Recipe Box

Creamy Italian Chicken

servings – 6
Estimated Weight Watchers points – 3

  • 6 (4 oz) chicken breasts
  • one envelope dry Italian dressing
  • one 4 oz. can of mushrooms
  • one can of 98% fat free cream of chicken soup
  • 8 oz. fat free cream cheese

Place chicken in the bottom of your crockpot. Mix 1/2 c. water and the salad dressing mix. Pour over chicken. Cook on low for 3 hours. Mix cream cheese and soup. Stir in mushrooms. Pour over chicken and let cook for 1 hour or until juices run clear. You can cut the time in half by cooking it on high.
Note- There is a lot of sauce. Try cuting up baked potatoes and put the chicken and sauce on top. It would also be good with pasta.

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Spicy Beef Tacos

Weight Watchers

POINTS® Value: 5
Servings: 4 (two tacos)
Preparation Time: 12 min
Cooking Time: 13 min
Level of Difficulty: Easy

  • 3 spray(s) cooking spray, divided
  • 2 medium garlic clove(s), minced
  • 3/4 pound(s) uncooked lean ground beef (with 7% fat)
  • 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
  • 3/4 tsp table salt, or to taste
  • 1 1/2 cup(s) canned diced tomatoes, with jalapenos or green chilies
  • 8 small corn tortilla(s), lightly toasted just before serving if desired*
  • 2 cup(s) lettuce, shredded
  • 1/2 cup(s) low-fat shredded cheddar cheese, sharp-variety or queso fresco
  • 1/3 cup(s) salsa

Coat a large skillet with cooking spray; heat over a medium-high heat. Add garlic; cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add beef; cook until browned, breaking up meat as it cooks, about 5 to 6 minutes Add cumin, coriander, salt and diced tomatoes; cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid is almost absorbed, about 5 to 6 minutes.

Place tortillas on a flat surface. Top each with about 1/4 cup beef, 1/4 cup lettuce, 1 tablespoon cheese and 2 teaspoons salsa. Fold tortilla in half, repeat with remaining ingredients and serve. Yields 2 tacos per serving.
*To toast tortillas, coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. Place tortillas on top and coat with cooking spray. Heat in a 300°F oven until slightly crisp but not too crisp that they break when folded.

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Mini Chocolate Cheesecakes with Cookie Crusts

Weight Watchers

POINTS® Value: 3
Servings: 12
Preparation Time: 15 min
Cooking Time: 0 min
Level of Difficulty: Moderate

  • 12 item(s) chocolate wafer(s), about 2 1/2 oz
  • 8 oz Neufchatel cheese, softened
  • 1 cup(s) 2% reduced fat milk
  • 2/3 cup(s) sugar
  • 2 envelope(s) unflavored gelatin
  • 3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa
  • 1 cup(s) water, boiling

Line 12 muffin tins with paper muffin liners. Place a wafer in the bottom of each of 12 muffin tins (or custard cups); set aside. (If the wafer doesn’t fit in bottom of muffin liners, break into pieces to cover bottom.)
Place cheese in bowl of a food processor and process until loose. With food processor running, pour milk down feed tube.
In a separate medium bowl, mix together sugar, gelatin and cocoa with a fork or spoon. Slowly add boiling water, mixing as you go; mix quickly until gelatin has completely dissolved.
With food processor running, slowly add cocoa mixture through feed tube; process thoroughly, about 1 minute.
Fill each muffin liner (or custard cup) with about 1/3 cup of cheese mixture. (Muffin tins will be filled up to the top; custard cups should be about 2/3 full.) Chill for a minimum of 2 hours. Yields 1 per serving.
These easy-to-make cheesecakes can be made a day in advance and stored in the refrigerator. If you’re a coffee lover, add a teaspoon of instant espresso to the cocoa mixture for an extra kick.

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Gazpacho

From Rachel

  • 2 medium cucumbers, peeled/chopped
  • 5 medium tomatoes, peeled/chopped
  • 1 medium green pepper, peeled/chopped
  • 1 large onion, peeled/chopped
  • 2 tsp. finely chopped garlic
  • 4 cups crumbled french/italian bread, crusts trimmed off
  • 4 cups cold water
  • 1 cup red wine vinegar
  • 4 tsp. salt
  • 4 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 1 Tbsp. tomato paste

Garnish:

  • 1 cup bread cubes
  • 1 cup onions, diced
  • 1 cup cucumbers, diced
  • 1 cup green peppers, diced

Instructions:
Combine vegetables & bread, stir in water, vinegar, salt. Ladle 2 cups at a time into blender, blend on high for one minute. Pour puree into bowl, as you finish blending each part; when all blended, whisk in oil and tomato paste. Refrigerate for 2+ hours. Put garnishes into separate bowls for serving.

