Low-Fat Cake with Nutella Buttercream

Okay, so this is a cake that kind of cancels itself out, sort of the fries with Diet Coke theory ;-) But in my defense, it's overall pretty healthy and I only made half a buttercream frosting, so it's a thin layer of that. Not so bad, right?

I saw both recipes on Pinterest and thought they'd be more fun together ;-)

The cake recipe is from Dr. Oz and is insanely simple. I found that using a name-brand cake mix (Pillsbury) produced a denser cake than store brand, so next time I use name-brand, I'll add a tiny bit more water. Also, the Dr Oz version called for plain Greek Yogurt, but I thought vanilla would add a tiny bit more flavor (and I was right ;-). I use Yoplait's, but there are a ton out there to choose from.

Low-Fat Devil's Food Cake

1 box Devil's Food Cake Mix
1 container Vanilla Greek Yogurt
1 cup water

Preheat oven according to package directions (I use a 13 by 9 pan and did 350 degrees). Spray pan with cooking spray. Mix all three ingredients, pour into pan. Bake according to package directions. Cool, then frost.

Nutella Buttercream Frosting (half batch)

1 stick butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup Nutella spread
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon heavy cream

Cream butter and sugar in a stand mixer or with an electric mixer until thoroughly mixed and light yellow in color. Add nutella, mix thoroughly. Add vanilla, then cream, and mix until combined. Frost :-)

That's it! It's easy and quick and a HUGE hit with my kids. Also, delicious with coffee for breakfast--something I know from personal experience ;-)

Shirley

189 Calorie Dessert, Free Online Read

It's a busy summer here for me! Not only do I have three ebooks out this summer (THE BRIDE WORE CHOCOLATE, THE DEVIL SERVED DESIRE and THE ANGEL TASTED TEMPTATION) but also three print books (ONE DAY TO FIND A HUSBAND, HOW THE PLAYBOY GOT SERIOUS and RETURN OF THE LAST MCKENNA (those are Kindle links but the books will be in paperback in stores too; look for Finn's book in stores now). The McKenna brothers were a blast to write, and I'm thrilled to add to their stories with a FREE online read featuring cousin Alec.

So, stop on by once a week (and I'll post the links here and on my Facebook author page as well each week) and see if Alec makes it right with his high school sweetheart in McKenna Homecoming.

This weekend, I tried out a 189-calorie cake for dessert. FABULOUS and really easy! It combines my favorite ingredients--peanut butter and chocolate, and ooooh, Reese's! I found the recipe here, and already pinned it on my Pinterest board, too! :-)

And one more piece of news--if you missed the latest edition of my newsletter, click here to read it online. Lots of news to share--I think I'm going to need a summer break from my summer! :-)

Shirley

Chipotle Pork and Low-Fat Creamed Spinach

I love Cooking Light magazine. It's one of my must-buys at the grocery store, and I have both Apps for my phone and iPad :-). Tonight I had two recipes from them that were a hit!

Anyway, when I saw this Chipotle Pulled Pork recipe in the February 2012 issue, I had to try it. My family doesn't like things super hot, though, so I only used two chipoltes, instead of the three in the recipe. It's one of those recipes that you have to plan ahead for--it marinates for an hour and cooks for 2 1/2 but it was great. If you can't find a Pork Shoulder that small, just cut the one you buy and freeze it (I got a 3-pound one and put half away for another dinner). The recipe says 300-odd calories a serving, but I found it made enough servings for 6, not four, so I get less than that calories per serving.

I also love Creamed Spinach--when it's homemade, not in a can or from a freezer package (eww). I've made a low-fat version before (that I used to make high fat, LOL) but this one looked awesome. And it definitely didn't disappoint! It's only 102 calories a serving, so not bad at all!

I served this with mashed sweet potatoes--just baked them and mashed them with a little honey, some cinnnamon and a dash of salt--a healthy, really good dinner all around :-) I can see using the Chipotle Pork to make pulled pork nachos...though that might undo all the low-cal goodness I had tonight! ;-)

Enjoy!

Shirley

Yummy Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cookies

I was in a cooking mood today! I made monkey bars (from a recent issue of Woman's Day), 7 quarts of homemade chicken stock (more on that in another post), my Creamy Wild Rice and Mushroom Soup and White Chicken Chili. I had already made Tyler Florence's Ultimate Roast Chicken (two chickens) so that produced all the stuff for the stock. I'll write about the chicken in another post.

