#789: Sausage Hash

Here is a ridiculously easy recipe that can be made ahead of time and frozen.  Best of all it only requires a few ingredients, most of which you probably have on hand.  My family loved this.  Chloe picked out all of the sausage and left the potatoes.  Brian and Allison fought over who would take it for leftovers (Brian for lunch or Allison for breakfast!). 

1 Tube ground sausage (I used reduced fat pork sausage)
1 c. shredded carrots (I omitted.  My family would never have eaten it)
½ c. finely chopped onion
3 c. frozen potatoes cubes
1 c. shredded mozzarella cheese (I used 1/4 cup to make it much healthier) 

Cook ground sausage thoroughly in pan. Add onion and carrots and cook for 5 more minutes. Place sausage with onion and carrots in gallon-sized bag. Put potatoes and cheese in 2 separate bags and place in gallon-sized bag. (Hint: make sure the meat has cooled down before you stick the bag of cheese in there… otherwise it melts into a blob!)

Thaw meat mixture in fridge overnight.  Heat frozen potatoes in pan with a little hot oil, and then add meat to pan. Simmer for 20 min. Add salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with cheese. Let melt and serve.  (My meat and potatoes did NOT need to simmer for 20 minutes.  I just cooked the potatoes until they were cooked almost all the way thru then added the cooked ground sausage to re-heat it). 

#788: Hash Brown Quiche

Yesterday I was checking out Paula Deen's facebook page (Has anyone seen how skinny she's gotten?  She looks great but I thought she looked great before the weight loss too!) and eventually got to The Deen Brother's website.  Once there I came across this recipe and I was so, so, so excited to try it and since I had all of the ingredients on hand (including the hash browns!) I made it first thing this morning. 

Let me tell you this is fabulous!  Oh my goodness, I will definitely be making this again and I would absolutely make it to serve to company spending the night.  I made this to eat (I'll eat it cold) for breakfasts at school this week. 
1 tablespoon olive oil (I omitted and used Pam spray instead)
1 onion, finely chopped
1 (8-ounce) package cremini mushrooms, sliced
1 cup refrigerated shredded hash browns (such as Simply Potatoes)
1/2 cup cooked diced ham (I used 1/4 cup)
1 cup reduced-fat (1%) milk (I used skim milk)
3 large eggs (I used egg substitute)
1/4 cup half-and-half (I omitted)
3 scallions, thinly sliced
1/4 teaspoon salt
Pinch ground nutmeg
2/3 cup shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese (I used 1/2 cup of finely shredded regular cheddar cheese)

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Spray a 9-inch round quiche dish or pie plate with cooking spray.

Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, 6 – 8 minutes. Add the potatoes and ham and cook, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Spread the mixture into the prepared dish.

Whisk together the milk, eggs, half-and-half, scallions, salt, and nutmeg in a large bowl until blended. Stir in the cheese. Pour evenly over the potato mixture. Bake until the top is golden and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes.

My changes made this recipe 20 ww+ pts for the entire pan.  I got 8 nice size pieces out of this for 2.5 ww+ pts per piece. 

#787: Chick-fil-a Inspired Bites

I hate when I forget to take pictures of a meal.  I've never eaten at Chick-fil-a, but if it's anything like this chicken we ate tonight, I hope to go there in the near future.  This was a delicious chicken.  We all enjoyed it and the girls could not get enough, even picky Chloe!  Fantastic recipe.

It's supposed to be served with a dipping sauce, but we ate our with catsup.
 

2 Large Boneless Chicken Breasts, cut into bite size pieces (I used 4 medium sized chicken breasts)

1/4 Cup of Pickle Juice (shhh, don't tell my family)

3/4 Cup Milk

1 Egg (I used egg substitute)

1 1/4 Cups of Flour2 Tbs. Powdered Sugar

2 Tsp. Salt

1 Tsp. Pepper

1/2 Cup of Peanut Oil (I used vegetable oil)

 

Mix together the egg, milk & pickle juice. Seal in a Ziploc bag and add chicken pieces. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours. (Mine marinated for about 5 hours) 

Combine flour, powdered sugar, salt & pepper in another Ziploc bag. Shake well to combine. Remove chicken from marinade and add to dry mixture. Shake bag vigorously until chicken bites are covered well in dry mix.

