Peppermint Bark

 I made this for my secrete Santa this year, my family really loves it. We like it thin though with a select way of putting in the candy cane pieces. This is something that people always think of before Christmas but what a great thing to do to use up your candy canes from your tree or stocking and would still make a great addition to a New Year's Eve party!
Peppermint Bark
2-3 regular size candy canes
2 cups melty white chocolate (the bigger flat discs of chocolate... I get mine in bulk)





Utensils needed:
Strainer (with somewhat fine mesh)
Wax or parchment paper
Ziploc baggie
microwaveable bowl

Offset cake decorator spatula, if you don't have this than use just a regular spatula (I would recommend getting one though they are very use full and cheap)

Directions:

1. Unwrap candy canes and put them in a Ziploc, and with a meat tenderizer or rolling pin (I prefer the rolling pin) beat up the candy canes. You want some finer crystals and some bigger chunks, make to your liking though.

2. Put out a piece of parchment paper on your counter big enough to hold your chocolate.

3. In a microwaveable bowl microwave the white chocolate for a minute, then stir, and then microwave in 30 second intervals until melted down (should take less than 2 minutes) mine was a minute and a half and it wasn't fully melted but by stirring it I was able to get it nice and smooth without the chocolate freezing up on me.

4. Put the strainer over the bowl of melted white chocolate and pour the candy cane pieces into it, shake the strainer until all the fine crystals of candy cane are through the strainer and into the white chocolate below (this allows you to have a more intense peppermint flavor and the chocolate develops a great little crunchy texture)
5. Remove strainer and pour out white chocolate directly onto counter with wax paper cover. Using the spatula spread it out so it is as thin as you like (I go super thin less than a 1/2 an inch thick) then before the chocolate cools working fairly quickly sprinkle the larger pieces of peppermint candies on top pressing them down slightly to ensure that they stick.

6. Let cool, and when done break into willy-nilly pieces of bark and serve or give as gifts!

*You can buy plastic bags for candies and treats anywhere but you can also use the regular sandwich bags, tie it with a pretty ribbon and it makes a fairly impressive gift. Tasty too!
* Also you could put semi-sweet chocolate underneath and then the white chocolate on top just be careful not to go too thick! Thin layers for both.

WW Appetizer

I can't take credit for this one, this is one that comes from my mom via an old weight watchers recipe. These utilize those mini pre-baked phyllo cups.

Pear, Brie and Honey Cups
1 pear, diced
2 wee brie, diced
2 tbsp honey, to drizzle
1 tray of phyllo cups
*preheat oven 350
1. Dice pear and brie, assemble cups with a few pieces of pear and brie together and place on a cookie tray.
2. Heat to melt the brie pull out of oven and drizzle each cup with a tiny bit of honey and assemble on tray. Great of can be served warm but also good at room temp.

*Try variations of green apple & blue cheese, maybe even some candied pecans in there. Etc...

New Bento's for Molly

So sporadically I will post Bento lunches for Molly. I got a ton of new Bento stuff for Christmas so watch for more Bento posts, it's and obsession! First I got the book Yum-Yum Bento Box... I would HIGHLY recommend it! It is a great tool, they have done a really fantastic job explaining things, giving you templates and ideas as well as resources to get more Bento stuff!

I tried a few new things for this Bento, I got two new egg molds so I had to try those out! The book also talks about coloring the eggs to make them fun colors. So I made a little bunny for Molly and dyed it pink! The book also mentioned little dabs of ketchup for rosy cheeks etc. So that is the little dots on the flowers.

Close up of this tier,. her pink bunny egg, grape tomatoes on a penguin pick, celery with peanut butter and two little candies from her Christmas stocking.

This top tier has cottage cheese in a lettuce cup with pineapple chunks, orange slices, underneath the peperoni and cheese flowers.

Daddy benefited by my experiments his lunch was full of fun stuff too!