But because I'm the kind of girl who believes in dessert first, LOL, I made these low-fat Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cookies from Cooking Light's Annual Recipes for 2009.

They. Were. Amazing.

I love peanut butter, I love chocolate (I'm a pushover for a Reese's) and this was PERFECT. Just the right amount of everything, and best of all, they're only 96 calories a cookie. Several steps involved, but you can do a lot of the frosting prep while the cookies are baking and cooling.

Cooking Light's Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cookies

Cookies:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon regular salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/4 cup low-fat milk

2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Icing:

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, divided

3 1/2 tablespoons low-fat milk, divided

2 tablespoons half and half (I used lowfat), divided

3 tablespoons creamy peanut butter

1 ounce chocolate chips

1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Either line two cookies sheets with parchment paper or spray them with non-stick spray.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt, stirring well. In a mixer, combine sugar, peanut butter, butter, eggs and beat at medium speed about 2 minutes. Add 1/4 cup milk, then add eggs, one at a time, until well blended. Add vanilla. Then add flour to sugar mixture and beat on low until well mixed. This is a thin-ish dough, not at all thick like chocolate chip cookie dough. That's okay--it makes light, fluffy cookies.

Put dough mixture into a big zip-type bag. Snip off a 1/2 inch on one corner, then pipe 1 1/2 inch circles onto the cookie sheets (makes about 36, so 18 cookies per sheet). Bake at 375 for 11 minutes (mine took 12 1/2). Cool for 1 minute on the pans, then remove to wire racks and let cool completely.

To prepare icing: in a bowl, stir together 3/4 cup of the powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons of milk, 1 tablespoon of cream and peanut butter. It should be thin, but not runny (you can always add a tad more milk or powdered sugar to get the right consistency). Put it into a quart-size zip-type bag. In another bowl, melt the chocolate chips in the microwave at 30-second intervals, until almost melted. Stir until smooth. Add remaining 3/4 cup of confectioners' sugar, 1 1/2 tablespoons of milk, 1 tablespoon of cream and cocoa (add extra liquid if necessary). Stir well, then put the chocolate icing into a separate quart-size zip-type bag.

When the cookies are COMPLETELY cool, you can ice them. Snip off a small corner of the peanut butter icing, then drizzle on the cookies. Do the same with the chocolate. Let stand until icing is set (about 10 minutes).

Eat. :-)

Shirley

Beer Battered Fish and Onion Rings with Low-Fat Tartar Sauce

My son pronounced this my "best dinner ever." I think it's because I put Red Robin seasoning on the fries and onion rings, LOL (I baked up some fries too, but they weren't on my plate, hence, not in the photo). And yes, I made a vegetable, too, but it was just broccoli, so I didn't put it in the picture.

I was going to make baked fish. Then realized I had all the ingredients for beer batter, and a hankering for some fried food. So I made this, and made the low-fat tartar sauce to kinda offset the calories (it's the Big Mac and Diet Coke theory ;-).

Beer Battered Fish

1 pound of cod or other whitefish
1 12-ounce bottle of beer
2 cups of flour, divided

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
more salt and pepper

Canola oil

Heat about an inch of the oil in a thick bottomed pan to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Also preheat the oven to 200 degrees and put a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet.

Cut the cod into two-inch pieces. Mix the beer and 1 1/2 cups of flour in a bowl. Add salt, pepper and garlic powder. In a separate bowl, mix the remaining 1/2 cup flour with some salt and pepper to season it.

Dredge the fish in the beer batter, then shake gently to remove the big bits of batter. Dredge in the flour. Fry, a few pieces at a time, about 4 minutes per side, turning once. Remove and drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with salt while it's still hot. While other pieces are cooking, put the first pieces on the cookie sheet and into the oven, to keep them warm.

When the cod is done, if you happen to have a sweet white onion (like a Vidalia), cut into 1/2 inch rings, dredge in the batter (skip the flour), then fry, about 3 minutes per side. You might need to add more oil and reheat the oil to 375 before cooking the onions. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with salt.

For the low-fat Tartar Sauce, mix 1 small container plain yogurt with 3 tablespoons relish (I used my zucchini relish :-), a dash of hot sauce, a little lemon juice, and a tablespoon or so of lite mayonnaise to thicken it.

