BBLT

Posted on July 25, 2012 by jgisvold

Any type of sandwich is better on a bagel, especially a BLT sandwich. Plain old bread for sandwiches can be pretty boring too. Why not change it up a bit and use a bagel instead? There was no mayonnaise in the house, but I had a container of Philadelphia Chive Cream Cheese. I believe that may be my new mayo whenever I make a BLT sandwich. Bagels are kind of pointy, but Thomas Bagel Company makes bagel thins for only 3 points. Everything bagels make good sandwiches too. I really really want some lox now.

Servings: 1

Points Plus: 9

1 Thomas Bagel Thin

2 strips of bacon

2 slices of tomato

1 lettuce leaf

2 tablespoons of Philadelphia Chive Cream Cheese

Directions:

Toast the bagel. Spread with Philadelphia cream cheese. Top with 2 slices of bacon, tomato, and lettuce. Enjoy.

Chicken Tamale Casserole

Posted on July 1, 2012 by jgisvold

Ben and I tried tamales this weekend at the lake for first time. They were so good too. If you’ve never had a tamale before, it’s kind of like an enchilada but it’s cooked in the corn husk. You make … Continue reading →

Late Night Pasta

Posted on June 20, 2012 by jgisvold

If you ever thought pasta carbonara was intimidating to make, then you’re in luck. I have tried making pasta carbonara before, but the eggs always ended up scrambling because the pan was too hot or something.

Cooking a fried egg to put over the top of the pasta is MUCH easier. All you have to do is wait for the egg whites to get cooked through and the yolk should still be runny. It’s quiet heaven, cutting into the egg and getting a combination of the pasta and bacon together. Just remember to save the pasta water, that’s the part I always forget sometimes! I’d kind of like one of those pasta pans that you keep in the big pot of boiling water while the pasta is cooking. That way, the pasta water won’t get dumped down the drain and you won’t forget it. I’d make this again anytime.

I used cooking spray to cook the fried eggs and reduced the amount of butter used. There’s enough here for 3 servings actually. You can opt to leave out the butter completely if you’d like because the pasta water makes the sauce pretty creamy. I used about a tablespoon for ours to make it a little richer.

Servings: 3

Points Plus: 9 (figured using the WW calculator on their website)

Ingredients from Martha Stewart

6 ounces thin spaghetti or tagliolini
3 pieces applewood smoked bacon, thinly sliced into 1/4-inch-thick pieces
1 1/2 teaspoon coarsely cracked black pepper, plus more for serving
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/2 clove garlic, minced
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley
Coarse salt

Directions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil; add pasta and cook for 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, place bacon in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp, 3 to 4 minutes. Add onion and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper; cook, stirring until onion softens, 2 to 3 minutes.

While onion is cooking, heat 1 tablespoon butter in a small skillet. Carefully crack eggs into skillet and cook until whites are just set. Remove from heat and keep warm.

Add garlic to skillet with bacon and onion and stir to combine. Add 1/4 cup pasta cooking liquid to skillet; drain pasta and add to skillet. Add remaining 3 tablespoons butter and reduce heat to low. Add cheese and toss until melted and sauce is well combined.

Divide pasta evenly between two serving bowls; top with fried egg and season with pepper. Serve immediately.

Cheddar Cheeseburgers with Caramelized Onions

Posted on June 1, 2012 by jgisvold

We had burgers two nights in a row. Yesterday, I got a coupon in my email for a free burger at Ruby Tuesdays. Ben and I love the triple prime burgers there. They’re so yummy, but one of those burgers is 31 points. Yikes! A good thing, I only ate half of the burger. We only do that about once a month though, that is, go and indulge in a fatty burger like that. Yumm….I’m surprised my blood pressure was still low this morning when I tested it, believe the running is helping with that part.:)

This was a good gourmet burger and lived up to it’s name. I think from now on, whenever we have burgers I’ll have to make some caramelized onions to put on top of them. Have you noticed lately I’ve been on a caramelized onion kick? I also made an avocado orange salad to go a long with this and that was delicious. Who knew avocado and orange would go so well together? I almost felt like putting that salad on top of this burger instead of lettuce.