Yum-Yum Bento Box review: Love this book, I find it very helpful not just in offering great suggestions for places to get bento supplies but also how you can create fun and easy bentos like the pros!
Four Forks!

Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta

Great tasting quick pasta! See Relish for more recipes like this!

Spaghetti With Sun-Dried Tomato Sauce

Prep and cook time: 35 minutes
WW+ pts 9
10 ounces spaghetti
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes (oil-packed), julienned, chopped reserving oil
2 teaspoons garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
[1] Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until cooked through but still firm to the bite. Drain, reserving 1 cup of pasta water and return the pasta to the pot.
[2] Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of the sun-dried tomato oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic, red pepper flakes, oregano, basil and cook for 1 minute. Add the canned tomatoes (and juices) and the sun-dried tomatoes. Simmer gently, stirring occasionally and breaking up the tomatoes, for about 15 minutes.
[3] Add the tomato halves and simmer for 10 minutes more.
[4] Add the pasta to the sauce, season with salt and pepper and toss to coat. Add pasta water by the tablespoonful if needed to moisten.
[5] Serve in pasta bowls and garnish with Paremsan.

Dinners for Friends

At my work when someone falls ill or needs a little help we all sign up and chip in to create meals for the family. I signed up and made a simple but elegant and healthy meals for two different people at work, one for a person that was in the hospital for a surgery and one for a new mom! Basically I buy the tin foil packing trays, create the meal and then give them print outs not only on how to make the meal itself but also how to reheat. The technique that I tell them to use is called "flashing" it is something that caterer's do to quickly reheat food without overcooking and drying it out. Basically you set your oven to 450 or 475 and then reheat whatever you want (I have done chicken and veggies this way) for 2-10 minutes. This is especially great for meats, I hate chicken reheated in the microwave for example. So to begin for this meal I get the chicken marinating and then I make a big batch of rice, and usually since I am making this for someone else I go ahead and make it for my family too so the rice is for two dinners.
Brown Jasmine Rice
2 cups uncooked rice
4 cups water
1. In a strainer with small holes, wash the rice. Add to a pot (or rice cooker if you have one) I just use a pot on the stove. Add water and a pinch of salt.
2. Heat till boiling, cover and reduce heat to low. Let cook for 20-25 min until done.

Grilled Asian Chicken Breasts

4 chicken breasts
2 tablespoons soy sauce (low sodium)
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
[1] In a Ziploc bag mix together the soy sauce, honey, orange juice, olive oil, mustard, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper and sesame oil and add the chicken. Seal the bag and turn to coat. Marinade while the rice is cooking. If you can remember to make it in the morning that is even better but I never have time for that, believe it or not you get a lot of flavor for even a 20-30 min. marinade.
[2] Grill the chicken (outside BBQ, or inside grill your choice... I convinced my husband to go outside in the cold and plop it on the grill for me :-) ) for about 20-30 minutes.
[3] Place the cooked rice and chicken breast in the tin trays and affix a nice cooking label on top.
*Since this is a Relish recipe I used their note card recipes from their website and just print them out.

Sesame Green Beans

Prep and cook time: 15 minutes
2 pound green beans & carrot pre-trimmed bag from grocer
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon ginger, minced
2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
[1] Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add green beans & carrots and cook, uncovered, until crisp tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain and since this will be used tomorrow and flash cooked to reheat immediately dunk it in an ice bath. This helps stop the cooking process and keep their colors bright otherwise you might have some dull/discolored green beans.
[2] In a large bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients until well blended. Add green beans and toss to combine.
[3] Add these to a second tin foil tray and affix a cooking label.

*Both of these tin foil trays can be put directly into the oven and flashed at 450 for about 10 minutes to reheat, you might want to put a few drops of water on the rice to help moisten it up a bit.

This was our flashed/reheated dinner the next night. This time I made white jasmine rice instead of brown, but I thought it was very tasty (I especially LOVED the green beans and on weight watchers they are free so I tried to fill up on those). Chicken flashed is 10x's better than in the microwave!

