Healthy Broccoli Salad

I loooove broccoli salad, but once you add the bacon, cheese and mayonnaise based dressing it becomes one of the worst cook-out side dishes! This version is lightened up and healthy. The best part, you won't even miss all of the other ingredients. 

Ingredients:1/3 cup mayonnaise (lowfat)1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt (or sour cream or coconut yogurt)1 tablespoon honey4-5 cups chopped very fresh broccoli (cut into bit size pieces)1/2 cup dried cranberries (or raisins, or dried fruit)1/2 cup roasted sunflower seeds (or sliced almonds or other chopped nuts)

Instructions:

1. Combine mayonnaise, yogurt and honey in a medium mixing bowl. Add chopped broccoli, cranberries, and sunflower seeds and toss to coat. Serve immediately or cover tightly with plastic wrap and store in refrigerator. Best when eaten within three days.

From: myglutenfree.com

Overnight Easy Breakfast Casserole

This is super easy and can be made 1-2 days in advance. This is great to make for a holiday breakfast, brunch or when you have guests stay overnight. 

Ingredients:

1 lb. Breakfast sausage (I use turkey)
1 med. onion, diced
1 can cream of mushroom soup (fat free)
6 oz. seasoned croutons
12 eggs
2 c. milk
12 oz. shredded Cheddar cheese

Instructions:

Brown sausage with onion. Drain well. Mix 1 can cream of mushroom soup with sausage and onion mixture. Place seasoned croutons in 9x13 inch pan. Sprinkle meat over croutons.Beat 12 eggs with 2 cups milk and pour over meat. Top with 12 oz. cheese. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

Recipe adapted from cooks.com

Hamburger Cupcakes

These cupcakes are so cute and also fun to make.  I make them every year for our Father's Day cook-out.  They are always devoured by the end of the day.  They look like real hamburger sliders!  :)

Ingredients:
1 box yellow cake mix
Chocolate frosting
Yellow cake icing (I used a Betty Crocker one - comes in a bottle with all the tips you need to pipe it on because I don't know how to pipe icing on my own, lol)
Red cake icing (same as the yellow)
Green food coloring (only a few drops)
Sweetened shredded coconut
Sesame seeds (to make it resemble a kaiser roll.)


1.  Make cupcakes according to box directions.   BEFORE baking, sprinkle sesame seeds on top of each cupcake.

2.  Put about 2 cups of your shredded coconut in a bowl.  Add a few drops of the green food coloring and mix well.  It's supposed to resemble lettuce so you can add more if you like.  Stir with a fork until it is evenly covered.

3.  Once cupcakes are done, remove from pan and let cool COMPLETELY on wax paper or cooling rack. 

4.  Once cool, remove the cupcake wrappers.

5.  Cut the cupcakes in half with a plastic knife - but leave a little MORE OF THE BOTTOM half than the top when you cut through. 

6.  Add the chocolate frosting to the bottom half, sprinkle with the green coconut and then add some of the red & yellow icing to resemble ketchup and mustard. 

7.  LIGHTLY place the top half of the cupcake on (don't press down).   Enjoy! 

Beef Noodle Bowl

 

Another awesome take out imposter!  My kids looooved this!  I used to make this years ago but when I pulled up the old recipe today, I found that there were quite a few changes I would make and so I did and they worked out great!   Very simple ingredients too.    It's a light tasting dish but still packed with enough flavor for the kids.   You can add red pepper flakes at the table for the adults if you like spice.  :)

Ingredients:
1 lb. linguine

3 cups cut up broccoli florets, frozen (more or less to your liking)

3 cups cut up carrots, frozen (more or less to your liking)

1 TBS olive oil

1 lb. beef sirloin steak, cut into thin strips

1/2 cup Thai Peanut Asian Sauce (or something similiar - we found the brand  in the pic at Giant Food Stores)

1/2 cup + 1 TBS Teriyaki sauce
1/2 TBS minced garlic


MARINATE the meat in the fridge for a few hours with the thai peanut aisan dressing, teriyaki sauce and minced garlic in a large resealable freezer bag (at least an hour but can go longer) .

 Let the meat sit out of the fridge on your counter (still inside the bag) for at least 20 minutes before cooking.

Cook your linguine according to directions and let drain well. 

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet.   Once heated, add the frozen broccoli & carrots and let simmer on medium heat until tender-crisp.  

Add the meat & marinade to the pan with the veggies.   Cook on med-high heat until the meat is cooked to your liking.   STIR OFTEN. Once cooked, remove from heat and let sit for several minutes before serving.   The longer it sits, the better.  :)

Pour the drained linguine into a serving bowl and then add the pan of meat, veggies & sauce.  Stir well.   (Add sesame seeds or red hot pepper flakes for an extra kick!)  Enjoy!

Crock Pot Hawaiian Turkey Meatballs

This dinner blew our minds... best new recipe we have had in a very long time!   My kids even had second helpings.  We served it over rice to help absorb the amazing sauce.   This was easy to assemble, cheap to make and only took 4 hours in the crock. 

 

Ingredients:

Large package of precooked, frozen turkey meatballs (we only used about 12 meatballs - enough for dinner for 4 of us and some leftovers for lunch the next day.) 

large can of pineapple chunks (drained, put juice aside)
1 medium green pepper, diced
1 cup of brown sugar

3 Tbl. cornstarch
2/3 cup of white vinegar
3 1/2 TBS Soy sauce

Place meatballs in crock pot and top with green pepper and drained pineapple chunks.  In a separate bowl, mix reserved pineapple juice, brown sugar, cornstarch, vinegar and soy sauce.  Pour sauce over meatballs, pineapple and green peppers.  Cook on low for 3-4 hours or until heated through.  Serve over rice.   Enjoy!