What's for breakfast?

Chocolate Cherry Refrigerator Oatmeal

 Ingredients

• 1/4 cup uncooked old fashioned rolled oats
• 1/3 cup skim milk
• 1/4 cup vanilla low-fat Greek yogurt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon milk chocolate chips
• ¼ cup chopped cherries (I got mine frozen)
  

 Directions

In a half pint (1 cup) jar, add oats, milk, yogurt,and sugar. Put lid on jar and shake until well combined. Remove lid, add chocolate chips and cherries and stir until mixed throughout. Return lid to jar and refrigerate overnight or up to 3 days. Eat chilled.

Raspberry Chipotle Chicken Tacos

Anybody besides me love sweet & spicy together?  I love it!  In fact, my favorite candy is Hot Tamales.  This meal is the epitome of a harmonious sweet and spicy marriage.

This morning, I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner tonight.  This is a rarity for me because I almost always plan my menu before I ever go grocery shopping, but I am trying to use up what is in my pantry and freezers this week.  I remembered some boneless skinless chicken breast that I bought a couple of weeks ago on sale (it was buy one get one!).  What could I do with chicken....   I also remembered the raspberry chipotle salsa that was in the fridge.  Thus, the raspberry chipotle chicken taco was born!

I bought the salsa at a Le Gourmet shop.  You can also order it here: 

Ingredients:

2 T. oil (I used canola)
1 1/2 chicken breasts, diced
1 onion, chopped
1/2 bag of frozen mixed pepper strips

1 jar raspberry chipotle salsa
1/2 t. chipotle chili powder (if you don't have this, regular chili powder would work)
1/2 t. cumin
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/2 t. onion powder
salt to taste
tortillas

Procedure:

Heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat.  Add chicken and cook until outside is browned.  Add onion and cook until translucent.  Add pepper strips.  Add a couple of tablespoons of the salsa.  Add all of the spices and stir to make sure evenly distributed.  Add the rest of the salsa.  Simmer for about 10 minutes.
Heat tortillas according to package directions.  Serve chicken mixture inside of tortillas.  I also put cheddar cheese and rice inside of my tortillas.  So yummy!

Arancini casserole

Arancini casserole

Last night I made this wonderful casserole.  It is based on arancini, a fried, stuffed, Italian rice ball.  It was so delicious!  The sausage adds a spiciness that is mellowed by the rice.  The peas add a sweet little pop to each bite...yum!

I made two casseroles out of this recipe.  Each casserole is 4 servings.  If you need more servings, you could use a 9 X13 pan and make one big casserole, just adjust the cooking time to 20 min with the foil and 10 without.

• 3 bags rice
• 1/2 lb (8 oz) Italian bulk sausage
• 1/2 lb (8 oz) 90% lean ground beef
• 1 onion, chopped 
• salt and fresh pepper
• 4 oz frozen peas (1/2 container)
• 16 oz tomato sauce (I used Classico Roasted Garlic sauce)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup shredded parmigiano cheese
• cooking spray
• 4 T breadcrumbs
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella

Cook rice in water according to package directions. Set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, sauté sausage meat; cook until brown breaking up into pieces with a wooden spoon as it cooks. Add ground beef and onion and cook until browned, breaking up as it cooks. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then add peas and 8 oz tomato sauce and simmer on low, covered, about 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400°. In a large bowl combine rice, parmigiano, egg, and4 oz tomato sauce and mix well. Rice should be a bit sticky.

Spray 2 9X9 casserole dishes with cooking spray, making sure to spray sides too.

Take 1/4 of the rice mixture and cover the bottom of one of the casserole dishes,  pressing to form bottom layer.  Repeat in second dish.

Pour half of the meat and peas mixture in one dish and half in the other.

Sprinkle 1/2 c. of the mozzarella on top of each.  Take half of what is left of the rice mixture and spread it on top of meat mixture on one casserole, repeating with the second casserole.  Top with remaining 4 oz of tomato sauce (2 oz each), mozzarella (1/2 c. each), and breadcrumbs (2 T. each).

Cover with foil and bake 15 minutes.  REmove foil and bake 5 minutes more.

Enjoy!

