I remember this being a soup that my brother and I would always like, whenever my Mom made it. Dare I say this, but the one she used was way too cheesy. This recipe had just the right amount of cheese and it didn’t require a whole brick of Velveeta. Yes, this soup has velveeta cheese. Don’t judge! The soup almost reminded me of making that velveeta cheese dip, where you just add in a can of rotel tomatoes. That’s exactly what I added too, since I didn’t have any salsa at all in the house. It was delicious and spicy. Even the lactose intolerant husband said he enjoyed it. He took his pills of course.

This weekend, I plan on posting some Jamaican recipes for you all to try. I’ve been doing a lot of research on the web for recipes and found some for Jerk Seasoning, Johny Cakes, and I’m going to try and make the recipe we learned how to make at the resort. I believe the chef said it was called Escovitch, but we didn’t catch what the name of it was. The resort is supposed to be emailing me the recipe hopefully.

Recipe adapted from Krista’s Kitchen via Tasty Kitchen

Servings: 8
Points Plus: 8 (1 cup)
Calories 310 | Total Fat 14.96g | Carbohydrate 16.08g | Fiber 1.7g | Protein 27.36g

Ingredients

1 envelope Taco Seasoning
1-½ pound Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, Diced
½ cups Chopped Onion
2 T Butter
1/3 cups Flour
2-½ cups low sodium, reduced fat chicken broth
8-12 oz. 2% Milk Velveeta, cubed
8 oz. Shredded reduced-fat Monterey Jack or Mexican 4 cheese blend shredded cheese
1 jar salsa (any Variety)
1 cup 1% milk

Additonal Toppings
Fritos, green onion, and sour cream (for garnish)

Instructions

In a skillet, add seasoning and diced chicken. Cook until chicken is thoroughly cooked. Drain, and set aside. (or cook chicken and toss with seasoning mix like I did)

In large saucepan (or pot), saute onion in butter for 2 minutes. Stir in flour until blended, then gradually stir in the broth. Bring to a boil. Cook and stir for two minutes longer, or until thickened slightly. Add Velveeta, shredded cheese and salsa. Cook on medium-low until cheese is melted.

Stir in half and half. Add the chicken back in. Stir. Heat through but do not boil. Remove from heat. Garnish with Fritos (you can also use guacamole, sour cream, and green onions). Enjoy!

These little balls of energy have peanut butter, oatmeal, chocolate chips, and coconut in them. There is no baking required. All it takes is a little effort to role the balls out and place them on a sheet pan. I had to use some water to help me roll the balls and a really small cookie scoop. I didn’t have any coconut so I used some rice crispies instead and they turned out pretty good. I also subbed some agave nectar for the honey. Be careful though, they’re very addicting. I think they’d be a great little snack to have after a work out.

Recipe from Gimme some Oven
Servings: 25
Calories 81 | Fat 4.43g | Carbohydrate 9.41g | Fiber 1.6g | Protein 2.21g
Points Plus: 2

Ingredients:

1 cup oatmeal
1 cup toasted coconut flakes
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup ground flaxseed
1/3 cup honey
1 tsp. vanilla

Method:

Stir all ingredients together in a medium bowl until thoroughly mixed. Let chill in the refrigerator for half an hour. Once chilled, roll into balls of whatever size you would like. (Mine were about 1″ in diameter.) Store in an airtight container and keep refrigerated for up to 1 week.

Makes about 20-25 balls.

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 dishes we had there soon.

This casserole dish is a really simple dish to make. It’s very versatile too. I added some cajun seasoning and was going to add peas. The husband told me not too, so I didn’t. Next time I’m going too though. If you’re a fan of alfredo sauce this dish almost reminds me of that. It’s creamy and if you have some left over rotisserie chicken from the deli then it’s even easier. Just throw all the ingredients into a bowl and stir.

The recipe doesn’t call for cajun seasoning and frozen peas, but feel free to add them if you like. Shouldn’t change the points at all.

