One Tiny Pink Kitchen

Easy Supper and Easy Clean Up!

2008-03-09T14:10:00.004-05:00

This is my kind of supper. It was so easy and the clean up rocked. I got this idea from my friend Amber's blog. She had seen this done in the Kraft magazine with a taco flavor. I decided to try this with lemon pepper instead of an Italian theme. It was so good! I would add even more lemon pepper seasoning next time but the chicken was so tender and juicy. It will defintely be tried again.

Foil Packet Chicken
(source: Amber)

2 chicken breasts
2 tsp lemon pepper seasoning
1 sliced baking potato
salt and pepper
EVOO
1/2 onion sliced
foil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lay out two large sheets of foil. Slice potatoes and onions and place in bottom of foil. Place chicken, seasoned with lemon pepper and salt/pepper on top. Drizzle with oil and fold up in foil. Bake in oven for 30-35 minutes until chicken is no longer pink. Unfold foil and enjoy!

I served this with oven potatoes and onions. I sliced another potato very thin along with the other half of onion. I sprinkled it with salt, pepper, EVOO, and garlic powder and baked them along side the chicken. This gave us a bit more potatoes. :)

Pasta Primavera - 100th Post!

2008-03-09T13:59:00.004-05:00

Well, after 9 months I have finally gotten to my 100th post! I was hoping for my 100th post to be something elaborate and impressive...well, this was a pretty impressive dish but only took about 20 minutes to prepare. I'm fine with that! I am now about 12 weeks pregnant and so cooking is finally starting to become more appealing. Hopefully there will be more frequent blog updates to come. I saw this recipe done on Robin Miller, ironically enough, while I was home sick from work. usually turn the station when Robin comes on, but her line up sounded interesting so I watched it. This is one of our favorite pasta dishes now! It was delicious. So easy, light, and fast to prepare. I have my changes listed in green.

Pasta Primavera
(source: Robin Miller)

1 pound penne pasta
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup chopped red onion
3 to 4 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups broccoli florets
1 cup sliced carrots *I omitted*
1 cup sliced mushrooms *I omitted*
2 cooked chicken breast halves, diced (about 2 cups)
1 cup diced roasted red peppers
1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup frozen green peas, thawed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup grated Parmesan
1/4 cup freshly chopped basil leaves *I omitted*

Cook penne according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and cook 3 minutes, until soft. Add broccoli, carrots and mushrooms and cook 3 minutes, until mushrooms soften. Add chicken, red peppers, tomatoes, and broth and bring to a simmer. Stir in penne and peas cook 2 minutes to heat through and season, to taste, with salt and black pepper. Transfer mixture to a serving plate and top with Parmesan and basil. I drizzled the pan with a little more EVOO, to help hold it together. She did this on the show but it is not listed in the recipe.

What's Cooking Recipe Exchange

2008-02-12T17:53:00.000-06:00

I participated in a second round of the WC Recipe Exchange and I was very pleased with the results! I received the recipe for Golden Winter Soup, a butternut squash and potato creamy soup that was just delicious! I unfortunately do not have a picture, as my camera is still on the fritz, but I did make this last night and it was amazing! I have only had butternut squash once so I was a little weary on this but it was so creamy and warm, perfect for our -4 degree nights! It was originally in the Cooking Light magazine. The picture is from their website, sorry for not having my own! I am trying to talk my husband into getting us a new camera! :)

Photo taken from Cookinglight.com

Golden Winter Soup
(Source: Cooking Light)

2 tablespoons butter
5 cups (1/2-inch) cubed peeled butternut squash (about 1 1/2 pounds)
2 cups (1/2-inch) cubed peeled russet potato (about 12 ounces)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups sliced leek (about 2 medium)
4 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 cup half-and-half
12 ounces baguette, cut into 16 slices
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded Gruyère cheese
3 tablespoons chopped chives
Freshly ground black pepper (optional)

Preheat broiler.Melt butter in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add squash, potato, salt, and pepper to pan; sauté 3 minutes. Add leek; sauté 1 minute. Stir in broth; bring to a boil.

Reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until potato is tender, stirring occasionally. Place half of potato mixture in a blender. Remove center piece of blender lid (to allow steam to escape); secure blender lid on blender. Place a clean towel over opening in blender lid (to avoid splatters).

Blend until smooth. Pour into a large bowl. Repeat procedure with remaining potato mixture. Stir in half-and-half. Cover and keep warm.

Arrange bread slices in a single layer on a baking sheet; sprinkle evenly with cheese. Broil bread slices 2 minutes or until golden. Ladle 1 cup soup into each of 8 bowls; top each serving with about 1 teaspoon chives. Serve 2 bread slices with each serving. Garnish with freshly ground black pepper, if desired.

Guess What?!

2008-02-04T18:53:00.000-06:00

We are expecting a baby in September! This is a lot of the reason why I haven't been blogging much lately. I haven't really had much morning sickness, but I just haven't felt the greatest. We've been cooking alot of easy stovetop meals that just haven't been blogworthy. When not doing that, I have been eating peanut butter sandwiches. I am still trying to cook healthy, although of course not figuring WW points. I can though, so if you would like to know the points configuration, I can do my best. I no longer have a subscription to the WW etools though, I put it on hold until after the baby. My first craving though was Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. I used a recipe from a blog I visit often and they were amazing!! I followed this recipe exactly and will be making them again. As you may have read from my last post, my camera hates me (actually it's about 8 years old and may be time to trade it in) and so I was not able to get a picture of them. They were good though and I will be making them for our trip to Las Vegas next month as a little airplane treat! I am feeling better so I would hope that I will be updating my blog more frequently now. :o)

Chicken Tortilla Soup

2008-02-04T18:47:00.000-06:00

Wow! It's been awhile since I last posted on here! It has been a whirlwind of a month and we haven't really been cooking much blog-worthy meals. I am excited that with the WC Nestie Recipe exchange and being a new member of Daring Bakers, it will pick up more! I am also sad to report that my camera has been on the fritzo lately. For some reason it thinks it needs NEW batteries every single time I use it. Because of this, I do not have pics for several of the recipes I am going to post tonight. No worries though! I will be making these recipes again and uploading photos as soon as I can. This soup is delicious and easy. I have never had much luck with soups....they either turn out too thick, too thin or just no flavor. This was not the case with the Chicken Tortilla Soup from the Buon Appetito blog that I visit.

Chicken Tortilla Soup
(source: Buon Appetito)

Ingredients

2 skinned and boneless chicken breasts, cubed
1 10 oz package frozen whole kernel corn, thawed
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, pressed
2 14 oz cans chicken broth
1 10 ½ oz can tomato puree
1 10 oz can diced tomatoes and green chiles
¾ tsp salt
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
1 bay leaf

Directions
Combine all in crockpot. Cover and cook on High 6 hours. Remove and discard bay leaf.
Serve with sour cream, tortilla chips and garnish with fresh cilantro.

This averaged out to about 3 points per good sized bowl (about a cup and a half).

Skinny Chimis

2008-01-05T23:50:00.000-06:00

Another great creation from Take Out Tonight! :o) We both liked this recipe, me more so than my husband but I think that with a little extra spice, it would be perfect! Spraying the tortillas with a little Pam made them perfectly crunchy, it was just as if we fried them. Definitely give this one a try if you are looking for a POINT friendly Mexican dish, just add a little more spice to it (chili powder or green chiles). My changes in listed in green.

Skinny Chimis
(source: Take Out Tonight)

1/2 lb lean ground turkey I used 1lb of lean ground beef
2 tbsp diced green chiles I'd add a little more
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp chili powder I would add a little more
8 oz tomato sauce
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/3 cup low fat cheddar cheese I used Mexican blend
1 garlic clove, minced
4 fat free tortillas
Pam

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook turkey (or hamburger) in skillet that is lightly sprayed with Pam. Add garlic, cumin, chili powder, chiles, tomato sauce and oregano and simmer for about 5 minutes, until the sauce thickens a bit.

On a Pam sprayed cookie sheet, fill each tortilla with a good scoop of goo (I had extra since I used extra meat but try to keep it as even as possible). Roll the tortilla up, pushing in the sides then rolling it. They will be thick and that is ok! Spray the tops of the tortillas so they glisten and bake about 20 minutes or until crisp.

These will be like little saunas inside, very very HOT! They are oh so good though! I served this with fat free refried beans topped with a little cheese. So tastey!

POINTS for Original Recipe with Turkey: 4 POINTS per Chimi
POINTS for My Recipe: 6 POINTS per Chimi

Back on Track! Chinese Food

2008-01-01T20:03:00.000-06:00

So anyone on WW can tell you that Chinese food is one of the hardest kinds of cuisine to stay on track with. Sure you can get chicken and veggies but when compared to sweet and sour chicken, wonton soup, and crab ragoons....hmm, which would you pick?! Tonight we made the first dinner out of my new cookbook, Take Out Tonight.

I got this book for Christmas from my mom. She has loved this recipe book so much that she would not let me borrow it because she uses it so much! We tried the Beef and Broccoli recipe, which my dad just RAVES about. I loved it, my husband not so much. He isn't a big stir fry person though....that said, he told me it was good but not one of his favorite meals. Ok....so here it is though, I would definitely make this again, maybe on a bowling night when my husband eats out with his friends. My modifications are in blue.

Beef and Broccoli
(source: Take Out Tonight recipe book)

3/4 lb lean top round steak, cut into thin strips
2 tbsp corn starch
1/2 cup beef broth - I added an extra 1 tbsp of broth
2 tbsp oyster sauce - I omitted
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce - I added 1 extra tbsp to compensate for omitting oyster sauce
1 tbsp dry sherry - I omitted
1 lb broccoli, stalks cut off - my mom uses frozen and it turns out great
2 tsp canola oil
1 tbsp diced ginger
3 garlic cloves, minced

Directions:

Combine the beef with 1 tbsp corn starch, until evenly coated. Set aside. Combine the remaining corn starch, beef broth, honey, and soy sauce (dry sherry and oyster sauce also if using).

If using fresh broccoli, boil first for several minutes or steam in microwave. If using frozen omit this step.

Heat skillet or wok under HIGH heat. Add oil to pan and swish around to coat. Saute beef until no longer pink, about 3-5 minutes. Add ginger and garlic and saute an additional 2-3 minutes, stirring around frequently. Add liquid mixture and saute until sauce is nice and bubbly.

Serve with rice. Makes 4 servings.

POINTS per serving: 4
POINTS per serving with 1/2 cup white rice: 6

A New Year, A New Look

2008-01-01T15:09:00.001-06:00

My blog has needed some updating for awhile now, so with this new year I decided to revamp my blog to make it a little more user friendly! Thanks to nestie joelen&louis, for designing the new Nestie Blogroll. This replaces the long list of favorite blogs and also includes some new ones that I did not previously have linked on this blog! Yay! I also decided to keep with the drop down menu theme and redesigned the Pink Kitchen Creation Categories and Archive sections. Hopefully this will be less page consuming and easier to navigate!

I also added a Contact Me! box. I have received many questions regarding substitutions and portion sizing, especially since posting mostly WW recipes. Now, if you have a question or a comment that you would not like published, just click and send! I will get your email and reply back shortly! Cool, huh? ;o)

There will be more updates to come as it's a new year with new ideas and recipes. Keep checking back for more WW friendly meals! Happy New Year to you and yours! :o)

Pretzels, Ritz and Clusters Oh MY!

2007-12-23T23:38:00.000-06:00

Every year I make clusters and pretzels for my parents. Well since we are all on WW, I still made them but I gave them as gifts to the ILs to add to their holiday gain and not ours. LOL! No really though, it just wouldn't be Christmas if I didn't make candies. Now my candy doesn't look the best. I glob my pretzels and clusters but damn they taste good, so what can you do right?! If I had more patience, I am sure they will look prettier but I am not patient so I glob here and there. The picture is kind of dark but you get the idea.
Peanut Clusters

1 jar dry roasted peanuts
1 bag semi sweet chocolate chips

Melt chips in microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until smooth. Dump jar of peanuts in bowl and mix well. Spoon out the peanuts into clusters on waxed paper. Allow time to set. Store in airtight container. I put mine in the fridge but they stay just fine out of the fridge too!

Pretzels

pretzel twists
almond bark, both white and chocolate

Melt the bark according to the package directions. Dip a few pretzels in at a time using tongs or a fork. Allow excess chocolate to drip off and place on waxed paper to set. Again, I don't have a lot of patience so mine obviously did not get all the excess dripped off, but hey that's ok! Repeat same procedure for white bark should you choose to do that also. My husband prefers the white bark to the chocolate bark...

Ritz Crackers

1 sleeve reduced fat Ritz crackers
chocolate and white chocolate almond bark
peanut butter (creamy)

Spread a bit of peanut butter (not a lot just a bit) over each Ritz cracker. Dip the crackers in the almond bark, covering both sides with melted bark. Shake off excess (I know I know, I should practice what I preach!) and allow to dry on waxed paper.

These were a new find this year, I had never made them before. I heard about them from a friend at work and was excited to try them. OMG they are so good! So very very good! They are very rich too!

Ok, that wraps up the Christmas baking and cooking edition of One Tiny Pink Kitchen. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Pecan Rolo Pretzels

2007-12-23T23:24:00.000-06:00

I found these divine little creations at a candle party before Christmas last year. They were an instant hit, I think I ate like 10 while I was there. I immediately asked for the recipe and this is now a holiday tradition for us. Peter puts the pretzels on the baking sheet, I put the rolos on the middle, then we both squish the pecan on. Ah, togetherness! :o) These were also a hit at the ILs and with Peter's work buddys. They are so easy but they can be a little costly because you need a big bag of pecan halves and the cheap ones just didn't taste right... Make these, your family will LOVE them!!

Pecan Rolo Pretzels
(source: my friend Beth)

Bag of pretzels (I recommend Rold Gold)
Pecan halves
2 bags of Rolos, unwrapped (do this before you start!!)

Preheat oven to 325. Line paper with parchment paper or silicone mat. Line pretzels up on cookie sheet and place a rolo on each pretzel. It's helpful to get the rolo right in the middle, this will be helpful for you later!

Place in oven for 1-2 minutes. You really need to watch them. When they start glistening and sinking just a little bit, they are ready to come out of the oven. This is where extra hands help. Work quickly and squish a pecan half in the middle of each pretzel, smooshing the rolo down over the pretzel. Move to foil or waxed paper to set (this takes about an hour) and repeat. Two bags of rolos gets you about 60 candies, maybe a little more. We eat as we make, so it's hard to say how many you really get! LOL!

I did figure POINTS for these, even though I was eating them as I was making them. For each one, its 1 points, depending on how many you are able to make. I figured it for 80 candies, and I don't know if I got that many...Maybe 2 points per candy to be safe. But hey, it's Christmas, right?! Enjoy!

Taco Dip = Lotsa Happy People

2007-12-23T22:50:00.000-06:00

My mom used to be the salad department manager at a fancy local restauarnt. It was connected to a Holiday Inn and she would design all salads and dips for the restaurant and hotel catering parties. Once she left the restaurant, she took a lot of what she made at the restaurant with her. Luckily one of these dips is the Taco Dip. I know this is no secret recipe, as I have heard others talk about it before on the WC board. However, only my mom would worry about having the right amount of different colors on the dip! I was told I needed a little red, green, orange and black and in a certain order of course! She cracks me up but she does make a great presentation (so good in fact that she did the food for our wedding). This Taco Dip is a favorite among my ILs. They had never seen or heard of this dip before I arrived at their family Christmas eight long years ago (god, was it really that long ago!). This is requested every year and every year my mom calls to make sure I "have enough color" on my dip.

This year, I made it more WW friendly, which was easy to do with this dip! I used FF sour cream, FF refried beans, FF cheddar cheese and low sodium taco seasoning. I was skeptical at first when my mom let me know what I could substitute (she made the same thing for a dinner party last weekend with these substitutions) but I of course listened to my catering knowledge of a mother and made it using all fat free ingredients. You could of course make it with all regular ingredients, no fat free, as I have in the past.

Taco Dip
(Source: My Mama)

2 cans fat free refried beans (the small cans)
8 oz fat free sour cream
1/2 packet of taco seasoning
fat free cheddar cheese, diced scallions, sliced black olives, seeded/diced tomatoes to garnish with

Spread beans in an 8x8 dish. I always use one of those metal disposable pans so I can just toss it when we go to a party.
Mix the taco seasoning with the sour cream. You may use more or less taco seasoning depending on your tastes. Add a little at a time because it's hard to take out too much seasoning than needing to add more. Trust me, I know this from experience. If your sour cream is bright orange, it has too much taco seasoning in your sour cream and your guests will need some water!! :o) Spread the sour cream over the beans.

Here are the steps my mom stresses for garnishing:
sprinkle cheese over the dip mixture
sprinkle drained black olives next
sprinkle diced tomatoes over next (de seed them so they don't make the dip soggy)
diced scallions last

Of course I won't tell if you go out of order or gasp! add more toppings or decide you don't want to use all of these garnishes. LOL! :o) My mom just really cares abouthow people receive her dishes, and I think that is great! I hope that I make her proud most of the time (please don't tell her I posted pics with paper plates though! LOL!)

I serve this with Tostitos scoops but I also bring celery and carrots too. That keeps points down and gives me my "crunch."

Serving size: a good scoop!
Points Per Serving: 1-2 POINTS per scoop (depending on scoop size of course)

Don't forget to add points for tositos (try baked!)

Oh and while I am thinking about my mom and her food style, here are some pics from our wedding. This is our food table that my mom put together. We loved it! It was perfect.

Here are our salads, watermelon/fruit basket and note the taco dip? :o)

Here is the cheese and meat tray.

Sugar Cookies!!!

2007-12-23T20:38:00.000-06:00

Sugar Cookies from the BHG cookbook (the Betty Book as my mom has always called it) is a definite Christmas tradition we've done for as long as I can remember. My dad would make the dough for my mom and I to bake while he worked nights as a restaurant manager. My mom and I would then choose the colors to the frosting carefully (one of them was always the favorite color of the year. You should have seen my mom trying so hard to make the correct shade of purple!). We then would carefully decorate the first 10 or so. Making the snowman have tophats, buttons, and a scarf. It was after the 10th cookie or so that my mom and I would get tired of decorating and the glopping would begin. We didn't make them look trashy, but instead just wouldn't decorate with such detail as the first 10. After decorating, I would always choose one of those fancy 10 to leave out for my dad to eat when he got home from work and of course Santa's cookies were also carefully selected. Sugar cookies definitely played a big part of my Christmas' growing up. I have tried to pass this tradition of sugar cookie baking down to my husband but he gets bored quickly. I hope to keep the tradition going when we have kids of our own too. While these aren't the best pictures, my fancy 10 are in the tin somewhere! Enjoy and I hope you all have fun with your holiday traditions too!