Shirley

Baked Coconut Chicken Nuggets

I've had two dinner winners this week, according to my youngest. This recipe, Baked Coconut Chicken Nuggets served with a cherry chutney (leftover from another dinner) was a huge hit. My oldest was disappointed not to find any leftovers the next day. Everyone had at least two helpings, maybe more. They are sweet, but not too sweet, and let me use up a lot of the buttermilk from the Ultimate Chicken and Dumplings (why doesn't buttermilk come in tiny containers, like heavy cream????).

These ones are quick and easy, and if you don't have cherry chutney, I'd recommend any other kind of sweet topping--cherry preserves, a raspberry chutney, whatever you have on hand. The sweetness really made the dish and made me think of the amazing Monte Christo sandwiches I used to get at Magic Pan a thousand years ago. That restaurant is no longer there, sob sob, but they made a great sandwich and awesome pea soup.

Anyway, I digress ;-)

Baked Coconut Chicken Fingers

(note: the chicken marinates for an hour so leave time for that)

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch strips (a tip: freeze your meat for a half hour before slicing it. You'll get much cleaner cuts and with less effort!)

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1/2 cup flour

2 eggs, beaten

3/4 cup Panko breadcrumbs

3/4 cup sweetened coconut flakes

1 teaspoon garlic powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon curry powder (which I was out of, so I used this substitute: a dash of cumin, coriander and tumeric)

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Combine chicken and buttermilk in a shallow dish or zip-type bag. Chill ONE HOUR. Then drain chicken.

Preheat oven to 475 degress. Place baking sheet in the oven to get it nice and hot. In three bowls (I prefer pie plates), put flour in first one, beaten eggs in second, and all remaining ingredients in third. Dredge the chicken in flour, then eggs, then coconut mixture.

Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray. Lay chicken on hot cookie sheet, in a single layer. Bake at 475 for 6-8 minutes, turning once, until done.

Serve with a cherry chutney :-)

Shirley

OMG Good Spicy Shrimp Salad

You know how you make some things and you're actually sad, knowing that you will finish the plate and it'll be all gone? That's how I felt about this salad I made for lunch. OMG, so good, and definitely worth the little bit of prep work.

A tip--don't skimp. Fresh herbs are super cheap at farmer's markets right now (as are shallots and garlic). Once you start cooking from fresh, you'll notice a huge difference. This is one of those dishes that demands fresh because it creats a flavor explosion in your mouth.

This is from an Emeril recipe. The original made 4 servings, but it was just me today, so I edited it to fit one full plate.

Spicy Thai Shrimp Salad

1 cup mixed greens (I hate iceberg lettuce and used mixed greens)

1/4 medium cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced
1 mango, peeled, seeded and sliced (the recipe called for one mango total but I love mangos so I used a whole one for one serving)
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice (about half a lime)
1 tablespoon minced shallots
1 teaspoon fish sauce
4 teaspoons Palm sugar, or light brown sugar (and here's where I diverted...I put half in the dressing, half on the shrimp. I also didn't have Palm sugar so I used light brown)
1 small clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, divided
1/2 teaspoon minced Serrano chilies
2-3 tablespoons peanut oil or vegetable oil
1/4 pound medium shrimp, peeled
1/2 teaspoon Emeril's Essence
dash salt
1 tablespoon chiffonade fresh mint, garnish

Lay the lettuce leaves across a large platter. Arrange the cucumber, mango slices and shallots over the lettuce.

In a blender, combine the lime juice, 2 teaspoons of the brown/Palm sugar, shallots, fish sauce, garlic, 1/2 of the minced cilantro, chiles. (Emeril called for adding the oil here; I didn't. I kept the dressing low fat). Blend on high speed until well combined and the sugar is dissolved.

In a bowl, toss the shrimp with the Essence, salt, and remaining sugar to coat. Heat a wok or large, heavy, skillet over high heat. Add the oil and when very hot, add the shrimp and sear until cooked through, about 2 minutes per side. Remove from the pan.

Arrange the shrimp decoratively over the greens and mango and drizzle with the dressing. Garnish with the mint and reserved cilantro and serve.

SOOOOOOO good. Very fresh and very yummy. I only used a 1/2 teaspoon of Essence...I don't like it highly spicy.

Shirley

Tuscan Pork Tenderloin & Roasted Potatoes

While I was doing the Jillian Michaels diet thing, I kind of fell out of the whole cooking mode. Then I tried a few new recipes, and had some friends over for Cinco de Mayo (still paying for all those margaritas, LOL), and when I was talking to my friend Julie Sellers, who loves to cook (and did a great cooking challenge in September), I decided to try a cooking challenge of my own--me and Julie, each trying some new and/or cool dishes in the coming month.

