Tempt your Tummy Tuesday

One of my favorite desserts in Lemon Crumb Bars. They are one of my husbands "specialty" desserts. This past weekend I needed a dessert to take to a gathering and he so graciously made them for me. They are really the BEST!

1 Package of Lemon or yellow cake mix
1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter or margarine, softened
1 egg
3 egg yolks
2 cups finely crushed saltine crackers
1 (14 oz) can Sweetened Condensed Milk (not evaporated)
1/2 cup real Lemon juice


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, beat the cake mix, margarine and 1 egg with mixer until crumbly. Stir in saltine crumbs, Reserving 2 cups crumb mixture. Press remaining crumbs on bottom of greased 13x9 inch baking pan

Bake 15-20 minutes or until golden

With Mixer or wire whisk, beat 3 egg yolks, condensed milk, and lemon juice. Spread over prepared crust. Top with Reserved crumbs

Bake 25 minutes longer or until set and top is golden. Cool. Refrigerate within 2 hours. Cut into Bares. Store covered in refrigerator.


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Tempt your Tummy

I hate doing food posts without the pictures but as we were making these this week, I forgot to take a picture. You'll just have to trust me :)
This recipe is for Turkey Burgers. I am trying really hard to like ground turkey. I know it's better for us and it's suppose to be a great alternative to ground beef, but there is a very distinct taste to ground turkey that I just can't get over, at least yet anyway.

We'll- I found this recipe and decided to try it, and it's the first turkey recipe that I have actually liked. So if your like me and hesitant to try turkey, this would be a good one to try.

1 Lb ground Turkey
1/4 cup sourdough bread crumbs ( I just use regular) but I want to try the sourdough
4 TBS low fat buttermilk
1 green onion, minced
1 tsp parsley
1 TBS Dijon Mustard (I used honey Dijon) I think this is what makes it good
1 dash Worcestershire sauce
Black pepper to taste

Preheat the grill or broiler (I broiled mine)
Combine all the ingredients and divide mixture into patties
Grill until cooked through 7 to 10 minutes on each side

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Yummy Strawberry Muffins

Ok, these are seriously the best muffins I have ever had. I love them, I love them. I even tweeked the recipe from the original and they still turned out wonderful. My children love to bake with me, so as you can see in the pictures, they were right there in on the action. I originally tried these great muffins when I was peeking in on the once a month cooking adventure (see this post) but the original recipe came from here. In my recipe I substituted the white flour for whole wheat flour (see note on bottom of post) and I used lowfat buttermilk instead of milk, mostly because I had it on hand and I thought... why not? I actually forgot to put the topping on it and they still tasted delicious. I had intended on substituting the sugar for honey, but decided against it at the last minute- maybe next time.
Note: I grind my own flour, although I think the whole wheat flour you can buy at the store is a better substitute than the white bleached flour, I think it has a kind of bitter after taste. The wheat I grind does not. If you want to see how I do it check this post out.

For more great recipes check out Blessed with Grace

For This Monday's menu stretching tip, I'll share the recipe from a great book I found at our local library.


The following recipe is from the book Frozen Assets: How to Cook for a Day and Eat for a Month by Deborah Taylor-Hough (Champion Press, ISBN: 1891400614).

All-Purpose Ground Meat Mix
(Makes about 12 cups)

This is a basic ground meat mix that can be used in many casseroles and recipes.

5 pounds ground meat (beef or turkey)
2 cups celery, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cups onion, chopped
1 cup green pepper, diced
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon salt (optional)

Brown meat in a large pot. Drain. Stir in celery, garlic, onion, green pepper, salt and pepper; cover and simmer about 10 minutes until vegetables are tender but not soft. You can use this mixture immediately during your cooking session or freeze in two-cup portions for later use.

Suggested Uses (be creative):

Tacos:
Add one package taco seasoning to two cups All-Purpose Ground Meat Mix (follow package directions for amount of water). Freeze. To serve: thaw and heat taco mixture; prepare tacos as you would normally.

Taco Potatoes:
Follow instructions for taco mixture (above), but serve the mixture over baked potatoes instead of tortillas or taco shells. Top with grated cheese, diced tomatoes, sour cream, sliced green onions, sliced black olives and salsa.

Easy Taco Salads:
Follow instructions for taco mixture; place a layer of corn chips or tortilla chips on plate; spoon taco mixture over chips; add layer of shredded lettuce; add diced tomatoes, sliced green onions, sliced black olives, sour cream and salsa.

Sloppy Joes:
In a large skillet, place two cups Ground Meat Mix, one (10 3/4 ounce) can tomato soup, two tablespoons brown sugar, and one teaspoon prepared mustard. Stir. Cover and simmer ten minutes. Serve ladled onto hamburger buns.

The All-Purpose Ground Meat Mix can also be used for: stuffed peppers, chili, spaghetti, and baked ziti (further recipes can be found in the Frozen Assets book).

