…Chinese Pepper Steak Wraps

After a too long, three week hiatus, I’m back! This recipe is too delicious not too share. I must include that you have to like spicy foods in order to like this. Only 5 points!

• 10 oz beef top round
• 1 red pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 yellow pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp. canola oil
• 2 tsp. cornstarch
• 3 tbsp. chile paste
• 4 fat free flour tortillas

1. Slice the beef so it is paper thin. Marinate it for one hour in a ziplock bag with the oil, cornstarch, and 1 tbsp. of the chile paste.

2. Cook the beef in a skillet over medium high heat until cooked through, about 2 minutes on each side.

3. Transfer the beef to a plate. Add in the peppers, onions, and remaining chile paste and cook until soft, about 8 minutes.

4. Add the beef back in and heat through. Wrap in tortillas and eat!

My head was sweating when I ate this. I loved it!

-Carolyn

…Egg Noodles with Chicken

I absolutely love egg noodles. They are so delicious and go well with lots of different foods. I grew up eating a lot of German food when I went to my dad’s parents house. My favorite foods all include sauerkraut, so that tells you how much I like it! Maybe that is why I like egg noodles so much because you do find them in lots of different German foods. Here is a delicious chicken recipe that includes egg noodles!

• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 1/2 cup flour
• pinch of salt
• pinch of pepper
• 6 oz egg noodles
• 1/2 cup white wine

1. Portion the chicken breasts into 4 equal size pieces. Pound them out between two sheets of wax paper with a mallet or frying pan. Combine the flour, salt and pepper. Dredge the chicken in the flour mixture.

2. Cook the egg noodles according to the package. Drain and set aside.

3. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the chicken in it until browned, about 5 minutes on each side. Add the wine and simmer, about 3 minutes.

4. Add in the egg noodles and cook until heated through.

5. Serve and enjoy!

Hope you enjoy the chicken, but I already know you’ll love the egg noodles!

-Carolyn

 

…Buffalo Chicken Dip

I realized today that I haven’t blogged in quite a while. I actually haven’t cooked much this week because my parents have been away. I did cook on Sunday (portobello and goat cheese sandwiches) and Monday (goat cheese and tomato coulis pizza) but neglected to document my efforts. So this post is a little bit of a flashback to the night of the Superbowl when I made buffalo chicken dip. It is so delicious and definitely easy enough to make any time of year. The best thing about this dip is that it is actually better with celery than with chips!

• 1 can cooked chicken
• 1 cup hot sauce (Franks Red Hot or similar type)
• 2 8 oz packages of fat free cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup fat free ranch dressing

1. Heat the chicken in a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat until heated through (about 3 min).

2. Add the hot sauce until it boils. Turn down the heat and let simmer for about 5 minutes.

3. Add in the cream cheese. Stir until melted. Add in the ranch dressing. Stir dip until there are no lumps.

4. Transfer the dip into a serving dish (I used a 9 inch square baking dish).

Eat it with celery (or chips if you prefer, but I’m telling you… celery is way better)!

And I’m off to drink some delicious chai tea and relax before the work week starts again.

-Carolyn

…Turkey Boo-rgers

Fabio got kicked off Top Chef last week. I think he is (by far) the best person on the show ever (Sam from season 2 takes a close second). Best quote: “This is Top Chef. Its not Top Scallops.” He made a burger… or what he calls a boo-rger… and it tasted like meatloaf. In honor of Fabio getting kicked off of Top Chef on the last episode, I decided to make turkey burgers. And no they did not taste like meatloaf. They are actually quite delicious. So here goes the turkey burger recipe.

• 1 lb ground turkey
• 3 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 onion, finely chopped

1. Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl.

2. Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Section the meat off into 4 parts. Make each into a patty. Cook the patties in the skillet until cooked through, about 5 minutes on each side.

3. Serve with a toasted light bun. Only 7 points for a burger with the bun!

This burger is so flavorful that you don’t even really need ketchup! It is absolutely delicious and I think my new favorite dinner.

Yum!

-Carolyn

…Chicken and Eggplant Recipe

So I had a bunch of leftovers and needed to make something to get rid of them. Nothing was cooked yet… It was extra stuff from other recipes I had made. So I made up my own chicken recipe and it turned out really well! Here is the recipe:

• Cooking spray
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into two inch cubes
• 1 small eggplant, minced
• 1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes
• ~2 Tbsp crushed red pepper
• ~2 tsp italian seasoning
• 1/2 box fettucini, cooked

1. Spray a nonstick skillet with cooking spray. Add in the garlic and cook until it is soft (or until heated if you use the jarred stuff like me… I seriously can not live without it in my kitchen). Add the chicken and cook through, about 5 minutes.

2. Add the eggplant, Italian seasoning, and crushed red pepper. Let some of the liquid from the eggplant cook off, about 3 minutes.

3. Add in the diced tomatoes. Allow the mixture to boil and then turn down the heat. Let simmer. (Note: the eggplant slowly turned the mixture dark as I let it simmer. Don’t worry… it still tastes great!)

4. Mix the sauce with the cooked fettucini. Eat and enjoy!

This recipe is Weight Watchers friendly.. only 8 points!

Well, I’m off to drink some Apricot Tea. Yum.

-Carolyn

…Cream Filled Cupcakes

It is frigid today. OMG! It needs to not ever be this cold again in my whole life.

