Our Family Secrets

We had this last night and even my picky 6 year old liked it.  I have been using the heck out of my Crockpot this week!

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound small white (or new) potatoes, quartered

8 ounces baby carrots

1 medium onion, sliced

2 large ribs celery, sliced

8 ounces sliced mushrooms

4-6 medium skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into pieces

1 tsp dried parsley

1 tsp dried basil

salt and pepper

1 – 14.5 ounce can crushed tomatoes

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

DIRECTIONS:

Place vegetables in bottom of crockpot. Sprinkle with dried herbs, salt and pepper. Add chicken pieces, then finish with canned tomatoes and broth. Cook on low for 6-8 hours, until vegetables are tender and chicken is cooked.

This is another quick weeknight meal thanks to the Crockpot.  This one is low fat and really tasty.  It is great served with chips and guacamole (though this makes it less “low fat”)!

INGREDIENTS:

3 medium carrots, sliced
1 medium red pepper, chopped into 3/4-inch pieces
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of fat
and cut in half
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in half
1 15-ounce can no-salt-added corn, drained
1 15-ounce can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 16-ounce jar salsa
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 Tbs Chili Powder
1 Tbs Cumin

DIRECTIONS:

Put carrots and peppers at bottom of the crockpot, followed by chicken.  Add corn, kidney beans and salsa. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.  Serves 4-6

I found this low fat recipe online, and tweaked it a bit.  It came out great – the family loved it!

INGREDIENTS:

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

1 small red pepper, sliced

1 1/4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 tsp olive oil

1 tbsp curry powder

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a shallow roasting pan with foil and spray with cooking spray (or you can use a Large Pampered Chef Bar Pan Baking Stone and just spray it directly – no foil needed). Spread sliced onions and red peppers on tray, and place chicken breasts on top. Drizzle oil on chicken breasts and sprinkle them with curry powder.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Serve chicken with onions and peppers on top a bed of rice.  Serves 4.

Made this last night for company – I love this fruit combo – yum!

Filling

1 can cherry pie filling
3 apples, sliced thin
3 Tbs Sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract

Topping

1 cup quick-cooking oats
2/3 cup flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
6 Tbs butter or margarine

Ice cream or whipped cream (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Combine filling ingredients and put in a 8×8 square pan that has been lightly buttered.

3. Mix together the oats, flour and brown sugar.

4. Cut in the butter using a pastry blender or two forks until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

5. Sprinkle topping mixture over the filling in the dish.

6. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until topping is golden brown.

7. Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.

Hey, it’s oatmeal and fruit, so I can have it for breakfast right??? LOL

You can alter this recipe to no end… For example, I almost always make a little more “crumb” by doubling that part of the recipe. Or if you like more fruit you can double that part. Or double the whole dang thing for a party.

This was shared with my by my beautiful friend Teresa (hey girl!).  It is from her friend Julia.

Ingredients: 

1 pound chicken or 1 large can of chicken meat
8 ounce cream cheese cut into cubes
1 can (4.5 ounces) Old El Paso chopped green chiles
1 package (12 count) flour tortillas
2 cans (10 ounces each) green chile enchilada sauce
¾ cup shredded cheddar cheese (3 ounces)

Directions: 

Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Lightly grease 13×9x2 inch baking dish.

Cook chicken in 10 inch skillet over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally.

Add cream cheese and chiles; reduce heat to medium.  Cook & stir until blended and until cream cheese is melted. 

Spoon chicken filling onto tortillas; roll up and place seam side down in baking dish. Pour enchilada sauce over top sprinkle with cheddar cheese.  Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until hot and cheese is melted.

Thanks Teresa – they sound goooooood! 

I tweaked this recipe a little bit and like how it came out.  Yummy and refreshing pick me up!

Ingredients:

2 Tbs Lime Juice
1/4 Cup Orange Juice
1/4 Cup Ginger Ale

Directions:

Mix all ingredients.  Serve over ice.

Note:  You can even add a little shot of Peach Vodka or sub the Ginger Ale for Champagne for a little Mimosa inspired yumminess – Shhh. I won’t tell… 

Enjoy!

Happy New Year everyone!  I thought I would share this great cocktail recipe – I wish I would have seen it sooner!  These would have been great last night!     This recipe is Mario Jelic’s – Bacardi Bartender of the Year:

Kiwi Sapphire

Ingredients:

1.25 oz. Bombay Sapphire Gin
1.25 oz. DeKuyper Sour Apple Pucker Schnapps
Splash of Sprite
One Fresh Kiwi

Directions:

Peel fresh kiwi, then muddle with ice.

Add Bombay Sapphire Gin and Sour Apple Schnapps.

Shake and pour in glass.  Add splash of Sprite.

Decorate with fresh kiwi wheel.

Doesn’t this sound refreshing? 

While I have cookies on the brain… LOL Here are some great recipes for cookies on one of my favorite recipe sites – some even have 5 ingredients or less!

http://www.recipezaar.com/sitenews/post?pid=883

Happy Baking…

I got this great recipe from an email from Sparkpeople
By using canned pumpkin instead of butter, these yummy cookies are low in fat…

INGREDIENTS

1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1.5 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups oatmeal
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup almonds

 DIRECTIONS

-Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

-Beat together pumpkin and sugar.

-Add eggs and vanilla, beat well.

-Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon salt. Mix.

-Stir in oats, dried cranberries and almonds.

-Drop rounded spoonfuls onto un-greased cookie sheet.

-Bake 10-12 minutes.

-Let cool one minute.

This cute link was sent to me in an email (thanks again Jen!) and it is too cute!  There are lots of great recipes for cookies, pies, desserts and breads.  I am definitely going to try lots of these when I am baking my Christmas Cookies…

http://www.northpole.com/Kitchen/Cookbook/

A very fun site…