Meatless Monday: Broccoli Rice Casserole

May 15, 2012 By 5 Comments

So we’re a day late getting Meatless Monday up this week, but this recipe will definitely not leave you a dollar short.  When you combine rice, broccoli, mushrooms, and cheese, you know that you’ve got something healthy, delicious, and easy on your pocketbook.  You get plenty of protein from the broccoli, cheese, and rice, meatiness from the mushrooms, plenty of carbs, and lots of vitamins.  As a bonus, this would work incredibly well as a side dish for just about any meat you can think of.  A great way to use leftovers!  The best I can say about this dish is to quote my four-year-old and five-year-old girls who both looked up to thank me for dinner, saying, “Daddy, this dinner is yummy!”

Broccoli Rice Casserole

No cream of mushroom soup here.  Just fresh, unprocessed ingredients coming together to form a tasty dish!  Mmmmmm!

To cook the rice, pour 1 cup of rice, 2 cups of water, and a pinch of salt into a saucepan.  Bring it to a boil.  Cover and reduce heat to low.  Wait 20 minutes.  Perfect rice every time!

Ingredients

4 Cups fresh broccoli stems and florets, rinsed and chopped small
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 Cup diced onions
1 stalk celery, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Cup chopped mushrooms
1 Tbsp flour
1 1/4 Cup milk
salt and pepper to taste
2 Cups shredded Cheddar cheese, divided
1 1/2 Cups cooked rice

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.

Steam broccoli until just tender (about 3 minutes on high in the microwave) and top with lemon juice.

Add oil to a skillet over medium-high heat.  Add onions, celery, garlic, mushrooms, and a pinch of salt and pepper.  Sautee 5-6 minutes until veggies are tender.  Add flour and cook another minute.   Stir in the milk and continue stirring until just beginning to thicken (it will still feel pretty loose…good!).  Add in 1 1/2 cups of cheese until just melted.  Taste and add more salt and pepper as needed.

Mix broccoli, rice, and cheese sauce in a casserole dish.  Top with remaining 1/2 cup of cheese.  Bake until bubbly, about 30 minutes.  Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes so that sauce can thicken.  Enjoy!

What did you have for Meatless Monday?  Have a Meatless Monday experience, recipe, or request?  Leave us a comment and let us know what you’re up to!

Meatless Monday, a national nonprofit public health initiative, is all about incorporating more vegetables and less meat into our diet.  It’s about moderation, just one day a week, cutting down on meats high in saturated fat and increasing protein-rich plant-based foods — good for personal health and good for the planet.

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Meatless Monday: Veggie Subs

May 7, 2012 By 4 Comments

Each week, we post a meatless recipe that is intended as a dinner meal.  It’s easy to forget, however, that the point of Meatless Monday is to spend the day without meat.  On that note, we are going to start introducing some breakfasts, lunches, and snacks that are all meat free.

This week, we made veggie subs.  No recipe needed here.  We just put some mayo and cheese on a sub roll and add whatever veggies are handy.  In this case, we have tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and a lettuce mix.  We pair it with some chips (Veggie Straws, in this case) and a small salad.  We have a little Mediterranean salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, red bell peppers, salt, pepper, and a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  This is all super easy to throw together and would keep nicely refrigerated in a lunch box for a couple of hours.  Best of all, for those of us with significant others who have to have the bit of meat, you can just add that slice of turkey for them and have yours without.  Enjoy!

What do you have for lunch on Meatless Monday?  Have a Meatless Monday experience, recipe, or request?  Leave us a comment and let us know what you’re up to!

Meatless Monday, a national nonprofit public health initiative, is all about incorporating more vegetables and less meat into our diet.  It’s about moderation, just one day a week, cutting down on meats high in saturated fat and increasing protein-rich plant-based foods — good for personal health and good for the planet.

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4 Ingredients Gluten-Free Cookbook

April 26, 2012 By 32 Comments

We recently received a copy of the 4 Ingredient Gluten-Free Cookbook and are excited to share a couple of the recipes with you!

Seeing that I had the review task for this cookbook, I went to the dessert section. The first recipe I tried out was the Peanut Butter Cookie recipe.

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup crunchy peanut butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 egg

Preheat the over to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. In a bowl, mix all ingredients. Using a tablespoon amounts, roll into small balls and place on the baking sheets. Flatten slightly with a fork, crisscross style. Bake for 10 minutes, or until a thin crust forms on the cookie. NOTE: These will harden as they cool.

My Thoughts: I love peanut butter cookies. These peanut butter cookies were really simple to make with what I had on hand. I admit I didn’t use crunchy peanut butter but went for the Skippy Natural Peanut Butter I seriously love. These are worth making again for sure!

