Fiber-Rich Foods

Since we are all trying to a little healthier these days, I thought I would share some info I found from one of my Taste of Home emails. It talked alot about adding fiber to our meals and easy ways we can add more fiber to our day.

Here is some helpful info on how much fiber we need in a day and how to get that fiber in our diet!

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How Much Fiber You Need
Here are the daily recommendations for adults, from the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine:

MEN

Age 50 and younger—38 grams
Age 51 and older—30 grams
WOMEN

Age 50 and younger—25 grams
Age 51 and older—21 grams


Some Fiber-Rich Foods
•1 cup black beans, cooked—15 grams
•1 cup kidney beans, cooked—13 grams
•1 medium artichoke, cooked—10 grams
•1 cup vegetarian baked beans, canned, cooked—10 grams
•3 ounces of peanuts—8 grams
•1/2 cup peas or lima beans—7-8 grams
•1 cup whole wheat spaghetti—6 grams
•3/4 cup bran flakes—5 grams
•1 cup carrot, cooked —5 grams
•1 medium pear—5 grams
•1 cup cooked broccoli —5 grams
•1 cup cole slaw—4 grams
•1 medium apple—4 grams
•1 ounce almonds—3.5 grams
•1 cup brown rice, cooked—3.5 grams
•1 medium banana—3 grams
•1 medium orange—3 grams
•1 slice whole wheat bread—2 grams
•2 tablespoons raisins—1 gram

Carmel Krispies

I was given this recipe a while ago, I think from Sharon. I haven't ever tried and decided to do it today! They are really good, but makes a slightly lower fat snack a lot fattier! But I will say they are super good! Next time I think I will half the carmel recipe and just put a little on top!
Carmel Krispies

Make Rice Krispy treats as normal

Carmel

• 1 cup butter or margarine
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup sweetened condensed milk (1/2 can or make your own from the powdered milk recipe)
• 4 tbsp corn syrup

Cook, stirring constantly over medium heat, boil for 3 minutes and pour over the top of the Krispies. ENJOY!!

Making Sweetened Condensed Milk from Powdered Milk

I bought Crystal Godfreys book I Can't Believe it's Food Storage and I love all her ideas and how she makes using your storage look so easy. She is also the person behind the site http://www.everydayfoodstorage.net/. You should check out her site and her book! Both are excellent! I made this sweetened condensed milk for about 75 cents (which is found in her book) and I know a can from the store is alot more than that!

So I share the recipe hoping to inspire all to use or rotate your storage!

Sweetened Condensed Milk

(from I Can't Believe its Food Storage book)

• 1/2 cup hot water
• 1 cup non-instant dry powdered milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp butter

Combine ingredients and mix thoroughly in blender. Use immediately or store in refrigerator or freezer.

Stacked Tacos

I was desperate for a recipe to use hamburger and I stumbled upon this recipe. It is a new twist or spin on an old fav.~~TACOS! I really liked the crispy shells and stacking it together. I will say that next time I will only do 2 layers (3 were just too many to eat) for me and 1 layer for the kids instead of splitting one up! I also halved the recipe for me and still have leftovers!

Very easy and ingredients you have on hand. I didn't have tomato soup on hand and it seemed to turn out fine to me!

Stacked Tacos

(www.realmomkitchen.com)

• 2 lbs ground beef
• 2 (8 oz) cans of tomato sauce
• 2 (14.5 0z) cans of diced tomatoes
• 2 cups salsa
• 1 can condensed tomato soup
• 2 tbsp taco seasoning
• fajita sized flour tortillas
• grated cheddar cheese
• chopped lettuce
• sliced olives
• sour cream
• guacamole

Brown ground beef in a skillet and drain.

In a large soup pot, add tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, salsa, tomato soup, and taco seasoning. Stir well. Add ground beef, mix in, and allow mixture to simmer for 1 hour to blend flavors. (the mixture will be quite soupy)

Heat a small amount of cooking oil in a skillet. Pan fry each tortilla in hot oil until brown and crisp. Drain on paper towel.

