Biscuit Topped Shepherd's Pies

I love the combo of mashed potatoes, beef and veggies! It is so warm and hearty - perfect for a cool fall or winter evening. Due to the fact that Beau LOATHES any kind of potatoes, sometimes I just opt to not fight him on it and find something else to make. This frustrates me though because I LOVE potatoes of any kind and miss them! So, when I found this recipe I had to try it... shepherd's pie without the potatoes... Not only was it pretty low cal, the biscuit topping gave the illusion of mashed potatoes on top! It was a super great combo for me and Beau even ate it all! :)

Side note: I didn't use the ramekins like this recipe calls for - due to lack of that many ramekins in my house and also the fact that I like to go for quick and easy!! I put it into a square baking and it turned out fabulous!



Biscuit Topped Shepherd's Pies
(recipe found in Taste of Home Healthy Cooking)

1 pound lean ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1 celery rib, finely chopped
1 package (16 ounces) frozen peas and carrots, thawed and drained
1 can (15 ounces) italian tomato sauce
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 cup reduced fat biscuit/baking mix
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
1/2 cup fat free milk
2 tablespoons butter, melted

In a large nonstick skillet, cook the beef, onion and celery over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Add the vegetables, tomato sauce and pepper; cook and stir for 5-6 minutes or until heated through. Spoon into 6 8 ounce ramekins coated with cooking spray; set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the biscuit mix, cheese and rosemary. Stir in milk and butter just until moistened. Spoon dough over meat mixture; place ramekins on a baking sheet. Bake at 425 for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

Serves: 6
Points: 6

Crockpot Chicken Taco Chili

I love soups in the crockpot, but haven't searched for any healthy ones since I have been in my competition. When I heard about this one from my friend, I knew that I had to try it. I love chili, I love crockpot cooking and I love that it's healthy, so how could we go wrong? We couldn't!! It was super delish and definitely easy to throw together... Definitely a recipe that we are going to go back to often! :)

Crockpot Chicken Taco Chili
(recipe found at www.skinnytaste.com)

1 onion, chopped
1 (16 ounces) can black beans
1 (16 ounces) can kidney beans
1 (8 ounces) can tomato sauce
10 ounces package frozen corn kernels
2 (14.5 ounces each) cans diced tomatoes with chilies
1 packet taco seasoning
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
24 ounces boneless skinless chicken breasts
chili peppers, chopped (optional)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Combine beans, onion, chili peppers, corn, tomato sauce, cumin, chili powder and taco seasoning in a slow cooker. Place chicken on top and cover. Cook on low for 10 hours or on high for 6 hours. Half hour before serving, remove chicken and shred. (Or if you are like me, I just chopped mine into bite size pieces before I even threw it in.) Return chicken to slow cooker and stir in. Top with fresh cilantro.

Serves: 10
Points: 3 per 1 1/4 cups

Veggie Fried Rice

This was a great meal that was quick and easy to throw together on a night when we were running out the door. Not much too it but perfect for a light supper or a fun side dish. The kids have all of a sudden stopped liking asparagus, but I thought that it was delicious!

Veggie Fried Rice
(recipe found in Parents magazine)

2 tablespoons canola oil
1 (12 ounces) bunch asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1" pieces
2 scallions, finely chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger
1 large clove garlic, minced
3 cups cooked brown rice, chilled
3/4 cup frozen peas
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce

Heat the canola oil over medium high heat in a large nonstick skillet. Add the asparagus to the skillet. Saute for 1 minute. Add the scallions, ginger and garlic; saute until the asparagus is just tender, about 2 minutes more. Add the rice and peas to the skillet, breaking up the rice as you stir. Stir fry for 2-3 minutes or until the rice is heated through. Reduce heat to medium. Make a well in the center of the rice and pour in the eggs. As the eggs begin to cook, stir them into the rice until they are thoroughly incorporated. Remove pan from heat and stir in soy sauce.