Because of the horrible cold, I decided to make soup! Again I used my favorite cookbook (New Complete Weight Watchers) to make Creamy Potato Soup with Roasted Garlic (7 points). The soup also has ham (I used turkey ham) and green beans. It was so delicious! And I made beer bread (3 points) that I bought at a Tastefully Simple party. All you have to do is open the package, pour in a beer, and add some melted butter. It was the perfect meal for a cold day.

A lady at work is going to a different job next week so we are having lunch for her tomorrow. I decided to bring a dessert… and I am bringing cupcakes! I got a cupcake corer for Christmas and have been waiting for a reason to try it out. So I looked up a recipe for creme filled cupcakes. I used devil’s food store bought cake mix and store bought (funfetti) chocolate frosting, but I made the cream filling myself.

So here are the instructions on how to make your own!

1. Make and cook cupcakes and let them cool.

2. Core each cupcake using the corer (or you could use a knife, but the corer is definitely cooler).

3. Use a ziplock bag or a pastry tube to fill the cupcakes with cream. (I apologize for the blurry picture… I had to take it with my left hand.)

4. Frost with the chocolate frosting and decorate with the sprinkles!

So easy, right? These look so delicious. I have no idea how many points they are, but they’re too good to care. I’m bringing them into school old school style- In a shirt box. Maybe I should get one of those cupcake carriers.

Happy baking!

-Carolyn

…Cold Weather and Meatloaf

It is freezing out today! Below freezing actually. This morning on the news they said you could get frostbite in ten to fifteen minutes. So we cancelled the youth group sledding trip. It would have been fun, but I am NOT getting frostbite!

Instead I made grilled cheese and soup for lunch. I had Progresso 99% fat free New England clam chowder. It was actually quite good. I couldn’t tell that it was fat free- It was still really creamy with big chunks of potatoes. For dinner I made Spicy Meatloaf from the New Complete Weight Watchers Cookbook. I really like the cookbook because it has healthy versions of all different kinds of foods, from Mexican to Chinese to good ol’ comfort food. And most of the stuff is so easy to make! (The only annoying thing is that it is written in the old points system so I have to convert everything to the new points values online.) Even if you don’t do Weight Watchers, it is still useful to find healthy versions of your favorite recipes.

First finely chop and saute the vegetables. The loaf has a carrot, celery stalk, onion, and a package of sliced mushrooms.

Once the veggies are sauteed, mix them with the meat, 1/2 cup of oats, an egg, tomato paste, worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce.

Mold the mixture into a loaf in a 9×9 inch pan (sprayed with cooking spray).

Bake for 30 minutes, spread tomato sauce on the top, and bake for another 30-45 minutes.

The loaf didn’t really stay together when sliced, but it was still delicious. Two slices are 7 points. It was so filling that I only ate one slice (and had one of the non fat muffins from Friday).  I paired it with steamed broccoli and cauliflower (from one of those frozen bags). The meatloaf was really good and much healthier than regular meatloaf.

Off to drink some Irish Breakfast tea… Yum!

-Carolyn

…Moo Shu Chicken Recipe!

Chinese food is delicious, but we all know it is not always the healthiest thing to eat. Because of the snow day today, I had time to make some of my own Chinese food- Moo Shu Chicken. So here is the recipe for a healthier version of Moo Shu Chicken (only seven WW points with a pancake).

Moo Shu Chicken

(makes 8 servings)

3/4 pound boneless skinless chicken breast

4 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce

4 cloves minced garlic

1 Tbsp minced ginger

4 cups shredded Napa cabbage

1 shredded carrot

1 can straw mushrooms

1 can bamboo shoots

1 tsp hot sauce

4 tsp hoisin sauce (aka plum sauce)

1. Cut the chicken into 1/2 inch strips. Marinate the chicken in two tbsp of soy sauce and 2 cloves of garlic (I used a teaspoon of the already minced stuff). Put the ingredients in a zip lock bag and refrigerate for 1 hour. While the chicken is marinating, make the pancakes.

(Moo Shu Pancakes- 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 5 tablespoons water- Mix the ingredients in a bowl. Knead for three minutes, and then separate into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a circle, about 6 inches in diameter. Cook each in skillet over medium heat for about 40 seconds, turning every ten seconds, until brown. Wrap in tin foil and keep warm.)

2. In a small bowl combine the remaining soy sauce and garlic along with the minced ginger. Set the bowl aside.

3. Spray a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray (I used a medium skillet… Trust me you need a large one). Saute the chicken until cooked through, about 2-3 minutes. Move the chicken to a plate.

4. Thinly slice the straw mushrooms and bamboo shoots. In the skillet, combine both with the cabbage and carrots. Cook, stirring frequently, until the cabbage is wilted. This should take about 5 minutes. Add the chicken, soy sauce mixture, and hot sauce. Heat through.

5. Spread hoisin sauce on a pancake and add the chicken mixture. Wrap and eat!

The chicken was delicious. It tasted great and I loved knowing it was healthy. When I was done, I needed something sweet, so I made some non fat cranberry muffins. I used the Krusteaz mix. They turned out really good and only three points each.

I’m going to go drink some English Breakfast and relax after all this cooking! Gotta love snow days.

-Carolyn