Holy smokes, Batman! This was GOOOOOOOOD!!!

OK - This was possibly one of the recipes I have enjoyed the most so far. Very tasty, great texture, very easy! Pasta Carbonara -

1/2 pound fettuccine, uncooked

4 slices bacon, chopped

4 oz Neufchatel cheese, cubed

1 cup frozen peas

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp garlic powder

Cook fettuccine as directed on package. Meanwhile, cook bacon in large skillet until crisp. Remove bacon from skillet with slotted spoon, reserving 2 Tbsp drippings in skillet. Drain bacon on paper towels. Adde remaining ingredients to reserved dippings; cook on low heat until cream cheese is melted and mixture is well blended and heated through. Drain fettuccine, place in large bowl. Add cream cheese sauce and bacon; mix lightly.

This recipe was so tasty, even though I personally do not like peas.. I will probably substitute frozen spinach the next time I make it. As you can see, I served with steamed broccoli but even still we ended up with no leftovers!

It's Frittata Time!!!

Ok so this week I made a recipe out of my Biggest Loser calendar - Broccoli and Cheddar Mini Frittatas! I've taken them with me two days this week for breakfast and I am LOVING them. They're really really easy, very tasty and for two, it's only 102 calories! Totally thrilled with them. I will say, I'm usually hungry again after awhile, so I've been taking a piece a fruit or applesauce with me so that I'm not starving by the time lunch comes around. Recipe follows:

Olive Oil Spray

1 cup chopped steamed broccoli

2 cups egg substitute (I used All Whites egg whites only)

1 cup finely shredded low fat cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly mist 8 cups in a muffin pan. Divide the broccoli evenly between the 8 cups. Then divide egg substitute evenly. Bake frittatas for 7-9 minutes or until almost set.

Sprinkle cheese evenly over the tops of the frittatas. Bake another 8-10 minutes or until egg is no longer runny and cheese is melted. Transfer muffin tin to wire rack and let sit 2 minutes before serving. Makes 4 (2 frittata) servings.

102 calories, 2 g fat, 1 g fiber

So what worked for me? Well I tried to save myself the spray and use paper muffin cups - not too smart. The wateriness of the egg seeped through and made it very difficult to get the cups out of the pan. I used all whites instead of egg substitute, but I really liked these a lot! I will definitely be making them again!

A little disappointing...

Tonight my dinner was Orange Chicken in the Crock Pot with hot rice and Baked Crab Rangoon. Recipe as follows:

Orange Chicken:

1/2 cup soy sauce

1 can orange soda

1 pound chicken breasts

Mix soda and soy sauce in Crock Pot. Add chicken, turn to coat. Cover, cook on low 5-6 hours.

Serve with hot rice.

Baked Crab Rangoon

4 oz cream cheese, softened

1 6 oz can crab meat, drained, flaked

2 green onions, thinly sliced

1/4 cup light mayo

12 wonton wrappers

Heat oven to 350. Mix first 4 ingredients. Place 1 wonton wrapper in each of 12 muffin cups sprayed wth cooking spray, extending edges of wrappers over sides of cups. Fill with crab mixture. Bake 18-20 minutes or until edges of cups are golden brown and filling is heated through.

This dinner was a little on the disappointing side for me. I was really looking forward to it because A) I love orange chicken and B) I LOVE crab rangoon. Let's start with the chicken. I guess that it wasn't really the chicken's fault, but to me, the texture was definitely not what I was expecting. When I think orange chicken, I think a thick gooey sauce. This was most definitely not thick, nor gooey. I had expected the sauce to condense up with lots of concentrated flavor, and that just wasn't the case. I could taste the orange in the chicken, but it just wasn't enough for me. Also, the chicken got ridiculously tender, so it pretty much shredded when I took it out of the crock pot... Again, not really the chicken's fault, but most definitely not what I was hoping for.

On to the "crab rangoon"... First of all - I could not find any wonton wrappers anywhere so I decided to use phyllo dough. BIG mistake. Texture was all wrong and the phyllo burnt before the filling got warm. The flavor of the filling was good - I really liked it and it tasted almost exactly like crab rangoon from takeout. It probably could have cut the mayo back to 1/8 of a cup to cut down on the wateriness of the filling. Overall it's hard to make a judgement on these because of the issue with the phyllo. I found the phyllo difficult to work with and it really didn't have the strength to hold up the filling. A couple of my rangoons "pooped" out the filling when I took them out of the muffin tins. I would try this again, but would go to the extra effort of making sure I had actual wonton wrappers.

So where does this leave me? Well I have two pieces of the chicken left (the leftover crab rangoon had to go in the trash) and I'm probably going to try to use those in a casserole or possibly add them to a lemon garlic green bean saute. Happy cooking!

Mexican Chicken Soup

Well tonight I really wasn't in the mood to do a whole - rough day in general so I just decided to use some things I had on hand instead of messing with a specific recipe. What I ended up was REALLY tasty and really hit the spot on a cold day that was just pretty much a downer all around. I used a can of chicken broth and a can of diced tomatoes and started by putting those in a saucepot with some garlic salt and onion powder. In a skillet, I used a quarter of a white onion, sliced, some olive oil and minced garlic, along with a little lemon juice and crushed red pepper. After heating the onion to about translucent, I added a can of chicken breast, minus the liquid. Let that cook until the chicken starts to brown a little and meanwhile I added a can of corn to my tomatoes and broth. I then added a little bit of mexican velveeta to add a little bit of spice and creaminess. After the chicken browned up I combined everything in the saucepot. Let that cook for about 10 minutes at a boil and then removed from heat. For toppings I sliced up an avocado, used light mexican blend cheese, fat free sour cream and sliced green onions. I was surprised by how much of a difference the onions made. They really helped spice up the soup, but I wish I'd had some chili powder to add. The soup was a little on the sweet side, I think probably because of the corn. All in all it was really good and I think there's enough here for at least two more meals off it. Random experiment turned out for the good! YAY! :)

Greek Chicken Pitas with Fire Roasted Avocado Toppers

Well this was a bit of a change for me: I've never really made something like this before but it turned out pretty nicely!