Serves: 4
Points: 6 per serving

Weekly Line Up - 11/25-12/1

Slow Cooked Caribbean Pot Roast

I wanted to use one of the roasts that I have in my freezer and decided to try something new instead of my "same old, same old"... So, I found this recipe in my Taste of Home magazine and decided to try it out. It was super delicious!! I don't know that I will always make it this way, since my other recipe for roast is so simple, but it was great tasting!!



Slow Cooked Caribbean Pot Roast
(recipe found in Taste of Home Healthy Cooking)

2 medium sweet potatoes, cubed
2 large carrots, sliced
1/4 cup chopped celery
1 boneless beef chuck roast (2 1/2 pounds)
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground coriander
3/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon grated orange peel
3/4 teaspoon baking cocoa
1 can (15 ounces) tomato sauce

Place potatoes, carrots and celery in a 5 quart slow cooker. In a skillet, brown meat in oil. Transfer meat to slow cooker. In the same skillet, saute onion in drippings until tender. Add garlic; cook for 1 minute. Combine next 11 ingredients; stir in tomato sauce. Add to skillet; heat through. Pour over beef. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or until beef and vegetables are tender.

Serves: 10
Points: 6 per 3 ounces cooked beef with 1/2 cup vegetable mixture

Wonton Sundaes

Since I am working hard on loosing weight, I wanted to bring something that I knew would be yummy, yet not super unhealthy. As I was browsing through my healthy cooking magazines, this one popped up and I knew that I had to try it. How cute are they?? I also love the fact that they have their own little dishes and you can pop them into your mouth as you walk by! The bottoms didn't get as crispy as I would have liked them to, but they were still pretty tasty!



Wonton Sundaes
(recipe found in Taste of Home Healthy Cooking)

24 wonton wrappers
refrigerated butter flavored spray
1 tablespoons plus 1/4 cup sugar, divided
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 package (8 ounces) reduced fat cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup chopped pecans
24 maraschino cherries with stems

Place wonton wrappers on a work surface; spritz with butter flavored spray. Combine 1 tablespoon sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over wontons. Press into mini muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 4-5 minutes or until lightly browned. Immediately remove wonton cups to an ungreased baking sheet. Bake 2-3 minutes longer or until bottoms of cups are lightly browned. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese, vanilla and remaining sugar until smooth. Stir in chocolate chips and pecans. Spoon into wonton cups. Top each with a cherry.

Serves: 24
Points: 2 per wonton sundae

Shrimp and Pineapple Fried Rice

My advice on this one? Have all your ingredients chopped and ready to roll... It is a quick and easy one to throw together and you need to be ready to add everything to the pan quickly! We all enjoyed this one and it was just as good cold the next day for leftovers.



Shrimp and Pineapple Fried Rice
(recipe found in Taste of Home Healthy Cooking)

2 eggs
1 small onion, chopped
1 teaspoon canola oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups cooked instant brown rice
1 can (20 ounces) unsweetened pineapple chunks, drained
1/2 pound cooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 cup chopped cashews
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
2 green onions, sliced
3 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon pepper

In a small bowl, whisk eggs. Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium heat. Add eggs; cook and stir until set; remove from the skillet and keep warm. In the same skillet, saute onion in oil until tender. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Stir in the rice, pineapple, shrimp, cashews, peas and green onions; heat through. Combine the soy sauce, hoisin sauce, sugar, sesame oil and pepper; stir into rice mixture. Stir in eggs.

Serves: 6 (1 1/3 cup servings)
Points: 7

Easy Linguine Casserole

I loved that this was an easy meal to throw together early and have in the oven in time to run out the door... Such is our life right now! :) Anything that can be prepped ahead of time is high on my list of meals and one that is super tasty makes it even better! My only problem with this recipe was that one cup was not quite enough for me - I wanted more it was so good!