Recipe adapted from Cooking Light

Nutrition Info
Calories: 370, Fat 17.7g, Carbohydrates: 31.7g, Fiber 8.1g, Protein: 31.1g
Servings: 4
Points Plus for burger: 9
Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
2 cups thinly sliced shallots
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound ground beef, 90% lean
2 ounces shredded sharp cheddar cheese (about 1/2 cup) $
1 cup baby arugula
4 (1 1/2-ounce) hamburger buns, toasted $
3 tablespoons light mayonnaise

Preparation

1. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. Add 2 teaspoons oil; swirl to coat. Add shallots and 1/4 teaspoon salt; cook 15 minutes or until golden brown, stirring occasionally. Stir in vinegar; cook 1 minute. Remove from heat; keep warm.

2. Gently combine garlic and beef. Divide the meat mixture into 4 equal portions, gently shaping each into a 1/2-inch-thick patty. Press a nickel-sized indentation in the center of each patty. Sprinkle evenly with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt.

3. Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the remaining 1 teaspoon oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add patties, and cook for 3 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Top each patty with 2 tablespoons cheese; cover and cook 1 minute or until cheese melts.

4. Place 1/4 cup arugula on bottom half of each bun; top with 1 patty and one-fourth of shallots. Spread about 2 teaspoons mayonnaise on top half of each bun; place on top of burgers.

Cheddar and Bacon Cornmeal Waffle Sandwiches

Posted on April 22, 2012 by jgisvold

You know what, I’m starting to like the Cooking Channel a lot better. They actually post pictures a long with their recipes un-like the Food Network. There are still a few of my favorites on the Food Network though, like Ina Garten and the Pioneer Woman. I was watching Bobby Flay make this on his show one morning (Brunch with Bobby or something like that) and it looked so good. He made this a long with some peach muffins, a breakfast burrito, and a smoothie that I also have to try to try. I had all the ingredients on hand so I decided this would be my dinner on Sunday night. Ben didn’t want to try and he just had a plain old waffle instead of this yummy sandwich.

I made this waffle batter and they turned out great with the corn meal. Never tried making a waffle batter with that stuff before. I came up with about 7 waffles. On Bobby’s show he used two waffles to make the sandwich and I thought that would have been way too much, so I just used one waffle and cut it down the middle. The mustard/maple syrup was good over the bacon and cheddar cheese. I tried to figure out this recipe the best I could to make it lighter but to heck it with it. Did you know there’s a such thing as low sodium bacon and cheese too? (for those of us who like to watch how much sodium we intake) Who would have thought. This waffle sandwich was the bomb.

Servings: 6 (I used only 1 waffle to make the sandwich, 1% milk instead of buttermilk, and 2% cheddar cheese)

Points Plus: 9

Ingredients
Recipe adapted from Bobby Flay

1 cup white cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups buttermilk
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
2 large eggs
Nonstick cooking spray
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 1/4 cup grated sharp Cheddar
6 slices bacon, cooked until crisp
Special equipment: a waffle iron

Directions
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Whisk together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder and baking soda in a medium bowl. Whisk together the buttermilk, butter, 1/4 cup of the maple syrup and eggs in a medium bowl until combined. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and stir until just combined.

Heat a waffle iron according to the manufacturer’s directions. Spray the grates of the waffle iron with nonstick cooking spray. Use a scant 1/2 cup of the batter per grid, close the cover and cook until golden brown or when the steam stops emerging from the waffle iron, about 4 minutes. Repeat with remaining batter. The recipe will make 6 waffles.

Meanwhile, whisk together the Dijon mustard and the remaining 2 tablespoons of the maple syrup in a small bowl.

Place 3 waffles on a large baking sheet in a single layer and spread some of the mustard over the tops of each waffle. Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the top. Place in the oven until the cheese has melted.

Arrange one-third of the bacon slices on the cheesy waffles and drizzle with a little more of the Dijon mustard mixture. Top with the reserved 3 waffles. Slice on the diagonal and serve warm.

Spicy Chicken Rigatoni

Posted on April 18, 2012 by jgisvold

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.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

Posted on April 12, 2012 by jgisvold

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.

Breakfast Burritos

Posted on April 2, 2012 by jgisvold

These breakfast burritos may be 9 points but they’re very filling. If you leave out the frozen hash browns it’s 7 points a piece. That’s about the same as my breakfast sandwich I like to eat every morning. These burritos are also easy to freeze too! All you have to do to freeze them is roll them up in some tin foil, put them on a sheet tray and stick them in the freezer. After a day, you can take out the sheet pan and place the burritos in a freezer bag. You’ll have breakfast or dinner ready in 2 minutes.

I tried making my own turkey sausage this time, and it didn’t really taste like the real thing at all. Next time, I’ll just buy some at the store. The seasonings just weren’t right. I’d also use some hot sauce next time. Serve these with a side of fruit.