Heat oil in large pan until it sizzles (test with some drops of water). Not too hot!

Drop in chicken bites and cook for 3-5 minutes and turn until completely cooked thru and outer coating appears brown and "crispy". Remove and place on a plate covered with paper towels to absorb almost all the peanut oil.

#786: Perfect Pineapple Dip

I very recently came across this recipe on Pinterest and could not wait to make/try it.  I had everything on hand now that I'm growing green onions in a mason jar on my kitchen counter.  Bonus! 

I didn't have any crushed pineapple so I drained a 20 oz jar of pineapple chunks and threw it with the cream cheese in my food processor. 

You are supposed to serve this with crackers but I ate this with pieces of cut up bell pepper and on top of an English muffin. 

8 oz Fat free Cream Cheese, softened (I used reduced fat)
3/4 can crushed pineapple, drained
4 green onions, chopped
pinch of salt

Mix all ingredients together.  Serve with crackers.

#785: Slow Cooker Ranch Mushrooms

You really, really need to love (not like, love) mushrooms to enjoy this recipe.  It was very, very easy to throw together and this would be a great side dish to accompany just about any meat dish/main meal.  I however was not a huge fan.  I'm not even sure I'll finish the leftovers at this point.  Nothing wrong with the recipe, I just done love mushrooms THAT much. 

1 pound fresh mushrooms
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 envelope Ranch salad dressing mix
Put mushrooms in a crock pot.
Mix melted butter with ranch dressing mix. Pour over the mushrooms & cook on low 3 to 4 hours.

The ranch and butter mixture will look like it will not coat all the mushrooms at first. Let them cook a little and the mushrooms will give off some juice. If not, add just a little water.

#784: Frozen Peanut Butter Treats

Something has got to be inaccurate with this original recipe.  I found it online here, and it claims that it is 1 ww+ pts per serving.  The only thing I did different with this recipe was that I didn't have fat free cool whip, mine was LITE instead.  BUT I used powdered peanut butter so that should have been MUCH less points than if I would have used 3 tbsp of regular peanut butter.  When I figured this out, mine came to 3 ww+ pts each.  (I used mini muffin tins and got 15 out of 1/2 a tub of cool whip). 
Is this worth 3 ww+ pts.  Probably not.  Is it worth 1 ww+ point, YES.  So I need to see if I can figure out if fat free cool whip would make that much of a difference.  If so, I'm totally making these again. 

 
3 Tablespoons Peanut Butter (I used 2 tbsp PB2 powdered peanut butter)

1 small tub Cool Whip Fat Free (I used 1/2 container of Lite Cool Whip)
Mix the Cool Whip and Peanut Butter together.  Spoon into 12 lined cupcake tins and freeze.  (I put it into a Ziploc bag and piped it into each muffin liner).

#783: Make Ahead Lunch Wraps

This is a recipe that can be made ahead, put together and then eaten later.  It would make for a very quick, healthy lunch or dinner.  I knew my family would not eat this with me, and I don't enjoy flour tortillas very much (unless it's in the form of a chimichanga or enchilada).  Personally I'd rather eat corn tortillas.  So I made the "filling" for this and then will heat up the filling when ready to eat and put inside corn tortillas instead. 
1 cup uncooked brown rice (I used 1/2 c COOKED rice)
4 cups water
Salt to taste
1 package Southwest seasoning, 4 oz (I couldn't find this see note below)
2 cans (15 oz) black beans (I used 1 can)
1 can (15.5 oz) Pinto beans (I used 2 cans)
1 can (10 oz) whole kernel corn (I used 3/4 c frozen corn)
1 sweet onion, chopped (I used red onion)
1/2 jar (10 oz) Salsa
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
8 ten-inch flour tortillas
1 cup Monterrey jack cheese, shredded (I omitted)

Combine rice, southwest seasoning and water in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 35 to 40 minutes or until rice is tender. Remove from heat and cool.

