Chicken Lasagna

I made up a new recipe tonight. =D I never used to make up recipes, but lately it seems I have been. Just look in the cupboard and see what I've got, then throw it together and it becomes something! Ha ha! Tonight it became Chicken Lasagna, and it turned out REALLY good! And not only does it taste good, but it's high in vitamin A (because I added pumpkin puree) and it's low calorie, too! Here are the general nutrition stats:

• Calories: 224.7

• Total Fat: 9.5 g
• Cholesterol: 80.1 mg
• Sodium: 589.1 mg
• Total Carbs: 12.3 g
• Dietary Fiber: 2.2 g
• Protein: 21.4 g

Have I mentioned that I love sparkrecipes.com? I love it! Here's the full recipe, with all the additional nutrition information, too. And here's how it's done...

Ingredients

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts 6 cloves garlic 2 15-oz cans tomato sauce 1 C. pumpkin or squash puree 1 C. water 1/2 C. white wine 2 T. Italian seasoning 2 T. dried onion 1 T. basil 1 T. oregano 1 T. onion powder 1/2 T. garlic powder 1/2 T. marjoram 2 C. shredded mozzarella cheese 2 eggs 1/2 C. sour cream Whole wheat lasagna noodles

Directions

Cut up chicken and put it in a saucepan with the garlic (chopped) and wine over medium/high heat. Cook until chicken is done.
While the chicken is cooking, mix together tomato sauce, pumpkin puree, water, and seasonings. When the chicken is done cooking, add the tomato sauce mixture to the saucepan and stir to mix over low heat. Let heat through.
While the tomato sauce is heating, mix mozzarella, sour cream, and eggs.
In a 9x13 pan, put a thin layer of spaghetti sauce on the bottom and a layer of dry lasagna noodles on top of that. Add a layer of cheese on top of the noodles. Repeat layers. Finish with a layer of spaghetti sauce sprinkled with a little cheese.
Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. Uncover and bake for 10 minutes more.
Makes 12 servings.

Tortilla Soup

That's what we had for dinner tonight. It was really good! Especially since I didn't use a recipe! (I was really hoping it would turn out...) I made it in the crock pot, too, so it took minimal effort. I love that! Here's basically what I did...

1 can of cream of chicken soup (I might use a second next time, or a bigger can)
1 can of corn (I would use two next time)
1 can of black beans (I would use two next time)
2 or more banana peppers, chopped (you could also use a can of green chilies)
1 packet taco seasoning

I put all that in the crock pot on low all day. Then I spooned it into bowls, added a handful of tortilla chips, about 1/4 cup of shredded cheddar, and a dollop of sour cream. It was good!! Even Ellie ate it, which is saying something!

Cube Steak with Feta

It sounds gross. It really does. But.... it was really good!

I ordered the menu mailer a while back and haven't really used it since my subscription expired. I got a year's worth of recipes (including nutritional information) and I printed them all out and put them in a binder. Some of the recipes I liked, and some I am just too lazy to make. But this one was easy. I didn't follow it exactly, but here's what I did...

I seasoned two cube steaks with paprika (both sides) and pan fried them in some garlic oil. Then, when they were cooked through, I pulled them off the heat, sprinkled feta over the top, and put the lid on the pan to keep the heat in while the feta melted.

Like I said, it sounds gross, but it was pretty good. I'm glad, too, because I'm sure there's another couple cube steaks in our freezer from the portion of a cow we purchased a couple months ago.

As a side dish I made mashed sweet potatoes. I wanted regular mashed potatoes, but we didn't have any white potatoes and we DID have 2 sweet potatoes that were going to go bad if I didn't use them soon. Not a bad side! I did put butter and salt on mine (as I would have done with a regular potato, though perhaps not as much since these had their own flavor already) and it was good! Full of vitamins, too, which is always good.

So that was our dinner tonight. We followed it up with some hot chocolate, which was just perfect for a cool fall evening. Yum!

Zucchini Bread...

Tonight I decided to make some zucchini bread since I had a few zucchini laying about that were going to go bad if I didn't do something with them! I found a recipe online, then tweaked it so it would be lower calorie and lower fat... And it turned out pretty good! So here is my low calorie, low fat version for zucchini bread...

Ingredients

5 egg whites 1 C. sugar 1 C. Splenda 1 C. unsweetened applesauce 1 tsp. vanilla 3 C. grated zucchini 1 C. whole wheat flour 1 C. all purpose flour 1 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp baking powder 1 tsp. salt 2 Tbsp. cinnamon 1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Directions

Combine eggs, sugar, Splenda, applesauce, and vanilla in bowl. Add zucchini and mix well. Sift together dry ingredients and add a little at a time, mixing together as you go.
Pour into two loaf pans and bake at 325 for an hour or until a knife inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean.
Makes 24 slices, 12 slices from each loaf. Freezes well.

Click the link to see the nutrition information, but it's basically 85 calories a slice (not bad for sweet bread!), no fat, and 1.5 g. fiber. Rounds out to 1 WW point, and it makes a yummy breakfast! I made two loaves and froze one, and Leif has all but finished off a loaf already! I had two slices, but it's good to see him enjoying it so much!

Soooo good... and only 1 point!

Last night I experimented with Mexican Hot Chocolate and came up with this concoction.... it is SOOO good and is only 1 point! Woohoo! It was so good I had some this morning, too....

