Chicken + Broccoli Ring

It is no secret that I am not the worlds greatest cook, or a cook for that matter.  I have never enjoyed being in the kitchen, but with a hungry husband and a growing toddler, they demand food (every night).
The first time I made this was at my own bridal shower party where Pampered Chef was being gifted as gifts.  My favorite thing about this recipe was that it was quick, easy, and minimal clean up.

Source

What you will need:

      

1 package (8 ounces) refrigerated crescent rolls

1 cup coarsely chopped cooked chicken

3/4 cup coarsely chopped broccoli

1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese

1/4 cup diced red bell pepper

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 teaspoon Pantry All-Purpose Dill Mix

1 small garlic clove, pressed

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 egg white, lightly beaten

2 tablespoons slivered almonds

1 pizza stone

 

 

Steps:

-Preheat oven to 375°F. Unroll crescent rolls; separate into eight triangles. Arrange triangles, slightly overlapping, in a circle on your pizza stone with the points extending off the edge of the stone.Roll wide ends of dough toward center to create a 3-inch opening.

- Mix chicken, broccoli, cheese, bell pepper, mayo, and seasonings.

 

-Scoop mixture over dough and fill evenly.

-Bring points of dough of triangles up over mixture and tuck dough at center.

-Lightly brush dough with egg white; sprinkle with almonds.

-Bake 25-30 minutes or until deep golden brown.


So easy! I didn't use garlic, bell pepper or almonds on mine.  This dish is easy to change up and add more or less as you wish.  There are some nights where we try and ease up on the meat so we add more veggies and make a vegetarian style ring.  They also have Mexican Taco Rings that I have never tried but I am sure they are just as easy.

       

Mouthwatering Mondays: Recipe Link-up

 

 

Hey guys.  Its Monday, and you know what that means. Mouthwatering Mondays!!

This week the girls are asking everyone to share a breakfast for dinner recipe.  I call it Brinner!

I'm excited to share this Spinach Feta Omelette Recipe with you and maybe you can have it for Brinner this week!

 

source

 

Spinach Feta Omelette (makes 1 omelette)

 

What You'll Need:

1-2 ounces ready to eat cooking spinach

2-3 ounces crumbled feta

2 eggs

1 teaspoon water

1 teaspoon butter

 

Steps:

* Cook down spinach until soft for approximately 2-3 minutes and set to the side

* Crack two eggs into bowl

* Add 1 teaspoon water and whisk until yolks and whites are well blended

* Coat a non-stick pan with 1 teaspoon butter

* Before butter browns, add eggs to the pan

* Add cooked spinach and feta on top of the eggs immediately

* Cook 1-2 minutes, swirling the pan to loosen the eggs from the bottom (helps avoid burning)

 

After the omelet is cooked, it should slide out of the pan without a spatula.  There are endless possibilities for your brinner omelettes.  Feel free to spice things up a little and add your favorite hot peppers to the mix.  Yum!

 

Just like dinner you need some sides with Brinner.  I like to add fruit, home fries, or some oatmeal to make it extra filling. 

 

I wonder how many times I typed Brinner during this recipe?

 

Ha!

 

Hope you are able to have Brinner sometime this week and try this out!!

Mouthwatering Mondays {A Recipe Linkup}

Happy Monday Y'all!  Hubs and I had another packed filled weekend. We were able to do nothing but lounge on Sunday which was amazing. Love days like that!  

I'm linking up again with some ladies for Mouthwatering Mondays. This week we are sharing our favorite side dishes.   I'm going to share a corn and black bean salad recipe today. This is a new favorite and I love the extra kick it gives to any main dish. 

Ingredients 

• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil 
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice 
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 2 (15 1/2-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 cups frozen whole kernel corn, thawed
• 1 large orange bell pepper, coarsely chopped
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 small jalapeño peppers, seeded and minced
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

1. Whisk together first 4 ingredients in a large bowl. Add beans and remaining ingredients; toss well to coat. Cover and let stand 1 hour, tossing occasionally.

For me, the recipe calls for a lot of ingredients but the lack of preparation really makes up for that. 

Cheers to a (hopefully) great week!

Mouthwatering Mondays {Crock pot Roast}

Hey Y'all.  Its Monday and you know what that means.  Mouthwatering Mondays Linkup is back and I have one of my favorite recipes here for you.  This week the gals with Mouthwatering Mondays are sharing crock pot recipes. 
In my family, we have a ton of crock pot dinners.  It's quick and easy...and hard to mess up! I think my favorite part is being able to just throw in all the ingredients, leave for the day and come home to my house smelling Ahh.mazing!!!

My go to crock pot meal is Roast (I usually buy the beef bottom).  Its the Hubs favorite too!

