Cannoli Cheeseball

I prepared this dessert for Easter 2015.  I forgot who I got it from but it was amazing.  It says in the instructionst hat you can use either vanilla wafers or Graham Crackers.  I like it alot better with the Graham Crakers.

Cannoli Cheeseball Recipe

Ingredients

• 8 oz brick cream cheese, at room temperature
• ½ cup ricotta cheese
• ½ cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1¾ cups mini chocolate chips, divided
• Vanilla Wafers or graham crackers, for serving

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the ricotta, powdered sugar and cinnamon and beat until combined. Stir in 1 cup of the chocolate chips.
2. Dump the mixture out onto a piece of plastic wrap. Gather the plastic wrap around the top, squishing the mixture into a ball shape. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
3. Place the remaining ¾ cup of chocolate chips on a plate or in a shallow dish. Open the plastic wrap and turn the cheeseball filling onto the chocolate chips. Use your hands to roll the ball to coat in the chocolate chips.
4. Serve with vanilla wafers and graham crackers.
5. **Make sure you are using full fat ingredients, not skim or low-fat. Low-fat ingredients will alter the final product.**

Baked Ziti Casserole

When I was doing weight watchers i managed to find some pretty amazing recipes on the online forum.  This is one of them.  Unfortunately, i like to make it with ground meat instead of turkey breast and this is why the calorie intake is higher than usual.



WW

Baked Ziti Casserole

To streamline the recipe, we skipped the traditional step of browning the meat before it's combined with the rest of the ingredients; it cooks fully as the casserole bakes. This recipe easily doubles to feed a crowd; bake in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish for 35 minutes.

YIELD

 4 Servings

CATEGORIES

 pasta, casserole, 300cal

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INGREDIENTS

• • 6 ounces uncooked ziti (short tube-shaped pasta)
  • 2 cups Basic Marinara
  • 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
  • 1/4 cup (1 ounce) shredded Asiago cheese, divided
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (such as Tabasco)
  • 6 ounces ground turkey breast
  • Cooking spray

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INSTRUCTIONS

• 1. Preheat oven to 350°.
  2. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain.
  3. Combine pasta, Basic Marinara, 1/2 cup mozzarella, 2 tablespoons Asiago, salt, pepper sauce, and turkey in a large bowl. Spoon into an 8-inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray; sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella and remaining 2 tablespoons Asiago. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until cheese is lightly browned. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

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NOTES

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: about 1 cup)

CALORIES 362 (26% from fat); FAT 10.5g (sat 5.5g,mono 3.4g,poly 0.4g); PROTEIN 26.3g; CHOLESTEROL 39mg; CALCIUM 311mg; SODIUM 546mg; FIBER 3.5g; IRON 2.3mg; CARBOHYDRATE 41g 

Crockpot Taco Chicken Bowls

OMG this is amazing.  I serve it with white rice.

Taco chicken bowls

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

8 hours

Total time

8 hours 10 mins

Total Cost: $10.66

Cost Per Serving: $1.33

Serves: 9

Ingredients

• 1½ lbs. chicken breasts
• 1 (16 oz.) jar salsa 
• 1 (15 oz.) can black beans, drained
• ½ lb. (8 oz.) frozen corn
• 1 Tbsp chili powder
• ½ Tbsp cumin
• ½ Tbsp minced garlic
• ½ tsp dried oregano
• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper 
• ¼ tsp salt
• to taste cracked pepper
• 8 oz. shredded cheddar

Instructions

1. Add everything except the cheese to the slow cooker along with ¼ cup of water (for good measure). Give everything a good stir and make sure the chicken is covered in the mixture.
2. Secure the lid on your slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hrs.
3. After 8 hours of cooking, carefully remove the lid of the slow cooker. Stir with a fork to shred the chicken (it should be super tender and will shred easily). Build the taco bowls by placing rice on the bottom, then the taco chicken mix, shredded cheese and fresh cilantro.

Skinny Tuna Noodle Casserole

This is definitely another favorite of mine from skinny taste.  It is perfect during lent.  The only thing is that it does take more than usual for this casserole to prepare.  I tend to like my casseroles one to three and its done.




Skinny Tuna Noodle Casserole
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes 
Servings: 6 • Size: 1/6th • Old Points: 6 pts • Points+: 8 pts
Calories: 318 • Fat: 7 g • Protein: 27.3 g • Carb: 34.3 g • Fiber: 3.6 g    


Ingredients:

• 6 oz no-yolk noodles (Ronzoni Healthy Harvest, or brown rice pasta for gluten free)
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 medium onion, minced fine
• 3 tbsp flour (gluten free use rice flour)
• 1 3/4 cups fat free chicken broth
• 1 cup 1% milk
• 1 oz sherry (optional)
• 10 oz sliced baby bella mushrooms
• 1 cup frozen petite peas (thawed)
• 2 (5 oz) cans tuna in water, drained (I used albacore)
• 4 oz 50% reduced fat sharp cheddar (I used Cabot)
• butter flavored cooking spray
• 2 tbsp parmesan cheese
• 2 tbsp whole wheat seasoned breadcrumbs

Directions:

Cook noodles in salted water until al dente, or slightly undercooked by 2 minutes. Set aside.

