Healthy Living – Page 18

Baked Penne Fun!

July 18, 2012July 17, 2012 by KTgreen

I’ve had this recipe “pinned” for months on Pinterest and never made it. It’s from marthastewart.com. I’m not that great of a cook, but how could I screw up Baked Ziti? Let me tell you how!

Click here to see the recipe: Baked Ziti

This probably shouldn’t be on my “Fit for Life” Tuesday but I had originally thought that this would be a healthy vegetarian dish. But I messed it up.

First, it called for “best-quality” tomato sauce. What is that? I bought a can of tomato sauce with a fancy Italian name brand on it. But when I started making the dish I realized that since it didn’t call for any spices–perhaps Martha meant a “best-quality” pasta sauce. All I had was Ragu and Prego. Not the best-quality. And also not fitting into my “Fit for Life” non-processed food living. Sigh.

Then I realized I had purchased penne, not ziti. At least it was whole wheat. And I had intended to get fresh mozzeralla and slice it into the ziti. Forgot about that. So all I had was Kraft. More processed food.

Ingredients — Here’s some of the ingredients. Lots of “processed” food which I’m not supposed to be using anymore! The wine is for the chef, not the penne.

Grating Parmesan — Terry always does the grating. We like to call him the faux chef. Even though he’s a better cook than me.

Ouch — Oh no, accident in the kitchen! Grate the parmesan–not the knuckles!

Dishes — The recipe called for 8 ounces of ziti, but the box was 13.25 ounces. We both decided that we shouldn’t waste those 5.25 ounces of penne! Now that I made the entire box, it didn’t fit in the casserole dish. So we dug out a bigger dish.

Terry — Since we made all of the penne, we needed more sauce. No more Ragu so we mixed in some Prego. That’s the faux chef’s other important job, opening jars and bottles of wine for me.

Spoon rest — Okay, this has nothing to do with the recipe, just wanted to show you the cutest spoon rest ever.

Me, trying to pretend that I have a clue about cooking.

Oven — Casserole just fits into the upper oven. Hmmm, since I made more than the recipe called for, do I need to cook it longer?

Finished Penne — Wow! That looks remarkably yummy!

Yum — And it was yummy! Despite all the changes, even I can’t screw up baked penne!

Adventures in the Kitchen with Michelle

July 12, 2012July 11, 2012 by KTgreen

Michelle is trying and reviewing a new low fat product this week.

I was at Whole Foods and discovered another product made with dehydrated/defatted peanuts. It’s called PB2. It reminds me of the out-of-this-world idea when they brought out Tang…orange juice for the astronauts! Well, this is way weird! It’s so weird that they sold sample packets,…and you know I just can’t resist. The shelf where the jars of it were had a huge dent in the stock, so somebody liked it. So here’s my experiment…

First check out this label,…does that say 85% less fat??? Wha-what!!!?

OK, what is it? Well, it’s powdered peanuts…with a little sugar and salt to make it like real peanut butter.

No kidding – just add water- like powdered sugar, it doesn’t take much. That’s it, really! I don’t advise the whisk, just a spoon will do.

I liked it. To me, it had more of an actual peanut taste than the ‘Better n’ Peanut Butter’ product. Tasting side-by-side, that one was much sweeter, like they wanted to make Reese’s filling, but had to use ‘grain syrup’ to sweeten it. William went ‘bleah!’ and hated it. I confess, I don’t properly prepare him sometimes to be my culinary guinea pig (hee hee). And he’ll usually pick the sweeter item, he is a kid after all. Also, after a couple of days in the fridge, the PB2 didn’t separate, nor did it get hard like ‘natural’ peanut butter does. It was still the consistency of Play-Doh. I’m thinking that it may ‘hold together’ better in my cereal bar and cookie recipes too. But that’s another Blog….and another trip to Tampa for the whole jar this time.

…another diet tidbit, (not really deserving of a Blog post alone) I’m a big fan of guacamole, and if you are too I think you smile when I say that the ‘Wholey Guacamole’ company now puts their pre-made guac in 100 calorie (aka ‘single serving’) pouches! I’ve seen it at Sam’s Club, as well as Target. Yippee! Now I can have, somewhat, fresh guac whenever I want and not have to toss it when it’s brown after dinner. I really hate wasting that green globby goodness, and I can’t leave it alone either! My Taco Night is Saved!

Michelle

Yum. I love guacomole but Terry and Maggie turn their noses up on it. I’ve bought the big packets of Wholly Guacomole and love it. It’s the freshest premade guacomole I’ve tried. I’ll have to check out the 100 calorie packets.

Withlacoochee State Trail

July 11, 2012July 10, 2012 by KTgreen

It’s Tuesday and I’m done rambling about the diet but continuing with my “Fit for Life” posts. Terry, Maggie and I try to get outside and “move” everyday. Walking, playing golf, kayaking and bicycling are some of our regular activites. Well, Maggie doesn’t actually play golf–no thumbs.

This is our favorite place to ride our bikes–the Withlacoochee State Trail. We usually go to the Inverness trail head which is about 45 minutes from Old Homosassa. Inverness is a lovely little town with many parks, trails, and lakes and is also the Citrus County seat.

Red Caboose at the Inverness Trail Head on the Withlacoochee State Trail — Red Caboose at the trail head.

Cooter on the Withlacoochee State Trail — This is a cooter turtle. Maggie does not appreciate posing with it. Inverness also has a cooter pond, cooter pond park, and cooter festival dedicated to the turtle.

2nd cooter on the Withlacoochee State Trail — Maggie is checking out the cooter’s shoe. She’s wondering if we could get some big concrete animal for our yard.

Bull Shark at the Withlacoochee State Trail — One of the attractions on the trail–looks like someone caught a bull shark.

Withlacoochee State Trail — This little shelter is about 4 miles north from the Inverness trail head. We decided to take a little break, let Maggie down, and turn around here.

Maggie on the Withlacoochee State Trail — Maggie loves getting down and checking out the pee-mail but is very happy to get back into the basket. It’s a little too warm for her and her legs are a little too short to walk the entire distance.

Pink Elephant on the Withlacoochee State Trail — And another attraction along the trail. I’m really into large concrete lawn ornaments. Think we should be looking for one of our own.

Blue Bottle Orchard on the Withlacoochee State Trail — A blue bottle orchard is directly across from the pink elephant!

Terry at the Withlacoochee State Trail — Terry and Maggie

Lake on the Withlacoochee State Trail — View of one of the many lakes along the trail.

Restroom at Withlacoochee State Trail — Back at the trail head, and here’s a very important reason I prefer going to the Inverness trail head–a restroom!

Picnic Pavilion at the Inverness Trail Head on the Withlacochee State Trail — In case I ever plan far enough ahead, there’s a picnic pavilion at the trail head.

Bike Shop at the Withlacoochee State Trail — Also a bike shop right next to the trail head for repairs or renting. Very convenient.

Bikes at the Withlacoochee State Trail — Bikes are loaded and we are on to our next adventure!

For more info on the trail: http://www.dep.state.fl.us/gwt/guide/regions/westcentral/trails/with_state.htm