I saw this pasta recipe and started to figure out the nutrition info for it and didn’t like the amount of carbs that were in it. It was pretty scary. I was thinking of ways to make it a little more carb friendlier so it became soup. Chicken florentine is basically chicken, pasta, spinach and tomatoes. Sounds good doesn’t it? Ben asked me if I added in the pesto and I wish I would have now. That would have given it even more flavor. I know it’s almost summer time, but it doesn’t hurt to have soup every now and then. Especially when fresh produce is becoming more available.

I went to Minneapolis this weekend to visit my brother. It turns out he’s a pretty good cook. He made this shrimp dish which he still has to give me the recipe for. It had 4 heads of garlic in it. We went to this place called Mozza Mia and they had the best pizza there. I bought all the ingredients I needed to make this fig, caramelized onion and prosciutto pizza. Plan on seeing that post sometime later on this week. That bowl in the picture came from Pottery Barn too. The plate underneath it, I want to find a plate holder for it to hang up in my kitchen.

Servings: 6

Points Plus: 6

calories: 219, Fat 6.2, Protein: 23.7, Carbs: 17.1, Fiber: 2.4

Ingredients from Oxmoor House

1/2 cup uncooked ditalini (very short tube-shaped macaroni)
1 1/4 pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs, chopped
3 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 cup water
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano
1 (6-ounce) package fresh baby spinach
2 tablespoons commercial pesto
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Grated fresh Parmesan cheese (optional)

Preparation

1. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Set aside.

2. While pasta cooks, combine chicken, broth, and water in a large Dutch oven. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 3 minutes or until chicken is cooked. Remove chicken with a slotted spoon; keep warm. Stir in tomatoes; cook 1 minute or until thoroughly heated. Stir in spinach; cook 2 minutes or until spinach wilts. Add cooked chicken and pasta to pan; cook 1 minute or until thoroughly heated. Stir in pesto and pepper. Ladle soup evenly into 6 bowls, and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, if desired.

I think I killed my sodium intake for the day making these, but I was craving pizza. Pizza isn’t the best to eat while watching that kind of thing because pepperoni has a ton of sodium in it.  However, I … Continue reading →

I have found some other ways to make up for the salt. Last week, I had made some Spicy Thai Noodles that were delicious by the way. The recipe said to heat the crushed red pepper flakes in the sesame oil to release their spices more. Holy crap, if you like spicy that is the way to make something spicy. This pasta recipe called for the exact same step but to use some olive oil instead. Instead of using salt, why not add some spice instead like crushed red pepper?

I had this pasta when I went to Minneapolis the last time to visit my brother in the cities. He took us to a place called Buca Di Beppo. That place was awesome. It’s a family style restaurant where they give you huge servings of lasagna/pasta. Better to come with a lot of people so you can try different things. I managed to get this down to only 126 mg of sodium per serving! What I did was use no salt added tomato sauce from Hunt’s and I made my own alfredo sauce. I basically just added some milk and some parmesan cheese to the red sauce. Hope you enjoy!

Spicy Chicken Rigatoni recipe from Taste Book

Servings: 7

Ingredients

1/4 cup oil  (I used only 2 teaspoons of olive oil)
1/2 Tbs crushed red pepper
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
1 Tbs chopped garlic
6 oz chicken, sliced
3/4 cup. Marinara sauce
1/2 cup Alfredo sauce (by some low fat alfredo or make your own)
1/4 cup peas
1 lb Rigatoni pasta, cooked according to package directions (I used only 16 oz of pasta)
additional 1/2 t crushed red pepper (for garnish)

Directions:

In a sauté pan, heat oil over medium heat. Add crushed red pepper, salt, black pepper and garlic and sauté just long enough for garlic to caramelize and red pepper to release flavor into the oil. Add sliced chicken and sauté briefly to coat in spices and garlic.
2

Add Marinara Sauce first and then Alfredo Sauce and bring to a simmer. Cook until sauce thickens slightly and chicken has reached an internal temperature of 165°. Turn off flame, add butter and peas and incorporate into sauce.
3

Drop cooked pasta in boiling water for 3 seconds. Let drain for 15 seconds. Toss with the sauce. Place pasta and sauce in pasta bowl, reserving the majority of the chicken to be placed on top of the pasta. Using a rubber spatula, scrape any remaining sauce from the pan to the pasta. Garnish with crushed red pepper and serve.

