half of the juice) over the chicken.
Sprinkle as many red pepper flakes on top as desired.
Cook on high for 4-6 hours.
Shred chicken with two forks in the crock pot (step omitted as I used diced chicken) and serve over rice.

http://www.mosmomstuff.com/2012/02/pretty-tasty-pineapple-chicken.html

I hope you try this one soon and enjoy as much as we did

Mmmm Mmmm Meatballs!

Posted on February 12, 2012 by Mo

Of the Sweet & Tangy variety.
I’ve heard and seen this recipe about 2 dozen times over the last year or two but never actually tried it. Until recently that is.
I tell ya…it sure did make me wonder why on earth I had never made them before. And the fam agreed.
Here they are for you. (I actually pulled this recipe from sixsistersstuff.com)

Sweet & Tangy Meatballs

Cook Time: 2 hours

Yield: 6 (with rice)

Every time that I have personally seen or heard of this recipe it's been done as an appetizer/snack. I, as the SixSistersStuff directions suggested, served them over rice along side a head of steamed purple cauliflower. It was quite a different and delicious dinner indeed.

Ingredients

1 12 oz jar chili sauce (in the ketchup section at our grocery store)
1 jar grape jelly
1 pkg. frozen meatballs (I used turkey meatballs)

Instructions

Combine jelly and chili sauce in a crock pot and stir until smooth (heat the mixture if needed to combine).
Add meatballs or cocktail sausages and set temperature to low.
Cook for 2-5 hours on low.
Serve over rice or with toothpicks.

http://www.mosmomstuff.com/2012/02/mmmm-mmmm-meatballs.html

Have you tried this one yet??

Gettin Sloppy in the house of Mo…..

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Mo

Yeah…I know. It’s a horrible pun…but it’s just bad enough to get at least a little chuckle.
Isn’t it?!?
Ok…maybe not.

Well, Tuesday was Sloppy Joe night here at the Mo’s Momstuff house. The 1st as a matter of fact. And it went over quite well. Well, for those of us that actually eat dinner on a nightly basis (cough..not Justice…cough cough) that is. She did actually eat some of the bun though…so that’s a step in the right direction. LOL
Oh the joys of a picky two year old.
Anywho..
I found this recipe, way back like a million years ago, in a recipe index somewhere and managed to hold on to it. Why I never tried it is beyond me! But it’s been tried now, and now we have another addition to our mealtime arsenal! Yay!
So without further ado….

Zesty Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes

Cook Time: 6 hours

Yield: 9

These were quite good! :) They weren't too "ketchupy" like I feared they might be. And they weren't too spicy (a concern for the boy). They had good flavor and were sufficiently sloppy. We had small buns so everybody had 2 each.

Ingredients

1-1/2 pounds lean ground beef (ground turkey for us)
1 cup chopped onion (several heavy shakes of the dried minced here)
1 clove garlic, minced (a little bit of garlic salt works great)
1 6-ounce can vegetable juice (6 oz from a can of V8)
1/2 cup catsup
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons no-calorie, heat-stable granular sugar substitute (yeah..I used regular sugar)
2 tablespoons chopped, canned jalapeno peppers (optional) (I omitted)
1 tablespoon prepared mustard (honestly, I just did a couple of shakes of dried mustard)
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
8 whole wheat hamburger buns, split and toasted (I didn't toast)
Shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese (optional) (Oh yeah! There was definitely cheese!)
Sweet pepper strips (optional) (I omitted)

Instructions

In a large skillet cook meat, onion, and garlic until meat is brown and onion is tender.
Drain off fat.
Meanwhile, in a 3 1/2- or 4-quart slow cooker combine vegetable juice, catsup, water, sugar substitute, jalapeno peppers (if desired), mustard, chili powder, and Worcestershire sauce.
Stir in meat mixture.
Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 6 to 8 hours or on high-heat setting for 3 to 4 hours.
Spoon meat mixture onto bun halves.
If desired, sprinkle with cheese and serve with sweet pepper strips.

http://www.mosmomstuff.com/2012/02/gettin-sloppy-in-the-house-of-mo.html

Do you have a tried and true Sloppy Joe recipe??