Recipe inspired by the Pioneer Woman

Servings: 8
Points Plus: 9 (7 without the potatoes)

Ingredients

6 large eggs
2 egg whites
1/4 cup of 1% milk
1/4 cup of reduced fat cheddar cheese
Lawry’s Seasoning Salt
thyme
1 pound of turkey sausage
10 oz of frozen hashbrown
2 teaspoons of light butter
8 Smart & Delicious tortillas

Directions:

1. In a non stick skillet, cook the hash browns with butter. Add in whatever seasonings you like to the potatoes. I used fresh thyme because that is what I had.

2. Add the sausage to the skillet with the potatoes and cook until the sausge is brown.

3. In a bowl whisk together the eggs, egg whites, cheese, milk and seasoning. (To taste)

4. Once the eggs have been cooked, spoon the cooked egg mixture in a burrito and fold in the sides of the burrito. Tuck the one side of the burrito under the egg mixture and roll the burrito up.

5. To freeze, wrap the burritos in tin foil. Stick them on a sheet tray and after a day place the burritos in a plastic bag. Should take about 2 minutes to heat them up in the microwave.

Chicken Fajita Rollup

Posted on March 9, 2012 by jgisvold

I think I found my new favorite lunch! The pico de gallo and lettuce you can have already in your fridge. You can buy one of those rotisserie chickens and have that already diced up to. Once it’s lunch time, lay out your flour tortilla, add the cheese, chicken, and some seasoning, and before you’ll know it you’ll have a tasty wrap for lunch. I’ve been in a lunch rut lately as one of my previous posts stated, but now I think I won’t be any more. This is so delicious and I love to dip it in some low fat ranch.

This is my version of the Chicken Fajita Rollups at Applebee’s, my favorite thing to get there. They serve it with some fries and chipotle dipping sauce on the side. My Mom and I ate lunch there awhile ago and she had a Cheeseburger Quesadilla. Might have to try making that one myself too.

I think I’m going to start taking a screen capture of the Nutrition info that I find and posting the label on my blog instead in image format. What do you all think of it this way instead of just typing it all out?

Had to re-calculate points since WW wasn’t matching up with my Nutrition info.

1 wrap = 9 points

Ingredients

1/3 cup of chopped shredded lettuce
2 oz reduced fat cheddar cheese (1/3 cup)
2 oz cooked boneless skinless chicken breast (1/3 cup
1 low carb, high fiber tortilla – such as Smart and Delicious

Pico de Gallo

1 pint cherry tomatoes
1/2 small onion
1/2 green bell pepper
1 bunch of cilantro
salt
pepper

Instructions

1. Combine all the veggies in a food processor and pulse until chunky. I only pulsed mine about 4 times. You don’t want it to end up looking like salsa.

2. Combine cooked chicken, cheese and fajita seasoning. Layer onto a tortilla and cook in microwave until cheese is melted. I used about a 1/3 cup of cheddar cheese, 2 ounces of cooked chicken and a dash of fajita seasoning.

3. Spread some lettuce about 1/3 cup onto your tortilla and some pico de gallo. Roll up the tortilla into a wrap. Enjoy!

Pork Chalupa Bowls

Posted on March 3, 2012 by jgisvold

This was my first experience cooking a frozen pork loin in the crock pot. It worked though, and now I know for future reference. This was a 3 1/2 pound poin loin roast. I turned the crock pot up on high for an hour and then back down to low at about 8:30. At 3:00ish, my mom and I came home from shopping and it was done.

This dish was good, however it lacked in some seasoning. It’s pretty high in points, but it’s mostly protein. I’ve never had a chalupa bowl before, and this was my first time. I served it with some rice and topped it with cheese, sour cream, gaucamole, and green onions. Serve it with tacos, on top of nachos or on top of some rice. I found this recipe on the Weight Watcher boards under Community/Reviews. NCbeaches had posted it there.

Ingredients

Servings: 10 1 cup

Points Plus: 9

1 pound dried pinto beans
1 (3 1/2-pound) bone-in pork loin roast
2 (4-ounce) cans chopped green chiles
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 (32-ounce) box chicken broth
1 (10-ounce) can diced tomatoes and green chiles with lime juice and cilantro
8 taco salad shells
1 small head iceberg lettuce, shredded

Toppings: shredded Monterey Jack cheese, pickled jalapeño slices, halved grape tomatoes, sour cream, chopped avocado

Rinse and sort beans according to package directions.

Place pinto beans in a 6-quart slow cooker; add roast and next 6 ingredients. Pour chicken broth evenly over top of roast.

