Snacking at our house: WW Red Velvet Cupcakes

The ingredients!

So cute!

Big and fluffy. Makes 15!

So I tried these out last week. The cupcake part was awesome. The pudding for icing, tastes like pudding. It wasn't bad, just not my cup of tea. Here's how you do it:

1. Mix together 8ox of Diet Dr. Pepper with the cake mix.

2. Bake as usual (makes 15 cupcakes)

3. Make pudding as usual.

4. Top cooled cupcakes with pudding.

5. Enjoy for 4 old school WW points each.

Snacking at our House: Pineapple Bliss

Hot out of the oven.

Iced.

Tonight I made a snack using some of my cheap items from the Publix post last night. Yellow cake mix + crushed pineapples were on sale so this is easy to try.

I got the recipe from SkinnyTaste. She does great stuff.

It is so easy to make. You'll need two 20oz cans of crushed pineapple, yellow cake mix, 8oz low fat cream cheese & 3/4 cup of marshmellow fluff.

For the cake simply mix the first can of pineapple (undrained) with the cake mix. Pour into lined cupcake tins, and bake according to box directions. Cool before icing.

To make the icing mix the pineapple chunks (drained) with the cream cheese and fluff. I put mine in the fridge while the cakes baked. It helped it thicken up a bit.

They turned out to taste very sweet and a little tart. The cake part tastes realllly yum. You can't even tell it has pineapple in it (hence why Tim actually ate one without icing). The icing is very sweet, so if you enjoy sweets- try these!

Dinner at Our House: Tortilla Pie aka Fiesta Lasagna

 I have to preface tonight's post with a shout out to my friend Megan. I just posted on my facebook that I was making a tortilla pie to which she said: "Megan: I thought you hate pie."

Ha! I do actually hate dessert pies, so she has a point. But, since I altered this recipe I feel I now have the right to rename it, so I'm dubbing it: Fiesta Lasagna.

Anywho, I saw the recipe in my Taste of Home book but thought it looked a little complicated with all the chop this etc. Mondays can be crazy days so I got the idea to substitute a jar of salsa for some of the ingredients. It worked out well. I'll link you the original, but I'll post what I actually did.

Looks a little messy but it is so so so yum I promise. This is actually dad's plate. He had Spanish Rice and a garden salad.

Ingredients

1/2 pound lean ground beef (93% lean)

1/4 cup chopped onion

1 jar (16 ounces) Salsa (your choice of heat, we used Mild)

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

dash of garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

3/4 cup part-skim ricotta cheese

1/4 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

4 low-fat flour tortillas (8 inches)

1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat Mexican cheese

Directions

Season your beef in a large nonstick skillet with the chili powder, ground cumin and throw in a dash of garlic powder.

Cook the beef and chopped onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the salsa. Heat til you get a little bit of a boil then reduce heat. In a small bowl, combine the ricotta cheese and mozzarella cheese.

Place one tortilla in a 9-in. round baking pan coated with cooking spray. Layer with half of the meat sauce, one tortilla, all of the ricotta mixture, another tortilla and the remaining meat sauce. Top with remaining tortilla; sprinkle with Mexican cheese.

Cover and bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted.

For those on WW (old points, sorry I'm to cheap to pay for meetings and learn new points) a 1/8 serving is 4 points and a 1/4 serving is 8. Tonight mom went for 1/8 and I went for a 1/4 because I was starved! Either way, for all the yummy gooey cheesy-ness it's a great way to spend the points.  

Quick Fix Lunch: Creamy Bow Tie Pasta

This isn't a regular Dinner at Our House post, but I just had to share with you all the lunch I just tried out on this lazy holiday Monday. I'm at the computer scanning my usual suspects (Skinnytaste, tasteofhome, and allrecipes) looking for things to make for the week. I'm actually not looking for anything new, but rather I am checking out my "saved" lists.

However, I stumbled across this little gem that is going down as one of my new favorite quickie lunches (I may even whip up another batch tonight to take for work tomorrow). If I do the math correct, the WW total for this would be 5 points. I'm not quite sure that what I just made would amount to that though. We keep all low fat, fat free, etc products in our home (Update: I did the tedious math on all of our products at home and it brought it down to 4 points). I'll have to take some time to figure it up. Try it for yourself, it took me little to no time to prepare and we had all the ingredients at our house.

