Today’s post comes from Elissa Plastino, brand manager and self-proclaimed cooking klutz! You can follow her daily adventures in life on Twitter @eplastino.
I can admit it, I’m a klutz in the kitchen. Every Easter I have to look online to see how to boil an egg. If you ask my husband to name two memorable meals I’ve cooked for him in the past 16 years, he’ll tell you “crunchy spaghetti and raw pizza.” I own a cookbook called Italian Cooking for Dummies.
A few weeks ago I was watching my Twitter feed and suddenly I started seeing some great food ideas come across from people I follow. And these ideas were simple enough for me to seriously consider making them one day — or, more realistically — ask my husband to cook them for our family.
Healthy Lasagna (courtesy of @Mochef, who is also known as Jason Martin, our food & beverage manager at Isle of Capri Casino Boonville): You would think healthy and lasagna can’t go together but it can. Substitute low fat cottage cheese for the ricotta and grill the eggplant instead of fry. Layer with your favorite whole wheat pasta shells, reduced fat cheese and marinara sauce.
Extra indulgent mac & cheese (courtesy of @AishaS, who offline is Aisha Sultan, home/family editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch): when making mac & cheese, use half & half instead of milk and it takes “guilty indulgence” to a whole new level!
Cap’n Crunch® Crispy Treats (courtesy of @jessleitch, also known as Jessica Leitch, a 20-something marketing gal in St. Louis and @ParkAveCoffee, a St. Louis coffee shop and bakery) — rather than use the standard Rice Krispies® switch choice of cereal to Cap’n Crunch.
I looked online and found this recipe for Cap’n Crunch Crispy Treats on www.food.com
Cap’n Crunch Crispy Treats
Yields: 15 bars
Prep time: 15 minutes
Total time: 25 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 (18 ounce) box Cap’n Crunch cereal
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 1 (16 ounce) bag marshmallows
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- salt, a pinch
Grease a 13 x 9 inch baking pan with softened butter or spray with nonstick cooking spray.
Add the cereal to a bowl; set aside.
Melt the butter in a large saucepan over low heat.
Add the marshmallows, vanilla, and salt; cook, stirring constantly, until the marshmallows are melted into the butter.
Immediately pour the marshmallow mixture over the cereal and stir with a large wooden spoon until all the cereal is coated with melted marshmallows.
Spoon the cereal mixture into prepared pan.
With buttered hands, gently but firmly press the cereal into the pan to compact the mixture.
Let the mixture cool completely.
When cool, cut into 15 large bars.
Serve right away, or wrap each bar separately with waxed paper or plastic wrap and store in covered container for up to 2 days.
Image from www.cartoonstock.com.