Next up on the test list is the Flourless Chocolate Cake recipe!

Flourless Chocolate Cake

4 eggs, separated

1 cup superfine sugar

1 3/4 sticks (7 ounces) butter

8 ounces dark chocolate

Put a rack in the lowest position and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9-inch round cake pan with parchment paper. With an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks with 1/2 cup of the sugar. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until fluffy, then add the remaining 1/2 cup sugar. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until fluffy, then add the remaining 1/2 cup sugar, gradually beating until stiff peaks form. In a bowl set over a pan of hot water, melt the butter and chocolate, stirring regularly. Fold the chocolate mixture into the egg yolks. Fold in the egg whites. Scrape the batter into the cake pan and bake for 40 minutes. Serve warm or chilled.

I can’t wait to try this recipe since I have some baking time back in my life for a few weeks!

You can find this cookbook over on Amazon for a great price!
We are excited to offer one our readers a copy of this cookbook in a giveaway.

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Meatless Monday: Portobello Mushroom Burger

April 23, 2012 By 1 Comment

Last week we went easy with the pancake dinner. This week is another easy meatless recipe for you because sometimes life is just about being easy. We love burgers but we aren’t big on the alternative meat foods. The ingredients in those foods, especially the sodium, just seem to make them a less than ideal meatless choice. We do love mushrooms though and they have a wonderful meaty taste to them.

When grilled up and seasoned just right, portobello mushroms are a hearty and healthy alternative to your typical burger.  You can find them in just about any supermarket produce section and they are pretty reasonably priced when compared with ground beef.  We put ours on a crusty ciabatta roll with lettuce and tomato for a nice warm weather treat.

Portobello Mushroom Burger

While it’s not necessary, I always remove the gills (the black stuff on the bottom of the mushroom) and cut the stem down pretty small.  You can use an outdoor grill or a grill pan for this, but since we had out our panini press from the weekend, we decided to give that a try.  It worked out very well and saved time by cooking both sides at once, but I did miss the little big of extra char and smokiness that the outdoor grill provides.

Ingredients

4 large portobello mushrooms
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp hamburger or steak seasoning rub
4 ciabatta rolls, halved
additional oil for brushing rolls
1 beefsteak tomato, sliced
1 head romaine lettuce, torn into leaves

Directions

Combine mushrooms, oil, and seasoning in a large bowl.  Let sit for 15-20 minutes so that the mushrooms can soak up the flavor.  Grill over a medium-high flame for 5-10 minutes or until most of the liquid has released from the mushroom and the outside is slightly charred.

Brush the rolls with a thin layer of oil before toasting them lightly.  Assemble sandwiches with lettuce, tomato, or any condiments that you prefer and serve with chips and a small salad for a healthy and tasty meal.

 

Have you had a portobello mushroom burger before? Do you love other meatless burgers?  Have a Meatless Monday experience, recipe, or request?  Leave us a comment and let us know what you’re up to!

Meatless Monday, a national nonprofit public health initiative, is all about incorporating more vegetables and less meat into our diet.  It’s about moderation, just one day a week, cutting down on meats high in saturated fat and increasing protein-rich plant-based foods — good for personal health and good for the planet.

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Meatless Monday: Pancake Dinner

April 16, 2012 By 2 Comments

Sometimes dinner on a Meatless Monday needs to be really simple. Pancake dinner fits that bill for sure. Our kids would eat pancakes for dinner every night if we let them. They love pancakes so dinner tonight was a hit for sure!

We … haha, that is funny! Brian tends to break out the electric griddle on pancake days. Making 4-6 pancakes at once sure beats making two at a time in a skillet!

Brian’s favorite pancake recipe is Alton Brown’s instant pancake recipe. The best of the recipe is that you can make a batch (or double or triple) the mix and then just store it in the cupboard. We do this. I can even manage the mix! In the years that Brian has been making this recipe, he has cheated on all of Alton’s steps in the recipe but does make sure to let the batter “rest” just as you do with a meat!

What pancakes do you like? Do you add to the pancake batter or put toppings on there? Our kids love cinnamon sugar on the top of their pancakes.

Have a Meatless Monday experience, recipe, or request?  Leave us a comment and let us know what you’re up to!

Meatless Monday, a national nonprofit public health initiative, is all about incorporating more vegetables and less meat into our diet.  It’s about moderation, just one day a week, cutting down on meats high in saturated fat and increasing protein-rich plant-based foods — good for personal health and good for the planet.