Salisbury Steak with Onion Gravy

Ingredients:

 For the steaks:
          1 lb 93% lean ground beef
          1 yellow onion, finely chopped
          1/2 c. breadcrumbs
          1 egg

           1 T. canola oil

     For the gravy:
          1 15 oz can low sodium beef broth (Low sodium is important!  When we make                                                                       the gravy, the broth will reduce with the                                                                       soup mix and it can become too salty!)
          2 T flour
          1 packet Lipton onion soup mix

In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients for the "steaks."  Divide into 6 patties.  They can be cooked right away, but the flavor will be better if you let them sit for about a half an hour (yes, they can be at room temperature).

In a large skillet or saucier, heat the oil on medium heat.  Add the patties and brown for about 5 minutes on each side.  Remove to a plate.

In a small container (I used a custard cup) add just enough beef broth to the flour so that it is fully dissolved.  Add the remaining beef broth to the hot pan and use a spatula to scrape the brown bits the meat has left behind off of the bottom of the pan.  Add the soup mix and stir to combine.  Add your slurry of broth and flour to the mix and allow it to boil just until it begins to thicken.

Add your patties back to the sauce.  Cover and cook for 10 minutes longer on each side.  I recommend serving with mashed potatoes.

Each salisbury steak is 5 WW points+.

Angry Shrimp

Ingredients:

• 6 ounces fresh linguine 
• 1tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pound raw large shrimp, peeled and deveined 
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained

Preparation:

1. Cook pasta according to the package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain and keep warm.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add onion, minced garlic, basil, and crushed red pepper to pan; sauté 1 minute. 
3. Add tomato paste and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Cook 3 minutes or just until sauce begins to thicken. 
4. Sprinkle shrimp with salt; add shrimp to pan.  Cook until shrimp are done (about 8 minutes, flipping after 4 minutes).
5. Serve over pasta.

 Makes 3 servings (1 serving=1c. pasta and 1c. shrimp mixture).

 6 WW points+

Chicken Aglio E Olio

I make chicken at least twice a week, so I am always looking for new recipes to make using chicken.  This one was so yummy with a bit of heat.

• 1 lb skinless, boneless chicken breast, thin-sliced
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour 
• 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil (or whichever oil you prefer)
• 2 tablespoons margarine or butter
• 8 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 4 pickled hot cherry peppers, halved and seeded
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon dry breadcrumbs

Preparation:

•  Dredge chicken in flour.
• Heat oil and butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add chicken; cook 4 minutes on each side or until browned. 
• Add garlic; cook 30 seconds. 
• Add peppers; cook 30 seconds. 
• Add broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes or until chicken is done. 
• Stir in breadcrumbs; cook until liquid thickens (about 1 minute). 
• Taste sauce, and add salt to taste (I added a few shakes of kosher salt to mine).

I served over pasta and sprinkle a little reduced fat parmesan cheese over it.

Makes 5 servings, each serving 5 WW points+.

Char Siu Pork Roast

This recipe was SO good, it reminded me a lot of the beef teriyaki at a Chinese restaurant near here called Asia Grill.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
• 3 tablespoons ketchup
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
• 1/2 teaspoon five-spice powder
• 2 pounds  pork shoulder, trimmed 
• 1/2 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

Prep:

1. Combine first 7 ingredients in bowl of slow cooker, stirring well with a whisk. Add pork and coat. Marinate in refrigerator overnight.
2. Place pork slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.
3. Remove pork from slow cooker using a slotted spoon; place on a cutting board or work surface.
4. Add broth to sauce in slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 30 minutes or until sauce thickens. 
5. Shred pork with 2 forks; add back to sauce and mix together.

 I served this over rice with peas as a vegetable.


Makes 8 servings, 1 serving is 5 WW points+.

Monterey Chicken

This is a dish I used to always get at restaurants.  Eventually it dawned on me that it would be easy to make at home!  I hadn't made it in a couple of years now, but it was just as delicious tonight as ever!

