Chelsea, love those recipes. i usually pan fry pork chops and put apples in it but i would love to try the oven method with apple slices. thanks (I prefer popping something in the oven over standing at the stove top.)

Tonight was just leftovers, we have a meeting every Thursday so i cook enough on Wednesday so we can pop leftovers in the micro. and go!

I think tomorrow will be steaks and sweet potatoes.

Happy healthy eating!!

Welcome, Chelsea!

Darn, I gotta try fasulia.

My hubby will be finishing hoisin ground beef & veggies (turned out really good!) and I will be trying out the Eating Well salmon with Dijon sauce & roasted veggies medley. My salmon is the cheapo pinko, but I hope that sauce will make it Okay.

I still didn't try anything that will have a copious amount of squash (I have one green huge zuccini like one, and a butternut one). I will think about it after the fish.

Oh, I forgot to add that I came up with the bread that I really liked. Basically, it's 2.5 whole wheat + dark rye (1/2 cup), with 3 tbsp of olive oil (rubbed in before forming dough), 1 tbsp of lemon juice, 2 tsp of yeast, 1 tsp of sugar, 1 tsp of salt and 1 tbsp each of the yellow mustard seeds, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, flax seeds + 2 tbsp of sunflower seeds. I roast all the seeds lightly. It's a very nice light bread with mild flavors, and as far as I can tell super-healthy. I like caraway seed myself, but the baby doesn't so as much as I was tempted by it or fennel seeds, I didn't add them in I only had to buy bread once this week, hoping to bake all my own the next week!

Bread sounds good. Haha. Haven't had bread in quite some time. The Hubby would love the wheat/rye recipe, but he'd have to make it himself when I'm not around lol. Made buffalo stew last night, got a round of compliments from the family (Hubby, his father, aunt, and uncle) Cubed about three lbs of buffalo roast, (1/3 meat and 2/3 veggies) carrots, celery, onions, garlic, sweet potatoes, and two small cans of tomato paste. Just used water for the broth, but added BBQ sauce and worchestire sauce for flavor along with salt, pepper, paprika, cumin, cilantro and parsley. Cooked wild long grain brown rice (3c rice. 4.5c water) boiled it uncovered the lidded it and cooked it on simmer for 20 min, turned off heat and let it steam for 10 more. First batch of rice I've ever made that came out perfect. Hahaha. Don't usually eat it, but when I need the extra fiber, I go for brown. Fed five with a ton o leftovers, so I got my lunch!! Haha.

Getting prepped for thanksgiving now as well. I've been requested to prepare a side dish and a dessert (of all things!!) lol. SO, I'm thinking of preparing a big bowl of mashed sweet potatoes, which just isn't the same, but they're tastey all the same and I think it will help keep me away from the regular mashed potatoes! Haha. For dessert, I have what sounds to be a good tasting, not so awful for you pumpkin pie. The crust is made of almond meal or almond flour, a couple tablespoons if butter (and yes, I use the real thing. The fake stuff is awful for you) and 3 tspn of sugar (again, I use the real thing over the substitutes unless it's stevia). The filling is pumpkin, whipping cream, eggs, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and Ginger. I'm probably missing something, lol but that's from memory. I'm looking forward to trying both, gonna try the mashed sweeties ahead of time so I can perfect it as much as possible. I would like to make the pie too, but even though it's fairly low in carbs, I don't want to throw off my diet too far. I'm excited to bake again though! If only my cheesecake was low carb!! Lol!

Leida, do you throw all those seeds right into the bread dough? They don't just go on top of the bread do they? I want to try adding seeds.

Chelsea, tell us more about this buffalo stew. What does it taste like/ Where do you get the buffalo?

I made beef and barley soup last night but it was for my brothers family. I had defrosted some beef that I had to use yesterday but forgot i had told hubby we would have steak for dinner - so i was a cooking fool yesterday. i enjoyed it.
Also made a big cake for tonight. Hubby and I are having a sleep over for my niece, nephew, and grandson. I planned a meal that all of their little hands can be involved in. (baked chicken strips) They will also be able to decorate the cake. We usually have tons of fun with them...dancing, playing games, putting on Bible dramas. I'll be tired Sunday though!

