Sorry for such a delay, we had an ice storm blow through and knock out our internet for a little while. Anyway, without farther ado let's get on with stuffing.
Traditional stuffing out of the box isn't by itself bad for you. In fact as far as fat content goes they all seemed very low. It the boils down to how you cook it as well as what you put in it. When you cook it in your turkey not only does it absorb all the fat from the bird, but when you stuff the skin with butter that melts and seeps into the stuffing as well. Now if you leave it by itself and add nothing, then you are more likely lower in fat content then my home made. However I like flavor.
Here is how I redid it.
I started with some jiffy corn bread muffin mix and followed the directions using fat free evaporated milk instead of regular. After it was baked I crumbled it up and dropped the oven temp and let it dry out for a few more hours. While that dried out I cooked down some celery and onion for those same few hours until it was mush. I then tossed it all together in a bowl added an egg and chicken broth until I was happy with how it felt. Those who have made stuffing from scratch know what I am talking about. Then I just popped it in the oven with all my other stuff and let it cook.
Traditional can range from 0g of fat to up to 17g per serving.
Redone stuffing, was around 4g of fat for the same size serving.
Totals:
Traditional : 26 (I did 8 for the stuffing so that could change things) Remade: 14g of fat.
~Skadia the ice breaking panther.
Thursday, November 19, 2015
Monday, November 16, 2015
Turkey Redone
While turkey itself isn't very fatty, it's actually one of the leanest meats out there. All things considered, I redid it anyway. Normal people for thanksgiving keep the skin on and pack it full of butter to keep it all moist and juicy. That adds nothing but fat sadly. So here is how I changed things up.
I used a mix of chicken breasts and thighs. Now their fat content is a little higher but our local store only was selling whole turkeys and the four guests I had, and all the sides it would be way too much food left over. I took the chicken and tossed it in a pan with some low sodium chicken broth. I seasoned it the same way I would have a turkey, poultry seasoning, paprika, black pepper, ect. I covered them up and put them in the oven.
Traditional thanksgiving fat content: 1g of fat for a serving the size of a deck of cards of white meat. 2g for a similar piece of dark meat. That by itself isn't bad, adding butter however can add up to 16 grams of fat for a serving!
Thanksgiving remade: Chicken thighs have 10 grams of fat in them total and that is for one thigh without skin. Already a larger portion. Where as half a breast (same portion) without the skin is only 3.5 grams of fat. No added butter but all the flavor.
So for the sake of experiment I'm going to keep a running total of fat content, of course there are many other factors in weight loss and diet plans, but for a side by side for someone who needs to be on a similar diet to Calico where fat content is what matters this might help.
Traditional: 18 grams fat Remade: 10 grams fat
Tomorrow we will tackle another one.
~Skadia, the food loving panther.
I used a mix of chicken breasts and thighs. Now their fat content is a little higher but our local store only was selling whole turkeys and the four guests I had, and all the sides it would be way too much food left over. I took the chicken and tossed it in a pan with some low sodium chicken broth. I seasoned it the same way I would have a turkey, poultry seasoning, paprika, black pepper, ect. I covered them up and put them in the oven.
Traditional thanksgiving fat content: 1g of fat for a serving the size of a deck of cards of white meat. 2g for a similar piece of dark meat. That by itself isn't bad, adding butter however can add up to 16 grams of fat for a serving!
Thanksgiving remade: Chicken thighs have 10 grams of fat in them total and that is for one thigh without skin. Already a larger portion. Where as half a breast (same portion) without the skin is only 3.5 grams of fat. No added butter but all the flavor.
So for the sake of experiment I'm going to keep a running total of fat content, of course there are many other factors in weight loss and diet plans, but for a side by side for someone who needs to be on a similar diet to Calico where fat content is what matters this might help.
Traditional: 18 grams fat Remade: 10 grams fat
Tomorrow we will tackle another one.
~Skadia, the food loving panther.
Thursday, November 12, 2015
A reworked Thanksgiving
So this time of year is filled with family and good food. Normally no one thinks twice about what they are putting on the table. Not this year for us though. With my partner, calico's many surgeries this year and her guts more or less being pulled out and put back in it has altered her diet greatly. The normal recommended fat intake is between 60 and 75 grams total per day. Calico's is about 30 a day. The difference, the normal person feels a bit heavy, maybe gains a few pounds. She however, could very well land her back in the hospital.
