Recipe Diaries

Crockpot Enchilada Soup

Posted on January 15, 2012 by jgisvold

I’ve been doing Jillian Michael’s 30 Day shred now for 10 days and so far I’ve lost 2 inches off my waste and I’m starting to develop some muscle in my arms. I’ve been trying to eat less too and some days, I just can’t help myself though. Just an FYI, in case any of you are thinking of starting that DVD. I know it’s pretty popular on the Weight Watcher boards.

This enchilada soup was fantastic. It was nice and spicy. I left out the butter, flour, and milk because when I make enchiladas, I don’t use any of those ingredients. Just enchilada sauce, chicken, flour tortillas and cheese. Just those ingredients alone wouldn’t make a very good soup now wouldn’t it? I added a jalapeno instead of a diced pepper. One serving is about 1 1/2 cups. Anything extra like chips, cheese, and sour cream is extra.

Look at all those veggies.

Crockpot Chicken Enchilada Soup

Calories 226 | Fat 4.44g | Carbohydrate 23.32g | Fiber 4.9g | Protein 22.73g
Jenna’s Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 8 (1 1/2 cups)
Points Plus: 5

Ingredients: adapted from Dainty chef

1 can (15 ounce) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (14.5 ounce) Rotel diced tomatoes and jalapenos
1 package (10 ounce) frozen corn
½ cup onion, chopped
½ cup bell pepper, diced
1 can (10 ounce) Enchilada sauce
5 cups of low fat, low sodium chicken broth
2 whole chicken breasts
1 cup shredded Monterrey Jack cheese

What you’ll do:

In a crockpot, combine drained beans, tomatoes, corn, onion, and jalapeno. Place the chicken breasts on top of the mixture. Pour chicken broth and enchilada sauce over ingredients in cooker. Cover; cook on low heat for 6 to 8 hours or on high for 3 to 4 hours. When you are ready to serve, remove chicken and cut or shred into bite-sized pieces. Add chicken back into the soup, mix together. Top with cheese and serve. I topped ours with slices of avocado, sour cream, and crushed tortilla chips.

Posted in 5 points +, Crock Pot, Weight Watcher Recipes | Leave a comment

I did it! French Macaron success!

Posted on January 14, 2012 by jgisvold

I’m proud to report, that I finally made a successful batch of french macaroon cookies. This made me so happy tonight! I used the recipe that I used before, but did some different things. I’m curious to find out how many points plus these cookies are since it’s a meringue cookie and those are pretty low in points. Stay tuned for points plus values!

1. I bought my own almonds and processed them in the food processor until the almonds looked like flour.

2. I also used the food processor to blend the almonds and powdered sugar mixture together. It’s good to have my food processor finally back again! The blade was broken on it for the longest time and we finally replaced it.

3. I baked them at a different temperature. At 300 degrees they were actually done at 18 minutes and at 275 they just wouldn’t get done.

4. You can fill these with whatever pretty much you like. We have leftover ice cream toppings and Nutella. Those seem to work great. I have this dark chocolate mint fudge topping and I think, I’m going to try that next time. Chocolate macaroons with mint fudge in the middle? Sounds pretty good to me.

Ms. Humble’s Scatter Plot Macarons (her ingredients)

yields 50 (100 shells) macarons (feel free to divide it for fewer cookies)
120g almond meal
200g powdered sugar
100g egg whites
30-35g granulated sugar
food coloring gel

Directions (re-written by me)

In a food processor blend almonds together until it forms a flour consistency. Measure and
weigh out powdered sugar and almonds on a food scale. Process the almonds and powdered sugar together (about 5 pusles).

Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form and gradually add in sugar. There should still be stiff
peaks once the sugar is added.

Fold in the almond flour and powdered sugar mixture in the egg whites a little at a time. The batter should be kind of thick. Fill a piping bag with the cookie mixture and pipe little
circles about the size of a quarter onto a baking sheet with parchment paper. I like to
use those silicon mats. Bake at 300 for 18 minutes.

Posted in Cookies | 2 Comments

Baked Oatmeal w/ Blueberries and Bananas

Posted on January 14, 2012 by jgisvold

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.

Posted in 6 points +, Weight Watcher Recipes | Leave a comment

Baked Onion Rings

Posted on January 13, 2012 by jgisvold

I’ve tried different recipes for baked onion rings and this one seems to work out the best. The egg whites make the bread crumbs stick better to the onion rings. I’ve tried using buttermilk and dipping the onions in eggs and that didn’t seem to work at all. It was very frustrating and then I was even more surprised to learn that you can make your own meringue by just using meringue powder that you can get at the craft stores like Michael’s and hobby lobby. Overall, I was satisfied with using egg whites even though the bread crumbs didn’t coat the onions completely.

I like Panko bread crumbs, not the regular bread crumbs that come really finely grinded. Hungry Girl likes to use Fiber One cereal a lot for some reason, but use whatever you like. I’ve seen people use potato chips.You can add whatever spices you like to this as welland if you like it a little bit spicier add in more cayenne pepper. I used 1 large onion and calculated the serving size to be 2 from just that onion. 3 points isn’t that bad for half the onion, now is it?

Calories 215.7 | Fat 2.3 g | Carbohydrate 36.5 g | Fiber 3.1 g | Protein 11.6 g
Servings: 2 (half the onion)
Weight Watcher Points: 3

Ingredients
Jenna’s Weight Watcher Recipes

1 large onion
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon cayanne pepper
salt & pepper
3 large egg whites, beaten until stiff peeks form
cooking spray

Instructions

1. In a stand mixer, beat egg whites until peaks form.

2. While egg whites are beating, cut onion rings into large ring forms. In a small pan
add the bread crumbs, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper.