Easy Linguine Casserole
(recipe found in Taste of Home Healthy Cooking)

8 ounces uncooked multigrain linguine, broken in half
2 cups cubed fully cooked lean ham
1 3/4 cups shredded swiss cheese, divided
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) reduced fat reduced sodium condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1 cup reduced fat sour cream
1 medium onion, chopped
1 small green pepper, finely chopped

Cook linguine according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine the ham, 1 1/2 cups cheese, soup, sour cream, onion and green pepper. Drain pasta; add to ham mixture and stir to coat.

Transfer to a 13x9" baking dish coated with cooking spray. Cover and bake at 350 for 35 minutes. Uncover; sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake 10-15 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.

Serves: 8
Points: 6 per 1 cup

Weekly Line Up - 11/18-11/24

Busy week ahead... Thanksgiving is at my house for the first time this year and I have some cleaning and cooking to do! :) Not so excited for the cleaning part, but I am looking forward to the cooking part...

Friday - *Poppy Seed Chicken/Roasted Broccoli
Saturday - *Beef and Bacon Stroganoff
Sunday - *Short Ribs
Monday - *Crockpot Fench Onion Soup
Tuesday - *Pan Fried Tilapia
Wednesday - *Lemon Garlic Chicken
Thursday - *Pumpkin Pie, *Pumpkin Cheesecake, Pumpkin Ice Cream, French Vanilla Ice Cream, *Spice Rubbed Turkey with Cognac Gravy
Friday - Leftovers

* - New Recipes

Buttermilk Chicken Fingers

These were too good to pass up. Even though I am not super thrilled about the mess that frying makes sometimes you just have to do it! :) We all really enjoyed the taste of these and my mother in law even asked me for the recipe. She loves to fry up chicken and was super excited about this quick and easy recipe...



Buttermilk Chicken Fingers
(recipe found at www.cookingmimi.wordpress.com)

1 cup buttermilk
1/8 teaspoon hot sauce
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into strips
1 1/2 cups self rising flour (or all purpose with 1 teaspoon salt added)
1/2 teaspoon pepper
oil for frying

Mix together the buttermilk and hot sauce. Pour over chicken in ziploc bag and refrigerate for several hours. In a shallow dish mix together flour and pepper. Heat about 1/4" of oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat until hot but not smoking.

Coat both sides of chicken well in the flour mixture and fry until golden brown and cooked to 165. This will take about 5 minutes per side.

Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo

This is one of my favorite Weight Watchers meals. It seems decadent even when it has been scaled back to be a little healthier! It is tasty and healthy all at the same time - what a bonus!

Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo
(recipe found at http://www.weightwatchers.com/)

6 medium garlic cloves, peeled and smashed with a knife
1 pound uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 spray cooking spray
1/2 cup canned chicken broth
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup whole milk plain yogurt, greek style (I couldn't find greek style, so I used plain yogurt)
1/8 teaspoon salt, for cooking pasta
8 ounces uncooked whole wheat pasta, fettuccini
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup parsley, fresh and finely chopped

Heat a large, heavy skillet over medium heat. Rub garlic over chicken; reserve garlic. Season chicken with salt and pepper; set aside. Off heat, coat skillet with cooking spray and then set over medium low heat. Saute garlic until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add chicken and cook until golden, flipping once, about 5 minutes per side. (I chopped my chicken into bite size pieces before cooking - makes it much easier for the kids!)

In a small bowl, combine broth, heavy cream and yogurt; pour over chicken and scrape bottom of skillet with a wooden spoon to incorporate seasonings. Simmer chicken gently, turning once, about 30 minutes. (Mine took much less then the 30 minutes, so keep an eye on it - otherwise you might lose all your creamy sauce!) Meanwhile, bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta according to package directions; drain.

Remove chicken from cream sauce and set aside. Add parmesan cheese to cream sauce and mix until well combined. Add cooked pasta and 3 tablespoons of parsley; toss well. Serve pasta topped with chicken and rest of parsley.

Serves: 4
Points: 9

Pumpkin Spice Trifle

I love the ease of trifles and I'm always up for trying a new one! Of course with my obsession with pumpkin right now, you know that I had to try this one as soon as I laid eyes on the recipe! :) It turned out pretty good - not my favorite trifle that I have made, but definitely a hit amongst those that tried it! It didn't take long to polish it off...



