Warm Pasta Salad with Shrimp

This recipe is another recipe from the MOMS Club Biggest Loser Brunch potluck.  My friend Marci brought it and it was so unusual, but so delicious!  I saved a taste for my hubby and he loved it and said I needed to get that recipe.  Marci emailed the recipe and I made it that same night!

I actually had a lot of the ingredients on hand, so it ended up being a really inexpensive dish to make.  I only used a half pound of shrimp, cut in half and to compensate, I used the whole can of rinsed and drained cannellini beans.  Plus, I didn’t want to end up wasting half a can, what else was I going to do with it?  I’ve never been the greatest fan of whole wheat pasta, but I used it anyway, I bought the Ronzoni brand whole wheat, and it was actually very good.  The recipe below will be without my adaptations though.  I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Warm Pasta Salad with Shrimp

Warm Pasta Salad with Shrimp
Recipe from Marci G., originally from Cooking Light

Ingredients:
1 pkg whole wheat pasta, cooked per package directions
1.5 tbsp Dijon mustard
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp minced fresh garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
12 oz. medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1.5 cups chopped fresh spinach
1 cup canned cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup minced red onion
2 tbsp capers

Instructions:

• In a small bowl, combine the mustard, lemon juice and garlic, whisking to combine.  Slowly add the oil, whisking to incorporate, then add in the salt and pepper.
• Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, add the shrimp and cook through.  Add in the spinach, beans, red onions and capers and toss, cooking until the spinach wilts.  Add the pasta and juice mixture, stirring to coat evenly.  Serve

4 servings, 487 calories each

Warm Pasta Salad with Shrimp

Foil-Baked Tilapia with Black Beans & Corn

Being on a diet is something that produces change for the whole family.  Sometimes they’re happy with the change, sometimes not so much.  For example, I’ve become more conscious of the fact that I do not eat a lot of fruit.  I love vegetables, just not fruit.  And as a parent, I cannot expect my child to eat the fruit I’m pushing at her if I do not eat it myself.  So I’m trying to eat more, and teach her by my example.  Also, my cooking diet meals means that my husband also eats diet meals.  He is really a rock star husband, he never complains and even compliments the diet food.

Sundays have always been our day of indulgence.  It is his only day off during the week and he likes to make the most of it.  When he woke up this past Sunday, he said that he wanted to grill, he went look in our deep freeze and said how about either pork chops or ribs.  Both sounded GREAT, but I knew they would not end up remotely healthy.  I found this recipe online and figured we could always grill it instead of bake it.

This was pretty easy to make, quick to cook (we did end up baking it, not grilling it) and packed a major punch of flavor.  The compound butter cooks on the fish and melts down to the corn and black beans, infusing them with that amazing chipotle flavor.  As a low-cal high-taste dinner, it will be on our menu more often!

Foil Baked Tilapia with Black Beans & Corn

Foil-Baked Tilapia with Black Beans & Corn
Recipe from:  Pink Parsley, originally from America’s Test Kitchen

Ingredients:
4 tilapia fillets
salt and pepper
Cajun seasoning, if desired
4 tbsp softened butter
1 tsp orange zest
2 tbsp orange juice
2 tsp minced chipotle chilis in adobo sauce
2 cloves minced garlic
1  can low-sodium black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can low-sodium corn, drained
1/2 red onion, minced
2 green onions, minced
1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
• In a small bowl, combine the softened butter with 1 tsp of the chipotle chili in adobo sauce, the orange zest, 1 clove garlic, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.  Set aside.
• Pat the fish dry with paper towels and season with desired seasonings (salt and pepper, or I used the Cajun seasoning).  Spread the butter mixture over the fish.
• In a medium-sized bowl, combine the beans, corn, red onion, green onion, 2 tbsp cilantro, orange juice, 1 tsp minced chipotle pepper in adobo, 1 clove garlic, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper, mix until well incorporated.
• Lay four sheets of foil on the counter and evenly divide the corn and bean mixture between them.  Lay a piece of fish on top of each and fold the foil, sealing the edges.
• Arrange in a single layer in a baking dish and bake until cooked through, 20-30 minutes.  Fish is done when it flakes when a fork is stuck in it.  Open the packets and serve, sprinkled with extra cilantro if desired.

327 calories per serving

 

Cinnamon-Raisin Granola

In my new quest for weight loss, I’m trying to eat healthier.  No brainer, right?  Well some things I just never have had before, including granola.  I mean I’ve had the granola bars before but never had regular straight up granola and it seems to be the “it” thing to make these days.