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Meatless Monday: Vegetarian Tapas

April 9, 2012 By 1 Comment

We are all about keeping our dinners simple, affordable, and tasty.  On the other hand, I’m still just a big kid who still likes to play with his food.  Sometimes, experimenting with new flavors or new types of food can really negate these factors (especially the tasty part).  This especially becomes a problem when, like me, you come from a household that adores meat and are now trying out meatless recipes.  These tapas are a great simple way to experiment a little, without all of the fuss.

The word tapas comes from the Spanish verb tapar, “to cover.”  The idea is that a piece of bread or meat or even a plate would be set on top of a glass of wine to keep stuff out of the wine.  These “covers” could then hold various other foods, leading to a long tradition of Spanish cuisine.  Our offerings today are quite easy and could even be accompanied by a small meat tapas for those individuals who “could never have a meal without meat.”

Below you can see, from left to right, a Spinach Artichoke Dip, Patatas Alioli (Potatoes with Garlic Mayonaisse), and Deviled Eggs.  We purchased the dip at the local big box store.  You could make your own, but this is all about being simple, right?  The Deviled Eggs…well, it’s after Easter right?  Most of us have a Deviled Egg recipe looming somewhere or can easily find one.  That will have to be another post.  The potatoes, however, were so good that I just have to include a recipe.

Patatas Alioli or Potatoes with Garlic Mayonnaise

This dish is a pretty traditional tapas and couldn’t be easier to put together.  We used fingerling potatoes, making it easy just to cut round little knobs, but you could easily cut a larger potato into long quarters and cut chunks from there.  Just use what you have.  Making the alioli can be tricky.  Whisking can make your arm tired, but get the hand blender going too fast and you’ll just have an oily mess (trust me on this one!).  If  you like more garlic, feel free to add more.

Ingredients

4-6 Cups potatoes, cut into 1/2-3/4 inch chunks
oil for frying
salt

2-3 large garlic cloves
1 tsp salt
2 egg yolks
1 Cup olive oil
1 1/2 Tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice

Directions

Over medium-high heat, heat about an inch and a half of oil in a large skillet (make sure not to come up over half-way up the sides or you might spill over when the potatoes go in).  When the oil is hot (a potato fries immediately when inserted), add one layer of potatoes.  Fry for about 10 minutes or until the insides are fluffy when opened up.  Drain on paper towels and salt immediately after pulling them from the oil.

For the alioli, press or mash the garlic into a paste using the salt.  Add to a large bowl with egg yolks and whisk until well combined.  Slowly add the olive oil, whisking the whole time.  Add little bits at first, making sure that they are fully incorporated before adding more.  As you near the end, you can add larger quantities, but never more than 1/8 Cup at a time.

Serve the alioli on the side of the potatoes or fold the potatoes into the sauce in the traditional fashion.  Enjoy!

Have a Meatless Monday experience, recipe, or request?  Leave us a comment and let us know what you’re up to!

Meatless Monday, a national nonprofit public health initiative, is all about incorporating more vegetables and less meat into our diet.  It’s about moderation, just one day a week, cutting down on meats high in saturated fat and increasing protein-rich plant-based foods — good for personal health and good for the planet.

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COOL WHIP Mint Chocolate Trifle Recipe

April 3, 2012 By 13 Comments


 

COOL WHIP Whipped Topping and trifles are like a peanut butter and jelly to me. They go together perfectly.

I was planning a dessert for Brian’s Mom’s belated birthday celebration. I was thinking about a cake and then I decided I wanted to make a trifle. I asked Brian what his mom’s favorite dessert was and he had no idea. (Reminder to myself: make sure all of my kids know that anything with chocolate is good with their mother!) So I decided to make the decision on the dessert. For some reason, I decided on chocolate mint dessert. I started looking online for a chocolate min trifle and couldn’t find one. So I started scheming with the disclaimer that I don’t normally make recipes but I knew I could do this. I had grand ideas of mint syrup and chopped up mints … I had about a million ideas in my head. Then I stopped and decided to keep it simple. So here is a beyond simple COOL WHIP Mint Chocolate Trifle!

Keeping with the simple theme, the ingredients are simple too and very few. So just buy two tubs of COOL WHIP, a Devil’s Food cake mix, Mint Oreos, mint extract, and fresh mint (optional garnish). Here are the ingredients …

 

Ta-da!!

 

Ingredients

1 Devil’s Food Cake mix prepared as directed on the box (eggs, oil, water)

2 tubs of COOL WHIP

1 package of mint Oreos

1 tsp mint extract

1 sprig of fresh mint

 

Directions

1. Prepare the Devil’s Food cake mix as directed on the box. Let the cake cool completely. Cut the cake into bite sized pieces.

