Guilt-free Broccoli Mac & Cheese

I know, you are probably skeptical because I called it  "guilt-free" and that typically means that it does not taste good but hear me out.  You have seen recipes for macaroni and cheese that are to-die-for.  Ones that have butter or beer, maybe some greasy bacon and lots of cheese.  Well this is not one of those recipes.  Instead, this is a recipe that will NOT make your wallet or gut feel guilty.

Ingredients

• 1/4 box of elbow macaroni pasta (I used Ronzoni Smart Taste - really good!) 
• box of frozen Green Giant Broccoli and Cheese Sauce
• Hormel Real Bacon Pieces (50% Less Fat)
• Garlic Powder
• Parmesan Cheese

Dump the macaroni into a pot of boiling water.

At that time microwave the broccoli according to directions.  It's awesome because it will take the same amount of time.  It's even more awesome because for those of you on Weight Watchers, check out the points plus in the upper right-hand corner.  Plus they go on sale as 10 for $10 every couple weeks so it is super cheap to make.

Now, it is easy.  Strain the pasta, dump in the broccoli and cheese sauce and mix.  Sprinkle in some bacon pieces, garlic powder and top with some Parmesan cheese.

In my mind this is the ULTIMATE recipe because:

1. it is quick (less than 10 minutes!)
2. it is easy (boil water and microwave)
3. it is light (low in WW points plus) 
4. and it is very cheap (less than $2)

Hope you appreciate this recipe as much as I do!

WW Italian Vegetable Soup

This recipe calls for a delicious variety of Italian vegetables and greens that give this meatless soup lots of flavor. 

The pilot is still home so we have been really spoiling ourselves with food and drinks.  Yesterday was my only day off, and it was a gorgeous one, so we thought it was a brilliant idea to go to Hooters and enjoy some (or many) drinks and fried foods.  I am pretty sure that the calories I consumed yesterday alone equate to the amount I should digest for one whole week.

That being said I am feeling the need to make one big batch of soup that will provide me with light lunches for the week.  I found this recipe on the Weight Watchers website and it is ONLY 1 point plus per serving.  If you are unfamiliar with WW, just know that it is really good for you :) 

Ingredients

	2 cup(s) escarole, chopped
	2 clove(s) (medium) garlic clove(s), minced
	1 cup(s) (chopped) uncooked onion(s), chopped
	2 cup(s) fresh spinach, baby leaves
	2 small uncooked zucchini, cubed
	1 medium sweet red pepper(s), chopped
	1 medium uncooked fennel bulb(s), thinly sliced
	6 cup(s) vegetable broth
	28 oz canned diced tomatoes, preferably fire-roasted
	1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
	2 tsp thyme, fresh, fresh, finely chopped
	1 tsp fresh oregano, finely chopped
	3/4 tsp table salt
	1/4 tsp black pepper
	1/4 cup(s) parsley, fresh, chopped
	1/4 cup(s) basil, fresh, leaves

I followed the recipe exactly except that I used the small tri-colored sweet peppers instead of just one red.  I've been buying those bags from Costco, Aldi and Trader Joe's and try to incorporate them into recipes when I can.  They're just so pretty!

After you chop everything up... it is not a quick recipe to prep... dump it all in a soup pot except for the basil and parsley.

Cover the pot, cook on high and bring to a boil.  Once you reach a boil lower the heat and let it simmer for 10 minutes.

Then simply add the basil, parsley, salt and pepper.  If you're looking for something heartier you can add some cannellini beans or some orzo pasta.  Either way, it's a tasty and light guiltless soup - enjoy!

Mexican Stuffed Peppers

I wanted to make stuffed peppers and there are a trillion recipes out there.  Some are Italian inspired, some of them have ground beef in the recipe, and the majority of them are written to make all at once.  Well what I was looking for was the exact opposite of all of those... a Mexican flavor, vegetarian, slow cooker meal.  That being said I created my own recipes.

INGREDIENTS

• 6 green peppers
• 1 can enhildada sauce
• 2 cups shredded cheese
• Filling ingredients (see below)

FILLING INGREDIENTS

• Package of mircowaveable brown rice
• 1 can of black beans
• 1 can of diced tomatoes (Mexican kind)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 2 tbsps cumin
• 1 fresh jalapeno diced 

Mix all of the filling ingredients in a bowl so that every spoonful has a bite of everything.

