Recipe Wednesday: Weight Watchers Taco Casserole

I am so excited about this recipe because I love love love me some Mexican food, as in I love it a whole lot! You will literally not ever know that this is a low calorie dish, it is so delicious! I found it on a diet website a while back and traced it back to a weight watchers recipe. Anyway it is absolutely delightful!!

Weight Watchers Taco Casserole Recipe

INGREDIENTS

1 pound ground skinless chicken breast

1/2 cup onions, chopped

1/2 cup bell peppers, chopped

1 clove garlic

1 package taco seasoning mix

8 ounces taco sauce

1 cup fat-free sour cream

1 cup fat-free cottage cheese

1 cup low-fat tortilla chips, whole or broken up

1 cup low-fat cheddar cheese, shredded

3/4 cup salsa

DIRECTIONS

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray cooking spray on bottom of a 2-quart casserole dish; set aside.

In a skillet, cook chicken, onion, peppers, and garlic clove until tender. Add seasoning mix and taco

sauce; set aside. In a medium bowl, combine sour cream and cottage cheese; set aside. Place

half the broken chips in the bottom of casserole dish. Add meat mixture to cover the chips, then

cover the meat with sour cream mixture. Sprinkle with cheese and remaining crushed chips.

Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until cheese has melted. Top with 3/4 cup salsa if desired.

Makes 8 servings (1 cup)

Nutritional Information Per Serving:

287 Calories; 4g Fat; 25g Protein; 34g Carbohydrate; 43mg Cholesterol; 2g Fiber;

Points Plus+ 7

This and some fresh Pico De Gallo, yummy!!! What other low calorie Mexican dishes do you know of, I would love to hear!

  

Memorial Day Weekend 2012

Well, how was every one's long weekend?! We had some beautiful weather which was such a nice touch! We had a fabulous time camping, there is something about sitting around a fire that is just so relaxing. The kids had an absolute blast digging for treasure, catching bugs, and playing soccer with their Papa. I have to say that they were probably dirtier than they have ever been though! Every night I gave them a good baby wipe rub down and those babies were BLACK by the time I was done! YIKES!!

But we had an amazing time with our friends and families and couldn't have asked for anything better.

Just a few pictures to share with you :)

Annnd as promised, our meal plan for the weekend with reviews of how it all was! Da-dun-na-na!!

Saturday

Breakfast: Egg Casserole -

Family Recipe that you make beforehand and refrigerate. Make Thursday night and was perfect on Saturday morning.

Lunch: Hot dogs, Hotlinks, Fruit Salad, Pasta Salad Pasta Salad Recipe

Made both the fruit salad and pasta salad on Thursday night before we left, both were great, threw the dressing on the pasta right before it was served and also added some habanero cheese to it. Yumm!

Dinner: Shrimp & Chicken Kabobs, Corn Salad Corn Salad Recipe

We actually did not end up having the corn salad although I still really want to make it! There was a great deal on corn on the cob so we had that instead. The kabobs were great I used This Recipe from a prior Recipe Wednesday.

Snacks: Chips, Pico de Gallo, pretzels
I don't know about you all but I LOVE LOVE me some fresh Pico de Gallo, made a huge batch and have some left over :)

Sunday

Breakfast: Breakfast Burritos Burrito Recipe , Orange Juice
These turned out fabulous!! I was a little worried because we made them on Thursday night and didn't eat them until Sunday so I wasn't sure if the tortilla would get mushy but it didn't! You definitely want to add the salsa though, we didn't and I was a little bummed.

Lunch: Picnic Sandwich Picnic Sandwich Recipe
This was definitely a different dish, I made the bruschetta filling on Thursday but didn't actually put it all together until Sunday because I was nervous about the bread being soggy from the tomatoes. Put it all together and it was good, not great but good.

Dinner: Chili & Cornbread White Chicken Chili Recipe

This was by far my favorite meal of the weekend, this chili was amazing!!! We had everything chopped up and ready to throw in a pot and let cook. I added extra red and green peppers and wish I would have added some Jalapenos too. It was amazing though, loved it!! In fact had the leftovers for dinner last night and lunch this afternoon, cant get enough of it!

Monday

Breakfast: Breakfast Sandwiches, Orange Juice
Pretty simple and delicious breakfast. croissants, egg, cheese, sausage. Yum.

Desserts

This was what I had posted Here last week with the cones, it didn't turn out as I had expected, the cones got burnt and the fillings didn't all melt together, still good and VERY VERY sweet. Going to try them again in a different way that I have not figured out yet.

