Attempt at Meatloaf and Green Bean and Mushroom Casserole

Meatloaf topped with Turkey Bacon

 

 

2 lbs. ground beef
1 can tomato sauce
onions and green bell peppers chopped
seasoning: caldo de tomato
BBQ potato chips broken
broken crackers
strips of turkey bacon on top

Green Bean and Mushroom Casserole

1 can green beans
1 can cream of musroom soup
1 can mushrooms
french fried onions
milk

Harlingen Raspa Stand

When i go down to Harlingen, I always have to get a picadilly! It is a raspa (snowcone) with pickles, koolaid powder, chili lucas powder, and i think that might be it. I also love mexican corn. It has corn, mayonaise, chili lucas powder, and queso blanco! Good thing I have tasted anything this good in San Antonio, otherwise I would gain so much weight!

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Break-fast

1 egg, half a tomato, handful of cooked spinach, 1/4 small avocado, and of course cheeeeese!

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Applied Food Science Lab

In my Dietetics program, we have lab once a week. And its not a boring chemistry or biology lab, like I have had in the past. It is a lab dedicated to cooking and experimenting with different types of cooking techniques. The following pictures are foods that we cooked in one lab time. Of course, we split the work in between different teams to yield more food to eat! Yummmm. The best thing about this is that I get to improve my skills in the kitchen AND eat free food! YESS! :)

plate of samples

Braised carrots and leeks

parsnips

fruit crumble

coffee mousse, soy smoothie, fruit smoothie

In addition to these, the lab also experimented with other food products. We do so much in so little time. It is great learning experience.

*I WILL POST SELECTED RECIPES LATER. IF INTERESTED IN A CERTAIN RECIPE, THEN LET ME KNOW*


Going out of town right now so I will come back and add more to this blog. Let me know what you think!

Sopapilla Cheesecake for my Grandma's Birthday and Anniversary

Layers

Sopapilla Cheesecake

Original recipe from  allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened 1 cup white sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 (8 ounce) packages refrigerated

crescent rolls 1/2 cup melted butter 1/2 cup white sugar 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

1.	Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Prepare a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray.
2.	Beat the cream cheese with 1 cup of sugar and the vanilla extract in a bowl until smooth; set aside.
3.	Unroll the cans of crescent roll dough, and use a rolling pin to shape each sheet into 9x13 inch rectangles. Press one sheet into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Evenly spread the cream cheese mixture into the baking dish, then cover with the remaining piece of crescent dough, and brush with melted butter. Stir together 1/2 cup of sugar with the cinnamon in a small bowl, and sprinkle evenly over the top of the cheesecake.
4.	Bake in the preheated oven until the crescent dough has puffed and turned golden brown, about 30 minutes. Allow to cool 10 minutes before serving.

Nutrition Information Servings Per Recipe: 12 Calories: 378

Amount Per Serving Total Fat: 22.2g Cholesterol: 41mg Sodium: 403mg

Amount Per Serving Total Carbs: 40.4g     Dietary Fiber: 0.1g Protein: 4.2g

I modified the above recipe by using the following:
2/3 cup Splenda brown sugar instead of 1 cup white sugar
less than 1/3 cup of white sugar (ran out of brown sugar) and small amount of Splenda brown sugar for the white sugar in the topping
Smart Balance spray and a spoonful of unsweetened applesauce instead of melted butter
All products bought were reduced fat and light (crescent rolls and cream cheese, respectively)

With all these modifications, I was able to reduce the calories to about 220 calories per serving!!
This dessert was very flavorful and yummy!! It can probably still be altered because it was still super sweet!
My family could not stop eating it and wants it to stay the way I made it. :)

Romantic Breakfast :)

I had fun with breakfast this weekend! :) My boyfriend got me roses and I decided to have a romantic breakfast with myself before work... oh the rose assortment set the mood so well! :P
And the breakfast consists of southwestern style egg whites that were mixed with peppers already, mushrooms, bits of squash, and tomatoes. I have to be sure to get those vegetables in my diet! to try to get to 3 servings... yesss!

San Antonio Food Bank

I had the opportunity to volunteer with the San Antonio Food Bank this past Saturday morning. Help is always much needed and appreciated. I helped in the garden in pulling weeds out around the tomato plants. They actually needed more help than expected on Saturday because San Antonio is very erratic and flooded some of the plants there. :(

The following are some interesting accomplishments pertaining to the garden:

Accomplishments to Date

• Produced 2,640 pounds of produce in the first year of operation which was distributed to the San Antonio Food Bank's network of agencies and used by the Community Kitchen and Nutrition Education program. We are aiming for 5,000 lbs. of production for 2010.
• Recruited 602 volunteers to learn about gardening and assist in general garden maintenance.
• Started a partnership with Highlands High School to begin an Agriculture program to grow produce (tomatoes, spinach, peppers and onions) for individuals and families in need.
• Served as a summer work site for local high school students.
• Constructed a Tractor/Tool Shed and a Green House.
• Developed an 8-week Gardening Curriculum for Primary School Children aimed at introducing children to simple gardening concepts.
• Working with city and county officials to implement a water harvesting project to benefit the garden.

I plan on volunteering more of my time at the San Antonio Food Bank. Any volunteering is great for yourself and for others!
To help out San Antonio Food Bank, go to the following link and explore!
http://www.safoodbank.org/index.php/home

Also, since September is Hunger Action Month they teamed up with Whataburger for some assistance! Mmmmm... whataburger :) Check out the following..

SA Goes Orange will kick off on September 1 with the lighting of Whataburger’s headquarters, which will remain lit in orange, the color of hunger awareness and also Whataburger’s signature color, throughout the month. Whataburger will donate money and employees will donate volunteer services all month:

• Wednesday, September 1, tickets go on sale at Whataburger restaurants for the all you can eat pancake breakfast for $3 a ticket. Tickets can be bought until the fundraising breakfast on September 25 from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. All proceeds benefit the San Antonio Food Bank.

• Saturday, September 11, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Whataburger employees and their families will volunteer for the National Day of Service at the San Antonio Food Bank.

• Wednesday, September 15, 10:00 a.m., the Whataburger home office will hold a food drive in September to collect kid friendly and ready to eat snack items and on the 15th employee volunteers will pack back packs at Whataburger’s headquarters to provide to area children that need food on the weekends.

• Saturday, September 25, 7 a.m. to 10 a.m., Whataburger will host a fundraising all you can eat pancake breakfast at San Antonio restaurants to benefit the San Antonio Food Bank.

• Wednesday, September 29, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., Whataburger will host the County Line Live Music Series that night and provide a free Whataburger coupon for every can of food that is donated to the San Antonio Food Bank for concert admission.

“For 60 years, Whataburger has been dedicated to serving the communities in which we do business, and we could not be more proud to join the San Antonio Food Bank to feed the hungry in the San Antonio area,” said Pam Cox, Whataburger Group Director Corporate Communications . “Our sponsorship of SA Goes Orange is a part of our ‘Whataburger Serves’ initiative to share the Whataburger spirit of selfless service with customers and the community.”

“We are excited about this new partnership with Whataburger and hope that through these efforts we will raise awareness about the thousands of children, families and seniors that count on our services every day,” said Eric Cooper, President/CEO of the San Antonio Food Bank. “We appreciate their partnership and that of their employees to help fight hunger in the San Antonio area.”

Family-owned Whataburger is headquartered in San Antonio and has 712 locations in 10 southern states. In 2001, Whataburger was officially recognized as a “Texas Treasure” by the Texas Legislature.