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 Back in Action!!

Who needs a recipe Wednesday in their life?!!? Anyone??

Well even if you don’t, here you go! :)

It was Russ's Mom's birthday on Saturday and soo as for any birthday the most important part is the cake, well maybe not the most important but it’s pretty far up the list, at least for this cake-loving girl!

Soo it was my job to make the cake, her favorite being banana cake. I don’t know if you have ever gone in search of a banana cake recipe, and honestly I don’t think I have ever even heard of it to make things even more interesting. I have however made banana bread and it seemed to me that all of the recipes that I found were more of banana bread recipes which just didn’t sound right to me, and then I stumbled upon this little gem of a recipe!

Light Hummingbird Chiquita Banana Cake Recipe

Chiquita Bananas, pineapple and nuts combine in this lighter version of the classic Southern favorite, Hummingbird cake.

Ingredients:

· 2 3/4 cup all-purpose Flour

· 1/2 tsp. Salt

· 1 1/2 tsp. Baking soda

· 1 tsp. Cinnamon

· 1 3/4 cups Sugar

· 1/2 cup Applesauce

· 1/2 cup Canola oil

· 3large Eggs

· 3ripe (yellow peel) Chiquita Bananas

· 1 cup fresh or canned crushed Pineapple with juice

· 1 cup chopped Nuts (walnuts or pecans), toasted if desired

· 1 tsp. Vanilla

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients

· 1(8-oz.) package Cream Cheese, softened

· 1/2 cup Butter, softened

· 1 lb. Powdered sugar

· 1/2 cup chopped Nuts (walnuts or pecans), toasted if desired

Instructions for: Best Light Hummingbird Chiquita Banana Cake Recipe

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray three 9-inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray. In a medium bowl combine flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon; set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl beat together the sugar, applesauce and oil. Add the eggs, one at a time, then until thick and light, about 4 minutes. Gently stir in the flour mixture. Fold in the bananas, pineapple, nuts and vanilla. Evenly divide the batter into the prepared cake pans. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake layers comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes, then remove cakes from pans and allow to cool completely on baking racks. Prepare cream cheese frosting by beating the cream cheese and butter together until light and fluffy. Gradually add in the powdered sugar; beat until light and fluffy. Place a teaspoon of frosting in the center of a cake serving plate, then center on cake layer on top of the frosting. This will help hold the cake in place. Brush off loose crumbs then frost the top of the cake layer. Repeat with the other two cake layers, then frost the sides of the cake. Smooth the top layer of frosting and sprinkle with nuts.

Lighter variation:
Decrease nuts to ½ cup. Bake cake in a tube pan at 325 degrees F for 40 to 50 minutes. Cool, remove from pan and dust with powdered sugar instead of the cream cheese frosting. Traditional variation: For the cake, omit applesauce and increase oil to 1 ½ cups. For the frosting increase the cream cheese to 16 oz.

Serving Suggestions:
Display cake on a glass pedestal cake stand.

Beverage Pairings:
Try with milk or a mug of your favorite coffee.

Nutrition Information Per Serving:

Calories 510; Total Fat 26 g (Sat 8 g, Trans 0 g, Poly 8 g, Mono 8 g); Cholesterol 70 mg; Sodium 210 mg; Potassium 180 mg; Total Carbohydrates 69 g; Dietary Fiber 2 g; Total Sugars 50 g; Protein 6 g. Percent Daily Value: Vitamin A 8%; Vitamin B6 8%; Vitamin C 6%; Vitamin D 0%; Calcium 4%; Iron 10%.

Try not to take a long look at the above nutrition facts or you will never make it, and I can assure you will be sorry because it is absolutely amazing!! I had nothing but comments on it at the party, and there was none left so I don’t think they were lying. :) Yummy yummy yummy, and really nothing beats a home-made cream cheese frosting!

 

Holy Cannoli!

If I had stayed away a little longer I may have forgotten I even had a blog!!! I have about a cazillion things to share with you!! I have been beyond busy these days and everytime I do something I always think to come show you all and somehow never make it here, so my deepest apologies!

First off - Hello Seattle?! You can not go from beautiful 80 degree weather for a week to a stinkin' tsunami!! You will drive us all away and be a lonely empty city, honestly though..
Being as it is Memorial Weekend this weekend (WOHOOO) I have been keeping a very good eye on our camping destination in dyer hope that it will not rain! I'm not even asking for warm weather, just that it please please please not rain! So far it is looking hopeful, depending on which news site you look at..I'm going with the sunniest looking one :)

So like I said we are going camping and I have some amazing tips and delicious treats for those of you that are doing the same!

      1. Plan Ahead!!
          I don't know about you all but I am not a HUGE fan of going to cook something every 2 hours when I am supposed to be relaxing with a fruity drink in my hand, nor do I really care to eat hot dogs and hamburgers for every camping meal just because it is easy. So this time I have taken the liberty to planning every meal and preparing it ahead of time so that once we get to the camping destination everything is premade and will just need to be cooked. Meaning not just hot dogs and hamburgers, actual delicious food and no chopping, cutting, or extra dishes!! You really have no idea how excited I am about this. I do realize that Thursday night before we leave I will want to die from cooking exhaustion but I feel like it will all be worth it when I am relaxing with a delicious beverage! :) I will post our menu and how it all works out next week., but here is a sneak of one of the meals.

