Chicken with "Cider" and Bacon Sauce

So I put the cider in parenthesis because I didn't use cider like the recipe called for, finding unsweetened cider is difficult.  And if I had found it I would have then had to make sure that the "spices" were something I could actually have, so I decided to just use the Simply Apple Juice instead and it is really just unsweetened apple with nothing added.

I really liked how this turned out, very tasty, if I'm feeling like chicken I'm bound to make it again.  Chicken isn't one of my favorite meats, I know I'm weird.  I paired it with a boiled artichoke which we dipped in lemon juice and butter.  I know it's a pretty strange combination, but that's what sounded good while shopping and they really did go alright together.  I decided to skip making any rice, quinoa or something of the sorts, I'm glad I did because the chicken and artichoke were enough for dinner without adding anything else.

I was thinking I didn't change to much up, that is until I retyped the recipe and now I realized I might have changed more then I thought.  I left the salt and pepper off the chicken, there was enough flavor without it so I didn't really miss it one bit.  I had read the reviews online and everything said that there wasn't enough sauce and it was recommended to double it, I also read something about adding chopped apples for added flavor.  So for the sauce this is what I really added: 13.5 oz bottle of Simple Apple Juice, 1/2 medium onion minced, 3 slices of turkey bacon chopped, 1 cup of low sodium chicken broth and about 3 slices of apple minced.  I added the chopped apples to the sauce at the same time as the bacon.
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Chicken with Cider and Bacon Sauce
from: CookingLight

Ingredients:
4 (6 ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 bacon slices, chopped
1/4 cup minced fresh onion
3/4 cup unsweetened apple cider
1/2 cup fat-free, less sodium chicken broth

Preparation:

Place each chicken breast half between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; pound to a 1/2 inch thickness using a meat mallet or rolling pin.  Sprinkle chicken evenly with salt and pepper.

Cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp.  Remove bacon from pan.  Add chicken to drippings in pan; cook 6 minutes on each side or until done. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm.

Add onion to pan; cook 2 minutes or until tender, stirring constantly.  Add cider and broth; bring to a boil, scraping pan to loosen browned bits.  Cook until broth mixture is reduced to 1/2 cup (about 5 minutes).  Stir in cooked bacon; serve sauce over chicken.

Chicken and Dumplings

I have always loved Chicken and Dumplings, having cooked a whole chicken earlier in the week I decided to boil down the carcass and make some dumplings!  I losely followed a recipe I found online at cooks.com called Grandma's Chicken and Dumpling soup, but I added and subtracted based on what sounded good to me and recommendations from various dumpling recipes I had found.  The recipe below is as close to what I actually did as I can write it, I didn't change the dumpling part at all but the soup is quite different from what I found online.  I absolutely loved these dumplings and it made enough that we had left overs for a couple dinners and I had it for lunch most days I didn't have it for dinner.  I wonder why I never made this before!

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Chicken and Dumpling soup

To make Chicken Broth this is what I did:

In an 8 quart pot add 1 chicken carcass to about 4 quarts water, bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for 1 hour, strain, remove chicken from carcass, place chicken in the chicken broth.  Then I stored the broth in the fridge until the next day when I was actually making the chicken and dumplings.

Bring chicken broth to a boil and add 2 chicken breasts and 2 bay leaves in from previous day, simmer for about an 1 1/2 hours until chicken is tender

Once chicken is tender:
Add chicken bouillon and herbs to taste
1 (10 3/4 oz.) can sodium free chicken broth
1 (10 3/4 oz.) can cream of chicken and mushroom soup
1 (10 3/4 oz.) can cream of chicken soup
4 stalks chopped celery
4 carrots chopped
1 c. chopped onion
ground clove to taste (2-3 shakes)
thyme to taste
seasoned salt to taste

Put cover on kettle; simmer soup on low heat for 2 to 3 hours.

Feather Dumplings:
2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. white or black pepper
1 egg, well beaten
2 tbsp. melted butter
2/3 c. milk

About 30 minutes before serving, mix up feather dumplings by sifting dry ingredients together. Add egg, melted butter and enough milk to make moist, stiff batter. Drop by teaspoons into boiling liquid. Cook, covered and without "peeking", for 18 to 20 minutes or until the dumplings are done. Yield: 10 to 12 servings.

It's a new blog...

I decided to start my new blog and I'm super excited about it. I have another blog that is more like a journal where I've been posting the recipes, most people can't see that blog so I decided that it's about time I made a blog for all to enjoy.  Most of the recipes really are too good not to share.  I'll be adding in the posts from my other blog as well (hence this isn't the "oldest post"  Though I do believe I'll post this twice... once for today and once for the oldest date.  Either way, enjoy the recipes!

Cranberry Chicken

When I had my pampered chef party at the beginning of October, if you had told me I would actually roast an entire chicken in my new deep dish baker I was getting I would have told you that you were crazy.  I hate the feeling of raw meat so I have a few issues with taking a whole chicken and doing much of anything with it.  That being said, this was super easy and I managed to do it without creeping myself out!

