Recipe Diaries

Strawberry & Blueberry Shortcakes

Posted on February 20, 2012 by jgisvold

I found a biscuit recipe on Weight Watchers site and wondered why it was so low in points. 1 biscuit was only 3 points. The canned biscuits I believe are 5 points a piece (and that’s only for low fat ones) The reason why these were only 3 points was because the recipe only called for 2 tablespoons of butter versus a regular biscuit recipe that calls for a stick and a half of butter sometimes. To my surprise the biscuits were actually quite tasty with out all the extra fat added in it.

With the biscuits, I made shortcakes. the berries at the grocery store weren’t super ripe either so I had to add some sugar in them. That helped a little bit. Use either fat free or light cool whip in place of heavy cream and enjoy.

Biscuit Recipe from Weight Watchers

1 cup(s) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp table salt
2 Tbsp salted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
1/2 cup(s) Friendship Lowfat buttermilk, or other brand
1 spray(s) cooking spray

Berry Filling
1 pint of strawberries
1 cup of blueberries
2 tablespoons of sugar (if needed)

1 container of light cool whip.

Instructions

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife.

Combine flour and next three ingredients in a bowl; cut in butter with a pastry blender or two knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add buttermilk; stir just until moist.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead 4 or 5 times. Roll dough to 1⁄2-inch thickness; cut with a 21⁄2-inch biscuit cutter. Place on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 450°F for 10 minutes or until golden. Serve warm with light butter and honey, if desired (may affect POINTS value). Yield: 7 servings (serving size: 1 biscuit).

Spoon on about 2 tablespoons of coolwhip and some fruit mixture.

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

Jamaican Jerk Chicken with Rice and Peas

Posted on February 19, 2012 by jgisvold

Tonight, I’m sharing a meal with you that we had while in Jamaica. I had more fish while we were there, but we had some chicken in the house so we used that. For lunch one time, they had blackened fish which was really spicy and well… black. Still very, very good though…. Ben said the chicken kind of reminded him of blackened fish, and he said he wished that the chicken hadn’t turned black. Not sure whether or not to call this Blackened Chicken or just Jerk Chicken. While there, we bought a bottle of Jerk Seasoning blend by a company called Island Spice. I’m going to give you recipe to make your own Jerk Seasoning, or you can just go out to the grocery store and see if they have a bottle of Jerk Seasoning. I really haven’t looked for one yet. Let me know if you can find them.

It was also nice out tonight so we grilled. One night while we were there, they had a barbeque on the beach and I’d like to find a recipe for Jamaican barbeque sauce as well. To go a long side the chicken, I made rice and peas. We also ate that a lot while we were there. The locals called the rice dish, rice and peas, and Ben and I thought that was odd because we’re used to the peas being called beans. Who cares though, it was all good anyway!! The chef at the restaurant where we had the cooking class at said Jamaican food uses a lot of onions, green onions, garlic, and fresh peppers like Scotch bonnets. He also said that they use coconut milk in pretty much everything too.

Jerk Seasoning Blend from Food.com

Servings: 6
Calories 19.9 | Fat 0.2 g | Carbohydrate 4.6 g | Fiber 0.8 g | Protein 0.5 g
Points Plus: 1

1 tablespoon onion flakes
2 teaspoons ground thyme
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon ground allspice
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon hot pepper flakes
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons dried chives

Directions:

1.Mix together all the ingredients.
2.Store leftovers in a tightly closed glass jar.
3.It will keep its strength for over a month.
4. 1- 1 1/2 tablespoon of seasoning for each pound of meat.

—————————————————————-

Rice and Peas Recipe
Calories 219 | Fat 5.04g | Carbohydrate 37.55g | Fiber 4.7g | Protein 6.43g
Servings: 10 (1/2 cup)

Ingredients from Jamaican Food.net

2 cups of rice
1 can of tinned or 1 cup of fresh red peas (either kidney beans or pigeon peas)
5 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
1 uncut scotch bonnet pepper (1 jalapeno pepper may be used as a substitute)
3 Scallion (spring onions may be used as a substitute)
1 tin (or one cup) of coconut milk
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of black pepper
2 sprigs of fresh thyme (2 teaspoons of dried thyme may be used as a substitute)

Directions:

1.Drain juice from beans, add coconut milk + sufficient water to make 5 cups of cooking liquid.

