Spinach Lasagna Rolls

I saw this recipe on Skinny Taste and thought I would try it out.  Each roll is 6 WW+  (or 4 WW - old point system) points if you don't add meat.

• 9 lasagna noodles, cooked
• 10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and completely drained (I used 3/4 this amount)
• 15 oz fat free ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 egg
• salt and fresh pepper
• 32 oz jar spaghetti sauce
• 1/2 cup part skim mozzarella cheese, shredded (I didn't measure this and probably used more than that! ha!)
• I added 2 hot italian sausages, cut up and cooked.  You could also add some shredded chicken instead.  Or just make them meat-less.

Preheat oven to 350°. Combine spinach, ricotta, Parmesan, egg, salt and pepper in a medium bowl.  Mix in cooked meat, if you like.  Ladle about 1 cup sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 12 baking dish.

Place a piece of wax paper on the counter and lay out lasagna noodles. Make sure noodles are dry. Take 1/3 cup of ricotta mixture and spread evenly over noodle. Rollcarefully and place seam side down onto the baking dish. Repeat with remaining noodles.

Ladle sauce over the noodles in the baking dish and top each one with shredded mozzarella cheese. Put foil over baking dish and bake for 40 minutes, or until cheese melts. Makes 9 rolls.

To serve, ladle a little sauce on the plate and top with lasagna roll.

Crock Pot Buffalo Chicken Dip

What you will need:

1lb chicken (tenders or breasts or even canned chunk chicken)

1 block low fat cream cheese

2/3 cup fat free ranch dressing

3/4 to 1 cup buffalo wing sauce

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese and a little more to top it off

What you will need to do:

1) Boil chicken until just done

2) Shred chicken, cut off any fat or skin

3) Heat cream cheese, cheddar cheese, ranch, and buffalo sauce until heated through.  Then add chicken until all is coated

4) Transfer to a small crock pot (top with shredded cheddar, if you want) and keep on warm or low.  It is ready immediately, since everything is cooked, but it's great take to bible study or a get together in the crock pot!  Serve with tortilla chips or pita chips.

Crock Pot Pulled Pork BBQ

Hey y'all, sorry I haven't posted in a while, but I have a couple of recipes to share now!  I don't have the best pictures for this one, but it is really easy!

What you will need:

A shoulder butt roast (or rump roast)  This 7+ pounder fed 10 with some left over, so just get the size you need.  It freezes well, so you could do that if it makes a lot.

Some spices (Italian seasoning, light season salt, pepper, cumin, etc...)

A few shakes of Worcestershire sauce or soy sauce, if you have it

1/4 cup water

3/4 bottle of BBQ sauce (I used Sweet Baby Rays - Hickory) But you don't need this until after the meat is cooked.

What you will need to do:

1) Take the meat out of the plastic (gag!  I hate messing with raw meat lol!)

2) Place in large crock pot.  I ended up having to cut off a chunk and squish it in a small opening to get it all to fit.  The lid needs to close completely.  Add your seasonings, Worcestershire sauce/soy sauce, and water here.

3) Cook on high with lid on for 6 hours or on low for 8 hours.  I cooked mine on high for 3 hours and had to leave, so I turned it on low for the next 5 hours and it came out fine.

4) It will cook down A LOT.  When it's completely cooked (6-8 hours), remove from the pot into a large baking dish.  It's best if this can sit in a dish (not crock pot) to cool for about an hour.  The bone should be really easy to pull out with tongs.  This is the nasty part, but fork around and pick out as much fat as you can.  It will probably come off in big chunks.  Keep the meat in pretty big pieces, so that when you mix in the BBQ sauce, it doesn't get too mushy.  Sorry I don't' have a picture of this.

5) Once the fat is removed and you have several large chunks of meat, pour on BBQ sauce and fork around to mix it in.  The meat should be so tender that it kind of just shreds itself as you mix in the sauce.  I used 3/4 small bottle of Sweet Baby Rays and left the remainder out for people to add extra if they wanted.  You can fix this the night before and heat it in the microwave or in the oven (with foil-so it doesn't dry out).

I don't have a great photo of the finished meat, but you can see it in this photo, in the white dish.  Serve with buns and some southern sides!  We made this for our Derby party in Phoenix and it was a hit! :)

Really, Really Easy Pumpkin Muffins

This recipe is great for taking a snack to Sunday School, taking a dessert, or to just have for breakfast.  It is literally SO easy, a two year old could do it.  (with help with the oven, of course!)  Oh and it's a Weight Watchers recipe!!  If you make regular-sized muffins, they are 1 point each....so the minis are probably 1/3 point. haha But whose counting?

You will need:

One box of spice cake mix

One 15 oz. can of pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling, just plain pumpkin)

THAT'S ALL!  No water, no eggs, no oil, no lard...

What you will need to do:

1.  Stir up the two ingredients.  It will look very dry at first but I promise, it will all get mixed in and be very moist.  So DON'T add water, ok?  It should look thick and "gloppy."

2.  Fill mini muffin tin 2/3 full, or a little more.  Or you can use a regular muffin tin (bake for 18-20 min instead).  They only rise a little bit...not as much as cupcakes or other muffins do.

