New Recipe Tuesday ~~ Twice-Baked Potatoes

Well, this New Recipe Tuesday is just going splendidly; three for three with today's addition:

Twice-Baked Potatoes

Now I know your probably wondering what is so great about these. Well, let me just tell you, I have not always been a big fan of the TBP. Sometimes there a little dry and have a weird consistancy. Well not these. This is a fab recipe that I tweaked to fit our liking. So please give this one a try ... you will not be sorry!!!

3 Large Baking Potatoes
1/4 - 1/2 cup butter, softened (I use Fleishman's Butter with Olive Oil ~~ delish)
1/2 - 3/4 cup milk (I use skim)
5 pieces bacon, cooked and cumbled
1/4 of a sweet yellow onion
1 Tbl minced chives (more or less to your liking)
salt and pepper to tast
1 -2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (I use monterey and cheddar blend)

Scrub and pierce potatoes. Bake at 400 degrees for 1 hour or until tender. When cool enough to handle, cut a thin slice off the top of each potato and discard. This is an important step and one I had never done before. It gives you more room to scoop and fill. Scoop out hte pulp, leaving thin shells.

In a large bowl, mash the pulp with butter. Stir in the milk, mix. Add the bacon, onion, chives, salt pepper and 1/2 cup or so of cheese.
Spoon into potato shells about half full and add a bit of cheese. Fill to the top and add a little more cheese to cover the top.

Bake, uncovered, at 375 degrees for 20 minutes and enjoy. YUMMEE!!!!!

Happy Eating,
Dawn

Summer Raspberry Plastic Cup Freeze

This is a recipe I found online and modified. I love to take an existing recipe and mix it up, and that's what I did with this one. Mixed it all up!!! Hope you enjoy!!

Summer Raspberry Plastic Cup Freeze

1 (8 oz) pk cream cheese (can use less fat or fat free), softened
1/4 cup honey
1 cup fresh raspberries (or other berries and can use frozen, thawed)
miniture marshmallows (optional)
2 cups whipped cream

Beat cream cheese and honey until smooth, add raspberries and beat until raspberries are kind of mushy (yes very techinal I know =) Add marshmallow if you want and add whipped cream. Mix. Put in plastic cups and put in freezer. These are delish on a hot day. I like mine more without the marshmallows, but the kids dig the mm. Either way ~~ delish.

Enjoy ~~ Happy eating,
Dawn

New Recipe Tuesdays.....Baked Yummee Onion Rings!!!

So these were delish and we are two for two on New Recipe Tuesday keepers!!!

Baked Yummee Onion Rings

1 1/2 cups cornflakes
1/2 cup plain dried breadcrumbs
1 large egg
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
coarse salt and ground pepper
1 medium sweet onion, quartered crosswise and broken into rings
2 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a food processor, pulse cornflakes and breadcrumbs until fine crumbs form, then transfer to a medium bowl. In another medium bowl, whisk together egg, buttermilk, flour and season with salt and pepper.

Dip onion rings in egg mixture (letting excess drip off) and dredge in cornflake mixture; place on a large plate. Pour oil onto a rimmed baking sheet. Place in oven and heat 2 minutes. remove sheet from oven and tilt to coat evenly with oil. Arrange onion rings on sheet. Bake, turning once, until onion rings are golden brown, about 14 minutes. Season with salt. Serves 4


Per Serving:
Calories: 241
Fat: 9.2 grams
Protein: 6.8 grams
Carbs: 33.7 grams
Fiber: 2.4 grams


Happy cooking ~~ Dawn =)

New Recipe Tuesdays......What in the Wide World Stuffed Chicken

~~ New Recipe Tuesdays ~~

What in the Wide World Stuffed Chicken

4 (4-oz) chicken breast halves

salt

pepper

dried basil

green bell pepper, minced

red onion, minced

4 part-skim mozzarella cheese stilcks

fat-free Italian dressing

1/8 tsp paprika

1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs

Cooking Spray

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Place each chicken breast half between 2 sheets of plastic wrap; pound to 1/4" thickness using a meat mallet or rolling pin.

Sprinkle chicken breast half with bell pepper and onion, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place 1 cheese stick length wise down center. Roll up jelly roll fashio. Brush rolls evenly with Italian dressing.

Combine paprika and breadcrumbs; dredge chicken breast rolls in breadcrumb mixtrue, turning to coat. Place on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray seam side down. Lightly coat chicken rolls with cooking spray.

Bake for 20-30 minutes until done.

Cal 221

Protein 32.6 g

Carb 7.0

Fat 6.5

I served these on a bed of angel hair pasta with red sauce......delish.