This is a two part recipe - First is the pita part and then the side I served with it. I felt like the use of the Crock Pot was not really necessary for the chicken... You could easily have sauteed the onions, peppers, chicken and seasoning up on the stovetop to save time. For my tastes, when I make this in the future, I will probably swap out regular black olives for the kalamata. They were just a little too wine-y for me. I loved the cool crisp cucumbers added to the pitas though - they, along with the roma tomatoes helped lighten up the pita even more and make it feel more rounded out, instead of just chicken and onions. I have to say, I was a little skeptical of this recipe and as I've said, had to make some adjustments. I also felt that 1/2 pita filled was enough of a serving for me, but the recipe shows 2 pita halves as a serving. As for the side - WOW. I LOVED this recipe! It didn't make a ton, so it was nice for me and the one other person I was serving. I didn't particularly care for the crackers, but together they were good. I would probably substitute Wheat Thins or maybe even a Ritz cracker the next time. This would also make a great dip with tortilla chips.

Greek Chicken Pitas with Creamy Mustard Sauce:

Filling:

1 medium green bell pepper, cored, seeded and sliced into 1/2 inch strips

1 medium onion, cut into 8 wedges (I used a yellow onion, but I would imagine a red one would be nice too.)

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, rinsed and patted dry

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil (I actually ended up using about 1 1/2 Tsbp)

2 tsp dried Greek seasoning (I could not find any of this at the store, so I mixed some lemon pepper seasoning, black pepper, oregano and rosemary to make my own seasoning)

1/4 tsp salt

Sauce:

1/4 cup plain fat free yogurt (I used Greek yogurt)

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1 Tbsp mustard (I used Dijon)

1/4 tsp salt

4 Pita rounds

1/2 crumbled Feta cheese

Optional toppings: Sliced cucumbers, sliced tomatoes, kalamata olives

1. Coat Crock Pot with nonstick cooking spray. (Again, I skip this by using a Reynolds Slow Cooker Liner) Place bell pepper and onion in bottom. Add chicken and drizzle with oil. Sprinkle evenly with seasoning and salt. Cover; cook on HIGH 1 3/4 hours or until chicken is no longer pink in center. (Veggies should be crisp-tender)

2. Remove chicken and slice. Remove vegetables using slotted spoon.

3. Prepare sauce: Combine yogurt, mayo, mustard and salt in small bowl. Whisk until smooth.

4. Warm pitas according to package instructions. Cut in half and fill pitas with chicken, sauce, vegetables, and feta. Top as desired. (I used cucumbers, roma tomatoes and kalamata olives.)

Makes 4 servings.

FOR THE SIDE:

Fire Roasted Avocado Toppers:

1/4 cup Light mayo

1/4 Tbsp olive oil

1 avocado, chopped

8 cherry tomatoes, chopped

1 Tbsp finely chopped cilantro

1 Tbsp fresh lime juice (I used the lime juice in a bottle and it worked just fine)

Triscuit Fire Roasted Tomato and Olive Oil crackers

Super Easy: Combine everything except crackers. Top crackers with mixture.

Oh the comfort of BREAD!

As my friend Laramie would tell you - bread is the best thing in the world! :) I can't even begin to count the number of times we have comforted ourselves with the warm, squashy goodness of bread. I've discovered a recipe that I have now made several times as directed and once with a alteration. My family thoroughly enjoyed the bread I made at Christmas (it was pretty much gone by the second day!) This bread is called Honey Raisin Bran bread. It's a pretty dense bread, but sweet and enjoyable. Recipe follows:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2/3 cups packed brown sugar

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup bran flakes cereal

1 cup milk

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/4 cup honey

2 Tbsp butter, melted

1 cup raisins

In a bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, combine cereal and milk; let stand for 5 minutes. Add the egg, honey and butter cereal mixture; mix well. Stir into the dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in raisins. Pour into a greased 8x4 in loaf pan. Bake @ 350 degrees for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted near center of loaf comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing from pan to wire rack.

My alterations on this recipe were to swap out 1 cup of dried cranberries for the raisins. I felt that this was a tiny bit tarter than the raisins and helped make the bread not quite so sweet. I also put the cranberries in with the milk and cereal and let them soak for the five minutes - it softened them up quite a bit in the bread.

I love my Crock Pot!

I don't know about you - but I love my Crock Pot! I have just started realizing what this great kitchen tool has to offer! I can make soups, stews, dips, etc., etc., but tonight I tried something new - chicken spinach lasagna! It's a fairly easy recipe, and I kid you not, the smell of this thing cooking in my kitchen is AMAZING. I wish there was a "smell" option, like a scratch n sniff blog! That would be rather epic. Anyway, 10 minutes prep time and 3 hours on low - this is getting fun! Simple too - you just need a few ingredients - chicken, mozzarella (I use low fat), ricotta (again, use part skim to cut down on fat and calories) a smidge of oregano and crushed red pepper flakes, lasagna noodles, spinach and a jar of alfredo sauce (once again, I went for light to help cut down on calories). I'm working with a 6 quart Crock Pot, and I swear by the Reynolds' Slow Cooker liners. They save TONS of clean up time! I have nothing that I have to scrape out of my Crock Pot, the bag literally just lifts straight up out of the bowl. This lasagna is also a little spicy, thanks to the crushed red pepper - you could easily leave that out if you're not a fan of spice and go with something else. I can't wait to take this with me for lunch tomorrow at work!