3.  If you wish, you can add a few chopped pecans or walnuts and a sprinkle of brown sugar to the tops, just before you put them in the oven.  This probably knocks them out of Weight Watchers category though.  I added chopped pecans to half the batch.

4.  Bake at 350 for 12 minutes for minis.

5. Enjoy!  They can be served warm or room temp.  Not sure how they would be cold.  Picture shows one without pecans and one with pecans.

Recipe yields about 44 mini muffins or 12 regular muffins.

Easy, right? Yes.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

My mom sent me this recipe the other day when I was in desperate need for a quick recipe to take to a couple with a new baby!  So this recipe makes A LOT.  Definitely enough for 4-6 people.

You will need:

1-1.5 lb thawed chicken breast, cubed

3-4 tbs corn starch

1/2 onion, cut in 1/2 inch pieces

1 red pepper, cut in 1/2 inch pieces

1 yellow pepper, cut in 1/2 inch pieces

2-3 medium carrots, sliced diagonally

fresh sliced mushrooms, I used a whole pack for this large recipe

You can replace or add any of the veggies.  Other options are water chestnuts, bok choy, etc.

For the sweet and sour sauce:

1 can chunk pineapple in it's own juice (use juice and all)

1 cup water

1/4 cup white vinegar

3 tbs ketchup

1/4 to 1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tbs corn starch

crushed red pepper fleck to taste

What you need to do:

1. Cut up yo veggies

2. Cut up yo chicken

3. Put cut chicken in a ziplock bag with 3-4 tbs cornstarch and shake until coated

4. Cook chicken pieces in hot EVOO just until done (about 4 min).  Set aside.

5. Stir fry the veggies in a drop of EVOO until tender.

6.  I didn't take a picture of this, but start cooking your sauce in a separate sauce pan.  Pull all ingredients for sauce in the pot and bring just to boiling, stirring constantly.  Cook 2-3 min.  It will thicken over time.  Then add sauce to tender veggies.

7.  Add chicken to sauce and veggies to heat through.

8. I didn't take a final picture either, but serve a scoop of the mixture over white rice and voila!  Homemade sweet and sour chicken!

I took half of this to the couple with a new baby and we had enough for two meals also.  Like I said, it makes a lot!  My two cents...don't over cook the chicken!  And if your sauce gets too thick, add a tad more water or pineapple juice while it's cooking.

Homemade Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

You will need:

2 1/4 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup butter-flavored shortening (just pretend this isn't in there! :)

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 eggs, room temperature (important!)

3/4 cup buttermilk

2 cups shredded carrots

1 1/2 cups coconut (I thought this was a little much, so I used 1 cup)

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup raisins, optional (I did not use raisins)

For the frosting:

2 (8oz) packages of cream cheese

1/2 cup butter, softened (important!)

16 oz powdered sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp almond extract, optional (I didn't have this on hand, so I left it out)

What you need to do:

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a bowl.

3. Beat shortening and sugar until fluffy.  Add room temperature eggs one at a time, beating after each addition (important!).

4. Shred 2 cups of carrots.

5. Alternately add the flour mixture and the buttermilk, starting and ending with flour.  Gently stir in carrots, coconut, walnuts, and raisins (if desired).

6. Pour batter into a 9x13 inch pan sprayed with cooking spray and bake for 55-60 minutes.  Cool and frost with cream cheese frosting.  Top with additional chopped walnuts, if desired.

7. For the frosting: Beat cream cheese and butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.

 8. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating until fluffy.  Stir in vanilla and almond extracts.  This makes A LOT of frosting, so you can keep it refrigerated and use it on other things like cookies or graham crackers.

 And enjoy!!

Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches

You will need:

2 Tbs butter (I used EVOO in place of butter)

1lb boneless steak (any cut; I usually buy already thin sliced steak and just cut it into strips or have the butcher cut it for you)

1 medium green pepper, thinly sliced

1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced (I didn't use onion)

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Hot sauce, optional (I liberally used Louisiana hot sauce)

Sliced provolone cheese (I used Sargento slices)

4-6 Hoagie rolls

What you need to do:

1. Slice bell pepper and onion into thin strips.  Slice steak into VERY thin strips.

2. In a large skillet, melt butter/EVOO over medium-high heat.  When melted and bubbly, add steak.  Stir constantly. 

3. When the meat is about half way cooked (2-3 minutes), add onions and bell peppers.  Season with salt, pepper, and hot sauce.  Continue stirring until meat is cooked through and onions and peppers are tender.  Try not to over cook the meat or it will be really tough.  I usually turn down the heat to low-medium for the last 2 minutes, so the peppers are more soft, without overcooking the steak.

4. Spoon the meat filling into sliced rolls and add sliced provolone cheese.  Place open-faced sandwiches onto a baking sheet under the broiler for 1-2 minutes on high, or until the cheese is melted and bread is toasted.

5. Serve immediately.

Sorry, I don't have a final picture with cheese melted and all...we gobbled these up as soon as they were done!  Oh, my inlaws were here so we didn't eat all four ourselves! ha!  This is a great, quick recipe and could be for lunch or dinner.  My two cents...one pound of steak is just barely enough for 4 sandwiches, as you can see, so if you are feeding big men, I would get a little more steak.  But if you're making it for two, it's just the right amount with a little leftover!