Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Cupcakes

I will just apologize in advance for this non healthy offering, but I am not all that sorry.. these were so good! original recipe here

Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Cupcakes (200 Calories/11g of fat/32 servings)

• 42 Oreos, 32 whole, 10 chopped
• 2 lbs 1/3 less fat cream cheese (that would be 4 boxes!)
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 t vanilla

preheat oven to 275F. put paper liner in tins an place a whole Oreo in the bottom. In a large bowl cream together sugar and cream cheese, beat in vanilla, sour cream and eggs. Stir in chopped cookies.

Fill cupcake liners almost full, bake for about 22 minutes. chill for at least 4 hours.

Turkey Noodle Soup

This is what happens when your family of four has to eat a 12 pound turkey! :) Left over meals!

Turkey Noodle Soup (260 Calories/6.5 g Fat/3 g fiber/ 6 servings)

• 3 large carrots, chopped
• 1 small onion chopped
• 5 stalks celery, chopped
• 4 cups dry egg noodles
• 1 lb cooked and shredded turkey
• 4 cups chicken broth
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 3-4? cups water
• Italian seasoning to taste

Bring broth and water to a boil, add onion, carrots and celery, cook about 3-4 minutes, add noodles and cook according to package directions, toss in turkey and seasonings.. simmer for a few minutes.. Eat! Easy Peasy!

Turkey Tacos

What to do with all that left over turkey??.. Make turkey tacos! This great idea here!

Turkey Tacos (211 Calories/9 grams Fat/1.5 grams fiber/ 10 Servings)

• 10 hard taco shells
• 3 medium potatoes, chopped skins on
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 lb leftover cooked and shredded turkey ( or you could even use chicken!)
• 1 T oil
• cumin
• salt and pepper
• 1 cup reduced fat cheese

Heat oil in pan, Add potatoes and onion and cook until soft. Stir in seasonings and turkey until heated through. Preheat oven to 350F. Fill taco shells with mixture and top with cheese. bake in oven for about 5 minutes until shells are toasted and cheese is melted! I ate mine with tons of FF sour cream!

Breakfast Pizza

I really enjoyed this pizza..of course I have really been on a big breakfast kick lately! Original recipe here

Breakfast Pizza (6 points/266 Calories/8 servings)

• 1 Pillsbury refrigerated pizza crust
• 1 lbs Purdue breakfast turkey sausage
• 4 eggs
• 2 T FF milk
• pepper
• 2/3 cup reduced fat chedder cheese

Crumble and brown sausage.  Roll out pizza dough in a greased baking dish and press up about 1/2 an inch on the sides. Spread sausage over dough   In a bowl, beat the eggs, milk and pepper; pour over sausage. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 375F for about 15 minutes.

Weigh in

I am so glad that I did a do over week! I weighed myself yesterday morning..BEFORE all the turkey and desserts.. but at least I have a new week to worry about what I ate on turkey day.. but what would life be if you deprived yourself all the time? I will deal with the fall out later..The turkey was great! :) but as of yesterday.. I am down 27 pounds! I wore my new shirt on Thanksgiving and it felt great to know I had earned it! :)

178..Starting weight
156.. (Smallest since having children) New nail polish
152..(smallest since becoming pregnant w/ Fhillip)..New shirt151..current weight
148..(30 pounds)..Healthy cookbook
142..(wedding weight)..new hair cut and foils
138..(40 pounds gone!).. Family portraits
130.. (just a big deal!)..new swim suit

Simple Pumpkin Pancakes

Easy and good.. What more can you ask for?

Simple Pumpkin Pancakes (3 points/156 calories/6 servings)

• 2 cups pancake mix ( I used Hungry Jack Wheat Blends)
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup pumpkin puree

Blend ingredients together and cook according to package directions. It will take a couple of minutes longer to cook with the added pumpkin.

Copycat Wendy's Spicy Chicken Sandwich

mhhh Spicy chicken.. When I was younger I worked at Wendy's for 3 years.. and I'm willing to bet that is the only thing on the menu I didn't get tired of, and it's still my favorite thing.  BUT...at 510 Calories I can rarely justify the craving..so what can I do?? That's right folks, make it at home!  Original Recipe here.

Spicy Chicken Sandwiches (7 points/310 Calories/2 servings)

1/4 cup Frank's hot sauce

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup flour ( not all of it is used..about 1/4 cup is eaten)

1 tsp salt

2 tsp ground red pepper

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp garlic powder

2 boneless chicken breasts, approx 4 oz each

cooking spray

2 T light miracle whip (or mayo)

lettuce

 tomato

buns

Preheat oven to 350F. Put water and hot sauce in bowl and mix together. Put spices and flour in a bowl and mix. Dredge chicken in flour, coat in hot sauce, and dredge in flour mixture a second time. Place in baking greased baking pan and spray the top of the chicken lightly with cooking spray. Bake for approximately 30 minutes until chicken is cooked through.

