Broccoli, cheese & ham soup

Ok, I'll be honest. I am not a big veggie person. I actually hate broccoli and that stuff. Trees, I tell you, they are trees and shrubby things.

Regardless, at the ripe ole age of 45, I am trying to expand my food horizons, eat healthier & such. Ha. It's been fun.

5 cups broccoli bits & pieces, florets, whatever you have. More or less
6 cups reduced sodium chix broth, or you can do that boullion stuff
1 1/2 cups milk. Or 1/2 and 1/2. OR I suppose you could use the powdered milk & water
1/2 cup plus 2 tbs flour
2 to 3 cups cheese
cooked ham, diced

Steam the heck out of the broccoli. Once super tender (or, as I say, totally cooked), chop, dice as small as you like it to be in your soup.

In a large saucepan, add broth & milk. Turn heat on med to med high & slowly whisk in flour. OR take the easy way out like me: add all flour to a jar with a tight fitting lid. Add a bit of the liquid and shake that bad boy til combined and all flour is disolved. Add to pan and stir. Continue on:
Cook til starts to thicken, but not to thick. Stir frequently (or if doing the old fashion way, keep whisking, for say, the next hour).
Add broccoli & ham. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in cheese til melted. Serve it up.

*I made this and a green salad & did a whack a can italian bread loaf at 8pm on Friday. Not so bad for a last minute dinner idea.

Waffles

I made these on Mother's Day (yes, I did cook breakfast that day) and they were pretty tasty. So I have the batter going again to make tomorrow.

*You must make the batter at least 12 hours before hand.

In large glass, plastic or ceramic bowl, combine:
2 cups white flour
1 cup of milk (I used 3 tbs powder milk & 1 cup water)
1 cup plain yogurt with live cultures (if you don't see live cultures on label, they aren't there!)

Cover and let it sit overnight in warm spot.

When you are ready, heat up the waffle iron. Add the following to the starter batter:

2 eggs
2 tbs sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup veg. oil

Mix til completly smooth. When iron is hot, stir i
1 tsp baking soda

Once you add the baking soda, there is no turning back as apparently the batter will not keep, even for a few hours. So use it up and freeze leftovers if need be.

I was surprised that sonny boy & hubby ate the leftovers throughout the week.

Gravy P 90 X style

Ok, hopefully I won't get in trouble for doing this. As I'm having turkey burgers Monday (must have used all of the leftovers from freezer) on Monday, thought I would get the stuff ready to make the gravy on Monday night.

1/3 cup chopped shallots
1/3 cup flour
3 cups FF chicken broth
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp poultry seasoning

Saute shallots in some of the broth til soft. Gradually whisk in flour, adding broth as needed to form thick paste.

Gradually add remaining broth stir & cook til thickened. Add salt & seasoning.

OK - I would do my usual way, mix 1/2 liquid & all flour in a jar with lid & shake, shake, shake. Then add to the pan with remaining broth & stir.
Oddly enough, I have everything so I'm set (with the exception of turkey. How odd. Making do with the turkey burgers that were not that great the last time we used them so hopefully this gravy will make up for it.

Pork Tenderloin

Ok, this is really the base of the Island Pork Tenderloin Salad I had earlier this week. But man, the pork was so awesome that I've been eating it daily. It's all gone now & I really want to make some more this week (to use up the 3 pork tenderloins I got on clearance for $3.99 each).

1 lb pork tenderloin (ok, I've never found ONE LB of pork tenderloin, mine was like 1 1/2 lbs)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp olive oil (skipped, used pam)
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 tsp fresh minced garlic
1/2 tbs Tabasco sauce

Mix salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder, cinnamon & then coat the pork with this dry rub. Let it sit for a bit.

Heat oil in 12 inch skillet (I used my grill pan & sprayed with pam) over moderately high heat (again, did medium) and brown pork, turning to brown all sides.

Stir together brown sugar, garlic & tabasco. Pat onto top of tenderloin. place in roasting pan and bake 20 minutes at 350 til done.

1. I had to bake a heck of a lot longer. Maybe because I only lightly browned the pork. Next time I will probably cut the pork in half long way so it will cook faster (p.s. swine ful be damned!)

2. This smelled awesome cooking. I was leery of the cinnamon as I must have overdosed the family on cinnamon at some point to where they really don't care for it anymore.

3. Got a nice kick. Makes your lips sting a little but awesome over a salad with cabbage & such. Yumm.

Banana Peanut Butter Protein Shake

Ok, so I've been trying to eat healthier while on the P90X program. This is what I'd like to have for breakfast every few days.

2 tbs dry non-fat milk (powder)
1 scoop vanilla protein powder (it's the only flavor I've ever bought)
half banana, sliced (I slice & freeze)
1 scoop of peanut butter. Ok. I scoop it out on a knife. Bet it's not more than a tbs.
a red plastic cup (you know, the picnic ones?) full of chopped ice
1/2 red plastic cup water

Toss in that order in blender (I have a stupid little "smoothie maker" that hubby had picked up for cheap (less than $5 I think)...it's just a cheap blender, really).

Blend til shake like.