This recipe came from my pampered chef consultant in a huge list of recipes that could be made in the deep dish cooker.  I love the gravy (and now understand why I might need a gravy separator someday, getting the fat out of the gravy was quite the task).  We had it with basmati rice and snap peas of some sort.  It would be FAR better with mash potatoes then the rice (we tried the gravy on mashed potatoes the next day, very good!) and the veggies didn't turn out all that great, but the chicken was super moist and the gravy was so good that the rice and veggies went fairly unnoticed.
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Cranberry Chicken 
From: Pampered Chef

Mix one can of whole berry cranberries w/ can of cream of mushroom soup & one packet of onion soup mix. Pour over top of chicken in baker. Cover with lid, place in oven; bake for 1-½ hours at 425 degrees.

That's what it looked like before cooking, can you believe I actually touched that and I'm even considering doing it again!

Sausage and Bean Casserole

I found this recipe online and it sounded really good, minus the sausage links that is.  So I decided to be a little adventuresome and make it with ground sausage instead.  I absolutely LOVED how this turned out, I call it sausage bean casserole candy, it was sweet and yummy and I just wanted to eat more and more of it!  I cooked up a thing of french fillet green beans to go with it, a very nice complement.  It made me kind of sad that my french fillet beans didn't grow in the garden last summer!

For the bread slices it says to use, I toasted the bread and then chopped it up with my food chopper, I'm not sure how they really expected this to be done but it worked out well this way so I would probably do it like that again. 

I made the entire thing in one of my new pampered chef cookware pieces it was handy that I could cook it all on the stove and then put the cookware in the oven.  I am really loving my new pampered chef stuff. 

This is a highly recommended recipe, at least with the substituted regular jimmy dean ground sausage like I used that is, I'm not sure how it would be with the turkey links it called for.

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Sausage and bean Casserole
Cooking Light, November 2007

Ingredients

Cooking spray
1  cup  chopped onion (about 1 medium)
1  (16-ounce) package light smoked turkey sausage (such as Hillshire Farm), cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
2  garlic cloves, minced
1  (14-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2  tablespoons  brown sugar
2  tablespoons  tomato paste
1/2  teaspoon  dried thyme
1/2  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
3  (16-ounce) cans cannellini beans or other white beans, rinsed and drained
1  bay leaf
1/8  teaspoon  ground red pepper (optional)
3  (1-ounce) slices white bread
2  tablespoons  chopped fresh parsley

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375°.

Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion and turkey sausage to pan; saute for 5 minutes or until browned. Add garlic, and saute for 2 minutes. Stir in chicken broth, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Stir in 2 tablespoons brown sugar, tomato paste, dried thyme, freshly ground black pepper, cannellini beans, and bay leaf. Add ground red pepper, if desired. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Place bread in a food processor, and pulse 10 times or until coarse crumbs measure 1 1/2 cups.  Sprinkle breadcrumbs evenly over bean mixture, and lightly coat with cooking spray. Bake at 375° for 15 minutes or until browned. Discard bay leaf. Sprinkle with parsley.

Apple Slicer... Corer

So this didn't require any cooking, but it is a new gadget I got from Pampered Chef recently.  I highly recommend that everyone who eats apples own one of these things, they make eating apples so insanely easy.  You just push the little metal thing down and it becomes 10 slices and a core, just like that!

Loaded Baked Potato Chowder

I suppose I should start by saying that this is what we made at my pampered chef party so that is why I chose it.  There is quite a bit of microwaving involved and it killed my microwave during the show.  Oops!    It was very good though and I had bought enough stuff to make the recipe twice over, so I made it again about a week later after we bought a new microwave. 

I tried adding all the different optional toppings, I much preferred the bacon (I used turkey bacon) and sour cream version, but the broccoli is certainly more filling. 

Everyone at the show seemed to enjoy the chowder, even though the potatoes were not quite as cooked as they should have been, I can only imagine how much more then would like it if they had been cooked as well as they should have been.  Yummy!

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Loaded Baked Potato Chowder

Pampered Chef Recipe

Ingredients:

3 large baking potatoes (about 2½ lbs/1.1 kg)

3½ cups (875 mL) milk, divided

4 oz (125 g) cream cheese, softened

2 tbsp (30 mL) butter
2-3 green onions with tops
(¼ cup/50 mL sliced)
4 oz (125 g) sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1½ tsp (7 mL) salt
½ tsp (2 mL) coarsely ground black pepper
Optional toppings such as chopped cooked bacon, sour cream or steamed broccoli florets

Slice potatoes in half lengthwise with Santoku Knife; place in Deep Covered Baker. Pour ½ cup (125 mL) of the milk over potatoes. Microwave, covered, on HIGH 11 minutes. Remove baker from microwave. Move center potatoes to ends of baker and outer potatoes to center. Cover; microwave on HIGH 8-11 minutes or until potatoes are easily pierced with a fork. Remove baker from microwave. Coarsely mash potatoes with Mix ‘N Chop.

