Nerd Pride Radio

Quick easy meals I can make just for myself- which is often necessary when I can't eat the main dinner.

Well- first of all, my best thing for this is to take left over crockpot meals (Santa Fe Chicken; Spicy Sausage & Bean Stew; Texas Stew) and freeze them in reasonable dinner portions. Then if I know I can't eat the dinner everyone else is having, I pull one out in the morning and let it thaw in the fridge.

Barring that- I make beanie weenies. A can of Bush's original baked beans and two ballpark beef franks cut up into it. Put in a bowl and microwave on high for two and half minutes. Delicious, filling and easy. 900 calories- which is a bit too much for one of my dinners, but not crazy.

Also- if I can stop by the store on the way home first, then I'll buy a small salmon filet, drizzle olive oil on it, sprinkle it with montreal steak seasoning and then bake it at 400 for 12 minutes (or whatever, depending on the thickness). Eat with a side of veggies (steamed broccoli!) or corn. Yum. 800 or so calories depending on the size of the salmon.

My new quick lunch (when I can't have leftovers, I try to always use leftovers for lunch) is easy succotash: Can of lima beans; can of corn; two tablespoons of non-butter butter. Mix and heat in microwave. Add salt and pepper to taste. Eat half today and half tomorrow. 360 calories a meal.

Breakfast is ALWAYS either one of two things: (1) Two fried eggs, runny; served on dry Udi's gluten free toast; or (2) 1/2 cup of quick oats with a tablespoon of brown sugar. These run 280 and 200 calories respectively. I prefer the eggs because the protein makes me feel more full and satisfied.

My usual breakfast mix for my drive to work:

1 serving of Cheerios (1 cup, 104 calories)
1 serving of raisons (1/4 cup, 110 calories)
1 serving of peanuts (1/8 cup, 102 calories)

Then I ruin my good work by getting a frappe

Egg on an English muffin or
Peanut butter on some kind of bread substance

Paired with a cup of milk or half cup of O.J..

I like the Cheerios, raisins, peanuts idea. I may adapt something like that.

Cheerios, oatmeal, scrambled eggs, or pancakes (weekend). Lately I'm trying to work the Greek yogurt in as breakfast due to need to start with protein.

Let's talk about beets. How do you feel about beets? I found a source of precooked beets that doesn't have the poor taste and texture of canned. This opens up so many salad possibilities. Here is one:
Chop 3 large beets into small cubes.
Sprinkle with mix of 1 tsp brown sugar and 2 tsp balsamic vinegar.
Salt and pepper thoroughly.
Add 1/2 cup thawed frozen peas.
Add 1/2 cup garbanzo beans.
Add 2 oz feta cheese, or sharp flavored cheese sliced in tiny cubes, or shredded.
Top with a few tsp of your favorite salad dressing or olive oil/vinegar mix.

We love beets at our house! We do red beets with a little balsamic and have It like that as a side. Golden beets we roast with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper, then slice and serve on salads with feta and balsamic.

I also really enjoy Polish Borscht.

Beets are just alright. Roasted, they can be tolerated. Anything else and it's gag worthy.

Oh and by the way- almost any vegetable is tolerable and "alright" by me if their salted and drizzled with olive oil- then roasted.

Haven't tried the roasted beets yet but will do that as soon as we have a reasonably cool day or decide to grill other veggies. I would bet that a beet packet on the grill comes out amazingly good!

Anyway, today is the $20 crockpot beef roast. You need about 3 lbs of a nice chuck or sirloin roast - whatever you can get for about $12 and fit in the bottom of your crockpot. The rest of your $20 goes toward a 32 oz container of Swanson beef broth, low salt, a big thingy of celery, 2-3 big yellow or sweet onions, and a couple bags of carrots. I'm trying to avoid the potato because enough of my body is already made of them and fat, but you can add potatoes later on too if desired, or mash potatoes separately (do not whip them unless you're a sadist who hates potatoes and wants to hurt them and see them cry thick, starchy tears). I also like to throw in a bottle of dark beer or 8 oz good red wine if I have it about.