Shannon - Sounds like fun! I wish we had kids around... Hubby and I want to start a family, but I want to get a chunk of my weight off first, plus we want to be in our own place, rather than sharing a place with his family.

As far as the Buffalo Stew.. I get my buffalo from Whole Foods. We prefer it there because it's local and grassfed. It's not organic, but we take what we can get. They also sell ground buffalo at our local Publix grocery store. It tastes overall like beef, but with a more... Gamey? flavor. It's better for you.. Less fat, etc and to me it tastes much better than beef in a subtle kind of way.. lol There's 5 people, so our meals are usually BIG... but a normal recipe calls for:

1-1 1/2 lbs of buffalo (Buffalo roast works best, or Buffalo shoulder, but shoulder makes awesome steaks!)
Veggies should be 2/3 of the recipe, meat 1/3... So, I chop up a BUNCH of:

Carrots
Celery
Onion
Garlic
Sweet potatoes (Can't have the white kind!)

Cube buffalo into 1 or 2 inch cubes and turn your stovetop on to medium or so heat and warm up some olive oil while you're cutting your meat. (I do the veggies first.. That's just me.) Throw your meat into a pan to brown (I like to use the same pot I'm gonna cook the stew in, after you drain the oil and grease from the bottom, the little brown bits that stick to the bottom of the pan are great flavor enhancers!) I also sautee the onions with the meat once it's part way done, but I don't add the garlic till the very end because it burns easy. I like to sautee the veggies (not the sweet potatoes) a little bit as well, but not long. Once the meat is brown I throw everything in together and add 1 small can of tomato paste and water... I cover the meat and veggies plus about an inch to an inch and a half over. Once it's back on the heat it needs to cook for 4-5 hours for best results.. Now, stew on it's own smells GREAT, but the taste can be a little lackluster, so we stir in 1/2-1c of our favorite BBQ sauce as well as 1-2 tbs Worchestire sauce. Sounds kinda wierd, but the family was raving about it (Even the next day!) I also stir in: Salt, Pepper, Paprika, Cumin, Cilantro, Parsley, Bay Leaves (only if you want to try to find them later and pull them out, we just tell everyone to lookout for them, lol) I stir it along the way, and about an hour before it's time to eat, throw in the sweet potatoes (I don't peel mine, it always says to, but it's fine with the skin on) It's well worth the preparation! If you have a slow cooker, even better.. Make it the night before, stick it in the fridge and before you leave for work the next day, throw it on low and forget it until dinner time! It was total experimentation, but it came out SO good.

I kind of want to try the buffalo but am hesitant(don't know why)...of course i don't even know if I can purchase it here. I have never seen it. I should try it.

Our sleepover went well last night. Tons of fun, but I did eat too much. The little oven baked chicken tenders were great.(I used corn flakes) The kids gobbled them up. I tried to make a squash-type bake out of pumpkin. That was the only disaster of the evening. I put marshmallows on top and popped it under the broiler...lo and behold the marshmallows burnt and set off our smoke detector. I tried to pass the dish off....the kids ate a little but even I couldn't pretend it was good.

Tonight I think we will have leftovers and take a nice hike out in the woods on this gorgeous Fall day!

tonight was white chili: basically chicken, broth, navy beans, onion, garlic, chili powder, cumin, jalapeno, and tonight I added corn. (of course it was in the slow cooker!) It is good with corn bread and a little chedder cheese (but I skip the cheese)

okay, I'm talking to myself now...but i like this forum. (lol)
tonight was roasted whole chicken, asparagus, and cheesy ranch potatoes.
I wrapped the asparagus bundles with small strips of bacon. I love bacon too much. I try to stay away but once in awhile I can't help it.