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Grilled Lemony Chicken with Asparagus

Source: Cookstr

  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 4 boneless and skinless chicken breasts, about 7 ounces each
  • 1 pound asparagus
  • ½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 1 teaspoon herbes de Provence or ¼ teaspoon each dried thyme, basil, rosemary, and sage

Yield: 4 SERVINGS
Directions
PREP: Crush garlic under a knife and peel. Lightly pound chicken breasts to even thickness with meat pounder or heel of your hand. Snap off woody ends of asparagus.
1. Mix lemon juice, 1/3 cup olive oil, mustard, herbes de Provence, garlic, ¼ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper in 1-quart zipper-seal plastic bag. Add chicken, close bag, and refrigerate while preparing barbecue grill, but no longer than 30 minutes or so. In another plastic bag, toss asparagus with remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil.
2. Build a hot fire in a barbecue grill (or preheat gas grill on high). Spread coals in a bank, with a double thickness of coals on one side of grill and a single thickness on the other. (On a gas grill, keep one burner on high and the other on low.) Lightly oil grill grate. Grill chicken over the hot, thick bank of coals (high burner), until the underside is seared with brown grid marks, about 2 minutes. Turn and repeat on the other side, about 2 minutes more. Move chicken to the cooler, thin bank of coals (low burner). Grill until chicken feels firm when pressed in the center, about 10 minutes.
3. After chicken has grilled for 5 minutes, arrange asparagus over hot coals (high burner), with spears perpendicular to grid so they don’t fall through. Grill, rolling asparagus occasionally on grid to turn and cook evenly on all sides, until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes depending on thickness of asparagus. Use a metal spatula to transfer asparagus to platter. Season asparagus with salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Transfer chicken to platter and serve.
Simple Tip for Grilled Lemony Chicken with Asparagus
Marinating is a good flavor booster, but too much of a good thing can be bad. A marinade will only penetrate 1/8 inch or less into food, no matter how long you let the food soak. When protein foods like meat, poultry, or seafood come into contact with the acidic ingredient in a marinade (be it lemon juice, wine, or vinegar), the protein softens, giving the food a mushy texture. Most foods need only a short soak–a half hour usually is plenty.

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Lime Mint Iced Tea

A new iced tea recipe I plan to try. Since I gave up soda, I’ve been drinking lots of tea, and want some variations for entertainment. I’m leaving out the sugar; I’m not really a fan of sweet tea.

  • 1 quart water, boiling
  • 4 tea bags
  • 1 3/4 cups fresh mint leaves
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup lime juice

Preparation:
Mix tea bags, mint and sugar in hot water, and let steep for 15 minutes. Strain out the tea bags and mint leaves. Chill and add lime juice before serving.
Serves 4

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Pig Candy Recipe

( modified by “unmarrieddaughter” from Sweet Potato Queen, and Alton Brown)

Software:

  • 1 lb. bacon medium cut
  • 2 Cups brown sugar (see note)
  • 1/8 tsp ground chili/Cayenne of some sort (optional)

Hardware:

  • cookie sheet
  • Aluminum Foil
  • Pam
  • Cooling rack that fits cookie sheet

Line cookie sheet with aluminum foil. spray cooling rack with Pam, put rack on top of cookie sheet. Put the bacon strips on the cooling rack, being careful not overlap the strips. turn on the oven to 400 degrees, put bacon in.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, mix together brown sugar and spice if using. Once oven reaches 400 degrees, remove bacon, and turn oven down to 350 degrees. spread brown sugar evenly over each bacon strip and place back in oven to back until bacon is brown and crisp. Let cool and eat.

Note: Pam and aluminum foil keep the caramel from ruining the pan.

Note 2: yes, you do want to use a cooling rack, as the bacon just sits in the fat if you don’t. If you don’t have a cooling rack, remove the bacon and let it drain on some paper towels.

Note 3: As alternatives to chili, any spice would work well.

Note 4. I also imagine this recipe as a method. If I were to experiment, and had maple syrup. I would just spread the maple syrup over the strips, coating each strip. Then, because I find maple syrup so much sweeter than sugar, I would probably add some sort of heat or spice like cayenne to cut the sweetness just a bit.

Oh, and pig candy is great crumbled up in this:

Pig Candy Caramel Sundae
1 cup of vanilla ice cream
Caramel Sauce
crumbled pig candy bits
Salted chopped peanuts

In a serving bowl place the ice cream. Drizzle sauce over the ice cream. sprinkle with pig candy bits and chopped peanuts. Eat.

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Anchovy-stuffed Olives

Anchovy-stuffed Olives
Anchovy-stuffed Olives

As long as I’m blogging about silly stuff — Anchovy-Stuffed Olives are yum!

I cannot begin to tell you how much I love these. So much I put ’em on my Amazon Wishlist.

2022-03-12 Update:
Well literally nothing about this post is relevant anymore. Every link broke, I decided I like garlic-stuffed olives better… It’s interesting though, that I became aware of my olives/anchovies/capers savory sort of taste enjoyment right about this time. I know known that the savory flavor profile is sometimes called Umami. Between this and sour beer, I’ve got that flavor profile covered.
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Peach Sangria

courtesy of Dine Magazine (Jul/Aug 2006 issue). Passed along by a friend who made a batch and enjoyed it.

  • 4 firm, ripe peaches, cut into thin wedges
  • 1 cup peach schnapps
  • 2/3 cup superfine granulated sugar
  • 6 cups chilled rosé wine
  • 4 cups chilled sparkling water

1. Stir together peaches, schnapps and sugar in a large pitcher until sugar dissolves.
2. Let stand for 1 hour.
3. Stir in wine, sparkling water, and ice. Serve.
Serves 10 (allegedly, although it won’t really, according to my friend.)

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