To serve: Place a tortilla shell on each plate. Add 1/4 cup of saucy meat mixture on each tortilla. Sprinkle with cheese. Place another tortilla on top. Place 1/4 cup sauce and cheese on that tortilla. Repeat one more time. You should now have a stack of 3 layers. Then top with lettuce, olives and a dollop of sour cream. Makes 10 stacked tacos.

**The saucy meat mixture freezes well.

Delicious Baked Fudge

This is a Pioneer Woman favorite! I have been wanting to try this for a while, but with Easter and being gone I haven't been motivated to bake (maybe because of all the candy I have eaten lately!)!! But FHE came around and I was the treat, so we made these!

They were really good, especially with ice-cream! The other great thing was that it made 4 (I got 5) so there wasn't very many leftovers and I had promised the boys the leftover one!

Next time I will make sure to cook them a little longer, but other than that they were YUMMY!!

Delicious Baked Fudge

(from the pioneerwoman.com)

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 heaping tbsp cocoa
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 300-325 degrees.

Beat eggs until light in color. Beat in sugar until just combined. Add cocoa, flour, melted butter and vanilla extract. Mix gently until well combined.

Pour batter into 4 large ramekins (I used 5 because I wasn't sure if mine were large!) or one 8-inch square baking dish (It doesn't say to spray them, but I did grease mine). Set ramekins or pan into a larger pan halfway full of water.

Bake 40-50 minutes, or until upper crust is crispy and the rest of the batter is firm but not set. Toothpick should come out...not clean, but mixture should not be overly runny. If you pull it out of the oven and have second thoughts, stick it back in for ten more minutes.

Serve with sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream!

Creamy Lemon Crumb Squares

This is a light tasting, yummy treat that I found on the pioneerwoman.com. She has a lot of awesome recipes~I don't think I have tried many that I don't like!

I had some leftover lemons and thought this would make a good treat! I am always accused of only cooking/baking things that have chocolate in them! Well here is proof that I do make other things (although chocolate is good with everything right??!)!

This was simple and delicious. Make sure you give yourself time though, it says these are best cold out of the refrigerator!

Creamy Lemon Crumb Squares

(http://www.pioneerwoman.com/)

• 1 1/3 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar (packed lightly)
• 1 cup oats
• 1 can (14 ounce) sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cups lemon juice (it took about 2 1/2 lemons for me)
• zest of 1 lemon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix butter and brown sugar until well combined. Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Combine this with the sugar mixture. Add oats and combine well.

Press half of the crumb mixture into the bottom of an 8 x 11 inch pan. (It didn't say to grease the pan, but I did) Mix together condensed milk, lemon juice and lemon zest. Spread onto the bottom layer of the crumb mixture. Top with the other half of the crumb mixture, but don't press down.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown.

Allow pan to sit on counter for 30 minutes after baking. Cut into squares and refrigerate for a couple of hours or until cool. Serve cool!

Slow-Cooked Shredded Beef Tacos

I found this recipe in a coupon insert in the Sunday paper. It is funny what you find when you are looking for good coupons to help save a little money!!

It looked good and used the crock pot so I was sold to try it (well I have had this recipe for about a month and finally got around to trying it!)!

It is super easy and turned out really moist and good. I used a frozen roast, so maybe that added more liquid.

I changed the recipe a little and we had great tacos tonight!

Slow-Cooked Shredded Beef Tacos

(from Sunday paper coupon insert)

• 1 taco seasoning packet


• 1 1/2 lb beef chuck roast (or whatever beef roast you have will probably work)


• 1 medium onion, sliced


• 1 cup water


• 1 can (4 oz) diced green chilies (I ended up not adding these)


• taco sauce

Place beef roast and onion in your crock pot. Combine water and taco seasoning mix in a small bowl. Pour over beef and onions. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or until fork tender or can shred easily.

Transfer beef to cutting board and shred with 2 forks. Place in large bowl and stir in taco sauce and chilies (I didn't add any sauce or chilies. I just wanted a hint of taco flavor.)

Fill warm tortillas with beef and other yummy additions--lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, cheese, sourcream, refried beans, salsa, etc. I also made the yummy black bean and corn salad and ate that with tortilla chips and put it in our tacos. You can find that recipe in the salad section! ENJOY!!!