Have You Seen These?

This is not a paid endorsement.  These are just products that I have found and I really like!  I posted these on my other blog, Party of Five, and thought you guys might be interested, too.

I had to run out to the grocery store this morning for some milk.  While in the dairy section I decided to pick up some yogurt.  My family is normally a Yoplait Light family . . . have you tried the Boston Creme pie?  Awesome flavor but it has 15g of sugar and 20g carbs.

I saw this and got really excited.  This Fiber One yogurt is endorsed by Hungry Girl!

It only has 50 calories and it tastes fantastic!

And, it isn't packed with sugar.  You can't really read it but the nutritional information is as follow:

50 calories

0g Fat

55mg Sodium

13g Carbs

5g Dietary Fiber

4g Sugar

3g Protein

Another thing that has become a staple for me for my lunch are these Amy's Burritos.  I buy the organic beans and rice (non-dairy).  I top it with salsa for very little extra calories.  My sister told me about these and once I tried them, I was hooked. 

This burrito has 300 calories (not bad for a lunch), 6g of fiber and 10g of protein.  It definitely has a higher carb content because of the beans but it is so filling that I really don't even have a desire to snack all afternoon.

These burritos are more expensive than other frozen foods but I found them at Wal-Mart last week for $2.38.  Not a bad price for a lunch.

Yummy!

Easy Beef Casserole

Easy Beef Casserole adapted Mr. Food
1 pound ground beef
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 (16-ounce) package frozen mixed vegetables
1 (10.75-ounce) can cream of chicken soup, undiluted
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 (32-ounce) package frozen seasoned potato nuggets

Directions:  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Cook ground beef and salt in a skillet over medium heat, stirring until meat crumbles and is no longer pink; drain. Spoon ground beef into a sprayed 2-1/2-quart shallow baking dish.Layer frozen vegetables, soup and cheese over ground beef. Top with frozen potatoes.
    
Bake casserole for 30 minutes or until potatoes are golden.

Modifications:
-I added a diced garlic clove.
-I added 1 chopped onion.

Here's what you'll need:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

I "chopped" an onion with my Vidalia Chop Wizard.

Sidenote:  Have you seen these?  I got it for Christmas and it "chops" everything for you in perfect little pieces.  Love it!

Just place it on the grate (comes with 2 different sizes) and close the lid down.

Here's what you get.  You can buy them at Bed, Bath & Beyond.

I switched out grates and then "diced" a garlic clove.

Brown the ground beef, onions, and garlic.

Once browned, put the meat in a baking dish. 

Add frozen vegetables.

Spread the undiluted cream of chicken soup.

Sprinkle with cheese.

Top with diced hashbrown potatoes (or any type of potato you prefer).

Put in oven for 30-40 minutes.

Here's what you'll end up with:

Our Thoughts:
This was a good, comforting dish for a cold winter day.  I was a bit skeptical about using cream of chicken soup with ground beef but it added a bit of sweetness that I wasn't expecting. 

This type of recipe is great for slipping veggies onto your kids' plates while masking it with the gooeyness of cheese and potatoes.

Hope you enjoy!
April

Product Review: Hannah Taboule

This is NOT a paid endorsement.  I received NO compensation or did NO products for writing this.

On Saturday I was busy taking care of sick babies and I had to run to the Costco pharmacy.  Have you ever been to Costco on a Saturday?  It is our favorite day to go because of all of the free samples.  While whisking through some jalapeno artichoke dip (fantastic), I saw a stand that had this taboule.  They were serving it on top of a wheat cracker with a little cream cheese.  OMG, it was awesome so I snatched one up and could not wait to get home to eat more of it!

I bought a box taboule a while back and I did not like it at all. 

I don't know if it was the particular brand I bought or maybe they have individual flavors but the boxed one had a lot of mint in it and I am definitely not a fresh mint fan. 

This one, though, is made of bulgur wheat (my fave), tomatoes, parsley, onions, garlic and some other spices. 

Taboule is a classic Middle Eastern wheat salad.  It is eaten cold and it is a fantastic side but

since buying this on Saturday, I have been putting it on all of my turkey sandwiches.  The fresh parsley adds so much flavor and I love that I am getting a healthy grain and vegetable, as well.  I've tried to think of other ways to use it and here is what I've come up with:

on a grilled or baked chicken

mixed with some garbanzo beans and feta cheese

on top of crusty bread with some olive oil

I bought this container for right around $5.00. 

For 1/2 cup, is it 3 WW points.

Product Review: Tyson Slow Cooker Creations Beef Roast with Vegetables

Tyson's Slow Cooker Beef Creations Beef Roast with Vegetables

Here's how I did it:

#1 Placed the roast into a 9x13 baking dish.  Preheated the oven to 350 degrees per instructions.

#2 Mixed the provided seasoning bag with 1 cup of water.

#3 Poured the seasoning over the roast.

#4 Cut open the packaged vegetables. 

#4 Cut the potatoes into quarters.

#5 Cut apart the onions.

#6 Added the vegetables to the meat.

#7 Covered with tin foil and cooked for 4 hours.

The Finished Product:

Review:

I picked up this roast beef at Wal-Mart over the weekend.  It cost $12.95 for a 3.9lb roast with vegetables. 

While this roast could never come cloes to my Mom's Roast, I think that it is actually quite good and definitely something to use either while in a pinch or on a budget.  A 3-4lb roast would got $10-12 by itself and then if you have to buy the vegetables, as well, you are probably looking at $16-17 for the one meal.  Now, with a family of 5 I think that $17 for a meal is rather good but if you have really small children or are single, I can understand not wanting to shell out that much money.

The seasoning has great flavor to it.  Although the package says to add 1 cup of water, I think that it should be at least 1 1/2 cups.  One of the best parts about a roast is the juice and after cooking for 4 hours there was hardly any juice left.  Growing up my mom would always serve biscuits with her roast and if I had biscuits tonight there would have been no juice to sop up.

I was really impressed with the freshness and color of the vegetables.  When I cut open the vaccum-sealed bag, I could not believe how red and pretty the small potatoes were. 

The package says that there are 8 servings but if your family eats roast like mine does then I would say you are more likely to get 1 1/2 servings per person.  This amount of meat may last, though, if you serve two or three sides or if you have non-meat eaters in your family.

The first time that I used this product I cooked it in my crockpot for about 6-7 hours.  It was a little more tender after cooking for that long but cooking in the oven did not chagne the flavor.

Overall, I would defnitely recommend this product.  The vegetables were fresh, the meat did not have ton of fat on it but just enough to add flavor and the seasoning was spot on.