Meanwhile, whisk cream cheese until smooth in Classic Batter Bowl. Slowly add remaining 3 cups (750 mL) milk, whisking until smooth. Add cream cheese mixture and butter to baker. Microwave, covered, on HIGH 3-5 minutes or until mixture is hot. Slice green onions with Chef’s Knife.

Carefully remove baker from microwave. Grate cheddar cheese over chowder using Rotary Grater; add green onions, salt and black pepper, and mix using Small Mix ‘N Scraper® until cheese is melted. Serve with toppings, if desired.

Yield: 6 servings (8 cups/2 L)

Cook’s Tip: For a lighter version, omit butter. Substitute fat-free (skim) milk, reduced-fat (Neufchâtel) cheese and light cheddar for the 2% milk and full-fat cheeses.

Apple and Carrot Salad (with Salmon from the Costco Deli)

We often go to Costco and pick up this salmon, it comes prepared and all you have to do is put it in the oven and cook it until a thermometer says it's done.  It has butter and some herbs on top and is very very yummy.  I put the salmon over the Trader Joe's microwaveable rice and then we normally put some mixed vegetables with it.  This time I decided to try something a little different and made the Apple and Carrot Salad that came from the weight watchers website.

I loved the salad, I left out the pepper as always and forgot the chives the second time I made it.  I think I prefer it with no chives.  Neither Richard or my mom liked the feta in the salad so the second time I made it I left the feta out and just sprinkled a little on after dishing it onto my plate.  It was quick and easy and I would recommend it for a nice light salad.

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Apple and Carrot Salad

From: Weight Watchers Website

Ingredients:

2 large apple, 1 red and 1 green, cored, thinly sliced, cut into matchsticks

1 1/2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice or less to taste

3 cups carrots, cut into matchsticks (many stores sell these pre cut)

1/4 cup chives, chopped

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp table salt

1/4 tsp black pepper or more to taste

2 oz feta cheese, french-variety suggested, crumbled

Instructions

Place apples in a large bowl and toss with lemon juice.  Add carrots, chives, oil, sugar, salt, pepper and cheese; toss to mix thoroughly.  8 servings; yields about 3/4 cup per serving

 

Lemon Lush Pie

I must start by saying that I did NOT take this picture, it is from familyoven.com and was posted by Marg.  It looks exactly like what I made (because it is pretty much what I made) and I forgot to take a picture so here ya go.

I love this dessert, it is so light and fluffy and incredibly tasty.  The recipe calls for instant pudding but I made it with the cook kind because I bought the wrong stuff.  It takes far longer if you do it that way but I do think the lemon is more flavorful when it's the cooking kind.  I used more cool whip then most of the recipes call for because that is what the recipe I was given called for, though as I reread it if you actually go by the cup and a half and not 12 oz description it would be what the recipes online said.  I think it would be better with a little less cool whip then I did in the bottom layer so the cream cheese flavor can stand out a little more.  The recipe below is actually for a chocolate pudding because that is what I was making the first time I made this, just sub out the lemon pudding where the chocolate goes.  If you use the cook lemon pudding you will need to have eggs and a few other things as well (check the box), and you'll have to wait for the pudding to cool before placing it on the cream cheese layer.  It was really good so I would say it's completely worth the wait. 

This recipe will be remade for certain!  Though I'm thinking we might leave out some of the nuts next time we make it as Richard wasn't a huge fan of having them in the crust.

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Chocolate Pudding Dessert
From Julie Jewell

Crust Ingredients:

1 1/2 sticks butter (3/4 cup)
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup chopped nuts

Filling Ingredients:

8 ounces cream cheese
1 1/2 cups cool whip (12 oz size)
1 cup powdered sugar

Topping Ingredients:

1 (5 oz) package of chocolate pudding
1 (8 ounce) container cool whip
2 1/2 cup cups milk

Directions:

For Crust:  Preheat oven to 350°F. Melt margarine and then mix well with the margarine and nuts. Press into a 9 x 13 inch pan and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.

In the meantime, for the filling, cream together the cream cheese, cool whip and powdered sugar and then pour over cooled crust.

Then make the chocolate pudding according to package directions, but use only 2 1/2 cups of milk. Spread the pudding over the filling layer.

Spread a layer of cool whip on top of that. Sprinkle with nuts and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Barbecue Beef Cups

I found this recipe online awhile ago and it looked so yummy I just HAD to try it.  Turns out they really are as tasty as they sound.  We had them with grilled corn, they go together quite well!  I ate two of the BBQ Beef cups, it's a good thing I didn't eat lunch (I had a really late breakfast) otherwise I would have gone way over on points today!  These were great and we both think we'll have to have them again sometime.  We ate them with a fork, but as you can see with the second picture they really would be easy to eat by hand.

