Cornbread Mexican Casserole

I feel like there has been a common theme with my post lately...sorry for not posting as regularly as I would like. The past month or two of weekends have been pretty busy, so the weekdays are really the best time for me to post. Between softball, short vacations, softball again, and other events, it's been hard to get off the couch during the free time and into the kitchen. Baking has taken somewhat of a back seat, though I am going to post about a Banana Pudding Cake, which turned out really good, and was even "healthified!" Softball is coming to an end (can't say I'm not somewhat happy about this), so I will be able to do more baking on Sundays. We don't have any softball this weekend, so I'm planning to do something Sunday since people at work have been asking why I haven't brought something in for the last couple of weeks (they don't seem to remember the Banana Pudding Cake or the meatballs, both brought it mid-week. I guess they like it Monday...perhaps a nice way to start the week.) However, we are going to a HUGE beer fest on Saturday night...so we will see how I feel on Sunday. The Olympics are also causing me a distraction, but damn if I don't love watching them! It is truly one of my favorite things to watch. Go USA!

This week I made a commitment to cook dinner every night this week. I wrote up my shopping list (full of new recipes! )and headed to the store last night. I tried a new store to see how the prices were, but after the first 6 items in my cart were at least 50 cents more (some as much as $2 more!), I decided to stop and go to Wal-Mart. Yes, Wal-Mart is a zoo, there are some "interesting" people there, but their prices really can't be beat. I'm glad I decided to go, and not stay at the first place just because I was there. I found this recipe on Pinterest, where else, and put my own spin on it. Instead of plain black beans, I made them how I usually do (gave it much more flavor), added a can of Rotel, cooked the onions with the beef mixture (not with the sour cream mixture), and used sweet cornbread in place of regular. The balance between the spicy beef and the sweet bread was awesome! Though the boyfriend thought there was too much cornbread, I really enjoyed it. You could easily make this with ground turkey or broiled chicken as well, but we were in the beef mood. Left overs were great and it stayed within my points range, only 9 points for a pretty big slice; in whole the recipe made 6 servings.

 Cornbread Mexican Casserole

• 1 packet cornbread mix; 7 oz
• 1/2 to 1/3 milk; depending on package directions
• 1 egg
• 1 pound extra lean ground beef
• 1 can Rotel; I used original
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 1 packet taco seasoning
• 1 can black beans
• 1/8 cup water
• 1/4 cup onion, diced
• 1 packet Sason seasoning
• 1 cube chicken bullion
• 1 cup light sour cream
• 1 cup low-fat cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1/2 cup green onion
• Sour cream, salsa, lettuce, and additional green onions to top; optional

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Prepare the cornbread mix following the package directions. 
3. Pour cornbread in a greased 8x8 glass baking dish.
4. Bake for 15 minutes.
5. While that is baking, make the black beans. Bring water to a boil in pot with Sason, chicken bullion, and 1/4 cup onions. 
6. When it reaches a boil, add beans and cook for 10 minutes.
7. While the beans are cooking, brown the ground beef until half done.
8. Add the onions and finish browning.
9. Add Rotal, taco seasoning, and beans. Turn to low until cornbread is done.
10. In a mixing bowl, add sour cream, 1/2 cup cheese, and green onions.
11. When cornbread is done, top with beef mixture, then with sour cream mixture.
12. Bake for 20 minutes.
13. Serve with lettuce, salsa, extra cheese, and green onions.  

Tips and Tricks

• To save time (but I can't be certain about flavor since I LOVE my black bean recipe), use seasoned black beans or Bush's Grillin Beans in Black Bean Fiesta.
• If Rotel is too spicy for you, add regular petite diced tomatoes.
• For a thinner cornbread layer, only use half the mixture and cook for 10 minutes.
• If you would like the sour cream cold, and not baked, omit prior to baking and top once out of the oven.