Ingredients:

1 lb chicken breasts - I usually get the thin sliced, but the regular were on sale so I used them and just cut them in half so I ended up with 4 pieces instead of 2
1/2 c. barbecue sauce, divided
1 green onion, green parts sliced, white part discarded
1 c. reduced fat cheese, divided (A cheddar or mexican cheese would be preferable.  I used a monterey-cheddar blend.)
4 slices bacon (I used the pre-cooked that you just zap in the microwave)

On grill, cook chicken on one side for about 3 to 4 minutes.  Flip, then pour 2 T. of barbecue sauce over cooked side of each breast.  Lay your cooked bacon over the sauce, sprinkle with the green onions and 1/4 c. each of the cheese.  Cook about another 3 minutes.  Remove from heat and allow to rest at least 5 minutes, preferably 10.

1 piece of chicken is 8 WW Points+.

Tonight it was raining, so instead of an outdoor grill, I used our George Foreman grill to cook this.  I served itwith frozen peas and a knorr pasta mix.

Slow Cooker Chicken

Tonight is a busy night for my family so I wanted something easy that requires as little prep as possible.  Before work this morning I quartered an onion and put it in a slow cooker with a whole oven-roaster chicken.  I let it cook all day on low.  When we were ready to eat, I made some instant potatoes.  And that was it.  I was a bad girl and didn't make a veggie tonight.

I pulled the rest of the chicken and it will be put to good use in a recipe on Friday night.

Cheeseburger Casserole

I made this for dinner on Friday night.  My husband LOVES hamburgers!  This was a way of having the flavors of a hamburger, but on a lighter scale.

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1/2 c. ketchup
1 c. cheddar cheese

2. frozen french fries

Recipe:

Preheat oven to 450.  In a large skillet, brown the ground beef with the chopped onion.  Drain the liquid.  Add the ketchup.  Pour mixture into the bottom of a 1 1/2 qt. casserole dish (ungreased).  Sprinkle cheese over the top.  Arrange french fries on top of casserole so that they create a single layer.  Bake for 20 minutes, or until french fries on top are done.

Makes 6 servings.
If made with 93% lean ground beef and reduced fat cheddar, each serving is 4 WW points+.

Chicken Sausage with Spinach Fettuccine

Well...the title for this post was supposed to be "Chicken Sausage with Spaghetti Squash" but the spaghetti squash took 2 hours to cook instead of the 1 hour it was supposed to take, and the hubby and I were hungry so I just made some spinach fettuccine we had on hand instead.  It was still good, but I wish I had gotten to try the spaghetti squash!

Anyway, I sliced some Roasted Pepper Asiago chicken sausage into rings and sauteed it in a pan with 1 T + 1 t. of garlic-flavored olive oil.  For myself I just put the sausage rings on top of my pasta, but for my husband I also added 1/2 c. of pasta sauce.

This is what my plate looked like:

And this is what my husband's plate looked like:

 And just 'cause he's cute, here is a picture of my boy enjoying some chicken sausage:

Chicken skewers, couscous, and corn on the cob.

This was last night's dinner.  On Friday night, I cut up 3 boneless, skinless chicken breast into about 1 inch pieces.  I divided them up so that half went into one freezer bag with teriyaki marinade (store bought), and the other half in a freezer bag with barbecue-buffalo marinade (also store bought).  My intent was to marinade them and have them for dinner on Saturday night, but we had a happy change of plans so I made them for dinner on Sunday.  I put the pieces on bamboo skewers and had the hubby cook them on the grill.  Yum.  Meanwhile, I made couscous and boiled corn on the cob.

With the leftover corn I made Corn Salsa with Lime.  Here is the recipe:

1/2 small red onion, chopped (if it is a large one, I would only use a quarter)
1 jalapeno, chopped with seeds discarded (if you like really spicy food, you can leave the seeds)
zest of one lime
juice of 2 fresh limes
chili powder to taste
salt to taste
the kernels from 3 cobs

Combine in a bowl, refrigerate, and allow to sit overnight for the flavors to mingle.  Enjoy with tortilla chips.  1/2 c. = 1 WW points+

Roasted Veggie pizza and dessert!

