Chex it Out!

Oh yeah - I went there.

I made not one, but two variations of Chex Mix today. In fact, today I became one of "those" moms. You know the kind I'm talking about. The moms who show up to school parties with sweet little bags of pretty homemade treats. I'm usually one of "the other" moms. I go to every party at the kid's school, but I typically sign up to bring something uber-creative like bottled water or napkins. Not because I don't like to bake - obviously I have a thing for the kitchen, hence the challenge - but because I don't have a cute, cooking/creative gene in my body unless it is specifically (and easily) spelled out for me.

But today, I went for it. I signed up to bring "salty snack" (OMG the irony) for Halloween. I was going to purchase a bunch of bags of pretzels, but instead made homemade Chex Mix (with some minor variations). And, because I have sooo much of the cereal leftover, I also made a chocolate variation for our personal eating pleasure. (Note: We still have oodles of the Chex goodness to spare.) I'm not going to include the recipes here - just purchase any box of Chex cereal and you'll find a bunch of recipes on the back. And box tops. Because I'm THAT mom.




Original

Chocolate

Ready to party!





On to dinner. Per usual, when I was planning the menu for this week, I asked the boys for some suggestions. This time, the hubs offered up a "it's almost cold enough for meat loaf." So, meat loaf it is.

Dutch Meat Loaf

Source: Healthy Heart Cookbook

Ingredients:

• 1 15-oz can tomato sauce (used no-salt added)
• 1/4 c. water
• 2 tbsp mustard
• 1 tbsp cider vinegar
• 1 lb extra lean ground beef
• 1 c. bread crumbs (used no-salt added whole wheat)
• 1 egg
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/4 tsp pepper (skip)

Directions:

• Combine tomato sauce, water, mustard, and vinegar. Mix beef with bread crumbs, egg, onion, pepper and a quarter of the tomato sauce mixture. Shape into a loaf pan. Pour enough sauce over top of meat loaf to coat. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees, basting often. Warm remaining sauce, serve over sliced loaf.

Yield: 6 servings

Per serving 218 calories; 8g fat (3g sat); 19g carbs; 18g protein; 47mg choles; 431mg sodium

Roasted Red Potatoes with Lemon and Olive Oil

Source: Healthy Heart Cookbook

Ingredients:

• 1 lb tiny red potatoes, halved
• 1/4 c. fresh lemon juice (used refrigerated)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp salt (skip)
• 1/4 tsp pepper (skip)

Directions:

• In a casserole dish, arrange potatoes. Combine the rest of the ingredients, pour over potatoes. Roast at 350 degrees 30-40 mins or until potatoes are tender.

Yield: 4 servings

Per serving 157 calories; 3g fat; 30g carbs; 2g protein; 275mg sodium

Reviews:

The meatloaf was good. Not great. I have an amazing meat loaf recipe that will be coming your way at some point, and this one was just OK. I tasted a lot of the breadcrumbs. The potatoes were so-so - very lemony, and not crispy enough for my taste. I should have - as I have in the past - roasted them at a much higher temperature for longer to crisp them up. Oh well. The hubs enjoyed the meal, and the kid ate half of his 'loaf (no ground beef issues tonight) and predictably, a half of a bite of potato.

Ranking:

Two Forks

Meat and taters