Awhile ago, I tried making chicken cordon bleu in the crock pot. That didn’t go over to well. There was way too much liquid in the crock pot after it was done. I had to scoop some of it out. The surprise was how the bread crumbs didn’t get all soggy in the milk mixture. You’d think since it was being cooked in the crock pot, the bread crumbs would be all soggy. After that fiasco, I decided that this dish was meant to be baked in the oven. A good thing, I found this recipe.

It helps to have already cooked chicken on hand, the process goes a lot faster. If you don’t just take out some chicken breasts and cook them at 425 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. Make sure to split them in half first. If you have some leftover cooked ham from easter then the only thing you’d have to do is cook the reux mixture. I’d make this recipe again. I think it would be really good in some mac and cheese!

Servings: 8 (Cut into equal pieces)
Points Plus per serving: 9

Note: I used I can’t believe it’s not butter light, 2% milk, low fat swiss cheese, and in order to get the bread crumbs brown spray it with some cooking spray.

Ingredients adapted from Plain Chicken

6 cups diced cooked chicken (1 whole rotisserie chicken)
8 oz diced honey ham
8 slices baby swiss cheese

For the sauce
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
3 1/4 cups milk
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp pepper

For the topping
1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs
6 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 tsp seasoning salt
1 1/2 tsp dried parsley

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Light spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray.  Put chopped chicken and ham in baking dish.  Cover with baby swiss cheese slices.

Prepare the sauce.  In a large pot, melt butter.  Add flour and stir to form a roux.  Slowly whisk in milk.  Whisk until smooth.  Continue whisking until sauce starts to thicken (2-3 minutes).  Remove from heat and add mustard, lemon juice, salt, paprika and pepper.  Stir to combine.  Pour sauce evenly over the casserole.

Combine all the ingredients for the topping and sprinkle over the casserole.

Bake uncovered for 45 minutes or until top is golden brown.  Allow to cool 5 minutes before serving.

I just love having breakfast food for dinner and lately, I’ve been posting a lot of breakfast recipes. These breakfast enchiladas took no time to make too. Just make the ham mixture, wrap into a tortilla and bake in the oven. I was kind of concerned about the egg mixture not getting done, because after 30 minutes the eggs weren’t set yet in the oven. After the last 10 minutes they were done. Hurray.

I think if I were to make this again, I’d add in some more spice. I wish I would have read the comments before eating this recipe  too, because someone had suggested to heat up some enchilada sauce on the side to dip the enchiladas in. This recipe has left me wide open to create a breakfast/tex mex dish of my own!

Mix the ham,  cheese, pepper, and green onions in a bowl.

Place about 1/3 of the mixture onto the tortilla and roll it up and place it into the baking dish.

Mix together the eggs and milk. I just used the same bowl the cheese and ham mixture was in.

Last 10 minutes, melt the cheese on top of the enchiladas and serve.

Recipe from Inspired Taste

Servings: 10
Points Plus: 7 (per enchilada)

Ingredients

2 cups finely chopped cooked ham
1 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup sliced green onions (8 medium)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (8 oz)
10 flour tortillas for burritos (8-inch) *I used Smart & Delicious High Fiber Low  Carb Tortillas, they were 2 points plus each
6 eggs
2 cups half-and-half
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

Method

Lightly spray 13×9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish with cooking spray.

In large bowl, stir together ham, bell pepper, green onions and 1 cup of the cheese. Place 1/3 cup of the ham mixture down the center of each tortilla; roll up and place seam side down in baking dish.

In another large bowl, beat eggs, half-and-half, flour and salt. Pour over the tortillas. Cover; then bake or refrigerate overnight for a make-ahead breakfast/brunch.

