Steven Helmer Publications

  This is something I whipped up in my kitchen a couple evenings ago. I remembered I had leftover kielbasa in my fridge and since I didn't want it to go to waste, decided to slice it up and use it in a skillet casserole. In addition to the kielbasa, my concoction included fresh green and red bell peppers, fresh mushrooms and fresh zucchini. I also added two types of pasta, rotini and tortellini, then cooked the whole thing in pasta sauce. It was a simple one-skillet meal that took me about 30 minutes to make (including chopping the vegetables and kielbasa) and cost about $20 for all the ingredients. There were also enough leftovers for my wife and I to have it for lunch the next day. It was also a big enough hit for me to put it on my list of meals to make again.

We spent Christmas with family and after driving home for three hours in a thick fog yesterday, I ended up keeping dinner simple and just picked up a couple frozen pizzas when I went to the store to get cat food. After reviewing a couple choices, I decided to give Lippers Deluxe Pizza a try, both because it was on sale for $5.99 each and because it was made in Wisconsin. I didn't regret the decision. I won't say it is the best frozen pizza I've ever purchased but for a lower-priced brand, it turned out to be pretty good. There were a reasonable number of toppings and plenty of cheese. While I'm not normally a thin crust fan, I did like how the crust on this pizza came out crispy without being hard to the point I was afraid of breaking my teeth. The sauce on this pizza was also decent as well. It had plenty of seasoning and, just as important, there was the right quantity. The pizza wasn't dry, but it also wasn't overflowing with it (something that can make pizza...

  My wife wasn't feeling well on Sunday, so I decided to keep dinner simple with soup and sandwiches. I picked out Campbell's Chunky Smoked Turkey with White & Wild Rice for me, mostly because it was a variety I hadn't tried before, and it looked like it would be something I'd enjoy. Well, I had that half right. I didn't end up making this Sunday because my sandwich was much more filling than expected. Instead, I brought it with me to the office for lunch the following day and when I finally gave it a try, I wasn't overly impressed. My biggest problem with this product, other than a sodium content that blew up my DASH diet with one meal, was it didn't have any sort of "wow" factor to it. Don't get me wrong, it's a canned soup and I wasn't exactly expecting something that was restaurant quality. However, I was expecting, well, more. The soup, other than the salt, was kind of bland in my opinion. I didn't really taste the smoked...

  I had to stop by the grocery store this morning to pick up cat food and, while there, wound up in the frozen food section.  I hadn't planned on buying anything breakfast related. However, after some debate (mostly over the $6.69 price tag), I decided to give this product a try.  One of the things I found I liked about this product was the uniqueness. The French toast outer crust seemed to complement the eggs and sausage stuffing and, at minimum, gave it a halfway decent flavor (though I did think the eggs came out a little bit rubbery). Another plus about this product is the convenience. All I had to do was pop five of them in the microwave for about a minute and they were ready to eat. I ended up eating mine with a fork but, if I needed something I could pick up and eat while rushing out the door, I do think they are solid enough to allow that to happen without the risk of them falling apart. I do think these would fall more in the "light breakfast" category, at least...

My youngest daughter had dance class yesterday evening and her older sister had skating practice. As a result of this, none of us were going to be home. And, because my wife and I both forgot to throw something in the slow cooker, we ended up looking for something that would be quick and easy to make for dinner. Since she had to run to the store anyway, she ended up stopping in the boxed food aisles and picked up a box of Stroganoff-flavored Skillet Classics from the Food Club brand and prepared it (using hamburger we already had in our freezer). After having it last night while rushing to get out the door, my opinion of it is a little mixed. At least as far as convenience went, I thought this was a good choice. She started this after getting back from the grocery store and, by the time I got home (about 15 minutes later), it was almost done. It was easy for her to make while starting to get the kids ready to leave and still ended up being a filling dinner. One thing that surp...