I didn't quite read the recipe all the way through so I ended up mixing the 3/4 cup cheese into the meat for cooking, but then I put another 1/4 cup on top between the 6 cups to get all melty on top.  This makes 6 servings at 5 points a cup; I used 93/7 ground beef, 2% shredded cheddar (1 cup instead of the called for 3/4), the lower fat biscuits and Bull's Eye original BBQ sauce when I calculated the points, they could change based on what you use. 
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Barbecue Beef Cups

From: Everyday with Rachel Ray: Take 5

Ingredients:

3/4 pound ground beef
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
One 16.3-ounce can refrigerated biscuits
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400°. In a skillet, brown the beef over medium heat; drain off excess fat. Remove from the heat and stir in the barbecue sauce and brown sugar. Grease a 6-cup jumbo muffin pan and place a piece of biscuit dough in each cup, stretching the dough up the sides. Divide the beef mixture among the biscuit cups, sprinkle each with cheese and bake until golden, 10 to 12 minutes.

Mediterranean Sole

So I started making this when I got home from work and as I filled the baking pan I realized just how big a serving was (and I ended up using two pans).  So I invited my parents over for some fish on a nice hot summer night. We ate out on the back porch and had a lovely dinner! This was very good!

When I make this again I will probably cook the potatoes for just a little bit before adding the fish to the dish.  The potatoes were still firm after 15 minutes and the fish ended up a tiny bit dry.  It wasn't so dry that it was really a problem or anything. I think the sole that we had was thinner then what they used in the recipe because I had a little less fish then called for and 7 peices of fish.  The picture is actually of Richard's plate (his fish looked better for picture taking), I had half a fish less and more zucchini on my plate.  The mixture of flavors was wonderful!  Richard added a little lemon herb to his and really enjoyed that as well.

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Mediterranean Sole
From WW Website
POINTS® Value: 6
Servings: 4
Preparation Time: 15 min
Cooking Time: 15 min
Level of Difficulty: Easy

Fish was the original "fast food"—this tasty, low-fat dish takes only minutes to make (a food processor slicing attachment cuts the potatoes to the perfect width).

Ingredients:

2 large potato(es), peeled
1 tsp table salt, divided
1 1/3 pound(s) sole
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp ground oregano
1/2 cup(s) feta cheese, crumbled
5 medium olive(s), jumbo black pitted, chopped

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 450°F. Coat a 9 X 13-inch baking pan with cooking spray.

Slice potatoes into 1/4-inch thin rounds then place them on the bottom of the pan. Coat the potatoes with spray, then sprinkle them with 1/2 tsp of salt.

Place sole over potatoes. Sprinkle with lemon juice, remaining salt and oregano. Top with feta cheese and black olives. Bake until sole flakes easily with a fork, about 15 minutes.

Lemon flavored Orange Roughy

So this was pretty much the same as the Baked Tilapia recipe on weight watchers.  The only real difference I did was I used lemon herb instead of garlic herb seasoning, orange roughy instead of tilapia and concentrated lemon instead of the fresh juice.  I had all this stuff at the house and I've been trying to use up the stuff that we have around the house.  We had it with quinoa and the mixed vegetables from costco.  A very tasty dinner and it was nice and warm outside for eating out on the deck!  I just love summer!
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Baked Tilapia

main meals
POINTS® Value: 3
Servings: 4
Preparation Time: 8 min
Cooking Time: 5 min

Level of Difficulty: Easy

Works with Simply Filling

Use this recipe with other types of fish such as halibut, flounder, sole and even shellfish. Lime juice instead of lemon juice is another good substitution.

Ingredients

1 spray(s) cooking spray
20 oz raw tilapia, four 5 oz fillets
1/2 tsp table salt, or less to taste
1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tsp garlic herb seasoning

Instructions

Preheat broiler. Coat a shallow roasting pan with cooking spray.

Season both sides of fish with salt and pepper.

Transfer fish to prepared pan and drizzle with lemon juice; sprinkle garlic herb seasoning over top.

Broil until fish is fork-tender, about 5 minutes. Yields 1 fillet per serving.

Baked Orange Roughy with Salsa

Of all the fish I have made so far, this was my least favorite by far.  I don't know if that was just because I had been telling myself how good this sounded all day or what the deal was.  I do think I should have waited and put the salsa on after cooking the fish instead of cooking the fish with the salsa on it as I don't really like warm tomatoes all that much.  I didn't follow any recipe, I just took the orange rough and added some cayenne pepper and salsa and broiled it in the oven until the fish was flaking.  It was good, but not great. 