Thai Green Curry

Happy Friday everyone! I couldn't be more ready for the weekend. Not that I have huge plans, unless you count going to Sebring for a softball tourney big, but because this work week has seemed to drag on all week. Monday was a short day since I went to the allergist to get allergy testing. This sucked. I was told, by many, including my loving boyfriend, that it was a prick test, similar to people that test for diabetes. This was a LIE (and rightfully so since I would probably not have gone if I knew the truth!) 47 syringes later and nearly passing out (I think I got in my head about the 47 shots), I am allergic to cats (I have 2), dogs, dust mites (one of the most disgusting things I have learned about to recent memory), and a couple of weeds that I will probably never come in contact with. I also have two dime size welts on my arm that itch like crazy and look rather unappealing (red circles with small bumps, similar to ring worm.) I called the doctor and they told me this was some of the molds that were tested (GROSS!) and this is a common occurrence; a bit of Cortisone cream should heal them right up. The icing on the cake is that my allergies have been next to non existent for the past 3 weeks...I could have saved $50, hours of my day, pain and personal torment, and a couple of nasty welts since I already knew that cats and dust caused me to sneeze. Thanks doc!

Anyways, enough bitching and on to the recipe. This week, the boyfriend requested that I attempt my hand at green curry. Not being much of a coconut milk lover, I can say I made this out of love and not because it seemed that intriguing to me. Since I have never ate curry, let alone cooked it, I had to do some research. Surprise, green curry has about 186,462,173 different recipes online, so which one to pick? Well, for starters, I looked up the restaurant that boyfriend and I went where he had curry to see what theirs had in it. After that, I searched through many recipes until I found one that seemed easy to make, used a paste, not a homemade curry, and had great reviews. 30 minutes later, we were eating homemade green curry and to my surprise I LIKED IT! The coconut milk did not overwhelm the dish and the veggies and chicken were cooked perfectly. The only thing that I would do different next time is add a bit of soy or fish sauce to kick up the salt. All in all, it was a tasty dish that I would be happy to make again.

Thai Green Curry

• 1 pound chicken breast, cubed
• 1 small red pepper, large diced
• 1 small green pepper, large diced
• 1 small onion, large diced
• 1 can sliced water chestnuts 
• 5 tbs green curry paste
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 tbs oil
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tbs cornstarch
• Cilantro, green onion, and lime for garnish

1. Heat large skillet to medium high heat and add oil.
2. Add curry paste and stir for one minute. I learned that this is called Blooming.
3. Add 1/4 the can of coconut milk. Cook for 3 minutes.
4. Add the rest of the can and cook for additional 3 minutes.
5. Add chicken and cook for 4 minutes.
6. Add vegetables and cover. Cook for 10 minutes.
7. Add a bit of the sauce to a small cup. Stir in cornstarch and mix to remove lumps. 
8. Add cornstarch mix back to skillet and add soy sauce.
9. Stir until thickened. 
10. Serve with or over jasmine rice with cilantro, green onion and lime.

Tips and Tricks

• If you like your curry a bit more spicy, add red chilis or jalapenos.
• Use whatever vegetables you have on hand. Many recipes I saw used carrots, baby corn, basil, and a leafy green.
• Use tofu to make vegetarian.

Grilled Chicken Tostada

Tonight I am going to see one of my favorite bands of all time, 311. I'm really glad that I got on Facebook today and saw that the show was tonight, because I thought it was tomorrow, and that would have sucked. My boyfriend has never got to experience a 311 show or ME at a 311 show, and while he is fully aware of how crazy I am, he is in for a treat. I'm hoping that my sister and her boyfriend can go, but they need to find arrangements for little man, something about an 8 month old at a show just doesn't jive well lol. I have read a couple of their set list and happy to see they are playing their old stuff. Their last album was majorly disappointing to say the least. I am ready to jam hard tonight!

This recipe came about because I had a bunch of leftover Mexican ingredients from a recipe I made the night before. The cool thing about tostadas is you can put whatever you want on them. I happened to have had some pico, black beans, and cilantro lime slaw already made. I always have cheese and sour cream on hand, and I had an extra chicken breast left over from making the Sweet and Sour Baked Chicken, so all I had to get were the tostada shells. I made the black beans re-fried style by taking the emulation blender to them, but they could have stayed the way they were and been just as good. All in all, this was a healthy dinner. Two shells were 4 points, the chicken was 2 per shell. Sour cream, cheese, and beans were 4 total, but I could have used less to cut down the points. One of these bad boys were enough.

 Grilled Chicken Tostada

• 2 chicken breast, marinaded in your favorite marinade, grilled, and diced; I like Garlic Herb and White Wine from McCormics
• 6 tostadas
• 1 cup black beans; recipe here 
• 1/2 cup pico de gallo; recipe to follow
• 1/2 cup Cilantro Lime Slaw; recipe here
• Garnish; cheddar cheese, sour cream, green onions, and cilantro

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Put the beans in a blender or use an emulation blender, and blend until smooth.
3. Bake tostada shells for 5 minutes until crisp.
4. Put a layer of black beans on the tostada.
5. Top with chicken,
6. Then top with garnish; slaw, pico, cheese, green onion, cilantro, and sour cream.

