A Call For Recipes!

I don't know if I've told ya'll or not but I've been on Weight Watchers for 6 weeks now. I'm doing pretty well but the "regular food" recipes are relatively easy to cook even for family who aren't participating (despite the fact that they need to lose weight more than me...are you reading DH?) I mean really any casserole tastes good if you add enough onions, celery and mushrooms to it...right? But here's the thing. None of the dessert recipes I've tried have been good. Oh they aren't horrible, but they aren't what I'd serve to guests either.

So here's your assignment, should you choose to accept it. I want tried and true Weight Watcher dessert recipes. I know that there are lots of you out there who've done this program like me, on again/off again. Did you find anything you love?

A Little More of This and A Lot More of That (More Cooking Adventures)

As promised I'm reporting back on a couple of recipes I tried this week - both stolen directly from you, my blogging friends. I'm always reluctant to try new things since I've been known to burn simple things, like a pot of beans. But these two sounded so good that I decided to bite the bullet and give it a try. I knew up front that biting the bullet might end up being literal as that could be all we had for lunch if the recipes didn't work but I'm pleased to announce that ya'll know what you're doing with these two recipes.



First the bad news. I like to buy those Hormel or Tyson prepared meats...you know the kind you find over in the "I'm too lazy to cook tonight so what do you have that I can zap for four minutes and pretend I cooked" section? The price isn't bad ($5-$6) and mostly we like them although I'm not sayin' they're low cal or low sodium or low anything except low work for me. I had a $2 coupon, and I'm all about coupons, so I bought a new one we hadn't tried before - Hormel Apple Bourbon Pork Chops. Trust me on this one, it would have taken a lot more bourbon to make those good, and I hate bourbon. I should have gone with the tried and true beef roast or pork roast. Lesson learned.



Now the good news. I had this wonderful spaghetti squash (truth be told I have several boxes of spaghetti, butternut and acorn squash my sister shared with me out of her garden hidden in my living room coat closet, but that's another story for another day) that I wanted to cook. Judy over at My Lime Green Kitchen posted a recipe for Italian Spaghetti Squash and it not only sounded good, but it also sounded simple. Right up my alley. You can check out the recipe for yourself but if you like spaghetti squash I bet you'll like it. I did eliminate the bell peppers since they hate my stomach, or my stomach hates them one, and I didn't have all the spices she mentioned mainly because I also don't like sage but other than that I followed her recipe exactly. Oh, except I doubled the butter and parmesan cheese. And instead of fresh tomatoes I used a can of Italian stewed tomatoes. And...no, that's all I changed, promise.



And for dessert (here's the really best part since dessert is usually the best part, right?) Janet's Crescent Cream Cheese Sensations! Janet writes in the Blackberry Patch (I guess her blackberry's must be thornless and yes, there really are thornless blackberries) and this woman knows what she's talking about! I had crescent rolls and cream cheese that I'd bought on sale (by now you should have figured out I hardly buy anything if it's not on sale) and besides, if it has cream cheese on it I'll eat it no matter what it is. This is a great dessert and would make a wonderful breakfast dish. It tastes just like a cheese danish! Not too sweet or too rich - just doggone good!

I've been drooling over a couple of other recipes that I think I'll try later this week now that I'm well on my way to becoming an expert cook. Quit laughing! I'll let you know how it goes.

Recipes You Will Want to Keep!

For those of you interested there's a new post up at my other blog.



Now I know you all know that I'm not a great cook. But my friend Jo is. She doesn't have a blog or I'd send you over there to get these two recipes. On Wednesday last week my small quilting group, Nimble Thimbles, met at Jo's for lunch and stitching. She served the best lunch! We had quiche, salad, and strawberry pie (diet!). So tonight I fixed the quiche (with a few variations) and the pie for Jerry and I for supper. No salad - I had a chef's salad for lunch. And besides, I was busy watching the NCIS marathon today and barely had time to make the quiche and pie!

Dotted Swiss Chicken Quiche

1 9" unbaked pie shell

1 cup shredded Swiss Cheese

2 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon chicken bouillion granules

2 cups cubed cooked chicken

3 eggs (beaten)

1 cup milk

1/4 cup chopped green onions

1 small (2 oz.) jar chopped pimentos

Heat oven to 425° and bake the crust for just 8 minutes. Remove from oven and reduce the oven temperature to 350°. Toss the cheese, flour & bouillion. Combine with the remaining ingredients and pour into the pie crust.

Bake 40-50 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Editor's Note: If using a regular pie pan spray with oil before baking. I used a round silicone cake pan and didn't spray and it was perfect. Tonight I was out of bouillion, pimento and Swiss Cheese. :) So I left out the bouillion, pimento and substituted a mixture of the cheeses I had on hand, which happened to be cheddar and Mexican blend. It was delicious!

Sugar Free Strawberry Pie

2 cups sliced fresh strawberries

1 small graham cracker crust (6 oz.) (low fat is good)

1 small strawberry jello (4 oz.) sugar free

1 small Cook & Serve vanilla pudding (4 oz.) sugar free, fat free

1 1/2 cups water

Layer strawberries in the crust. In a pan combine the water, jello and pudding mix. Cook over medium heat until it thickens and starts to boil. Stir constantly - it doesn't take long. Spoon the hot mixture over the strawberries and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Serve with whipped cream. (If cut into 8 slices each slice is 128 calories).

Editor's Note: Ya'll know I never follow a recipe exactly so here's what I did on this one. I had a pie crust I needed to use so I baked it and used a regular pie crust instead of the graham cracker one. We love pie crust so for us it was perfect!

Help!

If you read my previous post you know that my stove is non-functioning and my new one won't be in for several days. It's too doggone hot to go out to eat so what's a girl to do? My husband is a fabulous cook on the grill but it's 105 in the shade and he's so hot natured that he would be miserable out there if I asked him to grill. I made pimento cheese for sandwiches and we had a chef salad today but I'm running out of ideas! What do you cook in the microwave that's a family favorite? Or in the crockpot? Please help me out here and put some ideas in the comments!