Mini Marshmallows

Waffle Ice Cream Cones

Chocolate Chips

Butterscotch Chips

Bananas

Toffee

Coconut

Reeses pieces

Brownies

Like I said, overall a fabulous weekend, and even better that its a 4 day week this week :)

Chop, Chop, Chopper

Whoa!!

That is the only expression that makes sense after the food preparation that was last night! We had gotten a little bit of a later start so began prepping all of the food and was DETERMINED to get everything done! And holy messy kitchen!!

So when I got home last night around 7 we had this as our to-do for the evening:

1. Make Egg Casserole

2. Make Breakfast Burritos

3. Make Fruit Salad

4. Make Pasta Salad

5. Make sandwich filling

6. Make Marinade for shrimp & chicken

7. Chop all veggies for skewers, chili & hotdogs

8. Make corn bread

9. Make brownies

10. Make Pico De Gallo

11. Make Jalapeno Dip

Let me just tell you that having 10 things on your to make list is quite a few! It took us 5 hours to finally get everything cut up and ready in containers and packed in the trailer and that's with the lovely help from Russ!! Thank god for that man, couldn't have done it all without him! I had to keep reminding myself how thankful I will be all weekend when I have no chopping to do, because I will tell you what I do not wish to chop another onion or pepper for a week at least!

Tell me this breakfast burrito doesn't look absolutely amazing though!? Yumm!! So as I sit at work, Russ is at home getting everything packed up and we will hit the road at 5:30 sharp!Cant Wait!! Who else is excited for a 3 day weekend!? :)  Have a wonderful and safe weekend to you all!! 

Recipe Wednesday: Cilantro Lime Shrimp Salad

Welcome to Recipe Wednesday!!

We have made some fabulous dishes over the last week and it was a tough choice for Recipe Wednesday, however I choose a salad that I made based off of the Cilantro Lime Shrimp Recipe from Skinny Taste.com. This was the most fabulous salad that I have ever made, honestly!! It was super simple and super healthy!

Cilantro Lime Shrimp

Servings: 4 • Serving Size: 6 oz • Points: 4 pts
Calories: 197.3 • Fat: 4.1g • Protein: 35.9 g • Carb: 2.4 g • Fiber: 0.1 g

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 2 lb shrimp, shelled and deviened
• 6 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 lime
• salt and pepper

Heat a large frying pan on medium-high heat. Add oil to the pan, when hot add shrimp. Season with salt and pepper. When the shrimp is cooked on one side, about 2 minutes, turn over and add garlic. Sauté another minute or two until shrimp is cooked, careful not to overcook. Remove from heat. Squeeze lime all over shrimp and toss with cilantro.

 I paired this delicious shrimp with some romaine lettuce, diced red pepper, diced green pepper, yellow onion, roma tomatoes, and some roasted almonds.

I choose a honey lime dressing to balance out the lime and it turned out fabulous! 

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped

1 clove garlic

1/4 cup lime juice

1/3 cup honey

1/4 cup packed cilantro leaves

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Pour over and ENJOY!!! This was the most amazing salad ever!! Trust me :)

On another note, I was not patient enough yesterday to start stenciling our bedroom, so that will be tonight endeavor, will keep you all posted :)

XOXO Heidi

Recipe Wednesday

Hello hello !!

First of I want to give you a quick update on where the heck I have been since Vegas! You may have thought that I was left there ;) I was not, but we did have a fabulous time. However if you are planning to make a trip there I do NOT recommend staying at the Luxor, I actually will never probably step my foot in there again, just an FYI :) But it was great to get away and celebrate with our friends!

Since coming back to reality I feel like it has been a whirlwind of craziness, we have literally had something to do everyday it feels like....so now that I feel like maybe things are toning down (knock on wood), I NEED to blog!! Honestly!

Soo I have also been trying to do this lovely thing for my boyfriend every night called homemade dinners! I know, honestly what is that?! Buut I have come to the conclusion that I actually LOVE LOVE LOVE to cook and bake, especially when the fam likes it :) Soo in light if that I will be starting Recipe Wednesday! I will post my favorite recipe from the past week, I usually get them from aton of different blogs soo you will be able to find some other yummies! I dont know about you but I am ALWAYS on the hunt for new recipes, especially healthy ones. So for the first Recipe Wednesday I present....dun dun dun....

Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Courtesy of Delish.com

Servings
4-6
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 lb. ground chicken breast
2 tablespoons all natural or low-fat peanut butter
2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons low sodium teriyaki sauce
1 small can drained water chestnuts
1/2 chopped onion
Handful of cashew nuts
4-6 leaves romaine lettuce

 
Prep
1. In a pan, heat olive oil. Add ground chicken and brown; stir occasionally to separate the meat.
2. Add peanut butter, soy sauce; and teriyaki sauce to the chicken until well mixed.
3. Add water chestnuts, onion; and cashews.
4. After chicken is completely brown, let simmer for about five minutes; stirring every couple of minutes. Uncover and cook until a thick consistency.
5. Cool and serve on large lettuce leaves.

These literally are heaven, honestly, soooo yummy!! Sounds a little different with the ingredients but I promise, so very yummy and easy! Perfect for a weeknight! Let me know what you think!

xoxo Heidi

Catching Up & Moving On.

Hello, Hello!! Long time, no blog! Im not particularlly sure what happen but I was def. MIA for quite awhile here! So instead of going back to catch up we will start from where we are!!

So first off I have to say that it is only 2 days until my birthday! And only 7 days until I will be in Vegas!! I soo cannot wait for a little vacation! We're staying at the Luxor which none of us have ever stayed in soo we'll see how it goes, I am excited from the things I hear!! I have never been to Vegas so I literally am counting down hours, okay maybe not hours, at least not yet! But I am so so excited!! So if any of you know of anything that I just HAVE to do please tell me!! :)

Secondly, I got a Kitchen Aid Mixer for Christmas, you cannot imagine my excitement, I'm pretty sure I even sqealed when I opened it! SOO I had all of these things I had wanted to make and somehow have not been able to find ANY time for anything!! Finally this week I got some pretty ripe bananas and decided I was going to make Banana Bread. I have to say that I am in absolute love with this mixer, honestly!! I used this recipe Betty Crocker Banana Bread minus the nuts cause my honey doesnt like them, and it turned out fabulous!!



Anyone have any recipes that they love?! I am desperatly needing new recipes!! Also, If any of you know a website that you can type your recipes into and then print out the cards for your recipe box? I have ATON of recipes that I have printed out and such but they obviously are not really fitting in my recipe box and are by no means organized. I have been Pinteresting trying to find something so let me know if any of you know of anything!

Thirdly, How do you people feel about sequin dresses, such as this one?! Tacky or cute?! I bought for Vegas..not sure if I will wear it but stupid Forever 21 wont let me return.. >:/

Thoughts?!

Talk to you all soon, I will let you know how the Birthday Weekend goes! :)

xoxo



Dinner Dinner Dinner Time!

Okay fellow bloggers, I do not know about you all but I am totally into the fall crockpot mode! I dont really think I have ever fully taken advantage of the wonderful appliance that is the crockpot! You can seriously cook ANYTHING in that bad boy! You just put it in, turn it on in the morning, and viola! Dinner ready when you get home! It really is a beautiful thing! Soo with that...we have decided to try to menu plan better for multiple reasons really, but mainly we found ourselves not eating dinner until 8pm at night! Which is entirely too late, especially for the kids who then go to bed at 9pm. So this week I have to say has been HUGE success thus far and boy have I given my crockpot a workout!

I have to give HUGE kudos to http://www.crockpotgirls.com/ and my wonderful neighbor Heather who told me about them! They have dozens and dozens of recipes, I mean anything you can think of they have!
So on Tuesday we did the Chicken and Dumplings and might I just say it was AMAZING!! I love me some chicken and dumplings! The boyfriend had never in his life had it (i really dont know how thats possible) but he said it was good, although I dont think he loved it because he didnt eat much) but I thought it was great!
Here is the recipe:
http://crockpotgirls.com/recipes/main-dishes/chicken/chicken-and-dumplings/

Then last night we did Au Jus Sandwhiches - seriously soo simple and soo good!!

Let the roast cook all day, come home shred it up add some fried onions and some swiss cheese and ohhh man do you have a good sandwhich!

http://crockpotgirls.com/recipes/main-dishes/beef/au-jus-sandwiches/

Tonight steak Fajitas, but tomorrow Crock Pot Chili!

This menu planning thing is just waay too easy ;)

Have a good night everyone!

Ooh P.S. I will update you all with the exterior halloween extravaganza next week after we go to the pumpkin patch this weekend! :)