Happy eating,

Dawn

Chicken Enchilada Casserole ~~ Can you say YUM?!?!!

So I've made the CEC (Chicken Enchilada Casserole)'s with the Cream of _______ (ya know mushroom, chicken, celery, the whole Campbell's array), but when I make it like that I can't eat it, because of my whole severe aversion allergic reaction to MSG. It keeps me honest in my eating, very little preservatives etc. Note to self: Why is it you are NOT 120 lbs. if it's kept you honest in your eating.....true, bad choice of words.....anyway..... =) Get the feeling I talk to myself?!!! haha

I ran across this CEC recipe in my much loved "The Complete Cooking Light Cookbook", much loved.... a few years ago, and please let me share. Because we had it last night, and yes I shall be having it for lunch today,,, oh yummeeeee and YAY for leftovers!!!!!


CHICKEN ENCHILADA CASSEROLE (Revised and Resnookeld a bit =)

Cooking Spray
1 1/4 pounds skinned, boned chicken breast
1/2 large chopped onion (I use yellow, but whatever floats your boat will work)
2 tsp (or so) minced garlic (I eyeball it. It calls for 4 cloves, but seriously garlic overload for us, so I tone it down a notch)
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 (15-oz) can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup (or so, again I eyeballed it) Salsa (I used Pace Chunky Medium Salsa)
1/4 - 1/2 tsp chili powder (I use 1/4 ~~ what can I say, I am a wimp)
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions, divided (yes it sounds like a lot, but yummoooeeee)
1 (2 1/4 oz) can black olives, drained (I leave this out because of Dak's aversion to them, come on son, but if you have no aversion please leave them in, they are yummeeoooo)
2 (4.5 oz) cans chopped green chile's, drained

White sauce ingredients:
5 TB all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground coriander
2 cups 1% low-fat milk Note: I had some shelf stable milk in my pantry and that worked great as well, so if you don't know what to do with it, this is a GREAT recipe to use it in.
2 large egg whites, lightly beaten

Rest of Ingredients:
3/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
3/4 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
(I used the already mixed cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses, but I am just cool like that =)
6 (6-inch) corn tortillas, cut in half
1/2 cup fat-free sour cream (optional)
1/2 cup bottled salsa (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray; place over medium heat until hot. Add chicken; cook 6 minutes on each side or until done. Remove chicken from pan; cool. Shred chicken with 2 forks. You can also boil chicken with celery and onions for about 30 minutes and then cool and shred and have chicken broth left over ~~ yummmeeee ~~ this is usually what I do and it works great!!! But if you don't have time for that by all means whatever trips your trigger!!

3. Recoat pan with cooking spray; place over medium heat. Add chopped onion and garlic; saute 5 minutes or until tender. Add shredded chicken, chicken stock, red pepper, and tomatoes; cook 10 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates. Remove from heat. Reserve 1 tablespoon green onions and 1 tablespoon olives for garnish. Stir remaining green onions, remaining olives, and chile's into chicken mixture; set aside.

4. Combine flour, salt, cumin, and coriander in a medium saucepan. Gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until blended. Place over medium heat; cook 7 minutes or until thick, stirring constantly. (It usually doesn't take the full 7 minutes to thicken.) Gradually add hot milk mixture to egg whites, stirring constantly with a whisk.

5. Place cheeses in a bowl; toss well. (Or just open the bag of already combined cheeses if you are a slacker like me =)

6. Spread 1/2 cup white sauce in bottom of a 2 1/2j-quart round casserole dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange 4 tortilla halves over sauce; top with 2 cups chicken mixture, 1/2 cup white sauce, and 1/2 cup cheese mixture. Repeat layers twice, ending with sauce ending with the delectable cheese mixture (combined or bagged =)

7. Bake, covered for 45 - 50 minutes. Remove from oven and top with reserved black olives and green onions (unless your 16 yr old doesn't like black olives, to which you will just top with green onions =) Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Spoon onto serving plates and top with sour cream and salsa if you so desire.

You can also make this ahead and put in fridge until ready to bake, in which case, you will bake it covered for 1 hour.

Whew, I know this one is a little work, but can I just say....... IT'S SO WORTH IT!!!!! YOUR STOMACH WILL THANK YOU!!!!!

And just so you're not freaking out on me, it is so much better for you than the kind with the Cream of _________ soups in them. This one only has 320 calories per serving and 11 grams of fat. Not back for a CEC!!!

Enjoy ~~ and Happy Eating,
Dawn