Mashed Potato Salad

A twist on a classic! original recipe here.

Mashed Potato Salad (3 points/146 Calories/8 servings)

• 6 medium red skin potatoes
  2 eggs; boiled, shelled, and mashed
  1/2 c Kraft Miracle Whip Light
  1/2 c. fat free sour cream
  2-3 TBSP sweet pickle relish
  ¼  c chopped onion
  1 TBSP lemon juice
  1 TBSP white vinegar
  1 tsp mustard

Cut potatoes into large pieces and boil in large pot until done (leave skin on). About 15-20 minutes. Drain water and put potatoes in large mixing bowl. Add the Miracle Whip, sour cream, lemon juice, vinegar, and mustard. Mash potoatos. Stir in the relish, onion, and chopped eggs until combined. Put in refrigorator for at least an hour.

Brinner day 2: Beef Tapa and Sinagag

My 4 year old was so excited.. " Look daddy we are eating Filipino breakfast!" " I am Filipino!" So cute! I was in breakfast mode the last couple of days.. so here is brinner day two! Original recipe here.

Beef Tapa (8 points/322 Calories/4 servings)
1lb beef stew meat, cut into chunks
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
liberal amount of crack black pepper
half a head of garlic, peeled and chopped ( but if you wanted more go for it!)
Salt to taste
1 T oil

Put all ingredients, except oil, in a zip lock bag and swish it around.. Marinate in refrigerator for about 24 hours. Put oil and entire contents of bag in a non stick pan and cook on medium heat until beef is tender and marinade is evaporated.

Sinagag ( garlic rice) (2 points/ 110 Calories/4 servings) recipe
2 cups cooked brown rice (although this is usually made with white)
1 t oil
4-5 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 t garlic salt
pepper

Heat oil in pan, brown garlic until fragrant, add the rest of the ingredients and cook until heated through.

Turkey Sausage Gravy

I just love Brinner..(breakfast for dinner!) I get to eat all those yummy foods that when in an attempt to lose weight, could never allow myself that much in the morning! This Gravy really hits the spot.. and all the milk totally makes up for the fact I didn't have any veggies right?

Turkey Sausage Gravy (2 points/ 75 calories/ 6 servings)

• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 pound Jenny-O Turkey sausage
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 cups unsweetened Almond Milk (or you could easily use good old cows milk.. but if watching points it will go up!)

Crumble and cook sausage over medium heat until brown. Stir in flour and coat over meat. Gradually whisk in milk. Cook gravy until thick and bubbly. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot over biscuits, or mashed potatoes, or anything you like.

Black Bean Lasagna

My weigh in was not a good one this morning.. so I am choosing to ignore it and claim a do-over.. next week good or bad..I will post my weight.. promise! :)

Anyway.. This lasagna was really good.. I never even missed the meat.. and at 8 grams of fiber per serving it is really filling! Recipe here

Black bean Lasagna (7 points/343 Calories/ 8 servings)

• 9 Rolled flat ready for the oven lasagna noodles
• 2 cans black beans drained, one mashed ,one whole.
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 large cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 29 oz can tomato sauce
• 1/3 cup chopped cilantro
• 16 oz container low fat cottage cheese
• 8 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese
• 1/4 cup FF sour cream

Mash one can black beans.

Saute onions, garlic and pepper in cooking spray until soft. add cilantro, both cans black beans, and tomato sauce and cook until warm.

In a separate bowl, combine cheeses and sour cream.

Spray baking pan with cooking spray and lay down 3 lasagna noodles, layer on top 1/3 of black bean mixture, then 1/3 of cheese, Repeat this twice. Dallop spoonfuls of the last layer of cheese on top. Bake at 350F for 45-50 minutes.

Asian Wonton Salad

I loved this Salad... the crunch of the wonton strips gave it just enough texture that I didn't miss the cheese at all.. (this is coming form a huge cheese lover!) That being said, I wasn't wild about the dressing, and had ranch on my salad in the end (ha not so Asian!).. Hubby thought the dressing was great.. and used what I didn't eat to make a marinade for chicken the next day..(and THAT I liked) I'm trying to decide if I just didn't like it on the salad, or if I just didn't let the flavors of the dressing sit and mingle for a long enough period of time. Original recipe here

Asian Wonton Salad
Salad (3 points/153 calories/3 servings)

• Bag Spring Mix lettuce
• 8 oz chicken breast cooked and shredded
• handful cherry tomatoes
• 1/4 of a red onion sliced
• 8 wonton wrappers, cut into strips (season strips with salt and spray them with cooking spray..bake on cookie sheet for about 6 minutes at 375F until golden and crunchy)

Sweet sesame dressing (6 points/ 200 calories/3 servings)

• 1/3 cup Rice Vinegar
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 T sesame oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced fine
• 1 T soy sauce
• 1 packet splenda

Mix  dressing ingredients together and let flavors mingle, assemble salad and serve!