Banana-Oatmeal Bread

I was given a bunch of bananas recently that were getting to be very squishy so I decided I would finally go about making that banana bread that I have been saying I want to make.  The first thing I decided to do was get on the weight watchers website and see if there was any recipes that sounded good at fairly low points.  While I don't think 4 points for a serving of this is exactly low points, it does stay with you for awhile.  I've been eating one of the muffins for breakfast, so yummy!  I brought a loaf to work, gave a loaf to my parents and have kept the muffins for us.  Three batchs, didn't take long to mix up and it was super easy!  They are very yummy and I plan on making them again sometime!
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Banana-Oatmeal Bread
From WW website
POINTS® Value: 4
Servings: 10
Preparation Time: 10 min
Cooking Time: 50 min
Level of Difficulty: Moderate

This nutritious bread is easy to mix up and will make the whole house smell wonderful.

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup(s) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup(s) unpacked brown sugar
1/2 tsp table salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
3 tsp canola oil
1 large egg(s), beaten
2 medium egg white(s), beaten
3 large banana(s), ripe
1 cup(s) uncooked old fashioned oats

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, stir together dry ingredients. Add oil and eggs; mix thoroughly.

In a smaller bowl, mash bananas with a potato masher or fork. Add bananas and oatmeal to batter.

Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray. Pour batter into pan and bake until top of loaf is firm to touch, 45 to 55 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool in pan for 5 minutes. Flip out and cool on a wire rack for another 10 minutes.

Beth's Melt in Your Mouth Barbecue Ribs

Richard loves ribs and is often wanting to go out somewhere so he can get them.  Ribs get to be a bit expensive in restaurants so we decided to give them a try at home.  Plus they were on sale at the store so that was an added bonus.  I searched online looking at lots and lots of recipes, this one seemed pretty easy and sounded like it would be good.  Who doesn't want the ribs falling off the bone?  And they really did fall right off the bone, I was actually able to lift the bones right out of the meat.  They were so tender!

I made the recipe below but used 1 cup of BBQ sauce and 3 lbs of ribs, (I bought the kind that had extra meat).  I cut it up into 7 equal parts when I went to do the broiling part at the end, each part ended up 11 points.  I think half of one of those on a sandwich thin will make a wonderful lunch tomorrow! 

As for the barbeque sauce, I tried a new one.  Since I've started looking at labels more I've tried really hard to avoid high fructose corn syrup.  It seems like most barbeque sauces have that as the first or second ingredient, especially the ones at eye level.  I'm serious when I say it was the first ingredient for more than one brand.  So I picked up this Bull's-Eye Barbeque Sauce, it was on the bottom shelf at the store.  I got the sweet and tangy variety since that sounded closest to the variety that we normally go for when we eat at the barbecue place in town.  It was very good, might not have been the cheapest one on the shelf but it was certainly worth it in my opinion (and it wasn't that much more).  It's always worth it to check the ingredients, while studies on high fructose corn syrup are conflicting regarding the effect on our health, why not eat the more natural version if possible?  

Anyways, the ribs were fabulous!  They fell right off the bone and were so very very tasty!  We are planning on making them again and again, next time we'll do the finishing part on the grill outside.  We're thinking barbeque ribs for the 4th of July this year.  It's always nice to have a change from the regular barbeque foods.  And who doesn't like ribs?  And if I go buy more ribs while they are still on sale it won't be much different then buying a bunch of hamburgers.  I just finished these ones for dinner and I'm already salivating at the thought of more ribs in a couple months.  Yep, they are that good!

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Beth's Melt in Your Mouth Barbecue Ribs (Oven) Recipe

I almost didn't want to share this recipe because this is one of the dishes that I make that keep my sons coming back home! These can be done with baby back or regular pork ribs. I have also made split chickens this way. The ribs are tender, moist and just slide off of the bone. I know that your family will love them just as much as my family does. I noticed that some are unable to find hickory smoked salt.. You can use smoked paprika or just brush the ribs with liquid smoke before applying the rub. The smoke flavor is nice because it helps give the ribs a cooked on the grill flavor. Also, the easiest way to remove the membrane is to work a spoon or I use the tips of my kitchen sheers into the bottom center of the membrane, work it back and forth to form a "pocket" then I slide my thumbs in and work the membrane off from the center outward to the ends.

By Not-2-Sweet

3¼ hours
15 min prep

SERVES about 6-7 

4 lbs pork ribs
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon hickory smoke salt
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper (optional)
2 cups of your favorite barbecue sauce (mine is Sweet Baby Ray)

1.Preheat oven to 300 degrees f.

2.Peel off tough membrane that covers the bony side of the ribs.

3.Mix together the sugar and spices to make the rub.

4.Apply rub to ribs on all sides.

5.Lay ribs on two layers of foil, shiny side out and meaty side down.

6.Lay two layers of foil on top of ribs and roll and crimp edges tightly, edges facing up to seal.

7.Place on baking sheet and bake for 2-2 1/2 hours or until meat is starting to shrink away from the ends of the bone.

8.Remove from oven.

9.Heat broiler.

10.Cut ribs into serving sized portions of 2 or 3 ribs.

11.Arrange on broiler pan, bony side up.