We all have weight loss/gain stories and we are no different. We struggle like the rest of you to live a life style that honors the bodies God gave us. With our Fighting the Fat Fridays post we are going to share some of the strategies we are doing to take and keep the weight off. With it we will share helpful tips and some of the recipes we are using. We hope that you will share yours as well too. To begin this journey we want to share our stories.

Angela: I have never been what I consider a thin person- of course looking back in pictures I have to wonder why I ever thought I was "fat" -was it because I was heavier than some of my friends, at the time or just because society has allowed me to believe a lie about myself? I have always been someone whom believed exercise was important, I would way rather exercise than give up any kind of food, and through college I was pretty consistent with going to the gym. My weight struggles didn't really begin until I started having children. While pregnant with my first I put on 50 pounds while pregnant. I worked like crazy to take it off. I joined Curves, used their diet plan and lost about 25 pounds. Then with my second I didn't work so hard to take the weight off, and it took me about a year to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I joined another gym (my Curves had closed) and went regularly for about 4 months. Then I got pregnant again and never went back. That was a year and a half ago. So here I am. I'm about 30 pounds from my goal weight and have finally realized that I have to do something. My immediate goals are to start going back to the gym ( I am still paying for it after all) and to make a menu that includes at least 3 healthy low calorie meals a week, as well as snacks. I want to be intentional in all parts of this journey.

Janette: my weight loss journey is on going. As is everyone’s goal is to be healthy and be at a weight that is comfortable, I have and continue to struggle since I was a teen. I guess my breaking point is when I reached 336 pounds! I decided to have gastric bypass as a weight loss aid. I only lost about 40 pounds from that, not the typical 100, due to a botched surgery. Then, I had two back to back pregnancies and was careful with my gains but, with most pregnancies, gaining still happens. I realized that surgery was not the answer and have tried Weight Watchers and had some success, but not enough to keep me motivated. I have since joined a gym and hired a personal trainer whom I see once a week for now. I have lost a dress size and I think this was a good motivator. Also, my mother has lost over 100 pounds in just a year. It is a motivator to hear how much it has changed her life and how happy she is. My husband has jumped on the fitness bandwagon and he has lost about 80… I hate him… just kidding. I know my two beautiful girls should be my motivation, but I LOVE FOOD! I pray that God helps me to end my deadly love affair. I know there are people that say, “Well just stop eating, or eat less,” but food is my addiction, and I am an addict. Until Next time…

Janette turned me on to Hungry Girl. If you don't know who Hungry girl is, you should check out her site. I recently checked out her book from the library to get some ideas on low cal. dinners and snacks and have decided that I'm going to just have to go and buy the book. I actually bought it for Janette's birthday this past year, and she said she won't share :) I'm making this for dinner one night this week. It sounds yummy and I think it's something my family will enjoy too.

Crazy-good turkey taco meatloaf
1 pound raw extra-lean ground turkey
2 slices fat-free cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded fat free cheddar cheese
1/2 cup canned sweet corn kernels
1/4 cup chopped green bell peppers
1/4 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup salsa
1/2 packet of taco seasoning mix, dry

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Cook peppers and onions for 3 minutes over medium heat in a pan sprayed with non stick spray. In a large bowl, combine onions and peppers with turkey, corn, and seasoning mix. Spread half of the mixture evenly into the bottom of a loaf pan sprayed with non stick spray. Later the two slices of fat free cheese on top of the mixture ( try and keep away from pans sides) Evenly top with the remaining mixture. Pour salsa over the top of the loaf. Cook in oven for 30 minutes. Top loaf with shredded cheese, return to oven for another 15 minutes

Kids in the Kitchen

My children love to help cook. Anytime they see one of us in the kitchen they drag over a chair and want to help in some way. Too many times I see this as a hindrance to whatever I'm trying to accomplish and instead of taking the time to teach them basic kitchen/cooking skills which really wouldn't take long at all, I will often disappoint them by telling them they can help "next" time. I'm working on a happy medium because sometimes it's just not feasible to let them help but sometimes I can take the time and we can all enjoy the learning process together. It was with these thoughts I came up with Kids in the Kitchen. At least once or twice a week I am going to plan a meal or a snack/dessert that can easily be helped with my my children. This way, since I'm actually planning it I will make sure there is time to get it done.

last week we started by making my famous Chocolate Chip Cookies. Ok, they're not famous, but they are really good. My secret recipe comes from none other than the side of the Arm and Hammer baking soda box. Trust me- They're the best. If you take them out of the oven a minute early and let them finish baking on the sheet- you will have soft, gooey cookies that no one can resist.

I am experimenting with using whole wheat flour in my basic recipes so this time they did turn out different than usual, but they were still good.

Delectable Cookie Recipe

2 1/4 cups unsifted flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup softened butter or margarine

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In small bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. In large bowl, combine butter, sugars and vanilla. With wooden spoon beat until creamy. Beat in eggs. Gradually add sifted dry ingredients. Mix well. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 375 for 8 minutes or until lightly browned.