Fresh, Quick, WW Friendly Dinner after meeting

So at this point I have lost 15 lbs with weight watchers, steady as she goes, I am losing a little over 2 lbs a week at this point (I maintained at Thanksgiving, and the week I went to Vegas and the week prior we had a snow storm that cancelled our meeting so I missed two weeks of weigh ins but still lost 6 lbs!). So a couple of weeks ago I came home from a meeting, mine are late on Monday's so Molly and daddy fend for themselves, and I was hungry at this point so I need a quick meal. I created a quick breakfast sandwich and salad. Just a few quick tips on making a perfect, "Why go to the fast food joint anyway?" sandwich.

Breakfast Sandwich (WW friendly)

Prep time: 5 minutes

WW pts: 6 pts

1 whole wheat English Muffin

1 egg

1 slice Canadian Bacon

1-2 slice tomato

1 slice American Cheese (preferably WW brand - low in points)

*Will need baking spray, & ramekin

1. Toast English Muffins (I use a toaster oven... you will see why this is important in a moment)

2. Spray the inside of a fairly large ramekin, and crack an egg into the ramekin. Using a fork, lightly scramble the egg (helps to not explode egg in the microwave) salt & pepper to taste. Pop into the microwave and cook for 30 seconds. If egg is not cooked at this point cook at 5-10 second intervals until done.

3. Slice tomato and unwrap cheese, as toast is almost done add the Canadian bacon right on the rack in the toaster oven to warm through and slightly crisp.

4. Assemble your sandwich, slice of cheese on top of egg, on top of bacon, and a slice of tomato. DONE!

One of my sorority sisters always used to make fun of me because I have ever size ramekin known to man but you wouldn't believe how much they come in handy! I love them!

This salad had a quick and easy dressing with it. Overall it was a lite and tasty meal!

Crockpot Chicken Pot Pie with homemade biscuits.

This was one of the best homemade chicken pot pie recipes I have used in a long time, besides Paula Dean's recipe but let's face it on weight watchers her butter to actual food ratio does not work! It is damn tasty, but really doesn't work with weight watchers. Not that this recipe was a lot better, but still... so tasty, and with colder weather this is exactly the ticket. So when this recipe came up in the rotation on my favorite meal planning website (click here for Relish), and the fact that it was a slow cooker recipe, I was hooked! I did have to adjust it a bit, but overall it was very tasty!

Slow Cooker Chicken Pot Pie

WW 10 pts (new points plus calculation)
2 Chicken Breasts, chopped to tiny pieces
1/2 white onion , chopped
1 bay leaf
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 packet of turkey gravy, made
2 stalks celery, sliced
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables
Rue
2 tbsp butter
2  tbsp flour
1 tsp chicken stock base
milk, whisk in to your desired thickness
[1] Place the onion, celery, chicken, bay leaf, salt and pepper and gravy in the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours.
[2] Thirty minutes before serving, make and bake the biscuits. (recipe below)
[3] Gently stir the frozen vegetables into the chicken mixture and increase the heat setting to high. Cover and cook for 15 minutes. Remove the bay leaf.
[4] If you need more "juice" I made a quick "white" sauce. Melt butter in a pan, whisk in flour and soup base -cook for a minute or two, then whisk in milk to desired thickness. Then transfer this mixture to the slow cooker and stir to incorporate evenly.
[5] For each serving, split a biscuit and place in a soup bowl. Spoon ¾ cup of the chicken mixture on top of the biscuit, top with the other biscuit and serve.

Easy Biscuits
2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter
2/3 cup milk
Preheat 450 degrees
1. In a large bowl mix flour, baking powder, and salt evenly.
2. Cut in butter, use a pastry cutter, till the butter is the size of peas.
3. Add milk till biscuits come together, don't over mix.
4. Flour flat surface and quickly roll out to 1.5 inches and cut with biscuit cutter (or a somewhat straight edged drinking glass, this is what I used).
5. Bake at 450 for 10-12 minutes until nicely golden brown.
*So easy, you have all the ingredients on hand and look at how beautiful they look!