I had a copy of the annual collected recipes of Cooking Light magazine, and had a bunch of cool new ingredients I wanted to try, so I tried two new recipes today.

Yummy. That was pretty much the only word I spoke, LOL. Both were big hits! I improvised on a couple of ingredients, so this is what my version ended up being (rather than their original). I served these with roasted green beans.

Tuscan Pork Tenderloin


4 teaspoons olive oil, divided
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
2 large shallots, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, minced
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 pounds pork tenderloin (I divided mine into two one-pound portions)


Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Combine 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, the vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and shallots. Spread them along the roasting pan. (I drizzled in a little extra oil because it didn't seem to be enough).



Combine remaining oil, salt, rosemary, then add the lemon rind, lemon juice, fennel, pepper and garlic. Rub this mixture over the pork tenderloin, then arrange it in the pan on top of the shallot mixture. Roast at 500 degrees for 30 minutes or until a meat thermometer registers 155 degrees. Let stand 10 minutes, then serve.


Roasted Garlic Mustard Potatoes


3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
1 clove garlic, minced
7 cloves garlic, unpeeled
3 pounds small red potatoes, quartered
3 tablepoons minced scallion (or chives)
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, minced garlic and unpeeled cloves (these will be roasted and later used, so they go in the pan now), and potatoes. Toss well to coat, and put in a roasting pan. Roast for 1 hour, stirring at 30 minutes.


Remove potatoes from oven. Take out whole garlic cloves and press out the garlic pulp (I gripped the teeny end with my fingers and used tongs to squeeze them because they were hot. The pulp just slips out of the skin). Mix with all remaining ingredients, then toss potatoes in the mustard mixture. Serve :-)


I'm dying to see what Julie comes up with this week :-)


Shirley

Worth the Effort: Ricotta Gnocchi

Sometimes, you just have to go that extra step. I have two recipes (coming up this week on the blog, I'll have Peking Pork, which hands-down was the best Chinese Food recipe I've made, because it came closest to being like what you order in a restaurant) and then this YUMMY Ricotta Gnocchi.

My kids loved it SO much, they were eating it FROM THE PAN before I even finished the dish off. I couldn't keep their little paws away from these. Truth be told, I was having a hard time resisting, too. ;-) Seriously, look at those little buggers. Don't they look like pillows of yum?


Since these take some time and effort (it's not hard, it's just time, that's all), I made them when I was roasting chicken (I actually roasted two chickens, one for that night, one for later, to make homemade stock for Chicken Noodle Soup, a request from my teen daughter, who has been bugging me to make it for weeks). So pick a night when you know you'll be in the kitchen anyway (in my case, basting the chicken--the one chicken for that night was the Autumn Roast Chicken from the Betty Crocker cookbook).

Ricotta Gnocchi

2 cups ricotta cheese (I used low-fat, and it worked out fine)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups Parmesan cheese, grated and divided (don't use that stuff in a can, use the real stuff...a tip, you can shred this in a Braun hand blender kind of thing, with the small food processer attachment)
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 stick butter

In a large bowl, stir together ricotta, eggs, 1 cup of the cheese, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Add flour until a soft, wet dough forms. It'll be sticky, but that's okay.

Start six quarts of water on the stove, in a pasta pot. Get it boiling, then add three tablespoons of salt.

Shape dough on a floured breadboard, with floured hands, into two 1-inch thick ropes. They'll be about 18 inches long, so you'll need a big breadboard. Using a floured knife (just dip your knife into the flour ;-), cut into one-inch pieces and lay pieces, not touching, on floured parchment paper.

Add gnocchi, a little at a time, to the boiling water, stirring occassionaly. Cook for about 4 minutes, until cooked through. You can cut them and taste to see if they're done, but I found that once they all pop to the top, it takes about 1 more minute of cooking and they're done. Remove them with a slotted spoon or spider, and place in a colander.

Place the butter in a large saucepan and cook it over medium-low heat for about ten minutes (while you're cooking the gnocchi). When the gnocchi are done in the pasta water, fry them in the butter until they're golden brown, about 7 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese and serve.

I really loved these and wished I'd made more . They were well worth the effort, and next time, I think I'll get the kids involved, especially since they liked them so much.