Decadent Mexican Hot Chocolate:

1 packet Swiss Miss No Sugar Added Cocoa
.5 T. ground cinnamon
.5 T. sugar free vanilla syrup
.25 C. ground Elements of Spice Gluttony sprinkles
1 T. fiber powder

Makes 8 oz.
In a mug combine ingredients (save out sprinkles if using whipped topping) and mix with 8 oz. hot water. Stir and enjoy! (Before serving, top with whipped topping and sprinkles if desired.)

Low Fat Spinach Lasagna (5 points)

Tonight I made a new variation of our traditional lasagna. We dropped the meat from the lasagna a couple years ago, but tonight I did a few other things differently, too. It was definitely different from our usual cheese-laden dish, but it was good! Here's the recipe...

Ingredients:
2 C. Cottage Cheese (pureed to get all the curds smooth)
2 C. Shredded Parmesan Cheese
2 C. Fresh Spinach
3 Egg Whites
------------------------------
2 C. Diced Tomatoes
4 C. Tomato Sauce
1 T. Fiber Powder
------------------------------
6 Lasagna Noodles

Directions:
Combine cheeses, eggs, and spinach together in a bowl. In a separate bowl, combine tomatoes, tomato sauce, and fiber powder.

In a glass 9x13 baking dish, place a layer of sauce, then a layer (3) of DRY noodles, then a layer (1/2) of the cheese mixture. Repeat, then finish the top with a layer of sauce.

Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 1 hour. Uncover and sprinkle with additional cheese (parmesan or mozzarella, according to your liking) and bake uncovered for 15 minutes more.

Let cool for about 15 minutes before serving. Makes 8 servings.

The best part about this lasagna is that it's only 5 points for a pretty generous serving. AND it only has 275 calories, 7 g. fat, 4 g. fiber, and 22 g. protein! I've been having a little trouble finding high protein, low calorie options. But this was great! I'll make it again, for sure.

Recipe: Sweet Potato Fries

Oven-Baked Sweet Potato Fries

Here's a recipe I want to try. It was recommended by my friend Jenn. I've tried something like it before, but want to try it again since I didn't use a recipe and therefore couldn't remember how long to cook it for! Costco carries the sweet potatoes already peeled and french-fry sliced, so I'll pick up a bag of those when we go to Costco next time. It will have to be soon, because we are already out of bread, spinach, carrots and I just used the last box of chicken broth for tonight's soup. (Asparagus potato soup. We'll have to see if it's good or not!)

So here's the recipe for Oven Baked Sweet Potato Fries from Country Living:

INGREDIENTS

1/2 teaspoon(s)	ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon(s)	salt
1/4 teaspoon(s)	ground red pepper
1 tablespoon(s)	vegetable oil
2 sweet potatoes

DIRECTIONS

1. Prepare the sweet potatoes: In a small bowl, combine cumin, salt, and pepper. Set aside. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Peel potatoes, cut each in half lengthwise, and cut each half into 6 wedges. In a large bowl, combine the cut potatoes, oil, and spice mixture. Toss until potatoes are evenly coated.
2. Bake the fries: On a baking sheet, arrange potatoes in a single layer and place on the middle shelf of the oven. Bake until edges are crisp and potatoes are cooked through -- about 30 minutes. Serve immediately.

I am planning on using cajun seasoning instead of the mix they suggest here, and I'll use the already prepared sweet potatoes, so this should be an easy dish. And if it's good using the sweet potatoes instead of regular potatoes, this is a great way to get vitamin A in my diet!

Broccoli-Wokly

Chicken and Stir Fry for Two

Chicken:
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 T. soy sauce
1 T. sesame oil
1 T. pineapple juice
1 T. sesame seeds
1/2 stalk lemon grass
Garlic (fresh or powder)
Ginger

Stir Fry:
250 grams Kirkland Signature Stir Fry Vegetables
1 C pineapple tidbits
1 C frozen peas
1 C broccoli
1 T. sesame oil

For the chicken, mix all ingredients except chicken in a pan. Heat on medium/high heat until warmed through. Add cubed chicken and cook until chicken is done. Reduce heat and simmer while the stir fry cooks. Add sesame oil to a wok over medium/high heat. When hot, add vegetables and pineapple. Stir fry until all frozen vegetables are cooked. Add chicken and remaining sauce to vegetables and stir to mix. Serve immediately alone or over brown rice.

Nutrition information

Stir Fry:
245 calories
8 g. fat (7 from oil)
38 carbs
9 g. fiber
8 g. protein

Chicken:
216 calories
10 g. fat (7 from oil)
1 carb
.5 g. fiber
28 g protein

According to Jillian...

via Lauren, who is living proof that it works,

To drop 5 lbs. in a week:

60 oz. distilled water
1 tablespoon of sugar free cranberry juice
1 dandelion root tea bag
2 tablespoons of lemon juice

Drink it all every day for a week.

Fat Free, Sugar Free Vegan Banana Bread

Sounds gross, doesn't it? Well, just for fun I tried it. I
made muffins from it. I don't know that I would make muffins
with it again, as it forms a hard crust, but I would definitely
try to make it into a loaf of bread. I might try sugar next
time, too, or half sugar (mmmm... brown sugar?) and half Splenda.
I thought it had sort of a weird after taste from the Splenda,
but Leif said he couldn't taste it. Anyway....


Here is a banana bread receipe from "Fat Free, Full Flavor"

6 ripe bananas
1 cup Splenda (or sugar)
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups (whole wheat) flour
1 tsp baking powder
.5 tsp baking soda

Mash the bananas, sugar/Splenda and vanilla together. 
Sift the flour, baking powder and soda together. 
Mix the liquid with the dry and pour into a loaf pan. 
Put into a preheated oven @ 350 F for one hour.