Jan. 17- Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

Today I tried another recipe from skinnytaste.com. It was slow cooker pork. I have to say that my version of BBQ turned out quite tasty! I would definitely make this recipe again. My husband, his mom, my 10 mo. old, and I all really enjoyed it. I made a potato salad to accompany the BBQ. This recipe was actual a healthy Paula Deen recipe. I'm not a big potato salad eater, but everyone else seemed to like it. It smelled delicious! We opted for no bread in this meal, but eating the BBQ on wheat buns would be good next time. This will make a delicious summertime meal!

Jan. 15 Cheesy Chicken Casserole

Tonight I made a recipe I received from a friend. She made it for us when I had my second baby, and it was delicious!! Not saying this is the lowest calorie meal, but I tried to substitute in low cal, low fat, fat free, etc. where I could. The last step of this recipe is adding in the cream of chicken soup and chicken stock. I ended up cooking a little too long (I thought it was a little dry) because I was worried that the casserole was not set yet. Turns out, I could have cooked about 15 minutes less and let it stand on the counter for a few minutes and it would have been fine. I made this on Tuesday before I was making another one for a family in our sunday school class the next day. So it was a good trial run. This casserole heats up again well- we had leftovers for lunch the next day. The family whom I made this casserole for the next day said it was delicious and wanted the recipe, so I guess cooking less time made a difference. Green beans accompanied this casserole. It's definitely a favorite recipe and will show up again throughout the year!

Jan. 13- Chicken Enchiladas in Zucchini Boats

Success!! This meal was delicious. Absolutely tasted as good as it looked! It took a while to prepare, probably just me being slow and the fact it was my first time to cook it. But it was worth it tonight. Using the zucchini instead of tortillas was brilliant! I will make this meal again. My husband and I both enjoyed it. My daughter liked the filling up the boats, but was not keen on the "green stuff"(although she was eating chopped up "green stuff" inside the boats!). Fabulous recipe courtesy of www.skinnytaste.com.

My goal was to cook at least three meals a week. Well, last week's meals provided us with so many leftovers (plus some leftovers from eating out once), that I didn't need to cook.  I've got some great meals planned this week. I look forward to sharing them on the blog!

Jan. 8 Meal- Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie

First of all, more trouble than it's worth!! My husband said he liked this, but I didn't care for it at all. The flavors didn't blend well to me. My daughter didn't like it either. My husband tried to tell her, "if she didn't eat it, she didn't eat anything." But I felt bad using that rule because I really wanted to fix myself something else to eat!

While cooking this meal- it smelled delicious!! The whole house smelled good. I was really excited to try it! It took a long time to make as well... many vegetables involved, lots of chopping. Next recipe I make with that many vegetables involved, I'll use my food processor. There was even a new food in this recipe for me, parsnip. I had to ask at the grocery store to find this. This meal makes a TON! My husband ate it for leftovers, but it could easily feed 4-6 people in one pie. And you might still have leftovers.

Anyway- glad I tried it, but definitely did not taste as good as it sounded. Meal from www.skinnytaste.com.

Jan. 6- Meatloaf Cupcakes with Mashed Potato Frosting

Tonight I cooked Meatloaf Cupcakes with Mashed Potato Frosting. I got the recipe off SkinnyTaste.com. This was actually the first time I had made mashed potatoes from scratch! We also had peas for a side. The meal turned out pretty well. I didn't "pipe" the potato frosting on there like the website called for- would have looked much fancier had I done this-maybe next time. The meatloaf and potatoes turned out a little bland, however, and I did need to add more salt to flavor. I'll tweak this the next time I make it. Very simple dish to make and everyone cleaned their plates!

The First Meal- Jan. 3

Okay- so maybe this meal wasn't what you would technically call "healthy" all the way around, but at least I cooked! And I finally used our crockpot- only took 8 1/2 years of having one! I cooked cream cheese chicken with a great version of green beans. The family loved it! I decided I would tweak both recipes next time I make it- cook the pasta & then add it to the chicken mixture and less Tony's spice on the green beans. My goal next week is to cook three times (we'll do the leftovers the next night). I've got some great recipes planned, so hopefully they'll turn out OK!

Here We Go!

It's a new year with new resolutions! One of mine is to start cooking & Eat out less. With my husband on his usual health kick, my recipes have to be healthy. I found a website to get some good, healthy, tasty recipes for our family of four (http://www.skinnytaste.com/). I hope for 2013 to be a great year for our family. I have quite a few resolutions for myself that I will reveal along the way. So, here we go on our adventure of healthy eating in 2013!