Ingredients

• 1 cup uncooked bow tie pasta
• 1-1/2 teaspoons butter
• 2-1/4 teaspoons olive oil
• 1-1/2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• Dash salt
• Dash dried basil
• Dash crushed red pepper flakes
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 2 tablespoons chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon water
• 2 tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon sour cream

Directions

• Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, melt butter. Stir in the oil, flour, garlic and seasonings until blended. Gradually add the milk, broth and water. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until slightly thickened.
• Remove from the heat; stir in cheese and sour cream. Drain pasta; toss with sauce. Yield: 2 servings

Dinner at Our House: Weight Watchers Chinese Night

I know, I know. I'm probably going to burn out on trying new stuff and not have anything left for the rest of 2011. I promise it'll be old items for the rest of the week. But, tonight I'm thrilled to share with you something we tried tonight that I absolutely loved and it definitely WW friendly. And hey, by the way, just because something is WW friendly does not mean it lacks taste! My husband and father have been enjoying these dishes too. Since they aren't on WW they actually eat more (so jealous- but then again, maybe not because I've lost 19 lbs to date).

Tonight we tried WW General Tso's Chicken. Tim and I LOVE our Asian inspired dishes. Our favorite restaurant is a place in Athens, GA called Doc Chey's. Doc Chey's is amazing and I will never be able to recreate their tasty cuisine, but I can dream. We love to get their spicy version of General Tso's Chicken lovingly called "General Chey's Chicken." Missing out dinner staple we decided to look for a healthy version of the dish. After much time spent on Google I found this one. It looked a little funny making...but it turned out quite well.

Ingredients:

·         3/4 cup canned reduced-sodium chicken broth

·         2 tablespoons cornstarch

·         2 tablespoons sugar

·         2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce

·         1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

·         1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

·         2 teaspoons peanut oil

·         2 medium scallions, chopped

·         2 medium garlic cloves, minced

·         1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes or 1 dried chili, minced

·         1 lb uncooked boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 2-inch pieces

·         2 cups cooked white rice, kept hot

Directions:

1.    In a medium bowl, whisk together broth, cornstarch, sugar, oy sauce, vinegar and ginger; set aside.

2.    Heat oil in a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add scallions, garlic and pepper and cook 2 minutes. Add chicken and cook until browned all over, about 5 minutes.

3.    Add reserved sauce and simmer until sauce thickens and chicken is cooked through, about 3 minutes.

4.      Serve chicken and sauce over rice. Yields about 1 cup of chicken and sauce and 1/2 cup of rice per serving.

You too can have all this for just 6WW pts!

Some things we did different. We didn't use scallions, we used the left over cut up onion and pepper from the previous night. We also used jasmine rice instead of white rice. All in all a pretty tasty dinner!

Dinner at Our House: SEC in the "SouthWest"ern Steak Quesadillas

Oh.my.goodness. I am on pins and needles waiting for tonight's BCS National Championship game between Auburn and Oregon!!! When I planned the menu this week I wanted to make something festive for dinner tonight. I found a recipe for quesadillas, but I didn't like it. So I instead found a recipe for Southwestern Flank Steak that I really liked, then decided to have some fun with it. As an avid Auburn Tiger...I named it "SEC in the "SouthWest"ern Steak Quesadillas"


The marinade alone sounded super yum. We used the marinade from the SW Flank Steak recipe and put it on some small thin sirloins that I bought.  I'll post it below:

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 teaspoons chili powder
• 4 teaspoons canola oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 2 beef flank steaks (1 pound each)

Directions

• In a large resealable plastic bag, combine the first seven ingredients; add beef. Seal bag and turn to coat; refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
• Drain and discard marinade. Using long-handled tongs, moisten a paper towel with cooking oil and lightly coat the grill rack. Grill beef, covered, over medium heat or broil 4 in. from the heat for 5-7 minutes on each side or until meat reaches desired doneness (for medium-rare, a meat thermometer should read 145°; medium, 160°; well-done, 170°).
• Let stand for 5 minutes; thinly slice across the grain. Yield: 8 servings.

Remember, though, we did not use flank steak. We used 1lb. of essentially sirloin meat. After letting it marinate over night I took it out this evening and got to work. I cut it into smaller strips and put it in a skillet with light cooking oil spray. I added in some veggies and then we slapped it together with reduced fat Mexican blend cheeses and a low fat tortilla. Presto! Dinner was served.

Mmmmm peppers and onions!

Yumz!

This one worked out a little better because we put them on one side.

Flipped!

Notice that I forgot to photograph before taking out a bite haha!

