Unprocessed Hamburger Helper
See that? Yeah, right there. Real ingredients. Yep, it is
totally do-able and totally easy to make Homemade Hamburger
Helper with real ingredients and spare yourself some trans
fat, MSG, and chemical laden food dyes. Not to mention a bunch
of GMO’s and stuff that you can’t even pronounce. Why were we
ever eating that crap again?
Can you imagine all this time, Betty Crocker has been pulling
the wool over our little ol’ eyes and making us believe this
stuff is actually food? Yeah, those days are over. The power
of the internet has come to bite Betty in the butt, that is,
if Betty Crocker were even a real person!
Just like all the fake food items with the name Betty Crocker
on them in the grocery stores today, the name itself is fake
as well. True facts here people, the Betty Crocker you’ve been
imagining in your head for all these years is actually a
nobody. *Moment of silence for all the Betty lovers*
General Mills is actually behind the name Betty Crocker, and
ohhhhh aren’t they just the sneakiest little devils. Making
people think for all these years that if you wanted to be a
good at home cook you should buy their crappy food-like items
and feed them to your family. All the while, Betty isn’t even
a person and if she were you know she wouldn’t be eating that
crap because the Betty in my mind is a smart Betty!
My Betty wears a cute apron and is smiling to great everyone
at the door of her perfect home. Her children are well
behaved, her house is immaculate, and her husband is a real
hunk. She spends her time doing charity events, helping underprivileged children, and she was even a Girl Scout Leader when
her perfect daughter was a Brownie. Sound like anyone you
know? Of course not!
Now that the Betty Crocker is fake cat is out of the bag let’s
move on to discuss just how many disgusting ingredients
General Mills has managed to stuff into one box:
Partially hydrogenated oils (trans fat)
MSG and Yeast Extract
Refined Grains
Fake food dyes
Caramel Coloring
Malodextrin
Added sugar
Sulfiting agents
Hydrolyzed vegetable protein
A ton of sodiums that have weird names
I guess the ingredients speak for themselves. No, just no, is
all I have to say about that. I know, you know, we all know
this is garbage and nobody should be eating it, so why does it
have to taste so good??
The tasty goodness does not have to die like the Betty Crocker
we just put to rest. No, no! I will not let that happen! Fear
not, your fat days can now be complete with your very own
Hamburger Helper made with… wait for it… REAL STUFF. Real
stuff including milk, cheese, water, spices, whole wheat
noodles, and salt. Yes, that is it. Put your pantry staples
together and you have one of the creamiest meals your kids
will be begging for (just like I used to beg for that boxed
crap) every week.
Throw some cheese on that……
Flounder Cakes (With Whole
Grains and Mushrooms)
If you saw my Toddler Lunch post today you might have known a
Flounder Cake recipe was in the works! Most people think of
Crab or Salmon cakes when it comes to a dish like this, but
the truth is you can use any type of fish that you like. My
husband always buys Flounder but the fish in these is the
interchangeable part. This recipe would go with just about any
type of fish so you can use what you have on hand.
I have to admit that making these, or any type of fish based
cake, is a process that looks “ugly” until the end when they
are cooked. There is something about grinding up fish that is
slightly disturbing but having worked in restaurants for years
I am used to it. If you are making these and start thinking
I’m completely crazy for suggesting this, just wait until they
are cooked! I promise they are delicious! This recipe does use
my Whole Grain Breadcrumbs, and if you check out that post you
will see why I never use store bought breadcrumbs (I’ll give
you a hint they contain 59 ingredients!). I serve these cakes
a number of ways but they go great on a bed of spinach or with
some brown rice and veggies.
Roasted Poblano and Cheddar
Mac
My husband brought home a poblano pepper that I didn’t use in
chili, so I challenged myself to coming up with a new recipe
to use the pepper in. My kids request mac n cheese every time
I ask them what they want for dinner, so I combined the two
and it turned out to be a great twist on mac n cheese. It was
really delicious with just a hint of spice. This side could
easily be turned into a main dish by adding some extra veggies
and seasoned black beans. If you are tired of the same old mac
n cheese, I would highly recommend trying this recipe!
“Ditch the Campbell’s” Fish
and Noodle Casserole
I have a confession… I HATE canned soups! What I hate even
more is browsing Pinterest and viewing recipes that are using
the slogan “Healthy” only to click the link to find it is
actually just another recipe using cans of 98% fat free cans
of soup and adding extras. Yes these recipes may be low
calorie but they aren’t low sodium or by any means “healthy”
due to the fact that your getting a whole lot more then just
mushrooms and milk. Here are the ingredients in a can of
Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup:
WATER, MUSHROOMS, VEGETABLE OIL (CORN, COTTONSEED, CANOLA,
AND/OR SOYBEAN), MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, WHEAT FLOUR, CONTAINS
LESS THAN 2% OF: SALT, MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE, SOY PROTEIN
CONCENTRATE, DEHYDRATED CREAM (CREAM [MILK], SOY LECITHIN),
YEAST EXTRACT, FLAVORING, DEHYDRATED GARLIC.
What these ingredients tell me is that Campbell’s wants to
make their soup out of highly refined soybean oil instead of
real cream or milk because it is cheaper for them to
produce. Then to make you think you are actually getting cream
they add some fillers to thicken it up as well as two forms of
MSG and “flavoring” (whatever that means). Obviously this soup
can stay on the shelf because there is nothing remotely
“healthy” about it.
That was the bad news. But now I have some good news to tell
you. You can make a fresh, creamy mushroom sauce in about the
same time it would take you to open that can and heat it. It
isn’t much more expensive either because other then buying the
mushrooms, which run in the $1.78 range, you probably have the
other stuff on hand. I know the classic “Campbell’s Tuna
Casserole” recipe that everyone is familiar with also includes
canned tuna, but since canned tuna contains soy and “chicken
broth” we stay away from that as well. The chicken broth is a
huge unknown because the ingredients in the broth are not
labeled.
I know the process of making this is not that picture worthy
but these pictures basically spell out the steps. Melt the
butter while cooking the mushrooms, add flour until gritty,
add milk and stir until it thickens and THAT’S IT! If you have
other recipes that include canned soups you can easily switch
the ingredients up to copycat the canned version. If you
aren’t using mushrooms just melt butter, add flour, add milk.
Super easy! As I mentioned I don’t use canned tuna so I baked
some wild caught Flounder and topped the pasta with the fish.
Alternatively, you could break it up in the mixture (my kids
like it that way). I called this a “casserole” even though I
didn’t bake mine but you could throw it in the oven for a few
minutes if you wanted to and top with some sharp cheddar or
homemade bread crumbs. That would be even more delicious!