More Comfort food that does not lead to muffin top!

Rick has been asking for beef as you can see in yesterdays post.  One of his favorite meals is cubed steak, I came across this Country Fried Steak and Gravy on Laa Loosh is another great site for weight watcher recipes.

And for a yummy side of Cheddar, Bacon Mashed Potatoes from another great weight watcher site Friends for Weight Loss. This was a pretty simple one to make.  Now it called for FF Greek Yogurt, my grocery store of course only had flavored Greek Yogurt so I had to improvise and use light sour cream I had on hand.  I also used turkey bacon.

Happy Tuesday everyone!  I yet am still battling this cold but I can at least talk a bit better.  Need more rest, you get that when you die right?  hehe just joking!

Tuesday Recipes ~ Cube Steak, Potatoes & Cupcakes

You know that title just made you have to stop in huh :). Some favorites with a twist, today!

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First we start with a mix of Rick's two favorites cube steak and Parmesan chicken. You make the cube steak like a Parmesan Chicken dish and it was super yummy!

Cube Steak Parmesan found on allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1/3 cup crushed saltine crackers
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 4 (4 ounce) beef cube steaks
• 1 1/4 cups canned tomato sauce
• 2 1/4 teaspoons white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 4 slices mozzarella cheese
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a shallow dish, stir together the flour, salt and pepper. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and water with a fork. In a third bowl, or shallow dish, mix together the cracker crumbs, 1/3 cup of Parmesan cheese and basil.
2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Dredge the cube steaks in the seasoned flour, dip into the egg mixture, and coat with the cracker crumb mixture. Place them in the skillet, and fry just until browned on each side. Arrange steaks in a single layer in a greased casserole dish.
3. Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, stir together the tomato sauce, sugar, 1/4 teaspoon of oregano, and garlic powder. Spoon over steaks when the 25 minutes are up. Top each steak with mozzarella cheese and remaining Parmesan cheese; sprinkle remaining oregano over the top. Bake for 5 more minutes, or until the cheese is melted, and the sauce is hot.

ALEXIS NOTES: I used whole wheat flour, non salted crackers and sugar substitute :).

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Next on Rick's request list was Au Gratin Potatoes, of course I was running late so I need a quick version that wouldn't' take hours to cook and I came across this!

Au Gratin Potatoes on allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 1 (2 pound) package frozen hash browns
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of potato soup
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of celery soup
• 1 (8 ounce) container sour cream
• 1 small finely diced onion
• 1 green bell pepper, minced
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.
2. Spread frozen hash browns into the bottom of the prepared pan. Mix together potato soup, celery soup, onion, green bell pepper and sour cream; pour the mixture over the potatoes.
3. Bake in the preheated 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) oven for 60 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven, sprinkle with cheese, and bake another 30 minutes or until the cheese melts.

ALEXIS NOTES: I only had cream of cream of celery and cream of chicken, I'm sure it would have been better with potato soup. I didn't have cream cheese, I added a little heavy cream and butter, yes I know it's not the same but it worked :).

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Next was a emergency for Cole our little neighbor boy who moved but aunt now watches him at the same house had a birthday. Cole came running in, in a complete panic that I needed to make cupcakes NOW. So whipped these up real quick, of course missing some things so a quick trip to the grocery store and tada :) My inspiration mom brought over Ovaltin for boys and I couldn't get them to drink it so into a cupcake it goes!

Chocolate Malt Cupcakes found on Razzledazzlerecipes.com

ALEXIS NOTES: Now if I was making these for the boys I would have used whole wheat flour but it wasn't. I didn't have mini chocolate chips so I used regular. The frosting since it was made with whipped cream was a little goopy as you all know I'm a buttercream girl :), if I'm going to have a cupcake I better be having the real thing.

I'm linking up to Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays and Tasty Tuesdays.

Tempt My Tummy ~ Chili Cheese Potato Casserole

OMGosh sorry everyone still behind on post and life is running over me ... hehe. Here is a recipe I did about a year ago, yes I'm that far back with some recipes .. lol Enjoy!

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The best of all words you add in some cheesy potatoes and ground beef and you have a yummy meal that everyone will LOVE! As usual this is super easy and cheap my moto for every meal, make that dollar stretch.

TIP: When ground beef goes on sale for the family pack buy it up, I usually will by 3. I'll put 2 in the freezer and then I brown up one, that way when I come home from work all I have to do is mix the other ingredients and throw it in the oven. Believe me it can save 20 minutes and that my friends is helpful when you don't home until 6pm.