Place black beans and pinto beans into a colander or strainer; rinse. Add corn, onion, spices and salsa, and toss to mix. Transfer to a large bowl, and mix in rice and cheese.

Divide the mixture evenly among the tortillas, and roll up.

Freeze wraps in single layer on lightly greased cookie sheet. When fully frozen, wrap individually in foil or plastic wrap. Place wraps in large zip-top freezer bags; freeze.

Last Minute Assembly:
Unwrap wraps from foil or plastic wrap. To heat using microwave, wrap in a paper towel. Cook in microwave until heated through, approximately 2 minutes at 70% power.

To heat in oven, thaw wrap. Remove plastic wrap if used in freezing and wrap in tin foil. Bake at 350F for ten minutes.

Southwest Seasoning: I could not find this so I googled it and basically just added a little bit (about 2-3 shakes of each) of the following ingredients: chili powder, paprika, garlic powder, black pepper, oregano and crushed red pepper.

 

I made many changes to this recipe to make it healthier. The main different to my version though used less brown rice and cheese. My "filling" made TEN heaping half cup portions for 3.5 ww+ pts per serving (tortilla pts not included).  This could easily fill 2 tortillas!

#782: Apple & Pecan Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Okay so you can tell by the pictures this is NOT a stuffed sweet potato.  I didn't like how the skin of my sweet potato looked so I wasn't going to eat it.  Instead of waiting on this recipe I decided to make the "stuffed"/filling part and eat it just like that.  I have to admit, this was good.  It's not something I would eat every day but I definitely enjoyed it for my lunch today.  It wasn't super, super filling so pair it with something else (preferably that has a crunch since this is a pretty soft textured food). 

6 medium sweet potatoes (about 8 ounces each)

1/2 cup butter, cubed

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel

1 medium apple, chopped

1/4 cup chopped pecans

 

Scrub and pierce potatoes with a fork. Place on a foil-lined 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan. Bake at 400° for 45-60 minutes or until tender.

When cool enough to handle, cut off a thin slice from the top of each potato; discard. Scoop out pulp, leaving 1/4-in. thick shells; transfer to a large bowl. Mash pulp with butter, adding brown sugar and orange peel. Fold in apple and pecans.

Spoon into potato shells. Return to baking pan. Bake 15-20 minutes longer or until heated through. Yield: 6 servings.

#781: Crockpot Chicken and Vegetable Soup

I recently came across this easy recipe for a healthy Chicken and Noodle Soup.  I was excited to try this recipe because it looked easy, I had everything on hand, and you can easily change it up using veggies you have on hand and in your pantry.  I decided to make this healthier by not adding the noodles but you could definitely add that to your soup. 

I know this isn't the greatest picture but you get the idea right?  Next time I would probably add more canned chicken.  This was more of a vegetable soup with a little bit of chicken.  That's okay with me, but the chicken was pretty good in it (I wasn't sure it would be since it was canned) and it would have been better to have more.  It would definitely be even better with noodles but I was trying to keep this healthier. 

5 cups of chicken broth (1 used 4 cups of vegetable stock)
One 10.75 oz can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup onions, chopped fine
1/2 cup celery, chopped fine (I used red and green peppers instead)
1/2 cup carrots, chopped fine
1/2 cup green onions, sliced1/3 c cooked edamame
One 15 oz can of petite diced tomatoes, drained
2/3 c whole kernel corn (from frozen or canned)
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 1/2 cup Egg noodles (I omitted)
2 cups cooked chicken chopped or 2 cans canned cooked chicken (I used one 4.5 oz can of cooked chicken)

Add everything but the noodles and cooked chicken to the crock pot on Low for 5-6 hours, the last hour turn on High, and add noodles and chicken.

My version (without the noodles and the added veggies) was 11 ww+ points for the entire crockpot.  I got 3 servings of 2 1/4 cups each for 3.5 ww+ pts.  That's a lot of soup!