12.Brush on sauce.

13.Broil for 1 or 2 minutes until sauce is cooked on and bubbly.

14.Turn ribs over.

15.Repeat on other side.

16.Alternately, you can grill the ribs on your grill to cook on the sauce.

Loaded Hashbrowns

Richard was really wanting the loaded hash browns from Sherry's, they are super tasty and once he started talking about them I wanted them as well.  I decided to try them at home as I am certain these were far better for me then if I had gone to the restaurant and ordered them.  This was yummy!  Certainly something I'll make again!

How I made the "loaded" hash browns:

Take 1 cup shredded hash browns (I used the simply hash browns that come from the refrigerated section) and place them on the George Foreman grill, use a spray of olive oil on the Foreman before placing the hash browns on.  Flip the hash browns at least once while cooking to get more of that crunchy cooked hash brown texture. 

When taking the hash browns off the grill place half the hash browns on the plate.  Put 1 Tbsp light sour cream and 1/8 cup shredded reduced fat mexican style cheese on top of the hash browns. Place the other half of the hash browns on top of that and sprinkle the top with another 1/8 cup cheese (I used a little less then that on top and used the other bit in the scrambled eggs).

Enjoy!

Random cooking: Chicken Tacos, Kabobs and Fish

Of everything I've made since starting WW and decided to try new recipes, these are probably my favorite thing so far.  The only thing that really makes it "new" is I used ground chicken, I've made tacos before. But these were great the night I made them and they made absolutely wonderful leftover salads for the next few days as well.  I made them during one of the weeks I wasn't logging (or measuring much), so I'm not sure the points, the best I could figure out estimating is probably about 4-5 points a taco or salad, I used Lite house honey dijon light salad dressing instead of the shell so I think it should be about the same.

I used ground chicken with taco seasoning, black beans, Mexican style shredded cheese, lettuce and tomato all on a small wheat tortilla.  These were super tasty and I prefered the ground chicken to both beef and turkey.  I reheated the ground chicken and black beans and put them on a bowl of lettuce with a small amount of cheese and cut up tomatoes with the lite house honey dijon salad dressing.  I love that salad dressing and it went wonderfully with the taco salad.  I think I had the salad about 4 times after the tacos that night.  I love this!  Must make it again sometime soon.

My favorite part of this meal was by far the stir fried teriyaki asian style vegetables.  I only ate about two of the little steaks off the skewer and gave the rest to Richard.  The skewers were in the quick sale section at the store at a great deal so I got them to try something new.  I think I was probably just having an anti beef kind of night, sometimes I think I could live quite well as a vegetarian, but I always realize how much I would miss fish and scratch that idea.  I would also miss chicken and steak and pork, oh and bacon (or turkey bacon which is what I've been eating recently).  Yep, tasty veggies indeed though!  And I'm sure they weren't that high point but I'm really not sure as I also made these in one of the weeks I wasn't tracking.

I revisited the Pan Fried Tilapia with White Wine and Caper that I made awhile back.  I had intended to have the frozen microwave brown rice from Trader Joes with it but I then found out we were out of rice so I just had a few more veggies instead.  I love this fish, certainly worth making again and again!

Well, that's all the pictures of food I had sitting around without a blog attached.  Now they are on a blog and all is well.  Yummy stuff.

Lemon-Orange Orange Roughy

I haven't been the best about cooking new things recently (or writing about it if I did), but tonight I decided to try something new.  This is very citrusy and very tasty.  I would recommend having something like the quinoa to mix with the sauce and fish to take the edge off the citrus flavor.  Mine might have ended up a little stronger since I got the quinoa started later then planned and was able to reduce the orange sauce probably more then they would have.  But it was very tasty!  I love the orange roughy!  So yum!  ___________________________________

Lemon-Orange Orange Roughy

Ingredients:
1 spray olive oil
4 (4 ounce) fillets orange roughy
1 orange, juiced
1 lemon, juiced
1/2 teaspoon lemon herb (it called for lemon pepper but I don't do pepper)

Directions:
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Arrange fillets in the skillet, and drizzle with orange juice and lemon juice. Sprinkle with lemon herb. Cook for 5 minutes, or until fish is easily flaked with a fork.

Baked Orange Roughy Italian-Style

So once again it's another fish dish.  What can I say, I really enjoy my white fish, and now that I realize that it can be cooked without making my whole house smell like fish it might be difficult to keep me from cooking it.  I REALLY liked this one, it's more of what I was wanting when I made the parmesan crusted tilapia the other day.  It had a breaded outside with a cheesy flavor and I really do think the orange roughy is worth paying a little more for.  Very tasty!  Richard enjoyed this as well, he just wished he had more of the crust to eat with the fish.  I reheated some quinoa from earlier in the week and I put a box of the Green Giant veggies in the microwave.  I love the most of th elittle boxes of Green Giant veggies that are 2 servings, just enough for dinner for the two of us.  This one was the immunity blend, it had cauliflower, orange and yellow carrots and dried cranberries in a butter sauce; neither of us really enjoyed this mixture of veggies, I will have to remember not to get those again. 
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Baked Orange Roughy Italian-Style

Ingredients:
1/8 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoons grated Romano cheese
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
2 orange roughy fillets (4 oz) 
butter flavored cooking spray

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Coat a medium baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

In a shallow bowl, mix bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, Romano cheese, garlic powder, and salt. Dredge fillets in the bread crumb mixture and spray with butter flavored cooking spray. Arrange in a single layer in the prepared baking dish.

