Chicken Philly Sandwich

Yesterday, I dug through my refrigerator looking for something to eat. It was mostly empty (I just moved into a new apartment. The only thing more empty than the refrigerator is the living room; more on that in a later post).

Plan: grab some veggies, grab some kind of meat, and cook it together.

Just so happens that green peppers, red peppers, and onion make phillys. So I through in some chicken sausage (part of my betrothed's dietary switch from unhealthy foods) and diced and tossed it all in a skillet (after washing it, of course). The difference between this being fajitas (which this almost became) and a sandwich is bread instead of tortillas (as far as I know).

The green and red peppers cost me about $0.75 each at a local farmer's stand and the onion was probably similarly priced at the grocery store. I also want to note that I'm going to get four uses out of the peppers and the onion could be easily stretched into many more.

Next time: After returning from the grocery store (or local farmer's stand), I could probably slice and dice the veggies and free them. Similar to a fajita pre-made meal from the grocery store, I should be able to freeze in portions then just unwrap and drop.

This won't be the same as "fresh" veggies, but I think them not molding or rotting (like my strawberries tend to do) is a good enough version of "fresh".


Chicken Philly Sandwich

Ingredients:

• Green Pepper
• Red Pepper
• Onion
• Chicken Sausage (or other meat)
• Bread
• Cheese
• Seasoning

Directions:

1. Slice/Dice Veggies and Meat
2. Fry Veggies and Meat in skillet
3. Add seasoning to skillet items
4. Heat cheese on top of skillet items for about 30 seconds
5. Place ingredients on bread

Note: I added hot sauce, because I can. Yum :)

Baked Catfish

I'm still eating throught the Lazy Lasagna from the last post. It turned out really well and I'm am excited to make it again.

For today, I am baking catfish. It is very easy to do and can be used for lunch the enxt day as left overs. Furthermore, you can buy it fresh at a grocery store in any weight that you would like. You can buy it frozen, but I think the fresh stuff is better (and you can limit your purchase to only what you will eat). Another great benefit that your house will not smell like fish all week long (catfish shouldn't really smell fishy. Cod however...).

Baked Catfish

Ingredients

• Catfish
• Olive Oil (optional)
• Cajun Seasoning (optional)
• Parsley Flakes (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat Oven to 375 degrees
2. Lay catfish on a baking sheet (seperated evenly)
3. Add a very light layer of olive oil over the catfish
4. Add seasoning and parsley
5. Bake for 30 minutes

Calories*	Total	from Fat
1 pound, baked catfish	976.6	585.9
1/2 pound, baked catfish	488.3	292.9
1 Large catfish, baked	1,054.9	632.9
1 Medium catfish, baked	704.0	422.3
1 Small catfish, baked	350.9	210.5
*Source: FitDay.com

Lazy Lasagna

The first meal that I will be cooking (prepping) is Lazy Lasagna. It is all over Pinterest (including my "Food and Drink" Board).

The idea is that you can modify a regular dish/meal, divide it into parts/portions, and cook it directly into a mason jar/sealable container. This makes it easy to pre-portion your meals (and not eat all of it at once...) and take to work (or just have ready to eat). Cook it then, Eat it now (or cook now, eat later).

This particular mason jar recipe comes from The Big Red Kitchen: a Regular Gathering of Distinguished Guests. It is in the oven as I type.

Lazy Lasagna

Ingredients:

• 12 ounce wide egg noodles
• 1 pound ricotta
• 1 egg
• 1 hand full Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 2 cups mozzarella cheese
• 3 cups favorite marinara sauce
• 12 (8 ounce) wide-mouth mason jars or 1 9×13 inch baking dish
• (Note: I used 6 (16 oz) wide-mouth jars)

Directions:

1. Boil noodles according to package directions.
2. Drain and add back to the pot.
3. Mix in 2 cups of sauce.
4. In a bowl mix together ricotta, egg, Parmesan cheese, salt, and mozzarella.
5. Fold cheese mixture gently into the noodles, do not over stir.
6. Place in greased jars or baking dish and top with the remaining sauce, and sprinkle with more Parmesan cheese.
7. Bake in 350 degree oven for 35 minutes.
8. Reheat: Microwave, 4 minutes at 50% power, poke with a fork halfway though

Ingredient	Serving Size	Cal.	Number of Servings	Cal.	Cost
12 oz Pasta (Bowtie)	1 1/4 cups	210	6 servings	1260	$1.43
15 oz Ricotta Cheese (Part Skim)	1/4 cup	80	7 servings	560	$2.00
24 oz Pasta Sauce (Traditional)	1/2 cup	80	5 servings	400	$1.69
3 oz Parmesan (Only used 1.5 oz)	2 tsp	20	17 servings	340	$0.75	($1.50)
2 cups (8 oz) Mozzorella (Part Skim)	1/4 cups	80	8 servings	640	$2.50
Salt*	1/2 tsp	0	1 serving	0	$0.00
1 Egg* (Large)	1 egg	90	1 serving	90	$0.21	($2.50)
			Total Calories	3290	$8.58	Total Cost
			Servings	6	6	Servings
			Calories/serving	548	$1.43	Cost/serving

Blog Post #1

I am a young (recent) college graduate that is (almost married) single (but not really). I will be single for the next 298 Days (thank you javascript for the html countdown). As such, I will have to learn to live on my own (including rent, insurance, etc.) until I get married. This will be a temporary state of single-ness until I have to re-adjust to married life.

I am not completely new to the blogosphere (I managed one as a Senior Thesis organizational tool while studying under Dr. Peter Lawler), so that should help me get this off the ground.

Part of this is learning to budget and cook for myself. I already have a working knowledge of cooking, so I don't expect to burn any housing, but budgeting for food is still kind of new to me (college forced a meal plan and the remaining meals I paid for with a part time job). So this full scale on-my- own will be an adventure (until I get married, then it'll be a whole new adventure!).

My reasoning for starting this blog is in response to all of the stay-at-home-mom blogs with the really delicious looking meals (Mmmmm). But the difference being (wait for it...), I do not have six children (this is good, for now). Therefore, I will attempt to use their recipies and budget friendly frugal suggestions to create meals for myself (as opposed to 6).

Also, I have a goal of losing 70 pounds (280 -> 210) before the wedding. So, (low) calories and tastiness is the goal (along with exercise).

This blog post is boring to read (even I had to write it in 3 sittings) and I (don't really) apologize for all of the comments (I am a web developer and computer programmer -> Comment All of the Things!), but I hope that someone down the road will benefit from my research (via blogs, Pinterest, etc).

Stay tuned for the (Lazy) Lasagna to Finish Cooking :)