Spray crockpot with cooking spray or put in your liner if using one. Chop one big onion loosely into big pieces and scatter across bottom of crockpot. Add the Swanson broth and start it a-cookin'. Rub salt and MUCH pepper into your roast. Put 1 TB canola oil in your big frying pan and brown the shit out of your roast on all sides. When done, fling it gracefully into your crock pot. Smear chopped or mashed garlic all over this with a fork. The liquid should not be so high that it covers the whole roast, but the roast should be swimming in a pool of the broth. Let all this crock for several hours.

During the last two hours, add chopped vegs to your crock pot: carrot, onion, celery. Include the chopped celery leaves, this is very important. Sprinkle a bit of thyme (fresh or dry), parsley, and more salt/pepper over everything. Throw in some wine or beer for more liquid. Add the salted, chopped potato a little later than these, as you don't want mush potatoes. When potato is done to your liking, the whole thing is done.

If you want gravy, put 1 TB oil or butter on med-low in your frying pan and make a roux with 1 TB flour or a few tsp cornstarch. Once you have a smooth blended substance, use a ladle/measuring cup to add small amounts of the beef broth and mix it in thoroughly with a whisk or wooden spoon. Make sure the mix is bubbling small bubbles very slightly but not boiling, and keep going with more and more liquids until you have the desired consistency. If you overdo and gravy too thin, put a couple spoons of it in a small bowl and mix with a tsp or two of cornstarch until it is totally blended, and then pour that back into your pan and mix. It should thicken back up, but you want to avoid this because it makes a worse-tasting gravy.

Another note: if you happen to have a banana pepper or other relatively mild thin pointy (not bell) pepper, this is a great thing to add in with the garlic, very finely chopped.

Amigos Margarita's restaurant style hot salsa is an acceptable alternative to the fresh salsa of the gods we would otherwise have to drive too far to get. And it's reasonably priced at $4/24 oz. with occasional sale at HyVee.

Have a lot of zucchini?
Try cake:
Grease and flour Bundt pan.
Grate 2 cups zucchini. Preheat to 350.
Mix 4 Eggs with 1/2 cup water and 1/4 cup canola oil. Add 1 cup light sour cream, 1 reg size package yellow cake mix, I regular size pkg vanilla instant pudding mix, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg, 1/4 tsp ground cloves, 1/4 tsp salt.
Beat until smooth and then add zucchini, put in Bundt pan. Bake 1 hr. Cool until cake starts to contract from sides, tap pan gently all around with knife handle, then flip onto platter and cool fully.
Frost with a frosting made of 1 eight oz pkg cream cheese mixed with a few TB sour cream, vanilla flavor, and confectioners sugar.
All the above is my adaptation of recipe by Anne Byrn who is a genius. But there goes a big zucchini or two.

a request for the sloppy joe casserole someone posted once.

Sloppy Joe Casserole

2 tubes of crescent rolls
1 lb hamburger (browned and drained)
2 cups of shredded cheese
1 can sloppy joe mix

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease 9x13 pan. Cover bottom of pan with one tube of
crescent rolls. Bake six minutes. Mix hamburger, sloppy joe mix, and half of cheese.
Spread mixture evenly over rolls. Top with remainder of cheese and then cover with
second tube of rolls. Bake another 20 minutes, until top is done.

Thank you Michael

I recently tried out a suggestion from a co-worker that turned out pretty tasty. Pizza topping casserole.

Take your favorite pizza toppings, layer them in a casserole dish and bake for about 45 minutes at 350 Fahrenheit.

What I did is lightly browned a pound of ground beef (seasoned with chopped onions, italian seasonings, and minced onion) and used that as the base or "crust". Topped it with dice tomatoes (because I forgot we had tomato sauce) that were seasoned with more italian seasonings and garlic powder. Layered with low fat shredded mozzarella cheese, then topped the cheese with diced bell peppers and chopped mushrooms.

Low carb, very tasty and filling.

That sounds yummy. I'm curious to try combining that with the sloppy joe casserole. replacing the sloppy joe meat with pizza stuff. IMaybe put the cheese on the very top so it browns.

Does anyone have a broccoli soup recipe that they love? It's migraine city in the house today and the only thing that sounds appetizing is broccoli soup.