Tuesday, December 06, 2011

Menu Plan Monday and Little Smokies Recipe

Yes, I know it isn't Monday anymore!:-)

The Cheesy Chicken and Rice recipe we tried last week turned out really good. I did change it some to utilize what I had on hand-- shocker, I know! For starters, I had 1 cup of chicken instead of 2 and 2-3 cups of cooked brown rice instead of 1. So I threw all that in a bowl. Only had about a tablespoon of salsa left in the jar so poured that in and added about a cup or two of leftover canned tomatoes I had in the fridge plus some homemade taco/fajita seasoning I use. I didn't have any canned beans in the house  and besides we eat mostly lentils and not many other beans on this diet--and I really wasn't into adding lentils so just skipped beans altogether. It was delicious. I highly recommend this recipe--obviously it's hard to mess up! And no cream soups which I have tried hard to avoid for a number of years now.

**For weight loss and general health, we eat a diet low in grains but higher in protein, healthy fats, vegetables and fruit.  For the most part, we avoid wheat, corn, refined sugar and most processed foods. It is a work in progress--our diet isn't always perfect and we are far from eating all organic but we have both lost a good bit of weight since changing to eating this way and we feel great! And for the record, we do eat a lot of brown rice and eggs!**

Breakfasts 
**Egg and cheese muffins--will share the recipe soon!
**Scrambled eggs (2x)
**Scrambled eggs, turkey sausage (2x)
**Scrambled eggs with cheese
**Eggs in bacon rings--will share this recipe soon too!

Lunches
**Weekly fellowship potluck-- we took green beans and bacon in the little crockpot and some deviled eggs. While grocery shopping on Saturday morning, I came across some organic eggs marked down to 69 cents a dozen!!!
**Leftover Little Smokies, celery sticks stuffed with some leftover deviled egg filling.
**Leftover pumpkin soup, hard-boiled eggs, cheese, some bits of leftover meat.
**Tuna salad, celery sticks, hard-boiled eggs.
**Leftover beef vegetable soup.
**Leftover chicken and rice casserole.
**Leftovers --whatever's left.

Snacks
**Bananas, peanut butter
**Oranges(2x)
**Yogurt (2x)
**Whatever's left!

Suppers
**Snacks for meeting-- Apple-Barbecue Little Smokies--recipe below!
**Pumpkin Curry Soup(new recipe), turkey
**Israeli spice chicken, sweet potatoes, green beans
**Beef vegetable soup
**Creamy Chicken and Rice Casserole--using sour cream instead of cream since that's what I have!
**Monterrey lentils, rice
**Crustless quiche (probably spinach), tomato soup(from a can)


Apple Barbecue Little Smokies

Ok, so Little Smokies , cocktail weiners, baby sausages or whatever you call them are probably not in the healthy eating category! But we do enjoy them on occasion and they are fun to make and take this time of year. And super easy! All things in moderation.:-)

1 pound package Little Smokies
1 cup applesauce or apple butter-- I use homemade so very low sugar or no sugar at all if using applesauce.
1 cup BBQ sauce--BBQ sauce is a high sugar item. I don't stress about eating or serving it on occasion. We only buy sauce with no high fructose corn syrup if I don't make my own. We like Bulls Eye by Kraft Foods(often on sale which is a plus!) or a store brand from our local heath food store.

Mix applesauce and BBQ sauce in bottom of greased 1-2 quart crockpot. Add sausages and stir together. Cook on low for about 3 hours or on high for 1 hour. Turn to warm to serve.


What's cooking at your house this week?

**This post is part of Menu Plan Monday!

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