Lucky for me when we had our Biggest Loser brunch, my friend Jennifer brought some granola and yogurt.  I gave it a try and loved it.  I loved it so much that I found myself wishing I had some more that same afternoon.  And that evening, I went to the store and got the ingredients and made it.  I think my husband thought I had lost my mind, such an immediate love for GRANOLA??  Then he ate some.  And he loves it too.  So try it, might be your new favorite thing!  Thanks for sharing, Jen!

Cinnamon-Raisin Granola

Cinnamon-Raisin Granola
Recipe from Jennifer D., originally from All Recipes

Ingredients:
4 cups old-fashioned oats (don’t use instant or quick, they won’t get as crisp)
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1.5 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup raisins

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Pour oats into a large bowl, set aside.
• In a small saucepan, combine the brown sugar, oil, honey and cinnamon and bring to a boil.  Once it’s boiling and the sugar has dissolved, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.  Pour over the oats and stir in, folding untill well incorporated and no clumps are forming.
• Spread in a large shallow low-rimmed baking pan and bake 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  When it’s golden brown, remove and stir in the raisins.
• Store up to 3 weeks in an airtight container.

Cinnamon-Raisin Granola

Baked Praline French Toast

I know, you’re thinking “Christen has fallen off of the diet wagon for sure!”  But you would be wrong.  This, believe it or not, is a diet dish!!

The moms club I’m in is doing a Biggest Loser, so we decided to have a Biggest Loser brunch and all made a relatively healthy/low-cal brunch dish.  We brought copies of our recipe to share with each other, so you’ll be seeing some of those other dishes coming soon, there were some good ones.  I got mine from the Holly Clegg Trim & Terrific cookbook, Home Entertaining the Easy Way (given to me by my soon-to-be sister-in-law, Michelle!).  I just love Holly Clegg, she seems so personable and being a Southern girl like myself, I like her recipes!  The orange flavor gave it a different taste from the norm, but a good different.  This one was a definite win, it did not taste “diet” at all, everyone loved it.

Baked Praline French Toast

Baked Praline French Toast
Recipe from:  Home Entertaining the Easy Way

Ingredients:
6 tbsp margarine
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 tbsp light corn syrup
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 eggs
3 egg whites
1 cup orange juice (I used the Trop 50 kind)
1/4 cup white granulated sugar
1/3 cup skim milk
1 tsp orange zest
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 loaf (1 lb) French Bread, cut into one inch slices

Instructions:
In a small bowl, combine the margarine, corn syrup and brown sugar, microwaving until the brown sugar has dissolved, stirring occasionally.  Pour into a casserole, then sprinkle with the chopped pecans before arranging the bread slices over the pecans.

In a larger bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients and whisk to combine.  Pour evenly over the bread and cover, refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake 30 minutes, serve immediately.

Calories:  288

Baked Praline French Toast

Chinese Cabbage Salad

Normally for New Years Day we have black-eyed pea soup and egg rolls.  But this year our family Christmas get together was postponed to New Years Day, so I knew I wasn’t going to want to come home and start making egg rolls.  What goes better with soup than salad?  I remembered having a cabbage salad with ramen noodles in it and my husband LOVED it.  A quick Google search brought me to the recipe and it was a winner!

It was so quick and easy to make, I advise letting it sit on the counter for a little while to let the flavors blend together.  It was not as good refrigerated, the ramen kind of got soft.  If you’re making this ahead of time, I’d keep the ramen out until you’re ready to serve it.

Chinese Cabbage Salad
Recipe adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
1.5 tbsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp sesame oil
2 tbsp white granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
4 cups cabbage coleslaw mix with shredded carrots in it
1 pkg ramen noodles, crushed (I used creamy chicken, the oriental would probably be good!)
slivered almonds

Instructions:

• In a small bowl, mix together the vinegar, sesame oil, soy sauce, salt, pepper, sugar, olive oil and ramen seasoning packet.
• In a large bowl, mix the cabbage slaw mix and crushed ramen noodles.  Toss with the dressing and coat well.  Top with the toasted sesame seeds and toss well.  Taste for seasonings and adjust as needed.
• Serve topped with slivered almonds, if desired.

Chinese Cabbage Salad

Enchilada Casserole with Spicy Black Beans

Well it’s that time of year again.  Everyone is health conscious, everywhere you look are ads for weight loss items and the gym parking lot is full.  New Years Resolutions.  Every year my goal is to lose weight, and as I’m getting older the desire is much stronger.  And it’s much harder.

