Simple Pot Pie Done Right

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This Hungry Girl Pot Pie Recipe looked so easy that I couldn't help but give it a try!  

Prep Review and Tips:

This was a very simple recipe to throw together in a short time.  It's nice to have a handful of quick go to recipes to help avoid the dreaded drive thru.  

I did a couple little changes because of preferences.  I used 2 cans of cream of celery soup because I feared otherwise it would be all vege and nothing else.  I thought the 2 cans worked out nicely. (remember to use the 98% fat free and look up high on the store shelves, it could be hiding.)

Out of laziness I used a can of chicken.  This made the prep time extra fast.

 I just used whatever frozen mixed veges I had in the freezer, but I picked all the green beans out.  I like green beans, jut not a huge fan of the frozen kind and they seem so BIG in pot pie.  (I actually ate them, so they didn't go to waste. lol)

I think we ended up using more like 4 servings if the crescent because I didn't work real hard to roll them out to make it extra thin.  (by the way, I used a cup to roll it out.  just in case you don't have a rolling pin handy)

Taste Review:

We were very happy with the taste of this dish, but it was not filling.  I am not sure if subbing the canned chicken had anything to do with that.  Although, I did use the same amount of ounces.  I might add more chicken next time to see if that helps.  But seriously, we all snacked (on good stuff) ALL Evening!  It was terrible!  Maybe we needed to just eat more at dinner and we got tired of the veges...not sure.  So all and all good tasting recipe, but left us hungry (which is rare for these recipes).

Hope you enjoy! Let us know if you give it a try!  :)

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Comforting Meal With A Comforting Calorie Count Part 4

Here is the 4th of 4 comfort recipes that you are sure to love!

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Sometimes you just need a Moist Brownie but no need for the guilt of standard brownies.  It a close contest, but this might be my all time favorite Hungry Girl recipe.  It is 2 ingredientes, easy for kids to help, and nicely portioned.  (although, I tend to make mine huge!  lol)

Prep Review:
SUPER EASY! Just keep mixing.  DON'T add water!  It will mix together.  

Taste Review:
INCREDIBLE! Quite possibly better than a traditional brownie.  I promise you will not regret giving this a try.  

Hope you enjoy!  Let us know if you give it a try.  :)


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Comfort Meal with a Comforting Calorie Count Part 3

 Here is the 3rd of 4 comfort recipes that you are sure to love!

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Green Bean Casserole is one of my favorites.  I have fond memories of making the simple dish with my Mom.  This recipe is not that much more complicated but leaves out some of calories.  

Prep Review and notes:
One of the only problems I have with prepping these wonderful swap recipes is hunting the ingredients in the store.  So I will give you a couple clues to make your shopping trip go smoother than mine. ;)

I nearly gave up on the 98% fat free cream of celery soup.  When I went by for a second time (to show Mr Daddy Hill that they didn't have it.) of course I found it. lol  At Kroger it was on the TOP shelf.  I'm guessing it is not a top seller so look up to see if it is hiding.

I had NO CLUE where to find water chestnuts.  I've never used them before.  Luckily Mr. Daddy Hill met me at the store after work and was able to go right to them, in the oriental cooking area.

Onion flavored soy chips- I read what I thought was every bag of chips in Kroger's "Healthy living" area.  I was ready to use sour cream and onion Popchips (which now rereading the recipe, is what she suggests) when Mr. Daddy Hill ran across some soy chips with onion flavor.  (I think they were in a white bag if that helps you, but I would suggest going with the sour cream and onion Popchips because you can enjoy those on their own to use up the left overs.  These onion chips....not so much.)

Nothing terribly notable about prep. Pretty easy to put together.  I will mention, just in case you overlook it.  This is 8 SERVINGS!  Much different than most of her recipes.  It would be no problem to cut it in half and maybe cook in a bread pan.

Taste Review:
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised.  I'll be honest I was a little sceptical.  Surprisingly I prefer canned green beans vs frozen green beans.  So that flavor kind of threw me off.  I would guess using 2 cans of green beans and 1 can of 98% fat free cream of celery would be just fine to get 4 servings.  

The questions was posed to me why cream of celery vs cream of mushroom 98% fat free.  Hungry Girl if very tast conscious as well as calorie conscious.  I would GUESS that she is not as impressed with the mushroom version or possibly the celery has more nutritional value.  Either way, it worked just fine with this recipe.

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Comfort Meal with a Comforting Calorie Count Part 2

Here is the 2nd of 4 comfort recipes that you are sure to love!

I feel like meatloaf and mashed potatoes go hand and hand so I had to try Hungry Girl's Better for you Mashed Potato Swap.  I have heard the girls at work talk about using cauliflower in mashed potatoes and thought it sounded pretty interesting.  After using cauliflower in Hungry Girl's Baked Mac and Cheese and LOVED it, I knew this was a safe bet.