3. Dip onions into egg white mixture, and then into bread crumbs. Pat the bread crumbs
onto the onion rings if the bread crumbs aren’t sticking well.

4. Bake at 450 for 15 minutes or until onion rings start to brown. Use Cooking spray to get the onions crispier if needed. I didn’t really need this.

Posted in 3 points +, Recipe Diaries Original, Weight Watcher Recipes | Leave a comment

Chicken Gyros

Posted on January 8, 2012 by jgisvold

We had Greek food for dinner tonight, which we normally don’t have. This brought me back to my pita pizza making days, when I was a Cook’s helper at the dining center. That was my first experience ever cooking, when I was in college. I had to help prep a lot of meals in large scale sizes and I’d make tons of pita pizzas. One of the ones I had to make was a Greek pita pizza. It had chicken, cheese, and a salad mix of red onions, tomatoes, etc on it. Think, I might try re-making that again.

The one thing, I didn’t like about this was that the pita bread just fell apart when I ate it. It was kind of messy. I didn’t go to the extremes of making my own pita bread, but now I’m tempted to do that and make my own whole wheat pitas. The greek really like they’re garlic and I just loved the Tzatiki sauce that when a long when this. Now, we have a ton of it and I need to figure out something to do with it.

This is how I role, on facebook while I’m cooking!

Calories 389.0 | Fat 14.6 g | Carbohydrate 43.9 g | Fiber 2.7 g | Protein 20.1 g

Servings: 6

Points Plus: 10

Ingredients from The Girl who ate Everything, who found it on Annie’s Eats

Sauce:
16 oz. plain yogurt (not nonfat, if possible)
1/2 hothouse cucumber or 1 regular cucumber, peeled and seeded
2-3 cloves garlic, pressed through a garlic press (or finely minced)
1 tsp. white wine vinegar
Salt and pepper
Squeeze of fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon Extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, smashed
Juice of 1 lemon

Chicken Marinade:
2 tsp. red wine vinegar
2 heaping tbsp. plain yogurt
1 tbsp. dried oregano
Salt and pepper
1 1/4 lbs. chicken pieces (I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts)
Pita bread
Fresh tomatoes, seeded and diced
Red onion, sliced thin

Directions:

To make the tzatziki sauce, strain the yogurt using cheesecloth over a bowl. Let strain for several hours or overnight, if possible, to remove as much moisture as possible.
Shred the cucumber. Wrap in a towel a squeeze to remove as much water as possible. Mix together the strained yogurt, shredded cucumber, garlic, white wine vinegar, salt and pepper to taste, and lemon juice. Drizzle lightly with olive oil. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving to allow the flavors to meld.
To prepare the chicken, combine the garlic, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, olive oil, yogurt, oregano, and salt and pepper to taste in a medium bowl. Whisk together until mixed well. Add the chicken pieces to the bowl and mix well to coat. Cover and refrigerate for about 1 hour.
Cook the chicken as desired, either in the skillet or with the broiler. (I butterflied the chicken breasts and then cooked them under the broiler.) Once the chicken is completely cooked through, transfer to a plate and let rest for 5 minutes. Cut into strips.
Heat pitas (I sprayed with some spray oil and then popped them in the toaster oven for a few minutes). Top with chicken, tzatziki sauce, diced tomatoes and sliced onions. Serve immediately.

Posted in 10 points + | Leave a comment

Baked Blueberry Doughnuts

Posted on January 7, 2012 by jgisvold

I’ve been trying to come up with more of my own recipes and I think starting off with baked goods like doughnuts is a good way to start. I’m really happy at how low in calories these came out. Only 82 calories per doughnut! Blueberries really aren’t in season right now, and they had some reduced in price at the grocery store this weekend. I was surprised at how sweet and big these were. Almost ate the whole container before getting around to make these doughnuts. I hope you like these and if you don’t have a doughnut pan use a mini muffin pan instead.

Servings 8

Calories 82.0 | Fat 0.2 g | Carbohydrate 18.0 g | Fiber 1.0 g | Protein 2.4 g

Points Plus: 2 (without glaze)

Doughnuts:

1/4 cup wheat flour
1/2 cup white flour
1/4 teas salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons of low fat milk
2 egg whites
3 tablespoons applesauce
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup of blueberries

Glaze:

3/4 cup of powdered sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Directions:
In a bowl mix together flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and sugar.
In a nother bowl mix togeher milk, eggs whites, and applesauce. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir unti well blended. Preheat oven to 325. In a dough pan, use a tablespoon and drop one tablespoon full of the batter into each side of the doughnut pan. Bake
for 16 minutes.

While the doughnuts are baking make the glaze. Mix together powdered sugar and milk together and drizzle over doughnuts when they’re cooled. Makes about 8 large doughnuts. I have a doughnut pan with at 6 holes in it. Not the mini kind.

Posted in 2 points +, Recipe Diaries Original, Weight Watcher Recipes | Leave a comment

Hash Brown Quiche

Posted on January 3, 2012 by jgisvold

This is a great dish to make if you’re a fan of breakfast for dinner. I’m not a really big fan of quiches, but I thought having hash browns as a pie crust was a pretty good idea and I love hash browns. Food Network has been having a lot of shows about brunch lately, and there’s so many things I want to try now like making making own Hollandaise sauce and Dutch Baby. I saw Paula Deen making this dish on her show and just had to try it.

