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.