Coming up this week: Orange Beef and Broccoli, Peking Pork, Pad Thai (we had an Asian theme again at my house!), and Apple-Feta Salad. Not sure yet what else is on my menu ;-)

Shirley

Turkey Burgers & Macaroni with a Twist

I love to try and jazz things up a bit by twisting a recipe or finding a new twist on an old favorite. In a recent issue of the Rachael Ray magazine, they had a bunch of apple recipes, and a few ground turkey recipes.

Well, just in time for that, one of my local markets put ground turkey on sale. And since I'm on this "forcing the family to eat healthy" kick (I know, I'm an evil mother), I decided to try this, along with a new mac-and-cheese, so I could ease them into the healthy thing (kind of like serving an apple with a chocolate cake ;-). But I did use low-fat milk and low-fat cheese in the mac-and-cheese, and no one noticed.


I tweaked the recipe of the Apple-Cheddar Turkey Burgers a little bit. It called for English muffins, which I didn't have, but I did have an overabundance of hamburger buns from a recent cookout, so we had those instead. It also called for Granny Smith apples, which I despise, so I had Golden Delicious instead. And I forgot the lettuce on the bottom, but it was good without. Everything else I followed to the letter, and we ate EVERY single one of these (FYI, this recipe made 8 turkey burgers for me. They must have been massive burgers in the test recipe, because I have no idea how they only got four out of it). I also used a different mustard because I knew that grainy mustard wouldn't go over well with the kids. Too much kick to that one.

So my turkey burger layers were:

Honey mustard on the bun (I didn't bother following the directions of mixing it with the cranberry sauce)
Whole-berry cranberry sauce
1 slice Golden Delicious apple (the recipe calls for three, but they must have cut them super thin, thinner than I could get mine)
1 slice sharp cheddar cheese
turkey burger (made as directed in the recipe, with parsley, scallions, grill seasoning and poultry seasoning)
all on a toasted hamburger bun :-)


I served it with a bit of a twist on mac-and-cheese that I came across in one of those ads for cheese. This one was good, but not kick-butt. I think it was the cloves that pushed it out of the realm of really good. If you took those out of the mix, which I think I will next time, I'd give it two thumbs-up. Since they don't have it on their website, I'll put it here:

Kerrygold Mac and Cheese

1 pound macaroni (I used penne), cooked and drained
4 tablespoons butter, melted
3/4 cup onion, diced
pinch of sugar
4 tablespoons flour
3 cups milk
1 cup heavy cream (I used half and half because that's what I had )
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
1 cup swiss, grated
1 1/2 cups Dubliner cheese, grated (I didn't have that, so I just used more cheddar)
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup breadcrumbs

Over medium heat in saucepan, melt butter, add onions and sugar, and season with salt. Cook until onions are translucent. Add flour and cook 2 to 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Whisk in milk and cream, bring to a simmer, add bay leaf and cloves (again, I thought the cloves gave it a weird smell and taste, so I would skip them). Reduce burner to low, simmer for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove bay leaf. Add all but one cup of the cheese, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix cheese sauce with pasta and spoon into a casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese, then breadcrumbs. Bake at 375 for 8 to 10 minutes or until bubbly and slightly browned on top.

That's it! They were both a big hit with my family (no one in my family said anything about the mac-and-cheese, and it was all eaten, so maybe it was just me on the clove thing). Anyway, the burgers were a huge hit. If you have apples you want to use, this and the upcoming recipes I have this week are a great option to use them up!

Shirley

Healthy Veggie Side Dishes

In my quest to get my kids to eat veggies that they'll actually like, I'm getting more and more inventive ;-). This week, the recipes are all about healthy sides and meals that I tried and had success with (well, there was one that didn't go over so well, and for the life of me I can't even remember what it was, but whatever meal that was, I didn't save the recipe). So, today I've got a zucchini and a potato recipe, but coming up this week I've got a pasta with broccoli, mushrooms and black olives, a really YUMMY baked apple recipe, a bit of a twist on macaroni and cheese, and a turkey burger that had fruit toppings (and that my kids actually ate!) so look for those recipes later on this week.


Both of the recipes I have for today are SUPER easy, BTW:


Parmesan Garlic Zucchini


2 medium zucchini, cubed
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon Kosher salt (my preferred cooking salt)
3/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup fresh Parmesan cheese, shredded

Heat oil and butter over medium heat until butter is melted. Add zucchini and cook for six or seven minutes, or until squash is tender-crisp. Add garlic and spices, and cook another two to four minutes, or until zucchini is done. Just before serving, top with cheese.



This second recipe is from a recent issue of the Rachael Ray magazine (I love this magazine, though I probably only make about a third of the recipes. Some are just too odd, at least in my opinion).