Pumpkin Spice Trifle
(recipe found at cookingmimi.wordpress.com)

1 box spice cake mix
1 large box cook and serve vanilla pudding
1 (30 ounces) can pumpkin pie filling, not puree
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 (12 ounces) container frozen whipped topping

Bake spice cake according to directions. Let cool completely. Make vanilla pudding according to directions and let cool. In a medium bowl mix the pumpkin, brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice together, then add the pudding. Crumble half the cake into a large bowl or trifle dish. Pour half of the pudding mixture and half of the whipped topping over top of the layer of cake. Repeat layers. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Four Cheese Baked Ziti

My kids DEVOURED this dish! I love having some meatless meals every once in a while. It makes grocery shopping a little cheaper and if you can find something tasty no one misses the meat at all! This was a tasty dish that we will be eating again!

Four Cheese Baked Ziti
(recipe found in Taste of Home)

1 package (16 ounces) ziti or small tube pasta
2 cartons (10 ounces each) refrigerated alfredo sauce
1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 carton (15 ounces) ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese, divided
1/4 cup grated romano cheese
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
1 3/4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Cook ziti according to package directions; drain and return to the pan. Stir in alfredo sauce and sour cream. Spoon half into a lightly greased 3 quart baking dish. In a small bowl, combine the eggs, ricotta cheese, 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, romano cheese and parsley; spread over pasta. Top with remaining pasta mixture; sprinkle with mozzarella and remaining parmesan.

Cover and bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Uncover and bake an addition 5-10 minutes or until bubbly.

Weekly Line Up - 11/11-11/17

Got another fun and busy weekend in store and I can't wait!! Next week should be pretty calm with not a lot of running so I have some fun recipes that I can't wait to try... Have a great week!

Friday - Birthday Party
Saturday - *Beef and Bacon Stroganoff/*Pumpkin Spice Trifle
Sunday - Shopping day
Monday - *Poppy Seed Chicken/Roasted Broccoli
Tuesday - *Cheese Tortellini with Tomatoes and Corn
Wednesday - Restaurant night!
Thursday - *Makeover meatloaf
Friday - *Glazed Pork Chops

Extras: *Sunflower Seed and Honey Wheat Bread

Healthy Snack Mix

This is a yummy snack that I made up for the kids one night when we had movie night. I thought that I would switch up our normal popcorn routine and try something new. They thought it was pretty good and although it was something different then popcorn, I felt like it was still pretty healthy!



Healthy Snack Mix
(recipe found in Taste of Home Healthy Cooking)

3 cups corn chex
3 cups rice chex
3 cups wheat chex
3 cups multi grain cheerios
1 cup salted peanuts
1 1/2 cups pretzel sticks
1/3 cup olive oil
4 teaspoons worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

In a bowl, combine cereals, peanuts and pretzels. In another bowl, combine remaining ingredients; pour over cereal mixture and toss to coat. Transfer to 2 15x10 inch baking pans coated with cooking spray. Bake at 250 for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Cool on wire racks. Store in an airtight container.

Serves: yields 3 1/2 quarts
Points: 3 per 3/4 cup

Roasted Vegetable Dip

When I had girls night at my house my mind was exploding at the possibilities and all the things that I wanted to try!! Of course, a lot of the people that were coming over are also part of our weight loss challenge, so I knew that I needed to be good and incorporate some healthy options that we could all nosh on! Although this one pairs up with crackers, I also served it with fresh veggies so that an even healthier option was available! Too bad I forgot it all in the fridge and now I have to eat it all by myself... :)



Roasted Vegetable Dip
(recipe found in Taste of Home Healthy Cooking)

2 laerge sweet red peppers, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 large zucchini, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 medium onion, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 package (8 ounces) reduced fat cream cheese
assorted crackers

Place ther ed peppers, zucchini and onion in a 15x10 inch baking pan coated with cooking spray. Combine olive oil, salt and pepper; drizzle over vegetables and toss to coat. Bake, uncovered, at 425 for 25-30 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Cool to room temperature. Place cream cheese and vegetables in a food processor; cover and process until blended. Chill until serving. Serve with crackers.

