Since it is so hot out today, I didn’t want to do anything to heat up the house, when it comes to cooking. I decided to have a small salad to start things off. I made my favorite simple salad with some romaine lettuce, and my favorite home made salad dressing. Here is the recipe:

Lisa’s Simple Vinaigrette Dressing

Balsamic vinegar
Olive oil
Salt
Black pepper

Add all the vegetables to a bowl and add your desired amounts of the above ingredients. Toss and enjoy.

I topped my salad with some light grated mozzarella cheese and a small amount of low fat feta cheese. It was a simple, fresh and tasty starter. I had one of my favorite juices with it.

Next I had a left over egg roll from a few nights ago.

Finally I had some expired no fat raspberry yogurt. It was 5 days past the expiry date. I am careful when I eat foods that are expired. It smelled okay, looked okay and tasted okay so I think it was safe to eat. I really don’t like wasting food, so unless there is something suspicious looking or smelling about an expired food, I take a chance and eat it.

What are your thoughts on expired foods? Do you automatically toss foods once they are past their best before date? Or do you eat them anyways using caution?

A few days ago I decided to make myself a wrap for lunch. I used my left over cajun chicken breast, a whole wheat tortilla shell, marble cheese, ranch dressing, and romaine lettuce. It turned out super yummy. Here is a photo.

This afternoon I was in a mood for healthy food. I decided to make some salad for lunch. I was inspired by the recipe on fellow blogger Jenn’s blog at http://eatingbender.wordpress.com/2009/04/14/%c2%a1ensalada/

This salad is unique and yummy. The many tastes and textures combine to give this salad “zing” like no other. I was so full after. As usual I morphed the recipe. Here is my version.

Romaine lettuce

Spinach

½ red pepper

Some cucumber

3 tbsp balsamic vinegar

3 heaped tbsp low fat cottage cheese

A few shakes of ground light parmesan cheese

A small amount of grated marble cheese

2-3 tbsp medium salsa

Some sliced/slivered almonds

Prepare Vegetables. Combine all the ingredients in a medium-large sized salad dish. If desired have sections for each dressing ingredient. Toss if desired serve immediately.

I made myself a Pom-Wonderful Punch to go with my lovely salad with the juices below.

Today I wanted something simple for lunch so I decided to have a plain toasted bagel with olive oil margarine and marble cheese. I used my favorite kitchen tool the cheese slicer, to create nice thin slices of cheese.

For an appetizer I had a lovely bowl of fresh cantaloupe.

I felt full and satisfied after I had this simple meal.

A couple days ago I was in the mood for spicy chicken. We also had no bread in the house so I decided I would make a salad.

I fried up a couple chicken breasts. I spiced them with garlic powder, salt, pepper, and freshly ground Cajun seasoning. Once the chicken was well cooked I cut it all up into small pieces and put some aside for a future meal.

For my greens, I mixed romaine lettuce with iceberg. I combined them in a bowl and added my signature home made salad dressing.

For the dressing I drizzled some olive oil over my greens and then poured a generous amount of balsamic vinegar over the lettuce. I  sprinkled salt and pepper over my greens,  then I added some light parmesan cheese over top. Finally I added my Cajun Chicken. Viola lunch was served.

It was a wonderful yummy meal. I was surprised that I was quite full after, since I usually have a something else with salad.

I had some of my favorite juice with my delicious salad.

The afternoon I was not in the mood for cooking. I decided to make a frozen meal for lunch. I made a package of Stouffer’s Lean Cuisine Cheese Cannelloni.

The package describes the entrée as cheese cannelloni with 6 cheeses (the cheeses are ricotta, cottage, part skim mozzarella, parmesan, asiago, and boliviano) and a delicate tomato sauce. It also says that there are no preservatives in the food.

Here are my thoughts on this pasta.

The directions on the package state to microwave the cannelloni for 3-5 minutes. I cooked my cannelloni for 4 minutes in the microwave and that seemed to be the perfect amount of time for it. I was impressed with the relatively quick cooking time.