Baked Corn dogs

I love corn dogs..Its the perfect snack on a stick.. so when I saw this, I instantly wanted to make baked corn dogs! Did you know that each of the frozen varieties have 210 Calories and 10 grams of fat a piece? yeah.. that's what I thought too... plus with these.. they and super filling, so you get more bang with each one!

Baked Corn Dogs (3 points/168 Calories/ 7 servings)

• 1.5 cups flour
• 1/3 cup yellow corn meal
• 2 t baking powder
• salt and pepper
• 7 Hebrew National 97% FF beef hot dogs
• 2/3 cup milk
• 3 T egg whites
• kabob sticks

Preheat oven to 375F. Insert sticks into hot dogs. Combine all ingredients except dogs in a bowl. Spoon mixture over each dog and lay on a greased cookie sheet. Bake 5 minutes. Take out of oven, Using a spatula, reapply batter that has slipped onto sheet. Bake an additional 20 minutes until golden.

Crock pot Salsa Chicken

 Yet again, not the best picture..If you ever plan on making any of the recipes I post on my Blog, please don't base it off the pictures! Although, I am hoping to get a newer camera soon, so maybe the Photos will be be more appealing?!?  Fingers crossed! Anyway, The original recipe used a can of cream soup and a pkg of taco seasoning, and if you wanted you could certainly do that, but in an effort to cut back on the salt, I made my own seasoning.

Crock pot Salsa Chicken (4.5 points/225 Calories/ 4 servings)

• 1 lb chicken breasts
• 1 cup Salsa
• 1 can 98% FF Crm of mushroom soup
• 1 T taco seasoning..minus the salt)
• 1 cup FF sour cream

..Put chicken, salsa, soup, and seasoning in the crock on low for six hours, take chicken and shred, put chicken back in and stir in sour cream until heated..Serve with rice. (2 points for 1/2 cup)

Scale say what?

I was afraid of this! :)

So I avoided stepping on the scale until today because I was afraid of what I might see.. I didn't get in enough workouts, and I know I had a little to much Halloween candy.. I didn't go overboard.. I just could have done a lot better..boy was I surprised..I momentarily thought maybe the scale was broken, nah no way.. lets step on it again..I know a lot of times if my boys are stepping on it it can screw up the reading the first time..and I cautiously step on again.  Nope! It's the same! a bright red 153.. is staring back at me!

I have lost 25 pounds! AAAANNNNDDDDD..I weigh the same as I did when I stepped on the scale at my first prenatal appointment with my 4 year old.. almost 5 years later guess who has finally lost the baby weight?? That's right.. this girl!  Now onto the the rest of that pesky wedding, and general weight! ha!

But for know I will jump up and down for joy in what I have done so far!

Garlic Cheddar Quick Bread

This bread reminds me of those biscuits from Red Lobster. cheesy garlicky goodness! When I saw that Stephanie made this recipe into grilled cheese.. I was hooked and knew instantly I had to make it.. And I don't regret it for one second! :)

Garlic Cheddar Quick Bread (5 points/198 Calories/ 10 servings)

3 cups flour
4.5 t baking powder
1 cup Reduced Fat Cheddar cheese
1/4 cup sugar
1 T garlic powder (  or less to taste..I really like Garlic)
1 t Italian seasoning
1.5 cups FF milk
4 T melted butter
3 T egg whites (or one egg)

 Preheat oven to 350 F. Blend all ingredients and pour into greased loaf pan. ( I know lots of recipes call to mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients.. I think this is a conspiracy to cause more dirty dishes..just mix'em all!) Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Red Velvet Gobs w/ Cream cheese Filling

Mhhh, OK so these aren't so diet friendly but they sure are good! If you don't want to eat them all you could always take them to a party right? Sharing is a good thing! :)

Red Velvet Gobs w/ cream cheese Filling (4 points each/150 calories/30 servings)

Cream cheese Filling
4 T butter, room temperature
8 oz  1/3 less fat cream cheese
1 t vanilla
1 cup confectioners sugar

Blend ingredients together and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Cake
1 box red velvet cake mix
Ingredients listed on box
1/2 cup flour

Preheat oven to 375F. Mix all cake ingredients. Drop one inch blobs on a greased cookie sheet about 1.5 inches apart. bake for 6-8 minutes. Allow cake to cool. Repeat process until mix is gone.