What You'll Need:

* Beef bottom Roast
* 4-6 Red potatoes (cut in cubes)
* 1 bag of small carrots
* Any 2 cream of ___ cans
        *** I use 1 can cream of mushroom and 1 can cream of chicken (yes, chicken)  the flavor it gives it is mouthwatering.  I have used cream of potatoes with it too, but enjoy cream of chicken a bit better.Turn the crock pot on low and let cook for 6-8 hours.  Yum!  Told y'all it was fool proof!!  Try it out and you can thank me later. 

 

Just a side note.  I've just started using these liners over the past year or so and they are great for quick cleanup.  Something even the Hubs could do. HA.  I kid. 

 

 

 

 

Cheers to the first week of August!

Seven Layer Mexican Dip {Recipe Linkup}

Hey friends!  Monday is here and I feel like I have the Monday Blues.  We had a great but packed weekend (Weekend Recap coming up Tuesday) and I just hate to see it end. 

The best way to start off the week is with an awesome recipe linkup.  This is the third week I've linked up for Mouthwatering Mondays and I already have a list full of new recipes to try out soon on Luke.

 



 

 

Picture Credit

I never thought I would share a must have Mexican recipe.  I have never enjoyed Mexican foods, but I am now on the bandwagon and I am a huge fan!

A co-worker brought this dish in for a retirement party a few weeks back and it is too delicious not to share.  The recipe is simple and real quick to assemble everything. 

What You'll Need:

* 1 package taco seasoning mix                 * 1 package cream cheese, softened

*1 can refried beans                                     * 1 (16 oz) container sour cream

*1 (16 oz) jar salsa                                        * 1 large tomato, chopped

*1 green bell pepper, chopped                   * 1 small head iceberg lettuce, shredded

* 1 (6 oz) can sliced black olives, drained

* 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions:

 

1. In a medium bowl, blend the taco seasoning mix and refried beans. Spread the mixture onto a large serving platter.

2. Mix the sour cream and cream cheese in a medium bowl. Spread over the refried beans.

3. Top the layers with salsa. Place a layer of tomato, green bell pepper, green onions and lettuce over the salsa, and top with Cheddar cheese. Garnish with black olives

There you have it.  Such a tasty and quick recipe that can be put together in a snap for those last minuet visitors, parties, or for when you just have the munchies. 
If you have a recipe that you would like to share be sure to head over to Mouthwatering Mondays and link up! 



Mouthwatering Mondays {Recipe Linkup}

Today I am linking up with a group of ladies for Mouthwatering Mondays.  Today they are featuring Favorite BBQ/ Picnic Recipes. 

Lately I have loved foods that I have never touched before, and Sweet Potatoes are one of them. This past week we had BBQ sliders and I knew I wanted to pair them up with mouthwatering sweet potatoes.
I found this recipe and saw that it was filled with creamy goodness and had to try it out on my
husband.


What You'll Need:
 (Serves 6)
* 4 cups sweet potato; cooked and cubed
* 1/2 cup white sugar
*2 eggs, beaten
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 4 tablespoons butter, softened
* 1/2 cup milk
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
* 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/2 cup chopped pecans (I omitted this)
* 1/2- 1 cup small marsh mellows


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Put sweet potatoes in a medium saucepan with water to cover. Cook over medium high heat until tender; drain and mash.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the sweet potatoes, white sugar, eggs, salt, butter, milk and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth. Transfer to a 9x13 inch baking dish.

       

3. In medium bowl, mix the brown sugar and flour. Cut in the butter until the mixture is coarse. Stir in the pecans. Sprinkle the mixture over the sweet potato mixture.

 

4. Bake in the preheated oven 30 minutes, or until the topping is lightly brown.
5. Take out of oven and add marsh mellows over top and place back in oven on BROIL until marsh mellows are golden brown.

Picture Source

 

Not only is this dish a must for summer BBQ's put it is a staple during Holiday dinners.  I have found that this is a side dish that has staple ingredients and is quick to put together. 
This recipe serves 6 but I had no left over after serving 4 people.  My motto is, "If the Hubs likes it, save the recipe and cook it weekly!"

What are your favorite BBQ recipes?

Strawberry Angel Food Trifle

Today, I am excited to link up with Katie from The Campbell's with her Mouthwatering Mondays.  This weeks topic is Summer Desserts. 

I feel like during the summer I can eat my weight in fruit, and nothing says summer time like ripe crisp strawberries.  If you have had rain for the past two weeks like we have and miss the sunshine, whipping up this quick and easy recipe will sure bring some brightness. 