To bake, heat oven to 350°F. Uncover dish; sprinkle the remaining 1 cup cheese over top. Cover baking dish; bake 35 minutes. Uncover; bake 10 minutes longer or until set and cheese is melted.

Every year for Easter, my family will have this cheesy hash brown potato casserole. I love it because it’s full of cheese and really creamy. My mom would put those crinkle cut potato chips on hers. Maybe known as wavy lays potato chips. Some people put corn flakes and I wanted to do that, but I didn’t have any corn flakes. I used some oyster crackers instead and I think I like the crunchy potato chips better, but the oyster crackers still worked. This version has a little less fat in it than the full fat version. I always try to have a bag of frozen hash browns on hand too. You can do so much with them.

Also for Easter my grandma likes to make her frosted sugar cookies. These are so good.

Ben (my husband) has spent most of Easter weekend painting the dining room. It’s a pretty red color.

Well, I hope everyone has a happy Easter!

Recipe from Plain Chicken ( love this website!)

Servings: 8
Points Plus: 6

I halfed the recipe from the original one. 30 oz of hash browns would make a lot for 2 people.

Ingredients:

15 oz of frozen hashbrown potaotoes
8 oz of fat free sour cream
5 3/4 oz of 98% fat free condensed cream of chicken soup
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 teaspoon of Lawry’s Seasoing Salt
1 cup of 2 percent cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons of oyster crackers

Directions:

1. Preheat Oven to 350

2. Combine sour cream, cheese, cream of chicken soup in a bowl with the potatoes. Spray an 8X8 pan and spread out the potatoes in the pan. Use your hand to crush the oyster crackers on top of the potaotes. Spray with cooking spray.

3. Bake at 350 for 45.

The egg whites in this batter made these triple berry pancakes nice and fluffy. Instead of taking out the old bag of Krusty’s pancake mix next time, try making you’re own pancakes. I didn’t use fresh fruit, just a bag of frozen mixed berries from the grocery store. Much cheaper than buying fruit right now. Most of the fruit here isn’t very ripe yet either, so I think using the frozen berries was the right way to go. Make these pancakes this Sunday for Easter breakfast and serve them with some turkey sausage or leftover ham the day after Easter.

The Weight Watchers website said that you can freeze the pancakes after you cook them. I unfortunetaly can’t do that because some of my pancakes didn’t turn out. I’ve been experimenting with cast iron skillets lately and found out that I shouldn’t be cooking eggs in a cast iron. They’re a pain to clean out. Pancakes burn really easily in the cast iron skillet as well. Don’t know how the Pioneer Woman cooks with the cast iron all the time? Maybe she has some trick she uses.

Servings 8 (3 pancakes, you use 2 tablespoons when measuring out the batter)

Points Plus: 4

Ingredients

3 cup(s) mixed berries, fresh or frozen and thawed (chopped if 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice, or more to taste
1 cup(s) all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp sugar, granulated
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp table salt
1 cup(s) buttermilk
1 large egg(s), separated
2 large egg white(s)
2 tsp unsalted butter, divided
1 Tbsp powdered sugar, for dusting

In a medium bowl, gently toss berries with lemon juice; set aside.

In another medium bowl, sift together flour, granulated sugar, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine buttermilk with egg yolk.

Add flour mixture to buttermilk mixture; stir in berries and set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form; gently fold into batter until combined.

Heat a very large nonstick skillet over medium heat; add 1/2 teaspoon butter. When butter is melted, make six pancakes at a time by pouring 2 heaping tablespoons of batter into skillet for each pancake (make sure to leave enough space in between each). Cook until bottoms are golden, about 2 minutes; flip and cook until centers are set, about 2 minutes more.

Remove pancakes to a plate and cover to keep warm (or place in a warm oven); repeat with remaining ingredients, making six pancakes at a time. When ready to serve, dust pancakes with powdered sugar. Yields 3 pancakes per serving.