Recipe from Living a Changed Life

Servings: 8 (one cup)
Points Plus: 6
Calories 227 | Fat 8.13g | Carbohydrate 18.54g | Fiber 0.6g | Protein 18.98g

2 cups cooked penne noodles
2 cups chicken breasts, chopped
2 cups cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
2 cups skim milk
8 ounces low-fat cheddar cheese

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large casserole dish (I used 8 X 11), combine all ingredients, mixing well.

Bake,covered, 35-45 minutes.

Remove cover; bake 10-15 minutes longer.

Serve immediately.

I’m going to skip a day because all the food we ate yesterday was taken on our Olympus camera, and I can’t load any of those pictures until we get home on Thursday night. It’s already day 4 and we have just one day left here. There’s so many things I want to try making myself when we get home. I really liked the blackened fish we had at lunch time today. I also got to try some Gazpacho soup, which I really enjoyed. The dessert buffet had Canoli and biscotti and they were both good. I liked the biscotti better than the canoli. We’re waiting for this big dinner party the resort is supposed to be throwing on the beach later on tonight. On our last night, we get to eat lobster for dinner. Can not wait for that! It’s all you can eat too. Only one more day left here. I’ll be sad when I leave, but I’m already missing my dogs back at home.

Gazpacho Soup

Blackened fish. I’m not sure what kind of fish it was, but my guess is it was snapper.

Chocolate Fondant

Banana Sabayon

Boy let me tell you something. You can surely gain a few pounds at this place. They don’t let you starve at all. The bar has pop corn and ice cream that you can snack on between meals which is pretty nice. The turtles also like the pop corn too. We went to one of the restaurants that you have to make a reservation for at night here and we didn’t care for it too much. The buffet and beach bar have been our favorite places to eat at. Tomorrow, I’m getting a massage and we’re going to go shopping in down town Ocho Rios. Hoping to find some Jamaican vanilla beans. Don’t know if we’re really allowed to bring those home yet, guess we’ll find out on Thursday, if we find them.

Shrimp Pizza

Beef Straganoff. Yum, Yum.

The desserts here are fantastic. Just look at this cake.

The turtles love it when you feed them.

Jamaica has been pretty awesome so far. They have the freshest fruit imaginable here. In the states it’s hard to find that sometimes, depending on what kind of fruit you’re looking for like pineapple. They have fresh coconuts hanging from the trees and I want to take one down and drink the juice out of them. There’s a bar right next to the beach that we’re staying at and you can go down there just about pretty much any time of the day and grab something. My favorite so far has been the dessert bar. There will be a different kind of ice cream/ sorbet every time you go and they rotate the desserts too.

Jamaica Jerk Burger, this was really spicy. Had it with a side of onion rings.

Guava Sorbet

Creme Brulee. I like it how the desserts here are tiny and bite size. Makes it easier to try them all.

They also have lots of flowers and lizards here. I don’t know if I’d consider eating those.

You know it wasn’t going to be long before you saw someone make a fish taco cupcake. I don’t like the term cupcake because it really isn’t a cupcake. The taco isn’t baked with anything like flour, eggs or salt, so I prefer to call them cups. This is a really fun appetizer and if you’re still on the prowl to find something to make for the Super Bowl this weekend, you should give it a try. You can basically use your favorite fish taco recipe and just sub the shells with wonton wrappers. I prefer tropical fruits with fish tacos like mangoes, pineapple, or avocado but since the only fruit we had in the house were blood oranges, I decided to use those. Wonton wrappers are so versatile you can do anything with them pretty much. Still want to try making baked egg rolls.

I’m leaving for Jamaica on Friday, but don’t worry. I’ll be updating my blog with pictures during the week of what we eat there, drinks we have and whatever other picture I feel like posting. I’m so pumped, I can’t wait!

