Tag Archives: recipe

Here’s this week’s recipe!

Posted on by
3

Yes, I know it is after Thanksgiving, but I am going to share with you the recipe I used for a crustless pumpkin pie that my family enjoyed on Thanksgiving. It was quite tasty; even my mom and dad liked it.

I know I will definitely make it again.

Oh, and on a little side note, if you by chance don’t have any vanilla extract in your cupboards, feel free to use vanilla-flavored vodka. It works.

See, the thing is, I don’t bake. Ever. So that means, I don’t have the necessary baking ingredients on hand. Ever. I even had to borrow a pie plate from my mom because I don’t own one. This was my first time EVER making a pie in my whole life. Anyway, back to the vodka.

When we realized we didn’t have any vanilla extract, my husband suggested I Google substitutes for the flavoring, so I did. People had suggestions for rum, brandy and other alcohol, so I thought what the heck. I remembered that we had a little sample bottle of UV Cake vodka and cake basically tastes like vanilla, so I used it. And….it worked just fine. OK, granted it was just a teaspoon of it!

So, here is the recipe (made with vanilla extract) and a picture for you to enjoy:

15 oz can pumpkin

3/4 cup egg substitute (like Egg Beaters)

12 oz can fat-free evaporated milk

1/2 tsp salt

3 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp vanilla extract

2/3 cup Splenda

1. Preheat oven to 400ºF.

2. Combine all ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. Mix until smooth.

3. Pour into a 9-inch pie plate.

4. Bake at 400ºF for 15 minutes and then bake for another 45 minutes at 325ºF.

5. Pie is done when knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Makes: One 9-inch pie

Serving size: 1/8 of the pie

PointsPlus values per serving: 2

Weight Watchers Crustless Pumpkin Pie

Check out this week’s recipe!

Posted on by
Reply

Hello all! I am actually remembering to post my recipe this week.

My husband and I are in love with couscous. It is such a versatile grain and can have just about anything added to it. We think it is more versatile than brown rice or even quinoa. At any rate, we found a new couscous – Israeli couscous, which is bigger than normal couscous and has a slightly different taste.

We found ours at Trader Joe’s in Maple Grove, but I am pretty sure you can find it in other stores as well. Although, it maybe harder to find in smaller towns. The first time we made it, we followed the recipe that was on the back of the box. The next time, we changed it up a bit and added our own twist on it. The recipe I am including is the one from the box with bell peppers added to it. I am including two pictures – one from the first time we made it and one from the second time.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Here’s the recipe:

3 tbs margarine

1/4 cup pine nuts

1/2 cup shallots, diced

1 1/2 cups Israeli couscous

1/2 cinnamon stick

1 3/4 cup fat-free, reduced-sodium chicken broth

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

Zest from half a lemon

1 bay leaf

1. Melt 1 tbs of margarine in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add pine nuts and stir until golden brown. Transfer to small bowl.

2. Melt remaining 2 tbs of margarine in the same pan over medium heat. Add shallots and bell peppers and sauté until softened or shallots are golden in color. Add dry couscous, cinnamon stick and bay leaf; stirring often until couscous slightly browns.

3. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until liquid is absorbed and couscous is tender. Remove from heat and stir in lemon zest and pine nuts. Remove bay leaf and cinnamon stick before serving.

Serves: 6

PointsPlus value per serving: 6

Here are the pictures:

The first couscous

The second couscous

 

 

 

This week’s recipe: Al’s chicken tortellini soup

Posted on by
1

I almost forgot to post my recipe this week. Shame on me!

As many of you know, my husband, Al, loves to cook. This soup is one of his favorites to make this time of year. And let me tell you, it was DELICIOUS! And for me to say this, it means it was pretty darn good. I am not the biggest soup lover, but this one ranked pretty high in my list of Top Ten favorite soups.

Yep, it was that good. Here is the recipe for you to try and hopefully enjoy as much as I did:

Al's chicken tortellini soup

tortellini soup

Click on the above link to see the recipe. If it doesn’t work, send me an email and I can send you the recipe. My email is celbeam@gmail.com.

Enjoy!

And always, remember you can find my blog on Facebook, too. Click here to become a fan of my Confessions of a [former] Fat Girl Facebook page!

Recipe of the week

Posted on by
Reply

Here is my recipe of the week – Artichoke Tarts. I found the recipe on the Weight Watchers website.

Sometimes, my husband and I will just have appetizers for supper and last Friday, this is what we did. This was one of the appetizers we had and it was so yummy! I highly suggest using Nasoya brand for the wonton wrappers. I have found they are the best. I have tried Melissa’s brand and I have found them to be a little to floury.