**I should mention that I always make a double or triple batch of this dough. I makes about 50 cookies with my favorite cookie cutters. The recipe below is the non-doubled recipe. The recipe below is the original, my WW modifications are in italics. You would never know I subbed anything, they are just as buttery and perfect as they always have been, even with eggbeaters and light butter!**

Sugar Cookies
(Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook)

1/3 cup shortening
1/3 cup butter, softened I used light butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
Dash salt
1 egg I used 1/4 cup eggbeaters
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon skim milk

1. Beat butter and shortening with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking powder, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping bowl. Beat in egg and vanilla. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in remaining flour. Divide dough in half. Cover and chill dough for 3 hours or until easy to handle. I always chill overnight.

2. On a lightly floured surface, roll half at a time to 1/8 inch thickness. Keep the remaining dough in the fridge until you are ready for it. Using a 2-1/2 inch cookie or biscuit cutter, cut into desired shapes. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in a 375 degree F oven 7 to 8 minutes or until edges are firm and bottoms are very lightly browned. Cool on a rack. Makes about 36 cookies.

POINTS per Cookie: 2, 3 with frosting (recipe below)

Now we always make chocolate frosting, just the frosting that is on the back of the Hershey cocoa can. It's delicious, but this year I had no cocoa for the frosting, so it was just plain frosting for us this year. The frosting we always make I think is from the powdered sugar container. It's very simple.

2-3 tbsp butter (go by taste, I always use 3 tbsp)

2-3 cups powdered sugar

a couple tsp milk to add moisture to frosting.

2 tsp vanilla

Beat butter (must be very soft) and vanilla with a mixer. Add powdered sugar and then add milk. Go by what the frosting looks like, it's easy to add more milk, not so easy to take it out. I divide this frosting up into 3 bowls and add food coloring to the desired color. This does add more liquid to your frosting, so you may need to add a little more powdered sugar to thicken it up but try not to add too much or your frosting tastes like pure sugar which is not so good. Trust me, I have done this many times! LOL!

A Christmas Classic...Peanut Butter Blossoms

2007-12-23T20:22:00.000-06:00

I seem to only make these at Christmas time and I haven't a clue why! I should make these more often but then I suppose they wouldn't be so special.....right? My husband loves these cookies and he gets so excited when he sees me unwrapping the bag of kisses. I do this instead of buying the pre-unwrapped ones because I am cheap. :o) Today though I got busy in the kitchen before Peter crawled out of bed so he wasn't able to get excited with the unwrapping of the kisses, instead he was greeted with fresh from the oven cookies! What a great breakfast! I did alter the recipe to fit our needs (ie: more WW friendly).

Peanut Butter Blossoms
(Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook)

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup eggbeaters
2 tablespoons skim milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
Milk chocolate kisses or stars

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl beat shortening and peanut butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add the 1/2 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg, milk, and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour.

2. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll balls in the 1/4 cup granulated sugar. Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are firm and bottoms are lightly browned. Immediately press a chocolate kiss into each cookie's center. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool. Makes 54.

3. To store: Place in layers separated by waxed paper in an airtight container; cover. Store at room temperature for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.

POINTS Per Cookie: 2 POINTS

Monster Bars Times 2

2007-12-23T20:13:00.000-06:00

I have made Monster bars two times since last Sunday. They were a hit at one family's Christmas and so I made them again for my IL's Christmas. I made them exactly the same except I had a little white chocolate chips left over from something else and so I through them in too. I figured these to be about 4 POINTS each, but they maybe a little more/little less depending on the size and what all you throw in there. These are wonderful!

MONSTER Bars!
(source: WW Magazine December 2007)

2 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
5 tbsp light butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 egg white
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup peanut butter
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup M&Ms

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 13x9 pan. Combine oats, flour, baking powder in medium bowl and set aside. Beat butter and sugar in with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add the egg, egg white, vanilla and beat until well blended. Add the peanut butter and beat for about 1 minute. Mix in the oat mixture on low until just combined. Add the chocolate chips and M&Ms until mixed throughout.

Spread into pan. Bake until lightly browned and a toothpick comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes. Cool completely, cut into 24 bars.

POINTS per Bar: 4

WC Recipe Exchange - Yummy!

2007-12-16T22:20:00.001-06:00

So on thenest.com's What's Cooking board, a recipe exchange was put together. I was very excited to participate in this! I was a little intimidated though when I received my recipe. It was definitely a recipe for a nice party, which we happened to go to tonight! I really impressed my family with these little pumpkin treasures, as my husband called them. While this recipe looks intimidating, it really isn't. I was able to make most of the recipe in advace (yesterday) and assembled them before going. Now, unfortunatley I was not able to get a picture of this lovlies before going to the party. I had left my camera at school this past week and so I figured I would just take a picture of the leftovers tomorrow. The problem, you ask? There were no leftovers! These were gone in 15 minutes flat! I was very excited about this, but disapointed there would be not picture of these little treasures. Here is a picture though, from the original recipe. I made just a few changes, but the original recipe is under the recipe title.

Pumpkin Custard Profiteroles With Maple Caramel Syrup
(source: epicurious.com and Bon Appetit November 2004)

Maple caramel
1 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup bourbon
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pumpkin custard
3 cups whipping cream
2 1/4 cups canned pure pumpkin
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
9 large egg yolks

Profiteroles
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all purpose flour
4 large eggs
1 large egg yolk

Lightly sweetened whipped cream
1 cup pecans, toasted, chopped

Directions

For maple caramel:
Stir sugars and butter in heavy small saucepan over medium heat until blended and smooth. Whisk in cream. Bring to boil, stirring until caramel bits dissolve. Reduce heat to medium and simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in bourbon and vanilla; simmer 1 minute. (Can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate. I did this the day before)

For pumpkin custard:
Preheat oven to 325°F. Whisk cream and next 6 ingredients in heavy large saucepan. Bring to simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Whisk sugar and egg yolks in medium bowl. Gradually stir hot pumpkin mixture into egg yolk mixture.

Pour pumpkin custard into 8x8x2-inch glass baking dish; cover with foil. Place dish in 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Fill baking pan with enough hot water to come halfway up sides of dish. Bake until custard is set in center, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Cool completely. Cover and chill until cold, at least 4 hours. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep chilled. I made this the night before.)

For profiteroles:
Preheat oven to 425°F. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Bring 1/2 cup water, milk, butter, sugar, and salt to boil in heavy large saucepan. Stir in flour; cook over medium-high heat, stirring vigorously, until dough is smooth and pulls away from sides of pan, about 1 minute. Transfer hot mixture to standing mixer. Beat dough with paddle attachment at medium speed until slightly cool, about 3 minutes. Add 3 eggs, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Beat in egg yolk until blended.

Spoon 16 mounds of batter about the size of large eggs onto prepared sheets, spacing about 2 inches apart. Beat remaining egg in small bowl to blend. Brush tops of profiteroles lightly with beaten egg. Bake 15 minutes. Reduce oven to 375°F. Continue baking until puffed and dark golden brown, about 30 minutes longer. Transfer to rack to cool completely. (Can be made 1 week ahead. Store in airtight container in freezer. Remove from freezer a few hours before continuing. I made the night before and stored in the fridge.)

Rewarm caramel sauce. Using serrated knife, slice profiteroles horizontally in half. Spoon rounded 1/3 cup filling into bottom half of each profiterole. Cover with top halves. Drizzle with sauce. Spoon dollop of whipped cream atop profiteroles. Sprinkle with chopped pecans and serve.

I did not figure points for this! They were so tastey though! It was great that I could do it all before then we just assembled them right before leaving. My aunts house is just down the street so they were still warm when we got there. They were definitely a hit and I got so many compliments on the presentation of these little guys. The original recipe calls for maple sugar, which I couldn't find. The reviews of the recipe though gave the suggestion of 1 cup light brown sugar/1/4 cup maple syrup and then the cream needed cut back to 1/2 cup. It worked great! I would definitely recommend making these for your next holiday party. They are not as labor intensive as they look, but it did help to make everything the night before too!

Allota Noodles - Lasagna!

2007-12-09T23:31:00.001-06:00

Ok, so maybe not so much a WW friendly meal, but I figured the points anyway...It wasn't too bad since I used lowfat/fat free ingredients. We haven't made this forever, and with it so yucky out, it really sounded good! The whole house smelled like an Italian restuarant! And yes, in case you haven't noticed, we are a proud user of paper plates for most nights. Sometimes when there aren't a lot of dishes for supper, I break out the real plates...sometimes!

Lasanga
(source: Barilla Noodles Package)

1 box no boil lasagna noodles
1 lb lean hamburger
1/2 chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
28 oz crushed tomatoes, with 2 tsp basil mixed in
12 oz 1% cottage cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
2 eggs
2 cups fat free mozzarella

Preheat oven to 375. Brown hamburger, onions and garlic. Drain. Mix cottage cheese, parm cheese, 1 cup mozzarella cheese and eggs in a small bowl. Spoon in 1 cup tomatoes in bottom of 13x9 dish. Layer as followed:

4 noodles, 1/3 of cheese mixture, 1/2 meat mixure, 1 cup sauce
4 noodles, 1/3 cheese mixture, 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese, 1 cup sauce
4 noodles, 1/2 meat mixture, 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese
4 noodles, rest of xheese mixture, 1 cup sauce, remaining mozzarella cheese (spray with PAM to melt FF cheese)

Bake, covered tightly with foil for 55-60 minutes. Uncover and cook 5 more minutes to melt/brown cheese. Let stand 15 minutes before cutting.

POINTS per serving (serves 8): 9

A Taste of Home for Hubby

2007-12-09T23:16:00.000-06:00

My MIL didn't cook much when my husband was young. He grew up on canned soups, stews, veggies, TV dinners and KFC. A lot of KFC, oh, and Taco John's six pack and a pound. When there was a home cooked meal (excluding holidays), it was actually made by his father. I honestly cannot picture Andy cooking, let alone it being edible, but apparently he did!

Andy's (my FIL) family is from Poland. My husband actually addressed his grandma as Bobsha, which he *thinks* means grandma in Polish. My FIL and his mother would converse in Polish when together and although my husband knows no Polish what-so-ever, he does remember the stew my FIL used to cook. Well, finally my MIL gave us the recipe and so we made it together over the weekend.

It was acutally a lot of fun. My husband peeled the potatoes and carrots while I diced everything. He stirred while I added ingredients. He dried the dishes after I washed them. It was very nice. We haven't worked together in the kitchen for a long time. I hope this is a tradition with this soup we can keep. It was delicious! I wasn't too worried about points for this but when I figured this, it wasn't too bad. Definitely not an every week item but it was very tasty!

Polish Stew
(source: MIL)

1 lb Beef Polish sausage, sliced and boiled before adding to stew
2 tbsp butter
1 medium onion, diced
2 cups celery, diced
3 cups potatoes, diced
2 cups carrots, diced
1/2 tsp thyme
dash of salt
2 tbsp vinegar
5 cubes beef bouillon
5 cups water
4 cups shredded cabbage

Boil sliced sausage in about 3 inches boiling water for about 10-13 minutes. In large stockpot, melt butter over low heat. Add sausage, onions and celery and simmer until onions are clear, stirring occaisionally.

Add all other ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until carrots and potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes.

The recipe states it serves up to 12, but we have appetites so we figured it to be 8 servings.

POINTS per serving: 8

A Little Treat for Me!

2007-12-09T20:52:00.000-06:00

Let Peter have his delicious white cake and brownies, while I eat my 100 calorie packs and WW ice cream. Now I can have my elaborate desserts too! I found the perfect way to satisfy my sweet tooth. These little Keebler pie crusts are perfect for portion control! If you have 3 points to spare, you can enjoy a little parfait!

Pudding Pie Parfaits
(source: me!)

1 Keebler Mini Graham Cracker Crust
1 pkg sugar free pudding (any flavor but I was craving chocolate!)
FF Readi - Whip (or FF cool whip would work too)
1 tsp mini chocolate chips
skim milk according to pudding package

Make pudding according to package directions. Fill pie crusts to just below rim. Allow to set in the fridge for a couple of hours. Top with 1 tbsp readi-whip and chocolate chips.

I made the entire package of Keebler crusts because I had the pudding ready and wanted the crusts to be ready to go when I was craving one. I kept all of the filled crusts in an airlock container in the fridge without the whipped cream. As I wanted to eat one, I put the whipped cream and chocolate chips on top at the time of the dessert. The crusts stayed in the fridge nice and crisp for about 5 days before it started getting mushy.

POINTS per 1 pie: 3

Easy Go To Meal - Pizza

2007-12-09T20:45:00.000-06:00

Tuesday nights are hectic. I always stay a little late at work to work in my classroom and my husband has bowling with the guys from work. Since sometimes he stays and has a few drinks after bowling, I never really know when to expect him home (which is fine, I don't mind that!) and so I always have something that can be thrown together in 15 minutes or less. This has been a regular go to meal lately and it satisfies my pizza cravings!

Canadian Bacon and Veggie Pizza
(source: me)

1 thin premade crust (I used a generic brand from the grocery store)
4 oz tomato sauce with a little Italian seasoning mixed in
1 pkg Canadian Bacon
1/2 green pepper, diced
1/2 small onion, diced
1 cup ff mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray pizza pan with PAM. Spread tomato sauce on crust, top with fixin's and mozzarella cheese. Spray with PAM (helps the cheese melt). Bake for about 11-14 minutes.

One half of the pizza is 9 points.

White Chicken Chili

2007-12-03T23:21:00.001-06:00

This got mixed reviews. I LOVED it, DH hated it. Oh well, can't win them all! I will definitely be making this to take with me to lunch sometime. It was such a nice change from regular chili. I got this chili recipe from a few places. I combined several recipes to suit my needs but I am sorry I didn't bookmark the originals. It really hit the spot though. This was also my first time making white chili, but I think it turned out alright!

White Chicken Chili
(source: not sure!)

2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp olive oil
2 tsp hot pepper sauce (I added a lot more!)
3 cloves garlic
1 cup chopped onion
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 cup flour
chopped chicken breast
6 cup chicken broth
2 cans white beans
4 oz diced chilis
1 1/2 tsp cumin (I didn't have any but it was still good)

Heat oil in pot. Add onion and garlic and saute for a couple of minutes. Add all other ingredients, stirring occaisionally. Thicken with more flour if needed. Simmer on medium low for as long as you need it to! I topped mine with a little reduced fat cheese.

6 servings
POINTS per serving w/o cheese: 4

Chocolate Cake - Happy Birthday Dad!

2007-12-03T22:59:00.000-06:00

Friday was my dad's 45th birthday. He is doing WW as well so I wanted to make him something that he didn't feel totally guilty about but still was special. I found on the WW etools site a recipe for a chocolate layer cake and it had "Dad" written all over it! Despite a frosting mishap and the use of an old reliable friend (Mr. Pillsbury Milk Chocolate Frosting of course!) the cake turned out great! Now it's not completely sin-free at 6 points a slice but compared to a store bought cake, the guilt wasn't as bad. Especially not for us since we left the cake there! :)

Chocolate Layer Cake
(source: WW etools)

6 tbsp fat free margarine
3 large egg whites
6 tbsp fat free milk
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup water boiling
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 oz chocolate chips
1 3/4 cup flour
1 3/4 cup light brown sugar
16 oz powdered sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat two 9 in round pans with Pam.

Combine flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa, and salt in bowl. Use fork to break up brown sugar.

Melt 4 tbsp butter in microwave. Combine butter milk, egg whites, melted margarine, and 1 1/2 tsp vanilla and mix on low speed until blended. Gradually beat in boiling water and then dry mixture. Beat on low speed until blended.

Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake about 30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

FROSTING: (this is where I flubbed)

Melt 2 tbsp butter in saucepan over medium low heat. Add milk and chocolate chips. Stir constantly and cook until smooth, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat, transfer to larger bowl. Stir in 1/2 tsp vanilla, cover and cool in fridge about 15 minutes. Using mixer, mix in powdered sugar and mix until blended.

To assemble, level cakes and spread 1/2 cup frosting on first cake. Top with 2nd cake and frost remainder of the cake. Cut into 16 pieces.

Now, my frosting did not look right. It looked like light brown poo. That is putting it nicely. Maybe I am a chocolate frosting snob but it didn't look right and it tasted...ok. I could only taste the powdered sugar and no chocolate. So after a few tastes from the bowl and my husband pleading with me not to make him taste any more, I tossed it. Luckily I had a faithful standby, Pillsbury Milk Chocolate frosting and there was PLENTY to frost these cakes. I garnished with a few leftover chocolate chips. The great thing, it didn't change the POINTS value at all. Sweet!

Servings: 16 small ass pieces but worth every bite
POINTS per serving: 6

Garlicky Chicken - Emeril Style

2007-11-30T22:13:00.000-06:00

I was watching the Food Network one night and Emeril Live was on. In case you haven't heard, they are pulling the plug on his show. I like it most of the time and this night there was something he called Lucious Garlic Legs. It looked delicious! So I figured the points and gave it a whirl. It was good, but not great... It could use some tweaking, which is why I am posting it. Below is my adapted recipe but you could follow link above for the original...

Garlic Chicken
(Source: Emeril Lagasse)

6 chicken boneless chicken thighs
3/4 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
40 garlic cloves, peeled
1 large onion, sliced
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme
1 1/2 tbsp flour
2 1/2 cup chicken broth
1 tsp lemon zest

Directions:

Rinse the chicken leg quarters under cool running water and pat dry with paper towels. Season all over with 3/4 teaspoon of the salt and 1/2 teaspoon of the black pepper.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Heat the olive oil in a large ovenproof skillet and, when hot, add the chicken leg quarters and cook until browned on both sides, 10 to 12 minutes. Add the onions and garlic to the skillet and season with 1/4 teaspoon of the remaining salt and a pinch of the black pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions have wilted and are lightly golden and the garlic cloves are caramelized slightly, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the flour and stir to combine.

