Melissa, go buy a crock pot, can find them super cheap right now!!!! your right you could maybe make it as if your were cooking a stew and do it that way but the the bonus of the crock pot is that you do it and walk away and all the spices and everything blends together over the time to make it super yummy!

Honestly Melissa, if you dump it all in a good stock pot and simmer it maybe a little hotter for 3 or so hours, it should work. I did that with a stew one time before I had a crock pot. Boiling the squash may help some as well. I say go for it and let us know how it works for you. Squash isn't hard, and butternut squash is AWESOME sauteed in a little bit of olive oil with garlic and any herb. Have fun with it.

Jenn, I guess they do some weird calculations with how the foods interact, because I added the squash, 0 points, the amount of beans I added said 7 points, and when I added them it still said 7 in the list, but suddenly the total spiked to 20 for the whole recipe I knew the beans, corn, and cheese would drive it up a little, but I was still surprised... I normally do cut back on the amount of oil I use, and I almost never add salt even if the recipe calls for it. The only thing I really add salt in is my salsa. Anyway, it was a really good meal and I didn't have any of that overpowering squashiness like I did the last time I did spaghetti squash.

ETA: Jenn is right about crock pots, you can get really nice ones at Wal Mart for $20-25 and they're super handy.

Thanks girls! I might not be able to do this tonight if it needs to simmer for 3hrs in a regular pot. I'll buy a crock pot some time this week and make it over the weekend

Crockpot is the best thing ever!
I had 3 - dunno what happened to the medium size one because I can't find it now. Not sure if I gave it away or not...sheesh!

Does anyone have any good veggie recipes? I need to up my daily vegetable portions and I need some creative ways to make them taste good! I'm tired of eating vegetables out of a can. I want to start buying fresh and season them to taste good. I just don't know how!

MIndy, do you like asparagus?

MelissaI wrote:

MIndy, do you like asparagus?

I have no idea! LOL! I will try anything though!

Asparagus is awesome just don't by it canned its horrible.

Fresh is best and frozen is very acceptable.

I just need to know how to season it. I'm clueless with cooking. I can follow a recipe so if you tell me what to do, I can do it!

Ewwww canned asparagus is NOT GOOD! I wasn't a huge fan, but after making it both of these ways I love it now!!! I buy it fresh. Never seen it frozen actually. I need to look for that!!!

- Cut off the bottom part. You can grab one at each end, snap it and that can be your measurement to cut the rest of them.
- Boil the asparagus for about 2min or until they're almost fully cooked.
- Spray a non stick pan with non stick spray (pam)
- Add aparagus seasoned with salt (to your taste), a bit of black pepper, and garlic powder (little bit).
- Add a few squirts of lemon juice and saute for about 3min.
- Add a bit of Parmesan grated cheese.

OR you can...

- Follow the first two steps above (cut/boil asparagus)
- Cup up an onion. Cook it in olive oil until it's translucent.
- Add about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of balsamic vinegar and some sugar (to your taste). Simmer for a minute.
- Add asparagus
- Add mushrooms (if you like them)
- Cook until tender

I love asparagus this way!!! Sorry if I'm not explaining right. PM me if you have questions!

Thanks Melissa! I will try both recipes!

26nikita wrote:

Does anyone have any good veggie recipes? I need to up my daily vegetable portions and I need some creative ways to make them taste good! I'm tired of eating vegetables out of a can. I want to start buying fresh and season them to taste good. I just don't know how!

Roasted veggies are alwasy easy and yummy!

Asparagus, bell peppers, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans....any or all.
Prep asparagus as Melissan posted, cut bell peppers and onions into quarters, broccoli and cauliflower cut into florets.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Put veggies in a big bowl
Season with salt and pepper (or salt alternative if you're trying to keep your sodium down)
Season with cajun seasoning (if you like a little pop! - but optional)
Drizzle with olive oil until veggies are lightly coated.

Put veggies in a large shallow pan and bake for 20-30 minutes until tender and you start to see some browing.

You can do root veggies and squash too: sweet potatoes, butternut squash, acorn squash, carrots, parsnips.

Thank you Claudia!

I love the mrs dash seasoning tomato basil garlic for veggies and chicken and to make salad dressing.


I made a yummy dinner tonight on a whim.
Grilled chicken breast with the seasoning cut up
Cut up red bell pepper raw
Cooked green beans fresh and boiled
Broccoli fresh and boiled
Half a sweet potato cooked
Light salt and some MCT oil
Some I can't believe its not butter spray mixed it all up and it was good

I LOVE cooking!!! My favorite website by far is : http://annies-eats.com/category/healthy/
I seriously make everything she does and EVERYTHING I've made is so delicious!
Another good one is Laura in the kitchen off youtube She has some awesome stuff too!