Tonight's dinner was roasted veggie pizza with goat cheese.  It was inspired by a pizza I had at a restaurant 2 weeks ago.  It was so delicious!  Here is the recipe:

1 can classic pizza dough
1 can artichokes (in water!)
1 sweet onion, sliced
1 red pepper, sliced into rounds
1 yellow pepper, sliced into rounds
1 eggplant, sliced
1 oz. goat cheese
8 oz. mozzarella
1/4 c. grated parmesan
2 T. garlic-flavored olive oil
Pam spray
salt

First off, I roasted the veggies yesterday so I knew they would be ready.  Preheat your oven to 400.  Lay out all of your veggies on a foil-lined cookie sheet.  Spray with pam and season with salt.  Flip over and repeat.  Bake in oven for 45 minutes or until soft with brown edges.  If you are making the day ahead, allow to cool uncovered to room temperature before covering and placing in the fridge.  This will keep too much water from condensing out of the warm veggies.  Also, I didn't use foil in the fridge, I was afraid it would leave a metallic taste on the veggies.

The night you want to make your pizza:
Preheat your oven to 400.  Spray a cookie sheet with Pam.  Roll out your pizza dough to desired thickness (I made my pizza 9 x 13).  Bake dough for 8 minutes.  Brush dough with garlic-flavored olive oil.  Sprinkle mozzarella over dough.  Place roasted veggies over cheese and top with parmesan and goat cheese.  Bake for 10 minutes more and enjoy!

Makes 8 slices, 5 WW points + per slice.

This is my baby boy enjoying some roasted veggie pizza (minus the goat cheese):

 For dessert we had Fresh Strawberry Pie made with Splenda sugar mix instead of sugar (8 slices, 3 WW points+ per slice) and topped with cool whip.

Southwest Taco Pie

I made this for dinner last night. It was great! Even the hubby loved it and he's not a corn fan! Southwest Taco Pie

So...just found out the link doesn't work if you are not subscribed so...here is the recipe (shh, don't tell on me!)

Ingredients

• 1 store bought pie crust (2 come in a box, but you only need one)
• 1 pound uncooked ground turkey breast
• 1 tablespoon canola oil (I actually used grapeseed)
• 1 1 1/4 ounce package taco seasoning mix
• 1 cup black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup drained canned whole kernel corn
• 1 cup shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese (4 ounces)
• 2 roma tomatoes, chopped
• 1 cup shredded iceberg lettuce
• 1/2 cup light sour cream (optional)
• 2 green onions, sliced (optional)

Make It 1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. On a lightly floured surface roll out dough to a 12-inch circle. Line a 9-inch pie plate with the dough, fluting edge as desired. Prick the bottom of the pastry with the tines of a fork. Bake for 15 minutes or until crust is lightly browned and is set and dry.
2. In a large skillet cook turkey in hot oil over medium heat until browned. Stir in taco seasoning and 1/2 cup water. Cook and stir for 3 to 5 minutes or until water has evaporated. Stir in beans and corn. Spoon turkey mixture into baked pie shell. Top with cheese.
3. Bake 12 to 15 minutes more or until cheese is melted and filling is heated through. Remove and cool 10 minutes on a wire rack.
4. Top slices of pie with tomato, lettuce and sour cream and green onion, if desired.

Pasta with Peas, Asparagus, and Prosciutto

So, I based this on this recipe:
 Pasta with Peas, Asparagus, Butter Lettuce, and Prosciutto
but changed a few things.

Ingredients:
 2 tablespoons margarine
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
1 bundle green onions, sliced
1 minced shallot
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup chicken broth
 1 bundle asparagus, cut crosswise into 3/4-inch pieces
2 cups shelled fresh peas
1 pound large pasta shells
1 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese plus additional for sprinkling
 4 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-wide strips

 Recipe:
Put water on to boil for pasta.
Melt margarine with 2 tablespoons oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and shallot. Sauté until tender. Add wine; increase heat to medium-high and simmer until liquid is reduced to glaze, about 3 minutes. Add broth and bring to simmer; set aside.
Put pasta in boiling water and set timer for 8 minutes. Add asparagus and set timer for 2 minutes. Add peas and set for 2 more minutes. Drain, reserving 1 cup pasta cooking liquid.
Add pasta and 1 cup Parmesan cheese to skillet with onion mixture; toss, adding reserved pasta cooking liquid by 1/4 cupfuls if dry. Transfer pasta to large shallow bowl. Sprinkle prosciutto over. Serve, passing more cheese alongside