Simple but Favorite Recipes!

I love to cook.  I cook just about every single night and when I am not cooking chances are we are eating leftovers.  We rarely pick up fast food anymore and our version of fast food is more likely to be a rotisserie chicken and bag of salad than Mickey D's.   These two recipes are family favorites of Sarge and the chicklets so I decided to share them with you AND they are rather good.  The nutritional facts are estimated but pretty close! These are my personal recipes and I like to cook with whatever is on hand, so feel free to improvise!


MEAT MUFFINS

May sound bizarre, but SURE to be a hit!

Serves 6, prep time 5 minutes, cook time 30 minutes
Calories - approximately 160 each.
Average cost (about $1 each)

Ingredients:
1 pound 93/7 ground turkey breast
1 large egg
1/2 cup bread crumbs (whatever you have - I've been known to crush some wheat thins if necessary)
1 Package of Meatloaf Seasoning (find in the gravy aisle)
1/2 cup of ketchup plus a little extra for glazing.
Your favorite seasoning to taste (I use Mrs Dash salt free blends)
1 cup Creole Seasoning Blend (This is chopped onions, bell pepper, garlic, and celery)

Equiptment:
Large mixing bowl
6 cup muffin tin
Non Stick Spray

Preheat oven or toaster oven to 350.  Mix all of the ingredients above until well blended. Don't mix too much or you'll make it tough.  Evenly divide your mixture between the 6 muffins tins.  Put a little ketchup on the top of each muffin to give it that awesome little meatloaf touch and bake for 30 minutes.  You have perfectly portioned sizes that are waist friendly AND filling.

These are SUCH a crowd pleaser in my house.  Each muffin also makes a PERFECT meatloaf sandwich for lunch the next day (if you have any left over).


Turkey Meat Sauce

  I serve this because I LOVE Spaghetti and Meat Sauce, but HATE having heart burn.  Using the canned crushed tomatoes gives your dish a fresh and light taste and this recipe has been approved by even the pickiest of eaters!  (Including those who HATE ground turkey - HAHA)

Serves 7-8, cook time 30 minutes

Calories - approximately 125 each (without pasta)

Average cost (about $1 each)

Ingredients:

1 pound 93/7 ground turkey breast

1 Large Can of Crushed Tomatoes

1 Package of Spaghetti Seasoning (find in the gravy aisle)

Your favorite seasoning to taste (I use Mrs Dash salt free blends)

1 cup Creole Seasoning Blend (This is chopped onions, bell pepper, garlic, and celery)

Olive Oil

Grated Parmesan Cheese.

Equiptment:

Large pan

Cooked Whole Wheat Pasta

Start warming your large pan with a little olive oil and your creole seasoning blend and cook about 5 minutes until the veggies are soft.  Then add and brown your ground turkey.  I like to season the turkey meat while it is browning so you get another layer of flavor so in goes the Mrs. Dash.   Once all browned I open and pour in the whole can of Crushed tomatoes with the packet of spaghetti seasoning mix.  I don't add any salt as the seasoning already has some as well as the parmesan you will be adding.   Let everything simmer for a bit to get nice and friendly.  When it smells really good and everything has simmered about 10 minutes serve over whole wheat pasta with grated parmesan cheese.  

HINTS:  Leftover veggies?  Throw them in the pot!  Grated carrots work great in this too.

Enjoy!

Much Love,
C
Celeste can be found toiling away at some new designs with MetryChick.com or blogging about Metrychick and MetryLife, and Real Housewives of NOLA.  Put on your big girl panties and buckle up.  This is going to be fun!

My new favorite thing...

I am a cup FREAK.  Once I find a cup I really like I drink out of it over and over again until it breaks or the dog attacks it in a jealous rage.  Scoff if you must, but I break a lot of cups!  This one I purchased from my friends over at My Fleur de Tee.  It has a really COOL spiral plastic straw inside.  It is PERFECT for keeping on my desk and drinking my water all day.  It is double walled so it doesn't sweat and I can load the ice into the middle of the straw and it doesn't bend up my straw.  I always drink of out a straw - it's one of my THINGS.  Check out My Fleur de Tee and pick up one of these cool Peace, Love and WHO Dat insulated cups for only $12.