Cook, stirring, for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the chicken stock, rosemary, thyme, oregano, and lemon juice to the skillet and season with the remaining salt and pepper. Return the chicken to the skillet and bring to a boil. Sprinkle the chicken with lemon zest. Cover the skillet and transfer to the oven. Cook for 30 minutes, or until chicken legs are cooked through and tender. Serve immediately, with some of the pan juices ladled over all. Serve with brown rice.

POINTS per serving: 5

POINTS per serving with 1/2 cup brown rice: 7

Turkey Tett...Tettra..Noodles

2007-11-14T20:14:00.000-06:00

I have never been able to correctly spell tettrazini (is that right? I have no idea!). I got this recipe about a year ago from someone on the What's Cooking board on the Nest. After adapting it to our needs, is one of our favorites. The original recipe calls for heavy cream but I have always used Fat Free Half and Half (even before WW) and the sauce is very good and gets nice and thick. Last winter we ate this probably once every two weeks but then as warmer weather came and went, we didn't make it so much. I had about a half pound of ground turkey to use up and so I thought I would make this dish. I usually make it with diced chicken but it was equally tasty with ground turkey. Next time I would add a little extra meat though for my husband because he was "fishing" for meat out of the baking dish! I thought it was fine as is. If you do add a bit more ground meat, make sure you adjust points if you are counting. This time I added some bread crumbs for a little crunch on top and it was so good! I will definitely make that a regular addition. You could also add extra veggies to this dish. We've added peppers or broccoli before for extra nutrition, but we didn't have any on hand tonight.

Tettra...Noodles - Ground Turkey style
(source: inspired from someone on the Nest)

1/2 lb ground turkey
2 cloves garlic
PAM
1 (8oz) whole wheat pasta (I used rotini but any would work)
1/4 cup of light margarine
1/4 cup all purpose flour
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup fat free half and half (I use Land of Lakes)
2 tbsp. water I used the water from the noodles
1/8 cup part skim mozzarella
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3 tbsp breadcrumbs
1 tsp light margarine

Heat Oven to 350. Begin to cook noodles. Brown turkey (chicken, beef whatever you want to use) with 2 diced garlic cloves. Set aside in strainer or additional bowl. While spaghetti is cooking, melt butter in same pan as browned turkey (which is now sitting safely somewhere else) over low heat. Stir in flour, salt, & pepper. Cook, stirring until mixture is smooth & bubbly; remove from heat. Stir in broth & half and half. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly with a whisk to break up flour. This step takes a bit of time, don't crank the heat because the flour will burn. Once it boils, stir continue to cook for one minute. Drain noodles and stir the noodles, water, & turkey, and mozzarella cheese into sauce. Pour noodle mixture into ungreased casserole dish. Sprinkle w/ cheese and breadcrumbs. Drop little bits of the 1 tsp of margarine over breadcrumbs to help brown. Bake 30 mins. or until bubbly in center.

Yields 6 servings about 1 1/2 cup each

POINTS per Serving: 7

Mini Meatloafs=Heaven

2007-11-14T19:55:00.000-06:00

I am all about portion sizes since joining WW in July. Anytime I can buy or make something in serving sizes I am all over it! My husband however isn't thrilled with this new found love of serving sizes. He likes to have oversized portions and he can get away with it...me, not so much! Whenever I have made meatloaf before I know my portion was ginormous. Well, to solve this problem, I decided to make Meatloaf Muffins a la Rachael Ray (gasp I know but sometimes she has good ideas...). We had some leftover, as this made 8 muffins. I figured the points for 2 muffins per person, which I was stuffed about half way through the second muffin. My husband was able to take some for lunch the next day so it worked out great!

I took this recipe from a post on Bakespace. I love this community. Everyone that participates on Bakespace is very sweet and has a common love of food and cooking/baking. I have won a KitchenAid mixer and food processor through a contest this summer, which was awesome and both have been a huge help in the kitchen. I continue to use the site and have found many delicious recipes through my membership (which is free!). I highly suggest checking the site out!

Mini Meatloaf Muffins
(source: adapted from a recipe on Bakespace click link for original recipe)

INGREDIENTS:
1 lb. Lean Ground Beef
1/4 cup eggbeaters
1 small onion diced
1/2 green pepper finely diced
2/3 C. Bread Crumbs
1/2 Tbsp. Worchersire Sauce
1/2 tsp. Salt
2 Tbsp. BBQ Sauce
1 8 oz. Can Tomato Sauce which I actually omitted by accident

DIRECTIONS:

1.) Mix all ingredients except for tomato sauce.

2.) Put into a lightly greased muffin pan.

3.) Bake for about 30 minutes at 350

4.) Remove from oven and spread tomato sauce evenly over meatloaf.

5.) Bake an additional 5 minutes. I omitted steps 4 and 5 and they were very tasty.

Yields 8 muffins, 2 muffins per serving

POINTS per Serving: 5

Tis the Season! Pumpkin!

2007-11-11T22:10:00.000-06:00

One thing I miss since being on WW is the seasonal goodies. For example, we didn't raid the candy aisle after Halloween, I haven't had one Pumpkin Pie Spice Latte from Caribou (it's not offered in sugar free) and I didn't have one pumpkin bar or apple crisp! Well, the lack of seasonal goodies is going to end right NOW! I got this recipe from Recipezaar.com, where I have found several WW friendly recipes since joining in July. It is delicious! I added a little cinnamon to the mix also. The house smelled so good after baking! I did make a cream cheese glaze frosting because pumpkin bars are not the same without a cream cheese frosting in my opinion! In one good sized piece I only had to sacrifice 3 points! Yay!

Pumpkin Spice Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting
(source: Recipezaar and me for frosting)

1 pkg spice cake mix (I heart Duncan Hines)
15 oz can pumpkin
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup eggbeaters
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together. Spray 11x17x3 1/4 jelly roll pan with cooking spray and spread dough in evenly. Bake for 20-25 minutes until done.

Cream Cheese Glaze

1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
8 oz light cream cheese
a dash of cinnamon (about a tsp)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp skim milk

Mix all together for about 2 minutes with electric mixer. It isn't real thick but is an awesome glaze! Spread evenly over cooled bars. Keep bars refrigerated.

POINTS per bar with frosting: 3
POINTS per bar without frosting: 2

Easy and Cheesy...

2007-11-11T21:59:00.000-06:00

How could that be bad, right?! Tonight for supper we had something ultra fancy for us and it only took about 30 minutes to make! This would be great with other cheeses too, like goat cheese (which I still haven't tried yet!). I got this recipe from my WW leader, and it was a success. I did alter it a little but adding some seasoning and it was perfect. My changes are in blue. I had a baked potato with a dollop of sour cream and spray butter and my husband had some baked potatoes (gotta love Country Crock microwaveable dishes!) Here is the recipe:

Italian Stuffed Chicken Breasts
(source: Kara @ WW)

4 – 4 oz. Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts

1/8 tsp. Salt

3/4 tsp. Dried Basil – divided - I used about 2 tsp total

1/4 tsp. Crushed Red Pepper

1/4 cup Minced Green Bell Pepper I omitted

4 (3/4 oz) Part-Skim Mozzarella Cheese Sticks

2 Tbsp. Fat-Free Italian Dressing

1/8 tsp. Paprika - I used 1 tsp

1/4 cup Dry Breadcrumbs

1 tsp fresh ground pepper

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp oregano

Cooking Spray

Pound chicken to 1/4” thickness; sprinkle with salt, 1/4 tsp basil (I didn't really measure), and crushed red pepper, and garlic powder. Sprinkle each breast with 1 Tbsp. minced bell pepper. Place 1 cheese stick lengthwise down the center; roll up jelly roll fashion. Brush rolls evenly with Italian dressing. Combine paprika and breadcrumbs, and a dash of oregano and basil; dredge chicken breasts rolls in mixture, turn to coat. Place on a baking sheet coated with non-stick cooking spray – seam side down. Lightly coat with non-stick spray; sprinkle with remaining basil. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes or until done (mine took about 22 minutes). Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

4 servings = 5 POINTS each

Deep Dish Pizza...Casserole?

2007-11-09T21:19:00.000-06:00

I got this recipe from my WW leader. She emailed me a file of WW recipes that helped her lose 65+ pounds five years ago. She swears by this one and we thought it was...eh. First of all, it was huge. Which is great for a night that I haven't eaten much during the day, but today was not a great on plan day. Not a terrible day but not fantastic either. We liked this but maybe we just weren't in the pizza kinda mood (if that is possible!). One slice though (1/6th of the pizza) is definitely a good sized portion. :) Oh and please excuse the aluminum pan...I didn't want to do another dish. Hee hee!

Deep-Dish Pizza Casserole

(source: WW leader)

1 pound 95% Lean Ground Beef

1/2 cup Green Peppers, chopped

1/2 cup Onion, chopped

1 small can Mushrooms, drained (I omitted)

1 – 15 oz. can Chunky Italian-Style Tomato Sauce

Cooking Spray

1 – 10 oz. can refrigerated Pizza Crust Dough

1-1/2 cup (6 oz) 2% Shredded Mozzarella

Cook meat and vegetables in a non-stick skillet until browned, stirring until it crumbles. Drain and return to skillet. Add tomato sauce, and cook until heated through.

Coat a 9x13-inch-baking dish with cooking spray. Unroll pizza crust dough, and press into bottom and halfway up sides of baking dish. Top with meat mixture. Bake, uncovered at 425 for 12 minutes. Top with cheese and bake 5 minutes or until crust is browned and cheese is melted.

Cool 5 minutes before serving.

6 Servings – 6 POINTS each

Finger Food! Empanadas!!

2007-11-09T21:05:00.000-06:00

We have been frequent diners at On The Border because my husband ADORES their empanadas. Well, as I am sure many of you on WW have realized...mexican cuisine is not the healthiest and it can be (not always) difficult to eat on plan there...but boy is it good!

I found this recipe in the December issue of the WW magazine, and altered it to our liking. If you haven't gotten this one yet, you should. It has over 60 (?) recipes for holidays not to mention regular recipes for everyday. These little finger foods were delicious! It was hard to just eat 9 of them (sounds like a lot but not really!), however after I ate my servings I was seriously full. For every three empanadas, it is only 2 points. Not bad huh?!

Yummy Empanadas
(Source: WW magazine December 2007)

30 wonton wrappers
1 egg, beaten
1/2 lb extra lean hamburger
1/8 cup low fat cheddar cheese
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp taco seasoning
1/2 small onion, diced

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray cookie sheet with PAM. Brown hamburger and onions, drain. Add tomato paste and taco seasoning; then add cheese. Lay out wontons and fill with about 1 tbsp of filling per wonton. Wet the edges of the wonton with the egg and fold. Repeat! Bake about 8 minutes. (You will want to flip them over 1/2 way through so both sides are crispy. I forgot to do this)

Serving size: 3 empanadas = 2 POINTS

Scones!

2007-11-04T21:47:00.000-06:00

Again, my Desserts recipe book has not failed me yet! These are SOO tasty! I have been on a baking kick on the weekends lately. I like having an afterschool snack after I get home from work. Some things never will change I guess. My only requirement is that it is under 3 points , which usualy I can manage. These are very light and moist, with the perfect combination of chocolate and cake, with a hint of orange. The recipe calls for 24 but my cookie cutter wasn't cooperating so I just picked of bunches of dough with my hands then patted them down to be a "cutout" shape. I got 20 out of this batch, I have listed both POINTS values below.

Chocolate Chip Orange Scones
(Source: Best Ever Desserts)

2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
3 tbsp cold margarine, cut into pieces
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
3/4 cup low fat buttermilk I used 1 tbsp vinegar and enough skim milk to equal 1 cup
1 large egg
1 tbsp orange zest
4 tsp orange juice
1 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray baking sheet with nonstick spray.

Whisk together dry ingredients. With two knives or pastry blender, cut butter into mixture until resembles fine crumbs with some small pieces of butter still remaining. Stir in chocolate chips. Whisk together buttermilk, egg, and orange zest in a small bowl. Add to flour mixture until a dough just forms, don't overmix.

Gather dough into a ball and place on lightly floured surface. Lightly knead 2 times. With a floured rolling pin, roll the dough into 3/4 in thickness. With a 1 1/2 in round cookie cutter (mine was a little bigger then it didn't work well, so I just formed my own shapes), cut out shapes. Place scones on sheet about 1 in apart. Reroll and cut out more from scraps for a total of 24 scones. Bake until golden brown, about 10-12 min. Let cool on rack about 10 minutes.

Stir together the powdered sugar and orange juice until smooth. Dip the tops of the scones in the glaze and the allow to set about 1 hour. Enjoy!

The picture is when they were still glistening from the glaze. :)

POINTS for recipe of 24: 2 per scone
POINTS for recipe of 20: 3 per scone

Mmm..Comfort Food Season is Here!

2007-11-04T21:32:00.000-06:00

I love fall. It is the perfect time of year to have the oven roasting away for a couple hours, filling the house with yummy smells (and making it just that much warmer in the house too!). I was really craving a roast of some kind and since I took out my frustration on my slowcooker this summer (see this post for the last slowcooker meal, shortly after making this I chucked it in the trash), I decided to use the oven. I found this recipe on my WW etools but didn't really measure anything, just based the seasonings off of it. I have made pork roast before but this was sooo much better! My husband loved it and requested we have it again in the next two weeks!

Herbed Pork Roast
(source: WW etools)

Garlic powder
Basil
Kosher salt
Pepper
2 lb pork roast
Italian Seasoning
2 tsp oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat skillet and once hot, spray with non stick spray. Mix about a palm full of each seasoning (and anything else you'd like to add in there). Rub the oil on the pork roast, then rub seasonings all over sides of roast. Brown sides of pork roast in skillet and either transfer to casserole dish (my skillet is oven safe, so I used that). Bake about 90 minutes until temperature registers 160 degrees.

We served this with roasted potatoes, broccoli, and carrots. I sprayed them with nonstick spray then I used some left over seasoning from the pork roast. We roasted them for about 30 minutes until tender.

POINTS for Roast: 5 per serving (serves 6)
POINTS for Veggies: 2 per serving

My First Cooking Light Eh...

2007-11-04T20:46:00.000-06:00

I usually love Cooking Light recipes and this one was ok... I think it was just ok because I am not a huge fan of honey. I usually just like it in my hot tea in the morning and not all over my food. If you like honey though, this would be a definite recipe to try. My husband picked this one out and just munched it up, so I was glad to see it was just me that thought, eh. My modifications are in italics.

Spicy Honey Chicken Thighs
(Source: Cooking Light)

2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons chili powder I used cajun seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs I used chicken breast tenders
Cooking spray
6 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons cider vinegar

Preheat broiler.

Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl. Add chicken to bowl; toss to coat. Place chicken on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Broil chicken 5 minutes on each side.

Combine honey and vinegar in a small bowl, stirring well. Remove chicken from oven; brush 1/4 cup honey mixture on chicken. Broil 1 minute. Remove chicken from oven and turn over. Brush chicken with remaining honey mixture. Broil 1 additional minute or until chicken is done.

4 servings (serving size: 2 chicken thighs)

POINTS per Serving: 6 - if using chicken breast
POINTS per Serving: 7 - if using chicken thighs

We served this with good old Zattarin's Rice Pilaf and Freshtables microwaveable butternut squash with a cinnamon sauce. I had never seen these before, but found them in the produce department. They have lots of varieties and it only took 3 minutes in the microwave!

Double Chocolate Brownie Goodness

2007-10-28T19:25:00.000-05:00

OMG. I am in LOVE with the Dessert cookbook I bought at my meeting last month. I have yet to have something not turn out...knock on wood of course! These Mini Chocolate Brownie Biscotti's are NO different! They are wonderful! And the best part is....1 POINT! That's it! I even made them a little bigger, typed everything into my etools recipe builder and it's still only 1 POINT!! They are very tastey indeed, they do not taste low fat what so ever. Try them, you won't be disappointed!

Mini Chocolate Brownie Biscotti
(Source: Best Ever Desserts WW Cookbook)

2 cups flour
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup cocoa
1 tbsp coffee granules
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 egg whites
2 tsp vanilla extract

Place oven racks in the upper and lower thrids of the oven and preheat to 350. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Put the flour, 1/4 cup of chips, cocoa, coffee granules, baking soda, and salt in a food processor. Process until the chocolate is finely chopped, about 1 minute. Transfer to large bowl. Put the sugar, eggs, egg whites, and vanilla in the food processor (you don't need to clean it from using it the first time). Process until the mixture is slightly thicker, about 1 minute. Add to the flour mixture, the remaining chocolate chips, and stir until well blended.

Spoon the dough onto baking sheet, forming two 14 x 1 1/2 in logs on each baking sheet, using 3/4 cup dough for each log. Bake logs until firm when lightly pressed, about 15 minutes. Rotate cookie sheets half way through. Let cool about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, lower temperature of oven to 275 degrees.

With a serrated knife, cut each log crosswise into 1/2 inch thick slices, making a total of 56 slices. Stand the slices on the baking sheets. Bake until dry, another 15-20 minutes, rotating the baking sheets halfway through the baking. With a spatula, transfer the biscotti to racks and let cool completely.

**The original recipe's serving size was for 2 pieces = 1 POINT**

I made my pieces a little thicker (bigger) and got 36 pieces out of the logs. For 1 piece, it's still 1 POINT. For 2 pieces, it's 3 POINTS.

Cleaning Out the Cupboards...Our Favorite Dish

2007-10-28T19:09:00.000-05:00

Awhile back we were cleaning out the cupboards to make a meal. We didn't feel like going to the store and we found egg noodles, enchillada sauce, chiles, hamburger, cheese, diced tomatoes, beef broth and mushrooms. We could either make stroganoff OR a kind of mexican-ish dish. Well, my husband isn't a fan of stroganoff so I worked my magic and made what is now one of our favorite dishes. Who woulda thought! Since joining WW, I made this dish just a little more POINT-friendly. It wasn't too bad to begin with actually! It isn't a pretty dish but it sure is good!

Trisha's Taco Casserole
(source: Trisha!)

1 lb lean hamburger
6 oz NO-YOLK egg noodles
1 small can enchillada sauce
4 oz can diced chiles
1 small onion, diced
2 tbsp taco seasoning
2/3 cup reduced fat cheddar cheese
1 can diced tomatoes (I used petite)
1/4 cup crushed tomatoes (I had them left over)
1 oz Doritos (I used regular, but BAKED would be fine too, may even lower point value by 1)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Boil noodles to al dente. Meanwhile, spray skillet with PAM and add hamburger and diced onion. Drain when browned. Drain noodles, and add them and the chiles to the skillet. Heat through and add enchillada sauce, diced tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, and 1/2 of the cheese.

