I’m still working on the habit of meal planning for my husband and me. It’s a work in progress. Well, now I have to plan two weeks worth of meals for us and my two youngest stepdaughters. They are 13 and 17 years old. They are both picky eaters. It’s been a while since I’ve had to cook for both of them. So I have to figure out what to cook for me, my husband (who is also picky!) and our two girls. Oh boy.

At the same time, I have to keep our food costs as low as possible. With Christmas and paying $500 for brakes, we’re pinching our pennies. So I’m looking for some yummy and inexpensive recipes. The easier to make the better! Haha!

I’d love to get some ideas from my awesome readers! I’ll be posting a list of all the ideas later on. If you’d like me to link to your recipes, just let me know!

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In honor of St Patrick’s Day, Thursday I made Shepherd’s Pie. I haven’t made it in a while, so I did a Google search for recipes. Of course, there were tons that came up, but I went with one I found on All Recipes. The recipe itself looked ok, but I knew I could make it better! Here’s what I used:

1 lb ground beef
3 cloves of garlic (that’s right! I said 3)
1/2 cup of chopped onions
7 oz can of mushrooms (fresh would be much better!)
15-20 baby carrots, chopped
1 cup frozen baby peas, thawed out
2 tbsp all purpose flour
1 tbsp ketchup
3/4 cup beef broth
4 servings of instant mashed potatoes
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 tbsp italian bread crumbs

I started out with the ground beef in one skillet (since it was still kinda frozen). Then in another skillet, I put some olive oil in to heat. I added the 3 cloves of freshly minced garlic and the onions to the skillet. Talk about smelling yummy!

Next I added the mushrooms to the onions and garlic. While the meat finished I started chopping up the baby carrots. I boiled them for about 10 minutes. When the meat was finished, I added the onions, garlic and mushrooms to the meat. I let that cook for a couple of minutes. I then added the flour, ketchup and beef broth to the meat and let it cook for about 5 minutes.

When the meat was done and the carrots were done, I finished making my instant mashed potatoes. (follow directions on box) I added the cheddar cheese to the potatoes. Yum. Next I sprayed my casserole dish (my 2.75 qt Martha Stewart enamel cast iron casserole dish that I got for Christmas!!) with olive oil and started making my layers. First the meat mixture, then the baby carrots and peas, then the mashed potatoes. I added some more cheddar cheese on top and then the bread crumbs. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.

Let me tell you, this was the most flavorful, delicious Shepherd’s Pie I have ever had! I was so impressed with myself! My sister, who hasn’t always been big on Shepherd’s Pie and is a picky eater, LOVED it! She kept looking at me and nodding her head “yes”. It was great!

I hope you try this recipe and let me know! Hopefully the next time I make it, I can use my husband’s made from scratch mashed potatoes. (His are the BEST!) That would make it even better!!

With my goal to lose weight, I am having to change my eating habits. There are lots of “fat free”, “reduced fat” and “diet” foods, but most of them don’t taste very yummy. I am so glad that I found this awesome website called Gina’s Skinny Recipes. There are tons and tons of recipes on there. Gina has put the nutritional information, as well as Weight Watchers Points, for each recipe. You can search for recipes by clicking on one of many categories listed. It’s so resourceful!

Last week I made this amazing dish. Chicken Divan, Lightened Up. I made it for dinner when we had a friend over. I was making it as part of our new healthy eating habits, and partly to show of my cooking skills. Haha. She was impressed!

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This stuff was so yummy! It was fresh ingredients, made from scratch wonderful food. I think I can get used to this healthy eating!

Do you have any healthy recipes that you love? Please share!

I just thought of something else to say! LOL!

Remember my blog swap stuff that Amy sent me? Well, I made tiramisu the other night with the mix. OH MY GOSH is it YUMMY! It’s almost all gone. The directions to make it are on the back of the package. You take either lady fingers or pound cake and dip that into strong coffee or espresso and layer them with the cheese mix. The cheese mix also has whipped cream in it. You sprinkle the topping on top or cocoa on top. I did both. Let it sit for 4 hours and then enjoy. OH MY YUM!

I didn’t take a picture of it, but maybe I’ll take a picture of the last bit. Hehe.

Much Love,

So I just tried this recipe that I found on Ali’s blog. I didn’t have the vanilla, but I added an egg. And chocolate chips. YUM!!!

I didn’t take a picture of it before, but here’s my leftovers!!

Chocolate Cake in a Mug
3 TBS all-purpose flour
2 tsp cocoa
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
2 TBS sugar
2 tsp veg. oil
2 TBS water
1/4 tsp vanilla
mug
frosting

In a small bowl, sift first 4 ingredients together. Then add last 4 ingredients and mix well. Spray the inside of mug with cooking spray; add cake batter. Put in microwave for 2 minutes. Top with frosting, a homemade chocolate glaze, or chocolate syrup.

Just enough chocolate glaze (make this while your cake is cooling)

3tblsp granulated sugar
1 tblsp butter
2 tbsp cocoa
dash salt
few drops of vanilla or almond

microwave 20-30 seconds until melted. Pour over your cake and let cool. YUM!

Much Love,

I just made Lo Mein. It’s YUMMY!!! Here’s the recipe.

Much Love,