Prep Review:

I'm use to mashed potatoes made like they do in Oklahoma.....or at least how my Mom who is from that area makes them.  ;)  They have to be creamy and buttery and just when you think you have just about enough butter and milk......you should probably add just a little more for good measure.  SOOOO I ended up adding an extra tablespoon of the half and half and an extra tablespoon of margarine.  I figured we're eating mashed cauliflower an extra bit of these things was not going to kill our calorie count.  :) 

I did not end up using pepper but was pretty generous with the salt, or at least it felt that way as I'm not much of a salt person.  I would do a few shake, shake shakes, and then a taste.  I did that about 4 times and then was shocked at the amazing flavor that was produced.  (before the salt it was pretty bland)  (I think the adults added a little extra salt on our plates too.  The kids were happy with theirs.)

Taste Review:

Well, pretty much gave that away.  lol  We all loved it!  The kids (picky eater 1 and picky eater 2) had seconds and I think even thirds!  I will say though, make it how the recipe says, and then add extra ingredients as your tastes prefer.  I think mashed potatoes are very subjective.

Hope you enjoy!  Let us know what you think!  :)

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Comfort Meal with a Comforting Calorie Count Part 1

Welcome to the first of 4 Comfort Meal Recipes that I know you will love!

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Let's start with the most amazing meatloaf I have ever made.  I have tried several meatloaf recipes and they all have good enough, but didn't have the Wow factor.  This recipe does and BONUS it's healthier than traditional recipes.  

Prep review:

SO EASY!  I did use ground beef because that is just my preference.   Loved the use of coleslaw mix in this recipe. Nice vege filler.  Prep was a matter of mixing and popping into cupcake tins.  I used my cookie baller (is that the official name?  not sure....) to put the mix into the tins.  I didn't have to use my hands to mix the meat mixture or put in the tins.  Major bonus. lol  :)

Taste review:

AMAZING! I was worried about the amount of garlic powder, but it was not overpowering at all.  The only possible drawback is the periodic coleslaw piece that sticks out.  It does not taste bad or different, but kind of weirded out the kids.  Although, they did still seem to like it.  The cupcake portioned sizes were a good kid friendly sell.

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Make Your 4th Meal Healthier

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Wow!  Where has the time gone?  I have so many recipes to share with you as I have gotten behind in blogging.  Tomorrow I have an exam on the Lymphatic System (A&P II), so I have spent some quality time reading about B cells, T cell, and antibodies.   :)

ANYWAY, we still have been cooking up some great healthy recipes and I'm excited to share this Taco Bell swap.  We love Taco Bell.....maybe a little too much.  The fourth meal was a real thing in our house since I get off work at 10pm and passing Taco Bell on the way home.....

Prep Review:

I have to give Mr. Daddy Hill credit on this one.  He put this together after I worked this past weekend.  We stayed very true to the recipe other than I picked up the wrong cheese, so we did a reduced fat shredded cheese instead.  (purely by accident but I think I would prefer how I shredded cheese works anyway.)

He did mention that the cook time needs to be reduced.  The first griller came out very black.  It says to do 2 minutes per side.  He felt like 1 minute per side would have been plenty.  So just kind of watch it close as it cooks.

We used regular flour tortillas for the kids.  Partially because I want to use them up and partially because I know that they are weird about how their food looks.

Taste Review:

We thought this was a very good Taco Bell substitute. Again, we are very impressed with the use of soy crumbles.  They work great in taco seasoned dishes.  We categorize this was as "A Winner!" and will certainly do it again.  :)

Hope you enjoy!  Let us know if you give this one a try.  :)

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Crock Pot French Toast

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I love Crock Pot Recipes!  They give you something to look forward to after a long day when you are too tired to even think about making dinner.  The concept is awesome!  So when I wanted to have something waiting for my family when I had to go to class this Crock Pot French Toast Recipe seemed perfect.

Prep Review:

Nothing really exciting to report here.  I went exactly by the recipe as it was using a different combination of ingredients than I'm familiar with, so I figured I would give her the benefit of the doubt.  She hasn't steered me wrong yet.  (PS if you have never bought ricotta....(I never had), it is in the same neighborhood as the cottage cheese in similar containers.)  

Prep was not bad at all.  I used an apple slicer to do the apples then cut the slices in half.  The OCD in me couldn't tear the bread. lol  The pieces I got tearing the first piece where a mess. SO I just stacked four pieces on top of each other (the amount used for each layer) and cut them. Way faster and way cuter. lol

Final Product Review:

If you have tried many crock pot recipes you will know that they aren't always very pretty...I mean, can you blame them?  You throw all the ingredients in one pot and poof you have dinner when you get home.  This recipe is no exception to this.  

The kids were turned off by the look and texture (I think created by the ricotta).  They both gave it a try with much hesitation.  Zoey said she liked it, but didn't each much.  Ethan wanted nothing to do with it.

I personally thought it tasted pretty okay, it wasn't terrible.  But unfortunately, it doesn't hold a candle to my usual go to french toast recipe.  Certainly, not half as healthy...Maybe I will see if I can do some swaps on this original and see what I come up with.  

All and all it wasn't bad and a light dusting of powdered sugar helped beautify and slightly sweeten it up.  I would not make this for company.  It just does not have that company appeal presentation.  But it is easy to throw together, so in a pinch it's would be okay, but honestly this will be the first tested recipe that I won't put in the regular rotation.  

Hey, can't win them all.  ;)

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