Well, I’m back home from vacation and ready to start cooking again. It was nice not having to cook for a week. All the restaurants at our resort were amazing and I plan on trying to re-create some of the … Continue reading →

Chocolate Chip cheesecake is rich, creamy and chocolately. Is that even a word? Chocolately? If you’ve been craving cheesecake and chocolate give this a try. It’s only 6 points per slice. I was kind of hesitant to try this recipe because it had fat free cottage in it. Fat free cottage in cheesecake? That doesn’t sound right to me, but it works. When you blend it together in the food processor it becomes really creamy, almost like cream cheese. I’m tempted to try making a cheese cake just with cottage cheese and see how that turns out.

Since the husband doesn’t like cheesecake, I like to make it and then freeze the cheesecake. That way it won’t go to waste and I can take out a slice whenever I’m craving it. You don’t need that many oreos for the crust either, so you can put those away in the freezer as well and save them for next time you have to make a dessert with oreos for the crust. Make this chocolate chip cheesecake for your next party, and your guests will never know it’s a Weight Watcher recipes. Almost cheesecake factory worthy.

Calories: 240 | Fat 7.83 g | Carbs: 35.03 | Fiber 0.3 | Protein: 6.3g
Servings: 12
Points Plus: 6
Weight Watcher Recipes

Ingredients: from Weight Watchers

10 item(s) cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookie(s)
8 Tbsp fat-free cream cheese
8 oz low fat cream cheese, tub-style
1 cup(s) sugar
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 cup(s) fat-free cottage cheese
2 tsp almond extract, or less to taste
6 large egg white(s)
3/4 cup(s) mini chocolate chips

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325ºF.

Lightly coat a 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray. Crush cookies and sprinkle cookie crumbs evenly over bottom of pan.

Using an electric mixer, beat together cream cheeses on lowest speed until well blended.

In a small bowl, combine sugar and flour. Add to cream cheese mixture and beat until smooth.

In a food processor or blender, purée cottage cheese until smooth. Add cottage cheese and almond extract to cream cheese mixture; beat until smooth. Add egg whites and beat until well blended. Stir in 1/2 cup of chocolate chips.

Pour into springform pan; top with remaining chocolate chips and bake until cheesecake puffs and center is almost set, about 60 minutes.

Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely. Run a knife around sides to loosen and release pan sides. Cover and chill overnight. Cut into 12 slices and serve.

Let’s face it, oatmeal can be very boring. Every morning, I’d have one of those quaker oatmeal packets for breakfast and that got to be very boring. For breakfast now, I like to have one of those sausage, egg and cheese muffins….  Once you try this, oatmeal won’t be boring anymore.

It was so easy to make. It’s like baking. Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl, all the wet ingredients in a bowl, pour, mix it up a little bit and bake. So easy! The bananas on top, I didn’t really care for, but I just loved the combination of blueberries and cinnamon together. Just think of all those oatmeal flavors that you had and all the different possibilities you could do with this. Think I’m going to try apples next.

Calories 232.8 | Fat 3.5 g | Carbohydrate 43.4 g | Fiber 4.1 g | Protein 7.7 g
Points Plus: 6 (figured out by WW Recipe Builder)
Servings: 6 (cut 6 equal pieces)
Weight Watcher Recipes

Ingredients from Inspired Taste

2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
1 teaspoon Chinese five spice (used cinnamon)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup walnut pieces, chopped (left out)
1 cup sliced strawberries (used blueberries)
1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I left out)
2 cups milk (used 1%)
1 large egg
3 tablespoons butter, melted (left out)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ripe banana, peeled, 1/2-inch slices

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°F and generously spray the inside of a 10-1/2 by 7 inch baking dish with cooking spray and place on a baking sheet.
In a large bowl, mix together the oats, sugar, baking powder, orange zest, Chinese five spice, salt, half the walnuts, half the strawberries and half the chocolate. (Save the other half of strawberries, walnuts and chocolate for the top of the oatmeal).
In another large bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, butter and vanilla extract.
Add the oat mixture to prepared baking dish. Arrange the remaining strawberries, walnuts and chocolate on top. Add the banana slices to the top then pour the milk mixture over everything. Gently shimmy/shake the baking dish to help the milk mixture go throughout the oats.
Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until the top is nicely golden brown and the milk mixture has set. For an extra tasty top, sprinkle a tablespoon or so of extra brown sugar on top then place back in the oven under the broiler and broil for 20-30 seconds. Serve warm with an extra sprinkle of sugar or drizzle of maple syrup.