Speaking of Paula Deen, her son Bobby is going to have his own show on Cooking Channel now and it looks pretty good. He’s lightening up his mother’s meals. Which, I already try to do anyway and I’m sure I’m not the only one. I think that’s pretty awesome too. Going to have to watch that. Just wish the Cooking Channel was in HD.

The husband decided to subscribe to Weight Watchers online this weekend in order to help him lose a few pounds. I’m still trying to get a hang of the recipe builder on the website and it’s nice to be able to look up an ingredient to find out how many points it is. Oh yeah, and we’re also doing 30 Day Shred by Jillian Michael’s everyday up until we go to Jamaica. I took my waste measurements to see how I’m doing too. So maybe I’ll give some updates on here too. We just finished day 2 tonight and my muscles arm muscles are really sore.

mix unthawed hash browns with butter in a bowl and press them down into a pie plate. Bake 450 for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

Meanwhile brown bacon while the pie crust is baking.

Mix the eggs, cheese, bacon, milk, salt, pepper, green onions, and parsley into a bowl.

Browned hash brown crust. Sorry these pictures are quite bad.

The finished quiche, and it was so so good. Makes me change my mind about quiches.

Ingredients from Paula Deen

7 points plus

serves 8

3 cups, shredded frozen hash browns, thawed and drained
2 tablespoons butter
3 large eggs, beaten
1 cup 1% milk
3/4 cup diced cooked ham
1/2 cup diced green onions
1/2 cup of reduced fat cheddar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Gently press the drained hash browns between paper towels to dry them as best as possible. In a 9-inch pie plate, toss the hash browns with the melted butter into the plate. Press them into the bottom and up the sides to form a crust. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown and starting to crisp.

Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. When the hash brown crust is ready pour the egg mixture over it and return to the oven.

Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F and bake for about 30 minutes until the quiche is light golden brown on top and puffed.

Posted in 7 points +, Weight Watcher Recipes | 2 Comments

Tasteless Chicken stock, yet tasty soup

Posted on January 2, 2012 by jgisvold

I made some pretty tasteless chicken stock today. I figured, if there’s chicken in soup, I mine as well make some chicken stock to go along with it, right? The recipe called for no salt, which I think was the main problem. I seasoned everything else in the soup but we thought there was something missing. Maybe it was the parmesan rind? That could have done it. But yes, if you decided to make this chicken stock, add in some salt too it. Maybe one or two teaspoons.

The soup was jammed pack full of veggies like onions, tomatoes, zucchini, carrots, and Kale. I subbed some spinach for the kale.

Shredded chicken after cooking in stock.

Chop and cook an onion. Add in some garlic.

Add in some tomatoes and then chicken stock.

After the chicken stock is added, add in all the rest of the ingredients. Look at how beautiful this soup was. Too bad the stock didn’t really live up to it’s name.

Be sure to add in some parmesan cheese to your soup if you didn’t get the parmesan rind in there. I know the celebrity chefs say to grate your own parmesan cheese and keep the rinds for soup, but I’m so stuck on buying the grated Kraft parmesan cheese. Might have to change my habits.

Chicken Stock/Chicken Soup Base from Martha Stewart

Ingredients

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 pounds chicken parts, such as necks and backs
1 whole chicken (3 1/2 to 4 pounds), rinsed
4 medium carrots, cut into pieces
3 celery stalks, cut into pieces
1 large yellow onion, quartered
2 teaspoons black peppercorns
5 stems parsley

Directions

In a 10- or 12-quart stockpot, heat oil over high. Add chicken parts and cook, turning frequently, until browned on all sides, 15 minutes.

Pour out fat. Add whole chicken, carrots, celery, onion, peppercorns, parsley, and enough cold water to cover ingredients by 1/2 inch (about 12 cups).

Bring to a boil over high. Reduce heat and simmer until chicken is cooked through, 40 minutes, skimming fat and foam and flipping chicken once.

Transfer whole chicken to rimmed baking sheet and let cool, about 10 minutes.

Pour liquid through a paper-towel-lined sieve into a large bowl (you should have 10 cups broth). Discard vegetables and chicken parts.

Shred chicken into bite-size pieces, discarding skin and bones (you should have 4 cups meat).

————————————————-

Classic Minetrone Soup from Martha Stewart

Calories: 415 | 10 g fat | 38 g protein | 43 g carbs | 8 g fiber

Servings 6

Points Plus: 10

Ingredients

2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced small
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 can (15 ounces) diced tomatoes
Chicken Soup Base (10 cups broth and 4 cups shredded chicken)
3/4 cup small pasta shells
3 medium carrots, cut into 1/4-inch rounds
1 Parmesan rind, plus grated Parmesan (optional)
1 bunch kale (preferably Tuscan; 3/4 pound), tough stems and ribs removed, leaves cut into 1-inch pieces (4 cups)
1 medium zucchini, diced medium
1 can (15.5 ounces) chickpeas, rinsed and drained
Coarse salt and ground pepper

Directions

In a large pot, heat oil over medium-high. Add onion and cook until softened, 8 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add tomatoes with juice and cook until liquid is evaporated, 4 minutes. Add broth and bring to a boil. Add pasta, carrots, and Parmesan rind, if using, and cook 5 minutes. Add kale, zucchini, and chickpeas and cook until zucchini is crisp-tender, 5 minutes. Stir in chicken and cook until warmed through, 1 to 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and remove rind before serving. Sprinkle with Parmesan, if desired.