Take the enchilada sauce and pour half in the filling mix and the other half in the slow cooker.  Then slice off the tops of the peppers and spoon in the mixture. 

Now squeeze them all into the slow cooker and top with your favorite Mexican cheese.  I used pepper jack only because that is what I had in my fridge.  (Next time I would probably just mix the cheese in the mixture instead of on top.  While it looks pretty here... it kind of dries up for the finished product.)

Set the slow cooker on low for 5 hours.  Then you end up with 6 servings of a great meal.  The cool thing is that each one fits perfectly in the 2 cup twist-and-seal plastic containers so that I can freeze them for my pilot hubby.  With him living on the road I try to fill my freezer with different meals so he can eat well while he is away from home.

Next time I would top them with fresh green onions, cilantro and maybe FF sour cream to make it taste fresher.  If you are not counting calories, this would be awesome to eat with tortilla chips too.  Enjoy!

Friendsgiving

Right before the hustle and bustle of the holiday season I received an invitation to Friendsgiving hosted by my fabulous best friend Sarah.  She wanted to make sure we devoted an evening to celebrate the joyful season, not with family we are born into but with the family we choose... our friends.

The hostess-with-the-mostess Sarah and my two other besties MariKate and Lauren

Sarah did a beautiful job setting up her city apartment for this gourmet feast.  She rearranged her living room so that hosted one long elegant table furnished with 20 lovely place settings.  Seriously she busted out her Martha Stewart skills to create a scene we will always remember as our first Friendsgiving.

Now to help feed the masses we were each responsible for bringing a dish.  In addition to Sarah's chicken tetrazzini, we devoured a gorgeous salad, "crack potatoes", broccoli casserole, pieorgis, Polish sausage and sauerkraut plus some apps and desserts.  Oh, and my Italian Roasted Veggies.

As promised to my soon-to-be-new-followers (right Erica?), here is the recipe for my Italian Roasted Veggies.

Italian Roasted Veggies

• Dressing
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 tbsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tbsp dried parsley
• 1/2 tbsp dried basil
• 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tbsp salt
• 1/2 tbsp black pepper
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• Veggies you want 
• I included zucchini, cherry tomatoes, red onions, sweet peppers (green, red, orange and yellow), summer squash and some carrot
• Chop up all of the veggies and place in a bowl.  In a separate bowl mix up the ingredients for the dressing.  Once mixed, pour the dressing into the veggies and stir.  Cover a baking sheet with foil and pour the veggies on top.  Bake for 15 minutes at 450 degrees.  (Hint: you can keep the veggies marinating in the fridge until you are ready to bake.)
  

 

Truly, it was an awesome night!  We even went around the table and announced to the group what we were thankful for and it really shed some light on how lucky we are to have such great friends. 

Looking forward to many more Friendsgivings to come!

Paper Bag Popcorn

Seriously I feel dumb for not knowing this sooner.  Did you can skip out on the extra chemicals and save a few bucks by making your own microwave popcorn?  At least now you are learning from a friend.  I had to learn from this pin.

All you need is
- 1/4 cup popcorn kernels (I prefer white kernels)
- brown paper lunch bag
- your favorite popcorn toppings

Ok, now this is really hard to follow.

First you measure out 1/4 cup of popcorn kernels

Then you dump them into a brown paper lunch bag. Now you put the bag in the microwave and hit the popcorn butter.  We are almost there...

Once there is about 3 seconds between each pop, it is time to take it out.  The bag will most likely tipped over.

  
Then you simply add your favorite popcorn toppings.  Instead of fatty butter (ok, I will admit that I have a bottle of that buttery popcorn oil that I break out in emergency situations that require a little more comfort) I use I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spray.  Sometimes I add reduced fat parmesan cheese with garlic salt or taco seasoning.  Really it is up to you and your taste.

So I lied.  This was extremely easy to follow.  Hopefully you forgive me once you realize how awesome this new trick is.  Enjoy!

Green Onion Love

If there is one thing that I buy every single week at the grocery store, it would be green onions.  I slice them up and put them in my eggs, my salads, my soups, my appetizers (like buffalo chicken egg rolls), my dinners, well... you get the idea.

