Lean Cuisine Asian Flavor and Gyozas (Recipe!)

December is a busy month for us and my husband works long days,

so a lot of the time when dinner comes around it's just myself and the kids.

On especially busy nights - like Wednesdays - when we are running from one

activity to the next and it would be so easy to go through the drive-thru for dinner,

I'm always looking for quick & healthy meal options - enter Lean Cuisine!

The kids are happy with dino nuggets and fruit and veggies,

but let's just say we don't have the same taste and I want something more.

The other day I was shopping at Sam's Club and checked out the frozen foods section

to see if I could find the Lean Cuisine Asian Flavor 6-Pack.

The 6-pack was conveniently located in the frozen meals and I was super excited

to find this single-person serving meal that I could enjoy while the kids

enjoyed their meal.

(You can read about my shopping experience in my Google+ Story.)

This week Thursday was busy, but not as busy as Wednesday, so I had a little

extra time to prepare a yummy side dish to pair with my Lean Cuisine Sesame Chicken.

I chose to whip up gyozas - a family recipe from my sister-in-law.

They are a Japanese fried dumpling and super yummy!

You'll need:

1 lb. ground beef

1 c. cabbage

1 small onion

2 T. soy sauce

salt, pepper, garlic to taste

wonton papers

oil for frying

Brown your ground beef and drain.

Add cabbage and onion and cook until cabbage begins to turn translucent.

I was feeling adventurous Thursday so I used broccoli and shredded carrot instead.

Season with salt, pepper and garlic.

Add soy sauce.

Spoon into wontons and roll up.

To roll: fold the top corner over to the bottom corner - but just far enough to cover the filling.

Fold in the side corners one at a time and then fold the bottom corner up over

then all.

Your little gyoza will look like this!

Fry up by heating up some canola oil and frying each side for 5-10 seconds.

Watch them closely - they fry quickly.

While they cooled - because they are HOT! -  I popped my Lean Cuisine in the

microwave for 4 minutes and tidied up the kitchen while I waited.

While my Lean Cuisine cooled, I plated and served the kids.

They were excited for one of their favorite meals :)

My Sesame Chicken looked delicious and I was excited to try it with my gyoza

for a completely delicious meal!

I got fancy and put it all on a paper plate and was ready to enjoy!

I was grateful for a quick and easy meal that I would like, on an evening

when I did have time to prepare a big meal for the family.

If you're interested in making gyozas, I've got a cute little recipe card you can
print and use. Just right click and save!

I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Nestle Lean Cuisine #CBias #SocialFabric. All opinions are my own.

Recipe: Easy Peasy Homemade Thanksgiving Cranberry Sauce

Happy Thanksgiving Day everyone!
Or Happy ThankYouGivings Day as we say in my family :)
I'm sharing one of my favorite (and easy) recipes to make for the special day.
Hope your day is awesome and family drama is minimal!

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy Cranberry Sauce

1 lb. fresh cranberries

1 c. water

1 1/2 c. sugar

Rinse the berries in a colander and remove stems and bad berries.

In a medium saucepan, heat the water and sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Then bring the syrup up to a boil and pour in the cleaned berries. Adjust the heat so the mixture maintains a simmer and cook until all the berries pop or crack open, about five to seven minutes.

Take the sauce off the heat at this point, or simmer it down to the desired thickness. Remember the sauce will thicken a little while cooling. Chill overnight in the refrigerator before serving.

While simmering the berries, additional ingredients can be added for more flavoring such as orange zest or spices like cinnamon. (I don't. I'm a purist)

Pumpkin Gingerbread Cupcakes with {Cool Whip} Frosting

 This year my little/BIG first grader has to master all his addition and subtraction facts.

The program his teacher uses has 26 tests per operation - labeled with a letter of the alphabet.

To help JT keep track of his progress, I made a little sticker chart.

Each time he completes an entire row, he gets a surprise and we have a little celebration.

This week he completed the second row!!! Woohoo!!!

So I decided to bake up some cupcakes and try out the new Cool Whip Frosting.

I was excited to try this new frosting, because my little/BIG guy 

really isn't a butte rcream fan, so I was hoping to find a dessert option

that would appeal to his taste buds.

I gathered my ingredients:

1 cake mix - I used spice cake.

1 package instant pudding - I used pumpkin spice, but you could use vanilla

1 cup pumpkin puree - NOT pumpkin pie mix

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup water

3 eggs

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp vanilla

I combined it all in my mixer and mixed on low speed for 30 seconds

until combined and then 2 minutes on medium speed.

I Added the batter to my cupcake tin
and popped them in the oven for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees.

While the cupcakes baked, I made some pumpkin butter to fill some of the cupcakes.

The cupcakes came out nice and fluffy - just like we like them.

I filled a few of the cupcakes with pumpkin butter by cutting a hole in the top,

filling in with a teaspoon or so of filling, and then plopping the cork back on.

Then I piped on my frosting!!!

Cool Whip Frosting comes in Vanilla, Chocolate and Cream Cheese.

I always use a large round tip to pipe my frosting out of a ziploc bag.

I love how the Cool Whip Frosting piped out like a fluffy white cloud.

