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Sunday, August 3, 2008
CcubedN, Its What's For Dinner!
Posted in My Tasty Treats
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Last week a Mama im'ed me and asked me if I had any quick and easy dinner ideas/recipes that she could whip up. Uhhh... let's see... I asked her what meat and sides she had. I ended up telling her about this really good dinner I came up with. I should probably give it a name, huh? :P Well I will call it...CcubedN: Creamy Cheesy Chicken Noodles. It's lame I know! I gave her the recipe and a couple days later she im'ed to let me know how much her whole LOVED it. So since they really liked it, I thought I would share it so other families could whip up this dinner and enjoy it! You will need: 2-3 Chicken BreastsPut the noodles in a pan of boiling water. Cook the chicken all the way with the garlic, onion, and italian seasonings. Cut up the chicken into small pieces. Put back into pan and add the Cream Cheese and Milk. Medium heat til soft and creamy. You may have to add more milk to get the right consistency of creaminess. Add in the shredded MJ to the creamy sauce. Keep on low til the noodles are done. When the noodles are done, pour the sauce over the noodles, and stir well. Make sure the noodles are covered with the sauce. Then put in a oven safe dish and shred some MJ over the top and bake for about 15minutes on 400' or until the cheese is slightly brown and crunchy on top. Serve with your favorite veggies. The Fried Green Beans go great with this dish! That is how I make CcubedN. Now I know its not like an "official recipe", but since I did make it up on my own that is the way I make it. Also, that recipe will feed a family of 10, so you can amend the recipe to fit your family. If you have 5 in your family, you could make this recipe and have either seconds or leftovers! :) Mama absolutely loves this dinner and raves everytime I make it! I to say this dinner is so tasty I would love to know if you try this recipe and how you and yours like it! Prayers and Blessings,  Find me here: The Daily Planet ©AmandaDixon2008 |
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Black Forest Cake from Scratch
Posted in My Tasty Treats
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For Isaac's birthday I made a Black Forest Cake. It is not funny how I always end up making cakes for birthdays, even though every cake I make falls apart! Seriously! Anyway...I thought I would share the recipe because everyone praised how good the cake was! The Black Forest Cake is my favorite cake, y'all! Double Chocolate Cake 1 can of Cherry Pie filling 1 Betty Crocker Chocolate whipped frosting 1 can of Redi-Whip Double Chocolate Cake 1 2/3 cups all purpose cake flour 1 cup evaporated cane juice 1/4 cup cocoa 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp sea salt 1 cup water 1/3 cup oil 1 tsp vinegar 1/2 tsp vanilla 1/2 cup chocolate chips 1/2 cup chopped walnuts Heat oven to 350'. Mix flour, evaporated cane juice, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Mix in remaining ingredients. Butter and Flour 2 circle pans. (I had to use one 9x13 pan because we don't have 2 circle pans.) Bake until tester comes out clean. Cool cake and then release from pan. Take the cherry pie filling and layer one cake with it. You won't use all of it. Lay the other cake on top of it. Frost the whole cake. Take the redi whip and make a border on the top. Here is what mine looked like:   Birthday Boy with his cake and ice cream!  Caleb with his! He can't help but love it!  If you make this cake, please let me know how it was and if you did anything different! Find me here: The Daily Planet ©AmandaDixon2008 |
Monday, July 14, 2008
Fried Green Beans!
Posted in My Tasty Treats
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I posted about seeing family in Louisiana on vacation and how we were able to make dinner for family we had never met. We had a delicious meal of organic spaghetti, fried green beans with olive oil, turkey bacon, and onions, salad, carrots, and garlic bread. I was asked by a very sweet friend how we did our green beans, so I thought I would give you some instructions on how I like my green beans! 1 bag of frozen green beans. We don't have any fresh green beans planted and there is really no place to buy any around our area, so we just use frozen, which are MUCH better than canned! bleh! 4 slices of turkey bacon. We do not eat pork at all, so we use turkey or beef. 1/2 onion. We use organic yellow onions. 1 iron skillet. I love cooking in an iron skillet because it puts iron in your food and gives a different flavor too! Pour the green beans into the skillet, cook til thawed. No water. When they started to get brown, add some (organic) olive oil or butter and fry them til they are a little crunchy and brown. Then add the bacon and onions and cook til soft. I like them when they are a dark brown. I like to add a little salt to mine. And you can now eat some fried green beans!  This is the best picture I have of the green beans. Green beans are my favorite veggie and so I tried to come up with a tastier way to eat them rather than just cooking them. So that is how I fry green beans... if you try this recipe, I would love to know how you liked them and if you did anything different to them! Bon appetite! Find me here: The Daily Planet ©AmandaDixon2008 |
Saturday, July 5, 2008
7 Cancer Fighting Foods
Posted in Healthy Nutrition For You