Fish Taco Cups inspired by Giada De Larentis

Servings 10 (one cup)
Calories 66 | Fat 1.36g | Carbohydrate 7.72g | Fiber 0.8g | Protein 5.78g

Ingredients
Jenna’s Weight Watcher Recipes

2 3 oz tilapia filets
old bay seasoning
10 wonton wrappers
2 cups of cabbage mix
2 tablespoons of green onion
1 blood orange, diced
2 teaspoons of chipotle en adobe sauce
lemon juice
1 tablespoon light mayonaise
2 tablespoons of light sour cream
salt & pepper

1. Place wonton wrappers into 12 cupcake tins. Bake at 375 for 10 – 15 minutes or until
crispy. Spray with cooking spray to get crispy if needed.

2. Heat a non stick skillet. Sprinkle fish with old bay seasoning or whatever your favorite fish seasoning is. Cook fish until they’re white in the middle.

3. In a bowl combine cabbage, blood orange, and green onion.

4. In another bowl combine chipotle sauce, mayonaise, sour cream, a dash of lemon juice.
Season with salt and pepper, just a dash of each.

5. Layer taco cups with cabbage mix, fish, and then sauce. Enjoy!

I think I’m better at coming up with my own desserts than trying to come up with my own meals. I love to bake more than I like to cook, and I know the methods of baking better anyway. Should have went to pasty school, perhaps? I had some reduced fat oreos left over from that cheese cake I made this last weekend and I had a frosting idea running through my head. White chocolate pudding mix, oreos, a little milk to help the oreos bind together better, and cool whip. The idea came to me because I had made a frosting for a cake using crushed pineapple, cool whip and vanilla instant pudding mix before. With all the different pudding flavors there are out there the varieties of frosting you can make with them are endless. Who needs butter cream or cream cheese frosting anyway?

After I made this cake, Ben told me I was evil because it was so good. To make the cake lighter, I left out the oil the boxed cake mix usually calls for. I kept the eggs and water, and added a 1/2 cup of fat free greek yogurt. You could make these into cupcakes if you wish, but the points plus is figured out using 15 servings of equal sized cake pieces. Not sure if that would change anything. Enjoy!

Servings: 15
Points Plus: 6
Ingredients:

Jenna’s Weight Watcher Recipes

18.25 oz Moist Sumpreme Pillsbury Devil’s Food Cake Mix
20 reduced fat oreo cookies
1/2 cup of fat free greek yogurt
3 large egg whites
1 1/4 cup water
18 tablespoons of light cool whip topping
1 package of instant white chocolate pudding mix (sugar free kind)
2 tablespoons of 1% milk

1. In a food processor, blend 20 oreos and one box of pudding together. Add one
in 2 tablespoons of fat free milk if it’s not combining together. Fold in Cool whip and place in the fridge until cake is cooled.

2. In a bowl, combine cake mix, egg whites, water, and yogurt together until well blended. Pour into a 9 X 13 inch pan and bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean.

3. Once the cake is cool, top the cake with the frosting and cut into 15 equal pieces. Enjoy!

I’ve been trying a lot of new things lately. My latest culinary adventures have been blood oranges and kale. Blood oranges are beautiful on the inside. I tried making my own marinade with blood oranges and after I cooked the chicken it wasn’t very flavorful when it was done. I think the chicken needed to marinade more, than just 1/2 an hour.

Kale chips are like a healthier alternative to potato chips and I was surprised at how good they taste. They smelled kind of funny baking away in the oven but in the end they were nice and crispy. Ben said it was like eating a dried out leaf. I guess that’s a good way to describe it. Eating Kale chips is a good way to eat your greens! You can get Kale greens at the Wal-Mart supermarket.

Kale is high in beta carotene, Vitamin K, vitamin C, lutein, and Zeaxanthin.

Servings: 2 about half of the bowl
Points Plus: 2
Weight Watcher Recipes

Ingredients from Anne Burrell

1 large bunch Tuscan kale
Extra-virgin olive oil (I used two teaspoons
Kosher salt
Pinch crushed red pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.

Remove the tough lower stems of the kale. Toss the kale generously with olive oil, salt and crushed red pepper.

Lay the dressed leaves in a single layer on a sheet tray (use more than one if you need to!) and place in the oven. Roast the kale or until the leaves are crispy, 30 to 35 minutes.

Serve as a snack or side dish.

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.