Posted in 10 points + | Leave a comment

Mastering Macarons

Posted on December 31, 2011 by jgisvold

I think I’ve tried a total of 4 different times to make these really good cookies. Let me tell you something too, Bob’s Red Mill almond flour isn’t that cheap either. The one we found at the store was around 13.00 for about 4 cups of the flour. I’d love to be able to get them right and to fill the macarons with Nutella, Buttercream, jam, etc..

I’ve tried two different recipes. One recipe required boiling some sugar and water together. I had to try two times with that to get it right. The recipe said to boil the sugar and water until it gets to 235 degrees and then add it to the egg whites. I thought it was odd that the sugar started turning brown around 170 degrees and I’m thinking, I don’t want caramel sauce. That guys picture where I found the recipe on his site, didn’t look like caramel sauce. So, I had to make it again and that time it was better.

Then, I thought screw boiling the sugar and water together and just use sugar. That’s when I found this really good recipe at Not So Humble pie. I was watching the cookies rise in the oven and was very happy when the cookies started getting that famous bottom they’re known for. Then the cookies started cooling and I took them off the pan and they looked like they didn’t have a bottom or an inside. Bummer. You’ll see that in the pictures soon. The recipe is a really good find too, and I’m going to try cooking them longer the next time. I also want to pick up another silicon pad mat and try adding some color to them.

First you need egg whites. If you don’t have a food scale, I’d suggest buying one.This recipe calls for measuring the sugar, flour, and egg whites in grams.

You also need some ground almond flour and powdered sugar. Also some regular sugar.

These cookies didn’t turn out. They were hallow in the inside not cooked long enough.

Bad, very bad. I will get them right one day though. I’m not going to give up!

Ms. Humble’s Scatter Plot Macarons
yields 50 (100 shells) macarons (feel free to divide it for fewer cookies)
120g almond meal
200g powdered sugar
100g egg whites
30-35g granulated sugar
food coloring gel

Line 2-3 heavy gauge aluminum baking sheets with parchment or silicone liners (more on this below). Prep a piping bag with a round tip (I use a Ateco #11 for most of my macs, though I’ll occasionally use a #804 for larger macarons). I place the bag into a tall drinking glass (or stout glass) and cuff the bag’s opening over the top, this makes the bag easy to fill hands-free.

Weigh out almond meal and powdered sugar and sift together to remove any clumps. (If you own a food processor, I highly recommend blending the ingredients and then sifting.)

Weigh out the egg whites into a large mixing bowl (stainless steel or copper), if you’re using stainless feel free to add a pinch of salt, 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar or couple drops of lemon juice to help strengthen the whites. If you’re using copper you need not and should not add any additional acid (more on this below).

Weigh out the granulated sugar. (Often I’ll use homemade vanilla sugar for this.)

Begin beating the eggs on low speed. What you’re doing here is unraveling the egg white’s proteins (these are what will capture the air bubbles you whisk in), they’re bundled up and you need to gently unwind them. A light touch does this far better than scrambling them on high speed. Once the egg whites are very foamy, begin sprinkling in the sugar as you beat. Increase the speed to medium, if necessary, and beat the meringue to stiff glossy peaks. (If they start looking grainy, clumpy or dry… uh… you’ve gone too far.)

Add the food coloring (for the full recipe it usually takes 2-4 drops of gel, for a half batch 1-2 drops does the trick) and mix.

Add about 1/4 of the almond/sugar mixture and fold in until no streaks remain. Continue to add the almond mixture in quarters, folding until you reach the proper batter. (More on this below)

Pour the batter into your prepared piping bag and pipe rows of batter (dollops a little bigger than a quarter) onto the baking sheets, giving them space to spread.

Tap the pan on the counter to bring up any air bubbles and quickly pop them with a toothpick.

Allow the cookies to rest on a level surface for 30-60 minutes. Until they are no longer tacky to a light touch. If you have problems with burst shells, you may need to allow them to rest longer or double stack your baking sheets to provided better insulation from the bottom.

While they rest, place an oven rack in the lower 3rd of your oven and preheat to 275-310°F (I’ve had the most success with about 285-290°F). I do not use fan-forced (convection) heat. If your oven tends to brown the cookies, consider placing a rack in the top of the oven with a baking sheet on it to shield the cookies. Occasionally my top element in my spastic electric oven turns on and browns my cookies, upsetting me greatly.

Bake the cookies for 16-20 minutes.

Posted in Cookies | Leave a comment

Canned Biscuit Waffles

Posted on December 30, 2011 by jgisvold

I had a can of low-fat biscuits and saw on pinterest that you could use canned biscuits to make waffles. I’ve been meaning to try this for awhile now and I finally got around to it, and let me just say, this is probably something I’d never do again. It just tasted too much like biscuits and I like homemade waffles better. You can also use cinnamon rolls to make waffles too and I’m thinking that would taste a little bit better.

For 5 points a biscuit this really isn’t worth it either. Go ahead and give it a try if you want. I’m not trying to scare you away from it or anything. The waffles were pretty tiny in the end and didn’t spread out much. Yes, I definitely think cinnamon rolls would work better here since they’re sweeter than a biscuit.

Pillsbury Grands Reduced Fat biscuits

170 Calories | 6.5 g fat | carbs 26 | Fiber 1 g | Protein 4 g

Posted in 5 points + | Leave a comment

Weight Watcher Recipes – Red Velvet Cupcakes

Posted on December 29, 2011 by jgisvold

I know, I’m not really a huge fan of red velvet cupcakes but I had one the last time I went to Minneapolis and it changed me. It was so huge and you could see the specs of vanilla bean in the cream cheese frosting. I wish I would have had my camera to take a picture. You can buy them at Macy’s for all places. They had them at this little cafeteria I went to and so I decided to get a red velvet cupcake. Man, was it good.