2.Put beans, “cooking liquid” and garlic in a pot and bring to the boil, simmer for 2 minutes.

3. Add scallions, thyme, and black pepper and salt to taste, simmer for a further 2 minutes.

4. Add scotch bonnet pepper (as this is not cut up it will not make the rice spicy, it will just add a subtle Jamaican flavour).

5. Add rice and let boil uncovered for 20 minutes (or until all liquid has been absorbed if this is sooner). Remove scotch bonnet pepper then serve.

Posted in 1 points +, 6 points +, Weight Watcher Recipes | Leave a comment

Banana Boats

Posted on February 18, 2012 by jgisvold

Saw these yummy bananas made on the Pioneer Woman’s show today. She made hers on a camp fire. I didn’t feel like going outside and starting our new fire pit up, so I baked them in the oven instead. Actually, I was kind of impatient so I started baking these at 300 and then switched to my boiler. It was fun watching the little marshmallows toast. Ben always makes fun of me because I like my marshmallows completely burnt to a crisp, so I was nice and only browned them for a little bit.

These aren’t to bad points wise either. I found a recipe at Taste of Home that had the nutrition info so I was like score, I don’t have to figure that out myself. Love it when I can find nutrition info for a recipe that I like.

Cut open the banana down the middle and lay it on some tin foil. I just did that because the banana wouldn’t lay flat on the tray.

Layer on chocolate first and then the marshmallows and bake in your oven.

Recipe from Taste of Home

Servings: 4
Points Plus: 4 (per banana)
136 calories | 2 g fat | 32 g carbohydrate | 3 g fiber | 1 g protein

Ingredients

4 medium unpeeled ripe bananas
4 teaspoons miniature chocolate chips
4 tablespoons miniature marshmallows

Directions

Cut banana peel lengthwise about 1/2 in. deep, leaving 1/2 in. at both ends. Open peel wider to form a pocket. Fill each with 1 teaspoon chocolate chips and 1 tablespoon marshmallows. Crimp and shape four pieces of heavy-duty foil (about 12 in. square) around bananas, forming boats.

Grill, covered, over medium heat for 5-10 minutes or until marshmallows melt and are golden brown. Yield: 4 servings.

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

Easy Parmesan Risotto

Posted on February 18, 2012 by jgisvold

Wow, I was watching Food Network this morning and there are a lot of really good recipes that I want to try now. Especially all the ones that the Pioneer Woman had on her show. I have no clue where to go looking for a hamhock though, hopefully the meat department has one. I also thought that all the recipes on Ina’s show looked really good too. I had all the ingredients for this one so I thought I’d give it a try. If you’ve ever thought that making risotto sounded intimidating well it isn’t anymore. Ina made it look really easy like she always does and this sure was. It probably could have cooked in the oven a bit less than 45 minutes. The rice was done but it wasn’t really creamy after adding all the other ingredients in like when you make risotto on a stove top. Overall, it was pretty good though. I had a bowl of it for lunch.

I plugged in the points for the original recipe and it came out to be 11. I got it down to 7 points per cup by using light butter, and only 4 tablespoons of parmesan cheese. It still tasted really good too.

Recipe from Ina Garten

cals: 263 cal | fat: 6.77g | carbs: 40.85g | prot: 8.15g | fiber: 1.2
points Plus: 7
Servings 6 (1 cup)

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
5 cups simmering chicken stock, preferably homemade, divided
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup dry white wine
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup frozen peas

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Place the rice and 4 cups of the chicken stock in a Dutch oven, such as Le Creuset. Cover and bake for 45 minutes, until most of the liquid is absorbed and the rice is al dente. Remove from the oven, add the remaining cup of chicken stock, the Parmesan, wine, butter, salt, and pepper, and stir vigorously for 2 to 3 minutes, until the rice is thick and creamy. Add the peas and stir until heated through. Serve hot.

