Vegetable Curry Casserole

last night i bought a ton of vegetables (carrying 20lbs of vegetables uphill home was a great workout), and made a DELICIOUS casserole! the idea for this came from divan, love chicken-less divan. i wanted to use a variety of vegetables, though, and make it a bit healthier (canned cream of mushroom soup and mayonnaise are so insanely unhealthy!). here is what i came up with! i like mine with a strong curry flavor. you can use less if you aren't a fan of curry.


VEGETABLE CURRY CASSEROLE

5 medium potatoes
1 turnip
1 medium onion
3 carrots
1 stalk broccoli
4 cups cabby's cream of mushroom soup
1/3 cup cabby's ranch dressing II
2 tbsp curry powder

1. dice all of the vegetables into 1/2 - 1 in cubes.

2. boil the potatoes, turnip, and carrots for about 15 minutes.

3. drain the boiled vegetables and place in a casserole dish along with the broccoli and onion.

4. mix together the cream of mushroom soup, curry, and ranch dressing. pour over vegetables and mix well.

5. bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.


and HERE is the nutritional for it. it got a great score for optimal health! it is even better if you use a low sodium homemade broth for the soup, as i do. this is absolutely fantastic spooned over some homemade bread! hope you all enjoy this recipe, it is my new favorite. thought i was making a special treat, and found out that it is perfect for my diet! can eat it all i want!

and if you are interested, it costs about 60 cents a serving, if you use homemade broth (made from veggie scraps) for the soup, and buy the vegetables in bulk bags as i do. that is taking in the amount of ingredients used, it isn't counting the price of leftover ingredients if you have to buy all the stuff in larger amounts than what is used. if you buy all the vegetables separately, and buy the broth, it will probably come to about $1.50 a serving. still a pretty cheap meal!

Cream of Mushroom Soup

As with the ranch, the store bought cream of mushroom soup is just WAY too unhealthy for me, so i made my own. this recipe has two parts, i canned mine after the first section, then use that base to finish it as needed. this recipe as written yields 2 cups base, 4 cups finished.


MUSHROOM SOUP BASE

8 oz mushrooms
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 cup broth

slice the mushrooms and add them to simmering broth. stir in the garlic powder. simmer for 15 minutes.


CREAM OF MUSHROOM SOUP

2 cups mushroom soup base
2 cups skim milk
1/4 cup flour

whisk all ingredients together in a pot. bring to a boil and boil for one minute. reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes.

the nutritional content HERE is for 2 cups of soup made with Swanson broth. i make mine with a low sodium homemade broth, so its a bit healthier.

Ranch Dressing II

this is my most recent homemade ranch, very low calorie and fat! the store-bought ones are way too high in fat for me, and have an insane amount of calories. this is a delicious and healthy alternative. using all dry milk and powdered buttermilk still turns out great!



RANCH DRESSING II

1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup skim milk
1/4 cup reduced fat sour cream
3 tbsp dry skim milk
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion salt
1/2 tsp dill
1/2 tsp basil

combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

you can view the nutritional information HERE. it says a tiny amount of regular salt... the site doesn't have onion salt listed. i used the same amount of sodium worth of table salt to make this nutritional label. the recipe yields about 1 1/4 cups worth, and the nutritional is for 2 tbsp.

Pizza Revised

soooo.... i changed my pizza recipe. i wanted to make it as low cal and fat as possible while still tasting good. here is my NEW pizza recipe! still makes a pan size worth, mine is cut in half to do 2 different sauces. the nutritional information is for 1/6 of the entire pan worth made with marinara sauce and cheese.


PIZZA DOUGH

1 package (2 + 1/4 tsp) yeast
3/4 cup water
2 1/2 cup flour (half white half whole wheat works great)
2 tbsp applesauce
1 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp basil
1 tbsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion salt

1. mix the yeast and water (at 105-115 degrees F), let rest 10 minutes. if using instant yeast skip this step.