Bake in preheated oven 10 to 15 minutes, or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.

Italian Stuffed Artichokes

The prep work for these took quite awhile, so this would be another recipe that needs to go in the weekend recipe pile.  They really weren't all that difficult, just takes awhile to get everything put together.  I'm not certain if I did something wrong or if it's because I'm not used to eating artichokes like this but they really did make quite the mess.  The leaves didn't want to peal off the bottom which made getting everything to come apart quite interesting.  Normally when we have artichokes the heart seems a bit softer, the leaves fall off easier, and we can lay them on their side to fight the lower leaves.  These ones we couldn't do that with, I'm not sure if the artichokes just needed a cooked a little longer or what the deal was, but yeah, it was a mess.  They were tasty but I can think of easier ways to eat artichokes, and easier ways to eat stuffing.  Unless Richard asks me to make them (which isn't likely), I see no point putting them together again to make a huge mess.  This really wasn't all that great for the work that went into it, nor do I think it was good enough to order at a restraunt.  This is probably the first recipe I've made where I haven't considered wanting to try it again.
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Italian Stuffed Artichokes
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes

Servings: 2 • Serving Size: 1 artichoke • Points: 7 pts
Calories: 357.9 • Fat: 10.7 g • Protein: 17.6 g • Carb: 46.2 g • Fiber: 8.5 g

2 medium artichokes
4 cups water
1/2 lemon
2 tsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
3/4 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
1/4 cup grated pecorino romano or a good parmesan cheese
1 egg white, whisked
1 cup fat free chicken broth (vegetable broth can be used instead)
2 oz cup white wine
olive oil spray

Cut the stems and the tops off the artichokes. Using a scissor cut off the tips of the leaves and squeeze lemon all over to prevent browning.

In a large pot, fill with 4 cups water and place artichokes upside down in pot. Boil 12-14 minutes. Remove from water and set aside to cool. When artichokes have cooled, remove the center leaves and scoop out the choke with a teaspoon.

In a small sauté pan, heat oil and sauté garlic until golden (about 2 minutes). Remove from heat. Add breadcrumbs, grated cheese, and egg white and mix well.

Place artichokes in a baking dish and stuff the centers and leaves all around with the stuffing. Spray lightly with olive oil. Fill the bottom of the baking dish with broth and wine and cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 40 minutes at 350° removing the foil the last 10 minutes of baking.

Turkey Stuffed Zucchini

I decided to make up for my lack of cooking the last few weeks and am making a few things this week.  Go me!  Richard and I both liked these, we liked the turkey stuffing, we liked the zucchini, we think we might like them both seperate a little better then we liked them together.  Especially for two whole halves of it.  One half is about all we needed and it would be good with something else, we just don't know what yet.   They are good, probably not something I'll make very often, but I don't think it's something I'll never make again either.  Oh, and it took me more then 50 minutes, maybe it'll take less next time, but this certainly took me longer!  I call this a weekend recipe, it takes to long to make after work!

Richard thinks the stuffing goes well on tortilla chips, he thinks it has a bit of a mexican taste.  I don't think it tastes mexican, it is more like italian seasonings to me.  But we both agree the left overs should make tasty burritos.  We're thinking to take the stuffing and some black beans, put it in a shell and add a little sour cream.  Yum!  And then we'll cut up the zucchini boat and eat it with the burritos.  Sounds like tasty left overs to me!

I left out the rosemary, partially because we just gave away the fresh plant we had, and partially because the directions never said to put it in so I completely forgot about it.  I didn't miss it, I think rosemary is a strong flavor and this really does have enough flavor already!

Very tasty and I can't wait for the left overs as burrito's!  I'll let you know how that turns out! 

So I made the left over burrito for dinner tonight.  All I did was cut up one half of the zucchini and reheat everything on the stove.  Once hot I placed it in a burrito shell and ate up.  I must say it was even better the second day, and a very good way to use 4 points.  I want to try it some time with the black beans and sour cream but I didn't have many points left for today since I'm making the stuffed artichokes so this is what I had.  Honestly I'm not certain it would be better the other way, this was super tasty.  I might make these again just to eat them as left overs.  YUM!