When cake is cooled, add spoon full of filling and make a "sandwich". Wrap and refrigerate any uneaten gobs.

Horseradish Meatloaf with Caramelized Onion

Mhhh meatloaf, the ultimate comfort food. The sour cream and onions make this really moist and delicious!  This is not a quick meatloaf. It takes quite some time, but it is still easy to make! Recipe from Kayln's Kitchen

Horseradish Meatloaf with Caramelized Onion (5 points/231 Calories/8 servings)
2 lbs 93% FF lean ground beef
1 large yellow onion, diced
1 T olive oil
2 eggs
3 T prepared horseradish
1 T Worcestershire sauce
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/4 cup FF sour cream
1/4 cup Italian bread crumbs
Salt and Pepper
Add oil and onion to a non stick pan. Cook on low for about 30 minutes, being careful not to burn.

Add Garlic and cook additional 2 minutes.

While onions are caramelizing, whisk together eggs, Worcestershire, salt, pepper, horseradish, and sour cream.

Preheat oven to 375F. Combine ground beef, onions, sauce, and bread crumbs. Mix with (washed!) hands until incorporated.

Put in baking dish, bread pan, or on a broiler pan and bake  for about 1.5 hours.

Lighter Side Mashed Potatoes

I know in the past when I would make Mashed potatoes I would just keep adding butter and milk until I liked how it looked. Yes, it was super creamy and delicious.. but I have no idea how many calories I was putting into my body, and well that's not really a great idea when you are try to lose weight! With this recipe, I didn't even miss all the extras. I think I will be making my mashed like this from know on! Recipe from Stephanie Cooks

Lighter Side Mashed Potatoes (2 points/130 Calories/4 servings)

4 average sized red potatoes, cut into pieces
1/2 cup chicken broth ( or vegatable)
1 T Promise buttery spread.
2 T FF sour cream
pepper
garlic powder

Boil potatoes until fork tender, drain,  put potatoes back in pot you boiled them in. Add broth, spread, pepper and garlic. Mash with hand masher until smooth and stir in Sour cream.

Chicken Spinach Soup (crockpot)

                                                                (yet again not the prettiest pic, but it tastes good!)

Chicken Spinach Soup (2 points/142 Calories/ 6 servings)
1lb chicken breast
1/2 an onion, chopped
1 can white beans
6 oz fresh spinach
1 cup diced tomatoes
2 large cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup water
2 cups chicken stock
Italian seasoning and pepper to taste

Put EVERYTHING in the crock.. cook on low for about 5-6 hours..Take out chicken breast and shred, put  chicken back in soup for another hour. Original Recipe: Finding Joy in My Kitchen

Broccoli, Mushroom, and Cheese Soup (CROCKPOT)

I love Velveeta..its a bad for you but oh so good kind of an item....and it's fabulous in this soup! This soup whips the pants off that canned stuff! I will never win any reward for photography so you will have to take my word that this is some yummy stuff! Adapted  from Recipe here!

Broccoli, Mushroom, and Cheese Soup (7 points/320 Calories/4 servings)

1/4 block of large Velveeta cheese
8 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese
2 cups chicken broth ( or vegetable if you prefer)
1 can Rotel
8 oz sliced fresh mushrooms
3 cups broccoli florets ( or you could use frozen as well)
1 T dried parsley
1 t garlic powder
2 t dried onion flakes
pinch of dried basil.. ( I didn't measure sorry!)

Add all ingredients except for mushrooms and broccoli to the crock pot. Cook on low for 4 hours. Stir in broccoli and mushrooms and cook for an additional two hours.

Personal Portobello Pizza

These are super easy, yummy, light, low carb way to get your pizza craving! the mushrooms are very juicy though so you may just have to eat this a fork! and see that paper plate I used? it was soaked..use a good old regular plate.

Personal Portabello Pizza (5 points/ 235 calories/ 1 serving)
2 large Portabello Mushrooms, stems removed
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/4th cup Reduced Fat cheddar cheese
8 slices Turkey pepperoni

Preheat oven to 350F. Bake naked mushrooms in oven for about 10-15 min. Remove from oven..  add desired toppings and bake for an additional 5 minutes until cheese is melted and you achieve desired doneness.

Haute Chocolate

Nope sorry.. this isn't a creamy cup of Swiss Miss. This is the color of my brand new nail polish! I love it! and looking at my fingers gives me a bigger smile on my face than any chocolate drink could!

178..Starting weight
156.. (Smallest since having children) New nail polish
156..current weight!
152..(smallest since becoming pregnant w/ Fhillip)..New shirt
148..(30 pounds)..Healthy cookbook
142..(wedding weight)..new hair cut and foils
138..(40 pounds gone!).. Family portraits
130.. (just a big deal!)..new swim suit!