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Chicken with Creamy Lemon Sauce

9 Feb

This chicken is another one of those recipes that I wasn’t sure about, but after I made it, I really liked it. I particularly liked it with mashed potatoes and broccoli on the side. The sauce goes great with potatoes, and the broccoli was a nice compliment to the sauce as well. Enjoy. We’ll be making this one again at my place! Also, note that this isn’t overly lemony, despite the name. There’s a hint of lemon, but not overwhelming lemon flavor.

Ingredients:

– 4 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts (5 oz each)
– 1 tbsp. vegetable or canola oil
– 1 can of cream of broccoli soup
– 1/4 cup 1% milk
– 1 1/2 tbsp. dried parsley
– pinch of black pepper (or more to taste)
– 1 whole lemon
– 1/8 tsp Worcestershire sauce
– salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Salt and pepper chicken breasts to taste.

2. Heat oil in a large skillet with a lid.

3. Cook chicken breasts until done, about 10 min on each side. Turn and rearrange as often as needed.

4. Slice lemon in half longways. Reserve 1/2 of lemon, and slice other 1/2 into 4 slices. Set aside.

5. Mix soup, milk, parsley, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and the juice from large side of the lemon in a bowl. Discard lemon half after juicing.

6. Pour soup mixture over chicken breasts, and top each with one of the 4 slices of lemon.

7. Cover pan and simmer on low for 5-7 minutes.

Editors Note: If you don’t like broccoli, i bet cream of celery soup would work just fine.

Makes 4 servings= 245 Calories per serving

Appx 6 ww points plus per serving

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Easy Microwave popcorn

27 Jan

This is not a recipe, as much as it is a quick tip for making quick, cheap, low calorie microwave popcorn… How can you go wrong!? Simple.

– 1 brown paper bag
– 3 tbsp popcorn kernels

-seasoning of your choice

Directions

1. Put kernels into bag.

2. Fold too of bag and crease. Should close but not be too tight.

3. Microwave 2 min, or until pops are 2 sec apart.

Season with low calorie spray butter and sea salt, or your favorite seasonings.

1 bag= 140 calories

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Chicken Fried Rice

25 Jan

My husband is a fried rice aficionado. He orders it every.single.time we go to any Asian restaurant. He says this was just as good as most restaurants. I thought it was pretty good too. I hope you like it.

Ingredients:

– 8 oz boneless, skinless chicken breast (chopped into 1/2 in cubes)
– 1/2 cup chopped onion
– 1 tbsp. canola oil
– 1 cup diced mushrooms (sliced, and then chopped up)
– 1/3 cup frozen peas
– 5 cups (2 1/2 bags cook in bag) Cooked, white rice. Cold
– 6 tbsp. soy sauce
– 1 egg scrambled

 

VF: Omit chicken and add chopped broccoli and water chestnuts to make this vegetarian friendly!

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a large skillet. Cook onions and chicken until chicken is cooked through.

2. Add mushrooms to the mixture, and stir until mushrooms are cooked. Add Peas and stir.

3. Once peas are warmed, add rice and scrambled egg. Cook about 2-3 minutes, stirring regularly so egg can mix in and cook. Add soy sauce, and mix thoroughly.

Editors Note: I’ve tried other fried rice recipes, and they never were quite right. The trick is that the rice has to be cold. Day-old rice works the best. I just make it the night before. I highly recommend this.

4 Servings- 546 Calories per serving

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Faux Fried Ice Cream

2 Dec

I found this recipe on www.skinnytaste.com and it’s so good. I was looking for something fun to do with the kids, and here you have it. It was good enough that I bought more ice cream to make this again in the future.

Ingredients:
– 3 cups of Edy’s double churn vanilla bean ice cream
– 2 cups of corn flakes cereal
– 3 tsp cinnamon

– 6 tsp honey
– 6 tbsp. lite Hershey’s syrup

Directions:

1. Scoop out 6 1/2 cup portions of vanilla ice cream. Round them into balls, and place on a baking sheet lined with wax or parchment paper. Place these in the freezer for 2 hours or until they are very hard.

2. Place cinnamon and cereal in the food processer and blend until well crushed. Place in a freezer size baggie.

3. Roll each individual scoop of ice cream in cereal mixture until completely coated.

4. Drizzle each scoop with 1 tsp of honey, and 1 tbsp. of hersey’s lite syrup.

5. You can add whipped topping, nuts, cherries, whatever you like here… I’d encourage you to explore. However, this is where my fried ice cream ended, so this is what my calories will be composed of. (actually I added a few slivered almonds not accounted for here)

6 Servings= 183 Calories per serving

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Weight Watchers Mexican Chicken

27 Nov

This is so easy, I was sure it wasn’t going to be good. Seems like it would be salty and overpowering, but it was really yummy. I really liked it with Spanish rice and a southwest slaw.

Ingredients:
– 1 1/3 lbs boneless chicken breast, cut into chunks
– 1 envelope taco seasoning*
– 1 cup salsa or picante sauce

Directions:

1. Place chicken chunks into a large ziplock baggie with taco seasoning. Shake until chicken is well coated.

2. Place chicken into a pan that has been sprayed with nonstick spray. I just used a small oval pan. I wouldn’t recommend anything larger than 9×9.

3. Bake at 375 for about 20 min. Pour Salsa over chicken and continue baking 10 more minutes.

As is: 4 servings= 247 Calories per serving

Approximately 6 weight watchers points plus per serving.