Pico De Gallo

• 3 plum tomatoes; seeded and diced
• 1/2 small red onion, diced
• 1 tsp jalapeno, seeded and minced
• 2 tbs cilantro; minced
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1 tsp salt; more if needed to taste
• 1/2 tsp black pepper 

1. Mix all ingredients in a small mixing bowl and let mingle for an hour before serving. 

Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken with Brown "Fried" Rice

My struggle to stay on the WW continues. I only want to lose 8 to 10 pounds, but dammit if I can't stick with the plan. My struggle really comes down to two things; my love for food and the damn weekend. The boyfriend and I like to drink and go out to eat (that part is more me than him). We aren't alcoholics or anything, but going to the bar Friday for Happy Hour and/or having a Sunday Funday are common things for us. At 4 points a drink, they add up fast. Of course when you drink, you like to eat and that means more points. I usually save my weekly bonus points for the weekend, which is a big help, but finding delicious but WW appropriate recipes during the week can be somewhat challenging.


Pinterest is a good site to find all sorts of things, good and bad (trying to find a healthy recipe when your friend pinned 100 dessert recipes is not helpful.) I don't think my boyfriend fully understand the appeal until an amazing dish is created that I found off the site. This would be one of those recipes. Weekly, I ask for ideas for dinner. This week, he wanted something Asian and I had the perfect idea. I pinned this recipe months ago but never made it. I saw on Facebook that a friend made it a couple weekends ago and raved about it, so I knew it was something we needed to try. And guess what, it really was amazing!! I made a healthy "fried" brown rice to go along with it and everything was simply amazing. Not only was it filling and satisfied our Asian craving, it was with my point allowance for the day. Next time, I'm going to add some other flavors to the sauce and try to make a General Tao style version, I'll post that when I do. Chicken is 10 points for 4th of chicken and 3 points for 1/2 cup rice.

Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken with Brown "Fried" Rice

Chicken

• 1 pound chicken breast; cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 cup corn starch
• 3 eggs; beaten
• 1/4 cup oil
• Salt and pepper

Sauce

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 tbs ketchup
• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 1 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Heat oil in large skillet to medium-high heat. 
3. Salt and pepper chicken to liking.  
4. Place cornstarch in a medium mixing bowl.
5. Place eggs in another medium mixing bowl.
6. Take a third of the chicken and toss in cornstarch to cover, then dip in egg, then place in skillet where each piece is not touching.
7. Cook til brown, then flip. The chicken will not be fully cooked.
8. Continue in batches until all chicken is browned.
9. Mix all sauce ingredients up.
10. Place chicken in a 9x13 baking dish and pour sauce over chicken.
11. Bake for 50 minutes, turning chicken every minute minutes or so.

Brown "Fried" Rice

• 1 bag Uncle Ben's Ready Made Brown Rice
• 1 egg; beaten
• 1/4 cup onion, diced
• 1/4 cup carrot, diced
• 1/4 cup frozen peas, thawed
• 1/8 cup green onion
• 1 tbs soy sauce
• Pam or spray oil

1. Spray Pam or oil in large fry pan and heat to high. 
2. Add egg to pan, cook for one minute, then turn. Then chop up in to little pieces. Remove and set aside.
3. Add onions, carrots, and peas to pan and cook for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.
4. Add rice and soy sauce, cook for 3 more minutes, stirring constantly.
5. Remove from heat and mix in green onions and egg. 

Tips and Tricks

• If you would like some sauce to pour over chicken or rice, once chicken is cooked, remove from dish and a 1 to 2 tbs of water to sauce to thin out sauce.
• You can use any rice you have on hand, just measure out to 2 cups rice.
• Add any vegetables you have on hand to rice. Peppers, mushrooms, edamame, and brocolli would all make good additions. 
• If you would like to use cut more calories, you spray oil instead of oil when cooking chicken. 