Cover and cook on HIGH 1 hour; reduce to LOW, and cook 9 hours. Or, cover and cook on HIGH 6 hours. Remove bones and fat from roast; pull roast into large pieces with two forks. Stir in diced tomatoes and green chiles. Cook, uncovered, on HIGH 1 more hour or until liquid is slightly thickened.

Heat taco salad shells according to package directions; place shredded lettuce evenly into shells. Spoon about 1 cup pork-and-bean mixture into each shell using a slotted spoon. Serve with desired toppings.

Bubble Up Turkey Pot Pie

Posted on November 25, 2011 by jgisvold

Looking for even more ways to get rid of that left over turkey? This turkey pot pie hits the spot. I think everyone seems to have some carrots, celery, and onion left over from making stuffing. And…. left over turkey lying around the day after Thanksgiving. The only extra ingredients you’d need to get is a can of biscuits.

I looked at a couple of different pot recipes including one I’ve made from Ina Garten and one that was in the Martha Stewart magazine and couldn’t figure out which one to make. They both looked good but Ina Garten’s recipe had a lot of butter in it (go figure) and martha stewart’s recipe had a lot of bacon in it (no offense to bacon). Either one is not very good. So… I decided to cut way back down on the butter and only use 2 tablespoons versus 3/4 cup of butter. Then I remember that there was a bubble up recipe for chicken pot pie, and I had a can of biscuits in the fridge. Walla, 3 different recipes combined into one. It turned out pretty darned good for just winging the recipe. This recipe doesn’t even have condensed soup in it either, for all you people who don’t like to use that.

Servings 8

Points Plus: 9

Calories 336 | Fat 9.53g | Carbohydrate 41.64g | Fiber 3.8g | Protein 21.75g

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 1/2 cups of low sodium chicken stock
1/2 cup of 1% milk
1 cup diced celery
1 cup of diced onion
1 cup of diced carrot
2 to 3 cups of shredded turkey
2 1/2 cups of chicken stock
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper
1 can of 16.5 oz low fat buttermilk biscuits
1 cup of cheddar cheese (optional)

Directions
Melt butter in large stock pot. Add in all the vegetables and cook until the onions are transparent. Sprinkle some salt, pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper on the vegetables. Cook for about 5-10 minutes. Add in flour and cook for 2 minutes.

Next, and in chicken broth and stir until the mixture becomes thick. Mix in 1/2 cup of milk and add the turkey. Pour the chicken and vegetable mixture into a 9 X 13 in casserole and layer on the biscuits. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

Chicken Parmesan Bake

Posted on November 3, 2011 by jgisvold

I really want to like this dish, because it’s so easy, and I love chicken parmesan. It’s easy because all you do is layer the food into the casserole dish and bake it in the oven. The thing I like most about chicken parmesan is the crunchy breaded topping that coats the chicken. Some of the croutons got soggy in the tomato sauce, and I didn’t like that. That’s the only thing, that I didn’t like about this dish. Maybe, I didn’t use enough cheese on top of the tomato sauce, so that the croutons didn’t get soaked in the marinara sauce?

Anyways… I saw this dish floating around on pinterest for the last 2 weeks and thought I’d give it a try. It was just so, so. Don’t know if I’d make it again. It’s ok to not like everything you make. I really liked the part of using croutons for the bread crumbs. Maybe, I’ll pulverize some of those in the food processor and use that as a bread coating next time?

To cut out the fat, season your chicken breast with garlic powder instead, to get rid of the fat in the olive oil. Only use two tablespoons of parmesan cheese instead of 4 oz, which is 1/2 a cup.

Chiken breasts, I cut mine in half cause they were kind of thick.

Mix olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper on the bottom of a baking dish.

Layer the chicken on top of the olive oil and garlic.

Next the tomato sauce, basil (I used dried), and cheese.

After the tomato layer, add the croutons, and another layer of cheese.

The final product.

Calories 336 | Fat 13.19g | Carbohydrate 22.15g | Fiber 2.5g | Protein 31.61g (With no olive oil and less parmesan cheese)

Serves 6:

Points Plus: 9

Ingredients: from Food Wishes Video Recipes

2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
hot red pepper flakes, to taste
6 boneless skinless chicken breasts (I used 5, but they were huge!)
2 cups marinara sauce
1/4 cup chopped basil
8 oz mozzarella, shredded
4 oz Parmesan, grated
1 (5-oz) package garlic croutons

Directions:

Layer each ingredient starting with olive oil and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.