Sprinkle with the rest of the cheese. Spray cheese with nonstick spray (just a bit). This helps with the low fat cheese melting (it works I swear!). Bake about 15 minutes, until cheese melts and it's all gooey. If you don't have an oven safe skillet, you can do this on the stove top (covered). Top with crushed Doritos and serve.

1 1/2 cup serving: 7 POINTS

This is a huge dish. I figured it to serve at least 7 people. My husband had two HUGE scoops of casserole, I had a cup and a half and there was still a TON left. Sometimes we have this with a side of FF refried beans but we just had that last night at On the Border.

A Fall Favorite - Beef Stew!

2007-10-26T22:34:00.000-05:00

I love this time of year. The air is chillier, I get to wear my warm sweaters, and I am constantly covered with my favorite Scooby Doo blankie on the couch for a good four months. :o) One of my favorite dinners to warm me up is beef stew. My husband is not that fond of stew, but I love it. I found this recipe from the WW cookbook, Turn Around Program Cookbook, and adapted it to fit our needs. It was very yummy! Next time I make this though, I will not use frozen veggies, like I did this time. The potatoes turned out mushy and the texture of them kinda grossed us out. Had I not been lazy, I woud have chopped up my own veggies! It was still good though! I don't have any pics of it as of right now but I will hopefully be able to add some when I eat my left overs (my camera batteries were dead).

Beef and Veggie Stew
(Source: Turn Around Program Cookbook)

1 lb lean round steak, trimmed and cut into bite size cubes
1/2 onion, chopped
1 1/2 cup beef broth
chopped carrots, celery, potatoes (any veggies you want to get rid of really!)
10 oz frozen peas
1 cup crushed tomatoes
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp garlic powder

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Heat dutch oven on medium heat. Spray with nonstick spray. Add steak and brown about 5 minutes. Add onions, saute about 5 minutes. Add all veggies except peas. Stir and saute about 5 minutes more. Add beef broth and crushed tomatoes, and seasoning. Put in oven and cook for 1 hour 15 minutes, stir once during this time. Add peas and cook in oven another 15 minutes. Serve!

Total POINTS: 5 per 1 1/2 cup serving (this was a lot for me to eat but oh so good!)

We served this with reduced fat crescent rolls (2 POINTS each).

To Die For Smores!

2007-10-21T16:31:00.000-05:00

Yes, these are WW friendly! They are actually from the Pizza, Pizza WW recipe book, I borrowed from my mom. She was actually the one who said I HAD to try this recipe! It was so freaking good! They are even better when you warm them back up in the microwave for about 15 sec before enjoying (right out of the oven are delicious too!). With so little ingredients and and effort, how could these not be enjoyable?!

S'mores Cookie Pizza

12 (whole) reduced fat graham crackers, broken in pieces
1/4 cup yogurt spread (Brummel and Brown next to the butter)
2 tbsp sugar
1 1/4 cup mini marshmallows
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips
2 tbsp Hershey syrup

Preheat oven to 375. In a food processor, combine graham crackers, yogurt spread and sugar. Pulse until crumbs are fine and begin to stick together. Spray 9 in pan with nonstick spray. Press the crust firmly into bottom of pan. Bake about 10 minutes.

After crust is done, sprinkle marshmallows evenly on crust, then chocolate chips. Lower heat in oven to 350 degrees and bake about 15 minutes more, until marshmallows are browned. Allow to cool about 15 minutes and drizzle chocolate sauce over the top. Cut into 9 pieces. Enjoy warm!

POINTS: 4 per serving

Mmmm....PIZZA!!

2007-10-19T23:01:00.000-05:00

I love Weight Watchers because it is not a diet. It is a lifestyle change and I LOVE that! I love that WW isn't a diet because on a diet I couldn't have pizza, cupcakes, or Mexican food. Ok, so I don't have these things that often, but the fact that I can have them is wonderful for me. I have learned through the program that all it takes is a little planning and will power and VOILA! 20 lbs gone forever and I have dropped a pants size. A pants size I have not fit into in 10 years, since my junior year of high school! Now that is a great feeling!! It's definitely my motiviation to keep going and to stick with my lifestyle change. Ok, enough of that...on to my favorite part...the food! We made pizza tonight. It was wonderful. I love making pizza because I get to use my new food processor, something that I don't get to use very often. Now, you could go to Pizza Hut and get a thin crust slice for the same amount of points but it wouldn't be as good, in my opinion. Plus the crust is a little thicker! We made hamburger and canadian bacon with green peppers and onions. YUM!!

Pizza!!

4 1/4 cups flour
1 pkg rapid dry yeast
1 1/2 cup warm water
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1 tbls olive oil
1 tsp salt

In a 2 cup measuring cup, mix the sugar and water together. Add in yeast and let rest for 5 minutes, after 5 minutes, add in olive oil. Meanwhile, pulse the flour and salt in the food processor. Add in yeast mixture through tube and pulse until dough forms a ball. Take out of food processor and knead until the dough is strechy (is that a word?).

Spray bowl with PAM (I used olive oil spray) and put dough in it. Wrap tightly with saran wrap and let rest about an hour until it doubles in size. I used my Pizzazz pizza maker for 16 minutes but you can bake it for 15-20 minutes at 450 degrees, or until browned on bottom.

YIELDS: 2 crusts (one for now, one for later! stick it in the freezer), 6 servings each crust

POINTS Per Serving: 3

I browned some hamburger (1/2 lb) and diced onions and green peppers. For my sauce I used an 8 oz can of tomato sauce with some added basil. With canadian bacon (about 10 slices in total) and part skim mozzarella, the total POINTS for one slice was 6. So worth it though!

Cheesy Spicy Dip - It's Like Crack?

2007-10-19T22:49:00.000-05:00

My favorite kind of dip is commonly called "Crack Dip" on the What's Cooking? board on the Nest. This is a buffalo chicken dip that combines the flavors of ranch, cream cheese, hot sauce, cheese and chicken. It's DELICIOUS!! Like buffalo wings, Crack Dip is not healthy at all. I figured out the points for the dip I love so much, I knew I had to find an alternate. I decided to use fat free cheese and cream cheese. This was, eh, ok. I personally don't like the texture of fat free cheese... I am sure the points would need to be altered if you used a light cheese and cream cheese, but for me it just isn't worth the points. I would rather have the real thing in this case or not at all. But here is the recipe, should you all want to give it a shot. I did leave out the chicken though (again, to save points and since this was my snack I didn't want to add the extra points in). It could easily be made into a meal (for me anyway!) if you add chicken OR I love putting this on a tortilla and making a quesadilla. Yum!!

Crack Dip minus Chicken

8oz fat free cream cheese
1 1/2 cup fat free cheddar cheese
1/2 cup lite ranch dressing
1/4 cup Frank's Hot Sauce

In saucepan, melt cream cheese and ranch dressing together. Add the hot sauce, mix well. Add in cheese and melt, stirring until smooth. Serve.

POINTS: 3

I ate this with Baked Scoops, for this add 3 more points for a total of 6 points. It receives a so-so rating. I don't think I will make it again unless it's the real deal. :)

Spiced Up Doughboy!

2007-10-19T22:38:00.000-05:00

Wow, it's been awhile since my last post! I have been working two jobs and with that and conferences, I have had zero time for creative cooking! We've been eating a lot of meals that are quick and easy, but most importantly, meals that are easy and quick! This week, I decided to try to get in the kitchen more. On Thursday I made pork chops (new recipe, blech!) and dinner rolls. I was craving serious carbs! I am not blogging the pork chops because they were not good at all. However, the rolls were very yummy!

Trisha's Herby Garlicy Rolls

1 pkg Pillsbury dinner rolls (not biscuits, rolls in a tube)
2 tsp olive oil
Italian seasoning (garlic, thyme, basil)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray cookie sheet with PAM, spread the rolls on the sheet. Lightly spread the olive oil on the tops of the rolls, sprinkle with seasoning. Bake for 11-15 minutes.

POINTS: 3 per roll

(This may not seem worth it, but I LOVE carbs so I was totally fine with using these points to satisfy my craving!)

Progresso Soups = 0 Point

2007-10-01T17:20:00.000-05:00

Zero point soup without cooking? Get outta here! No really though, Progresso now makes a zero point soup endorsed by WW. I have taken it upon myself to taste test each one, and have decided that my very favorite is the Italian Style Veggie soup. 1/2 the can is 0 points, the whole can is 2 points. This is perfect paired up with a salad, it has been a great lunch the past week. I have been splitting up the soup into two days, storing them in glad containers, then 1 can lasts for 2 lunches! The link is above, which has recipe suggestions!

Italian-Style Vegetable

A colorful array of six different garden vegetables, penne pasta and a blend of flavorful herbs and spices.

Vegetable & Noodle

A plentiful array of garden vegetables, curly noodles and flavorful herbs and spices you can actually see.

	Home-Style Vegetable & Rice Brimming with garden flavor and a colorful combination of garden vegetables, wild rice, herbs and spices.
	Savory Vegetable Barley A savory combination of five different garden vegetables and hearty barley.
	Southwestern-Style Vegetable A beautiful bouquet of six different garden vegetables, hearty black beans and plenty of spice.

Easy and Cheap! My Kind of Supper!

2007-10-01T17:04:00.000-05:00

Have you ever noticed that eating "healthy" is not exactly cheap? I think that is the hardest part of changing our lifestyle to a more healthier way of living, is the cost! Our grocery bill has increased in the last 2 months since joining WW. It's totally worth it of course! I am almost to my 10% weight loss (keeping my fingers crossed for this week!) but man is the budget showing a little wear. That is why I am so excited when I come across recipes that are very healthy but so affordable. This made the perfect Sunday dinner with plenty of leftovers (which got left out overnight=bummer!). I think I was inspired by Giada's Citrus Chicken recipe I found last Christmas, butI have adapted and changed it to fit our tastes and what we have on hand. This is a great fall meal and sure hit the spot!

Garlic Lemony Roasted Chicken

3 lb whole chicken, cleaned and giblets/neck removed
1 lemon
1 cluster of garlic
salt and pepper
onion powder

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Clean chicken and pat dry. Spray baking dish with olive oil spray. Rub salt and pepper on chicken, and in cavaty of chicken as well. Cut garlic cloves open and stuff inside the chicken. Cut lemon in half and stuff 1/2 of that in the chicken as well. Drizzle the remaining lemon half over the chicken. Bake 1 to 2 hours, depending on your chicken (mine cooked about 1 hour 40 minutes).

The chicken was falling off of the bone and was so juicy! Lemony and garlicy. You could add even more lemon or sprinkle with lemon pepper seasoning. Delish!

Total POINTS: 4 per serving

We served this with broccoli and brown rice. Yum!

Frozen Bites of Heaven

2007-10-01T16:56:00.000-05:00

I am so glad to see/hear from those of you who tried the cake cookies (1 point)! They are very moist, so it's best to cover them in an airtight container and waxed paper to separate the layers. I tried these Little Bites of Heaven with Duncan Hines Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix and Oh. My. God. they are good!

As I made my way past the cookies (grabbing two of course) my husband came up with an amazing idea. He found a tub of FatFree Cool Whip in the freezer and made a sandwich with two of the cookies! I knew I married him for a reason! Just kidding but it was a great idea! So we made a little assembly line in the kitchen, me plopping the cool whip in the middle of the flat side of the cookie and my husband sandwiching another cookie on top. I have tried the graham cracker/cool whip trick (sandwich 2 low fat graham crackers around a dollop of ff cool whip) and this is SO much better!

After we made our little assembly line, I wrapped them in saran wrap and placed them in the freezer. After refreezing overnight, I came home from a long day of teaching (so long since I was gone Friday and had some catching up to do!) and had a wonderful frozen bite of heaven!

Total POINTS: 2!!

Cake Cookies=WW Bliss

2007-09-22T15:10:00.001-05:00

I love baking (obviously!) and I have tried several WW friendly baked goodies. While I love baked goodies (eating and baking), I hate to have to waste 3-5 points on a little 2x2 square of brownie or per cookie. Now that is never going to be a sacrifice I have to make again! With these little bites of heaven, and at only 1 POINT per cookie, I am set! The great thing about these cookies is that it is SO versitile! Today I was feeling like strawberry, next time I will try some Devil's Food cake, maybe as fall becomes more apparent I will try spice cookies, Easter could be lemon... the list is endless! HEAVEN! I love these because I can grab my usual 2-3 cookies without feeling guilty about it or using up a fourth of my points for the day. I have made non-WW cake cookies (FUNFETTI rocks my socks) but these are a little healthier.

How? you may ask? Well for one, instead of the normal oil that is in a cake cookie, I substituted apple sauce. Then instead of the eggs I used Egg Beaters. Voila! When I have made the cake cookies in the past, I always used frosting with them, not sure why I felt they needed frosting but I guess since I was using CAKE, it needed frosting. Well these actually do not need frosting on top. They are great without frosting! If you do not agree, I am sure you could find a low fat cream cheese frosting to use, but make sure to add the extra points. Here is the recipe, I highly reccommend these little bites of heaven, they are a great 1 POINT snack!

Cake Mix Cookies AKA Little Bites of Heaven!
(Source: Half My Size)

1 cake mix **I used Duncan Hines Strawberry Supreme**
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup Eggbeaters

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together well. Drop onto ungreased cookie sheet (I used my little cookie scooper and got just the right amount of cookies). Bake for about 12 minutes until set. Allow to cool for 3-5 minutes on sheet before transferring them to waxed paper or cooling rack.

Makes 36 bites of heaven

WW POINTS: 1 per COOKIE!!

Fall Is Officially Here!

2007-09-22T15:02:00.000-05:00

The first day of fall was yesterday and to celebrate, I made Elly's Healthy Pumpkin muffins! They are perfect for breakfast or a snack, and for only 3 POINTS there is no guilt! Here is the recipe for your convenience, the only changes I made was I added a little more cinnamon to the batter and omitted the raisins and nuts. They were very easy and turned out great!

Healthy Pumpkin Muffins
(Source: Elly Say's Opa!)

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1 egg
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce (or vegetable oil, if you're not calorie counting)
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup lowfat buttermilk
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 400 and grease a 12-cup muffin tin. Sift together flours, baking powder and soda, and salt. Stir in spices.

In a separate bowl, beat egg with brown sugar until well combined. Mix in egg and combine. Stir in vanilla, buttermilk, applesauce and pumpkin puree.

Pour wet mixture into dry mixture and stir until just combined. Fold in nuts and raisins.

Pour mixture into muffin cups and bake approximately 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Nutrition Info, per muffin: Calories: 143 / Fat: 3g / Carbs: 27g / Dietary Fiber: 2.4g / Sugar: 2.2g / Protein: 3.8g

WW POINTS: 3 per muffin

Baked Ziti...healthy? Oh Yeah!

2007-09-17T20:59:00.000-05:00

As I have mentioned before, my husband's favorite meal is spaghetti. Mine...not so much! However, I could eat baked ziti anytime. I am not sure if it's the cheesey goodness that usually is layered throughout and melted on top....yeah, that is probably it! I had accepted the fact that I couldn't have baked ziti while on WW, but it is possible! And I was even able to have 1 1/2 servings...yum! I found this recipe on WW etools and altered it a bit to include more meat and whole wheat noodles.

Baked Ziti
(Source: WW etools)

12 oz whole wheat ziti noodles
1 lb ground beef, extra lean
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
healthy pinches of dried basil, oregano, and thyme
little pinches of garlic and onion powder
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 small onion, diced
1 tsp olive oil
1 cup low fat mozzerella cheese **I used cheddar because that is all we had...it was AWESOME!**

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In skillet, heat oil and add garlic and onions. Saute for about 3-4 minutes. Add hamburger to the skillet and brown the meat. Meanwhile, cook noodles according to package directions. In skillet, add spices and saute about 2 minutes. Add the crushed tomatoes and bring to a gentle boil. Reduce heat and simmer about 5 minutes. In casserole dish, spread some tomato mixture in the bottom (light layer). Spoon drained noodles in bottom to make an even layer. Spread the tomato mixture over the noodles and sprinkle 1/2 the cheese over the sauce. Repeat the layers: noodles, tomato mixture and cheese on top. Bake for about 30 minute until cheese is bubbly and browned.

POINTS per 1 cup serving: 5

I Heart Parm Chicken

2007-09-17T20:52:00.001-05:00

I made parmesan chicken for the first time about a year ago and ever since, it has become a staple meal in our home. It's so easy! Sometimes we spice it up with red pepper flakes, often we make chicken tenders with ranch dressing, other times we make it really cheesey, other times we add extra basil and thyme for a super flavor. I thought that being on WW, we wouldn't be able to enjoy this....I was wrong! :o) My friend Michelle gave me this recipe (she's been on WW since February and has lost about 30 lbs). It was very tasty and had great flavor!

Parmesan Chicken
(Source: My friend Michelle)

4 chicken breasts, pressed thin
1/3 cup plain bread crumbs
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp basil
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 egg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray. Beat egg with a bit of water. Combine bread crumbs, cheese and spices on plate. Dip chicken in egg and then in bread crumb mixture, space evenly on cookie sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes until no longer pink.

**I turned them half way through to ensure crispiness on both sides.**

POINTS per serving (1 3oz breast): 5

No Hamburger Helper Here!

2007-09-15T22:07:00.000-05:00

We were craving Hamburger Helper tonight (gasp!I know!) but there is something about that Cheeseburger Macaroni that just hits the spot. Well, since beginning to cook more and with WW, HH is just not on the menu. So instead, I found a wonderful recipe for Chili Cheeseburger Macaroni that was WW friendly, but you'd never know it! I loved this and will happily be eating the leftovers for lunch in the next few days. My husband though thought it was missing something. Here is our conversation:

Hubby: "It's good but missing something."
Me: "I like it, you can't even tell it's only 5 POINTS."
Hubby: "Yep, it's good but missing..."
Me: "Artificial flavoring?"
Hubby: "Yes! Can we buy that season packet in a bottle somewhere? You know, the kind of seasoning that is in Hamburger Helper?"
Me: Major eye roll here and changed the subject. :o)

Anywho, this is a definite repeater. I think I will add a little more chili powder next time to give it that extra chili kick. It made a ton! We each had a 1 1/2 cup serving (which was way more than enough!) and there was enough for two left over containers (I measured 1 1/2 cups in each for portion size) and there was still TONS in the pan. This recipe states it makes 6 servings, but I think it would serve way more than that.