Her aunt thought it would be nice to host the big dinner before we make a cross country move, wonderful thought, but when I started thinking it all over, she won't be able to enjoy most of it. Gravy is fat, while the turkey isn't full of fat, the butter you put in it adds up. The stuffing inside that is absorbing the turkey juice as well as the melted butter. So before long that will all add up.
So how can she enjoy the holiday? Easy, I'm going to make some changes to most of the dishes and switch some things up so that she can enjoy it as much as everyone else. Over the next few days I will be sharing some of my numbers with you all (fat content) as well as some of the recipes for the most traditional dishes of the season.
Her aunt thought it would be nice to host the big dinner before we make a cross country move, wonderful thought, but when I started thinking it all over, she won't be able to enjoy most of it. Gravy is fat, while the turkey isn't full of fat, the butter you put in it adds up. The stuffing inside that is absorbing the turkey juice as well as the melted butter. So before long that will all add up.
So how can she enjoy the holiday? Easy, I'm going to make some changes to most of the dishes and switch some things up so that she can enjoy it as much as everyone else. Over the next few days I will be sharing some of my numbers with you all (fat content) as well as some of the recipes for the most traditional dishes of the season.
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
A twist on Tortilla Soup
I did a crazy thing a while back and found a 5 pound bag of tilapia fillet on sale for $5. There was roughly 16 in the bag, so super good deal. Only thing I forgot is that I hate fish. So I invested in a few low cost ingredients and attempted to make Tortilla soup but with fish. I of course did no measuring but ended up with a massive pot and could easily feed 4 or more people.
I parboiled some rice while I poached the fish. Maybe a cup of rice. I chopped up 2 bell peppers and tossed that in with some garlic with the fish. I let that cook down and then tossed in a can of chicken broth. I added half a packed of McCormick chicken taco seasoning. I tossed in a small can of corn, and a can of black beans and diced tomatoes. I let that boil for a bit and served it topped with fiesta blend cheese and tortilla strips.
While it didn't hide the fish as well as I would hope, it did make a lot of food, and it's pretty good.
2 tilapia fillets
minced garlic
2 bell peppers (I used one red and one yellow)
1 small can of chicken broth
1 very small can of corn
1 can of black beans
1 can of no salt added diced tomatoes
1 packet of McCormick chicken taco seasoning
I paid less than $5 for all the extras aside from the fish, so for the entire batch, I maybe coughed up maybe $6 for the entire pot of food. For the two of us I could have easily halved the recipie. I will be freezing some of this for perhaps another meal. So I think it was well worth it.
I parboiled some rice while I poached the fish. Maybe a cup of rice. I chopped up 2 bell peppers and tossed that in with some garlic with the fish. I let that cook down and then tossed in a can of chicken broth. I added half a packed of McCormick chicken taco seasoning. I tossed in a small can of corn, and a can of black beans and diced tomatoes. I let that boil for a bit and served it topped with fiesta blend cheese and tortilla strips.
While it didn't hide the fish as well as I would hope, it did make a lot of food, and it's pretty good.
2 tilapia fillets
minced garlic
2 bell peppers (I used one red and one yellow)
1 small can of chicken broth
1 very small can of corn
1 can of black beans
1 can of no salt added diced tomatoes
1 packet of McCormick chicken taco seasoning
I paid less than $5 for all the extras aside from the fish, so for the entire batch, I maybe coughed up maybe $6 for the entire pot of food. For the two of us I could have easily halved the recipie. I will be freezing some of this for perhaps another meal. So I think it was well worth it.
Saturday, October 24, 2015
Make cheap food stretch farther
So I would like to take just a quick moment and ramble on about exactly what the title says. Let's make cheap food, go farther. So here is what I did for dinner tonight. Hormel Chili you can normally catch on sale for about $1 for a can. Not bad at all. They are free of preservatives, and have a turkey one that is 99% fat free. Great for our lifestyle! So I just heated that up in the microwave, added some shredded cheese, and cooked up some rice. Mixed it all together and bam, plenty of food! I maybe paid $.75 per serving, maybe tops? I'm going to say less than that, but if you want to add some extra veggies there is for sure some wiggle room in the budget. Maybe toss in some celery, or bell peppers and you have a great balanced meal.
What are some of your favorite meal stretchers?
Thanks for reading.
~Skadia, the easy night having panther.
What are some of your favorite meal stretchers?
