Steven Helmer Publications

  Marriage isn't always just about romance. Sometimes, it's making dinner for two and paying attention to your partner's specific dietary restrictions. In my wife's case, some stomach issues have resulted in her doctor putting her on a temporary diet that excludes gluten and a fairly long list of other foods. She started that diet this week, so I did what I could to help her with this chicken skillet dinner. Full disclosure, I didn't see mushrooms in the "no" category on her list until it was too late but other than that, this was almost completely dietary compliant.  Ingredients: 1 pound of diced skinless chicken breast 1 pound gluten-free rotini rice pasta Fresh carrots, zucchini, red sweet peppers and mushrooms 2 cans of gluten-free condensed cream of chicken soup. I started out by making the pasta first, so I could strain and rinse it as per the instructions. After that, I fried the chicken and vegetables together until they were almost fully cooked be...

  I had some fresh vegetables in my fridge that I wanted to use while they were still fresh, so I decided to make a shrimp stir fry for dinner last night. I wanted to keep it as simple as possible while staying around $20 and wound up with this. Ingredients:  2 Boxes Rice-a-Roni Stir Fried Rice Raw, peeled, de-veined and de-tailed shrimp (as much as you want) 1 Zuchinni 1 Red bell pepper 1 Yellow bell pepper Fresh mushrooms (I used about 6 ounces) I started out by dicing the vegetables then browning the Rice-a-Roni as instructed on the box. When I added the water for the rice, I also added the rest of the ingredients then cooked everything over medium heat, stirring on occasion, until the water cooked out. It ended up being a decent dinner that had a good flavor and was filling. I also wound up making enough for my wife and I to both be able to take some for lunch today. My overall cost, including the vegetables already in the fridge, was $20.46 for what became two meals.

  I was in the mood to make some sort of pasta dish for dinner a couple evenings ago but knew my wife was getting a bit burned out on marinara and Alfredo sauces. Fortunately, I remembered seeing Prego Cheesy Bacon Cheese Sauce at one of our grocery stores and ended up picking that up as an alternative. After trying it, I have to say it was a good choice. I wound up using this as part of a fancy macaroni and cheese meal, complete with some hamburger and green peppers. The sauce gave the dinner exactly what I was hoping it would, a cheesy taste with just enough bacon to make it noticeable. Along those same lines, I appreciated having a cheese sauce that tasted like cheese and not like salt (as has been a problem in the past). The thicker sauce was also better than I would have gotten had I simply picked up a cheap box of macaroni and cheese then doctored it up while, at the same time, being less expensive (with a separate box of pasta included in this statement) than picking up a ...

  After slipping a bit, I've been trying to get back to being on my DASH diet . This is both because I have a physical in a couple months and because my wife's blood pressure has been a bit on the high side lately as well. As part of this, when I decided to make my skillet lasagna for dinner last night, I looked for a pasta sauce with less salt and decided to purchase a jar of Prego Lower Sodium Traditional Pasta Sauce , despite it being slightly more expensive ($2.99) than my normal brand, because the 350 mg of sodium was by far the lowest I could find on that shelf. Overall, it ended up being a decent choice. One of my biggest concerns when it comes to "heart healthy" foods is taste. In many cases, the salt that is being cut from the product was the only flavor that product had. That, however, didn't turn out to be the case with this brand. While I always doctor up jarred/canned sauces, I took the time to taste this first and it wasn't bad.  In fact, by the ...

  I had some time to try something new last night while my wife and daughter were at martial arts. It's been a while since I've had tuna noodle casserole because it's usually my wife who makes that and she hasn't had much time to cook lately so I decided to attempt my own stovetop version of it. Everything was prepared in the same pan, minimizing the number of dirty dishes. Ingredients: 1 pound of egg noodles 3 cans of cream of mushroom soup 1 family-sized pack of tuna 1 can of mushrooms 1 can of peas 1 small container of onion fries. Milk (I filled one of the cream of mushroom soup cans twice) I started out boiling the noodles in the skillet until they were done then drained them. After that, I mixed in all the other ingredients except the onion fries and cooked my creation until it was fully heated, and the soup thickened a bit. I then added the onion fries and seasoned it with garlic powder and black pepper. It turned out really well. Just to warn you, I tend to cook...