I have been trying to make my own baked goods using agave nectar and these actually turned out really good. The first time, I tried baking anything with agave nectar was when I tried making a batch of meringue cookies. Agave nectar and meringue cookies don’t work well together. I did a little research on agave nectar and the source I used had a nice little chart to go buy. From Herbs, Love to Know. This site also tells you how to reduce the amount of liquid when baking too. Pretty nifty site. The only sugar I’d like to learn more about replacing ingredients with is confectioner’s sugar. That still has a lot of carbs and it would be nice to find a substitute that works. I read that you can take Splenda and pulverize it in the food processor until it looks like confectioner’s sugar with some corn starch, but I don’t like splenda because it has a weird after taste. Wonder if you could do the same with Stevia?

**Agave Nectar Conversion Chart for Baking**
If the Recipe Calls for this Amount of Sugar…	…Use this Much Agave
1 cup	2/3 cup of agave
3/4 cup of sugar	1/2 cup of agave
1/2 cup of sugar	1/3 cup of agave
1/4 cup of sugar	1/6 cup of agave

Anyways, these cupcakes only came out to 5 points plus a cupcake. Hurray! No cake mix boxes or diet soda used. It was a recipe I adapted from Paula Deen and had to change a lot of the ingredients. They kind of puffed up a bit in the oven but overall it was a good first try baking with agave nectar. I hope you try these and like them yourself!

Ingredients from Paula Deen

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup agave nectar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup applesauce
3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk , room temperature
1 large egg , room temperature
2 tablespoons red food coloring
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 ounces low-fat cream cheese
1/8 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups confectioners’ sugar

Directions:

1.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin pans with cupcake papers.
2.In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In a large bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla with a handheld electric mixer. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined.
3.Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins about 2/3 filled. Bake in oven for about 20 to 22 minutes, turning the pans once, half way through. Test the cupcakes with a toothpick for doneness. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.
4.In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. Increase the speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy.
5.Garnish with chopped pecans and a fresh raspberry or strawberry.
6. Cook’s Note: Frost the cupcakes with a butter knife or pipe it on with a big star tip.

Posted in 5 points +, Weight Watcher Recipes | Leave a comment

Bacon Wrapped Shrimp

Posted on December 29, 2011 by jgisvold

Still looking for something to bring, to that last minute new year’s eve party? How bought some bacon wrapped shrimp? This is so easy to make all it requires is bacon, shrimp, and tooth picks. You can spice it up by adding some brown sugar on the bacon or some barbeque sauce. Someone on my facebook page told me that her dad marinades the shrimp and bacon in beer for awhile. Doesn’t that sound good?

I think if I were to do things differently the next time, I’d use thinly sliced bacon and larger pieces of shrimp. Thick cut bacon don’t work really well with medium sized shrimp and the bacon kind of over powered the shrimp. It still tasted good though. I served mine with some cocktail sauce. I calculated the nutrition info for these made with real bacon and turkey bacon.

What do you do on New Year’s Eve night? We don’t go out on New Year’s Eve, we stay in. We do however plan on making a gourmet-ish type dinner with lobster tails and steak. Last year, on New Year’s Eve Ben grilled some steak during a blizzard. Kind of crazy, since this year we don’t even have any snow on the ground yet.

(made with real bacon)

Calories 133.4 | 10.6 g | Carbohydrate 0.4 g | Fiber 0.0 g | Protein 8.3 g = 4 points Plus

(made with turkey bacon)
Calories 54.8 | Fat 3.1 g | Carbohydrate 0.4 g | Fiber 0.0 g | Protein 5.9 g = 1 points plus

Servings: 12

Ingredients

12 jumbo shrimp , 12-16 count per pound, peeled and deveined
12 slices thin bacon
kosher salt

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2.If your shrimp are not deveined when you buy them, use kitchen shears to cut down the back of the shrimp (the top or longer side) and remove the shell. You can leave the tail on or off, your preference (I remove it). With a pairing knife, slice into the shrimp along the backside and remove the vein if you see one.
3.Also do not forget to remove the second vein along the bottom of the shrimp! You won’t have to make a very deep cut there, just a slight score and you can scrape that smaller vein out. Note that if your shrimp did come deveined from the market, it will still have this smaller vein everytime so do remove it. Then rinse the shrimp under cold running water and pat dry with a paper towel.
4.Lay a slice of bacon out on your cutting board and start wrapping the tail end of the shrimp at the small end of the bacon. As you tightly wrap, overlap each layer of the bacon until you get to the end. If you get to the end of the shrimp when you’re halfway through the bacon, you’re wrapping it too wide, try again.
5. I like to sprinkle a tiny bit of kosher salt on each side, but that is my preference.
6.Heat a heavy bottomed skillet over medium-high heat. If you use a cast iron skillet, you won’t need any oil as the shrimp will not stick, otherwise add just enough to coat the bottom. Sear the shrimp on each side for maybe 30 seconds and then finish them in the oven for about 6-8 minutes.