Chili Cheeseburger Macaroni
(Source: adapted from WW etools)

2/3 lb extra lean hamburger
2 tsp chili powder
2 small onions, chopped
2 cans diced tomatoes **I used one regular and one spicy**
2 1/2 cup tomato juice **I used V8**
1 1/2 cup uncooked macaroni, elbow
3/4 cup low fat cheddar cheese, plus a couple small pinches for garnish
cooking spray

Coat a large skillet with cooking spray. Cook beef and onion over medium-high heat until meat is browned, about 10 minutes. Drain off fat.

Stir in undrained diced tomatoes, tomato juice, chili powder. Bring to a boil. Stir in macaroni (uncooked), return to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until macaroni is tender and mixture has thickened, about 15 mintues. Mix in the cheese and combine until melted. Yields about 1 1/2 cup per serving.

Total POINTS: 5

**This recipe also called for a can of kidney beans but we left this out. If you decide to put them in, you will need to add 1 point per serving.

Finger Lickin Good!

2007-09-11T20:26:00.001-05:00

We found a great product at the store last time we shopped. Maybe they have been out for awhile, but I have never seen this before! Better yet, they are only 1 point per serving! This recipe was so easy and very flavorful. The chicken was very juicy and not dry at all. Plus the onions made a great crunchy topping. I don't have an actual picture of our dinner tonight, we were too hungry to wait! Here is a pic from their website. The only difference is, we used chicken tender pieces instead. Yum! We will definitely be making this one again!

Crunchy Cheddar Onion Chicken Tenders
(Source: French's Cheddar Onion Can)

1 lb chicken tenders or breasts
1 1/2 cup French's Cheddar Fried Onions
1 egg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Beat egg in one dish. Put the onions in a plastic baggie and take your frustration out on it with a rolling pin. :) Transfer to a plate and dip chicken in egg then in onions. Place on a cookie sheet lined with foil and sprayed with non-stick spray (quite a bit too, they stick pretty good). Bake for about 20-25 minutes until onions are browned and chicken is no longer pink.

Total POINTS: 5

Chili Rubbed Pork Chops = Yum!

2007-09-11T17:30:00.000-05:00

Last night's supper was delicious! The pork chops were very tender and juicy. We were looking for something different other than chicken and my husband suggested the other white meat. :) We usually bake them in a roasting flavor bag but again, I was looking for something different. I was looking online at my etools on WW's website. I found this recipe and it sounded interesting. It is a combination of sugar and spice! We will definitely be having these again! We served them with roasted potatoes, which the recipe follows.

Chili Rubbed Pork Chops
(Source: WW)

2 pork chops
2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp brown sugar **I added this**
1/2 tsp onion powder **I added this**
1/2 tsp garlic salt
cooking spray

Mix all seasonings together in a bowl. Rub the mixture on the pork chops and refridgerate in the fridge for at least 1 hour. ( I left mine in the fridge for about 2 hours) Spray the pan with cooking spray. Place pork chops in the skillet and cook on the first side for about 5 minutes. Flip and cook an additional 5-7 minutes. I then strayed from the cooking instructions by putting it in the oven for about 10-15 minutes because I had to keep it all warm for my husband (he was running late). They were so tender! I will definitely be putting it in the oven again next time we make it. I am not sure if that is why they were so tender, but I will do it again just to make sure!

Roasted Potatoes
(source: ME)

2 large baking potatoes, diced
chili powder
garlic powder
onion powder
Lawry's Seasoning Salt
Pepper

I diced the potatoes into bite sized pieces. I lined my baking sheet with foil and sprayed the foil and potatoes with olive oil spray. I then sprinkled the potates with each of the following seasonings. I didn't measure but just made sure they were pretty evenly covered in seasonings. I mixed the taters all up to ensure they were all coated and baked in the oven for about 35 minutes. They were perfect and went well with the pork chops!

Total POINTS for 4 oz of meat and 1 cup of potatoes: 6.5 points

I'm Ready for Fall!

2007-09-11T17:18:00.000-05:00

Apples!! I love apple time! This recipe is straight off the press from the WW Best Ever Desserts recipe book. I don't know exactly how long this recipe book has been out but my WW center just got it in about 2 weeks ago. I highly recommend this book! It's full of cookies, breads, cakes, pies, brownies, and more.

I decided to try this recipe so that I would have something different for breakfast besides my usual Eggo Nutrigrain waffles or peanut butter toast. This muffins are so tasty, you would never know they were a WW recipe!

Apple Spice Streusel Topped Muffins
(Source: WW Best Ever Desserts)

Streusel Topping:
3 tbsp flour
3 tbsp light brown sugar
1 tbsp canola oil
1/2 tsp apple pie spice or cinnamon (I used cinnamon)

Muffins:
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp apple pie spice or cinnamon (I used cinnamon)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup plain fat free yogurt
2 tbsp canola oil
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and diced

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line 12 cup muffin pan with spray or liners.

To make streusel, combine the streusel ingredients in a small bowl until moistened, set aside.

To make muffins, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, apple pie spice or cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk together the brown sugar, applesauce, yogurt, oil, melted butter, and egg in a medium bowl. Add the applesauce mixture to the dry mixture, stir until just combined.

Fill the muffin cups evenly with batter. Sprinkle evenly with the streusel, pressing lightly so it adheres. Bake until a toothpick into the center of a muffin to check for doneness, about 15-20 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Remove and let cool about 15 minutes longer. Serve warm.

Per Serving: Calories: 206 Fat: 6 Fiber: 1

Total POINTS: 4

Enchiladas...No Problemo!

2007-09-04T19:48:00.000-05:00

Mexican is difficult when on WW. Yes, there are decent choices to make, but it's never what you want. (ex: chimichanga or 1/2 cheese quesadilla...hmmm) Well, I decided to take a try making enchiladas more WW friendly. I built this recipe on WW's etools (which I highly recommend!). I made 7 tortillas with a bit of chicken left over, but not enough room in my dish for an 8th. This recipe was so tasty! I hardly missed the dousing with cheese that I usually do! Corn tortillas are a little different in texture, but overall tasty as well!

Chicken Enchiladas - Trisha Style!
(Source: Me!)

3/4 lb chicken breast, shredded (I had some frozen strips that I cooked and chopped in my processor)
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 cup enchilada sauce
2 oz. diced chiles
3/4 cup reduced fat Mexican blend cheese
8 corn tortillas (I used 7 but had enough for 8)
nonstick spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook chicken with the chili powder and cumin. Shred with a fork. Add 1/4 cup of enchilada sauce, 1/4 cup cheese, and chiles to the chicken, combine. Spray
baking dish with nonstick spray. Fill tortillas with meat mixture and roll, placing tortilla seam side down. I did not measure this but to keep it uniform I used about the same amount in my spoonula for each tortilla.

Drizzle with remaining sauce. We actually did not use the entire 3/4 cup of enchilada sauce. We don't really like our enchiladas real saucy. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Again, we did not use the total remaining cheese, but I figured the above ingredients when building the recipe in my etools.

Cover with foil and bake about 20 minutes. Uncover, and bake another 3-5 minutes to melt the cheese on top a little more. Enjoy!

POINTS: 5

Sweet Tooth = Fulfilled!

2007-09-03T18:00:00.000-05:00

There were just way too many good looking recipes in the September issue of Cooking Light this month. I didn't know which to try first! I was craving something sweet and chocolatey this weekend and decided to try the Fudgy Mocha Toffee Brownies. The great thing about this recipe is that I had everything on hand already, except the toffees! You would seriously NEVER know this was a light recipe, or even WW friendly! But they are!!! The most important thing to remember is that you need to watch portion sizing. The recipe states that 20 little brownies should be produced from a 8x8 pan... At first, I thought this was insane, but really that is all you need. These are rich!! I will definitely try this recipe again (and again, and again, and again!).

Fudgy Mocha Toffee Brownies
(Source: September 2007 Cooking Light)

Cooking Spray
2 tbsp instant coffee granules
1/4 cup hot water
1/4 cup butter (I used margarine and it was fine)
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups AP flour
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
1/4 cup toffee chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Coat bottom of a 8x8 pan with spray.
3. Combine coffee granules with hot water, stir until the granules are dissolved. (this took a few minutes)
4. Combine butter and chocolate chips. Microwave on HIGH for 1 minute until butter melts; stir until chocolate is smooth.
5. Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk.
6. Combine coffee mixture, butter/chocolate chip mixture, vanilla and eggs in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk.
7. Add wet mixture to dry ingredients. Stir until well combined. **the batter was really thick**
8. Spread evenly into pan and sprinkle evenly with toffee chips. Bake for 22 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Yields: 20 servings

Calories: 145
Fat: 4.8
Fiber: 1.1

POINTS: 3!!

Hummus Virgin No More...

2007-09-03T17:49:00.000-05:00

But I wish I was! I am not a fan of the hummus...ick, yuck, blech. I am not sure if it's the consistency, the flavor, or smell.... My husband, however, has been munching on this all day, so I know it is edible and blog worthy...just not my cup of tea. I got this recipe from the New Complete Weight Watchers recipe book that I have been cooking out of for the last month or so. Really, I haven't had a recipe from this book fail me yet, I just don't like hummus.

Hummus
(Source: New Complete Weight Watchers Cookbook)

15 oz. chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup plain fatfree yogurt
2 tbsp lemon juice
3 garlic cloves
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/8 tsp allspice

In food processor or blender, puree all ingredients with 1 tbsp water.

Yields: 8 Servings

Calories: 91
Fat: 2
Fiber: 1

Total POINTS: 2

I served this with Stacy's Pita Chips. I LOVE these! I like all of the different varieties! When served with this chips, the POINTS per serving is 5 POINTS.

Easy Peanut Butter Cookies...Revamped

2007-09-03T17:39:00.000-05:00

As I was baking the delicious brownies, my husband was begging for chocolate chip cookies. Problem? Not usually... however, I just used the last of the flour on my brownies. Oops. Well, I remembered the recipe that I used earlier in the summer. I suggested this and while my husband agreed, I could tell he wanted something chocolatey as well. I had some left over chocolate chips and after seeing Deborah's blog earlier, I thought, "Why not?!"

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies...Sans Flour!
(Source: Skippy as well as Deborah)

1 cup chunky peanut butter (you could also use smooth)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325. Mix all ingredients together. Drop by spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Dough will be sticky! You can try to criss cross the dough with a fork, like traditional cookies, but it's hard. Bake for about 8 minutes.

3 Points per cookie according to my etools. 2 points without the chocolate chips.

Another Cooking Light Success!

2007-09-01T13:26:00.000-05:00

My September issue of Cooking Light arrived a couple days ago and it was so hard t pick what recipe to try first. Sometimes there are just recipes that don't appeal to us but this issue is awesome! We decided to try the Braised Chicken with Red Potatoes and Tarragon Broth. I wasn't sure what "tarragon" was, and I couldn't find it in the store, so we used dried and it was really good! The broth was very flavorful and made the chicken super moist (it also made our house smell so good!). This could be served two ways, as a soup with the broth or as chicken and potatoes. We chose the second way and also had some steamed broccoli.

Braised Chicken with Red Potatoes and Tarragon Broth
(Source: Cooking Light September 2007)

2 tsp olive oil
1/3 cup finely chopped shallots **I used a white onion**
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken cut into bite size pieces
2 1/2 cups fat free chicken broth
1/2 cup white wine **All I had was cooking wine, so I added a splash of that then broth**
1 tsp fresh chopped tarragon **I used a couple pinches of dry tarragon leaves**
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 package (12 oz) red potato wedges such as Simply Potatoes
2 tbls chopped fresh parsley **I left this out because we didn't have it on hand**
1 tsp red pepper flakes **I added this**

Directions:

Heat oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add shallots (onions) to pain, saute 1 minute. Add chicken to pan, saute 2 minutes or until browned. Add broth, wine, tarragon, salt, pepper to pan. Bring this to a boil. Simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add potatoes, simmer 5 minutes or until potatoes are tender (I did this for about 7-10 minutes). Remove from heat, add parsley.

Yields: 4 servings (1 1/4 cup serving size)

Calories: 227
Fat: 3.9
Fiber: 1.8

Total POINTS: 5

I'm It! Tagged 2x in a week!

2007-08-31T17:29:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I have been tagged again, so here we go!

My 8 interesting facts (well, if you can call them that!)

1. My new favorite addiction is a medium Caribou Sugar Free Skinny Iced Latte, for 2 points each. It is my snack 2-3 times a week. They are delicious! I highly recommend them!

2. I hate sage. Hate it with a passion, just the smell makes me gag!

3. My black cat and I have "sleepy time" at least 5 times a week on the couch. He lays on a pillow on my chest and snuggles with me.

4. Everyday on the way home from work I see the same 2 beavers by a bridge. How cute is that!

5. I LOVE Harry Potter and all things associated with the series. I have read #7 twice since purchasing it the night it came out and I reread the whole series this summer.

6. I have way too many kitchen appliances and gizmos for our tiny kitchen.

7. I am a shoe whore...I love buying shoes!

8. I would love to move to Ohio. It's so pretty there... My husband is glued to Iowa soil though!

I am tagging: Mrs.H052006, Erin, Ash, Erica, Melissa, Renae, Emily, and Gillian. If you've been tagged, tell us 8 interesting things about yourself and tag 8 others! :) Have fun!

Playing with my new Toy

2007-08-27T18:26:00.000-05:00

My husband loves brownies. LOVES them! So what did he request when I asked him what he'd like me to make him with my new mixer? Brownies! I have never had luck with homemade ones but the last two batches I made have turned out delicious! Yay! I used the recipe on the back of the cocoa powder because he requested a chewy fudgy brownie. This were a hit and my hubby gobbled up a row of them in an hours time!

Chewy Cocoa Brownies
(Source: Nestle Cocoa Powder)

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Baking Cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter or margarine, melted
2 tablespoons water
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup chopped nuts, (optional - we used walnuts)
1 powdered sugar

Directions:

PREHEAT oven to 350º F. Grease 13 x 9-inch baking pan.

COMBINE flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt in medium bowl. Combine sugar, butter and water in large bowl. Stir in eggs and vanilla extract. Stir in flour mixture and nuts. Spread into prepared baking pan.

BAKE for 18 to 25 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out slightly sticky. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Cut into bars.

WW-Double Chocolate Chews - Guiltfree!

2007-08-27T18:19:00.000-05:00

This is probably my favorite Cooking Light recipe. I made these cookies long before starting WW but they are very WW friendly. They figure to be 1 POINT per cookie, although I made mine a little bigger so I figured them to be about 1.5 (not too much difference!).

Double Chocolate Chews
(Source: Cooking Light)

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup sifted powdered sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate mini-morsels, divided **I used full size ones and cut it down to 3/4 cup**
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons light-colored corn syrup
1 tablespoon water
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 egg whites
Vegetable cooking spray

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine first 5 ingredients in a bowl; stir well, and set aside.

Combine 3/4 cup chocolate morsels and oil in a small saucepan; cook over low heat until chocolate melts, stirring constantly. Pour the melted chocolate mixture into a large bowl, and let cool 5 minutes. Add brown sugar, corn syrup, water, vanilla extract, and egg whites to chocolate mixture; stir well. Stir in flour mixture and remaining chocolate morsels.

Drop dough by level tablespoons 2 inches apart onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 8 minutes. Let cool 2 minutes or until firm. Remove cookies from pans; let cool on wire racks.

Yield

4 dozen (serving size: 1 cookie)

Nutritional Information

CALORIES 64(23% from fat); FAT 1.6g (sat 0.6g,mono 0.5g,poly 0.5g); PROTEIN 0.9g; CHOLESTEROL 0.0mg; CALCIUM 19mg; SODIUM 13mg; FIBER 0.1g; IRON 0.5mg; CARBOHYDRATE 11.8g

POINTS Per Cookie: 1 POINT

**For about 33 cookies it figures to be 2 points for 1 cookie,3.5 POINTS for 2 cookies. Thanks to nestie Mrs.DW_instead!!**

My New Toys!!

2007-08-25T23:59:00.001-05:00

It's like Christmas here! I am so excited! I received my new Kitchen Aid Pro Mixer and Food Processor this week. :) It has been such a crazy week here with school starting and everything so I haven't had a chance to cook anything blog worthy or play with these new toys (well, I have only had them for about 2 days now, so that is not too bad!) I am planning on cooking/baking up a storm tomorrow though! Coming up will be brownies, cookies, salsa and hummus. I have never had hummus before so I am excited! Here are my new toys. They are so pretty!!!

Parmesan Chicken and Rice - WW friendly!

2007-08-19T21:15:00.000-05:00

I was looking for new ways to use up this huge bag of frozen chicken strips my parents gave us and came across my friend Amber's blog. This recipe used bite size chicken, rice, cheese and it was a one dish meal....what could be better!! Because it was a Cooking Light recipe, it was already healthy, but I altered it just a bit to save a couple of POINTS. It was delicious! I took Amber's advice of adding some red pepper flakes for a little kick and it was awesome! I barely have enough for lunch tomorrow after my husband got through with it, always a good sign of a successful meal. Here is my recipe with the alterations I made. The original recipe can be seen by clicking the link below the recipe.

Parmesan Chicken and Rice
(Source: Amber's Delectable Delights)

Ingredients
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, diced
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup uncooked instant brown rice
1 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1 tsp dried parsley

Preparation

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, thyme, and mushrooms; sauté 5 minutes or until onion is tender. Add chicken; sauté 4 minutes or until the chicken is lightly browned. Add wine, salt, and pepper; cook 3 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates. Stir in rice and broth. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Stir in cheese and parsley.

Yield 4 servings (serving size: about 1 cup)

Total POINTS: 7

We served this with broccoli that we steamed in the microwave using the new Ziploc Zip and Steam bags. It worked perfectly! These bags are awesome. Not only are they good for fresh or frozen veggies, but you can make whole meals in them including meat! Too cool! They were in the same aisle as the other ziploc bags and were under $3.00 for 10. I highly suggest checking them out.