  Creativity isn't always my strong suit when I cook since I tend to stick with meals I've made before. However, I was at the grocery store yesterday evening and had originally intended to buy a frozen skillet dinner (since my wife/daughter had martial arts classes until 8) and, after seeing the price of those, decided to make one from scratch. Cost-wise, there wasn't much difference in price. I would have needed to buy two pre-made skillet dinners since one just isn't enough for everyone and that would have cost me $15. The ingredients were around $16 (and I could have probably come in at less money had I gone with a different brand of shrimp). The ingredients: Frozen shrimp - no tail Elbow pasta 1 jar of Alfredo Sauce 1-pound bag of frozen broccoli. I fried the broccoli and shrimp together until the latter was fully cooked. I then boiled the elbow pasta separately and added about half the 1-pound box to the pan (saving the rest for another time) and mixed them with th...

To tell you the truth, this is a product I didn't even know existed until I received a coupon for it from one of our local grocery stores. Since it was only $9.99 at a time when a rack of pork ribs has been running almost double that, I decided to pick them up and throw them in my freezer for a to-be-determined family dinner. That dinner ended up happening this past weekend. While I had hoped to wait until my grill wasn't buried in snow, I also wasn't in the mood to run to the store to find something at the last second and, after thawing these ribs, ended up making them in the oven. Overall, I have to say I was impressed. One of the things I found I liked about this product is the ribs were already pre-cooked. This meant I only needed to warm them in the oven and that took less than 20 minutes. Convenience always scores points with me, especially since we have a lot of evenings when none of us has a whole lot of time to cook. Had my gas grill been available, the overall tim...

Product Description: Frozen breakfast pizza from the Luige's brand offering eggs, cheese, ham, peppers and a garlic sauce on a fresh dough crust. I purchased this product from one of our local grocery stores this past weekend for $6.99 and prepared it using our pizza oven as a Sunday morning breakfast option for my wife and me. You can read my review here: Review of Luige's Western Omelette Pizza (wizzley.com)

Product Description: Countertop kitchen tool that slices vegetables, fruits and cheese using removable stainless steel blades that are turned with a hand crank. I found this device at one of our local department stores a few weeks ago for about $15 and purchased it as a "family" Christmas gift this past holiday season. You can read my review here: Review of the NutriSlicer Vegetable & Fruit Slicer (wizzley.com)

This isn't my first time trying this product and, to be honest, the first time I did try it , I wasn't overly impressed with it. However, I happened to find it on sale when doing some grocery shopping last weekend and, since my wife was at kickboxing last night, I figured it would be a simple meal choice. My stance on the actual product itself really hasn't changed much. It's not bad. But, it's nothing special. However, I did manage to remedy that with the help of my garden. I decided to chop up and add one of the "Beaver Dam Special" Hungarian peppers I have growing in the box garden behind my house. That, along with the crushed tortilla chips I also added, did give this a little extra something. It wasn't too spicy but, at the same time, there was still a little kick to it that just wouldn't be there normally (even with the salsa they have you add). In fact, I have another one of these (only in Philly Cheesesteak flavor) that I might try to exper...

I made a regular tater tot casserole yesterday and realized I never posted about the Sloppy Joe version I made last month. This was a new thing for me. I came across a recipe on the web, gave it a try and it turned out to be pretty good. As is usually the case, I wound up modifying the recipe, mostly because it was one of those recipes that made everything from scratch and I really didn't have the time to do that. If you want to try my version of this, here's what you'll need: 1 pound of ground beef 1 can of Sloppy Joe mix (I used Manwich because it was on sale) 1 bag of tater tots 1 green pepper 1 onion Shredded Colby Jack Cheese You start out by browning the hamburger and mixing in the Sloppy Joe mix. You then put the Sloppy Joe meat in the bottom of a baking dish. Top with chopped bell pepper and chopped onion Add a layer of shredded cheese Add the still-frozen tater tots in a layer Add another layer of shredded cheese I topped mine off with bell p...

The photo isn't the greatest (I'm still figuring out the camera on my new cell phone) but I cut up some zucchini, an onion and a tomato and combined them with some leftover chicken in this Alfredo sauce. This was then served over some tri-colored pasta. The sauce itself did come from a jar, mostly because I didn't have time to make it from scratch. But, overall, it turned out pretty well.

Product Description : Frozen beef stew with prime rib, potatoes and vegetables and from the Sam's Choice brand. The stew is prepared using a slow cooker. I purchased this product for $9.68 while doing some other shopping at Wal-mart yesterday afternoon and wound up making it for an evening dinner for my wife and me. You can read the review here:  https://wizzley. com/review-of-sam-s-choice-slow-cooker-beef-stew/

The zucchini wasn't quite as large as it normally is when I pick it. But, it was about the same size as what I can buy at the store so I picked some yesterday afternoon. I also picked some of my yellow squash and a couple onions. Since it stopped raining, I decided to chop everything up, combine it with the leftover chicken that was in the fridge and put it on the grill with some butter. This turned out really well and I have some leftovers for lunch today. I must admit, I sure did miss having some fresh vegetables. I can't wait until everything else is ready to be picked.