2. Put all of the mint Oreos in a bag and bang the heck out of them so they are little crumbles. (A few big pieces are OK and might need to be sampled!)

3. Add both tubs of COOL WHIP and 1 tsp mint extract in a mixing bowl and stir the extract into the COOL WHIP.

4. Layer the cake in the bottom of a trifle dish (or large bowl) until the bottom of the bowl is covered.

5. Use a spatula to cover the cake layer with the mint COOL WHIP.

6. Sprinkle the crushed mint Oreos over the top of the COOL WHIP layer.

7. Repeat steps 4-6 another 2-3 times depending on the size of your bowl.

8. Place the mint sprig in the top as a garnish.

NOTE: Keep the dessert chilled until it is ready to serve.
Maybe simple really is best! This dessert was loved by all at the birthday celebration and will be added to my trifle recipe collection. Do you love trifles? Would you enjoy a mint chocolate trifle for your birthday? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Sponsored posts are purely editorial content that we are pleased to have presented by a participating sponsor. Advertisers do not produce the content. I was compensated for this post as a member of Clever Girls Collective, but the content is all my own.

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Simply Potatoes

March 29, 2012 By

We recently had the opportunity to try out Simply Potatoes.  What seems like just a simple bag of potatoes is actually a huge time saver on a busy weeknight.  We opened up a bag of potatoes, tossed in some pre-cooked veggies, and poured some eggs over the whole thing.  A little cooking and one flip later and a pretty healthy dinner was ready to go.  Here’s what we did.

Spanish Vegetable Tortilla

Ingredients

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 package Simply Potatoes Hash Browns or Diced Potatoes, any variety
1-2 cups chopped, cooked vegetables (onions, peppers, mushrooms, etc)
6 large eggs
1/4 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Heat olive oil in large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add potatoes and vegetables and cook, covered, 5 minutes or until potatoes begin to soften.  Uncover, reduce heat to medium, and cook another 5 minutes or until potatoes are lightly browned.

While vegetables are cooking, whisk together eggs, milk, salt, and pepper until frothy.  Once vegetables are cooked, poor egg mixture over vegetables and stir lightly with a spatula.  Allow to cook until edges are set and lightly brown.  Ensure that the bottom is not sticking by using a spatula to slide down under the eggs.  When the whole thing slides freely around the bottom of the pan, place a plate over the pan, hold on tight, pray, and flip the tortilla onto the plate.  Slide it back into the pan to cook and set on the other side.

Serve in wedges along with a side salad.  Enjoy!

 Be sure to Like Simply Potaotes on Facebook and follow them on Twitter too!

To top it all off, we also have the opportunity to give one of our readers a coupon for one bag of any Simply Potatoes product!

Details:
This drawing will end Thursday, April 12th at 11:59pm EST. The winner will have 48 hours to reply with their address. You must include your email address in the comment form so you can be contacted if you are a winner! You must complete the Mandatory Entry for the additional entries to count.

This giveaway is open to US residents only!

So how do you enter?

Mandatory Entry: Tell me which Simply Potatoes product you love the most or would love to try!
Additional Entries:
1) Follow us on Facebook HERE. Worth two entries so leave two comments here! (Psst … we love comments on Facebook so maybe you can leave us one!)
2) Follow BOTH SimplyBudgeted and This_Cookin_Dad on Twitter. Leave THREE comments with your twitter name.
3) Tweet about this giveaway with this tweet:

RT #Win a free product Simply Potatoes coupon @This_Cookin_Dad http://bit.ly/GWzG1p ends 4/12 #giveaway #food #coupon

Leave a comment with the URL for your tweet. (One Tweet per day until end of giveaway!!)
4) Subscribe to the daily email here at Simply Budgeted. It is at the top of the sidebar!;) Please leave five comments. (worth 5 entries!)
5) Like this post on Facebook (the like icon is up at the top of the post!) Leave three comments (worth 3 entries!)

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Meatless Monday: Spinach and Mushroom Quiche

March 26, 2012 By 4 Comments

Sometimes after a long day, we just need a dinner that is quick, easy, and not too heavy.  We tend to keep pie shells, eggs, mushrooms, spinach, and cheese around at all times so it’s only natural that a quiche would find it’s way into our repertoire from time to time.

Quiche is basically a pastry crust filled with with eggs and meat, veggies, cheese, or any combination of the three.  Our version leaves out the meat, but maintains the light, but fulfilling nature of any good quiche.  The buttery, flaky crust with the creamy, custardy filling and chunky bites of mushroom and spinach all topped with nutty Gruyere cheese will tickle your taste buds with every bite.  Pair it with a side salad and you have a lovely meatless meal for a warm evening or a Sunday brunch.