Weight Watchers Is Wonderful!

2007-08-17T22:18:00.000-05:00

I have made several WW meals the last few weeks. Never fear, I will have some goodies posted before long. I am trying to stall much baking until I receive my new mixer (shhh! Don't tell my husband that!). I must say that I was skeptical of WW at first. Lots of people I know have lost with the plan but diets never seem to work for me. Well, I thought I would give it a go because I want to be healthier for when we have kids and feel better about myself.

I began the plan on July 25th. It really is a lifestyle change. I am have had battles in my head (think the devil and the angel on either shoulder) on choices I make everyday regarding what I put into my mouth.. I am definitely an emotional eater and I recognize this. I have lost 8.8 lbs since starting in July. I couldn't be happier. I have a long way to go but it is definitely motivating me to shoo that little devil with the cupcake off my shoulder and choose a cup of grapes instead!

I just wanted to share with everyone my success so far so that if perhaps you have been contemplating joining, you kind of know someone who has their own struggles, doesn't work out as much as she should, and loves to bake way too much (that's me by the way!), that has had success with it and you can too. It is very affordable I think. Here is the website for more information and pricing in your area. I highly recommend the monthly pass because you receive the free online tools which are a great help for recipe searches and point figuring.

You can choose from participating online or attending meetings. I was really afraid to go to a meeting alone and I didn't have anyone who could join with me. But I said to myself, "Trisha just do it. You're not a shy person, just do it." It was absolutely fine. I wasn't forced to talk. They all welcomed me. No one called me fat or said anything to make me feel uncomfortable. In fact, it was just the opposite. I felt so welcome. Weigh-ins hold me accountable for my choices. They are a little nervewracking a first but now they are a breeze.

Ok, there is my two minutes on my soap box. I just wanted to share my experience so far (again, I am in no way close to reaching my goal but it's a start!) since I have been featuring a lot of WW meals. Good luck and enjoy!!

WW: Crockpot Salsa Chicken.... Sans Crockpot!

2007-08-17T22:02:00.001-05:00

So I have heard wonderful reviews about the crockpot salsa recipe on the What's Cooking board. Sadly, I do not have a crockpot that loves me. It would rather smell our house with a wonderful aroma but produce charcoal which = not yummy. :( So I stubbled across this recipe while looking for WW friendly meals that had the same basis of the crockpot salsa recipe. I found it and it was so yummy! The chicken was juicy and had tons of flavor. It would be great in tortillas for those extra points, but we just ate it with a side of beans and I was full.

Salsa Chicken
(Source: Recipe Gold Mine )

2 chicken breasts, skinless
1 cup salsa
1/2 cup low fat cheddar cheese
1 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tbsp cumin
1 green pepper, sliced

Preheat oven to 375. Brown chicken in skillet (no need to cook through). Toss chicken (we had chicken strips left over) with seasonings, then add to casserole or baking dish. Add salsa and green pepper. Bake uncovered for 25-30 minutes. Add cheese and bake for an additional 5 minutes until cheese is melted.

POINTS: 4 per serving (4 servings)

We served this with fat free refried beans (1 POINT).

WW: Peppers and Pasta = Yum!

2007-08-17T21:51:00.000-05:00

I finally found some turkey sausage that wasn't ground! Yay! It was perfect for this recipe and it was delicious! You wouldn't know it was only 6 points! It makes a lot though, so be prepared for leftovers!

Peppers, Sausage and Pasta

1 pkg turkey sausage cut into 1 in slices
1 green pepper, sliced thin
8 oz pasta (I used wheat penne but any would be fine)
1/4 cup chicken broth
red pepper flakes to your liking
1/2 tsp dried each oregano, basil and rosemary (original also called for sage but that = yuck for us!)
4 tsp olive oil
1 onion chopped finely
3 garlic cloves, diced
1 tomato, chopped

Cook pasta al dente according to package directions. Meanwhile brown sausage until cooked through, about 6 minutes, set aside. Heat 2 tsp oil in skillet and saute onions and peppers until tender crisp. Add garlic, tomatoes, and red pepper flakes. Add pasta, sausage and chicken broth and remaining oil. Toss to coat and serve.

This takes 20 minutes (maybe about 30 tops!). We served it with Pillsbury Breadsticks brushed with butter spray and garlic salt.

Pasta POINTS: 6

Total POINTS including 1 breadstick: 9

WW Rave: Stuffed Peppers

2007-08-12T22:04:00.000-05:00

I have no idea why I decided to heat up the entire house for supper tonight, but I am glad I did, because it was sooo tasty! I was looking for something different and came across this recipe in my Weight Watchers Complete Cookbook. I have never made stuffed peppers but I have always wanted to try them. These were very tasty and would be great with a nice salad (which we didn't have, but it sounded good!). I do not have a picture because my batteries were dead, but the recipe is definitely worth mentioning. I altered only a few things and it was just delicious!

Stuffed Peppers

4 green, red or yellow peppers (we used green)
1/2 lb lean ground beef
1 cup cooked white rice
2 tbls tomato paste
1/4 cup frozen peas, thawed
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried parsely
1/4 tsp rosemary (original recipe called for sage, which we don't like)
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup parmesan cheese + additional to sprinkle over
1/2 cup tomato sauce

Preheat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients together, except tomato sauce, in bowl. Cut tops of peppers and deseed. You can leave them whole or cut them in half, depending on how you like to stuff the peppers. We left them whole, but I think I will half them before stuffing next time. I think they will be easier to eat!

Loosely stuff the peppers with meat mixture. Place peppers in baking dish. Pour tomato sauce over the peppers. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Add water to the pan, about 1/4 of the way up the pepper. Cover with foil and bake for 30 min. Baste the peppers occaisionally with the pan water. After 30 minutes, remove foil and bake another 20 minutes. Allow to sit 5 minutes before serving.

Servings: 4

POINTS per serving: 6

We only made 2 peppers. With the extra meat mixture, I cooked in a skillet until the meat was browned and froze it for next time, two meals in one!

Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

2007-08-08T23:31:00.000-05:00

Our 2nd anniversary was this past Monday and we decided on not exchanging gifts because we are trying to save money. Instead we decided we would do dinner and a movie, which is odd for us to do more than once or twice a month (which we had already done this month). It was a lot of fun, a really great evening. Despite the fact that we decided on no gifts, we both came home with something for each other! How funny is that! Peter got me 9 pink roses (my favorite). 1 for each year we had known each other and 1 for the future. I decided that the best way to Peter's heart was with food, so I baked! I decided to make brownies, his favorite. I also decided to give it a whirl at making them from scratch, something I rarely do with brownies because they hardly ever turn out! As a back up, I bought a box of brownie mix, just in case! Peter's favorite flavors are chocolate and peanut butter, so I combined the two and came up with a swirly peanut butter-y chocolate brownie.

Peanut Butter Cup Brownies
(source: Nestle and ME!)

1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
2 tablespoons water
2 bars (4 oz. total) unsweetened chocolate bars
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Microwave sugar, butter and water in a large microwave-safe bowl on HIGH (100%) power for 4 to 5 minutes or until mixture bubbles, stirring once. Remove from heat. Add baking bars; stir until melted. Stir in eggs one at a time until incorporated. Stir in vanilla extract. Add flour, baking soda and salt; stir well. Stir in peanut butter chip, they may melt a little and that is ok! Pour into prepared baking pan.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out slightly sticky. Remove to wire rack to cool completely.

WW Buffalo Chicken Pizza

2007-08-08T23:21:00.000-05:00

My new addiction has been buffalo chicken. All summer I have tried any kind of dish with the words "buffalo chicken" in it. Being on Weight Watchers, buffalo wings and fried chicken with buffalo sauce isn't the best choice for my POINTS for the day, so I have had to improvise. My newest lunch creation is this buffalo chicken pizza, made with the Flat Wrap I mentioned earlier in the tuna salad entry from a few days ago. It was delicious! The pictures are horrible, and I apologize for that. I really need a new camera I think! Hint hint, hubby!

Buffalo Chicken Pizza
(source: ME!)

3 oz diced chicken breast
Frank's hot sauce or Buffalo Wing Sauce
1/4 cup part skim mozzerella cheese
1 flatwrap tortilla

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray flatwrap with olive oil cooking spray on both sides. Bake on cookie sheet for about 6-7 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix desired amount of hot sauce and chicken. I just eyeballed this, and made sure the chicken was generously coated.
Spread chicken mixture on tortilla, top with cheese. Drizzle additional sauce over cheese if desired. Bake for another 5-6 minutes until cheese is melted and beginning to brown.

I cut this into 6 pieces and it was a lot easier to eat. This has become my new favorite lunch! And it is POINTS friendly!

Total POINTS: 6

Sausage and Peppers - Mixed Reviews

2007-08-01T23:26:00.000-05:00

I tried one of the WW recipes out of my new cookbook tonight for supper and it was eh. I loved it except the turkey sausage was way too spicy. I think it would be great if you mixed some of the sausage with maybe regular ground turkey. For a few extra points, adding some noodles and diced tomatoes would make this more filling. My husband just wasn't full from this because he could eat the sausage because our tongues were on fire. Here is the recipe though and some pics. It had great flavor and like I said lots of potential, I will make it again with some modifications!

Sausage and Peppers
(source: Weight Watchers Complete Cookbook)

1 lb turkey sausage, whole sliced or ground and formed into large chunks
1 each red, yellow and green peppers, sliced
1 onion, sliced
1/4 cup chicken broth
3 garlic cloves, diced
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp dried oregano (I didn't measure, so I am sure I used more!)
Cooking spray

Heat cooking spray in skillet, add sausage and cook until done. Add peppers, onion, garlic, oregano, red pepper flakes, and chicken broth. Stir and combine the peppers and sausage. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring around. Cover and cook for about 5 more minutes until peppers are tender but yet crisp.

I served this with baby potatoes. I didn't want to turn on the oven to roast them so I tried something a little different...

Sauted Potatoes

6-8 baby red potatoes
2 tsp olive oil
dried oregano
red pepper flakes
1 garlic clove, diced
chopped parsley

Boil potatoes until not quite fork tender. Add 2 tsp to a skillet and add potatoes and garlic. Stir to cover potatoes in oil. Sprinkle oregano and pepper flakes over taters and saute for about 5-7 minutes until tender but not falling apart. Sprinkle with parsley.

Lunch Favorite!

2007-08-01T23:18:00.000-05:00

I have been on WW now for a week and this has become my favorite lunch. It's low in points and it's very yummy. First of all, I want to totally recommend the Flat Out Wraps (I have the light ones). They are a low carb wrap that I found near the health food section at the grocery store. They are so delicious! And only 1 POINT...can't beat that!!

Tuna Salad Wrap

1 pouch tuna in water
1 tbsp lite mayo
3 mini pickles, diced (or relish)
1 wrap (try a Flat Out Wrap!)
1/2 tsp lemon pepper seasoning
1/2 tsp garlic salt
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all together, lay in wrap. The great thing about these wraps is that you don't have to just put the goodies in the middle. They are really long so you can spread it out and then roll them tightly. Cut in half at a slant. Enjoy!

Total Points: 4

I Heart Bakespace!!

2007-08-01T00:17:00.001-05:00

THANK YOU Babette at Bakespace. I am just so excited right now! I won the KitchenAid Professional 600 Series Bowl Lift Mixer! Oh my gosh! I thought I would post this because I am just too ansy right now to go to bed! My old KitchenAid mixer is on it's last legs. It lived a long and happy life (I've had it for 9 years now, bought it right out of high school). I decided on the Copper Pearl color because I thought it was kind of different. We don't really have color's or a theme yet in our Tiny Pink Kitchen but someday we will and I love this color.

I also won a daily prize earlier this month. I won a KitchenAid Food Processor. I was so surprised because it was 2 days before my birthday, so it was a early present for me. I chose the Stainless Steel color for this prize.

One of the best things about this contest and promotion was that I really did meet new people while on Bakespace. This is one of the main ideas behind the site. Babette's motto at Bakespace is, "Come for the Food, Stay for the Conversation." And this is so true. During this promotion, I met several new people who love cooking and baking just as much as me. Ironically, many of the girls on the site (there are men too!) I talk to on a regular basis on the What's Cooking board on thenest. So we were able to get to know each other even better yet. :o)

Cooking Helps the Heart!

2007-07-31T00:17:00.000-05:00

I have always found that cooking or baking has helped relieve some stress and nerves. If I am sad, I usually bake. It's theraputic for me in some way. But I just joined Weight Watchers and I am trying so hard to make better choices. After the bad day I had today with the loss of my kitty, my wisdom teeth decided to sprout an infection so now I am on some killer antibiotics and I got 2 blisters while walking today....I knew I would chose to bake some chocolate chip cookies rather than a more point friendly dessert! Terrible, I know...

Well, I decided to spice up our chicken tonight. We were going to have use our trusty lemon pepper seasoning but I had a few limes left over from the weekend and decided to put them to use! This recipe has been around the What's Cooking board, I believe...I got this recipe off of Allrecipes.com. I loved it! It was so juicy and had a nice kick to it! Next time I will add a little more spice to the mix, but it was very good. We had brown rice and corn with it (not pictured). Please don't mind the paper plate in the pic, I didn't feel like dirtying another plate just to take the picture! I was lazy like that today. See my modifications below for WW points. Spicy Garlic Lime Chicken

3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried parsley
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons garlic powder
3 tablespoons lime juice

Directions

In a small bowl, mix together salt, black pepper, cayenne, paprika, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, onion powder, thyme and parsley. Sprinkle spice mixture generously on both sides of chicken breasts.
Heat butter and olive oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Saute chicken until golden brown, about 6 minutes on each side. Sprinkle with 2 teaspoons garlic powder and lime juice. Cook 5 minutes, stirring frequently to coat evenly with sauce.

**I used just 2 tsp of olive oil and 1 tbsp butter to cook the chicken and that was plenty. The total points for this chicken is 5 points. Served with rice (1/4 cup=2 points) and 1 cup corn (2 points) the total meal equaled 9 POINTS. It was very filling. Very! Enjoy!

We'll Miss You Sassy...

2007-07-30T23:41:00.002-05:00

This isn't cooking related but I felt it was necessary to share with you all that today was a very sad day. My kitty, Sassy, who we've had since I was 12 (I'm 27 now...) passed away. She had kidney failure and was in a lot of pain, so we decided to end her suffering and put her to sleep. I thought it may help me to write about Sassy, so thank you for reading, should you chose to. :o)

Sassy was a character, don't let these cute pictures fool you! :o) She was named after the movie Homeward Bound, which was my favorite movie at the time. She reminded me so much of the cat in that movie that I begged and begged my parents to let us name her Sassy. "She doesn't look like a Sassy though," they said, "she looks like a Pearl." Pearl!? No way! I knew that Sassy would live up to her name and boy did she! She would torment me at night. She really did creep me out for about a year (I had seen Pet Semetary for the first time). She would sit in the doorway of my bedroom and just stare at me. Looking back, she was just watching out for me, I'm sure. She would always be on my bed when I was sick, upset, or scared. She was a great kitty and we'll miss her so much.

We had gotten her shortly after our sheltie, Casey (who passed away a few years ago) and they were the best of friends. Casey knew that Sassy called the shots when she bopped him on the nose one night when he got a little rough with her. Since that night he was bopped, they would play and roll around all night, wrestling, but never trying to hurt each other. When I moved out, I couldn't bear to take her from her best bud, so I let my parents keep her at their house with Casey. I think a little bit of her died when Casey died, she never was quite the same. She adapted well to my parents new dogs (another sheltie and a border collie=rowdy).

She was a petite kitty, never weighing more than 7 pounds. This is why it broke our hearts to hear that although it had appeared she ate, she must not have ate much because she had lost over 2 pounds, not good for a kitty her size. She is now with Casey up in pet heaven, I'm sure. We found this poem awhile back, after Casey died and I think it is perfect.

Rainbow Bridge

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge.
There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together.
There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.
The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together...

~ Author Unknown

Menu Decided!

2007-07-28T10:14:00.000-05:00

I have been planning a menu for the last 3 or 4 months or so, since my husband and I decided to stop wasting money and try to save some moolah. We shop every two weeks with 1 trip usually in the middle to pick up fresh produce. The problem with this is that I alway LOSE the meals/recipes I had planned on. I will have the grocery list but I forget what I bought those items for! Terrible isn't it! Well, problem solved, I will start posting it here. If you would like any of the recipes (they will be posted once I cook them or I will link them if I got it off the internet) just let me know and I will send it your way. Here is my menu for Sunday-Saturday this week.

Sunday: Roasted garlic chicken (whole), brown rice and broccolli
Monday: Spicy Garlic Lime Chicken and rice
Tuesday: Frozen Pizza for DH, SmartOnes for me (Bowling Night!)
Wednesday: Sausage and Peppers (WW recipe)
Thursday: Spaghetti and Meatballs
Friday: Noodles and Sesame Sauce with Chicken (WW recipe)
Saturday: Eat out!

Mmmm....steak=healthy?!

2007-07-26T21:29:00.000-05:00

Well after all of the goodies I have baked (and eaten!), I decided it was time to do something about how I eat and make a lifestyle change. I joined Weight Watchers today and I am looking forward to feeling better about myself and having more energy. This was my first day and I think I did pretty good. For supper, we already had some extra lean steak dethawed and so we needed to use that up. I came up with some steak sandwiches with onions and green peppers. They were very good! I served it with some 1% cottage cheese and felt great about my choices today! I do not have a picture of the actual sandwich, but this is the yummy goodness in the skillet!

Peppers and Steak Sandwiches

1 1/2 lb extra lean steak, sliced thinly
1/2 red onion, sliced
1 green pepper, diced coarsely
provlone cheese slices
Whole grain white buns
2 tsp olive oil
1 cup beef broth
garlic salt
Mrs. Dash seasoning mix
pepper
red pepper flakes

In non-stick skillet, season steak and saute using non-stick spray. Cook until light pink. Add beef broth and pepper flakes, simmer for about 20 minutes. This will make the meat so tender!

In seperate pan, heat oil. Add onions and peppers, cooking until translucent and soft. Do not brown them. Add meat to onion skillet and combine.

On griddle, scoop up some pepper and steak mixture and top with one slice provolone cheese, until melted. Scoop onto bun, serve with cottage cheese.