      2. Be Organized!
          Since we will be taking two three year olds with us camping in the middle of the woods it really is imperative that we not forget anything! Soo I am known for making lists for lists for lists and I am happy to report that Russ is also a list maker and made the entire camping list right down to how many sweatshirts to pack, how much bug spray and sun tan lotion (I told you I am hopeful for the 77 degrees). Love that man!! So all I had to do was be in charge of the food portion and the actual packing of the clothes, toiletries, etc. so that all he has to do is load everything up. But let me tell you with organized lists, packing should take an hour tops!

    3. Yummy Treat!
         Okay, do not get me wrong I love me a traditional s'more, especially because we have been dieting and haven't had a delicious yummy in quite some time soo I am soo looking forward to it! But I saw these amazing little buggars on Pinterest and could not wait to go camping so we can try it out!

I mean you are kidding right?!

Doesnt that look amazing!?

YUMM!

   CampFire Cones

I REALLY am SO excited!!! It is Friday yet!?!? Ooh only Tuesday, BOOO!!

What are your Memorial Day Weekend Plans, Family Traditions, Camping?!!? What do you have going on?! Any other camping tips when going with kids!?

Delayed Recipe Wednesday!

Recipe Thursday this week sorry everyone! I started a new job this week so its been a little bit hectic trying to get all adjusted to the new schedule! On a side note though, I LOVE my new job, like alot!! The people are wonderful, the office is beautiful, I couldn’t be happier. So that’s very exciting for us! The boyfriend and I get to carpool which is soo nice! What is not nice however is the traffic in downtown Seattle! I mean 20 minutes to go 2 blocks, its craziness!! Annndd who are these people that want to cut

you off after you have been patiently, and man patiently, okay, well while screaming at people through the windshield, waiting for 10 minutes in the same spot!!! Like, really you have got to be kidding me!! Whoa, okay sorry just needed to do a little ranting there :)

Anyways, recipe for this week was a bit of a shocker for me. It was a recipe that I was a little skeptical about for what reason I am not entirely sure but, I was. I more was making it as a filler because we had all the ingredients, but it actually turned out to be fantastic!

I found on the lovely Pinterest and was linked back to a site that I have grown to REALLY love, I have posted a majority of Recipe Wednesdays from there actually, but never even looked at this one! So from Skinnytaste.com I present.....

Stuffed Pepper Soup
Skinnytaste.com
Servings: 6 • Size: 1 1/3 cups soup, 1/2 cup rice • Old Points: 5 pts • Points+: 7 pts
Calories: 261.2 • Fat: 4.8 g • Carb: 37.5 g • Fiber: 4.7 g • Protein: 17.6 g • Sugar: 6 g
Sodium: 606.3 g (without salt)


Ingredients:

· 3 cups cooked brown rice

· 1 lb 95% lean ground beef

· 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper

· 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper

· 1 cup finely diced onion

· 3 cloves garlic, chopped

· 2 cans (14.5 oz each) cans petite diced tomatoes

· 1 3/4 cups tomato sauce

· 2 cups reduced sodium, fat-free chicken broth

· 1/2 tsp dried marjoram

· salt and fresh pepper to taste

Directions:

In a large pot or dutch oven, brown ground meat on high heat and season with salt. Drain fat if any, reduce heat to medium-low, then add peppers, onions and garlic. Cook about 5 minutes on low heat.

Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, chicken broth, marjoram and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and simmer on low heat for 30 minutes. Serve about 1 1/3 cups of soup in each bowl and top with 1/2 cup cooked brown rice.

Soo just a few substitutions I made, we don’t eat regular ground beef so I used ground turkey instead. And then as I was getting the canned tomatoes out, I realized I forgot to grab tomato sauce, soo I just used marinara sauce, perhaps not AS healthy but it worked!! And this soup was amazing!! Topped with brown rice...mmm mmm!! Next time though I think I am just going to cook the brown rice in the soup itself, they have to cook for the same amount of time so I think it would be okay, we'll see, I will keep you posted when I try it! I seriously love brown rice, in fact I couldn’t even tell you the last time I had white rice, and it’s just not the same! Highly recommend, annd aton of leftovers for lunch :)

How is everyone’s week going?? Any recipes I should try for the weekend?! I am on the search for an award winning appetizer recipe and a shot recipe for an upcoming party, suggestions would sooo help!! :)

xoxoxo Heidi

Recipe Wednesday: Roasted Tomatoes with Shrimp and Feta !!

Time again for the Recipe of the week!! I knew this one Hands Down this week, it was fabulous!! Something a little different than I have ever made before, which I don't know why because it was incredibly simple!! Soo without further ado-

Roasted Tomatoes with Shrimp and Feta

From www.realsimple.com

Serves 6| Hands-On Time: 15m | Total Time: 40m

Ingredients

• 5 large tomatoes, cut into eighths
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 1 1/2 pounds medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 cup Feta, crumbled
• crusty bread, for serving

Directions

1. Heat oven to 450° F. Place the tomatoes in a large baking dish and spoon the olive oil and garlic over them.
2. Sprinkle with ¾ teaspoon each salt and pepper and toss. Roast on top rack of oven for 20 minutes.
3. Remove baking dish from oven and stir in the shrimp, parsley, and lemon juice. Sprinkle with the Feta.
4. Return the dish to oven until the shrimp are cooked through, 10 to 15 minutes. Serve warm with the bread.

So we are dieting so I opted out for the bread, even though I REALLY REALLY wanted some!! We just had a side salad along with it and it was fantastic!! Very, very simple, just roast the tomatoes and add everything else afterwards! Def one of my new favs!! :)

Let me know if you all try it out?!

XOXOX Heidi