Italian Smashed Potatoes (original recipe linked here)

2 pounds red potatoes (the recipe says to halve them, I didn't do that, because my potatoes were small)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (the original recipe calls for adding more EVOO to each serving of potatoes. These were yummy without oiling up people's potatoes on their plates, so I didn't do that either)
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

In large saucepan, cover potatoes with enough cold water to cover them by one inch. Bring to a boil and cook until fork tender, about 20 minutes. Drain and return to pot. Smash them with the back of a large spoon, then stir in the olive oil and salt and pepper.

I served these two sides with cod, which my eldest hated, but DH and I loved :-). Can't please everyone. The kids did love both these side dishes, though, and we had very little leftovers!

Shirley

Dried Cherry Scones Recipe

Experimenting with recipes is one of those things that keeps me out of trouble ;-) I came across a recipe for Dried Cherry Scones and tried it the regular way then decided to experiment and make it even lower in calories and fat...

And it was still awesome.

Try this one:

Dried Cherry Scones

2 3/4 cups low-fat baking mix (like Bisquick)
1/4 cup Splenda
1/2 cup dried cherries
1/2 teaspoon Splenda
8 ounces cherry low-fat or fat free yogurt (I used Very Cherry Fat Free Yoplait)
1 tablespoon sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix cherries with 1/2 teaspoon Splenda. Let sit while you mix the Bisquick with the 1/4 cup Splenda. I mix it with a fork to get all the clumps out. Stir in cherries, add yogurt and mix until moistened. Turn out onto a floured (don't use Bisquick for this part, use flour) breadboard and knead four or five times by hand.

Spray Pam onto a cookie sheet. Spread dough out into a 9-inch circle on cookie sheet. Cut into 10 or 12 slices--without cutting all the way through the dough--just basically scoring it. Sprinkle with sugar and then bake for 16 to 20 minutes or until lightly browned.

Yummy for breakfast

Shirley

Oh yeah, the Beef Stroghanoff Recipe!

I totally forgot to post this, even though it's been on a BRIGHT PINK post-it on my desk.

Lower-Fat and Calorie Beef Stroghanoff (and hey, if I spelled that word wrong, too bad, it's a blog, not a spelling test ;-)

1 lb. beef, cut into 1-inch chunks (I used a cheap cut of steak
2 tablespoons low-fat margarine or butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 can beef broth (whatever the size is that's the smaller one)
1 package onion soup mix
2 small cans sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup fat free sour cream (I like Breakstones the best)
16 ounces egg noodles, cooked (I used whole wheat ones)

Brown the beef on all sides, then remove from the pan. Melt the margarine, add the flour and make a roux. Add salt and pepper, stir in broth gradually with a whisk, boil for one minute until thickened. Add onion soup mix and mushrooms. Re-add beef and re-heat. When noodles are done and beef is done, add the sour cream at the very end, then serve over the noodles. Easy and quick.

If you can't tell already, I'm all about easy and quick dinners ;-) I'm not one to spend ten hours in my kitchen. I have books to write, after all ;-)

Shirley

Lasagna and Losing Pounds

Down nine pounds so far. Kinda stuck there, but I think it's the no-gym thing. Too much time spent poring over the "Lost" puzzles. The kids and I got the first one done, glued it together, then started the second one. You have to have a black light to read what's on the back, which we don't possess (who owns a black light??) so DD is going to ask her science teacher if he has one we can borrow. I'm thinking it might be something we can buy at the store, so when we get the three puzzles done (the fourth isn't out yet), we might buy one.

Today is a day out of the office. I get to go out to lunch. For me this is a VERY BIG DEAL. Big caps, because I don't leave this place too often during the day, except to shop, write in a coffee shop, or grab the kids. That means I don't see other grown-ups too much during the day. Or I might see them, but not actually talk to them ;-). So, going out to lunch is a VBD. Having time off at all lately is a VBD. :-)

Of course, I didn't last long not writing. I try so hard to get busy with anything other than typing. But, my laptop came home, all repaired. I left it on the table, in the box mind you, trying really hard to pretend I didn't even see it. Kept working on my puzzle. Thought of the closets I should be cleaning out. Made a list of things I should be doing. Came back to just look at the laptop. Turned it on to make sure everything worked, even though I'd read the work order and the little checked off boxes of what had been repaired.