We also served this dish with Taco Rice plus some salsa. It comes in a package at the store. I only had half a serving (and we prepared it without the extra oil) so the rice was 2WW pts. As for the steak quesadilla, the total WW pt value was 10 pts. (6 meat filling, 2 cheeses and 2 tortilla). It would have been best if we could have had the total fat free tortillas. Oh well though! I also wish I had been able to grill the steak. I think that would have been best too.

Alright, well...this could either be the best night or thr worse. Let's get our hand up for Bodda Getta!

Bodda Getta, Bodda Getta, Bodda Getta, Bah

Rah Rah Rah, Sis Boom Bah 
Weagle, Weagle 
WAR DAMN EAGLE 
Kick Em In The Butt 
Big Blue. Hey!

Snacking at Our House: Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies

And I do believe this takes us to recipe #4 for the month. I've already made it to a benchmark in my Eleven for 2011! Today I was menu planning for the week and every time we sit down to dinner my dad says "Well, this was good, now what is for dessert?" Nine out of ten times I haven't been making a dessert because let's face it- dessert is not always WW friendly. At least not desserts that my dad and Tim would care for (sugar free, taste free). But, today looking through my handy tasteofhome cookbook from Mom S. I got the idea to make these 4pt treats. I present to you...Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies!

The pan! I wish I had swirled them a little more but it was very thick.

My brownie. I wish I had vanilla ice cream...

Cannot believe this was only 4 WW pts! <3

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 6 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar, divided
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup HERSHEY®’S Cocoa
• 1 package (8 ounces) reduced-fat cream cheese

Directions

• Separate two eggs, putting each white in a separate bowl (discard yolks or save for another use); set aside. In a small bowl, beat butter and 3/4 cup sugar until crumbly. Beat in the whole egg, one egg white and vanilla until well combined. Combine flour and cocoa; gradually add to egg mixture until blended. Pour into a 9-in. square baking pan coated with cooking spray; set aside.
• In a small bowl, beat cream cheese and remaining sugar until smooth. Beat in the second egg white. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls over the batter; cut through batter with a knife to swirl.
• Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until set and edges pull away from sides of pan. Cool on a wire rack. Yield: 1 dozen.

Dinner at Our House: Creamy Chicken Rice Soup

We've done it again. This is our third recipe of the new year that we've tried and it is only January 6! My mom is the one who actually cooked it tonight because originally I planned to work late. This recipe also came from my tasteofhome cookbook gifted to me by Mom S. I wish I had been in the kitchen to photograph it more, but the picture I took of my bowl looked boring and didn't do the soup justice, thus I won't be posting it. The Creamy Chicken Rice Soup was delicious and one serving of it (1 cup) is only 4 points. We had green salads and some of our garlic knots to go with the soup.

You can find the recipe and nutrition info here.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup chopped carrot
• 1/3 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/3 cup chopped celery
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cans (14-1/2 ounces each) reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 2 cups cooked long grain rice
• 1 cup cubed cooked chicken
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 cup 2% milk
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon white wine, optional

Directions

• In a large saucepan, saute the carrot, onion and celery in butter until tender. Stir in flour until blended. Gradually stir in broth. Add the rice, chicken, salt, pepper and garlic powder; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
• Reduce heat to low. Stir in the milk, lemon juice and wine if desired. Cook and stir for 5 minutes or until heated through. Yield: 6 servings.

And yes, we used the white cooking wine :)

Dinner at Our House: Baked Basil Fries

Can you believe we're already posting again? Yay!

Tonight was an exciting night because I used a new recipe from my new cookbook (gifted to me by Tim's mom). The book is a tasteofhome book and it's the Guilt Free cooking version. I am in love.

Tonight we tried our first recipe: baked basil fries. We are a family that loves our starchy goodness so anytime we can bake something instead of fry it I get really happy. We had these with my dad's famous grilled hamburgers.

Which, by the way brings up my other new toy for the kitchen: food scale! I was able to precisely measure my hamburger so I knew exactly how to calculate my WW points more. Also, very exciting.

You can find the recipe for the fries online here. But, I'll also post it below along with the photos we took. Using their nutrition info I calculated these bad boys at 3 WW pts per serving (NOT BAD AT ALL!)

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 4 medium red potatoes

Directions

• In a large resealable plastic bag, combine the Parmesan cheese, oil, basil and garlic powder. Cut potatoes into 1/4-in. sticks. Add to bag, a few pieces at a time, and shake to coat.
• Place in a 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 425° for 15-20 minutes on each side or until crisp and tender. Yield: 4 servings.