Posted in 1 points +, 4 points +, Weight Watcher Recipes | Leave a comment

Cranberry Bliss Bars

Posted on December 28, 2011 by jgisvold

I swear, this is going to be my last unhealthy treat to make before the New Year’s comes. I plan to get rid of all my body fat and get fit before I go to Jamaica. We’ll see if that happens. My goal is to work out more next year and we plan on joining the gym next month since our work is now letting us get a nice little discount on that. I feel as if it will hold me responsible since I have to go at least 12 times a month. I’m really looking forward to taking Zumba classes at night too.

I’ve been seeing these Cranberry Bliss bars all over the Internet lately. I did try making a different version of them before Christmas and used maraschino cherries instead because I didn’t have any dried cranberries at the time. These blondies are delicious and it almost makes me want to go Star Bucks and try the original ones to see if they live up to them. I’m not a coffee drinker, so I don’t go to those coffee places to try their delicious sweets like this one.

I am home during the week this week, and it’s nice to be able to take some pictures in natural light. I thought this one turned out pretty good taken with my little Olympus camera. My other one is still in the shop and I keep checking the status every day to see if it’s been shipped or not. I can’t wait to get it back!

Ingredients: from What’s Megan Making

Bars:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup dried cranberries, chopped
6 ounces (about 3/4 cup) white chocolate chips (or chopped white chocolate)

Frosting:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
4 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup dried cranberries, chopped

Drizzling Icing:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
1-2 tablespoons milk

Directions:

Bars:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×13 pan and set aside. In a medium bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar until smooth. Add eggs, vanilla, ginger, and salt and mix well. Gradually add flour and mix until smooth. Stir in cranberries and white chocolate. Pour the batter into the greased pan, using a spatula to evenly spread the batter in the pan. Bake 30-40 minutes, until edges are light brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:
Beat the cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla and lemon juice until completely smooth. Spread on the completely cool cake. Sprinkle the top with cranberries.

Drizzling Icing:
In a small bowl, whisk together 1 Tbsp of milk, powdered sugar, and vegetable shortening. Gradually add more milk until the icing has a thick but drizzly consistency. I used closer to 2 tablespoons. Put the icing into a ziploc bag and snip off a tiny bit of the corner. Drizzle the icing on top in zig-zags.

Posted in Snacks | Leave a comment

Weight Watcher Recipes – Pizza Pasta Casserole

Posted on December 27, 2011 by jgisvold

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 teaspoons, that reduced the fat greatly. I don’t get why people think they have to use a ton amount of olive oil when sauteing vegetables or browning a big hunk of meat? I successfully browned chicken breast thighs with only 2 teaspoons of olive oil.

If you like pizza and pasta then you’ll really like this dish, and it almost reminds me of hamburger helper. I’m going to come up with my own taco pasta casserole using this method. Just think of all the different combinations you can come up with.

Ingredients from food.com

Servings: 10

Calories 254.3 | Fat: 8.4 g | Carbs: 24.5g | Fiber 1.9 g | Protein 19.7g

*If using 8 servings instead of 10, it is 9 points.

Points Plus: 6

1 lb ground lean turkey sausage
1 medium onion , chopped
1 clove garlic , minced
1 teaspoon italian seasoning
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 (26 ounce) jars spaghetti sauce
8 ounces rotini pasta , cooked and drained
2 cups shredded reduced fat mozzarella cheese (20 oz)
32 slices of turkey pepperoni

Directions:

1. Brown ground beef, onion, garlic and seasoning in oil.
2 .Drain.
3. Stir in pasta, spaghetti sauce and 2 cups cheese.
4. Place mixture in 2 greased 9x13x2 inch baking pans or 4 square pans.
5. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella.
6. Top with pepperoni.
7. Cover and freeze up to 3 months.
8. To cook now: Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes, until heated through.
9. To bake frozen casserole: Thaw in refrigerator overnight and bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes, till hot.

Posted in 6 points +, Weight Watcher Recipes | 11 Comments

Weight Watcher Recipes – Chocolate Chip Meringue Cookies

Posted on December 26, 2011 by jgisvold

Meringue cookies are hard for me to make for some reason. The last time I tried making them I used agave nectar and the cookies ended up being these soft sponge cookies. I’m thinking about trying some baked goods using agave nectar and did some research on baking with the sugar substitute. Turns out, meringue cookies are not a good cookie to make with agave nectar. Should have read up on agave nectar first before trying to work with it. Thought it was just like honey so I thought I didn’t need much. Oh well.

I even tried making macarons and I can never seem to get them right. I didn’t know that you could buy almond flour until I had watched some lady on the Cooking Channel make macarons and she made it look so easy. Wish I was that good at baking. Almond flour is really expensive and it’s about 13.99 a bag for Bob’s Red Mill brand at my grocery store. Macarons are not a cheap cookie that’s for sure.

So, I finally got my first batch of meringue cookies to turn out. Yay! Practice makes perfect I guess? I want to try making meringue cookies with Stevia instead of agave nectar and see if they turn out then. These have chocolate chips in them and are 1 points plus a piece.

Don’t know if this is exactly how it’s supposed to look, but it turned out.

Points Plus: 1

Servings 24

Ingredients from Weight Watchers

1 spray(s) cooking spray
1 tsp all-purpose flour
4 large egg white(s)
1 cup(s) sugar
1/2 cup(s) mini chocolate chips, semi-sweet
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 200ºF.

Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray; coat with a light dusting of flour and shake off excess.

In a large mixing bowl, beat egg whites with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar and beat until stiff, glossy peaks form; gently fold in chocolate and vanilla extract.

Drop mixture by heaping tablespoons onto prepared baking sheet about 1 inch apart, making 24 cookies.

