yummy bar

I read a blog of a girl who has lost just over 100 pounds on weight watchers online in the last year. She mentioned she was trying to break herself of eating lots of processed foods such as 100 calorie packs etc. I asked her how she kept her sweet tooth in check and she told me about Clif ZBars.They are a 100% organic bar with no hydrogenated oils or high fructose corn syrup bar targeted toward kids. I picked up a box of the Chocolate Brownie at Target and I will have to say they are quite yummy. Although I am not on Weight Watchers at the moment it looks like they would be about 3 points.



Just wanted to share!

Mango!

Let me tell you I have never eaten a Mango. You say Mango and I think of Chris Kattan. I was looking around at Roni's GreenLightBites this week trying to find some good dinner recipes when I came across this video she made with her toddler about mango. That kid LOVES mango. He was so excited to get to eat it. We all should be so happy about fruit.

I'll be adding a mango to my grocery cart this week.

On a side note. Does anyone have any favorite "healthy" receipe sites? I am looking for some new things to try for dinner.

Great Food Blog Find

While searching through my saved recipe archive today I came across this great site called Kalyn's Kitchen. It is a South Beach based blog so you know the recipes fit into a healthy eating lifestyle.

Just a quick looked showed me many recipes I would enjoy and I could get Mat to eat without a problem:

Grilled Fusion Chicken
Greek Lemon Chicken
Southwestern Pot Roast
Chicken Stuffed with Green Chiles and Cheese

Ok now I'm hungry!

I was just happy to find a nice resource for healthier recipes that actually look like food we will enjoy!

Pork Loin With Caramelized Onions

Mat and I love cooked onions. I was an onion hater as a kid but I am convinced I never had them slow cooked until they were as sweet as candy. (YUM!)

I was searching recipezaar for something to do with pork loin when I came across
Pork Loin With Caramelized Onions

This dish takes a little while to cook but is very quick to prep.

Pork Loin With Caramelized Onions

1 large sweet onion, thinly sliced (I did 2, next time I will do 3)
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 (1 lb) pork tenderloins
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper

In a large skillet, cook onion and sugar in oil over medium-low heat until onion is tender and golden brown, about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Place the pork in a 13 x 9 x 2 baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Top with onion mixture.

Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees.

Let stand for 5 minutes before slicing.

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To save time I cooked the onions earlier in the day and went ahead and put them on top of the seasoned pork and just kept the pan in the fridge until it was time to cook it for dinner.

While the pork was cooking I also threw my favorite easy organic trans fat free potatoes in the oven. (Alexia Oven Reds - Olive Oil, Parmesan & Roasted Garlic)

Add something green and dinner is done!

Sausage and Tomato Rigatoni

I really enjoy the Kraft Food and Family magazine. It always has beautiful pictures and yummy simple food. It's free to get so be sure to sign up if you don't get it already!

This week I tried the Sausage and Tomato Rigatoni. Mat really liked it and he is not a huge red sauce fan so I know it was a keeper.

Original Recipe found HERE.

Sausage and Tomato Rigatoni

4 cups rigatoni pasta (8 oz.), uncooked
1 lb. Italian sausage, cut into chunks
1 red onion, sliced 1/4 cup
tomato paste
1/4 cup KRAFT Sun-Dried Tomato Dressing
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup KRAFT 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese

COOK pasta as directed on package.

MEANWHILE, brown sausage in large nonstick skillet; drain. Stir in onions and tomato paste; cover. Cook 15 min. or until onions are tender and sausage is cooked through, stirring occasionally. Stir in dressing.

TOSS sausage mixture with pasta. Sprinkle with parsley and cheese.
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After reading all the reviews I decided it needed a little bit of tweaking.

First of all I used Sweet Italian Turkey Sausage. It had plenty of flavor, no need to use the full fat stuff here. I found it at Wal-Mart in the meat case with the other turkey products.

I prefer to use Whole Wheat pasta when I can. I have found this awesome tasting brand Bella Terra at my local Schnucks that we both like so no need to not use it! But just use whatever brand you like best.

I had a regular onion on and hand and no parsley so I just used what I had.

The tomato paste I picked up said "With roasted garlic" so I figured it would just be even tastier.

Wow, that seems like a lot of tweaking ingredient wise but it really wasn't! Promise!

Now for the recipe. I cut my sausage on an angle so I would get more surface area for browning. I used a tiny bit of olive oil so it wouldn't stick, put the pieces in and let them sit there for a few minutes. Don't move them around constantly. If you let them sit there they will get nice and brown and brown = flavor! Flip and brown the other side. I then took out the sausage out of the pan. I didn't have anything really to drain just a small amount of "brown bits" in the bottom of the pan so I took my sliced onions and threw them in to get a little softened. I always think onions are better if you cook them a little first before adding them to a sauce. I also threw in a TBSP of chopped garlic just because I can.

When the onions were tender I added the can of tomato paste. This is where I took some of the reviewers suggestions and added a can of water with the tomato paste. I really think it needed it otherwise it is just too thick. Once I had the onions, garlic, tomato paste and water combined well I stirred back in the sausage, a few good shakes of italian seasoning and let it all simmer together for about 15 minutes until the flavors were all combined and the sausage was throughly cooked. Then I stirred in the dressing and added the pasta to make sure everything was coated well.

We added the Parmesan on top of our bowls of pasta.

YUM.

I know this explanation was really long but most of you will see it was just more "method" then recipe.