#780: Slow Cooker Bourbon Chicken

This is a very easy recipe that can be made ahead of time, frozen, and thrown in the crockpot and cook all day while you are away.  Now, look at the photo above.  Doesn't that look good?  It was!  It was so good in fact that Chloe and Allison both asked for seconds...and thirds. 

Now look at the photo to the right.  Does this look appealing to you?  No?  Me either.  This is how Brian ate his chicken.  Guess who wasn't overly impressed with dinner? 

1/2 cup bourbon (I used chicken broth)

1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon grated ginger root
2 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/2 cup cooked shelled edamame

Spray a 3 1/2- to 4-quart slow cooker with cooking spray (or line with a slow cook liner and skip this step!) In slow cooker, mix bourbon, soy sauce, honey, vinegar, ketchup, onion, garlic and ginger root. Add chicken.  Cover; cook on Low heat setting 6 to 8 hours. Remove chicken from slow cooker to plate; shred with 2 forks or break into bite-size pieces with spoon. Return chicken to slow cooker.  Serve chicken over rice; sprinkle with green onions (and edamame).

If you want to make this ahead of time and freeze mix bourbon, soy sauce, honey, rice vinegar, ketchup, onion, garlic, and ginger in a small bowl.  Pour in a Ziploc bag and add the chicken.  Freeze.   When ready to cook dump the ingredients out of the bag into a crockpot.  Cook 6-8+ hours on low.  (I cook mine for 10 hours on low).  Serve over rice and top with green onions (and edamame). 

#779: Balsamic Roast Beef

See this fabulous photo of this pot roast?  Yeah, I didn't take this picture.  This picture comes from Robyn at Add a pinch.com.  Here's my photo.   Yep, it's a great big block of meat.  Something is wrong here.  This did not fall apart like I expected.  You shouldn't come home from having your roast cook for 10 hours and be able to lift it out of the crockpot without falling apart.  Did I get a wrong cut of meat?!  Mine was dry.  You had to cut it with a knife. 

Ok now with that said, this was actually very good.  Quite good in fact that Allison (who does not like pot roast) ate what I gave her, asked for a piece of whole grain bread, and then made a sandwich with it AND asked for seconds.  I'd say that's a win in our house.  Chloe didn't touch it.  No surprise there.  Oh well she can eat her fruits and veggies or wait until breakfast.  I'm not making different meals. 

This was really good with the juice/leftover sauce in the crockpot poured all over it.  So yes, I'd try this again...for sure!

1 3-4 pound boneless roast beef (chuck or round roast)

1 cup beef broth

½ cup balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon honey

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

4 cloves garlic, chopped

 

Place roast beef into the insert of your slow cooker. In a 2-cup measuring cup, mix together all remaining ingredients. Pour over roast beef and set the timer for your slow cooker. (4 hours on High or 6-8 hours on Low)

Once roast beef has cooked, remove from slow cooker with tongs into a serving dish. Break apart lightly with two forks and then ladle about ¼ – ½ cup of gravy over roast beef.

#778: Skinny Monkey Oats

Are you looking for a healthy filling breakfast (or snack?).  Here's one that is really easy to make and tastes good.  It tastes even better with added texture like walnuts too, but I wanted peanut flavor without the extra fat or calories so I added 1 tbsp of peanut butter powder instead.  Have you tried powdered peanut butter yet?  No?? Order some and let me know what you think!

1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 banana, mashed
1 tbsp powdered peanut butter

Whisk the oats and cocoa powder in a bowl until combined. Add 3/4 cups of water, and microwave on high for 1 1/2 minutes.  Stir the mashed banana and powdered peanut butter into the cooked oats.

This recipe would be 4 ww+ pts for the oatmeal, and an additional .5 pts for the powdered peanut butter. 