It’s extra hard since I love to cook and I love food.  Luckily these days there are many tasty recipes that are on the lower-cal side of the spectrum.  One of my favorite sources for tasty healthier recipes is Cooking Light.  Almost everything I’ve ever cooked from that magazine has been delicious and this recipe is no different.  It really doesn’t even TASTE like it’s lighter.  The portions were large also, so it didn’t leave you hungry.  If you’re a fan of Mexican food you’re sure to love this.

Enchilada Casserole with Spicy Black Beans
Recipe from Cooking Light magazine, January/February 2012
Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 lb lean ground beef (ground turkey would work fine too)
1 cup chopped onion
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp minced garlic
1.5 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 cup lower- sodium beef broth
1 tbsp taco seasoning (it called for less-sodium but I used spicy)
1 (8 oz) can salt-free tomato sauce
4 (8-inch) whole-grain flour tortillas
1/3 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese with jalapeno peppers

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• In a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, brown beef and crumble with your spoon.  Add onion and cook until tender.
• In a saucepan, melt butter over medium heat.  Add the garlic, saute for a minute then sprinkle with flour and cook an additional thirty seconds, stirring constantly.  Add in the broth, taco seasoning and tomato sauce and stir in well.  Bring to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally for two minutes.  Add 1.5 cups of this mixture to the browned beef, reserving 1/2 cup of the tomato mixture for later use.
• Spray a pie plate with nonstick spray and place one tortilla in the bottom.  Top with one cup of beef mixture, then repeat the layers, ending with a tortilla.  Spread the reserved tomato mixture over the top, then sprinkle on the cheese.
• Bake uncovered for 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted.  Cool slightly and cut into four wedges.

Spicy Black Beans

Ingredients:
2 tsp canola oil
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 minced jalapeno pepper
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
1/4 tsp salt
1 (15 oz.) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro

Instructions:

• Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, add the oil and swirl to coat the pan.
• Add the red bell pepper and jalapeno pepper and saute for four minutes.  Add the lime juice, salt and beans and cook until heated through, about three minutes.  Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.

Calories:
Enchilada Casserole – 377
Spicy Black Beans – 83

Enchilada Casserole with Spicy Black Beans

Crispy Cheddar Chicken

For a while I haven’t really been cooking anything new, I’ve been eating a lot of soups (healthy, don’t have to cook again for several days!) but I could tell James was getting REALLY tired of that.  Mostly because he said so   I decided to try a new dish that looked totally him.

This was REALLY good.  I mean like seriously good.  It was pretty easy to make, I ended up with a ton of crushed crackers leftover, but I’d be nervous crushing up less and then not having enough and having to crush more mid-way through cooking.  We loved it though, I hope you do too!

Crispy Cheddar Chicken
Recipe from Jamie Cooks It Up, originally from What’s Cookin’ Chicago?

Ingredients:
4 large chicken breasts
2 sleeves Ritz crackers (I used Town House)
1/2 tsp Tony’s Creole Seasoning, plus a little extra
1/2 cup milk
3 cups cheddar cheese, grated
1 tsp dried parsley

Sauce:
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 tbsp sour cream
2 tbsp butter

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
• Cut each chicken breast into three large chunks, season lightly with Tony’s.
• In a small food processor, grind up the crackers.  Alternatively, you can put them in a Ziploc bag, seal it and pound them with a can or something.
• Place the milk in one dish, cheese in another and cracker crumbs in another.  Add 1/2 tsp Tony’s to the cracker crumbs and stir to combine.
• Dip each piece of chicken into the milk, then toss to coat into the cheese, then the cracker crumbs.  Lay them in a casserole (9×13) coated with nonstick spray.
• Lightly sprinkle parsley over the top of each chicken breast.  Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake 35 minutes.  Remove the foil and bake an additional 10 minutes, or until the edges of the chicken are turning golden brown and crispy.
• While that’s cooking, empty the can of soup into a small saucepan.  Add the sour cream and butter and stir over medium heat until the sauce is heated through.  Serve over chicken.

Crispy Cheddar Chicken

Toffee Crunch Cookies

I just love holiday baking!  While I’m not a big sweets eater, I love baking cookies, fudge, bark, etc. for friends and neighbors.  There is just something about baking that puts me in the mood for Christmas, if I don’t bake it doesn’t seem right!