Turkey week post #2 SIDES

Side Dishes
*All dishes are for a dinner for 12 (I cut a lot of these recipes in half or more).
Roasted Brussels Sprouts with apple (R)
Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes (R)
Candied Carrots (R)
Apple Sausage, Cranberry, and Pecan Stuffing (R)
Pomegranate & Apple Salad with homemade dressing
Cranberry Horseradish Sauce (WS)

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Apple (Click here for Relish website, original recipe)
Day before: Trim and cut in half, store in a Ziploc bag
4 slices of bacon cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 lbs Brussels sprouts, ends trimmed and halved
1/2 white onion, chopped
2 apples, cored and cut into 1/4 inch slices, each slice halved crosswise

Preheat oven to 425 degrees
1. Arrange bacon in a single layer on a large rimmed baking sheet. Bake bacon until browned, 10 minutes. Drain off all but two tablespoons bacon grease. Add Brussels sprouts and onions in a single layer tossing with the bacon; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast until they begin to brown, about 15 minutes.
2. Remove from oven, and toss in apple. Return to oven; roast until Brussels sprouts are browned and tender and apple has softened, 10 to 15 minutes. (** The apple is key in this recipe, I thought it was delicious!)

Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes (Click here for Relish website, original recipe)
In the morning peel and cut potatoes and keep in their pot, in water on the stove until you are ready to cook them about 30 min. prior to eating.
4 1/2 lbs new potatoes peeled and cut into 1 in chunks
coarse salt and ground pepper
1 cup buttermilk
6 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
Snipped Chives for garnish, optional

1. Place potatoes in a large pan; add enough cold water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil; add 1 tbsp salt, and cook until potatoes are very tender when pierced with the tip of a paring knife, 20 to 25 minutes.
2. Drain; place back into the pot mash with a potato masher, then add buttermilk and butter. Season with salt and pepper. Mash until smooth and combined. As you are getting everything on the table transfer to serving bowl, and tent with tin foil to keep the heat. If desired, garnish with snipped chives.

Candied Carrots
Possible prep before peel and cut and store in a Ziploc.
5-6 carrots, peeled and cut at a diagonal 1/2 inch sections
salt and pepper
1 tbsp apricot preserves
1 tsp butter

1. Put carrots with salt and pepper into an oven roasting pan, top with tin foil and bake for 30 min.
2. Right before serving put in preserves and butter, toss until fully covered and serve (keeping it in a nice oven roasted pan will also retain heat!)

Apple Sausage, Cranberry and Pecan Stuffing (adapted from an original Relish Recipe)
1 day ahead make stuff and put into an over proof pan, and store with Saran wrap on the top in the fridge till the next day.
1 storemade stuffing mix bag
2 cups chopped pecans
1 1/2 cups of "Craisins"
1 cup cranberry juice
2 leeks, chopped and cleaned
3 celery ribs, chopped
6 tbsp butter
3 links chicken apple sausage
1/2 cup Italian parsley leaves, chopped
3 1/2 cups chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste
1. In a small bowl combine craisins and cranberry juice, let sit for 15 min to plump up and then drain the juice.
2. Halve leeks, chop and then rinse in a colander under water. Chop celery, and in a large skillet cook leeks and celery in butter until tender, salt and pepper to taste.
3. Remove casing from sausage and break/cut sausage add to leaks and celery till it is cooked through.
4. In a large mixing bowl, add the dry stuffing mix (I used the store brand "bag" stuffing mix, I used 3/4 of the bag and half of the seasoning packet that came with it). Add pecans, sausage and leek mixture, drained craisins, parsley, and broth. Mix well, and put in your oven ready pan with Saran wrap. Store in the fridge for the next day. But bring to room temperature before cooking.
TO BAKE
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, cover with foil and bake it for 35-40 minutes. If you like it crispy on top, uncover halfway through baking.