Total POINTS this meal: 8 points

Dough-rific Pizza

2007-07-26T21:12:00.000-05:00

I have never made my own pizza dough before and I thought I would give it a whirl. I have to say, it turned out very good! The only adjustment I would make to this would be before baking, I will spray some butter on the crust and sprinkle with garlic seasoning, just to help add to the flavor.

I found this recipe in a magazine my good friend Erica got me while I had my wisdom teeth pulled. I didn't know Paula Deen had a magazine until it arrived in my care package! I was so excited! This recipe was very easy and turned out great. I topped it with Ragu pizza sauce (yes, canned pizza sauce-I didn't want to push my luck!), Italian sausage, pepperoni, onions, green pepper and mozzerella cheese.

Traditional Pizza Crust - Makes 1 15 in crust

1 (1 1/4 oz) envelope active dry yeast
1 tbsp sugar
1 1/4 cup warm water (105-115 degrees)
3 1/4 cup AP flour
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
cornmeal

In a 2 cup measuring cup, combine yeast, sugar, and water. Let stand for 5 minutes.

It the work bowl of a food processor, combine flour and salt. Pulse several times to combine. With processor running, slowly add yeast mixture and oil. Continue running processor until mixture is combined and forms a ball.

O a lightly floured surface, turn dough out and knead for 5 minutes. Place in a lightly greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover, and let rise in a warm place (85 degrees), free from drafts for about 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk.

On a lightly floured surface, roll dough out into a 18 inch circle. Sprinkle pizza pan evenly with corn mean. Fold edges over to form a crust. Add desired toppings and bake for 15-20 minutes.*

*** I used my Pizzazz pizza maker, so I didn't bake it. I highly recommend the Pizzazz! It's awesome. It allows you to cook frozen or fresh pizzas without using the oven. It also lets you cook the pizza using the top and bottom heating elements (dual), or just the bottom or just the top. This is great when you want your crust extra crispy, which is hard to do when making homemade pizza. We cooked in in the Pizzazz for 16 minutes on dual, then 2 extra minutes on bottom.

Another Woman's Goodies...I don't think so!

2007-07-24T11:29:00.000-05:00

My husband loves treat day at his work. Why? Because his coworker, makes this scrumptious peanut butter bars that he loves. The first time he had these bars, he came home and asked if I could make them for us at home (throwing in mine would be 10 times better than hers, slick right!) I had Peter ask her for the recipe and she declined to give it to him, because it's her secret. Crazy, right?! Well after having Peter describe in detail the texture, flavor, color, and taste of these mystery goodies, I think I may have created a close comparison to these mystery bars. This has all been in good fun, and is kind of an inside joke with us now, every time his coworker brings these bars. So here is my take on them. Enjoy!

TRISHA'S (not Amy's) Peanut Butter Bars

1 1/4 cup peanut butter
1 lb powdered sugar
1 cup butter, melted
1 1/4 cup graham crackers
1 pkg chocolate chips

Cream melted butter and peanut butter together. Add graham cracker crumbs (I used honey but I am sure it wouldn't make too much of a difference). Add powdered sugar slowly, combining after each addition. Press mixture (it will be very thick) into a greased 13x9 pan. Melt chocolate chips in microwave, and pour over peanut butter mixture. Chill for about 20 minutes and cut before they harden too much. Cover and you can store these 2 ways. If you are a "I love my peanut butter cups in the fridge/freezer" person (like myself) then keep these in the fridge. If you are a "I love my peanut butter cups melting all over my fingers" as you eat them, then leave them out.

These taste somewhat like a Buckeye or peanut butter ball that I make during the holidays, which is how I came up with this recipe. So if you like those, you'll love these. When they are cold, the bars are a little more crumbly than if you leave them out.

It's Cookie, It's Cake, It's Cheesecake!

2007-07-24T11:13:00.000-05:00

It's the perfect cookie! Totally a "that's the spot" creation, if I do say so myself! I had a block of cream cheese and some chocolate chips to use up. I was going to make muffins but I was craving a good chewy cookie. After digging around in my cupboard, I also found a chocolate fudge cake mix.. I went to Allrecipes.com and did some searching. I found this recipe for Cream Cheese Cookies. I altered it to what I had on hand and added in a little extra chocolatey goodness and the result was delicious. These little chocolate cookies taste like a chocolate cheesecake in your hand. Here is the recipe I used, after changing what I had to work with.

1 Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix (Duncan Hines is my favorite brand)
1 8oz light cream cheese
1 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 egg yolk
1/4 tsp vanilla

Cream butter and cream cheese. Add yolk and vanilla; mix well. Slowly add cake mix, stirring after each addition. The batter will be very thick. I had to mix the rest by hand because my little hand mixer sounded tired. It worked better that way though. After it's all mixed well, cover and chill at least 30 minutes. It ended up in the fridge for about an hour while I ran some errands.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees. With a little scooper or teaspoons, drop cookies on a greased cookie sheet (I used my silicone mat and I LOVE how all my cookies turn out). Bake 8-10 minutes. Do not over bake! They will be a little soft, but set around the edges.

These cookies are very soft and literally fall apart as you eat them, but they are soo good. This recipe could be used with any kind of cake mix. I think Funfetti would be good or lemon cake mix. I got about 40 cookies out of this recipe with my little scooper.

Taco Noodles...no....FRENCH TOAST!!

2007-07-20T16:19:00.000-05:00

Last night I made a fabulous sounding taco noodle dish in my crockpot. What does that have to do with french toast you ask? Well, when my crockpot decided to burn yet ANOTHER meal (I was lucky to get that meatloaf out of it the other night), we needed something to eat for supper without eating out. Sure it was tempting to order a pizza but we just went to the store. That would be silly. Delicious, but silly. So my husband suggested french toast. I thought about it and decided that it had been forever since we had this wonderful suggestion plus it would be easy to chew (I am sure you all are tired of hearing about my teeth...that makes 2 of us!), so french toast it is. I don't really follow an exact recipe but I make it very similar to how my dad has made it for years. I must say that although it's always better when my dad does make it for us, mine has become pretty good also!

Dad's French Toast (well, mine now!)
6 slices of bread
5 eggs
milk -about 1/4 cup or so, eyeball it
a splash heavy cream
2 tsp or so cinnamon
dash of nutmeg
powdered sugar
syrup

In bowl, beat eggs until combined. Add milk and dash of cream, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix until combined and bubbly. Preheat griddle and spray with nonstick spray. Dip bread in egg mixture and carefully place on griddle. Repeat, making sure to leave just enough room between the slices of bread. Sprinkle with just a bit more cinnamon. Allow to brown, flip carefully. It usually takes about 3-4 minutes on each side. We like our really done, if you like softer french toast, you would want to turn them after 2-3 minutes. Remove from griddle, sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve with butter and syrup. Yummy!

Buffalo Chicken Quesadillas

2007-07-20T14:42:00.000-05:00

Yummy! It's all I can say about this little concoction I made for lunch yesterday! It was easy enough to eat (gotta think of thos wisdom teeth still, ugh) but so tasty! Quesadillas are one of my favorite go-to quick meals that we always seem to have to ingredients for. It was cheesey and delicious! (please excuse the paper plate, I didn't feel like washing another dish!)

Buffalo Chicken Quesadillas

1 chicken breast shreaded or chopped
Frank's Buffalo Wing Sauce (or hot sauce)
1 large tortilla
1 very large handful of cheese (I used Mexican Jack cheese, but any will work)

In a small container, mix the chicken and enough hot sauce to suit your preference. I doused mine because I like it spicy but you could use as much or as little as you want. Preheat skillet or griddle, spray with Pam cooking spray. Spread chicken on half of tortilla, cover with cheese. Fold over and carefully set in skillet. For easy flipping, put spatula under the open side of the tortilla (not folded) and just roll it over in skillet after about 3 minutes or until browned. Allow other side to brown and cheese starts to get gooey. Remove from skillet and cut into 3 triangles (or more if you're sharing!). Serve with sour cream and salsa if desired.

Chocolate Swirl Chip Cookies

2007-07-20T14:30:00.000-05:00

I love chocolate chip cookies. Looovvveee them! They have always been my favorite and I could eat the whole batch if I allowed myself. I picked up a bag of the white chocolate/chocolate swirl chips at the store the other day and was pondering what to do with them. I decided that I had been trying so many new recipes lately, that I had failed to actually make old fashioned chocolate chip cookies! So I decided I must make a batch with the swirl chips. I am providing a link to the recipe I use, because it's basically the Toll House cookie recipe. I often will add in some peanut butter, different kind of chips, mints, etc. This recipe hasn''t failed me yet! Sorry for the pics, my camera is not cooperating lately! Errr...

Comfort Food! Slow Cooker Style...

2007-07-18T22:39:00.001-05:00

With the weather being the way it is (upper 90's with 100+ heat index) the last thing we wanted to do is turn the oven on for an hour for supper. This was most discouraging when I did a pantry raid and found that really the only thing we could make without going to the store would be meatloaf. Hmm...what to do! So I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com and altered it to our liking. It was SOO good! It was moist and fell apart, which is great since I just had my wisdom teeth removed last Friday! We served this with some mashed potatoes and corn. It was a great comfort food dish and even more comforting to me, since I have lived on pudding and applesauce for 5 days. :o) I apologize that I do not have a picture of this meal. My camera was not cooperating tonight and I was hungry and just wanted to eat! I will warn you though that it is not a "beautiful dish" by any means, but it is mighty tasty!

Slow Cooker Meatloaf

2 beaten eggs
3/4 cup milk
2/3 cup bread crumbs
1 lb ground beef
1/2 onion soup packet (I used Liptons)
1/2 of each a red and green pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp red pepper
salt and pepper to taste

Sauce **this is so good! we usually just use ketchup**

1/4 cup ketchup
1 tsp dry mustard
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Combine eggs with milk, bread crumbs,onion,salt,and sage,and meat.
Mix well and shape into a 9x5 in. rectangle or oval.
Carefully place into slowcooker pot.
Cook on low for about 6-7 hrs.
Combine sauce ingredients and pour over meat loaf and cook on high for about 15 minutes. I did this step an hour before serving and just continued to cook on low. It was perfect!

Crispy Lemon Chicken

2007-07-11T21:43:00.000-05:00

This was the best recipe I have put together in a while, almost better than the Alfredo Farfalle...almost! I had some chicken to use up and I found some lemon pepper seasoning that sounded good. I didn't want to bake it completely in the oven though because it never gets as crispy as I would prefer to have it. So I decided to go all out and fry it, but I am sure you could do the same in the oven. This made the chicken so juicy! What I did was put the lemon seasoning in the plain bread crumbs and it was so good! Here is the recipe (sorry for the poor pic-the good picture didn't download correctly...perfect excuse to beg for a new camera...right?! :o) )

Crispy Lemon Chicken a la Trisha :o)

3 chicken breasts, pounded thin
2 cups plain bread crumbs
1 tbsp lemon pepper seasoning *** see notes below
1 egg, beaten
salt and pepper
oil for frying - I used canola but any would work

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put enough oil to lightly coat bottom of nonstick skillet. Combine the bread crumbs and the lemon pepper seasoning. Dip the chicken in the beaten egg, then sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Dredge in the bread crumbs, pressing down to ensure it sticks and it is all coated.

Place in hot skillet and fry on one side 5-7 minutes, until lightly browned. Flip and cook another 5 minutes. Transfer to greased cookie sheet for about 20 minutes to finish cooking. Sprinkle just a little lemon seasoning on top of crispy chicken if desired. Let rest 5 minutes before cutting.

***you may add more or less lemon seasoning. I really eyeballed it but it was about 1 tbsp. I judged it by if I could see the pepper flakes and I could smell it, there was enough there. It turned out perfectly seasoned, not too much or too little.

We served this with rice and corn (not shown). Our favorite kind of rice pilaf is the Zatarin's brand, it is so good! I would highly recommend it.

Another Birthday Another Year Older..

2007-07-07T23:19:00.000-05:00

This is not cooking related but I did eat some great cake! I used to be super excited about my birthday...Don't get me wrong, I still love it, I am just not that thrilled with the number that is associated with it anymore! It's ok though, my husband is still a couple years older and he will be 30 before me, so it's all good! My mom and I share birthdays, so she recently celebrated her special day as well!

I just have to AW for a minute. Peter got me the coolest gizmo ever, I am just thrilled! He got me one of those digital photo frames that you can download pictures onto and it rolls through the different pictures. It's so cool! It gave me another reason to go through pictures this week, which we haven't done for awhile. Here is the frame, if you would like to see it. I was just so excited!

Fake Out Biaggi's-Chicken Farfalle

2007-07-07T22:39:00.000-05:00

Our favorite special occasion restaurant is Biaggi's Ristorante Italiano. I love love love their Chicken Farfalle Alfredo and I get it everytime. If they ever take that off of the menu, I will be a very sad person! I was doing a search on what was in this sauce and came up with a recipe of my own and it is a close second I think to the original. However, I will warn you....I became a little "Sandra Lee-ish" with this recipe. Only because the first time making this was on Valentine's Day and I didn't have time to make my own sauce...and now I just don't bother because I know this turns out. I am not much one for change! It would be great though I think with your favorite homeade alfredo sauce.

Chicken Alfredo Farfalle - Fake Out!!

1 tbsp oil
1 lb chicken, diced or strips
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced roasted red peppers
1 cup chicken broth
2 cups alfredo sauce (we use Classico)
bowtie noodles, cooked
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 cup asiago and romano cheese blend

In a large skillet, heat a l tbsp oil. Add chicken and saute until done. Add onions and sweat them with the chicken. When softened, add red peppers and chicken broth to deglaze. Combine and let simmer for about 5 minutes. Add alfredo sauce and let simmer another 10 minutes to let the flavors combine. Add noodles to pan, cover with sauce. Add cheeses and combine. Garnish with more asiago cheese if desired.

**You may also add proscuitto or bacon before cooking the chicken. I usually add bacon (proscutto is too expensive for my taste), but we didn't have any on hand. Also peas may be added to this but we don't like them if we have a choice!

Our Favorite Pepper Steak

2007-07-07T22:24:00.000-05:00

My husband and I love pepper steak. Love it. I have been playing with pepper steak recipes for some time now and I have finally found one that we love, with a few alterations of course. We haven't had it for awhile for one reason or another, it kept getting pushed back. So we finally were able to make this Friday This recipe is adapted from Cooking Light. It has just enough sauce, the meat turns out tender every time and the peppers are just crisp enough. Yummy!

Pepper Steak

Cooking spray
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons bottled minced garlic object
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 pound sirloin steak, trimmed and cut across the grain into 1/4-inch-thick strips
1 cup green and red pepper strips
1/2 cup sliced onions
2/3 cup beef broth
2 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon dark sesame oil

Instructions

Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients (flour through steak), tossing to coat. Add beef mixture to pan; sauté about 3 minutes. Add bell pepper and remaining ingredients to pan; cover and cook about 10 minutes or until the peppers are crisp-tender, stirring occasionally.

We serve this with plain white rice and when I feel spunky, wontons. But I wasn't that spunky this night, so no wontons. :o)

Cream Cheese Chicken - Spicy Style

2007-07-02T21:43:00.000-05:00

The notorious CCC from the What's Cooking board on thenest.com is one of my favorite meals. My husband likes it well enough but he isn't too much of a sauce person. I however LOVE this meal. It uses everyday items, which I love, and it's quick and requires one pan to cook the main dish. There were many reviews of this recipe that said it was too bland, but I have altered it to our tastes that it could not be confused with bland! Although it looks like I am going overboard with the red pepper flakes, I assure you I am not. It turns out a little spicy but with a lot of flavor. It is perfect served over white rice (or brown). I like eating the rice with the sauce almost as much as eating the chicken! I always make extra sauce, which means I have almost a whole can of chicken broth left over. I always use that to cook chicken later on in the week so it doesn't go to waste. Here is my version of the CCC, originally posted by nestie MaryEllen .

Cream Cheese Chicken

3 chicken breasts
1 1/3 cup chicken broth
Red Pepper Flakes
1 green pepper, sliced or chopped (depends on my mood!)
4 cloves garlic, minced
Cajun seasoning
Salt and Pepper
6 oz cream cheese (I use light and use the leftover on my bagel the next day)
2 tbls flour
1 tbls olive oil

Heat oil in large skillet. Season chicken with salt, pepper and cajun seasoning. Add to skillet. Sear both sides for about 3 minutes each, add the garlic and red pepper flakes to taste (you will add more later). Swish around the garlic and turn chicken again. Add the one can of chicken broth and green peppers. Sprinkle again with red pepper flakes to taste. Allow to simmer for about 25 minutes, swishing occaisionally.

Mix flour and remaining chicken broth together in separate cup. When chicken is done, remove from pan and put a piece of foil over to keep warm. Mix in flour mixture. When combined, mix in cream cheese and stir constantly until cream cheese is melted and bubbly. Add more red pepper flakes and cajun seasoning after a taste test. Add chicken back to pan and cover chicken with sauce. Serve with rice. :o)

Favorite Summer Cake - JELLO

2007-06-29T20:38:00.000-05:00

One of my family's favorite summertime dessert is Jello cake. My mom started making it when her work began making it (she works at a deli and they make something similar to this all the time!). She gave me the recipe once and it's been a favorite ever since. I love this cake because it can actually be a light and healthy dessert, given the right ingredients. I have altered this a bit from the original recipe by using the famous "Diet Coke" cake recipe to reduce the fat in a cake mix. I also used Fat Free Cool Whip instead of the regular Cool Whip. I also used my Bundt pan this time, but usually make it with a 13x9 cake pan. I had only used my new Bundt pan once since we got it, so I was excited to try it out on this recipe. Here is our recipe (more of a method really, it can easily be changed to fit your family's tastes), I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Mom's JELLO Cake

1 box white cake mix
12 ounces Diet 7up or Sprite Zero
2 boxes of 4 serving Jello - any flavor, I used strawberry
2 cups boiling water
1 container Cool Whip Fat Free

Mix the cake mix with the Diet 7 up (or make according to the cake mix with the usual eggs, oil and water). I am not sure why this works but it does. It makes any cake SUPER moist and it's less fat! Pour into a lightly Pam sprayed Bundt pan (or 13x9) and bake according to the cake mix directions.

When cake is done, allow to cool for about 10 min. Boil 2 cups water (I did it in the microwave) and add in the 2 boxes of JELLO. Be careful! The water really bubbles when the JELLO is added! :o) Mix until the JELLO is dissolved.