From a Simply Budgeted perspective, the Gruyere will be your most expensive item.  We bought ours from the big box warehouse store for about $12/pound.  The nice thing is that Gruyere has a big flavor, so a little goes a long ways.  We only used about 1/4 pound (so $3) for the whole dish.  It should also only take you about 15 minutes of active cooking time, giving you time to chill out for a bit after getting home from work while dinner cooks itself.


Spinach and Mushroom Quiche

Ingredients

1 9 ” pie shell
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 cups sliced mushrooms
salt and pepper
2 cups baby spinach
1 garlic clove, minced
3 eggs
1 cup half and half
1 cup Gruyere cheese, shredded

Directions

Preheat oven to 375.  Prepare pie shell in 9″ deep dish pie plate.  Set aside.

In a large pan over medium-high heat, add olive oil, mushrooms, and salt and pepper to taste.  Cook mushrooms until lightly browned, 5-6 minutes, and add spinach and garlic.  Cook until spinach is wilted and most of the liquid has evaporated, another 4-5 minutes.  Drain off the excess liquid and set vegetables aside for a few minutes to cool.

Whisk together eggs, half and half, and salt and pepper to taste.

Place vegetables into bottom of pie shell.  Pour egg mixture over the vegetables and top with Gruyere.

Bake at 375 for 35 minutes or until quiche is puffy and golden brown.  Serve warm or at room temperature.  It makes about 6-8 servings.  Enjoy!

Have a Meatless Monday experience, recipe, or request?  Leave us a comment and let us know what you’re up to!

Meatless Monday, a national nonprofit public health initiative, is all about incorporating more vegetables and less meat into our diet.  It’s about moderation, just one day a week, cutting down on meats high in saturated fat and increasing protein-rich plant-based foods — good for personal health and good for the planet.

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Meatless Monday: Mushroom Risotto

March 19, 2012 By 3 Comments

Risotto is one of those yummy, comforting dishes that seems so fancy that you have to go to a nice Italian restaurant to get it.  Just like so many comfort foods, however, risotto started out in the homes of Italian grandmothers.  Basically, it consists of oil, rice, broth, and cheese.  Everything else is just extra flavor.  The dish is yummy, very cheap, and something that kids can easily relate to.  It takes a little time and know-how, but the basics of this dish are super simple and this whole dish can be finished in under thirty minutes.

We get a fair number of comments from people about how they love our meatless recipes, but that they or their significant others would never, ever, ever, ever be able to have a meal without meat.  As we started considering this, we realized that many of our meatless recipes could really serve a dual purpose.  Today’s recipe is one of those.  This could easily be served as a main dish or topped with a little chicken to add that meat element.  We love to roast some chicken breasts on the weekend to use in salads or for quick dishes throughout the week.  Just take a little of that, warmed up in a pan and layer it over this yummy risotto.

 

Mushroom Risotto

Arborio rice can be found in the rice aisle in smaller packages.  For the broth, I wound up using half veggie broth and half mushroom broth to up that mushroom flavor a little.  Can’t find mushroom broth?  Just toss some dried mushrooms into the veggie broth!

Ingredients

8 cups vegetable broth

3 Tbsp olive oil, divided
2 Tbsp butter
1 pound mushrooms
1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
salt and pepper

1 medium onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cups Arborio rice
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano

Directions

Heat broth and keep warm over low heat.

Heat one Tbsp of oil over medium heat.  Add butter, mushrooms, Italian seasoning, and salt and pepper to taste.  Cook 5-6 minutes until lightly browned.  Set aside.

Heat remaining two Tbsp of oil over medium heat.  Add onion and garlic and saute 2-3 minutes.  Add rice and cook about one minute, stirring continuously.  Add wine and cook until most of the wine is evaporated.  Ladle warm broth into the rice one cup at a time, stirring frequently and allowing each addition to absorb fully into the rice before adding more.  When all of the broth has been absorbed, stir in 3/4 of the mushrooms and the cheese until the cheese is fully melted.  Serve on a large plate and top with the reserved mushrooms and more cheese.

Enjoy!

Have a Meatless Monday experience, recipe, or request?  Leave us a comment and let us know what you’re up to!

Meatless Monday, a national nonprofit public health initiative, is all about incorporating more vegetables and less meat into our diet.  It’s about moderation, just one day a week, cutting down on meats high in saturated fat and increasing protein-rich plant-based foods — good for personal health and good for the planet.

 

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