Taste wise the cannelloni is very yummy. The cheeses blended together create a delightful flavor. The tomato sauce is also very good. It contains real pieces tomatoes and onion.

My only criticism of this cannelloni is that there is way too much sauce for the amount of pasta. My suggestion to Stouffer’s would be to just use less sauce (it would be just as good with less) or add one more cannelloni in the package (there seems to be room) and increase the price if you have to. I know I would still buy this frozen meal even if it was more expensive.

Heath wise this entrée scores well in my books. In the tray (pasta and sauce) there are 240 calories (that is a pretty nice number). There are also 5g fat (8% of your daily intake), 15 mg cholesterol (not so good, but you can’t win everything), 650 mg sodium (27% of your daily intake), and 25% of your daily intake of calcium! The amount of calcium in the meal alone has me sold on it.

Stouffer’s Cheese Cannelloni is a tasty quick meal idea. It is filling enough for a meal, and fairly low in calories. It is also high in calcium.

I would recommend this frozen entrée to all pasta lovers who need a quick meal.

I morphed the recipe greatly.

The soup turned out super yummy. It makes quite a big pot of soup. Enough for about 6 very large servings.

Cauliflower, Cheddar and Parmesan Soup

olive oil

2-3 white onions (diced)

1-2 stalks celery (diced)

2 cloves garlic (diced)

5 medium sized pealed potatoes

½-1 head cauliflower

2 vegetable bullion packages (made according to box)

4 cups boiling water

salt

pepper

parsley

basil

garlic powder

savory

Oregano

cheddar cheese (grated)

parmesan cheese (grated fresh)

Prepare all vegetables. In a large pot coat the bottom with olive oil. On medium heat place the onions and garlic in the pot. Brown. Add the celery. Cook for several minutes. Now add the potato. Prepare the vegetable bullion according to box directions (I used ¾ cup water for each package of bullion). Add your prepared vegetable bullion mixture to the cooking vegetables. Cook the vegetables for 10-12 minutes. Add all the spices and herbs (be generous with these especially the salt). Now add the cauliflower. Cook for 10-15 minutes. Pour the vegetable mixture into a blender or food processor. Whiz for a few seconds. Then place back in pot. Do this until all the soup has been in the blender (I used a separate pot to pour my blended soup into). Once all the soup is blended on low heat add the cheeses continue to stir until melted. Sample the soup. If it is zesty enough serve if not add more of the same spices and cook for several more minutes.

I served this soup with some home made tortilla chips, and some fresh vegtables.

Enjoy J

I have had real “grilled” cheese sandwiches a few times in my life (in my 20’s), and from those experiences eating them I can say that they are nothing like the baked (grilled) cheese sandwiches that I grew up with. Both kinds are very good, but in different ways.

Here are the not so grilled cheese sandwiches that I grew up with.

I made them with whole wheat sliced Italian bread, and low fat marble cheese. I baked them in the oven for about 4 minutes on 375 degrees F. Then I placed some garlic style sliced baby dill pickles on top. That is it. There are no sauces and no margarine or butter. The fat in a low fat cheese is enough to make the bread (not dry).

I think the not so grilled cheese sandwich is a good alternative to “real” grilled cheese sandwiches because real ones seem to have butter or margarine in them (meaning more calories).

Breakfast

a slightly sour grapefruit

A mixed bowl of cereal with skim milk

Many glasses of water through out the day

Lunch

Salad

chocolate covered biscuit for dessert

Snack

banana (between lunch and dinner snack)

Dinner

I have been eating salad galore, and got quite tired of it (always eating the same kind of lettuce). I decided to try something different. Here is what I had for lunch.

Green Salad

Romaine Lettuce

Spinach

Low fat grated cheddar cheese

Salsa Ranch Dressing (the zestyness is a nice change).

Sun dried tomato turkey breast (from the deli)

Mix it together in a bowl and enjoy.

Below is an image of the salad.