Happy Appetizering!

Artichoke Tarts

Cooking spray

16 wonton wrappers

1/4 cup low-fat or fat-free shredded cheddar cheese

4 tbsp fat-free cream cheese, softened

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tbsp Dijon mustard

2 tbsp sweet red peppers, chopped

7 oz canned artichoke hearts, without oil, drained and chopped

1/4 cup parsley, fresh

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. Coat a 16-hole miniature muffin pan with cooking spray. Gently press 1 wonton wrapper into each muffin hole, allowing ends to extend above cups. Coat edges of wrappers with cooking spray and set aside.

3. Combine cheeses, cayenne pepper and mustard in a medium bowl; mix well. Stir in red pepper and artichoke hearts; spoon about 1 teaspoon of cheese mixture into each muffin cup.

4. Bake until cheese mixture is set and edges of wrappers are lightly browned, about 15 minutes. Garnish with parsley and serve.

Yields 2 tarts per serving.

Makes: 16 wontons

PointsPlus value: 2 (2 wontons)

Weekly recipe

Posted on by
1

I have decided to start posting my weekly recipe that I use in my Weight Watchers meetings. For any WW member out there who is reading this, I also make sure to include the PointsPlus values. Most of the recipes are ones that I have tried and most often, the photo will be one that I have taken.

Enjoy, everyone!

Strawberry meringue delights

4 large egg whites

1/2 tsp distilled white vinegar or cider vinegar

1 cup sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

Cool Whip, fat-free

Strawberries

1. Preheat oven to 200ºF. Line two baking sheets with foil.

2. In a large bowl, beat egg whites with an electric mixer until frothy. Add vinegar; beat until soft peaks form. Increase speed to high and gradually add sugar; beat until glossy stiff peaks form. Beat in vanilla.

3. Remove half of meringue to another bowl; stir in cocoa until blended.

4. Spoon tablespoons of both meringues onto prepared baking sheets about 1 inch apart each, making about 20 cookies – half vanilla, half cocoa.

5. Bake until meringues feel dry and crisp all the way through, about 3 hours. Turn off oven; leave meringues in oven for 1 hour. Transfer baking sheets to wire racks to cool completely.

6. Top each meringue cookie with about 1 tbsp of Cool Whip and 1 strawberry. Enjoy immediately. Store unused cookies in airtight container until ready to eat.

Makes: 20 cookies

PointsPlus value per cookie: 1

2 cookies = 3 PPVs

3 cookies = 4 PPVs

4 cookies = 6 PPVs

Something’s fishy

Posted on by
Reply

Sometimes, I don’t think people eat enough fish…healthy fish. Not the kind that is battered and deep fried, but the kind that is grilled – no batter, no breading, no greasy oil.

My husband made a great recipe with perch on Tuesday evening. He bought the fish – Orca Bay Pacific Ocean Perch (wild caught) – from one of our local grocery stores in town. On the back of the bag, there was a recipe for Las Brisas Ocean Perch, which is how my husband decided to prepare it. He’s made this recipe before, but we forgot how good it was.

First off, the fish itself – for a four-ounce portion – only has 110 calories and 2 grams of fat. It’s very low cal and quite healthy, which is awesome. As for what goes on top of it after it’s grilled, well, that’s healthy too. It’s a citrusy salsa and it is really, really good. 

I am including the recipe and a picture of it. If anyone decides to make, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. It truly was a great dish. 

Here you go:

The fish:
1 package Orca Bay Perch fillets (thawed)
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 teaspoon ancho chili powder

The salsa:
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 cup chopped peeled oranges
1/4 cup pineapple tidbits, drained
1 tablespoon chopped jalapeno
1 tablespoon red onion
1 tablespoon chopped red pepper
chopped fresh cilantro
salt and pepper to taste

Directions for fish:
Place fish in a medium size dish. Whisk together the oil, lime juice and chili powder. Pour mixture over fish let marinated for between 15-30 minutes. Remove the fish and grill or broil on medium high heat for at least five minutes on each side or until cooked through. Let set for a couple of minutes before serving. Put on plate and top with salsa.

Directions for the salsa:
Combine the lime juice and honey in a bowl first, then add the rest of the ingredients and gently toss together. Let sit while the fish is marinating.

Here is what it looked like:

If you have any questions about this dish, please feel free to ask. Either post a comment or send an email to confessionsofaformerfatgirl@gmail.com.

Also, don’t forget, you can find Confessions of a Fat Girl on Facebook…check it out!