Bake until lightly golden and no longer sticky on the surface, about 1 hour. Turn oven off and let cookies sit in oven for 1 hour. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Yields 1 cookie per serving.

Posted in 1 points + | Leave a comment

Cinnamon Rolls

Posted on December 25, 2011 by jgisvold

I saw the Pioneer Woman’s Christmas special on Foodnetwork and really wanted to make cinnamon rolls for everyone to bring as gifts. I also wanted to buy a prime rib but that cut of meat is so expensive. I really liked these cinnamon rolls and they were very easy to make. If you have a station set up to make them you can get them pumped out in no time. I made the dough and rolled out the rolls the night before, and let them sit in the fridge overnight. The recipe says they can sit un-cooked in the fridge for up to 3 days which is really nice. The dough was really easy to work with too.

I went to Wal-mart and got some baking vessels to put them in and they came with red or green covers to make them look festive. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and want to thank everyone that either liked my facebook page or commented on a post this year.

This dough was huge. Each one can make up to 25 cinnamon rolls. I stuck 7 in a pan.

Ingredients from Pioneer Women

1 quart Whole Milk
1 cup Vegetable Oil
1 cup Sugar
2 packages Active Dry Yeast, 0.25 Ounce Packets
8 cups (Plus 1 Cup Extra, Separated) All-purpose Flour
1 teaspoon (heaping) Baking Powder
1 teaspoon (scant) Baking Soda
1 Tablespoon (heaping) Salt
Plenty Of Melted Butter
2 cups Sugar
Generous Sprinkling Of Cinnamon
_____

MAPLE FROSTING:
1 bag Powdered Sugar
2 teaspoons Maple Flavoring
1/2 cup Milk
1/4 cup Melted Butter
1/4 cup Brewed Coffee (I used 1/4 cup of water instead)

Preparation Instructions

For the dough, heat the milk, vegetable oil, and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat to just below a boil. Set aside and cool to warm. Sprinkle the yeast on top and let it sit on the milk for 1 minute.

Add 8 cups of the flour. Stir until just combined, then cover with a clean kitchen towel, and set aside in a relatively warm place for 1 hour. After 1 hour, remove the towel and add the baking powder, baking soda, salt, and the remaining 1 cup flour. Stir thoroughly to combine. Use the dough right away, or place in a mixing bowl and refrigerate for up to 3 days, punching down the dough if it rises to the top of the bowl. (Note: dough is easier to work with if it’s been chilled for at least an hour or so beforehand.)

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

To assemble the rolls, remove half the dough from the pan/bowl. On a floured baking surface, roll the dough into a large rectangle, about 30 x 10 inches. The dough should be rolled very thin.

To make the filling, pour 3/4 cup to 1 cup of the melted butter over the surface of the dough. Use your fingers to spread the butter evenly. Generously sprinkle half of the ground cinnamon and 1 cup of the sugar over the butter. Don’t be afraid to drizzle on more butter or more sugar! Gooey is the goal.

Now, beginning at the end farthest from you, roll the rectangle tightly towards you. Use both hands and work slowly, being careful to keep the roll tight. Don’t worry if the filling oozes as you work; that just means the rolls are going to be divine. When you reach the end, pinch the seam together and flip the roll so that the seam is face down. When you’re finished, you’ll wind up with one long buttery, cinnamony, sugary, gooey log.

Slip a cutting board underneath the roll and with a sharp knife, make 1/2-inch slices. One “log “will produce 20 to 25 rolls. Pour a couple of teaspoons of melted butter into disposable foil cake pans and swirl to coat. Place the sliced rolls in the pans, being careful not to overcrowd. (Each pan will hold 7 to 9 rolls.)

Repeat the rolling/sugar/butter process with the other half of the dough and more pans. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Cover all the pans with a kitchen towel and set aside to rise on the countertop for at least 20 minutes before baking. Remove the towel and bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until golden brown. Don’t allow the rolls to become overly brown.

While the rolls are baking, make the maple icing: In a large bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, milk, butter, coffee, and salt. Splash in the maple flavoring. Whisk until very smooth. Taste and add in more maple, sugar, butter, or other ingredients as needed until the icing reaches the desired consistency. The icing should be somewhat thick but still very pourable.

Remove pans from the oven. Immediately drizzle icing over the top. Be sure to get it all around the edges and over the top. As they sit, the rolls will absorb some of the icing’s moisture and flavor. They only get better with time… not that they last for more than a few seconds. Make them for a friend today! It’ll seal the relationship for life. I promise.

Posted in Breakfast | Leave a comment

My favorite Holiday Cookies

Posted on December 23, 2011 by jgisvold

I thought I’d post a list of my favorite Holiday cookies. Every year, I’ll try some new ones and this year I found some that I really liked including the Candy Cane Blossoms, White Chocolate- Cherry Shortbread cookies, and Cranberry bliss bars. From last year I really liked the oreo truffles, aka oreo truffles and peanut butter ritz cracker cookies. My mom found that recipe. It’s ok to use really simple cookie recipes during the holidays. I don’t think everything has to be homemade either. The more cookies you can keep on knocking out of that oven the better and the even better cookies are ones that don’t require any baking. Sometimes, I’ll try and make homemade caramels but didn’t get around to it this year. Cookies are fun gifts to give and I have fun making them, especially with a double oven…

1. Oreo Truffles

2. Cranberry Bliss Bars (I used marischino Cherries)

3. Peanut Butter Ritz Sandwich cookies

Take two ritz crackers and put some peanut butter in the middle of them like a sandwich. Dip in chocolate. (It’s that simple)

4. White Chocolate – Cherry Shortbread Cookies

5. Candy Cane Blossoms

Posted in Cookies | Leave a comment

Pizza Rollups

Posted on December 23, 2011 by jgisvold

Sorry I haven’t made anything in awhile. It’s been a multiple number of reasons. 1. Because I’m a camera snob. My little Olympus camera just doesn’t compare to my Nikon. and 2. I haven’t been finding very many new recipes to try lately. Pinterest seems to have all the same recipes posted over and over again. Have to go back to the old recipes books and Food Network again.