Then I had to see if Microsoft Word worked. Even though it wasn't part of the repair order (it was the power cord that had been fixed...but you never know if they messed with Word, right?). By the end of the day, I was writing something new.

My name is Shirley and I am a writing addict.

I did make a new dish this week. A low-calorie, low-fat lasagna. It's good. It's not the real thing, but it was okay. And hey, I'm losing some LBs here (pounds :-), so I can wait for the real thing.

Turkey-Spinach Lasagna

1 pound ground turkey

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1/2 teaspoon Basil

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped pepper

10 ounces frozen spinach, defrosted

1 box whole wheat lasagna, cooked and drained

15 ounces low-fat Ricotta cheese

12 ounces fat-free cottage cheese

1/4 cup fresh Parsley, chopped

1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese

1 egg

1/2 cup fat-free mozarella cheese, grated

1 jar Light Ragu spagetti sauce (or make your own, if you want)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Saute garlic, onions and peppers. Add turkey and spices and brown. In a separate bowl, mix cheeses, parsley and egg. Layer Ragu, lasagna noodles, cheese and repeat (I ended up doing four layers, I think), with a layer of noodles and remaining sauce on top. Top with extra mozzarella and Parmesan. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 15 minutes or until bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

It was, as I said, pretty good. I like spinach a lot, and this was a nice way to get some low-fat cheese in there. By mixing the low-fat with the fat-free, it didn't feel like it was missing anything. I think I might use turkey sausage next time, to get some more kick in it, and I'd add mushrooms, because I like mushrooms :-) My kids hate them, so I always get all theirs ;-)

Tomorrow, I'll share my Low-Fat Beef Stroghanoff.

Have a great day!

Shirley

So Far So Good!

Three pounds down as of this morning! And that's even after having eight little chocolate balls and one Nestle Crunch chocolate bell last night. Chocolate...thy name is temptation ;-)

So my first week was a good one, overall, despite a couple of setbacks. Last night for dinner, I made a really good chicken recipe. Very moist, if I do say so myself! Another hit with the kids. We were supposed to go out to Applebee's, but my head still wasn't cooperating and it was raining like you wouldn't believe, so we stayed home and had chicken. Again. :-) [No points available on these ones, since I made them up. Sorry!]

Lazy Broccoli Cheese Chicken Recipe

6 chicken breasts
1 10 3/4-ounce can 98% fat-free broccoli cheese soup
1/3 cup low-fat milk
1/2 cup low-fat cheese
bread crumbs
Cooking spray (i.e., Pam)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. I took frozen chicken breasts (you know the kind that come in a bag? I got the ones from Wal-Mart, which were on sale, and they were actually very good). Cooked them at 350 degrees for 30 minutes on a cookie sheet lined with foil, then put them in a baking dish. Mixed one can of 98% fat-free broccoli cheese soup with 1/3 cup low-fat milk. Poured that over the chicken. Sprinkled the whole thing with 1/2 cup low-fat cheddar cheese. Sprinkled that with some bread crumbs, then sprayed the bread crumbs with Pam (if you do it really close, they get crisp when you bake it. Don't drown them, just spray them and get 'em moist. Way less calories then tossing them with melted butter). Baked it at 350 degrees for another 30 minutes.

Lazy Roasted Red Potatoes

2 1/2 red potatoes
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon Garlic powder, california style
1 teaspoon hamburger seasoning
2 tablespoons parmesan cheese

I used the leftover half a 5 pound bag from making the potato salad earlier this week, diced them up really small, like 3/4-inch pieces (left the skins on because I like red potato skin). Threw them into a Zip-Loc bag with a tablespoon of canola oil (I think it was one of those "healthy" oil blends), a teaspoon or so of this new Garlic Powder California Style from McCormick as well as a teaspoon of hamburger seasoning (I was feeling lazy and just looking for spices already put together that seemed to work and those did the trick) and a couple tablespoons of Parmesan cheese. Put it all on the roasting pan on top of foil (again, lazy trick to eliminate clean-up) and cooked it with the chicken, turning them halfway through.

Yummy all around. A hit with all kids. And DH :-)

Shirley

First Day Out...and Reese's Did Me In

I blame it all on end-of-book stress.