I was invited to a cookie swap with the moms group I’m in, so naturally I was very excited to go.  I brought some mint chocolate cookies, which is actually the first recipe ever to appear on my blog and one I got at another cookie swap!  All of the cookies at the recent swap were great, but there was one in particular I knew my husband would go gaga over, Kim’s Toffee Crunch Cookies.  The hubs LOVES anything toffee and these were pretty knock your socks off good.  And they’re really REALLY easy to make.  I think I know what Santa is getting this year!

Toffee Crunch Cookies
Recipe from Kim B., originally from Secret Ingredients

Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine, softened
1 package yellow butter cake mix WITH pudding (she says to make sure to get the one with pudding, it makes a difference)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1.5 cups Heath candy pieces with chocolate
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Combine the margarine, cake mix and eggs in a bowl and mix well.  Stir in the Heath candy and pecans.
• Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls on a parchment paper or silicone mat lined cookie sheet.  Bake for 8-10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool.

Toffee Crunch Cookies

Sugar Crusted Vanilla French Toast

The local moms club I’m in is always doing fun activities.  I hosted one at my house last week that was really different.  We had a pajama party potluck brunch.  Of course nobody spent the night, everyone just came in their pjs (I’m sure my neighbors were wondering what was going on!) that morning.

We joked around that we should call it the pinterest party, since more than half of the dishes were “found” on pinterest, including mine.  Sugar crusted vanilla French toast seemed like it would be just right, and even better that it could be prepared the night before with only minimal work the next morning.  The ingredients consisted mostly of things you would have on hand, so it’s really inexpensive to make.

Sugar Crusted Vanilla French Toast

Everyone seemed to really love it.  I made a double batch but it wasn’t necessary, I ended up with a good bit left over.  But the leftovers are great, that was no problem!   The crust is really, well…crusty when it’s leftover but it softens in the microwave, have no fear.

Sugar Crusted Vanilla French Toast (Single Batch)
Recipe from:  Phenomenon

Ingredients:
1 loaf french bread, about 1lb. (plain, of course)

Custard:
3 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 – 3/4 cup white granulated sugar
pinch of sea salt

Sugar Coating:
1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tbsp light corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

• Slice the bread into 1 inch slices.  Spray a casserole (just big enough to fit the bread) with nonstick spray and arrange the slices in the dish.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the custard ingredients.  Pour evenly over the bread in the dish and cover tightly with plastic wrap.  Refrigerate overnight.
• The next morning, remove the dish from the refrigerator and discard the plastic wrap.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• In a microwave-safe bowl, heat the butter just till melted.  Add the brown sugar and corn syrup and whisk well to combine.  Microwave again in thirty-second bursts, whisking after each time until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is bubbly and hot.  Whisk in the vanilla extract.
• Pour evenly over the top of the bread and bake about 40-45 minutes, until golden.

Sugar Crusted Vanilla French Toast

Bacon Pralines

Yes, you read that correctly!

I first had bacon pralines at Cochon Butcher in New Orleans and it was fantastic!  It was so good that I exercised extreme willpower and brought some home to my parents to taste.  That was in August and three months later we were still talking about them!

When planning what I’d make for Thanksgiving, I automatically put pralines on the menu.  We always have them.  Then a couple of days before I had a lightbulb moment.  Bacon pralines!  Duh!  I looked at a few recipes online but they called for things I don’t normally put in my pralines and I like mine soft and creamy, not brittle so I ended up going with my regular recipe, just adding in some thick cut crumbled bacon.  The result was a definite win.  This will be a version gracing our table often, I have a feeling!

Bacon Pralines

Bacon Pralines
A Cooking with Christen original

Ingredients:
1 stick butter
3 cups white granulated sugar
1 can evaporated milk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups pecans (make sure there are no shells!!)
1 pkg thick cut hickory smoked bacon (not maple), cooked and crumbled

Method:

Note:  These MUST be made on a sunny day or they will not set!

In a heavy bottomed pot, heat up the butter, evaporated milk and sugar.  Stir well so it’s all mixed.  Continue to stir regularly so that it does not stick, until it reaches the soft ball stage.  Once stage is reached, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla, bacon and pecans.  Continue to vigorously stir (but be careful not to get it all over the sides of the pot, thus wasting good stuff!) until it starts to lose it’s shine and is thicker.  Then very carefully put spoonfuls onto waxed paper or silicone mats (love my silicone mats!).  Allow to get firm and then store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.  It’s much easier to make when you have someone helping stir, as it gets to be tough on the arms!  Just be careful when it’s time to put spoons of it out because the stuff is HOT!!

Bacon Pralines