Pomegranate & Apple Salad
1 bag of salad mix (Mediterranean Mix)
1/2 pomegranate seeds
1/2 apple
homemade dressing (to desired "wetness")
1. Toss all ingredients in a bowl and serve.
Homemade dressing:
1/4 veggie oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
pinch of garlic powder
1/4 sugar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1. put all ingredients into a recycled glass bottle, tighten lid and shake vigorously to mix all.

Cranberry Horseradish Sauce
Make 1 day in advance and put in serving dish with Saran wrap in the fridge until serving.
2 cups fresh cranberries
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup prepared horseradish
1. In a food processor chop finely, put them in a small saucepan with the sugar. Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is fully blended. About 5 minutes. Set aside to cool, stir in horseradish.
2. Put in serving dish and set in fridge till dinner is ready. *The natural pectin will come out in the fruit and make it the perfect jelly-like consistancy.

Turkey Week Post #1

Our plans fell through at the last minute to go away with family due to weather and I found myself scrambling to get a dinner planned for my little family. I have never cooked a big holiday meal on my own, we are always with family either my parents or my in-laws so needless to say I was really excited to try my hand at all the traditional fixings. Even though it was just us, I still went all out, and there were quite a few dishes and I felt like instead of doing a HUGE post that I would do lots of posts over this post-Turkey day week to get them all out there. I will also be able to finally add a review to one of my cookbooks that I have had for years and never been able to use. The Williams-Sonoma Thanksgiving and Christmas Dinner Cookbook (since I have never been able to do a meal on my own go figure I have never used this book before!) I followed their recipe for the cranberry horseradish sauce and loosely followed their directions for a whole roasted Turkey breast.

So the full spread; Roasted Turkey breast, Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes, Roasted Brussel Sprouts with bacon, onion and apple, Apple Sausage Stuffing with pecans, Candied Carrots, Gravy from pan drippings and wine, Pomegranate and Apple Mixed Green Salad with a homemade vinaigrette, and rolls. (Which we thought were the worst part of the meal because they didn't fully rise like they were supposed to but they were Molly's favorite, otherwise everything was delicious and totally blew my weight watchers points to hell and back!)

I used some recipes from Relish as well and they have a great feature besides giving you the shopping list and all the recipes they also give you a day by day plan to help alleviate your stress. Two days before I went out a bought a turkey breast, just in case and started it to defrosting in the fridge. Now I just have to say for our family a whole turkey breast was perfect because we don't really like the dark meat, it was the perfect size for us to have enough leftovers of the meat that we all like plus it didn't take too long to cook. Should I ever get a chance at cooking a Thanksgiving dinner again I would like to think that I would do a turkey breast, it just makes sense.

The night before I made the stuffing, and cranberry sauce. I also prepped the Brussel sprouts and kept them in plastic bag in the fridge, I didn't prep the carrots but that would have been a good idea in the future. Then I set the table and got out all my serving dishes. Surprisingly, or not since I have a tiny kitchen, I was able to keep up with the clean up the whole way.


In the morning I peeled and cut the potatoes, and kept them in their pot on the stove in water waiting to go. A couple hours later I prepped the Turkey and carrots, I also took the stuffing out of the fridge to get it to room temperature before putting it in the oven. After all it all came out without a hitch. Even with my one small oven everything came out warm and tasty.