I didn't get nearly as much done today as I probably could have. But, mowing the lawn tends to take a lot out of me (especially since the mower is no longer self-propelled) and I just didn't seem to have much energy this afternoon. I did, however, get the grill lit and grilled some chicken breast so we could have chicken Alfredo for dinner. I just wish I would have grilled a little bit more meat because, apparently, my youngest daughter suddenly likes grilled chicken (something that caught me completely off guard since she's not much of a meat eater) and, by the time she had seconds, we really didn't have enough to go around. Good thing we made a lot of pasta. Anyway, it's time for bed. I have to run some errands in the morning (including a trip to Costco) and have my first ice skating board meeting tomorrow afternoon.

Product Description: Frozen oriental-style dish from the Tai Pei brand consisting of meatballs, rice and vegetables and prepared in the microwave. I purchased a container of this product at one of our local grocery stores yesterday evening for $2. I ended up preparing it, in the microwave, last night and serving it as part of dinner-for-two with my wife. You can read my review here: https://wizzley.com/review-of-tai-pei-japanese-style-chicken-meatballs/

I was in the mood for spaghetti yesterday afternoon so I asked my wife to pick up some pasta sauce , both because she was already at Wal-mart and because she is much more likely to take a chance on a variety we haven't tried before. When I got home last night, I found she picked out this sauce. Even though I'm not opposed to trying new things on occasion, I did have some doubts about this sauce. This is mostly because, when I think spaghetti, I don't really think of onions and I was concerned this sauce would have too much of a pungent flavor. As it turns out, however, it wasn't too terrible. As I said before, I was hesitant to try this. But, once I did, I discovered the flavor was actually better than I was expecting. The onions blended in nicely with the garlic and the sauce, overall, had a light flavor to it that was noticeable but not overpowering. While I'm not sure if I would classify it as one of the best tasting jarred sauces I've tried, it defini...

The first half of our week was a bit hectic, with everything from the normal skate/dance lessons to a school concert . And, because of that, I kept my eyes open for food items that were easy to make for dinner. When I first saw this particular product at one of our local grocery stores, I had to think it over for a while. This is because, while it looked good (and convenient), one bag was almost $10. This seemed to be a bit on the pricey side, to me at least, even though it was advertised as a family-sized meal (which is always a matter of opinion). However, after having it last night, I do think it was a decent purchase. While I'm still undecided if it was really worth the money (mostly because I could have made my own for around the same price), this product did have some things going for it. One of the big ones was it was as convenient as I hoped it would be. Making this skillet lasagna was easy. All I had to do was poor the contents in the skillet and cook it for abo...

My wife needed to run up the street to Walgreen's yesterday for some packing tape and, while she was there, decided to pick up something for lunch. She visited their freezer section and brought this product home for me. To tell you the truth, I wasn't really sure what to expect from this. I've had similar frozen sandwiches in the past and they have very rarely turned out well. But, since she purchased it for me, I felt obligated to give it a try. After doing so, my opinion of it was mixed. Let me take a moment to mention this sandwich offered a couple different ways to heat it up. One of them, the oven, was the preferred way and there's a chance my opinion of this product might have been a little better had I used that method. But, I also wasn't interested in waiting 15 minutes for the oven to preheat just so I could make this sandwich and I ended up using the most convenient method, the microwave, instead. As far as the beef itself goes, I had no complain...

Tonight was skate and dance night for our daughters so, since my wife and I would be out of the house (on opposite sides of town), I decided to pick up something to throw in the slow cooker. I originally planned on buying one of those frozen slow cooker meals. However, the grocery store I was at apparently decided to get rid of them so I ended up going to Kwik Trip instead and buying a bag of their Kitchen Cravings Macaroni and Cheese. It was my first time trying this particular product and I wasn't sure what to expect from it. But, it ended up being pretty good. As planned, I ended up making this in our slow cooker, adding some ham steak and broccoli to give it a little more substance (it did, after all, have to stick with us all night). Since the soup was pre-made (just frozen), the prep work was easy enough. I just needed to thaw it a little bit in the microwave, so it would fit in the slow cooker, add the chopped up ham steak and broccoli and cook it on low. Everything...