Here are a couple links to the recipes I did yesterday. They turned out great, and are super healthy.

http://www.hungry-girl.com/newsletters/raw/892

I did the grab n' go breakfast cookies, which is the 2nd recipe down on this link. Very good and very filling for my morning:

http://www.hungry-girl.com/newsletters/raw/1076

I have a tilapia recipe I need to post, but I'll have to do it from home.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies- Posted it on FB too

1 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup natural white sugar
1/2 Veggie oil
1 large egg
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/2 Tablespoons Vanilla extract
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease pans.

In a Large bowl mix together: Pumpkin, veggie oil, egg, sugar, and vanilla. In another bowl mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Then add the flour mixture to the wet mixture. Next add in the chips.

Drop onto cookie sheet and bake for 10 min until firm.

(Personal Favorite) Solstice Tea

1 jar of Tang (or 566 g sweetened orange drink mix)
2/3 cup Instant tea (unsweetened) {I use Lipton}
1 package Lemonaid mix (unsweetened) {Kool-Aid}
1/2 cup Sugar {preferable organic}
1 tsp Cinnamon
3/4 tsp Cloves

Mix and store in a glass jar.

Use 2 teapoons of mixture in a mug with hot water.

Thanks, Brooke!

blueeyedghost wrote:

Thanks, Brooke!

You're welcome

omg Brooke those cookies sound amazing Im seriously going to buy the stuff n try to make them!

MetalMama wrote:

omg Brooke those cookies sound amazing Im seriously going to buy the stuff n try to make them!

They're really good!

it sounds delicious, when my keyboard works again I've got a few I'd like to share

Here's a recipe for some awesome breakfast cookies that I found in a Hungry Girl cookbook. These things are now a staple in our house, and the best part is I can have a decent, filling breakfast for 4 weight watchers points. Even their little frozen meals aren't that good.

Grab n' Go Breakfast Cookies
1/2 cup regular oats (not instant)
6 tbsp whole wheat flour
1/4 cup Fiber One bran cereal (original), ground to a breadcrumb like consistency in a blender or processor
1/4 cup Splenda No Calorie Sweetener (granulated)
1/3 cup Gerber peaches (or other pureed peaches in the baby food aisle *I've found that one regular sized jar is right about 1/3 cup
1/4 cup canned pure pumpkin
1/4 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute
1 tbsp golden raisins
1 tbsp Craisins
2 tbsp brown sugar (not packed)
2 tsp Coffee Mate sugar free french vanilla powdered creamer
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt *I omit this

Preheat oven to 375F

Chop Craisins and raisins into small pieces. Set aside. *I don't bother chopping them up, it's a bit time consuming and I really don't care that much

In a mixing bowl, combine the oats, flour, Fiber One, Splenda, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Mix well.

In a separate bowl dissolve the creamer into into 2 tbsp hot water. Add the remaining wet ingredients (peaches, pumpkin, egg), and mix well.

Add liquid mixture to the dry ingredients, and stir until completely blended. Slowly sprinkle raisins and Craisins into the mixture, making sure they don't all stick together.

Spray a large baking pan with nonstick spray, and spoon batter into 4 evenly spaced circles. Spread batter out a bit with the back of a spoon. Place pan in the oven for 12-14 minutes (until the tops of treats are just slightly crispy). Remove pan from the oven and allow to cool slightly, then grab n' go!

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

I usually make these up at night and toss them in the fridge once they're mostly cool. That way I have 4 days worth of breakfasts and I can eat in the car if I'm running late. These cookies are seriously awesome.

Meredith, you cook like me minimal salt if any at all. Also baked goods can be plenty tasty with half the sugar it calls for in the recipe. Most peeps are sugar and salt junkies and don't even realize it.

Here4thePics wrote:

Meredith, you cook like me minimal salt if any at all. Also baked goods can be plenty tasty with half the sugar it calls for in the recipe. Most peeps are sugar and salt junkies and don't even realize it.

I rarely if ever add additional salt if the recipe calls for it. I do cut back a lot on the sugar as well, I need to start toying with this recipe and see how it works on reduced sugar. You're absolutely right too, we've become so accustomed to food manufacturers dumping so much sugar (or high fructose corn syrup) and salt into our food, we are almost dependent on it.