Simple Weekend Recipes

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I tried a couple of new recipes this weekend.  I wasn’t feeling too energetic, so they had to be pretty simple.  Yesterday I made some pumpkin custard oats for breakfast.  Quite tasty.  But that left me with 2/3 of a can of pumpkin leftover.  I was thinking about how the combination of oats/cottage cheese/egg whites (Lori’s protein pancakes) was always a winner, and thought I might combine that somehow with the pumpkin to make some kind of pumpkin cake.  Just wasn’t sure of the proportions.  Enter Miz’s Pumpkin Protein Pancake recipe. I adapted it a little, and instead of making pancakes, just dumped the batter in  a 9X9 cake pan.  Here’s my version:

  • 1 whole egg
  • 3 egg whites
  • 1/4 cup cottage cheese
  • 1/2 cup dry oatmeal
  • 1/3 cup vanilla whey protein powder
  • 2/3 can of pumpkin
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/8 cup splenda

Pour batter into 9X9 pan sprayed with PAM, and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Here it is iced with one wedge of laughing cow sweetened with some cinnamon  splenda.  Quite worthy, either for a snack or breakfast.

I’ve been craving chicken and rice casserole for quite a while.  Not sure why.  Its nothing I grew up with.  Anyway, here’s my easy peasy version.  Very satisfying, and REALLY easy.  (Normally, I wouldn’t use the soup.  I would try to figure out how to make the sauce from scratch, probably using mushrooms and yogurt.  But remember, I wanted easy.  And the 1/2 can of soup actually didn’t add that many calories.

Mix all ingredients together in one bowl:

  • 8 oz. chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces
  • 2/3 cup of wild or mixed grain rice
  • 1/2 can cream of mushroom soup
  • 2/3 to one cup of water
  • 1/2 small can chopped chiles
  • 1/4 – 1/2 cup pineapple pieces ( I used some that I had in the freezer)
  • 1/2 tsp dried oregono
  • 1 slice of onion, chopped

Pour all into a 9X9 pan sprayed with pam.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.  Four servings.

Tonight’s dinner:

I’m off to work for a couple of days.  Hope you all have a good week.  Be sure to hop on over to Lori’s blog to read the report of her amazing 62 mile charity bike ride!congratulations, Lori!

18 thoughts on “Simple Weekend Recipes”

    • I know, Vickie. I’ll probably try this again sometime this winter. I’m pretty sure I can make this better. I did notice they had a ‘heart healthy’ soup in the store, but did not look at the stats.

      Hey, I finally tried your pineapple/walnut/cottage cheese combo–divine! What do you think about the sodium in cottage cheese. I just recently read that in a magazine, was never aware before now.

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  3. I keep my sodium between 1500-2000mg per day. Major effort to keep it in that range, even eating the way I do (clean).

    Cottage cheese is one of my daily sodium sources. I consider cottage cheese to be ‘processed food’. (I only have a couple processed food sources I consume.)

    there is naturally occurring sodium in veggies. So I am getting sodium in non processed food to. And boy does the count add up quickly. It is a real shocker how much one can get without realizing it.

    if you have never paid real attention to sodium, pick a week when you have days off and track it. REAL eye openner.

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  4. I may hear you laughing all the way from California to Tennessee, but for this domestically challenged hillbilly who is really trying to learn, does the rice for the chicken/rice casserole need to be cooked or uncooked before adding to the recipe? My instinct says it would have to already be cooked!

    I DID make this recipe lots as a newlywed and we loved it. Can’t wait to try your adaptation – Mr. B would be so happy!!

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    • That’s not a silly question at all. I thought I’d have to cook the rice and the chicken separately too. According to my ‘research,’ if you cut the chicken up and mix everything up ahead of time, the rice cooks correctly (as well as the chicken.) And this rice was VERY moist. You can see where there would be a million different variations of this recipe. Next time I plan to add more veggies.

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  6. Pineapple in your chicken!?! Wow, you wacky Californians do it again! I’ll have to try that.

    And guess what? I GOT MY PAY IT FORWARD CHALLENGE GIFT!!!!!! I LOVE IT! I KNOW I’M SHOUTING BUT I CAN’T HELP MYSELF! IT’S AWESOME! THANKS!!!!!!!!!!

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  8. Wow-oh-wow! That pumpkin cake looks really tasty, and healthy, too! I have GOT to try that one.

    The chicken and rice casserole looks good, too. It kind of reminds me of this casserole I made so often when I was home with the kids that the Mr. got sick of it. (I never did, though.) It was a chicken and stuffing bake that was really tasty. I’ll have to see if I can re-create it as a healthy recipe.

    Good luck with your work days!

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  9. Mmmm, My mouth is watering over the pumpkin cake. Iced, too. I love it. I’ve never really found any substitute for the cream-of soups in so many of my mom’s casseroles. I tend not to make them because of the sodium–not only the numbers, they taste too salty to me.

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    • Hmmm. I didn’t email back to you? I thought I did. Maybe I didn’t hit send?

      Anyways, I’m so glad you guys all like your pay it forwards. It was really one of the most enjoyable quilt projects I have ever done. They are all related but different, so I want to write a blog about it.

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