Lower carb egg white strata

I call it lower carb because I used the new Pepperidge Farm Light bread that has 9 grams of carbs per slice, versus the usual 12 or up. If you are watching carbs, every little gram helps.

What I had:

• 12 slices Pepperidge Farm Light Style 7 grain bread
• 4 ounces pancetta, cubed
• 12 ounces frozen spinach, thawed and water squeezed out of it
• 1 bell pepper, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 2 ounces of Cabot Hot Habanero Cheddar cheese, shredded
• 2 16 ounce containers of  egg whites

What I did:

• Heated the garlic till fragrant, added pancetta and cooked till brown
• Added spinach and bell peppers and cooked till soft
• Cut bread slices into 9 pieces each and spread across the bottom of a 9X13 baking pan
• Sprinkled the cooked vegetables over the bread
• Sprinkled the cheese over the vegetables
• Poured the egg whites over everything
• Baked at 375 degrees for 30 minutes
• Checked and left them in there for another 10 minutes

Look at the beautiful colors:

It didn't fluff up as a regular egg one would but it's delicious nonetheless:

Naan pizza take 2

So, we decided to do a make your own naan pizza night and Oli had so much fun.I only had a few things to use as toppings but we did ok.

What we had:

• Trader Joe's naan
• Wegman's chunky tomato sauce
• onion powder
• garlic powder
• basil
• Wegman's shredded part skim mozzarella cheese
• Hormel pepperoni minis
• Kirkland real crumbled bacon
• Red onion thinly sliced

What we did:

• Turn oven on to 350 degrees
•  Mix tomato sauce with garlic powder, onion powder and basil to your taste
• Spread some sauce on your naan, add toppings, cover with cheese
• Baked for 25-30 minutes
• Burned our tongues eating it :)

Oli loved the whole thing! Watch it unfold in photos:

All ingredients ready to go

Ready for the oven

Mmmmm

First bite

Smile of approval

Cheesy bacon potatoes

What you need:

• Some number of red potatoes, sliced about a quarter inch thick
• Your favorite cheese, shredded, enough to cover all the potato slices
• Crumbled bacon, as much as you want
• Your favorite butter or butter like product

What to do:

• Brush the butter on both sides of the potato slices, I used Country Crock.
• Lay them on an untreated pan, bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Turn them over, bake for another 10 minutes.
• Cover each slice with shredded cheese and then some bacon.
• Bake for another 10 minutes.
• Let cool or burn your mouth and enjoy.

Pardon my dirty baking sheet but they were going way to fast to wait for a plate. And they were a perfect accompaniment to our steak tonight.

Orange liquor pound cake

What I had:

For the cake:

• Duncan Hines orange cake mix
• Vanilla instant pudding mix
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup orange juice
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1/4 cup Pucker citrus vodka
• 1/4 cup Frangelico liqueur 

For the icing:

• 1 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 2 tablespoons Pucker citrus vodka
• 1 tablespoon Frangelico liqueur 

What I did:

• Mixed all ingredients for cake and baked in a greased bundt pan at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.
• Let it cool, and mixed all ingredients for icing.
• When cake is cool, brushed icing all over the top.
• Cut and enjoyed!

Cheesecake squares

I have been on a cooking hiatus, thanks to my mom being here and cooking all the yummy Indian food! But, I have baked a bit and last night, I was inspired by this recipe to make cheesecake squares. I changed it up a bit, because I had a a little less than a lb of sugar but when I measured it, it was about 2 cups whereas the recipe said 4. I stuck with what I had and trust me, it was sweet enough.

What I had:

• box of lemon cake mix
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup butter, melted in microwave
• 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 13.5 oz confectioner's sugar
• Optional: white chocolate baking chips and flaked coconut

 What I did:

• Mixed the cake mix, 1 egg and butter together till it formed a dough. Patted it down in a greased 9X13 glass baking pan.
• Sprinkled the coconut and white chocolate chips over the dough.

•  Mixed cream cheese, sugar and remaining eggs with a hand mixer. Poured it over the dough/coconut/chips and spread evenly.

• Baked at 300 degrees for an hour.
• Let it cool for 15 minutes before cutting into squares.

It didn't look pretty when it came out, but it sure was yummy. By this morning, there was only a half of the pan left!

Chicken Tamale Casserole

 

This recipe was adapted from here, since I rarely follow anything to a t. Plus it was missing onions. Mexican and Indian food to me needs onions.

What I had:

For the bottom layer:

• Jiffy cornbread mix
• 1 egg
• 1 can creamed corn
• 1 cup taco blend shredded cheese
• 2 tbsp garlic powder
• 2 tbsp paprika
• 1 tbsp cumin powder
• 1/3 cup 2% milk

For the top layer:

• 2 cans Costco brand cooked shredded chicken, drained
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 cup shredded queso blanco
• 1 can enchilada sauce
• cumin powder, garlic, salt and paprika to taste

What I did:

• Started oven to preheat at 400 degrees
• Mixed all the ingredients for the bottom layer and poured into a greased 9X11 pan
• Baked for 28 minutes till the cornbread was pretty set. Doesn't have to be completely baked since it'll bake more with the second layer
• Poked holes in it with a fork
• Poured half the enchilada sauce over the cornbread
• Mixed chicken and onion with all dry spices and spread evenly over cornbread
• Poured remaining enchilada sauce over it
• Sprinkled the queso blanco over eveything
• Baked in oven for 15 minutes till cheese was bubbling

Verdict: Absolutely delicious. It didn't even need any salsa or hot sauce over it.

Slow cooker cashew chicken

Adapted from here.

What I had:

• 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 3/4 cup gluten free soy sauce
• 1/3 cup ketchup
• 1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
• 3 tbsp light brown sugar
• 16 oz frozen broccoli florets
• 16 oz sliced mushrooms
• 2 red bell peppers, sliced thin
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 1/2 cup cashews 

What I did:

• Put chicken breasts on the bottom of a 7 quart slow cooker
• Layered the vegetables on top - broccoli, mushrooms, peppers, ginger, and garlic
• Poured the soy sauce, ketchup, and vinegar over the vegetables
• Sprinkled the brown sugar over everything
• Cooked on low for 5 hrs
• Shredded the chicken breasts, added the cashews, and mixed everything together
• Served over thin spaghetti noodles with some hot sauce, added some crushed cashews on top for garnish

Verdict:

Delicious! Could be spicier but since I was feeding the toddler, I just added the hot sauce to my plate. It's got the perfect level of sweet ad spicy, with a lot of vegetable servings.