Biggest Loser help for the Biggest Loser? What a DUH moment!

I picked up the "game" at Sam's a couple of months ago.  It as $20 and I felt like, what the hell.  I didnt put it in because one, I didn't feel like working out and two, I didn't think it was going to be too much.  I was WRONG!

I did my first workout today.  I burned 500 calories in an hour workout!  I am soaked.  It was hard, challenging and a lot of fun.  HIGHLY recommended!   I can't wait to try another one tomorrow.  I needed a change.  I am kind of in a rut with my food, workouts - I need something different and this was good!

Codeword: Blueberry!

Today I grabbed Lucy and we headed out on yet another one of our adventures!  We took a ride over the lake to Blue Harvest Farms - home to the sweetest blueberries I know!   We got up WAY too early on a Saturday and headed out with the kids in tow to try to beat the heat!  Once there we were greeted with buckets and directions to the beautiful blue beauties!

        

It didn't take too long to get our buckets full.  We each took home a gallon of berries - it doesn't look like much until you get it out of the bucket and then take a good look!

Since we were on that side of the lake we decided to take advantage and hit up the Covintgon Farmer's Market by the courthouse.  What a pleasant surprise!

There were beautiful tomatoes in a rainbow of colors!

White and purple eggplant! 

Beautiful, sweet peaches I can't wait to eat for lunch!

At Hot Tamale Mama's I picked up this AWESOME Garlic dip - SKORDALIA!  It is to DIE for!  We actually took home one for me, one for Lucy, and two for vacation later this month!  I am planning all the things I am putting it on!
It is Vegan, sugar free, everything I could want and more - a great Mayo substitute!

Oh Spud!  I'm a Fig!  This was pretty cool!
MG said it was named after me and is medium
sized and tan to brown in color! LOL!

I spied this gorgeous Hibiscus flower from a distance! Aloha!

In a  wonderful 4th of July Tradition the market had free hot
dogs, watermelon and Zap's chips for the taking!

The watermelon was so fresh and tasty!

It was a great morning on the Northshore!  It's always fun when you tag along with Lucy and Ethel on one of our adventures!  You never know where the next one will take us!  

Much Love, 

C

Celeste is not only competing to be the NOLA Biggest Loser 2.0, but she is also working full time as the Metry Chick, an artist who created NOLA style gifts with a little Metry Attitude thrown in for good measure.  She also writes as one of theReal Housewives of NOLA as the Wednesday blogger.  Check her out on Facebook and Twitter! 

Photos courtesy of ME!  This post was not sponsored by any of the companies and organizations mentioned.   

Expectations vs Reality Part II - Ok God, I'm listening!

Last night Sarge and I ran the Summer Free For All Series put on by the New Orleans Track Club.  It is a free 2 mile race in City Park that makes you feel good and is nice to compete a little.  I saw a new friend there, Jennifer.  I met her doing the Father's Day Race in Audubon Park.  She is doing the Biggest Loser over at Elmwood and is so sweet!  I digress.  I did the race with Sarge and I had a plan.  I would start off in the back and walk a little, run a little, so forth and so on.  However, Sarge did not seem to go with that plan.  He got me running at the starting line.  I ran almost the whole first mile. I ran about 7/8 of the mile and then stopped for about 60 seconds before I started running again.  In the second mile I ran most of that too, only stopping for about 30 seconds a couple of times. My legs were aching and my back hurt a little but it was my brain.  I just kept running to stop, if you know what I mean.  It was like when I quit smoking back in '06.  I would quit until Mardi Gras and then I could smoke, or when I was stressed.  I was quitting to smoke if you get it.  I finally quit for good in '08.