Source

What You'll Need:
* 1 store bought angel food cake
* 3 cups vanilla pudding
* 24 ox. thawed strawberries, sliced with sugar added
* 16 oz. whipped cream

Steps:

1. Tear angel food cake into medium pieces
2. Start layering cake, strawberries, pudding and whip cream into large Trifle bowl
3. Continue to layer until bowl is filled
4. Top dessert with layer of whip cream only and add fresh strawberries for presentation
5. Place in fridge for 4 hours before serving

This recipe is so quick and easy.  There is plenty of room to "skinny" up this recipe for a more waist friendly dessert. 
If you haven't already go link up with Katie and share your favorite summer time dessert and be sure to come back every Monday for more fun!

Skinny Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Squares

Skinny Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Squares

 

 I have been looking at this recipe for months now.  I have read it over and over again and finally decided to whip some up for a healthy but filling breakfast.

 

I mean, look how delicious this looks! (Link)

 

 

My eyes did the talking and I just had to make this breakfast recipe!  Did my eyes deceive me??

 

 

This is what you will need: (how i made it skinny)

-1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats

-1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
-1 teaspoon baking powder
-1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (I omitted this)
-1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1/2 cup milk (skim)
-1 large egg, lightly beaten (egg white only)
-1 large mashed banana
-1/4 cup creamy peanut butter (any kind that is low in fat and sodium)

-1 cup roasted nuts (optional)

 

 

Directions:

 

In a large mixing bowl, add cooking oats, brown sugar, baking power, salt, and cinnamon and mix thoroughly.



 

Add vanilla extract, milk, and egg.  The give it a mix!

 

Then add in the mashed banana and the creamy peanut butter.  Mix everything well.

Pour mixture into a lightly greased baking pan, spreading everything out to make sure it cooks evenly.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 min.

The end result should look like this. 

Like I always say, my Husband got into it before I could take a picture of mine. 

At the start of this post I asked if my eyes deceived me.  Well...unfortunately they did.  I may have hyped this a little too much in my head and the end taste wasn't what I expected.  I was looking forward to this and was disappointed.  I even tried to add a little Peanut Butter on top like the picture...but no cigar. Maybe it was the spoon in the picture that made it this good. Who knows...







 





For those of you who have tried this or would like to try let me know your thoughts.  If you have not tried this but are looking for a healthy breakfast and trying to get out of the cereal rut you may enjoy this.

 

 

 

Fall Eats

 

 

Its Hump Day!  So thankful that the weekend is almost upon us.  The 3 day weekend we just had spoiled me.

 

In my last post I talked about how I am ready for Fall.  I love Fall!!  The changing of leaves, the crisp mornings, bringing out my scarves and skinny jeans in boots, and of course my house being covered in camouflaged during deer season.  In my house, we live for this time of the year. 

 

I am looking forward to trying out some "new" recipes this fall.  Something warm with a lot of spices.

 

While looking online I have found these...

Spicy Ranch Chicken

 

Cheese and Chicken Shells

Monterrey Jack Cheeseburger with Special Sauce




Ranch House Crock Pot Pork Chops with Parmesan Mashed Potatoes


Since coming back from vacation I have been in a huge cooking slump. I am getting tired of our
go-to meals and need to spice things up. I am headed to the store tonight to get everything for these goodies. Hopefully I will be able to post my pictures and my recipe for making all of these meals "skinny."


Hope everyone has a great Wednesday. The weekend is upon us!!

Do you have a favorite "skinny" recipe that you love? Let me know, I would love to try them out.

 



Skinny Stuffed Peppers

Happy Friday Eve!

My.New.Favorite.Meal!!  Skinny Stuffed Peppers!

This is the original picture I saw on Pinterest.  How amazing does that look?  I am not much of a pepper girl, but I thought it was a great "cooking bowl" for all the inner ingredients.

What You Will Need:

-4 Large Green Peppers

-93% Lean Ground Beef (or deer meat if you have that on hand)

-No Sodium/Low Sodium Red Kidney Beans

-No Sodium/Low Sodium Corn

-White Rice

-Mrs. Dash Spicy Seasoning

-Fat Free Cheese

Steps:

-Cut top off peppers and scoop out the seeds

-Boil peppers for 5 min until soft

-Brown meat (add Mrs. Dash Spicy Seasoning to the meat here)

-cook rice as directed

-While that is cooking, strain and rinse the corn and beans with cold water.  This helps get rid of any extra sodium that we don't need or want in our meal.

- After the peppers are cooked, lay them upside down to drain any extra water.

-Now the fun part, assemble your pepper.

- I put the beef on bottom, then rice, kidney beans, corn, then cheese.



-Cook on 350 degrees for 20-25 min.

My husband decided to cut his open...looks delish!  You have your meet, your veggies, your fiber, your dairy, and...a little starch.

Even without the peppers, it makes a good leftover lunch.

Daily Tidbits:

-Leaving this morning to go to Philly to see my precious nephew.  I have been looking forward to this for months...makes me feel like a kid at Christmas.