 

I think this is best If you top each serving with either 2 tablespoons shredded cheddar, or 2 tablespoons reduced fat sour cream or plain greek yogurt. DELICIOUS.

Editors note:  Shave off 20 calories per serving by using our homemade taco seasoning, instead of storebought!

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Easy, Yummy 3 Ingredient Potato Soup

26 Nov

Ingredients
– 2 cans of chicken stock
– 1 bag of frozen O’Brien style potatoes (with onions and peppers)
– 1 envelope of pioneer White Gravy Mix
– 1 cup water

Directions:
1. Heat Chicken Stock in a large pan.
2. Add frozen potatoes. Cook until thawed and warm.
3. In a separate container, mix water with gravy mix packet.
4. Stir Gravy slurry into chicken stock and potatoes.
5. Cook on low for 20 min or so.

I served this with 1 tablespoon of bacon bits, 2 tablespoons reduced fat sour cream, and 2 tbsp. shredded low fat cheddar, and it was YUMMY!!!

VF: Replace Chicken Stock with Veggie Stock to make this Vegetarian Friendly!

5 Servings= 196 Calories per serving

with bacon, cheese, and sour cream= 325 Calories per serving

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Beef Stew- Crockpot

19 Nov

Ingredients:
– 1 lb stew meat
– 1 onion, quartered
– 30 baby carrots (about 2/3 of a bag)
– 3 stalks of celery, chopped about 1 inch wide
– 1 large russet potato, chopped into roughly 1×1 inch chunks
– McCormick Beef Stew seasoning packet (1)
– 2 cups of water
– 1 tsp salt
– 3 bay leaves
– pepper to taste
– 1 tbsp. corn starch

Directions:

1. Place beef and all veggies into crockpot. Add salt, pepper, and bay leaves.
2. Mix water and Beef Stew seasoning together until mostly dissolved. Pour mixture into crockpot, over beef and veggies.
3. Stir ingredients together. Cook on low 6-8 hours.
4. 15-30 min before serving, remove about 3 tbsp. of juice, and mix in a separate cup with 1 tbsp. corn starch until smooth.
5. Add corn starch slurry back into stew. Mix, and cook on high with no lid until ready to serve. This will thicken the sauce.
6. Remove Bay leaves before eating.

Note: I like my beef stew with rice, as seen in the photo. I served with 3/4 cup of jasmine rice, which made my meal exactly 600 calories.

4 Servings= 447 Calories per Serving

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Tuscan White Bean Soup

17 Nov

I made this today, and it was delicious! It’s not a traditional, country bean soup. It’s really a lot like a minestrone without noodles. However, My Kentucky roots being what they are, I decided to serve this with cornbread. And, I’m glad I did 🙂

Ingredients:
– 1 can of cannellini beans (drained and rinsed)
– 1 can of navy beans (Drained and rinsed)
– 1 Can of petite diced tomatoes
– 1 can of rotel
– 1 can of Chicken stock
– about 20 baby carrots, chopped
– 1 medium onion, chopped
– 2 bay leaves
– 3 tbsp. minced garlic
– 2 tsp dried thyme
– 1 box of frozen spinach
– salt and pepper to taste

VF: Replace Chicken Stock with Veggie Stock to make this vegetarian friendly!

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients except for spinach in a crockpot. Mix well.
2. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
3. 30 min before serving, add spinach, stirring periodically.

Makes 9 (1 cup) servings. 1 cup = 123 Calories

Note: I was in a hurry the first time I made this, so I tried 3 hours on high. No dice. The veggies weren’t soft. So I added about 1 1/2 cups of water and put it in my pressure cooker to finish the job. It came out WONDERFUL. I really enjoyed this soup.

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90 Calorie “Fried” Apples

2 Nov

I love Fried Apples, as any good southern girl should. I remember, growing up my grandmother taught me to save my fried apples at dinner and eat them on a biscuit for dessert…just like apple pie. Here’s a great “not really fried” apple recipe that my family enjoys. It’s a pretty decent substitute for the real thing when you’re calorie conscious.

Ingredients:
– 4 medium to large apples (I used gala)
– 1 tablespoon splenda
– 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
– 1/2 tablespoon 0 calorie butter spray
– 1 tbsp.- 1/4 cup water

Directions:
1. Wash, core, and slice (but don’t you dare peel!) all apples.
2. Mix with cinnamon and splenda.
3. spray 0 calorie butter spray into a small-med size frying pan, and add apple mixture.
4. heat on medium heat, stirring regularly for about 3 min.
5. When/If apples start to stick, or you’re afraid they’ll burn, add 1 tbsp. water at a time to the skillet.
6. Cook apples down, stirring often (adding water as often as needed) until they reach the texture you prefer.

Enjoy these as a lovely side, or throw some fat free coolwhip on top for dessert.

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100 Calorie Pumpkin Ice Cream Sandwich

22 Oct

This one is AWESOME…and it totally goes to my genius husband, who thought it up one day while looking for a sweet snack. This is so great, and I’m sure it would work pretty well with cheesecake or strawberry ice cream too!

Ingredients:
2 graham crackers
1/4 cup slow churned pumpkin patch ice cream (this one is 90 cal per 1/2 cup)

Directions:
Smoosh ice cream between graham crackers, and enjoy!

1 Ice Cream Sandwich= 100 Calories

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