Last night I expected to stop running and walk some of the race.  My reality was that I ran almost the whole race and if I had just gotten out of my own way I would have ran the whole thing.  Like Yogi Berra Says, 90% of the game is half mental.    Actually, he said Baseball is ninety percent mental and the other half is physical.  


Like I said, Okay God,  I am listening.  He keeps trying to tell me to dump the expectations and just do my thang.  


This week I expect me to give it my all and do my best.  That's all, really!  I can honestly say that I am working hard and giving it my all.  


Much Love, 
C

Celeste is not only competing to be the NOLA Biggest Loser 2.0, but she is also working full time as the Metry Chick, an artist who created NOLA style gifts with a little Metry Attitude thrown in for good measure.  She also writes as one of theReal Housewives of NOLA as the Wednesday blogger.  Check her out on Facebook and Twitter! 

Dining Out Diary - Dot's Diner

This morning I got up and after dropping MG off at camp I took advantage of the overcast day and headed out to beautiful Lafreniere park for a trot.  It was a good workout, but I was STARVING!  I knew my friends over at Dot's Diner would be happy to help me fuel up deliciously and let me tell you, they did NOT disappoint me!

There were a lot of choices, let me tell you!  I skipped over the pancakes to look for those cute little pink hearts next to the healthy meals.  I am always a sucker for a veggie omelette so I chose the Healthy Heart Veggie Omelette.  

I omitted the cheese and opted for some hash browns and wheat toast.  I stressed that I needed the hash browns cooked with NO added oil and they were happy to help me with that.  Next time I will remember to request my toast with no margarine.  Since I am avoiding High Fructose Corn Syrup I steered clear of the jelly for my toast but I enjoyed every single bite of this:

It was just DELICIOUS!  I ate all of the omelette and most of the hash browns.  I left the toast behind because I forgot to bring it home for the puppies and feel so bad for wasting food.  

My total for the hash browns and HUGE omelette was only 320 calories.  Not too shabby for a meal that really filled me up and fueled me up for the rest of the morning.  

The moral of the story is that I feel like I treated myself to a really nice little breakfast out and about but didn't sacrifice my eating plan - even the hash browns.  I am eating them early in the day and using that fuel to push me the rest of my day.   You don't have to sacrifice everything that you love, just adjust the way that you eat a little bit.  

Thanks you, Dot's Diner for a wonderful breakfast and I am SURE that I will see you guys again really soon - I am determined to try some of your healthy lunch and dinner options too!  Who knows where this journey will take me eating next?

Much Love, 

C

Celeste is not only competing to be the NOLA Biggest Loser 2.0, but she is also working full time as the Metry Chick, an artist who created NOLA style gifts with a little Metry Attitude thrown in for good measure.  She also writes as one of theReal Housewives of NOLA as the Wednesday blogger.  Check her out on Facebook and Twitter! 

Photos courtesy of ME!  I took the photos this morning at breakfast on 28 Jun 2011.  This post was not requested or sponsored by Dot's Diner in any way.  

Expectation vs Reality Round I

Sunday was my first weigh in for the Biggest Loser!  I am in second place with 2.96%.  The one in the lead is 3.43%!  I was not expecting that at all.  I am a perfectionist and REALLY wanted to be in first place.  I was frustrated. I cried a little, pouted some and vented more - then I went for a walk/run.  I really needed it and needed to get out for a bit.  In the past I would have quit so I am pretty impressed with myself if I do say so myself!  My brain tells me that I did really well and better than average on my loss, but I wanted more.  I just do.  I think I might know where B, AKA, Competitive Barbie might get her competitive edge from.

Well, I am not stopping now or even slowing down a little.  Yesterday was my rest day and now I am raring to go again!

BRING IT!

Much Love,
C

Celeste is not only competing to be the NOLA Biggest Loser 2.0, but she is also working full time as the Metry Chick, an artist who created NOLA style gifts with a little Metry Attitude thrown in for good measure.  She also writes as one of theReal Housewives of NOLA as the Wednesday blogger.  Check her out on Facebook and Twitter!