2. combine the flour and spices in a large bowl

3. slowly add the yeast mixture and applesauce to the flour mixture. make sure you only add a little bit at a time, and mix well! or else your dough will end up dry and stiff.

4. knead the dough for 5-10 minutes, until smooth and elastic, and no longer sticky.

5. spray the bowl with cooking spray. place dough ball in bowl and lightly spray the top of the dough. cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp towel and let rest 1 hr, or until doubled in size.

6. punch down the dough and roll it out into the size and shape of the pan you are using.

7. top with 1 1/3 cup of marinara or 2/3 cup ranch dressing.

8. sprinkle 8 oz of cheese over the top of the sauce.

9. add desired toppings. my new favorite is mushrooms, onions, oregano, basil, and tvp soaked with spicy italian seasoning.

10. bake at 375 degrees F for 12-15 minutes, or until cheese browns at the edges.

and now you have your delicious homemade pizza! with all the suggested toppings, it comes to about 400 calories for 1/6 of the pizza. that is a lot better than what you get at the store or delivered! that is a pretty good size portion as well. i normally only eat 1/6- 1/3 at a time.

Baked Beans

so.. one of my husband's favorite foods is baked beans, but we rarely buy it because stores charge an arm and a leg for canned beans!

so ive been making my own the past 6 months or so. its great that i can control the ingredients, make them a lot lower calorie than the store-bought ones, and they are a lot cheaper! i make mine with pinto beans, cheaper than navy beans and tastes pretty much the same. the price of beans at my store went down, so it now costs me about 27 cents for 2 cups of finished baked beans!

yes, that IS cheap, just a tiny fraction of what the large cans cost. this is my diet version, low sugar and salt. still tastes delicious!


3 cups dried pinto beans
1 medium onion
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
2 tbsp cup pancake syrup
3 tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp splenda
1 tsp salt
water or broth to cover


CROCKPOT BEANS

1. soak and drain the beans, then place them in a slow cooker (crockpot).

2. add all other ingredients, mix well, and cover with water

3. cook on low heat 8 hrs or overnight



PRESSURE COOKER BEANS

1. soak and drain the beans, place them in your pressure cooker

2. add all other ingredients, mix well and cover with water

3. place the lid securely on the pressure cooker, and process at 15 pounds of pressure for 50 minutes.

SALSA

need something to go with those chips? how about some homemade salsa! this is my quick and easy salsa recipe, medium spicy. cheap too. this recipe makes one quart.


GARDEN SALSA

1 28oz can of whole tomatoes, chopped
1 medium onion
1/3 cup chopped jalapeno
3 tbsp minced garlic
1/4 cup dried cilantro
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup juice from tomatoes

1. mix all ingredients together in a bowl

2. blend half of the mixture and pour back into the bowl

3. chill overnight


that's it! quick, easy, delicious, and cheap! it costs me about $1.75 to make a quart, way cheaper than store bought! experiment with the spices to get different flavors, or try blending with some black bean for a delicious dip.

CABBAGE STEW

so, i ate pizza this morning, had next to no calories left for my diet for the day, and absolutely no fat! i was WAY over on fat, to tell the truth, so i needed to make something low calorie, low fat, but filling... cabbage stew! the above picture is the nutrition label i got after i plugged the recipe in at nutritiondata.self.com. that is for 2 cups of the stew! healthy healthy food! the sodium for yours may be higher, i used a low sodium homemade broth. i made a huge batch, so here it is halved. makes about 12 cups worth.



CABBAGE STEW

3 medium potatoes, cut into 1 inch pieces
1/4 head cabbage, shredded
6 cups water or low sodium broth
1 onion
1 carrot
1.5 cups drained kidney beans
1/2 cup potato flakes
salt and spices to taste


1. add the broth or water, carrot and potatoes to the pot. boil for 20 minutes.

2. add the onion, cabbage, and kidney beans. boil another 20 minutes or so, until cabbage is wilted and potatoes are soft.

3. add salt and spices to taste. i add parsley, celery seed, and salt.

4. stir in the potato flakes. add more for a thicker stew.