Healthifed Tater Tot Casserole

November 21, 2017 Amanda Plott

Tater tot casserole. It's one of the great American classics. Almost all of us have eaten it before, mostly during our childhood years when it was one of those quick weeknight meals that the parents would put together at the end of a busy work week.

Well, that wasn't my first experience with it but I know for many of you it was. For me, it was something that I had made for my own family. At least... I'm pretty sure my mom never made it for us. She was much more about the Hamburger Helper and cans of La Choy back when I was in grade school...

Nordic Nut & Seed Bread

November 19, 2017 Amanda Plott

If you're like me, you've got a stockpile of random nuts in differing containers that take up half of your pantry. Especially around the holidays. Every cookie, every recipe, everything you cook has a different sort of nut - and none of the recipes use up only and completely one entire bag of nuts. So, you end up with nutty chaos raining down on you from the pantry.

Well folks, here you have it. Finally, a way to use up all and any of those nuts that you may have hanging around. Not just that, but this also gives you a chance to clean up those seeds that have gathered in there as well!...

Dexter's Breakfast

November 11, 2017 Amanda Plott

So, a few many years back now I was pretty much obsessed with the TV show Dexter. And... no. I don't mean the cartoon. I mean the show about the serial killer that posed as a blood splatter analyst. On the day that the show would air, I would always make 'Dexter's Breakfast' to keep the mood of my favorite show going on all day long.

The breakfast came about because the beginning credits of the show are scenes cut together of Dexter making breakfast in such a way that it looks like a real 'killer' of a breakfast. If you know what I mean by my clever pun there...

Skinny Zuppa Toscana

October 24, 2017 Amanda Plott

Okay, so there really isn't enough good things that I can say about this soup. I actually made my first attempt at this soup a few years ago. Long before I originally posted it here. My in-laws were in town and I knew that this soup from a well-known restaurant happened to be one of my father-in-laws' favorites. Since he's a health-conscious individual such as myself, I thought it would be fun to try my hand at making a healthier version of it for him.

I hadn't had the soup before, so I couldn't say at the time if it was anything similar to the one that he was used to, but he did have a couple of bowls of it for dinner! Me? I was anything but a fan. Why? One word. Kale.

Yes, I've ranted on before about my strange love/hate relationship with kale. And, this is basically where the hate part of that started...

Mongolian Beef & Broccoli 'Rice' Bowl

October 19, 2017 Amanda Plott

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and Conagra Brands. All opinions are mine alone. P.F. Chang's and P.F. Chang’s Home Menu® are registered trademarks owned by P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, Inc. and are used with permission. #AuthenticMadeEasy #CollectiveBias

So, with life being crazier than usual (or maybe it's really just the same amount of crazy), I decided to have a more simple sort of dinner today. Simple in a lot of ways. Simple to make. Simple to eat. Simple to enjoy.

I started out with some sirloin steaks and a head of broccoli and ended up with a pretty fabulous take-out fake-out meal that was quick, easy, and delicious. With keeping this simple, I thought that instead of having rice, I would rice my broccoli. Why not? I've made cauliflower rice before, and broccoli is pretty similar texturally. Plus, it goes so well with beef!...

3 Ingredient Pumpkin Noodles

October 13, 2017 Amanda Plott

Pumpkin, pumpkin everywhere! My pumpkin game is strong today. In years past, I've made pumpkin flavored... almost everything. From mac-n-cheese to chili, and so much more. Today though, with a bit of some sort of light allergies among the household, I decided some noodle soup would be the best way to go.

And what's more comforting than a nice warm bowl of homemade Chicken Noodle Soup? You know the kind of soup. The kind where it's just a handful of ingredients and scratch-made noodles? The big thick hearty noodles that fill you up...