Chili Cheese Potato Casserole

Ingredients
2 lbs potatoes, diced
1 lb ground beef
1/2 onion, diced
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 tablespoons flour
1 1/3 cups milk
2 cups shredded cheese, separated
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Place diced potatoes in a large pot 3/4 full with water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until fork tender. Drain and pour into a 13×9 casserole dish.
2. In a large skillet, brown ground beef and onion. Drain. Add tomato sauce and crushed or diced tomatoes. Stir in chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, salt and cayenne pepper. Simmer for 15 minutes.
3. While the chili simmers, melt 2 T. butter in a small saucepan. Whisk in flour and cook for 2 minutes. Whisk in milk, bring to a boil and simmer until thickened, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and stir in 1 1/2 Celsius cheese. Stir until cheese is completely melted. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. Pour cheese sauce over the potatoes in the casserole dish.
5. Top with the chili.
6. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 Celsius shredded cheese over the chili.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until bubbly and cheese is melted.

Found here: http://www.recipezaar.com/chili-cheese-potato-casserole-377356

Field Trip Day (Watch out ... Crazy Camera Mom)

Yeah it's our first field trip day since the official first one we weren't able to attend. Today was field trip day to the Berry Field. So Friday I called to see if I was one of the drivers, nope they didn't need me, so I called this morning to see if I could go. The teacher is like oh you're not going to drive now? So it looks like I was on drive list, of course it is now 8am and I need to be ready and there by 8:45am. I grab the registration and my license, get dressed in record time and grab Cole. Crap forgot about the other boys, Rick can you take them to Grandma Pat's? Grumpy was oh so happy to do that, do you detect the touch of sarcasm there? We hope in the car and it's super dirty so I try to clean as much as I can. We get going and I realize I'm needing the $6 for the farm, oh man what the heck is wrong with me I had the whole weekend to get cash. I stop at the first 7-11 I see have Cole pick out a drink grab 2 bananas (because I'm a healthy mom like that) and go to check out and see the sign no cash back. Ok no worries where is your ATM, behind that latter with the guy on it? Ok back in the car, sorry dude yes you can get a drink at the next place. Stop at the next gas station I've never realized before that there are like 6 gas stations before school. Thankfully this next one lets us get cash back for the small fee. So I'm 5 minutes late not too bad considering everything. We get in the office and they need my license and my insurance card. Insurance card oh crap I so have a expired one, ok I'll just call the insurance guy and have him fax one over. Who doesn't answer there phones after 8am?? Thankfully a few kids didn't show so it was just me and Cole in the car, yup I'm so a great helper!

To the farm we go and boy was it super fun we got to feed the chickens, pick apples, dig up potatoes, ride in a hay ride and pick out a pumpkin. Cole and his partner Bella were super cute holding hands trying to avoid the big mud holes. They only got talked to a few times, I finally found another child that doesn't listen like Cole. We had so much fun minus the mud it was a very cool first field trip.

Starting our field trip, Cole's PreK Class

Cole and his buddy Bella

Stop Squeezing my hand Cole ;)

Ready to feed the chickens, here is some bread.

Feeding the chickens

Digging up Potatoes

Come on buddy

Get on the hey ride

Mom it's too heavy you carry it! Don't you love the face!

After the farm we head to the chiro since I'm starting to walk with a limp again and my back is hurting really bad. We did a pretty good job playing since they have a cool playroom for kids, we didn't have to wait that long to be seen. After being adjusted and told to go lie down with some ice I call into work yet again ... GRRR I'm so dead! Not feeling like taking Cole to daycare I take him home with the treat to be good! It actually worked he ate lunch and went took a nap! After icing and needing to stand I figure I need to take out Roy's garbage. Guess all the fun stuff I found in there, a open can of Spam (that was just opened not eaten just opened), a can of Pepsi have drank, bags of food yet again! So on a hunch I open the draw and guess what I find string cheese, a yogurt drink, bags of beef jerky and a box of cookies. Kids, and when it's not your kid what can you do? I call to the host people and find that I should take it out of his room and talk to him about it and tell him that if it happens again I'm going to have to take something away. Oh boy tonight is going to be fun, he's going to nod and say yes and then continue to keep doing it. I don't want this to be a long 7 more months! Any advice?