#777: Teriyaki Dump Chicken

Well this recipe certainly couldn't get any easier.  Put all of the ingredients into a baking dish (or Ziploc bag like I did), let it sit for a little bit to marinate, and then bake in the oven.  I normally don't really enjoy baked chicken but this was so moist and flavorful I really enjoyed it.  I think I might have over done it with the garlic though because Brian came up from the basement and asked if I was making garlic bread.  :) 

Definitely a keeper in our house.  (And this would be great on top of a salad!)

1 Clove Garlic – Crushed  
1/3 cup Soy Sauce 
2 Tablespoons Rice Wine Vinegar 
1 1/2 Tablespoons Cider Vinegar 
1 1/2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar 
1 1/2 Tablespoons Minced Ginger
1 1/2 Pounds Chicken Pieces 

For immediate cooking: Pre-heat oven to 350 F. Place all ingredients into a large baking dish, turn chicken to coat. Bake until chicken juices run clear (45-60 minutes for chicken pieces, or 20-30 minutes for chicken breasts).

For freezing: Place all ingredients into a 1 Gallon freezer bag. Lay flat in freezer.

To thaw and cook: Take the bag out of the freezer the night before, make sure the baggie is completely closed. Place the Bag on a shelf furthest from the freezer (It works best if the bag is laying flat, although this may not be the best option with a side-by-side fridge/freezer). Preheat the oven to 350 F. Empty the contents of the bag into a large baking dish and
bake until the juices run clear (45-60 minutes for chicken pieces, or 20-30 minutes for chicken breast at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.  Turn chicken and then cook for 15 minutes more.  

#776: Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream

We just introduced Allison to Elvis (since we are watching Full House) and this recipe (must be the bananas) makes me think of him.  So this is a fitting snack to make in our house right now. 

The ice cream was super easy to make and although it isn't the same as ice cream, I did definitely enjoy this as an evening treat.  It blended up very easily in my food processor.  The only things I would change for next time is 1. more peanut butter powder (I could barely taste it) and 2. I need to throw out the sugar free chocolate syrup. Yuck. 

1 banana (sliced and frozen)
a splash of vanilla extract
1 Tbsp of Fat Free Milk (I used Dark Chocolate Silk milk)
1 1/2 tsp Peanut Butter Powder
1 tbsp Hershey's Sugar free chocolate syrup

Place bananas in a blender or food processors and blend until smooth and creamy.  Add the vanilla extract and milk until you get your desired consistency.  Next, add the peanut butter powder and pulse to combine. 

Place into a bowl and top with sugar free chocolate syrup.
This recipe as described above is 1 ww+ pts.

Next time I'd use more peanut butter powder and omit the syrup, so it would still be 1 ww+ pt.

 

#775: Back Country Bean Salad

Let me tell you what was appealing about this recipe...it says to freeze it and let it thaw in your lunch.  It's a meal/side dish AND a freezer pack in one!  :) Oh, and it's healthy.  Personally I thought this lacked a little flavor.  So I added some cilantro.  It was still good, but I didn't love this as a side dish/salad.  However, this made a great filling for a taco!!  Add this into a corn tortilla and you've got a great, healthy lunch. 

1 tomato, diced
1/4 red onion, chopped
1 can kidney beans, drained
1 can green chilies, drained
1/2 can of corn, drained (I used 2/3 c of frozen corn)
1/2 jalapeño, diced (I omitted)
2 tbsp chopped cilantro
salt and pepper to taste

Dice tomatoes, jalapeño and chop onion. Open and drain cans of chiles, beans and corn. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.  Season with Salt and Pepper to taste.

Spoon into large ziploc bags, remove air, fold and double bag. Freeze overnight. By the time you go to eat dinner the next evening, your meal will be thawed but not spoiled (and it won't have spilled out into your pack either!).

The whole bowl of this recipe is 10 ww+ pts (with 2/3 c frozen corn and 1 can of kidney beans). 

#774: Mini Chicken Meatball, Pasta, and Vegetable Soup

I made this recipe to eat as my lunch at school next week.  Of course Matthew and I (M's my guinea pig now!) had to try it before taking it for lunch.  This was really easy to make.  The longest thing was letting it all simmer to blend the flavors and to get the carrots to soften. 