Posted in 7 points +, Ina Garten Recipes | Leave a comment

Spaghetti and Meatball Soup

Posted on February 16, 2012 by jgisvold

I just love soup. Can you tell? I think it actually helps with weight loss and I’m considering going on an all soup diet. I especially love soup when I see someone make over a classic dish like take for instant Enchiladas, Tacos, or this one: Spaghetti and Meatballs. Yum! What else are they going to think of next that hasn’t been done before? Dessert soup? Pizza Soup? Burger soup? You can’t go wrong with soup that’s for sure.

About a week ago my store had these mini meatballs on sale so I picked them up, thinking I’d be using them for my next treat day. They were so tiny, I didn’t think it would serve a lot. When, I saw this recipe, I was like great, I have something new to try and make with the meatballs I just bought at the store. This soup comes together really fast if using frozen meatballs. If you were really dedicated, you could make your own meatballs. I just like the convenience of these though. Try this one soon, and put it on your menu for next week. It’s a keeper.

Don’t have a food processor? You’re missing out. It chops veggies so fast and can do so many other things!

cook the veggies, including the garlic.

Add in the liquids, noodles and meatballs.

Recipe From Iowa Girl Eats
serings: 8
Calories 267 | Fat 10.98g | Carbs 29.65g | Fiber 2.2g | Protein 12.76g
Points Plus: 7 (1 cup)

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
2 large carrots or 10 mini carrots, shredded
1 small zucchini, shredded
1/2 onion, shredded or finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
salt & pepper
42oz low-sodium chicken broth
24oz marinara sauce
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon red chili pepper flakes
1lb mini meatballs
1 cup cut spaghetti or other small pasta

Directions:

Heat oil in a large soup pot, add vegetables, season with salt & pepper, and saute until soft. Add in chicken broth, marinara sauce, Italian seasoning and red chili pepper flakes and bring to a boil. When boiling, add in meatballs and spaghetti. Simmer until pasta is cooked. Ladle into bowls and top with parmesan cheese, if desired.

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

Chocapocalypse Cookies

Posted on February 11, 2012 by jgisvold

Valentine’s Day is coming up, and you know what that means. CHOCOLATE! Alton Brown’s very last episode of Good Eats was on Friday night and he made these cookies. I’m very sad to see him not making any more shows anymore. He’s one of my favorites on Food Network. My husband and I knew we had to make these the next day after we saw that episode. Getting all the chocolate was kind of expensive, but it’s well worth it in the end.

There’s 4 different kinds of chocolate in these cookies, well 5 actually. We couldn’t find cocoa nibs at all so I just threw in some extra dark chocolate. I thought I wouldn’t like the bittersweet and dark chocolate together but I did. These were fantastic. If you’re craving chocolate or need something to make for your sweetie on Valentine’s day these will hit the spot. Who care’s if your on a diet right? Valentine’s day is the day to indulge, especially with chocolate! If you’re wondering where to find the different kinds of chocolate we found them in the organic section of our grocery store.

On a side note, I tried making some Jamaican food tonight. It didn’t turn out quite like the chef’s did in the cooking class I attended. Something was missing and I’m pretty sure I put all the right stuff in there. I don’t even know what the recipe was called either. I’ll try making something easier that has a recipe for it. We were supposed to get it before we left for our trip home, but we never did.

This was supposed to be Johny cakes, which are Jamaican dumplings and a fish soup with onions, green onions, garlic, tomatoes, scotch bonnet peppers, and coconut milk in it. I think maybe I should have used fresh thyme too because I just had dry in the house. The johny cakes were good but needed more salt.

