Food
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Strawberry Lemonade Poke Cake
I love a good, easy sheet cake and the refreshing combination of lemon and strawberry makes for a lovely summertime dessert. This recipe is super easy and definitely satisfying. I usually like to make this if I am going to be able to share it with family and friends. Scroll down to see how I make this heavenly cake. Ingredients: 1 box lemon cake mix 1 3.5oz box of lemon instant pudding mix 1 tub of lemon frosting 4 cups fresh whole strawberries Directions: Prepare the cake from the directions on the box. After it finishes baking, let cool completely. Take a thick straw, or the handle of a…
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Chocolate PB Chia Seed Pudding
I am not the most adventurous foodie. It’s not that I’m afraid to try new things, it’s that I hate spending money on food that I end up not liking. It’s perfectly acceptable to me for Mr. Man to purchase from the store or order a meal that is new and different and then I will try it. I know, it’s super odd, especially since the money to pay for the food comes from the same place whether he purchased it or I did. It’s just something I’ve always had a hard time overcoming. So for a long time, I pinned and oogled over various chia seed pudding recipes, but…
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Grilled Steak & Veggie Rolls
I am a carnivore at heart. I love a yummy salad, but not much can beat a really good steak. After dad’s heart attack and surgery, I was on the hunt for foods and recipes that still had the familiar flavors my dad loves but were heart healthy. While red meat isn’t the most heart-healthy protein out there, I wanted to show my dad that he didn’t have to give up everything he loved…that if prepared right and consumed in moderation he could still enjoy and indulge occasionally. I found some sirloin side tip steak, which happens to be one of the leanest cuts of beef, for a good price at the…
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Air Fried Cauliflower Bites
I bought Mr. Man an air frier for Father’s Day, it arrived midweek last week and we’ve already used it 5 times. A majority of the time we make sweet potato fries, because…well…sweet potato fries! Need I say more? The other night I decided to use up the last of the cauliflower florets that I had left over from making cauliflower rice earlier in the week. And now air fried cauliflower bites are in our normal rotation. We invested in the air frier because the dietitian suggested that it would be a good cooking substitute for dad now that he needs to be on a heart-healthy diet. With the air frier,…
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Instapot Heart-Healthy Sweet and Sour Chicken
Dad is beginning his 3rd week in the hospital. He’s now in the cardiac rehab unit and learning all sorts of ways to function without putting pressure on his arms. I had no inkling all that entailed recovering from a heart attack and bypass surgery. TV and movies definitely gloss over the intense parts. Not only his he recovering from double bypass surgery, he also has his sternum and ribs healing, as well as several incisions on his lower leg. The ribs and sternum were sawed through so the surgeon could get to dad’s heart, and the leg incisions are from the surgeon searching for a viable vessel for the bypass. …
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Heart Healthy Fried Cauliflower Rice
My family has made a very conscious decision to begin a more heart-healthy lifestyle. Mr. Man and the 4 amigos as well as my parents, siblings and their families; we’ve all decided it is time to make a permanent change together. As I have been researching heart-healthy foods and recipes, I’ve noticed it isn’t as hard as I assumed it would be. The recommendations from the American Heart Association as well as the CDC and Mayo Clinic all suggest low sodium, low-fat diet with complex carbs and plenty of fruits and vegetables. For an individual who has hypertension, high cholesterol, and/or heart disease (especially if they’ve had a cardiac event) the…
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Instapot Mongolian Beef
Meal planning this week has pretty much been non-existent. We have so much going on with this being the last week of school, that I don’t know when or where we will be every night around dinnertime. I have my staples like marinara, pasta, meatballs, hashbrowns, eggs etc. So we do have food I can throw together in a pinch. Tonight is the only night we have where I planned instead of whipping something up. This Mongolian Beef was a huge hit tonight. It only took me 10 minutes to assemble, and then another 20 minutes in the instapot to cook. In fact, it took the rice longer to cook…
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Creamy Chicken Enchiladas
Enchiladas are a family favorite…and I never make it exactly the same. This time around I didn’t realize I was out of canned green chilis, but I did have mini sweet bell peppers so I roasted those in the oven as a substitute. Turns out that was the best idea ever and I feel the need to share this version of the enchiladas. Just like most of my recipes, they’ve evolved and become better over the years. I learn tips and tricks and I experiment with the outcome. Sometimes the end result is amazing, and sometimes it’s poo; but isn’t that what take-out pizza is for? The recipe starts with chicken,…
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Meal Planning Monday
Mac’n’cheese is a favorite for most people; definitely a favorite of my boys. Except they are super picky about the flavors, they usually prefer the fake Kraft mac’n’cheese with the powder. I have tried and failed to create a made from scratch mac’n’cheese that the amigos are willing to eat…until tonight. This instapot broccoli mac’n’cheese recipe totally hit the spot for all of them, even with the broccoli. AND…the best part is it was completely cooked in my instapot all at once, including steaming the broccoli. Instapot Broccoli Mac’n’Cheese 1-16oz box of small pasta (elbow, shell, bowtie…your choice) 3Tbsp butter 4 1/2 cups water 1/3 cup dehydrated onion 1lb fresh…
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Sprinkle Pudding Cookies
Found this recipe on Pinterest the other day and just had to try it. I figured I like pudding and I like cookies, these must be amazing because they combined those two things. Guess what?! They are amazing! They’ve even been given Bean’s stamp of approval, which he doesn’t do very often with cookies. The original recipe called for vanilla pudding mix, I wanted to try making vanilla and chocolate. Both turned out perfect. ALSO…these cookies are dairy free and are gluten-free if you use gluten-free flour. If you want to try these cookies just head over to here.