Melt the butter in a large deep skillet. Add onions and cook on medium heat until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the flour and a pinch of salt and stir well, cooking an additional 2-3 minutes on medium-low heat 

Preheat oven to 375°. Lightly spray 9 x 12 casserole with butter flavored cooking spray.

Slowly whisk in the chicken broth until well combined, increasing heat to medium and whisking well for 30 seconds, then add the milk and bring to a boil. When boiling, add sherry, mushrooms and petite peas, adjust salt and pepper to taste and simmer on medium, mixing occasionally until it thickens (about 7 to 9 minutes). Add drained tuna, stirring another minute.

Remove from heat and add 1 cup reduced fat sharp cheddar and mix well until it melts. Add the noodles to the sauce and mix well until evenly coated. Pour into casserole and top with parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs. Spray a little more cooking spray and top and bake for about 25 minutes. Place under the broiler a few minutes to get the crumbs crisp (careful not to burn).

Kid-Friendly Turkey Taco Chili

I am really not sure if this is kid friendly for my kids, but it definitely friendly to me. I have been on a kick lately on using my crockpot and this is such a perfect recipe to make on a Sunday morning and have it ready for the week.  It is really low on calories too which is amazing.  I found this recipe on my favorite website Skinny Taste.  She seriously has some amazing recipes.

Crock Pot Kid-Friendly Turkey Chili
Skinnytaste.com
Servings: 5  • Size: 1 cup  • Old Points: 6 pts • Weight Watcher Points+: 6 pt 
Calories: 226 • Fat: 3 g • Carb: 21 g • Fiber: 3.5 g • Protein: 31 g • Sugar: 5 g
Sodium: 688 mg • Cholest: 59 mg

Ingredients:

• 1.3 lbs 99% lean ground turkey
• 1 teaspoon oil
• 1 medium onion, minced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced fine
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels
• 10 oz can Rotel Mild Tomatoes 
• 8 oz small can plain tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup low sodium chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat, add the turkey, season with salt and cook, breaking up with a spoon until turkey browns and is no longer pink; place into the slow cooker. Add the oil to the skillet and sauté the onion, garlic and bell pepper over medium heat for about 4 to 5 minutes. Spoon over turkey into the slow cooker and stir in corn and tomatoes, tomato sauce, cumin, chili powder, paprika and salt, mix until well blended. Pour chicken broth into the crock pot and add the bay leaf.

Cover and cook on HIGH 4 hours or LOW 6 hours. Serve with desired toppings.

Easy Crock Pot Sausage & Cheese Tortellini

Amazing recipe.  Another pinterest find.  I have to say with this one i would wait until the last hour to include the tortellini just becaue it gets a little too mushy if its kept in there the entire time in the crock pot.

This is where the recipe can be found: Recipi

Ingredients: 

• 1 lb. Italian Sausage (I use sweet sausage just because I can not tolerate too spicy)
• 20 oz. Frozen Three-Cheese Tortellini 
• 32 oz. Low Sodium Chicken Broth
• 2 Cans Diced Tomatoes – seasoned with basil, garlic & oregano
• 8 oz. Cream Cheese 

1. Take your cream cheese out of the fridge, and let it sit while you quickly brown your meat.

2. Add the sausage and tortellini to your Crock Pot. Pour the tomatoes, liquid and all, and broth over the top. Add your cream cheese to the Pot in chunks.

3. Give your Crock Pot a good stir to get everything evenly distributed, making sure the liquids are adequately covering the tortellini.

4. Cook on LOW for a total of 4 1/2 hours. Stir at 2 hours, and again at 4 hours, removing the lid for the last 30 minutes of cooking. This will give the sauce some time to thicken up.

This is by far one of my favorite crockpot recipes and its very filling.  I found this recipe at Skinny Taste.  She has some really amazing recipes.

Slow Cooker Picadillo
Skinnytaste.com 
Servings: 11 • Size: 1/2 cup • Old Points: 4 pts • Weight Watchers Points+: 4 pts
Calories: 170 • Fat: 7 g • Protein: 22.5 g • Carb: 4.5 g • Fiber: 1 g • Sugar: 1.5 g
Sodium: 237 mg (without the salt)

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 lbs 93% lean ground beef
• 1 cup minced onion
• 1 cup diced red bell peppers
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup minced cilantro
• 1 small tomato, diced
• 8 oz can tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup alcaparrado (manzanilla olives, pimientos, capers) or green olives
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 2 bay leaves
• kosher salt and fresh pepper, to taste

Directions: 

Brown meat in a large deep skillet on medium-high heat; season with generously with salt and a little pepper. Use a wooden spoon to break the meat up into small pieces. When meat is no longer pink, drain all the liquid from pan. Add the onions, garlic and bell peppers to the meat and cook an addition 3-4 minutes.

Transfer the meat to the slow cooker, then add tomato, cilantro, tomato sauce, 1 1/4 cups water, alcaparrado (or olives) [I usually add some of the brine from the jar for added flavor] then add the spices.

Set slow cooker to HIGH for 3 to 4 hours or LOW for 6 to 8. After it's ready, taste for salt and add more as needed [I added a little more cumin and garlic powder at the end as well since the crock pot tends to mute the flavors of herbs and spices]. Discard the bay leaves and serve over brown rice.

Makes about 5 3/4 cups.

Serve this with 3/4 cups brown rice for an 8 point meal and a salad on the side.