It’s pizza and pasta combined into one easy dish. Rotini pasta, pasta sauce, italian turkey sausage, low fat cheese, and turkey pepperoni. The original recipe for this had 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and by reducing the amount to 2 … Continue reading →

Did you make any apple butter at all this Fall? I did. I made a lot of it. I came across this recipe in the December issue of Martha Stewart’s magazine and thought it was a brilliant idea to put some apple butter in between two slices of bread and make some french toast out of it. It was even a healthy recipe too, and the nutrition info was posted on it. That’s always a bonus for me, because that’s one less step I have to figure out.

I was pretty proud of myself for not using any butter or oil to cook this recipe. See, recipes can taste good even with out butter. Usually, I’m all for the butter but have recently come to realize that I need to start watching what I eat again.

Ingredients from Martha Stewart

259 calories, 5 g of fat, 14 g protein, 38 g carbs, 4 g fiber

Points Plus: 6

1 cup low-fat milk
2 large eggs  2 large egg whites, slighlty beaten
1 tablespoon of granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
8 slices of whole wheat bread
non stick cooking spray
1/4 cup of apple butter
2 teaspoons confectioners sugar

1. Preheat oven to 250. In a large shallow dish, whisk together milk, eggs and egg white, granulated sugar, vanilla, and pumpkin pie spice.

2. Place 4 bread slices in milk mixture and let soak 1 minute per side. Coat a large non-stick skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium. Add soaked bread to skillet and cook until golden brown about 8 minutes, flipping once. Transfer to a wire rack set in a rimmed baking sheet and place in oven. Wipe out skillet. Repeat with remaining bread.

3. Spread each of 4 slices with 1 tablespoon apple butter. Top with remaining slices and dust with confectioner’s sugar. Serve immediatly. Serves 4.

Pumpkin Cinnamon buns are great for breakfast on the weekend. I made the dough the night before and let it rise over night. They only take 20 minutes to bake in the oven, so you can prep the streusal and icing while you’re waiting for the oven to heat up.

Some of the cinnamon rolls were not all the same size. As most of you know, I suck at math, and they looked pretty funny in the pan after they cooked because the rolls were all not the same size. I was watching them make cinnamon rolls once on the Food Network and they said to cut the dough in half first, then cut the dough into fourths, and then  eights…. Well I did that and realized that the serving size was 12 and started cutting them even smaller but then that looked weird.. oh well… now I know for the next time I make these.

Calories: 219 | Fat: 6.2 | Protein: 3.8 | Carbohydrate: 36.9 | Fiber: 1.2

Servings: 12

Points Plus: 6

Ingredients from Cooking Light

Buns:
1 package dry yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)
1/4 cup warm water (100° to 110°)
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1/2 cup Pumpkin Puree
1/2 cup 1% low-fat milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Cooking spray
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into small pieces

Glaze:
3/4 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 tablespoon hot water
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation

To prepare the buns, dissolve yeast in warm water in a large bowl; let stand for 5 minutes. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Add 2 cups flour, pumpkin, and next 5 ingredients (pumpkin through nutmeg); beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes); add enough of the remaining 3/4 cup flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, to prevent dough from sticking to hands (dough will feel tacky).
Place the dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, for 45 minutes or until doubled in size. (Press two fingers into the dough. If an indentation remains, the dough has risen enough.)
Combine 3 tablespoons granulated sugar, brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal.
Punch dough down; cover and let rest for 5 minutes. Roll the dough into a 12 x 10-inch rectangle on a floured surface. Sprinkle with brown sugar mixture. Roll up the rectangle tightly, starting with a long edge, pressing firmly to eliminate air pockets; pinch seam and ends to seal. Cut roll into 12 (1-inch) slices. Place slices in a 9-inch square baking pan coated with cooking spray. Cover and let rise 25 minutes or until doubled in size.
Preheat oven to 375°.
Bake the rolls at 375° for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 15 minutes in pan on a wire rack.
To prepare the glaze, combine the powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon water, and vanilla extract in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Drizzle glaze over buns. Serve warm.