Thanks for reading.
~Skadia, the easy night having panther.
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Good Cheap Staples to Have on Hand
The title more or less says it all. I'm going to go over some really good, low cost things that are great to have on hand for low budget meals. Now do keep in mind I will be listing things I personally buy that work with my partners diet. (Long story short, missing gallbladder and pancreatic problems.) You might be able to get away even cheaper in some cases. Most of these ingredients will be helpful in well rounded meals, and will be easy to incorporate into many different uses. My hope is to start showing you all the skills I have been learning about making balanced meals, at an affordable price. I have been feeding the two of us off of roughly $150-200 a month for food, and that is including meat. I won't lie, we don't get it every night, but it's there and there have been no complaints so far.
Now without further ado.
Rice - Rice goes without saying that it's cheap and very filling. Normally white rice is priced at a few cents per serving and there are so many ways to jazz it up. Even something as simple as cooking it in some kind of broth makes a world of difference. (We sometimes use left over ramen noodle flavor packets. More on that later.) I personally prefer to spend a bit more and get Calrose rice. It's a short grain rice that can be used for sticky rice, as well as dishes like risotto. Personal preference there and our normal grocery store has their own brand of it so it's still very cheap and a bag lasts the two of us for about a month. Depends on how much rice I make.
Crackers- Some people bread their chicken with bran flakes. Ewww. You can also get crackers in so many different flavors and use them not just for breading but for snacking as well. They are also pretty cheap. You can even make small peanut butter sandwiches for finger food after school for kids.
Canned pork and beans- We personally buy the cheap kind in normal tomato sauce because Calico cannot handle the pork. Those can's normally run about $1 each and I can add them to just about any kind of dish to stretch it. I've added them to tacos, made dips out of them, and toss in some hot dogs to make a meal out of them.
Hot dogs- I know, this is such a common item on the cheap list, but they can be stretched and made into many other dishes. We buy the turkey dogs. (I find them on sale 2/$3 and stock up when I can.) We can also split the pack of eight into two meals, at two dogs each it's a real good money saver. I use them a lot in place of any other protein. They don't always work, but a lot of the time they still fill us up pretty well.
Ramen noodles- I use these so much it's almost not even funny. They are cheap, lets face it. $.25 for two servings. (yes according to the package it's two per pack.) Not only do they make for hearty lunches alone or with some crackers, but you can use them in many other things. Soups, stir fries, use them in place of normal noodles. You also don't always have to use the flavor packet (noted above used sometimes with rice instead), I add my own sauces to them and have never been disappointed.
Frozen mixed veggies- Mixed here being the key word. Amazing to have on hand and normally you can find them for about $1.50 a bag. The two of us normally go through about two bags a month. They are great in soups, fried rice, stir fries, and whatever else you can really add veggies too. Now there are also other mixes, sometimes we upgrade and buy the asian mix, sometimes we just buy a bag of pre-cut bell peppers, but no matter what it is a worth while thing to have on hand. Note: also doubles as an ice pack!
Mac and Cheese - You can find some boxes as low as $.52. Where are you going wrong? Add some hot dogs, or even a diced up chicken breast (or canned fish as well!) and you have yourself a meal. Heck toss in some of those frozen veggies and bake it a bit and bam, full balanced cheap meal.
Those are just a few things I personally love to keep on hand and there are so many more things out there, canned beans are great, seasonal veggies that are fresh, on sale family packages of meat. Just watch your portions. America is good for making meat and slow carbs (like pasta and bread) heavy meals, but just balance them out a bit more and you will watch your dollar stretch a bit more.
~Skadia, the cheap food loving panther.
Now without further ado.
Rice - Rice goes without saying that it's cheap and very filling. Normally white rice is priced at a few cents per serving and there are so many ways to jazz it up. Even something as simple as cooking it in some kind of broth makes a world of difference. (We sometimes use left over ramen noodle flavor packets. More on that later.) I personally prefer to spend a bit more and get Calrose rice. It's a short grain rice that can be used for sticky rice, as well as dishes like risotto. Personal preference there and our normal grocery store has their own brand of it so it's still very cheap and a bag lasts the two of us for about a month. Depends on how much rice I make.
Crackers- Some people bread their chicken with bran flakes. Ewww. You can also get crackers in so many different flavors and use them not just for breading but for snacking as well. They are also pretty cheap. You can even make small peanut butter sandwiches for finger food after school for kids.