Here’s the link: www.facebook.com/pages/Confessions-of-a-Fat-Girl/405377955332

Have to dish about my chicken dish

Posted on by
2

So last night, I had to throw together a rather quick supper as my husband had to get to a meeting by 7 p.m. and I didn’t get home until after 6 p.m. We had taken chicken out that morning and so it was basically ready when I got home. It was still a little frozen, but that made it easier to cut up.

I love to make pasta dishes where I just kind of throw ingredients together and see what happens. Well, last night was one of those nights. My chicken dish turned out awesome…so much so that my son, Mr. Picky Pants, actually ate it and commented on how good it was.

Here is what I did. I cut the chicken (three boneless, skinless breasts) into cubes and sauteed it in a pan that I had sprayed with cooking spray. While it was cooking, I added some basil, garlic and oregano. We use the jarred kind that you keep in the fridge. I maybe added about a tablespoon of each. Then, as the chicken looked like it was pretty much done, I added about a cup and a half of white wine and turned the burner up on high so that it could boil and the wine could reduce down. 

As the chicken was cooking, so was the pasta. I use Fiber Gourmet pasta that I buy online. As I have stated in previous blog posts, it is healthier and half the Weight Watchers points. One cup of cooked regular pasta has four points, while one cup of the Fiber Gourmet pasta has two points. I make one 8-ounce box for the three of us. I get two ounces, while my husband and son each get three ounces. There’s not enough for seconds, but who needs seconds of pasta anyway?

When the wine had just about cooked down, I added four wedges of The Laughing Cow light regular flavored cream cheese. I was a little hesitant, and so was my husband, because we didn’t know if it would melt or just kind of clump up. It melted perfectly. I also added two tablespoons of reduced fat parmesan cheese, you know, the kind that you shake on pizza.

We then served the chicken mixture over the noodles like you would a spaghetti sauce. Surprisingly, it was really, really good. Like I said before, my son actually ate it so I knew it had to be okay. I was shocked. The only thing different I would have done is maybe left a little bit more wine in the pan because it didn’t get quite as creamy as I wanted. It was more sticky-like. Regardless, all of us scarfed it up.

With my online Weight Watchers tools, I can easily add ingredients into the recipe builder to find out how many points there are per serving. I entered three chicken breasts, the four wedges of cheese, the two servings of parmesan cheese and only one serving of white wine because much of it had reduced down. I put that it served four because my husband’s and son’s portions were about equal to one and a half, while mine was equal to about one. The point value per serving was only three. Pretty cool, considering it was a cheesy pasta dish. 

I realize it wasn’t a grand chicken alfredo or some other cheesy pasta dish that’s swimming in a cream sauce, but it had a lot of flavor. It was delicious and had a total point value of only five points. 5 points. That rocks.

I will definitely make it again. 

P.S. By the way, don’t forget, you can now find me on Facebook…just look up Confessions of a Fat Girl and become a fan! Thanks.

Easy tasty treat

Posted on by
1

Last week at my Weight Watchers meeting, one of the members talked about a tasty treat with apples. As you know, apples are plentiful right now. I actually eat two or three or sometimes, four apples a day…usually, the Honeycrisp variety. A co-worker I used to have would eat this variety of apple all the time and tell me they were the best…ever. I finally tried them and OMG, she was so right. They are the best.

Anyway, the WW member said she cuts an apple up, puts it on a piece of tinfoil, drizzles it with sugar-free maple syrup, sprinkles it with cinnamon and then puts it on the grill. She said it’s similar to making potato packets for the grill.

At lunch today, as I was staring at my box of Honeycrisp apples, I decided to try her suggestion..except in the oven. I took out a small casserole dish, sprayed it with Pam, put the slices of apple in it and drizzled the apple with an 1/8 cup sugar-free maple syrup. I have tried a variety of sugar-free syrups and found that my favorite – surprisingly – is the Great Value brand from Wal-Mart. It has a real good maple flavor and an almost buttery flavor. It’s just real good.

I let the apple bake for maybe 10 or 15 minutes in an 425º oven and then for about 5 or 10 minutes, I turned on the broiler. I also turned the apples over about half way through the first 10-15 minutes. When they were done, because I forgot to do it at the beginning, I sprinkled them with just a little bit of cinnamon.

Let me tell you, this was one tasty treat! And the best part, it was only one and a half WW points – one point for the apple and a half a point for the syrup. If you use 1/4 cup syrup, which you totally don’t need, then it is one full point for the syrup. The total for the treat would be two WW points, which still isn’t bad at all. 

Simple. Tasty. Easy. Gotta love it.