Turkey Stuffed Zucchini
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes

Servings: 4 (2 halves) • Time: 50 minutes • Points: 4 ww points

Ingredients:
4 medium zucchini
1 tsp butter
1/2 small onion, finely diced
1 shallot, minced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsp white wine
1.3 lb (20.8 oz) ground turkey (99% fat free)
1 large egg white
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 cup fat free chicken broth
2 tbsp seasoned breadcrumbs
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp fresh chopped rosemary
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp marjoram
1 tsp dried basil
Salt and fresh pepper

Preheat oven to 400°. Cut zucchini in half lengthwise and using a spoon or melon baller, scoop out flesh, leaving 1/4" thick. Arrange in a baking dish. Chop the scooped out flesh of the zucchini in small pieces.

In a large saute pan, melt butter and add onion, shallot and garlic. Cook on a medium-low flame for about 2-3 minutes, until onions are translucent. Add chopped zucchini and season with a pinch of salt, cook about 2-3 minutes. Add wine and cook until it reduces. Add ground turkey and season with salt and pepper, cooking until turkey is white, breaking up in smaller pieces. Add paprika, garlic powder, marjoram and basil. Mix well and cook another minute.

Place turkey meat in a large mixing bowl and set aside to cool. When cooled, add parmesan cheese and egg white, mix well. Using a spoon, fill hollowed zucchinis with stuffing, pressing firmly and top with bread crumbs. Place chicken broth in bottom of the baking dish and cover tightly with foil. Bake 35 minutes.

Parmesan-Crusted Tilapia

So I was feeling guilty about my lack of making food recently.  And I really wanted Tilapia.  I searched online for parmesan tilapia because Applebee's used to have a very yummy one on their menu and they no longer do.  What I found isn't much like what they had, but it was very tasty!  Richard and I both enjoyed it.  Though Richard ended up sprinkling it with a cajun seasoning, it was good but he said it needed a little something more.  I can't have the cajun seasoning, but I imagine it would be a nice addition as it did feel like it was missing something. 

The recipe below is the one listed online.  What I did different was I didn't add any salt or pepper (I forgot), the tilapia I bought was 3 fillets (1.25 lbs), so I call it 3 servings and it was 6 pts a serving.  And I used olive oil spray instead of drizzling olive oil on it. The way the recipe is, they call it 4 servings so I'm guessing the points would be less since it would be less of everything per serving.  

It was yummy (and really quick and easy), I'm certain we'll make it again sometime.
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Parmesan-Crusted Tilapia
From: Everyday with Rachel Ray (Take 5)

Ingredients:

¾ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons paprika
1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley
4 tilapia fillets (about 1 pound total)
1 lemon, cut into wedges

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400°.  In a shallow dish, combine the cheese with the paprika and parsley and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle the fish with olive oil and dredge in the cheese mixture. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake until the fish is opaque in the thickest part, 10 to 12 minutes. Serve the fish with the lemon wedges.

Crock Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage

Happy St. Paddy's Day!!!  So for St. Paddy's Day I made Corned Beef and Cabbage, I had been wanting to make it for years and figured now that I'm cooking a bit more why not?  Other then it's a bit more points then I normally have at a sitting. But the extra points are worth it because this was tasty, very very tasty, and it has made quite a few tasty lunches for me since then as well.  I found quite a few recipes for this and mixed them all together.  I read some recipes that said to use water, some said apple juice, while others said beer.  I ended up using Cider which wasn't on any of the recipes I found but it seemed like a good mixture of apple juice and a beer like substance.  It was very very good, so I think I'll always make it with that.  Plus then we have five more bottles to drink (but it is 3 points a bottle)!

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Crock Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage

Ingredients:

2 onions, chopped

2 lb. corned beef brisket with seasoning packet
12 oz. bottle of apple cider
2 Tbsp. yellow mustard
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup water
1/2 head of cabbage

Preparation:

In 4-6 quart crockpot, place in onions. Rinse corned beef under cold running water and pat dry with paper towels. Place in crockpot and sprinkle with contents of seasoning mix (I bought the kind that had the seasoning already with the corned beef so I just plopped the whole thing in on top of the onions). Pour cider over brisket and spread mustard on brisket. In small bowl mix brown sugar with water and pour over brisket. Cover crockpot and cook on high setting for 6-8 hours.

Remove corned beef from crockpot and cover with foil to keep warm. Add cabbage wedges to vegetables and liquid in crockpot. Cover crockpot and cook on high for additional hour or until cabbage is crisp tender.

To serve, cut corned beef across grain into thin slices. Remove vegetables from slow cooker with slotted spoon and serve with corned beef. Serve cooking juices over the food, if desired. Offer additional mustard on the side. 8 servings, 7 pts per serving.

To add to the meal I also pealed potatoes and steamed them in the microwave and then put them in the juices for about 20 minutes to soak up the flavors after I took the cabbage out.  After taking the potatoes out I boiled the juices to thicken the sauce for left overs.  Adding the potatoes adds 2 pts per cup of potatoes.  So all in all it was a 9 pt dinner for me.