Even though they are not that expensive I was still very happy to see that you could grow green onions indoors.  There is a slight chance that I am more psyched about the ability to grow something than the actual cost savings. Now you see, I have a terrible relationship with plants and have a tendency to kill my plants, even the simple ones like bamboo.

This pin shared the idea of placing the white ends of the green onions in water and simply watch it grow.  That's it.  Really.

You can see where the old part ends and the new onion grows.  I started some of them about 10 days ago and some of them 3 days ago so they are different heights.  I did this so there is continuous growth.  

Tonight I used them in my fresh pad thai that I made using this recipe except I reduced the calories by using Nasoya Japanese Style Noodles.

One of the most sinful recipes using green onions for our household is this dip only because I always have the ingredients (feta, olive oil, tomatoes, Italian seasoning and... green onions!) on hand.  We usually bust this recipe when we are having a date-night-in and have enjoyed a few glasses of red wine.

There are so many ways that I use green onions, I just love them!  What's your favorite recipe using green onions?

Buffalo Chicken Egg Rolls

In efforts to prepare quick, healthy and cheap meals I took the advice from a pin I found and placed a bunch of boneless, skinless thin sliced chicken breasts (that were on sale at Jewel for buy-one-get-one-free) in my slow cooker with some water, salt, pepper and two bay leaves. After it cooked while I was at work, I came home to shred it and packed away in snack size plastic baggies and placed in the freezer.

Having a ton of shredded chicken in my freezer, it was time to pull some out to create a meal for the hubby and I. We knew with the holiday weekend ahead that we would gain a few pounds so we wanted to started the weekend light. Browsing my previous pins on my Recipe board, I selected "healthy buffalo chicken rolls" for dinner.

Ingredients

Broccoli Slaw

Green Onions

Egg Roll Wrappers

Blue Cheese

Frank's Hot Sauce

Shredded Chicken

It was super easy!  I just took out the egg roll wraps and placed the other ingredients on an angle in the center just like this:

 Then I rolled up one corner just enough to cover the food.  I then wet the side corners and folded in.  All you have left is to continue rolling and just wet the final corner and press down.  Place them on a wire rack and spray with a cooking spray on all sides.  Cooking it on the rack allows the rolls to cook on all sides.  Bake at 400 degrees until it is golden brown.

They were quite yummy!  Especially with the side of ranch dressing to dip it in, even thought it made it a little less healthy.  We enjoyed them and I've already decided to make bite-size rolls (quarter each wrap) as an appetizer for New Years Eve.  

I also ended up with extra wraps so I think I will play around with other fillings.  We were thinking about Philly cheese-steak rolls for the next round.  Stay tuned...

Smoothie Cubes

Unfortunately I do not have time to only focus on DIY projects and organization. There's family, friend, work, my second job and somewhere in there I eat. My family is Italian and we like to eat well. In their Italian vocabulary to "eat well" means to cook with fat, butter, lots of olive oil, cheese, etc.

About 18 months I joined Weight Watcher and took control of the food I was putting into my body. I did awesome! The only problem was that I quickly found that my grocery bills began to sky rocket and I didn't have the luxury to spend that much just on food. I took about a 6 month hiatus from Weight Watchers and now I am back... but with an added challenge to keep costs down. I'll share any recipes / finds that I have that will help you eat light while being light on your wallet.

Aldi is a great place to shop groceries at low costs. While browsing their aisles the other day I noticed a bunch of silicone trays on clearance for $1.49 so I bought the one for 6 cupcakes.

As much as I cook (and I am a pretty good cook if I say so myself), I absolutely do not bake. Never really cared for sweets so I never cared to make them. Once I saw this tray I had a different plan.

Yogurt has been one of those foods that I eat because it is good for watching your weight, but I really do not enjoy eating yogurt. I typically add cereal or blend it in a smoothie. Last year I tried something with one of my smoothies and it became on of my favorite snacks. I froze the smoothie and then let it sit out while I worked. After a few hours out, it became soft and had a creamy texture just like... well, frozen yogurt.

My new kitchen tool was going to help me portion smaller snack sizes of the smoothie. First I made a smoothie with yogurt, mixed berries, frozen banana and some almond milk. Once it was totally blended I poured in into the silicon tray and froze. Once frozen I put them in a ziplock baggie so it would be easier to store.

Now I have healthy snacks already made for work in the perfect portions! Already I got my money's worth in the tray.