Canned pork and beans- We personally buy the cheap kind in normal tomato sauce because Calico cannot handle the pork. Those can's normally run about $1 each and I can add them to just about any kind of dish to stretch it. I've added them to tacos, made dips out of them, and toss in some hot dogs to make a meal out of them.
Hot dogs- I know, this is such a common item on the cheap list, but they can be stretched and made into many other dishes. We buy the turkey dogs. (I find them on sale 2/$3 and stock up when I can.) We can also split the pack of eight into two meals, at two dogs each it's a real good money saver. I use them a lot in place of any other protein. They don't always work, but a lot of the time they still fill us up pretty well.
Ramen noodles- I use these so much it's almost not even funny. They are cheap, lets face it. $.25 for two servings. (yes according to the package it's two per pack.) Not only do they make for hearty lunches alone or with some crackers, but you can use them in many other things. Soups, stir fries, use them in place of normal noodles. You also don't always have to use the flavor packet (noted above used sometimes with rice instead), I add my own sauces to them and have never been disappointed.
Frozen mixed veggies- Mixed here being the key word. Amazing to have on hand and normally you can find them for about $1.50 a bag. The two of us normally go through about two bags a month. They are great in soups, fried rice, stir fries, and whatever else you can really add veggies too. Now there are also other mixes, sometimes we upgrade and buy the asian mix, sometimes we just buy a bag of pre-cut bell peppers, but no matter what it is a worth while thing to have on hand. Note: also doubles as an ice pack!
Mac and Cheese - You can find some boxes as low as $.52. Where are you going wrong? Add some hot dogs, or even a diced up chicken breast (or canned fish as well!) and you have yourself a meal. Heck toss in some of those frozen veggies and bake it a bit and bam, full balanced cheap meal.
Those are just a few things I personally love to keep on hand and there are so many more things out there, canned beans are great, seasonal veggies that are fresh, on sale family packages of meat. Just watch your portions. America is good for making meat and slow carbs (like pasta and bread) heavy meals, but just balance them out a bit more and you will watch your dollar stretch a bit more.
~Skadia, the cheap food loving panther.
Saturday, April 4, 2015
Easter Traditions
With the holiday approaching fast. Much faster than I hoped it would have. I've decided to bore you with personal ramblings this time.
Easter was one of those holidays my family actually celebrated. No, dad didn't take it off, but we would all go to my grandma's for Easter lunch/dinner. It was always my favorite. Eggs would be dyed and some hardboiled would be made into deviled eggs. Juicy ham, potatoes and gravy. Even just talking about it brings up all the wonderful memories. Even the silly little chocolate bunnies my grandma would have every year.
It was always a fun time. Now sadly that I am grown up and moved away I don't see my family as often as I would ever like to, however some traditions die out, some continue. While Easter is tomorrow, I have yet to dye eggs (I know I'm horrible) or even get a ham. This year will be much like last year after moving out here to Colorado. Not much will happen. I'll work and maybe me and my mate will have dinner together.
I do have plans however for after everything goes on sale. That might be the best part about working at a grocery store, when all the stuff goes on clearance the day after I can scoop it right up. So while things might not happen on the 'proper day' I am off Monday and plan to at least enjoy some of the traditions I grew up on.
What are some traditions you still continue or wish you still did?
~Skadia, the bunny eared panther.
Easter was one of those holidays my family actually celebrated. No, dad didn't take it off, but we would all go to my grandma's for Easter lunch/dinner. It was always my favorite. Eggs would be dyed and some hardboiled would be made into deviled eggs. Juicy ham, potatoes and gravy. Even just talking about it brings up all the wonderful memories. Even the silly little chocolate bunnies my grandma would have every year.
It was always a fun time. Now sadly that I am grown up and moved away I don't see my family as often as I would ever like to, however some traditions die out, some continue. While Easter is tomorrow, I have yet to dye eggs (I know I'm horrible) or even get a ham. This year will be much like last year after moving out here to Colorado. Not much will happen. I'll work and maybe me and my mate will have dinner together.
I do have plans however for after everything goes on sale. That might be the best part about working at a grocery store, when all the stuff goes on clearance the day after I can scoop it right up. So while things might not happen on the 'proper day' I am off Monday and plan to at least enjoy some of the traditions I grew up on.
What are some traditions you still continue or wish you still did?
~Skadia, the bunny eared panther.
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