Uh-huh. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. I have a book due immediately (as in like yesterday :-) and got stressed last night and ended up dipping into my Christmas candy stash (my kids bought me Reeses's mini candies and out of love for my kids, mind you, I ate them). And the mini chocolate balls from Hilliard's that another friend gave me. [Note: that's so not a recent photo; it's one of my promotional photos from a few years ago :-)]

The sugar made me hungrier later and I ended up having a bagel (a Weight Watchers bagel at least) with low-fat cream cheese. That's kinda good, right? Didn't make it to the gym, but blame that on the evil laptop which had hidden my file with all the changes I put in the other day so I spent an hour finding the file that held the first 66 pages of changes to the book, which was far easier and less time consuming than searching the trash for the pages I'd already entered.


Found it, which was good, and put 'em all in. I'm no adding the last few pages of changes, then off to write the last scene and a half either today or tomorrow, depending on how things go and whether I get interrupted thirty times today :-). It's the kids' first day back at school, so we'll see how well that goes. I am positive someone forgot something, like maybe their head.

Thanks to Sock Girl for explaining a Meme. I think that's a great idea, actually. And I should probably do those, especially over at my MySpace page. I'm going to do a separate blog entry for today for "what I'm reading" in a little bit -- when I feel like procrastinating ;-).

[SockGirl asked: "So what is Common Grounds about?" It's a mother-daughter road trip book, with a potbellied pig along for the ride, too. They have their issues...a lot of them...and they're stuck in a little car from Massachusetts to California. Along the way, the car gets stolen, they meet a disgruntled bride broken down on the turnpike, a relatively psychotic--but quite nice--RVing couple, and they find out some very surprising things about each other and themselves. But most of all, they find common grounds, not just in the stops they make or in the people they meet, but in each other. It's kind of the story of me and my mom, and kind of not :-)]

Okay, on to the topic of recipes. DH and I are doing Weight Watchers this time out. We'd had great success with a similar program when we lived in Massachusetts, so we thought we'd try that this time. If you've ever done it and know a great site for WW recipes, let me know. I joined the WW yahoogroup, the one that has the points recipes, but so far no recipes, just discussion. I know I can search the archives, but it's much easier for me just to go to a site, print off what I like and go to the market :-). Today, we are having steak (okay, it's not exactly a WW friendly meat but it was in the freezer and I have had chicken three times already in the last week, and I'm about ready to cluck) and what looks like a really good potato salad recipe.

This was last night's dinner. Quite good actually. I adapted it from what I found on another website, so I'm not exactly sure that the points are right. Here's the link to the original recipe, and if you're good at math, feel free to do the points math (the original was 5 points a serving):

Creamy Chicken Fettucini

4 Chicken Breasts, boneless
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 10-3/4 ounce can condensed low-fat cream of chicken soup - undiluted
1 10-3/4 ounce can condensed low-fat cream of celery soup - undiluted
1 small can mushrooms, sliced, drained
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 cup reduced fat cheddar cheese, grated
16 ounces whole wheat fettucini (I couldn't find spinach kind at the store), cooked and drained.

Sprinkle both sides of chicken breasts with seasoning. Spray non-stick pan with a little Pam, then brown on both sides. Remove, turn heat to medium and add soups, mushrooms and cheeses, stir until cheese is melted. Turn heat to low, put chicken breasts back in and cover. Cook until chicken is cooked through, about 20 minutes.

Even my kids liked this, though they picked out the mushrooms and gave them to me ;-) We didn't eat all the fettucini and we also had tons of extra sauce left over, too, so I'd probably double the amount of chicken to make two dinners out of this.

I served it with a salad and some steamed broccoli. That kinda cancels out the cheating later, doesn't it? ;-)

Shirley

A Guilt-Free Birthday Cake

Today is my birthday. I REALLY want the chocolate cake, you know, the one with the gooey frosting that sticks to the fork and the roof of your mouth? The kind where you want to eat the frosting even more than the cake? I love, love, love cake like that.

But I indulged just a tad too much while I was on vacation recently so, alas, unless DH force-feeds me ;-), I won't be eating any chocolate cake. Instead, I'm having my guilt-free "cake."

This is a recipe a friend got from Weight Watchers and I adapted to suit my own self

1 4 ounce packet sugar free orange Jell-O
1/4 cup boiling water
2 containers Orange Dreme Yoplait Yogurt
8 ounces Cool Whip
1 ready-made graham cracker crust

Dissolve the Jell-O in the boiling water. Add the yogurt, then fold in the Cool Whip. Dump into the graham cracker crust and chill for a few hours. If you want to be really good calorie wise, ignore the graham cracker crust and eat the jell-o/yogurt part. It tastes a whole lot like an orange creamsicle...yummy!

Have a happy one!

Shirley