Servings: 55
Calories 38.7 | Fat 2.0 g | Carbohydrate 4.9 g | Fiber 0.2 g | Protein 0.5 g
Points Plus: 1 per cookie

Ingredients:

6 ounces 54-percent bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 3/4 ounces all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 ounces light brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 ounces 70-percent bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
3 ounces 40-percent milk chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 ounces cocoa nibs

Directions

Place the 54-percent bittersweet chocolate and unsweetened chocolate in a medium glass mixing bowl and microwave on high for two 30-second intervals, stirring after each interval. If still not smooth heat for 10 additional seconds at a time and stir until smooth. Set aside to cool to 90 degrees F, approximately 15 minutes.

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together, transfer to a paper plate and set aside.

Put the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until combined and looks like wet sand, about 2 minutes.

Whisk the eggs and vanilla together in a small bowl. Turn the mixer on low speed and slowly add the egg mixture until fully incorporated. Pour in the melted chocolate and mix to combine. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl.

With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture and mix until integrated. Add the 70-percent bittersweet chocolate, 40-percent milk chocolate and the cocoa nibs and mix until combined.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Scoop the dough using a 1 1/4-inch-diameter disher or ice cream scoop onto parchment-lined half-sheet pans, placing 2 inches apart, 12 cookies per pan. Bake for 8 to 9 minutes, rotating after 5 minutes. Do not over-bake; the cookies may look wet and doughy.

Cool the cookies on the pan for 2 minutes, then transfer on the parchment paper to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Posted in 1 points +, Cookies | Leave a comment

Rigatoni with Sausage and Kale

Posted on February 9, 2012 by jgisvold

Another super easy recipe to make. While the pasta is cooking (which only takes 8 minutes), brown the sausage and once the sausage is done add in the kale. It will turn bright green. Add in the chicken broth and scrape off the brown bits on the bottom of the pan. There were quite a bit on mine. It’s almost like making a gravy. Top with some parmesan cheese and enjoy. In no time you’ll have dinner on the table.

If you’ve never tried kale before it kind of reminds me of spinach but more leafier. Feel free to add in whatever greens you like. Give kale a try if you haven’t. I think the only thing I would do differently next time is cook the kale longer. This recipe is directly from Weight Watchers website. There were quite a bit of reviews for this website, over 1000.

Note: Measure out two cups of rigatoni and cook. Doesn’t seem like much but in the end it is.

Recipe from Weight Watchers

Servings: 4
Points Plus: 8

Ingredients:

2 cup(s) uncooked rigatoni
1/8 tsp table salt, or to taste, for cooking pasta
8 oz uncooked turkey sausage(s), sweet Italian variety
4 cup(s) uncooked kale, roughly chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 cup(s) canned chicken broth
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp table salt
1/2 cup(s) shredded Parmesan cheese, Parmigiano-Reggiano recommended

Directions:

Cook rigatoni in salted water according to package directions.

Meanwhile, remove sausage from casing and cook in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, breaking up sausage as it cooks, about 3 minutes. Add kale; cook, stirring frequently, until limp, about 3 to 5 minutes.

Add broth to skillet and scrape up browned bits on bottom of skillet with a wooden spoon; season with salt and pepper. Cover skillet and reduce heat to low; cook until kale is tender, about 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in rigatoni; heat through.

Sprinkle each serving with about 2 tablespoons of cheese before serving. Yields about 1 1/2 cups per serving.

Posted in 8 points +, Weight Watcher Recipes | Leave a comment

Cheesy Chicken Tortilla Soup

Posted on February 7, 2012 by jgisvold

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!

Posted in 8 points +, Weight Watcher Recipes | Leave a comment

No-Bake Energy Balls

Posted on February 7, 2012 by jgisvold

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.

Posted in 2 points + | Leave a comment

Chicken and Cheese Casserole

Posted on February 4, 2012 by jgisvold

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.

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

Jamaica Day 4

Posted on January 31, 2012 by jgisvold

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

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Jamaica Day 2

Posted on January 30, 2012 by jgisvold

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.

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Jamaica Day 1

Posted on January 29, 2012 by jgisvold

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.

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Fish Taco Cups

Posted on January 25, 2012 by jgisvold

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!