Serves: yields 2 1/2 cups
Points: 1 point per 2 tablespoons

Pumpkin Fudge

In my quest for all things pumpkin, I found this recipe for pumpkin fudge and man oh man, I am not kidding you - this is such fabulous fudge!! Get ready to stir your arm off (it's worth all the stirring!) and make you have something to drink with it because you won't want just one and it is super rich... This was a Halloween treat for the kids' teachers so I doubled the batch and shared with a few friends and family. From all the feedback that I got, I was not the only one appreciating this fudge! :)



Pumpkin Fudge
(recipe found at www.jamiecooksitup.com)

3/4 cup pecans
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt
3 cups sugar
3/4 cups butter
2/3 cups eveaporated milk
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
2 tablespoons corn syrup
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 (12 ounces) bag white chocolate chips
1 (7 ounces) jar marshmallow cream
1 teaspoon vanilla

Line a 9x9 pan with tin foil and spray it with cooking spray. In a small hot skillet, add oil and heat over medium high heat. Once the oil is hot add pecans and sprinkle with salt. Let pecans toast over heat, stirring occaionally for about 5 minutes or until the nuts turn a darker color.

Put butter into a medium sized sauce pan. Melt over medium high heat. Add evaporated milk pumpkin, corn syrup, sugar and pumpkin pie spice. Stir mixture to combine. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring constantly. Cook and continue to stir until it comes to 234 degrees or to the soft ball stage. Remove it from the heat and quickly add the marshmallow cream, white chocolate, vanilla and toasted pecans. Stir them all together to combine.

Pour fudge into prepared pan. Let fudge cool for at least 2 hours. Cut and serve. Store leftovers in fridge.

Pumpkin Blondies and the SRC

So the joy of being in the Secret Recipe Club is twofold... You get to have someone that might not have visited your blog come and check it out, make something fun and hopefully love your recipes! The second is that you get to find new blogs that you might not have discovered without the SRC! This is what has happened with me and Cook, Lisa, Cook. Since SRC has started I discovered her blog and have been checking it out on a regular basis! And now I get the joy of blogging about her for this month's Secret Recipe Club! She has some great recipes that I am always eager to try out - both savory and sweet... In fact I was really torn between her zucchini chocolate chunk walnut bread and the pumpkin blondies that I eventually chose. I won't even mention that I was also debating making the rolo brownie bites with caramel cream cheese frosting and the caramel stuffed apple cider cookies too! :) Don't worry, these are all on my to make list... As well as her spice rubbed turkey with cognac gravy that will be gracing my Thanksgiving table this year!

I finally ended up with the pumpkin blondies - only because I seem to be in a pumpkin crazed state right now!! I love pumpkin and fall just brings it out even more... My husband is in pumpkin overload right now, so it might have to slow down a bit or he might freak out! :) I didn't add the nuts, so I just threw in the whole 12 ounces of chocolate, even though she suggested halving it... Man, chocolate and pumpkin are quite the pair, let me tell you!! These were good straight out of the oven (who waits for the whole pan to cool?) and even better when they were cooled like I was supposed to do! :) Try them, you will love them (if you like pumpkin half as much as I do!) And stop by and see Lisa and her beautiful daughter/helper Maisie, the sooner the better!



Pumpkin Blondies
(recipe found at http://www.cooklisacook.blogspot.com/)

1 cup butter, room temperature
2 cups light brown sugar
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups pecan halves, toasted
1 (12 ounces) bag semi sweet chocolate bits (she suggested only using half)

Preheat oven to 350. Line a 9x13" baking pan with parchment paper and lightly spray with cooking spray. (I skipped the parchment paper and didn't have any problems.) In a large bowl cream together butter and brown sugar. Add pumpkin pie spice and salt and blend. Add eggs and pumpkin puree, blend until smooth. Mix in the flour until fully incorporated. Stir in pecan halves and chocolate bits. Spread into prepared pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the top is lightly browned and the center is set. (Mine ended up cooking for about 30 minutes...) Cool completely before cutting into squares.

