Taco Soup

I saw this recipe on my friend's blog. I tweaked it a bit to better suit our family. It was really tasty! Her's called for ground beef but I liked the idea of using shredded chicken. Use which ever you prefer!! You could also add corn and remove the spinach etc. This is one of those fabulous recipes that you can mix and match to your liking! Go crazy with it!!!

Taco Soup

recipe courtesy of my friends blog

1 1/2 lbs shredded chicken
1 large onion, diced
1 pkg frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cans diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 pkt original hidden valley ranch dressing (dry)
3 cups water, or more
2 TBSP chopped fresh cilantro

for serving:
Tortilla chips
Shredded nacho cheese or sharp cheddar

Saute onion until soft.
Combine chicken, sauteed onions and the rest of the ingredients in a big pot. Simmer for one hour. Stir frequently.

Serve with tortilla chips and cheese.
6 servings

Points per serving: 6

This was so good and hearty and filling I can't even tell you!!! My kids liked it too, which was surprising since I put spinach in it. But they enjoyed it. I'll be making this again for sure!!!

Cheesy Spinach Phyllo Rolls

I made these today to take to a going away party that was for some friends. They are moving to Ft. Lewis next week so several folks gathered at the park for good food and good talk. This was my contribution. I found the recipe on the Kraft website. It's very similar to spanikopita. They were really good!!!!!

Cheesy Spinach Phyllo Rolls

1 egg , beaten

1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained

1 cup ATHENOS Traditional Crumbled Feta Cheese

1 tub (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Garden Vegetable 1/3 Less Fat than Cream Cheese

4 green onions, finely chopped

15 sheets frozen phyllo (14x9 inch), thawed

1/3 cup butter, melted

MIX first 5 ingredients until well blended; set aside. Brush 1 phyllo sheet lightly with butter; top with 2 more phyllo sheets, lightly brushing each layer with some of the remaining butter. Place remaining phyllo between sheets of plastic wrap; set aside.

SPREAD 1/5 of the spinach mixture along 1 short side of phyllo stack; fold in both long sides then roll up, starting at 1 of the short sides to make log. Repeat with remaining phyllo sheets and spinach mixture to make 4 more logs. Brush with remaining butter. Make small cuts in tops of logs at 1-inch intervals. Place in large freezer-weight resealable plastic bags or wrap tightly in plastic wrap.

FREEZE up to 3 months. When ready to bake, remove desired number of logs from freezer. Refrigerate, tightly wrapped, several hours or overnight until thawed. Unwrap, then place on baking sheet. Bake in 375°F-oven for 25 min. or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheet 5 min.; transfer to cutting board. Use serrated knife to cut each log into 6 slices.

I don't know if you guys celebrate this day or not. Either way, what we will have for dinner could go with any night. I didn't want to do the traditional corned beef, because, well I'm not a huge fan of it and I knew my kids wouldn't be fans either. So....i looked up some other recipes and found this one. Enjoy!!!

Irish Chicken and Dumplings

• 2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of chicken soup
• 3 cups water
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 2 onions, quartered
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 5 carrots, sliced
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen green peas
• 4 potatoes, quartered
• 3 cups baking mix
• 1 1/3 cups milk

Directions

1. In large, heavy pot, combine soup, water, chicken, celery, onion, salt, poultry seasoning, and pepper. Cover and cook over low heat about 1 1/2 hours.
2. Add potatoes and carrots; cover and cook another 30 minutes.
3. Remove chicken from pot, shred it, and return to pot. Add peas and cook only 5 minutes longer.
4. Add dumplings. To make dumplings: Mix baking mix and milk until a soft dough forms. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto BOILING stew. Simmer covered for 10 minutes, then uncover and simmer an additional 10 minutes.

points for this are 10 per serving


And for dessert we are doing this lovely little gem:

photo courtesy of oopsie daisy

* Instant vanilla pudding (with a bit of green food coloring)

* Milk

* Whipped cream

* Oreo and sprinkles

* Foil-wrapped chocolate (I used some peanut butter filled dove chocolates)

* Clear plastic cup

Now mix up the pudding.
Combine 2 Tablespoons instant pudding with 3 Tablespoons milk. Stir well. It will thicken up a bit. Place the chocolate in the bottom of the cup.
I transferred the pudding to the cup now. I added some whipped cream, an Oreo, and yes, even some green sprinkles!

If you want full details for the this recipe head on over to oopsie daisy here.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Mardi Gras Menu

It's that time again, Mardi Gras. Now I've never been personally but would love to experience at least once in my life. But since I can't go....I'll eat like i'm there!! This is the first year that I'll be doing a king cake (minus the baby part of it). I'm really excited about it actually. More than I thought I would be! HA!!

Here are the recipes I'll be making tonight:

Bacon and Shrimp Creole

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup chopped onion
• 2 celery ribs, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped green pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 can (8 ounces) tomato Sauce
• 3/4 cup cold water, divided
• 1/4 cup crumbled cooked turkey bacon
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 pounds uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 3 cups hot cooked brown rice
  

Directions

• In a Dutch oven, saute the onion, celery and green pepper in oil until tender. Add garlic; saute 1 minute longer. Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, 1/2 cup water, bacon, parsley, sugar, salt, thyme, curry powder, pepper and cayenne. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
• Combine flour and remaining water until smooth; gradually stir into tomato mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1-2 minutes or until thickened. Reduce heat; add shrimp. Simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes or until shrimp turn pink. Serve with rice. Yield: 6 servings.

