New Year, New Meals

So what is the number 1 way to gain 40 pounds in a bit of a hurry? Eat only boxed foods. K-Bot and I have, for the first 3 years of marriage, eaten a whole lot of packaged foods. We shop every week and go down the same aisle and buy the same things, week after week, year after year. However after seeing how much I gained (K-Bot is more sensitive to how much he gained) we both decided this year we would be better about what we eat.
Boxed foods aren't really the issue with me...ok all the issue. I refuse any dairy since it makes me sick (though since buying 1% milk this is getting better). I won't eat vegetables, and as for fruit....well lets say that markets is all the fruit I eat for the year. So my diet is usually meat and snacks, just as any five year old would have it!
So this year we are cutting back the meat, finding things that will get my dairy intake up, and I made a list of fruits and vegetables that if K-Bot was buying I would eat. Our plan is to shop every Saturday for groceries, and Sunday afternoons we will hang out in the kitchen and make some cool new meals. So far it has been great, other than the obvious tears and tantrum the first week out that I didn't get any snacks at the store, which wasn't true K-Bot got lots of fruit for me to eat. I eat 1 salad a day with my dinner, K-Bot eats 1 with lunch and 1 with dinner. As for dinners we wanted to try some new things; so far that is Joe the Shepherd, Homemade Lasagna, and Jose the Shepherd. K-Bot named the Shepard's Pies, isn't that fantastic?

Here are the recipes (though I work like my father, never with a real recipe and always forgetting what I did right last time).

Joe the Shepherd is simply sloppy joe bottom with a layer of corn and mashed potato top

So sloppy joes, easy enough, brown 1 lbs ground beef, add chopped onion, tomato paste (I water mine down a bit, more sloppy and easier to mix), Worcestershire sauce (to taste), chili powder, paprika, black pepper, roasted red pepper and garlic. Now you can stop here and have sloppy joes or you can toss that in a casserole dish and add a good layer of corn and mashed potatoes. Now K-Bot swears my mashed potatoes are the best, I add milk and cheese to make them creamy. I like mozzarella for this but anything can work. I also add chili powder, paprika, black pepper, french fry seasoning (this is the best), chives or green onions, and roasted red pepper and garlic. Mash and toss on top of the corn. Flatten nicely and top with bacon bits, paprika, chili powder, and roasted red pepper and garlic. Warm in oven at 350 for 20 mins.

Jose the Shepherd is taco bottom with a layer of corn and mashed potato top

Brown 1 lbs ground beef, add taco mix as package requires. Toss in casserole dish with layer or corn and mashed potatoes. See instructions above for topping. Warm in oven at 350 for 20 mins.

Lasagna

2 layers of cooked lasagna noodles. Layer of ground beef cooked with onions, chili powder, paprika, black pepper, roasted red pepper and garlic, mozzarella, shake cheese (I forget the name, we always call it stinky cheese), and sauce (I used Hunts Red Pepper and Chili sauce). Layer of lasagna noodles. Layer of ricotta cheese mixed with green onion and spinach (maybe going to add mozzarella to this mix next time). Layer of lasagna noodles, sauce, and top with mozzarella. Warm in oven 30-40 mins at 350. Have to say this tasted better the next day, I think because it had time to sit and stew.

Last night to make Jose the Shepherd, Lasagna, and a salad it took us 2 hours. However we had the mashed potatoes pre-made from last weeks Joe the Shepherd.