I added about an 1/8 of a teaspoon of cinnamon to the vanilla frosting

to add a little kick and to match the flavor of the gingerbread pumpkin cake.

I was super impressed with how well the Cool Whip Frosting held up to piping

and to sitting out on the counter for an hour or so.

I was sure that it would get droopy, but it still looks fantastic.

The final test would be the kids.

I have one frosting loving kid and one frosting "meh" kid.

JT's (the "meh" kid) initial reaction was a little bit shocked.

He was worried about the amount of frosting - being the type that

gets his mom to scrape the frosting off the top before he dives into the cake.

But he gave it a try . . .

I think he was pleased :)

I loved my pumpkin butter filling . . . so yummy!!!!

I also like the low calorie count and fat content on the Cool Whip Frosting

as opposed to traditional frosting - that's always a plus.

You can find more Kraft Recipes, find Cool Whip on Facebook,

or check out the Kraft Cool Whip Frosting Pinterest Board for more ideas,

so can celebrate the everyday like we did!

You can view my complete shopping experience for Cool Whip Frosting on Google+.

 

Disclosure: I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Kraft Cool Whip.  #CoolWhipFrosting #CBias #SocialFabric. All opinions are my own.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Do you need a fantastic Fall recipe to share with everyone you know?

Well, this Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe is the perfect

recipe for sharing because it makes a million!

1 1/2 c. shortening

3 eggs
4 1/2 c. sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1 large can pumpkin
7 1/2 c. flour
3 tsp. cinnamon
3 tsp. nutmeg
3 tsp. baking powder
3 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 packages chocolate chips

Cream together shortening, eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Stir in pumpkin. Add dry ingredients, mixing well. Stir in chocolate chips. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

BEWARE! IT MAKES A TON!

If you don't need 150+ cookies - you can always cut the recipe in half.

Here's a cute recipe card to print out and add to your box.

Acini di Pepe Chicken Salad

When I was in college one of my fab freshman roommates

had a mom with a fabulous chicken salad recipe.

It is a party in your mouth with the perfect blend of 

salty (cashews) and sweet (grapes) with some fun texture

going on with the acini di pepe pasta that is cooked in chicken bouillon.

PARTY IN YOUR MOUTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's your lucky day because I'm sharing this fab recipe with you today.

It's the perfect dish to serve at a luncheon or a baby shower.

You'll get lots of compliments.

My roommate's family ate it on rolls . . . if I remember right . . .

I could be making that up, but it's good nonetheless.

I always double the grapes and cashews,
but that's because they're my favorite part - you can stick to the
recipe if you're a stickler that way:)

You can download the recipe card {HERE}

Iced Passion Tea Lemonade: Mmmm. . .mmmm Goodness!

 I was recently introduced to this Starbucks yumminess and

decided that if I was going to partake of it regularly,

there had to be a way to make it at home.

So, I started experimenting and BAM! I made a yummy, low-calorie version.

Now my pocketbook and waistline are thanking me.

You'll need:

Tazo Passion Tea

Light Lemonade

Nectresse (or other sweetener)

First make the Passion Tea concentrate by brewing two bags of 

tea to every 8oz of water.

Since this is best made per glass, I brewed 8 bags of tea in 4 cups of water,

so that I would have enough concentrate for several glasses of tea.

Let this steep for 10-15 minutes. I like to let it sit for a long time.

Sometimes I even forget that I've got it steeping.

Then, put your concentrate in the fridge and chill it.

 When you get a hankering for some Passion Tea Lemonade,

then you've got your concentrate and you're ready to go!

In my Aladdin 20 oz tumbler, I added lots of ice.

Then, mix 2 parts tea to 1 part lemonade.

Well, that's what I like.

Really, it's all to your own taste.

I fill the passion concentrate to just above the pattern/indents on the sides of the cup.

Then I added one packet of Nectresse, put the lid back

on without the straw in place, covered the hole with my finger

and shook the dickens out of it.

You could just stir it up, but shaking seems fancier :)

It's super delicious and the kids were crazy for it.

And passion tea has health benefits - like calming and anti-anxiety effects.

We can all use some calm in our life, right?

And since it's been like 100 degrees here for 5 weeks straight,

with no sign of letting up, I might just be drinking this

into December.

Pure Deliciousness: Zucchini Brownies

 

 These are seriously delicious.

Like knock your socks off amazing.

I might be biased, but I love them.

My friend Kara Noel said they are more like a cake than

a brownie, you say tomato, I say tomato :)

Whatever they are, they are fabulous

and you'll be begging for more.

It's best to make these when you have somewhere

to take them, so you don't eat the entire pan by yourself.

In addition it's a much better alternative to getting rid

of your overabundance of garden zucchini than dumping

them on your neighbor's doorstep - leave these instead!

Plus, if you use Greek yogurt instead of oil, they are practically health food.

Well, that is until you frost them.

You don't have to frost them, 

but that's what my mom does, so it must be right.

Don't forget the milk!

This is my mom's chocolate frosting recipe.

She doesn't deal in absolutes when it comes to frosting,

so play around with the amounts until you're happy with the

consistency and flavor.

 

If you'd like to recipe cards - just right click and "save as".

Unless you're a Mac, then I'm not sure what you do.

Wave your hands above the mouse pad?