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

Evil Oreo Cake

Posted on January 23, 2012 by jgisvold

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!

Posted in 6 points +, Recipe Diaries Original, Weight Watcher Recipes | 1 Comment

Kale Chips

Posted on January 22, 2012 by jgisvold

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.

Posted in 2 points +, Veggies, Weight Watcher Recipes | Leave a comment

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

Posted on January 21, 2012 by jgisvold

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.

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

Mexican Bean Pizza

Posted on January 20, 2012 by jgisvold

I really love those store bought pizza doughs you can get from Pillsbury. I used that to make this pizza. If you like Mexican food then you’ll really like this. This pizza has fat free re-fried beans, salsa, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and green onions. You can top it with fat free sour cream or guacamole but that wold be more points.

I’ve been eating a lot of re-fried beans lately and just can’t seem to get enough of them. Ortega is my favorite brand, and I like to buy the fat free kind. The grocery store where we normally shop at has their own brand of re-fried beans with nearly not enough flavor in them. They’re very bland.

Servings: 9 ( cut into 9 equal pieces)
Points Plus: 5
Jenna’s Weight Watcher Recipes

Ingredients

1 10 oz pizza crust
3/4 cup of refried beans
3 tablespoons of fat free salsa
2 tablespoons taco seasoning
1 1/2 cups of reduced fat mexican cheese blend
1 cup of ice berg lettuce
3 tablespoons of chopped scallions
1 cup of diced tomatoes

1. Preheat Oven to 400 degrees.

2. In a bowl mix together beans and taco seasoning. Spread onto pizza leaving about 1/2 inch
for the crust. Next spread 3 tablespoons of salsa on top of the beans and then layer on the
cheese.

3. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Layer on lettuce, tomatos,
and scallions. Serves 9 people.

Posted in 5 points +, Recipe Diaries Original, Weight Watcher Recipes | 2 Comments

Honey Mustard, Pretzel Coated Chicken Strips

Posted on January 18, 2012 by jgisvold

I found this recipe on pinterest and it was from Hungry Girl. I’m going to come right out and say this, but I’m not a very big fan of her. I’ve tried many of her recipes and thought that most of them lacked in flavor. I do however like to watch her on the Cooking Channel to get ideas. So, I thought I’d give this a try and sure enough it was kind of a flop. The idea of coating chicken in pretzels sounded really good to me and I thought the pretzel coating would make the chicken really crispy. WRONG. The honey mustard actually made the pretzels really soggy.

I think if I were to do this over again I’d just dip the chicken in flour first, then the eggs, and then the pretzels. The honey mustard sauce can be used for dipping. I made my own honey mustard sauce and it’s pretty easy. It’s just honey, dijon mustard, and vinegar. I had these chicken strips a long with this beautiful blood orange salad. The salad had lettuce, blueberries, blood orange, green onions, and walnuts in it.

Recipe adapted from Hungry Girl

349 calories | 2.5g fat | 39g carbs | 1g fiber | 37g protein
Points Plus: 8 (4 chicken strips)

Ingredients

10 oz. raw boneless skinless lean chicken breast, cut into 8 strips
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp. honey mustard
1/4 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute (like Egg Beaters Original)
20 standard-sized (not mini) hard salted thin pretzel twists
1 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. granulated sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray and set aside.

Season chicken strips with salt and pepper. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine honey mustard with egg substitute and whisk well. Submerge chicken in mustard-egg mixture, and set aside to marinate for at least 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, place pretzels in a sealable plastic bag, seal, and finely crush through the bag with a meat mallet or other heavy utensil. Add sugar, reseal, and shake to mix. Spread the mixture out on a large plate or in a large dish. Set aside.

Using tongs, transfer chicken strips to the pretzel-sugar mixture and thoroughly coat. Then transfer them to the baking sheet. (Discard excess mustard-egg mixture.) Mist the tops of the strips with nonstick spray. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, flipping chicken halfway through baking, until the chicken is cooked through.

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Posted in 8 points + | Leave a comment

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