Here's a tip, make the noodles separately so they stop cooking and don't get mushy.  Also, start the carrots and the soup cooking BEFORE you make the meatballs.  They need to simmer by themselves first.  By the time your meatballs are done, it's about time to throw them into the soup to finish cooking. 
Matthew loved the meatballs.  I enjoyed the soup.  It lacks a little bit of seasoning/flavor, but I definitely will enjoy eating it for lunches.  I think the optional toppings of parmesan cheese is a good idea, but I just don't want the added calories right now.

Meatballs:
1 lb of ground chicken
1 egg (I used egg substitute)
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp dried oregano
Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
1/4 cup of Italian seasoned panko crumbs
1 tbsp canola oil (I omitted)

Soup:
1 tbsp canola oil (I omitted)
1/2 sweet yellow onion, diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
3 stalks of celery, diced (I omitted)
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 15 0z can of diced tomatoes
8 cups of chicken broth
Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
1/2 cup of ditalini pasta
2 cups of fresh baby spinach (I omitted)
Parmesan cheese or feta cheese as topping (I omitted)
 

Combine the ground chicken, egg, Parmesan cheese, minced garlic, fresh parsley, dried basil, dried oregano, sea salt, and freshly cracked pepper, to taste, and Italian seasoned panko crumbs together in a bowl until just combined. Roll into mini meatballs and place onto a plate.
  
Heat 1 tablespoon of canola oil in a large Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the meatballs, in batches, and cook for 4-5 minutes, carefully turning halfway through to cook on the other side, or until golden brown but not cooked all the way through (they will finish cooking in the soup). Remove the cooked meatballs from the Dutch oven and place on a clean plate. Finish cooking the remaining meatballs.
 
Add the remaining tablespoon of canola oil to the same Dutch oven and add the onion, carrots, and celery. Cook, stirring often, for 4-5 minutes then add the minced garlic. Cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute then add the diced tomatoes and chicken broth, season with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste. Cover and cook on low for 30-40 minutes.

Remove the lid and add the pasta and meatballs. Cover and cook for an additional 15-20 minutes or until the pasta is tender and the meatballs are cooked through. Add the spinach, stir until combined and slightly wilted, taste and re-season if needed, then ladle into bowls. Top with Parmesan cheese or feta cheese if desired.

My version (with the omitting of the oil, optional toppings, and using the egg substitute) came out to be 5 ww+ pts for 5 servings. 

#773: Crustless Breakfast Quiche

The original recipe for this was supposed to be made in muffin tins.  But I absolutely despise cleaning out muffin tins.  They are such a pain to get clean.  Then I read the reviews of this recipe that said these were hard to get out of the tins.  Done.  I didn't need to debate anymore...I was NOT making these as muffins.  So I pulled out my 9x13 pan and poured the mixture into that instead.  Phew, that was so much easier.

Matthew and I both loved this.  The baking mix gives it just a little less egg-y flavor.  This will be a great breakfast when I go back to school on Monday.

3 eggs (I used egg substitute)
1 1/2 cups skim milk
1/2 cup baking mix
12 ounces sausage (I used 1 chicken and apple sausage link (diced) and 2.5 oz of diced Canadian bacon)
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 diced red pepper
1/4 head broccoli crowns chopped

Preheat oven to 350.  Brown sausage, breaking with a spoon. Drain well. (Since my sausage was fully cooked, I just chopped it up and threw it in the bowl). 

Mix egg, milk and baking mix. Season with salt and pepper.  (At this point I just threw everything into a big bowl (including the additional veggies) and mixed.  Then I poured into a 9x13 pan). 

Divide egg mixture between 12 greased muffin tins.  Divide sausage between muffin tins and cover with cheese.  Bake 15-20 minutes or until tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

I cut my 9x13 pan into 24 pieces.  So my version (with egg substitute, chicken sausage, Canadian bacon and added veggies) is just over 1 pt per piece (25 ww+ pts for the entire pan)

#772: Homemade Coffee Creamer

For some reason my original photo was deleted.  Next time I make this I'll try to remember to take a picture!