Nutella Cake with Chocolate Ganache

I had a family dinner this weekend at my Aunt Peggy's house and was asked to bring dessert, when asked what to bring I was told, "Chocolate!" See exhibit A:

Nutella Cake with Chocolate Hazelnut Ganache Adapted from Nigella Lawson
Cake:
6 large eggs, separated
pinch salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 13-ounce container Nutellla
1 tablespoon rum
1/2 cup finely ground hazelnuts
4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled
Ganache:
4 ounces whole hazelnuts
1/2 cup half and half (she calls for heavy cream but I was out, half and half worked well)
1 tablespoon rum
4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degree

Cake
1.Spray a 9-inch springform pan.
2. In a large bowl (preferably metal, I did mine in my kitchenaide), whisk the egg whites and salt until stiff.
3. In another bowl, cream the butter and Nutella, then add the rum, egg yolks, and ground hazelnuts.
4. Melt chocolate in a microwave safe bowl, on 30 sec intervals until it is melted. Stir in melted chocolate to nutella mixture.
5. Add a blob of beaten egg whites to the chocolate batter, and mix gently until well-combined. Fold in the remaining whites, one-third at a time, very gently but thoroughly.
6. Pour into springform and bake for 40 minutes. Test for doneness by inserting tester, which should come out mostly clean; lightly pressing finger into top to check for a slight bouncing-back; and observing edges beginning to separate from pan. Let cool completely, in pan, on a rack.
Nuts
7. Toast the hazelnuts in a dry skillet (I did mine in my toaster oven in a small round cake pan) shaking them around frequently. Do it for about 4 minutes, or until they are lightly browned, then let cool completely. If hazelnuts came with skins on, put them in a towel after toasting and rub around; this will remove most of the skins. (My daughter liked helping with this part, and she ate a few too- she loves raw nuts!

Ganache

8. Chop chocolate, and add to sauce pan with half and half and rum over medium-low heat. Once chocolate is melted and components are combined, whisk until mixture reaches desired thickness, then cool.

9. Remove rim of cake pan and pour cooled ganache over, pour close to rim of cake so that a small amount spills over for presentation, and apply hazelnuts all over.

*This was a hit, everyone loved it!

* I suggest serving with a good vanilla bean ice cream, to cut the richness.

*Notice the small piece, a little goes a long way!

Linked to Tasty Tuesday, Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays, & Tuesdays At the Table.

Pan Roasted Chicken with Asparagus and Mushrooms

I loved this dinner, Molly and Brian were not as enthused. For a weight watchers meal it was very satisfying, I would make this again. Thanks to Relish for the recipe!

Pan-Roasted Chicken with Asparagus and Mushrooms
Prep time and cook time: 45 minutes
WW 7 pts
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 shallots , minced
1 garlic clove(s), minced
1 cup chicken broth, minced
4 sprigs fresh thyme, plus chopped thyme for garnish
8 ounces whole button mushrooms, rinsed and halved
1 pound asparagus, trimmed
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, finely shredded
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

PASTA
2 cups uncooked whole wheat pasta
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp dried parsley flakes
reserved pasta water 1 tsp, 1/2 tsp olive oil

 Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

[1] Heat olive oil in a large, heavy ovenproof frying pan (not nonstick) over high heat until oil is hot but not smoking. Add chicken breasts and cook until golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Turn chicken over.

[2] Add shallots and garlic to pan with chicken, stirring occasionally so garlic doesn' burn and shallots are soft and translucent, 3 to 4 minutes. Add chicken broth, thyme sprigs, mushrooms and salt and pepper and cook until mixture begins to boil, about 1 minute.

[3] Lay asparagus over chicken, then cover pan and put in oven. Bake 14 to 16 minutes, or until chicken is just cooked through (cut to check) and asparagus is tender. Transfer chicken to a plate.

[4] Cook pasta in salted boiling water until cooked to desired doneness, then in a bowl mix with reserved pasta water, olive oil, garlic powder and parsley flakes.

[5] Season asparagus-mushroom-stock mixture with salt and pepper to taste. Put pasta in pasta bowl, or plate with a rim, divide vegetables among plates or shallow pasta bowls, top each with a piece of chicken, and spoon sauce over all. Garnish with chopped thyme and Parmesan.