-My sister in law told me that we could make that apple pie that I have been craving for over a month... I will be sure so share that with you followers.









Skinny Baked Spaghetti

Skinny Baked Spaghetti

Skinny, quick, and delish!  I love anything pasta. This past week we wanted a pasta meal so I decided to make Skinny Baked Spaghetti. 

You will need:

-Pasta

-Sauce

-Ground Meat (93% lean or deer meat) 

-Any kind of Fat Free Cheese

-Mrs. Dash Italian Seasoning

Boil pasta and brown meat as usual.  Instead of adding butter or salt to the pasta, shake some Mrs. Dash Italian Seasoning to help the noodles not stick.  Add to meat as well.

Did you know that if you place a wooden spoon over your pot it will prevent water from boiling over. (Thanks Pinterest)

When the meat is cooked thoroughly, add any No Sodium or Low Sodium Spaghetti Sauce.  Add more Mrs. Dash Seasoning to taste.

I purchased this at my local Ingles.  Low Sodium sauce that had less than 30mg or sodium for 1/2 cup.  Flavor is wonderful!

I usually add plain noodles on the bottom with a little fat free cheese on top to have the noodles stick.

Mix, meat sauce and noodles and layer in a baking dish.  Add Fat Free cheese on top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 min until bubbly.

This is an easy go to meal without the calories, fat, and sodium than your normal spaghetti dish.

Cheers to Healthy Eating!

Daily Tidbits:

- I have a date with Jillian Michaels when I get home.  Shes one hardcore lady.

-I've never been much of a lettuce eater, but here lately I will eat it everyday!!  So good.

- I joined my first link up this week.  We ill being doing a jewelry swap and I will post what I get in the mail near the end of the month. Excited to see what I get.

Skinny Buffalo Chicken Wrap

This past weekend I made the hubs his favorite Buffalo Chicken Dip.  He loves that stuff! 

Anyhoo, I had some leftover chicken, cheese, and Franks Red Hot and wanted to use it up. 



I saw this picture on Pinterest of course!


I cooked up some chicken and shredded it with a fork.

Add in some Franks Red Hot and stir.

Design your wrap!! On the 100% Wheat wrap add your Chicken, lettuce, Fat Free cheese.

You can easily add in some corn or black beans to make it more of a Mexican style wrap.  Maybe even some Rotel!

Again, easy meal to use up leftovers and make a healthy skinny meal!!

Cheers to Happy Eating!

Daily Tidbits:

- " ignore all the rude, mean, or grumpy people that may fill your day...dont let the poison of their unkindness have the power to take your joy away."

- Check out http://pintester.com/  This blogger tries different things on Pinterest to see if they work or not.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

This is a dip favorite at the Edwards house.  My future bro in law's mother made this for us a good while back and it was gone in no time.  Thanks Regina for this great recipe!
As always, I am continuing to try out old recipes and making them "skinny".  This is easy to make a little more figure friendly and not sacrifice the taste.

What you will need:
-Tostitos Scoop Chips (Can use reduced fat)
-8oz Cream Cheese, softened (Fat Free)
-Chicken (Canned chicken works great for a budget; or use Boiled Chicken Breast and shred)
-Blue Cheese (Can substitute for Fat Free/ Lite Ranch Dressing)
-Franks Red Hot Sauce
-Shredded Cheddar Cheese (Fat Free)

Franks Red Hot Sauce





Place shredded chicken in pan and add half bottle of Franks Red Hot Sauce

In a separate bowl, add cream cheese and blue cheese.  Stir until smooth.

Spoon cheese mixture over chicken and add remaining hot sauce

Bake for 20 min or until mixture is heated through.  When it starts to bubble, its ready.

Add cheddar cheese and place back in over until melted.

Google

(of course I didn't get an after picture...again...because the hubs got to it first)



This is a great dip for chips but you could also use crackers or veggies.  It is also easy to double the dish.  Some people have doubled the amount of chicken and the amount of cream cheese only.  Makes a more thick dip.

Just in cause you were wondering, here are the Nutrition facts for the dip. 

Nutrition Facts:

Serving Size	1/16 of recipe
Calories	144
Fat	11.2 g
Saturated Fat	4.7 g
Carbohydrates	2.5 g
Fiber	0.3 g
Protein	7.8 g
Cholesterol	36 mg

Daily Tidbits

-I am looking forward to seeing my brother, sister in law, and nephew this month.  My Aunt Alice is even making the trip with us this time.  So excited for her to meet Declan.
-After a quick trip to Philly, the hubs and I are beach bound for our Anniversary.  Can not believe this time last year we were planning our dream wedding.
- I still have not purchased any makeup related items.  It wasn't as hard to give up as I thought it would be.
- Enjoyed an amazing Chi Tea Latte from Starbucks this morning.  It is my new fav!