Chocolate Popcorn

This was the snack that I sent home with my daycare kids for Halloween. Not super healthy, but something different then the truckloads of candy that they will be having for the next few weeks! :) Josh and I thought it was pretty tasty when we were putting them together...



Chocolate Popcorn
(recipe found at www.foodnetwork.com)

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 stick butter
2 tablespoons cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 cups popcorn

Over medium heat, using a 4 quart pot, combine the sugar, corn syrup, butter, cocoa and salt and bring to a boil. Once the mixture is well mixed, add the popped corn. Cook and stir until popcorn is coated, approximately 2 minutes. Cool mixture and shape into 3" balls.

Indonesian Peanut Chicken

I was super excited about this recipe - chicken with a peanut buttery sauce? I couldn't wait... It ended up just being okay to me - kind of a bland taste. Something that was good to eat, but not to put on my redo list... I added some soy sauce on it to give it a little more kick and that made it better! Try it, it might be your favorite, even if it wasn't mine...



Indonesian Peanut Chicken
(recipe found in Taste of Home Healthy Cooking)

1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch cubes
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup reduced fat creamy peanut butter
3 tablespoons chili sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3 cups cooked brown rice
6 tablespoons chopped salted peanuts
5 tablespoons chopped sweet red pepper

Place chicken in a 4 quart slow cooker. In a small bowl, combine the onion, water, peanut butter, chili sauce, salt, cayenne and pepper; pour over chicken. Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours or until chicken is tender. Shred meat with two forks and return to slow cooker; heat through. Serve with rice. Sprinkle with peanuts and red pepper.

Serves: 6
Points: 7 per 1/2 cup chicken mixture and 1/2 cup rice

Red, White and Blue Pita Pockets

I made this up for supper when Josh's dad came to visit. It was nice to be able to throw some of it together before hand so that there wasn't as much prep work when we were all wanting to sit around and visit. With Josh's help stir frying the steak while I got the veggies ready, supper was on the table in no time!

Red, White and Blue Pita Pockets
(recipe found in Taste of Home Healthy Cooking)

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
4 teaspoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound beef top sirloin steak, thinly sliced
1/2 cup fat free sour cream
1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese
2 whole wheat pita breads (6 inches), halved
2 cups torn red leaf lettuce
1/2 cup roasted sweet red peppers, drained and cut into strips
1/4 cup sliced red onion

In a large resealable plastic bag, combine the vinegar, oil and garlic; add the beef. Seal bag and turn to coat; refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight. In a small bowl, combine sour cream and blue cheese; set aside. Drain and discard marinade. In a large nonstick skillet or wok coated with cooking spray, stir fry beef for 2-3 minutes or until no longer pink. Line pita halves with lettuce, red peppers and onion; fill each with 1/3 cup beef. Serve with sour cream mixture.

Serves: 4
Points: 7 points per half a stuffed pita

Lasagna Soup

This was one of those hearty soups that you just love to cook up on a cold fall or winter day! :) It tasted wonderful and warmed us all up. I love that you just add the noodles instead of having to cook them up before hand. Saves a step and some dishes!!

Lasagna Soup
(recipe found in Taste of Home Healthy)

1 pound lean ground beef
1 large green pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cans (14 1/2 ounces each) reduced sodium beef broth
2 cans (14 1/2 ounces each) diced tomatoes
1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
1 cup frozen corn
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 teaspoons italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 1/2 cups uncooked spiral pasta
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

In a large saucepan, cook the beef, green pepper, onion and garlic over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the broth, tomatoes, tomato sauce, corn, tomato paste, italian seasoning and pepper. Bring to a boil. Stir in pasta. Return to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until pasta is tender. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Serves: 8
Points: 5 per 1 1/3 cup servings