Points for this yummy dinner are 8, serve with a nice veggie to add bulk and no points! Yummy!!!!!

Mardi Gras King Cake
(the original recipe had an almond paste for the filling, i don't like almonds so i changed it to be more like a cinnamon roll. Either way it's cake and you can't go wrong with cake!! -the points I list are based on the cake with the changes that I made)

• 1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast

• 1/2 cup warm water (110° to 115°)
• 1/2 cup warm milk (110° to 115°)
• 1/3 cup shortening
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 4 to 4-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tbsp I can't believe it's not butter spread
• cinnamon
• sugar (like a cinnamon roll center)
  GLAZE:
• 3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 to 4 tablespoons water
• Purple, green and gold colored sugar

Directions

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the milk, shortening, sugar, salt, egg and 2 cups flour. Beat on medium speed for 3 minutes. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough (dough will be sticky).
• Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
• Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half. Roll one portion into a 16-in. x 10-in. rectangle. Spread butter to within 1/2 in. of edges. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Roll up jelly-roll style, starting with a long side; pinch seam to seal. Place seam side down on a greased baking sheet; pinch ends together to form a ring. Repeat with remaining dough and filling. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
• Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. For glaze, combine the confectioners' sugar, vanilla and enough water to achieve desired consistency. Spread over cooled cakes. Sprinkle with colored sugars. Yield: 2 cakes (12 servings each).

Points for the cake are 5. I know I was shocked too!! But you get 12 slices out of each cake-that's a huge piece!!! Plus since it makes 2 cakes, keep one and give one!

Greek Tortilla Folds

I really enjoy Greek food. Gyros are my favorite. Sometimes you have a craving and can't get it. We have one Greek place in town and it's a sit down place and not a take out. So there goes that idea. But I found this on the Betty Crocker website and decided it looked good enough to eat! I had ground pork in the freezer instead of beef and I used tortillas instead of pitas. Trying to cut points where ever I can! hehe! 1 lb lean ground pork

small onion, cut in half lengthwise, sliced

cloves garlic, finely chopped

teaspoon dried oregano leaves

teaspoon salt

cup sliced ripe olives

cup finely chopped peeled cucumber

cup chopped seeded tomato

cup Yoplait® All Natural Fat Free plain yogurt (from 32 oz. container)

teaspoon dried dill weed

6 whole wheat tortillas

1. 1 In 10-inch skillet, cook ground beef, onion, garlic, oregano and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt over medium-high heat 5 to 7 minutes, stirring frequently, until beef is thoroughly cooked. Drain. Stir in olives.
2. 2 Meanwhile, in medium bowl, stir together cucumber, tomato, yogurt, dill and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt.
3. 3 On each of 4 individual serving plates, Spoon 1/4 of beef mixture on half of each pita. Top each with yogurt mixture; fold other half of pita over filling. Serve with remaining yogurt mixture.

Serves 6 and is 9 points per serving

Dr. Seuss Birthday Dinner

This week we celebrated Dr. Seuss's birthday. His actual birthday was March 2. My boys' school held a week long celebration. I decided that the night of his actual birthday we should do something fun to celebrate. So our dinner centered around his books. I printed pictures off the computer and put them up on the wall by our table. I printed small copies of book covers for our cups (we each got a different book) and then printed off bigger copies for our chairs. I also printed up a menu (so we'd know what we were getting) and we had a great time talking and eating all things Dr. Seuss.



Here are 2 of the recipes from tonights feast (the other things we ate, didn't need a recipe)

Pink Yink Ink Drink
1/2 pint fresh blackberries
1C 1% milk (this is what we drink-use whatever milk you have)
6 fresh strawberries
1 tbsp sweetner or 1 tsp honey (I used the sweetner for the points-sweetner has 0 points)

Puree' blackberries
pour into glasses
put milk, strawberries, and honey/sweetner into a blender and blend.
strain mixture (completely optional-i did not do this)
pour strawberry mixture over top of blackberry mixture and enjoy!
*points value....1 per serving serves 4



Dr. Seuss's Sneetch Treats (Oatmeal Raisin Walnut Cookies)
8oz butter
1 1/2C brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2C all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 1/2C uncooked instant oatmeal
1/2C chopped walnuts
1C raisins
2 hershey bars, broken into squares
6 large marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Combine melted butter, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla. Mix well.
Combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add to butter mixture.
Add oatmeal, walnuts and raisins. Mix well.
Drop batter by tbsps onto ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten each cookie slightly.
Bake 12 min until golden brown and firm. Remove to a rack to cool completely.
Once cookies have cooled, toast marshmallow over open flame. Place chocolate on bottom of cookie and top with marshmallow and another cookies (basically making a s'more).

serves 6 at 24 points per s'more.....yeah I didn't eat one. But the batter was really good, I just had to sample it.The kids really had a great time with this. It was a lot of fun to come up with and I think i'll be doing something like this every year!!