This recipe is actually from pinterest. It’s so good, the first time I didn’t have a camera charged up to take the pictures. It almost reminds me of stromboli, if you’ve ever had that before and it’s really simple. If you don’t want to wait for frozen bread dough to defrost then you could always make your own. Use whatever pizza toppings you like. I did try making one with pulled pork and pineapple. I thought the pulled pork pizza roll was going to explode in the oven from all the ingredients. Pulled pork and pineapple are very wet ingredients and it made the dough kind of soggy, so I wouldn’t suggest it. We just love having pizza this way and Ben thinks they’re so good even without the marinara dipping sauce. (He’s weird.)

I do have the week of Christmas off and hope to be posting a lot of recipes then to make up for slacking this week.

Ingredients:

1 jar of marinara sauce
16 oz of mozzarella cheese
pepperoni
2 frozen bread dough loafs
2 tablespoons of melted butter
1 tablespoon of Italian seasoning or favorite spice blend

Directions:
Roll dough out to 11 X 11 in square. Top with pepperoni slices and cheese. Roll up into a log and place on a baking sheet. Use a pasty brush to brush the butter on the top of the pizza so that it helps to turn a nice golden brown color. Sprinkle Italian seasoning on top of the dough. Bake at 375 for 15-25 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Posted in Dinner | Leave a comment

Cranberry-Lime Vodka

Posted on December 18, 2011 by jgisvold

I’ve never thought of making my own flavored vodka before until I saw all the different kinds you could make. Lemon head, gummy bears, skittles, etc…..Pack the flavored vodka in fancy jars and you have some unique homemade gifts for the Holidays. Vodka is also the main ingredient for making different types of extracts like almond and vanilla. Who knew?

I went to Hobby Lobby and found these fancy jars. They were about $6 to $8 a piece for them. You can get fresh cranberries for really cheap around the Holidays. At Thanksgiving time, I’ve seen them for $.98 a bag. I think everyone has vodka in their liquor pantry as well.

This type of flavored vodka is so good with some orange juice added to it. I haven’t tried it with some z-up yet, and I’m sure that would be really great too. It almost makes me want to become an alcoholic, this vodka is that good. J/k. Depending on what size jars you get, (they can even be those smaller jars you can buy at the groceries) make sure to clean and rinse them out before adding all the stuff in there. I just did that to be safe. Everyone I gave these too really liked them. Be sure to make some for yourself to have.

I even made some candy cane flavored vodka and that is really good with some egg nog.

Cranberry – Lime Vodka from Fancy Napkin

1 bag of fresh cranberries

Zest of one lime

2 tablespoons of sugar

vodka

Directions:

Poke holes in cranberries and put them in a jar of your liking. Add lime zest and sugar and fill to top with vodka. For candy cane vodka use 5 peppermint candy canes and vodka. Can keep for weeks.

Posted in Drinks | 3 Comments

Monster Cookies

Posted on December 15, 2011 by jgisvold

Ohh how I miss my DSLR camera. I got a message in my email today that it’s going to cost me about 146.00 to fix the camera. That’s not bad I thought for an error message that won’t go away. I hope they fix it right away and I get it back to me in a couple of weeks here. My Olympus camera works ok, but it’s not the same. I really can’t wait to bring my DSL-R camera to Jamaica because I’ll be posting and taking pictures of everything we eat there, and I plan on sharing that with everyone on this blog.

Now back to the cookies… These cookies probably aren’t the most points friendly cookie out there. It’s a Paula Deen recipe so of course it’s good. I don’t think there’s a recipe I’ve tried of hers that I haven’t liked yet. Everyone just seems to love that strawberry pretzel salad of hers. I’m bringing that for Christmas day and I also brought it to our Holiday pot luck at work. These cookies have oatmeal, peanut butter, raisins, m & m’s and chocolate chips in them. There is no flour at all in these cookies. The dough doesn’t spread very well if you roll them up into a ball. You have to squish the dough down with some kind of utensil in order to get them to spread out more. I was wondering what these would taste like with white chocolate chips, nuts, and some dried cherries? That sounds so good.

Yields: 36 cookies

Calories 189.9 | Fat 9.5 g | Carbohydrate 23.3 g | Fiber 1.7 g | Protein 4.8 g

Points Plus: 5

Ingredients from Paula Deen

3 eggs
1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 12-ounce jar creamy peanut butter
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup multi-colored chocolate candies
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup raisins, optional
2 teaspoons baking soda
4 1/2 cups quick-cooking oatmeal (not instant)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats.

In a very large mixing bowl, combine the eggs and sugars. Mix well. Add the salt, vanilla, peanut butter, and butter. Mix well. Stir in the chocolate candies, chocolate chips, raisins, if using, baking soda, and oatmeal. Drop by tablespoons 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Do not overbake. Let stand for about 3 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool. When cool, store in large resealable plastic bags.

Posted in 5 points +, Cookies | Leave a comment