Beef-Vegetable Pie (WW)

Made this the other night again when I didn't really have a plan I was just searching for a recipe with ingredients I had on hand. I again changed the recipe from the original, based on what my family would like and on reading the reviews. Does anyone read the reviews on recipes when you get them online? I find them very helpful. Just a helpful hint if you don't do it already!

Beef-Vegetable Pie
1 pound(s) raw lean ground beef
1 packet of onion soup mix
1/2 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 cup(s) dry potato flakes
1 1/2 cup(s) low fat milk
10 oz frozen mixed vegetables (or a combination of fresh veggies, this is what I did - carrots, corn, peas, and broccoli)
1/2 cup(s) low-fat shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
1.Preheat oven to 450°F. Pat beef into a 9-inch pie plate and sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper, and the onion soup packet. Cook until beef browns, about 18-20 minutes, and remove from oven; set aside and preheat broiler.

2.Meanwhile, combine potatoes and milk in a microwavable bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and turn back a corner of plastic to allow steam to escape. Microwave until hot, about 1 to 2 minutes; whisk with a fork until smooth and set aside. Microwave vegetables according to package directions; mix vegetables and remaining 1/4 teaspoon of salt into potatoes.

3.Pour off any accumulated juices from beef. Pat potato mixture into meat crust and sprinkle with cheese. Broil 4 inches from heating element until cheese is melted, about 2 to 3 minutes. Slice into 6 pieces and serve.

Chicken Stir Fry with Brown Basmati Rice

Sometimes when a go a long time without a post it isn't because I am not cooking at home it is often because I have fallen back on something that I have already cooked and feel like it isn't worth writing a post about. This is one of those times, however I will say again that out of most of the brown rice I have tried this is the only one I like, and surprisingly for weight watchers it isn't that bad pts wise to have chicken stir fry and rice!
4 pts for the brown rice (1 cup!)
2 pts for the veggie stir fry with chicken (because if you are making it like I make it there are WAY more veggies than chicken!)

PINT

Click here to see other PINT entries.

Crunchy Chicken Strips and Candied Carrots

Talk about kid friendly meal! Oh, and husband friendly! HA HA HA!

Crunchy Chicken Strips
5 PTS
3/4 pound(s) Chicken breast, skinless, boneless, raw, sliced into strips (2 breasts)
1 large egg(s), mixed with a tbsp of water
1 cup(s) cornflake crumbs
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 tsp garlic powder
Instructions
1. Using a food processor get the corn flakes the size of panko crumbs. (I have tried it with panko crumbs and the corn flakes are better, much more crunchy!)
2. Mix the Parmesan cheese and garlic powder with the corn flakes.
3. Mix eggs with water.
4. slice chicken into strips. season with salt & pepper, and dunk the chicken into the eggs and then the corn flakes and cheese mixture.
5. Bake in the oven at 450 for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and crispy. Serve with ranch dressing or BBQ to dip.

Candied Carrots
2-3 carrots, peeled and cut into coins
1/2 cup water
1/2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp apricot preserves
1. Put carrots and water in a sauce pan and cook on medium high heat until carrots are cooked through.
2. Drain off any excess water, in empty sauce pan melt butter and preserves, then toss carrots in mixture and serve while hot.

*These are so easy, the carrots, and a great way to add a new twist to an easy side dish.
*Thanks to Relish for the inspiration behind this meal!
 
Dad helped make this meal, and literally he liked it so much that he made it with mom and Molly's help the very next night. The dinning room chair is very movable for Molly she is joining me in the kitchen for almost every meal I make to oversee everything. So cute, but in my little kitchen it sometimes can be very limiting.
 

Then mommy said, "Smile Molly!" and then ba-dow, this is the picture I got. She is getting better on her smiles! Poor daddy: our ceiling is a little low for our pot rack, and he is a little tall for the pots hanging from said pot rack!

 Linked to Tasty Tuesday, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, and Tuesday at the Table.