I love coffee.  Sweet coffee.  With lots of sugar.  So when I found a recipe to make your own coffee creamer I decided to give it a try in hopes of using less sugar in my coffee but making it just as delicious. 

I love this site because you can pretty much make any flavored coffee creamer that you desire.  Since I used chocolate almond milk I didn't think I needed to add any extra flavorings or extract.

This is nice and sweet.  I could drink it as is, but I won't! 

14 oz. can fat free sweetened condensed milk
2 cups milk (I used unsweetened chocolate almond milk which is 45 calories per cup)
This made 3 cups of creamer with was 32 ww+ pts for the entire batch.  So if I figured this out correctly, that would be 48 tablespoons at .66 pts per tablespoon.  So round up or round down...it's up to you! 

Product Review: LEAN CUISINE® Salad Additions

It's a new year and another chance to make it a healthy year.  I'm very ready to eat more healthy and I definitely struggle with lunch and dinner most often because I love eating food.  I am not a "just had a salad for lunch" kind of girl.  So when I was invited to join a recent BzzCampaign for Lean Cuisine Salad Additions, I was more than excited to try it. As soon as I got my coupon to try it for free, I ran to Walmart and added it to my shopping cart.  I purchased my kit in the freezer section at Walmart for just under $3.  There were 4 kit choices to choose from: Asian-Style Chicken, Bistro Chicken, Cranberry and Chicken and Southwest-Style Chicken.  I decided to try the Bistro Chicken because it has a sweet and tangy vinaigrette with BACON.  Sold.  It also has crispy onion straw (you know like the topping to Green Bean Casserole) which I adore.  The kit also comes with grilled chicken, asparagus pieces, yellow carrots and red peppers.

All you need to do do is add some lettuce (I chose romaine).  How easy is that?! One kit (serves 1) and has 240 calories, 8 gram of fat and 15 grams of protein.  That's quite a healthy lunch. 

It's really easy to prepare.  You just defrost your salad dressing in some water, heat up the chicken and veggies in a steam pouch (only 3 1/2 minutes total), and toss everything together with your lettuce.  It's that simple.  This salad was really, really good.  I was afraid I wasn't going to like the chicken in my salad but that was definitely not the case.  The only thing I would change next time is to make the chicken ahead of time and let it cool.  I personally did not like the taste of the hot chicken and veggies with the cold lettuce.  But I would have loved this salad if it was all the same temperature. 

I'm excited to try this again and will probably try the Asian-Style chicken next time.  Maybe the Southwest Style?  Or let's be honest, I'll probably just get one of each and decide which one is my favorite that way. 

Have you tried these yet?  If so, what's your favorite Salad Addition??

And don't forget to head over and like their facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/LeanCuisine and follow them on Twitter. 

#771: Cara's Crunchy Chicken Strips

Brian's first question was, "Who's Cara?"  I personally don't know who Cara is...that's just the name of this recipe thanks to taste of home.  I was planning on using chicken breasts for dinner, so I just cut them each in half, so our "chicken strips" are a little bigger than normal.  This was delicious.  We all enjoyed it.  The croutons really hold up nicely in this recipe and give it a nice crunch.  We will definitely eat this again. 

1/2 cup biscuit/baking mix

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 cup crushed Caesar salad croutons

2 eggs, lightly beaten (I used egg substitute)

1-1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch strips (I used 4, 3 oz chicken breasts each cut in half)

2 tablespoons butter, melted (I omitted)

 

In a shallow bowl, mix the baking mix, salt and pepper. Place crushed croutons and eggs in separate shallow bowls. Dip chicken in baking mix to coat both sides; shake off excess. Dip in eggs, then in croutons, patting to help coating adhere.

Arrange in a single layer on a greased 15-in. x 10-in. baking pan. Drizzle with butter. (I sprayed mine with non-stick cooking spray) Bake at 450° for 10-12 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink, turning once.

My version w/egg substitute and no-butter = 6 ww+ pts per chicken breast.