Chicken with Pesto Pasta Cook some whole wheat pasta, drain, add a couple heaping tablespoons of garlic-basil pesto, a couple tablespoons of good Olive Oil, then stir in a cubed cooked chicken breast.  Just before serving, toss in a handful of shredded low- fat mozzarella cheese.   Sprinkle with fresh chives and serve. Easy stroganoff Brown some hamburg with onions, drain. Add a can of low sodium/low fat mushroom soup and 3/4 can of water.  Let reduce for a few minutes.  Add 1/4 cup of low-fat sour cream, season with onion powder and ground black pepper, serve over whole wheat noodles. I really don't like many of the low-fat products, but have found that if you really season things well (no salt), it compensates somewhat.  I make my own blends of seasoning using onion powder as a _base_, then add in dried chives, garlic powder, thyme, oregano, marjoram, basil, etc.  I have a large herb garden and dry my own.  I place everything in a coffee bean grinder then into salt shakers. I also have sea salt and pepper mills on the table, but find that I rarely use salt anymore. I'm not a big fruit/vegetable eater, but decided to change that this year.  I buy one each of 6 or 7 varieties of apples and I eat one a day as my evening snack.  I had never really noticed the difference between apples as much as since just eating a different one every day.  So far, my favorite is the Cameo apple, sweet and crispy. Good luck on your healthier life _style_.  Do it slow and steady. Move more, eat less. Denise in NH

Karen AKA Kajikit < This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it wrote in news: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it : Since I'm a very lazy cook I love the steam-in-the-bag vegetables they have now - just toss them in the microwave for a few minutes and voila they're done. Where are these in the store? In the frozen vegetable section? Sounds like something I'd like to try. I may be wrong, but they sound to me like something that will cost more yet be no better than putting some frozen veggies in a microwave-safe container with a Tbs. of water. Jill

Karen AKA Kajikit < This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it wrote in Since I'm a very lazy cook I love the steam-in-the-bag vegetables they have now - just toss them in the microwave for a few minutes and voila they're done. Where are these in the store? In the frozen vegetable section? Sounds like something I'd like to try. Yeah.. they're frozen veggies. Just in a special bag, and the bag tends to be a tad smaller so it is perfect for 2 people. They cost about 20 cents more than just the regular frozen bagged veg for us. We use the broccoli mostly.

Where are these in the store? In the frozen vegetable section? Sounds like something I'd like to try. I may be wrong, but they sound to me like something that will cost more yet be no better than putting some frozen veggies in a microwave-safe container with a Tbs. of water. Jill Twenty cents more at the commissary. My husband likes to buy them and prepare them when he's in charge of meals because he doesn't have to do ANYthing to the bag but plop it into the nuker. I have no problems pouring frozen veggies into a casserole dish to nuke... so I can go either way. Part of me is cheap and wants to save that 20 cents.

Where are these in the store? In the frozen vegetable section? Sounds like something I'd like to try. I may be wrong, but they sound to me like something that will cost more yet be no better than putting some frozen veggies in a microwave-safe container with a Tbs. of water. Jill Twenty cents more at the commissary. My husband likes to buy them and prepare them when he's in charge of meals because he doesn't have to do ANYthing to the bag but plop it into the nuker. I have no problems pouring frozen veggies into a casserole dish to nuke... so I can go either way. Part of me is cheap and wants to save that 20 cents. That's me, save that 20 cents!  And if it's twenty cents more at the commissary it's probably 30-50 cents higher in a regular grocery store (plus sales tax). Jill

I am not dieting, I am just doing those 2 things. I need recipes that use regular, inexpensive ingredients that you would find every day at the grocery store. Here's another one with chicken: put a boneless skinless breast in a baking dish. Mix up one serving of Stove Top chicken stuffing and spoon it over the top, covering the chicken. (This keeps it from drying out) Bake at 350* for 30-40 minutes, or until the juices run clear. (It may vary some with the size of the chicken.) This is easy to double or triple if you have friends over. Serve with a salad or frozen vegetables warmed according to package directions. Look for frozen bags of ravioli or tortellini. A single serving is easy to heat up in boiling water, only takes a few minutes after the water is hot. Serve with your favorite jarred sauce, or make your own.  You can add a chopped up browned italian sausage to the pasta for a little extra protein. You can also add broccoli. Tomato sauce is easy to make. Get a big can of tomatoes. I like Progresso Crushed Tomatoes. Warm it up in a pot with half a cup of chopped onion, a chopped up clove of garlic, and a big tablespoon of Italian Seasoning herbs. If you want, you can add 1/2 pound of cooked chopped up sausage or ground beef. You can make your own meatballs by mixing 1 lb of raw ground beef with 1 egg and 1 cup of prepared (but not cooked) Stove Top stuffing, and a Tablespoon of Italian Seasoning. Make balls the size of golf balls. Put them on a baking sheet and put them into a 350* oven for about 30 minutes, or until the meat juices run clear. Enjoy, Dawn