Carefully and slowly, poke holes in the cake with a fork, while cake is till in the baking pan. Use your best judgement regarding how many pokes to give it. We like ours really JELLO-y so I made a lot of pokes. Carefully pour the JELLO over the cake, evenly disbruting it around the cake. I do not usually use all of the JELLO mixture, and as you can see from the pictures, it's very JELLO-y.

Refridgerate for 3 or more hours in the baking pan. If you used a Bundt pan or cupcakes, then you would want to remove the cake from the pan at this time. For the Bundt cake pan, I dipped the bottom of the pan in a sinkful of hot water and it fell right out on my cake server. Spread Cool Whip (or frosting!) on the cake, like frosting. Cover and store in refridgerator.

Again, this is more of a method than a recipe. You could use any kind of cake mix (lemon with strawberry jello would be divine!), diet soda methods or the usual oil, eggs and water, any flavor JELLO (sugarfree too), any type of Cool Whip (strawberry or chocolate - yummy!), or you could use frosting too! Enjoy!

Super Nachos!

2007-06-29T19:53:00.000-05:00

Tonight we were supposed to have pancakes. I had been craving them all day! They sounded delicious. Well, I went to go make the pancakes and GASP! no eggs! You can't make pancakes without eggs! Having been out and about all day, I didn't feel like running up to the store. I am so glad what came out of having no eggs. After surveying the very empty cupboards (grocery day is tomorrow), we came up with nachos. They are usually a side dish we have with enchilladas but we hadn't made them yet. To make them more filling for a whole meal, I added some frozen taco meat we had in the freezer and some diced tomatoes.

Trisha's SUPER Nachos!

Ingredients:

Your favorite brand of tortilla chips (We use Tostitos Gold - they are so yummy!)
Mexican blend w/jalepenos shredded cheese
1/2 cup diced tomatoes
taco meat

Directions:

I make my nachos on our pizza pan. A little uncoventional but it works great! I make our nachos into layers. First I spread a layer of chips down on the pan. Spoon taco meat as evenly as possible over the chips. Sprinkle generously with cheese. Gently repeat another layer of chips, meat and cheese. Bake in oven at 350 degrees for about 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is slighty browned. Be careful not to pull them out too soon because you want the bottom layer to be nice and melty. Take out of the oven and top with tomatoes (and any other taco goodies you have on hand).

Inside Out Cheeseburgers

2007-06-29T19:43:00.000-05:00

I got the idea for this meal while watching Guy's Diner's, Drive-in's and Dives on the Food Network. We have been trying to jazz up our hamburgers lately and this was perfect! The burgers were juicy, not too thick but not too thin and nice and cheesey in the middle.

Inside Out Cheeseburgers - yields 3 hamburgers

1 lb. lean hamburger
shredded cheese of your choice (I used cheddar)
dash of Worchestire sauce
palmful of grill seasoning
couple dashes of garlic powder

In a large mixing bowl, mix hamburger with all ingredients but the cheese. Form them into 6 thin patties. I used my patty presser and they came out nice and even. Take one patty and put a good amount of cheese in the middle, being mindful of the edges. Place another patty on top and pinch around the edges. Make sure the patties are pinched close, so the cheese doesn't ooze out. Cook on a hot grill or skillet for about 5 minutes on each side. Top with lettuce, tomato and onion.

1-2-3 Easy Peanut Butter Cookies

2007-06-29T19:38:00.000-05:00

My husband was craving some peanut butter cookies but we didn't have any flour so I found this recipe on the Skippy Peanut Butter website (www.peanutbutter.com). It had also circulated on the Nest's What's Cooking board as well. It was super easy and I had yummy cookies in no time flat.

Skippy Peanut Butter Easy Cookies

1 cup Skippy® Creamy or Super Chunk® Peanut Butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 325°. In medium bowl, combine all ingredients. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. On ungreased baking sheets, arrange cookies 2 inches apart. With fork, gently flatten each cookie and press crisscross pattern into top.
Bake 8 minutes or until lightly browned and slightly puffed. Immediately top, if desired, with sprinkles, chocolate chips or chocolate candies. On wire rack, cool completely before removing from baking sheets.

Easy Peanut-y Noodle Lunch For Me!

2007-06-25T13:51:00.001-05:00

Being home during the summer is WONDERFUL, however....it provides the opportunity to eat out for lunch daily, which can get EXPENSIVE! So I have been looking for meals to make for lunch and have enough for a couple of days. Well, I have found that recipe! I have always wanted to try a peanut butter based noodle sauce, but many have fish oil or coconut milk in it and yuck! I found this recipe on the WC board, posted by mlr513. I modified it a little because I wanted to add some veggies to it, and it is so yummy!!!

Spicy Noodles with Peanut Sauce

10 oz spaghetti noodles
1/3 cup hot water
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
2 tsp vinegar (I used rice vinegar)
2 tsp low sodium soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
Red pepper flakes to taste (I used about a tsp)
1 tsp sugar (I skipped this because rice vinegar is already sweet)
1/2 cup each finely diced onion, green pepper, and seeded tomatoes

Boil water in large pot, add noodles and salt to taste. As noodles cook, mix the peanut butter and hot water in large bowl to smooth into a sauce consistency. Add soy sauce, vinegar, garlic and red pepper flakes and combine.

When noodles are done, drain and add to the sauce bowl. Add diced veggies and toss with sauce until well combined. Any leftovers are yummy cold as well! Enjoy!!

Easy, Cheesy Burritos

2007-06-25T11:01:00.000-05:00

Mexican is my favorite type of cuisine, not so much Peter's. After having his favorite (spaghetti) this weekend, I thought it only fair to have mine! I really wanted enchiladas but burritos were a close second! Plus they are SO easy and affordable to make. I do use a taco seasoning mix because it's easy and I can never get the spices just right when I try to make my own.

Burritos

flour tortillas
can refried beans
1 lb lean hamburger
1 taco seasoning & 3/4 cup water (or what your packet requires)
1/2 cup diced onions
1 cup cheddar cheese
1 tbls olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Heat oil in pan, add diced onions to soften. Had hamburger after a couple of minutes and break up the meat, mixing it in with the onions. Cook hamburger until no longer pink. Drain extra grease from pan. Add taco seasoning and water to meat, mix well. Simmer until water is absorbed. Remove from heat and prepare a burrito filling station with beans, meat, cheese, and tortillas.

Spray cookie sheet with Pam. Using a spatula spread a bit of beans in the middle of the tortilla. Spoon some of the meat mixture in the middle of the tortilla. Sprinkle a handful of cheese in the middle. Take both ends and fold in, then roll the tortilla to shape the burrito. Continue until the desired number of burritos are prepared. Spray the tops with some cooking spray and bake for about 15 minutes, or until the burritos begin to brown. They will be VERY HOT. It takes a good 5-10 minutes for them to cool enough to eat.

We made 5 but had LOTS of everything left over, so you could easily make 8 or so. They are small so plan on eating at least 2, depending on how full you stuff them.

Spaghetti and Meatballs - Peter's Favorite (Not Mine!)

2007-06-25T10:45:00.000-05:00

Peter's favorite meal in the entire world is spaghetti and meatballs. Blech. It is definitely NOT my favorite, but I make it for him every two weeks. I think my strong dislike for spaghetti and meatballs came from eating it a lot when I was little. My mom and I were often on our own for supper because my dad worked at night, and since it is so affordable, we ate a lot of it. I have started jazzing it up a little though and that has helped me stomach a small portion. I have tried making my own sauce but my husband requested Prego, "because it's not chunky." LOL! So here is our spaghetti method (no recipe since the sauce if from a jar!) and meatball recipe. I do like the meatballs and that is what I would normally get full on. This time, since the recipe makes so many, I froze half of the meatballs so next time I just have to reheat them.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

1 box spaghetti noodles
1 jar of Prego Traditional Sauce

Meatballs
(adapted from Kraftfoods.com)

1/3 cup Italian-style bread crumbs

1/4 cup milk

1 lb. lean ground beef

1/2 cup KRAFT 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese, divided

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. black pepper

Handful of asiago, and Parmesan blend cheese.

Cook noodles to al dente consistency. As the noodles are close to being done, place sauce in pan and begin to simmer on low.

For Meatballs:

Measure bread crumbs into medium bowl. Stir in milk. Let stand 15 min. Add meat, 1/4 cup of the cheese, handful of the blend cheese, the salt and pepper; mix well.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Shape meat mixture into 1-inch balls. Place in single layer in foil-lined 15x10x1-inch baking pan.

Bake 20 min. or until meatballs are cooked through. Meanwhile, heat pasta sauce in small saucepan on medium heat. Transfer meatballs to sauce; add cooked noodles, toss with tongs. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.

We served this with some garlic toast and a salad. Spaghetti is growing on me a little, since we've discovered this recipe for the meatballs!

Foodie Blogroll

2007-06-23T23:16:00.000-05:00

I am now a member of the fastly growing Foodie Blogroll! It is a great resource to browse through many fabulous foodie experiences! If you would like to join, just click the link on the side. Thanks for putting this together, Left Over Queen!!

White Chocolate Mint Chip Cookies!

2007-06-21T22:57:00.000-05:00

I had leftover white chocolate chips and Andes mints from baking over Father's Day. My husband wanted some treats to take for Friday and so I whipped these cookies up. I used mostly the Andes mints cookie recipe from the package, but tweaked it a little to make it little less fattening. They are amazing! Here is the recipe I used:

White Chocolate Mint Chip Cookies

1/2 cup softened salted butter
3/4 cup brown sugar (I used light)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg white
1/2 cup Andes mints, chopped (Andes mint chips)
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
2 2/3 cups AP flour

Cream butter, sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla and egg/egg white. Blend till combined and smooth. Add in mints and chips before flour. Combine till well blended, making sure to not over mix. Cover with saran wrap and chill for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Drop 1 tsp of dough (I used my little scooper) on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Flatten dough just slightly before placing in oven and bake for 8-10 minutes. Place remaining dough back in fridge while each batch cooks. Allow to cool for about 2 minutes before transfering cookies. Makes about 18 "good sized" cookies. We don't believe in small cookies in our house! :) You could use a smaller amount of dough to make up to 3 dozen cookies.

A Different Kind of Roast - Pork!?

2007-06-21T22:43:00.000-05:00

I have a confession...I have never had a pork roast before. NEVER! When selecting a roast to cook for this week, we decided to try a pork butt roast...not for just the name (it made us giggle) but it was on sale and we had never had a pork roast before. I was going to make it in the crock pot, as I usually do with my beef roasts but yesterday I just didn't have time to do that. Instead I used our oven. The plus side to this is that I didn't have to prepare it 6-8 hours in advance...the downside was that it made the house very hot. It turned out yummy though and it was super simple.

Trisha's Butt Roast

3-4 lb. pork butt roast
kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper
garlic salt
olive oil
1 lb baby red potatoes
1 lb carrots, cut into 2-3 in pieces

Heat oven to 325 degrees.

Heat oil in pan. Apply salt and pepper generously to the outside of roast. Place in pan to sear on all sides. Drizzle olive oil in roasting dish and place roast on top. Roast for 1 1/2 hours and then add carrots and potatoes to pan. Drizzle veggies with a little more olive oil (not much, just a bit). Toss to coat in pan juices and oil. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the veggies. Roast for another hour or so until veggies are tender. Let roast stand 10 minutes before enjoying.

We had so much left over! We made BBQ Pork Sandwiches with the leftovers. I simmered the shredded leftovers with a bottle of BBQ sauce in a saucepan for about 1 1/2 hours. I could have used the crock pot for this too I suppose, but I didn't want to dig it out. We served it with a Italian pasta salad. I have even more left over for lunch tomorrow! I do not have a picture of the sandwiches because we were starving and impatient to eat! LOL!

TAG, I'm It!

2007-06-20T16:02:00.000-05:00

Gillian got me! http://gscookingblog.blogspot.com/
Here are the rules since I'm tagging you now! :)
Each player starts with seven random facts or habits about himself or herself. A tagged player then writes a blog entry with the seven things, as well as these rules. Then the player tags seven others and lists their names on his or her blog. Remember to leave a comment for your newly tagged players, letting them know they have been tagged and to read your blog!

Seven Random Facts About Me:

1. I am an only child. I have TONS of cousins though if that counts!

2. I was very involved in drama when I was in high school. I even held an office in the Drama Club and was a MIME...yep, a mime. My favorite T-shirt in HS said "MIME your own business..."

3. I have seen Romy & Michele's High School Reunion over 250 times. I did keep a tally for the longest time but lost track of my list when I met DH.

4. My mom and I have the same birthday.

5. My favorite kind of ice cream is mint chocolate chip and has been since I was old enough to eat ice cream....confession....I initially started liking it when I was very little because it was green. Silly huh?

6. I have secretly wanted to be a writer since I was very young.

7. I have never tried eating couscous, balsamic vinegar, or goat cheese.

OK, tag! I am now tagging you - Mya, Chrissy, Sheri, Sarah, Homesick Texan, Kristy, and Mehgan:) Have fun ladies!!

Cheese + Pepperoni + Bread = Delicious

2007-06-18T19:51:00.000-05:00

So we made Pepperoni Rolls for the second time and once again they were amazing. They only take about 10 minutes to assemble and 20 minutes to bake and then it's time to enjoy!

Pepperoni Rolls (recipe from Krashed24 from the WC board)

1 loaf of French Bread (I used Pillsbury)
Shredded mozzarella cheese (about 1 1/2 cups)
Pepperoni (I used about 50 slices - we like a lot of pepperoni)
Parmesan cheese (a few handfuls)
Italian Seasoning to tase (a palmful is what I used)
Egg wash (water and egg)

Preheat oven to 350. Spray cookie sheet with nonstick spray and roll out the bread dough. Sprinkle generously with parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese and italian seasoning. Lay out the pepperoni, as much or as little as you would like. Roll the bread up carefully, trying to put the seam down on the cookie sheet. Cut three slices in the bread loaf to allow air to escape. Brush bread with egg wash. Sprinkle parmesan cheese, italian seasoning on top. Line top with remaining pepperoni and sprinkle with cheese. Bake for about 20 minutes until golden brown. Enjoy!

I Cheated! Banana Nut Bread

2007-06-17T14:01:00.000-05:00

So Peter and I were craving some banana nut bread last night when we were at the store. I wanted to make it for Sunday breakfast and after the late night of baking for Father's Day, I saw this mix, which can easily be converted to bread, and thought I would give this a try. My mom used this brand once to make lemon bars and she said they were really good, so we gave it a whirl. Wow, is it good bread! I did tweak them a little and added in 1 tsp cinnamon to give it a banana spice taste.

Father's Day Dessert - Andes Minty Brownies

2007-06-17T13:49:00.000-05:00

I am always in charge of dessert at any family function, which I love! Because it is Father's Day and my dad LOVES chocolate, I decided to make brownies. Now I have tried numerous times to make brownies from scratch, but I just am unable to produce homemade brownies. That is one of the few things that always flops when I bake. Therefore, I have become friends with brownie mixes. Because I use a mix, I always try to jazz them up a little. This time, I thought I would try mixing in Andes Mint Chips, something I have wanted to try for awhile now. I topped them with a tub of Cool Whip with white chocolate mixed in and the remaining chips sprinkled on top.

Andes Minty Brownies

1 box of your favorite brownie mix (13 x 9 size)
Eggs/Oil required for the mix of your choice
1/2 cup Andes mint chips

Topping
1 tub Cool Whip (I used lite)
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup white chocolate chips, melted and cooled slightly

Preheat oven according to the package of brownies. Mine was 350 degress.

Prepare brownies according to package with the eggs/oil/water. Add in 1/3 cup minty chips. Transfer to a greased 13 x 9 pan. Bake according to mix. Let cool completely before adding topping.

To make topping, put tub of Cool Whip in a large mixing bowl. Add vanilla and mix well. Fold in cooled, melted white chips. Mix until combined. Make sure that your white chocolate is cooled slightly because the Cool Whip will harden the chips once combined and your topping will be chunky which equals not creamy. Spread Cool Whip mixture on brownies and top with more Andes chips.

Father's Day Goodies - Snickerdoodles

2007-06-17T02:44:00.000-05:00

So my dad is a fan of my snickerdoodles. I made them for the first time about 5 years ago because they are on the same page as the chocolate crinkles I was making for Christmas, and the rest is history! My dad requests these now for every holiday and special occassion. I thought I would make these for him for Father's Day because I hadn't made them since around Christmas time.

This recipe is from my Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook (I call it my Betty Book). I always double this recipe because it never seems to make enough. It's very easy to double and works everytime. The recipe listed is the original, not doubled. It states it makes 36 cookies but I have never gotten that many out of this recipe.

Snickerdoodles

1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar - Don't leave out because it's just not the same! :)
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
Cinnamon and sugar for coating

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a mixer, beat the butter with an electric mixer for 30 seconds. Add sugar, cream of tartar, and baking soda and beat until combined and creamy. Add the egg and vanilla; combine. Gradually mix in the flour. You may need to finish mixing with a spoon to fully combine flour.
Cover with saran wrap and put in fridge to chill at least 1 hour. (I have best luck with rolling the dough into balls after chilling at least 2 hours.)

When dough is chilled, combine sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. I start with about 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tbls cinnamon - we like them sugary! This may need to be refilled as needed. A good rule of thumb is that when you mix the cinnamon and sugar with your fingers in the bowl, your fingers should show signs of the cinnamon. If not, I always add more cinnamon. After dough is nice and chilled, roll into tsp sized balls. Roll each cookie ball in the cinnamon/sugar mix. I press the mix into the dough to ensure it sticks. Place on ungreased cookie sheet (I use my silicone mat for a nice browning on the botoom) and bake for 10-11 minutes. Edges should be golden brown. Enjoy!

Nutrition Info Per Cookie: 66 cal, 3 g fat (2 g sat. fat), 13 mg chol, 36 mg sodium, 10 g carbs, 0 fiber, 1 g protein.

My First Post!

2007-06-15T17:09:00.000-05:00

Well I decided after many visits to a popular cooking board to begin my own cooking blog. The name of my blog comes from terribly small pink plastic-tile kitchen. It is on the top of our to do list to update this space, especially now that I am actually spending time in it!

Onto cooking! I have really started taking an interest in cooking different types of foods and using more healthy ingredients. I hope to post the new foods we have been trying, as well as some favorites we have always had. Stay tuned!