Putting it all together in the bowl

Putting it in the pan (we cut them too thing but eh its ok)

Cooked and on the plate!

Happy New Year: Eleven Goals for 2011

Ok, so technically I'm 24 hours and some change late...but I wanted to wish you all a great new year. I thought I might blog about myself some in this post. Tim is still thinking on his, but I have already decided my 11 goals for 2011. I thought I'd share most of them (some are just a little more private than others).

1. Find new volunteer opportunity- I used to do 24 and 48 hour shifts for the rape crisis hotline in Athens and I'm looking for something similar now that we have moved. 
2. Lose X pounds (X by the beginning of July)- I've already lost 17 doing WW and exercising (almost daily). I thought giving myself a deadline of July made me think about it in more realistic terms. I put the Xs to try to keep it somewhat personal :)
3. Plan and take honeymoon- Now this one does involve Tim. We're thinking about possibly going to NYC for a weekend, but we're still thinking out ideas. If you have a suggested for an extended weekend let us know!
4. Try four new recipes a month- This basically equates to one a week but gives us some flexibility too. I hope to chronicle this one on the blog so stay tuned!
5. Blog three times a week- Yes, we know we've abandoned you...but that will change! Today counts as one right? Ha, ha...
6. Pay at least $X off student loan- Again, tried to keep the finances private. It's actually quite gratifying when I make my student loan payments. I'm going in to my second full year of repayment and I love seeing that number go down. :)
7. Put $X in savings- Similar to the one above, but I have sat down and done the math and I've got a number tucked away for safe keeping. 
8. Read 52 books- another one that I hope to blog about (maybe it will help with goal #5). I think roughly one book a week is totally doable.
9. Wish each Facebook friend happy birthday- crap! Typing this I realized I missed today...well I call mulligan on that one...I'm going to start on that as soon as I finish here...yikes...(by the way this goal was inspired by Peter Shankman's seminar in Montgomery...)
10. Visit 12 new restaurants- I'm really looking forward to this one. It can also help goal #5!
11. and finally finish working on my etsy store-  I'm so excited about this one! I need to get to making some jewelry! 

And that, my friends, is the list. I had a recent discussion with someone about new year's resolutions. I don't make them. I like the ideas of small and realistic goals. I started this back in 2009. I had 9 goals for 09 and 10 in 10. Since the creation of X in 20XX, I've done much better than simply saying "I'm going to be a better person," or "I'm going to get fit." So here is wishing you the best on setting realistic goals and working to accomplish them!

Dinner at Our House: Garlic Knots

A little more golden than I wanted, but they tasted quite yummy!

These are the side that I made to go with our Christmas Eve dinner at my house. I spent most of the day baking different things so I wanted to make a quick thing to go with dinner. These were very easy to assemble. I highly recommend them for something a little different but still simple. I modified a recipe from here. Because I used the lighter version of the butter it really helps save a point or two if you are on the WW system. Two knots = 3 points! Not too bad :)

Ingredients

• 1 container refrigerated breadstick dough
• 1/4 cup yogurt butter
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Tie the dough into 12 knots and place them onto a cookie sheet. Melt the butter and add in the garlic powder. Brush the knots with the mixture, and sprinkle the rosemary onto the knots. Bake the knots according to the package directions.

Snacking at Our House: Cupcakes!

Sorry it has been a while. Big project at work going on. Plus, I've started work on our annual holiday letter for family and friends. But, tonight I wanted to share a recipe with you all that I tried. I made Chocolate Cupcakes that are only 3 WW points each.

These were my first attempt at "dusting" any food item with powdered sugar.

My cupcake before it was eaten.

Recipe from here:

Ingredients

• 1  cup  all-purpose flour (about 4 1/2 ounces)
• 1/3  cup  unsweetened cocoa
• 1  teaspoon  baking soda
• 1/8  teaspoon  salt
• 2/3  cup  granulated sugar
• 1/4  cup  butter, softened
• 1/2  cup  egg substitute
• 1  teaspoon  vanilla
• 1/2  cup  1% low-fat buttermilk
• 1 1/4  ounces  dark (70 percent cocoa) chocolate, finely chopped
• 2  tablespoons  powdered sugar

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup, and level with a knife. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; stir with a whisk.

Place granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well combined (about 3 minutes). Add egg substitute and vanilla, beating well. Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to granulated sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Fold in chocolate. Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups lined with muffin cup liners. Bake at 350° for 18 minutes or until cake springs back when touched lightly in center or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from pan; cool completely on a wire rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar just before serving.