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Mama and I have said for awhile that a lot of the sickness in the world could be gone if people ate what they were supposed to. We got a little newsletter thing called Bottom Line Personal through the USPS and I have enjoyed reading some of the stuff that they put in this newsletter. The newest one had an article entitled, "7 Foods Proven To Fight Cancer". While only my Great Grandma Duvall had cancer and though I am not worried I am going to get cancer, I still think it is important to do things that will increase your chances of not having any sickness. So wanna know the 7 foods? I thought so. :) #1: Cabbage It's high in anticarcinogenic compounds called glucisinolates. Raw cabbage, particularly when it is fermented as sauerkraut, also is a good source of indole-3carbinol (I3C), a substance that promotes the elimination of carcinogens from the body. The Polish Woman's Health Study, which looked at hundreds of Polish women in the US, found that those who had eaten four or more servings per week of raw, lightly cooked or fermented cabbage during adolesence were 72% less likely to develop breast cancer than women who had eaten only one and a half servings per week. High consumptions of cabbage during adulthood also provided significant protection even if little was eaten at a young age. Recommended: Three or more one half cup servings per week of cabbage cooked or raw. Alternatives: Any cruciferous vegetable, including brussels sprouts, cauliflower, kale, and broccoli. A recent study found that men who ate at least three servings per week of broccoli or other cruciferous vegetables were 42% less likely to get prostate cancer than men who ate less than one serving per week. Kimchi, a Korean pickled dish that is similar to sauerkraut, also is a good choice. We love cabbage! I especially love sauerkraut and also this delicous Cabbage Salad! It is so good! #2: Flaxseeds Little seeds with a nutty flavor, flaxseeds contain lignans, compounds that act like a weak form of estrogen.One study found that women with high levels of enterolactone (lined to a high intake of lignans) had a 58% lower risk for breast cancer. Flaxseeds also contain omega-3 fatty acids, which appear to inhibit colon cancer in both men and women. Recommended: One to two tablespoons of ground flaxseed daily. You can sprinkle it on cereal or yogurt or add it to soups or stews. Alternatives: Two or more servings per week of cold water fish, such as mackerel or salmon, provide cancer-fighting amounts of omega 3s. For more lignans: Eat walnuts, and cook with canola oil. I bought some flaxseed oil and used it on my salad. We also bought some seeds and ground them up and ate them in our meals. Flaxseeds also help with hair growth! #3: Mushrooms The common white button mushroom found in supermarkets contains anticancer compounds. Scientists who compared vegetable extracts in the lab found that an extract made from white button mushrooms was the most effective at blocking aromatose, an enzyme that promotes breast cancer. Button mushrooms also appear to suppress the growth of prostrate cancer cells. Recommended: One half cup of button mushrooms, three or four times per week. Alternatives: Porcinis or chanterelles, wild mushrooms with a nuttier taste. Our family enjoys mushrooms in spahgetti and also we like them fried! #4: Olives A Spanish laboratory study found that two compounds in olives---maslinic acid and oleanolic acid---inhibit the proliferation of cancer cells and promote apoptosis, the death of these cells. Other studies suggest that people who eat olives as part of a classic mediterranean diet have lower rates of a variety of cancers, including colon cancer. Recommended: Eight olives a day, green or black. Alteratives: One to two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil daily. Drizzle it on salad or vegetables to enhance absorption of their healthy nutrients. We use olive oil on our salads and cooking. We like black olives on our taco salads! #5: Onions When researchers compared the 10 vegetables most frequently consumed in the US, onions had the third highest level of phenolic compounds, which are thought to be among the most potent anticancer substances found in foods. In a Finnish study, men who frequently ate onions, apples, and other foods high in quercetin (a phenolic compound) were l60% less likely to develop lung cancer than men who ate smaller amounts. Quercetin also appears to reduce the risk for liver and colon cancers. Recommended: One half cup of onions, cooked or raw, three times per week. Yellow and red onions contain the most cancer-preventing substances. Alternatives: Apples, capers, green and black teas, all of which are high in quercetin. Garlic, a botanical relative of onions, provides many of the same active ingredients. We use onions in everything! We love onions. They are a great thing to add for seasoning to pretty much any food! #6: Pumpkin Pumpkins, like all winter squash, is extremely high in carotenoids, including bete-carotene. A long running Japanese study that looked at more than 57,000 participants found that people who ate the most pumpkin had lower rates of gastric, breastm lung and colorectal cancers. There also is some evidence that pumpkin seeds can help reduce the risk for prostrate cancer. Recommended: Three or more one half cup servings per week. Pumpkin can be baked like any winter squash. Alternative: Carrots, broccoli and all of the winter squashes, including acorn, butternut, and spaghetti squash. I don't care too much for pumpkin stuff, except for pumpkin bread. I do, however, enjoy squash! #7: Raspberries All of the foods that end with "erry"---including cherry, blueberry and strawberry---contain anti-inflammatory compounds that reduce cell damage that can lead to cancer. Raspberries are higher in fiber than most berries and are an excellent source of ellagic acid and selenium, both of which protect against a variety of cancers. Recent studies have shown that raspberries (or raspberry extract) inhibit both oral and liver cancer cells. The responses in these studies were dose dependent---the more raspberry extract used, the greater effort. Recommended: One and half cups of raspberries, two or three times per week. Alternatives: Cherries (and cherry juice) contain about as much ellagic acid as raspberries. Frozen berries and cherries, which contain less water, provide a higher concentration of protective compounds than fresh ones. I *LOVE* raspberries. Fresh, in smoothies, in teas, in ice cream, mostly everything! Raspberries are so good. I also love cherries! Well I hope these are helpful to you! I was so glad I found this list and found that we are doing most of them. Healthy eating! Find me here: The Daily Planet ©AmandaDixon2008 |