Lechon Asado (Cuban Roast Pork)

Sorry to be M.I.A. lately, I was in North Carolina this past weekend visiting my grandfather, or DaddyMac as we refer to him (his name is Mac.) Though he is in an assisted living home and some days are not as good as others, he still has a great sense of humor and cracked us up on several occasions. My favorite was when he told me he was proud of me for being a half mommy, in reference to Dylan, my sister's 8 month old. I liked that term a lot. Though I love the term "aunt", I felt very honored to be thought of as a mommy to him. I will never come close to being the mommy he already has, she is beyond amazing with him, but it was still a thoughtful gesture. It was nice to be able to help out my sister while we were there. She was able to take a bath or two at the hotel, able to get ready without having to check on him every few minutes (he plays in his Pack n' Play while she gets ready, usually does well with that, but sometimes doesn't want be alone), and I even changed a couple diapers (just the pee ones, mommy can deal with the poo.) All in all, it was a really great trip and I was happy I got to spend time with all my family.

I made this recipe a couple days before I left. The game plan was to make it last for two separate recipes, which it would have had I found plablano peppers which seemed to be a hot item that week at the store. The first night we just ate it with some black beans and yellow rice, as pictured. The second recipe was going to be pork enchiladas with plablano sauce (still drooling over that idea), but that didn't go as planned. After a hard day at work and going to 3 separate grocery stores, I gave up and we ended up going out for Mexican. There is a new place down the street that is really good, and the beers are huge...just what I needed. Anyhow, I made this in the oven, cooking it on low heat for many hours, however, a crock pot could work just as easily (see Tips and Tricks for preparation). The flavors were amazing, and there was definitely enough for left overs and other recipes. Though the ingredients list is small, this isn't a quick recipe, but easy to make and I promise you won't be disappointed in the final dish.

Lechon Asado (Cuban Roast Pork)

• 3 pound pork shoulder
• 2 large oranges, juiced
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1 lime, juiced
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper

1. Mix together the orange, lime, and lemon juice with the garlic, salt and pepper in a large non-metal bowl.
2. Stab some holes into the pork with a knife and place in bowl with marinade.
3. Let marinade for 24 hours.
4. Remove from fridge and bring to about room temperature. This will ensure your meat will cook evenly. 
5. Preheat oven to 225 degrees.
6. Place in 9x13 baking dish, with marinade and cook for 8 to 9 hours, basting hourly with marinade.
7. Remove and reserve the juices. Shred pork with fork and pour juices over.
8. Serve and enjoy.

Tips and Tricks

• If you would like to use a crock pot, follow steps 1 through 4, then put in crock pot with marinade and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Remove and cook in over on 400 for 15 minutes until a crust has formed. Remove and follow step 7.
• Fresh oranges, limes, and lemons are a must. The flavor cannot be matched with bottled juices.
• If you are using a larger pork shoulder, double the amount of oranges, limes, lemons, garlic, salt and pepper.
• If you like your pork a bit more firm and not shredded, remove from the oven after 4 hours.

Jamaican Jerk Pizza

To whom this may concern, I am at work right now....typing this out...not working. You have stressed me out. You held a meeting (that did not deal AT ALL with work related issues) that took most the people I need to complete their tasks so we can move things along within the process. You have made me want ice cream, Taco Bell, sushi, and a plethora of other bad for my WW diet. Tomorrow, we have a deadline. It is on our heals like Jason, from Friday the 13th, (which happens to be tomorrow ironically enough) and we can't seem to run fast enough. Though he is gaining speed, we will prevail! We will not be slashed, diced up, and left for dead. We will meet our deadline, then throw it in your face, but right now, I am taking a mental time out to post about the awesome, yet WW worthy, pizza I made the other night.

OK, woosaaa. I feel better. Anywho, the other night, the boyfriend suggested pizza for dinner. I love making homemade pizzas; there are so many things that you can do. BBQ chicken is one that I make the most often, but I suggested making a jerk pizza. He loves California Pizza Kitchen's jerk pizza, so I thought I would try my hardest to one up it. In the end, CPK still won, but not by much. They do have a wood-fire oven, which I do not, and they have been doing it for much longer, BUT this thing was pretty f'ing awesome. I warn you, this is spicy. You can cut down on the spice by not using as much jerk sauce or not adding habanero jelly to the mix, but I really like it spicy. Fresh dough is the way to go, but if you can't find it (I buy mine in the bakery section of our local grocery store) or don't want to make it, you can always use the stuff in a can. I really enjoyed this pizza, and now wish I had more as my stomach is growling at me. WW points equal 7 per slice.

Jamaican Jerk Pizza

• 1 ball or can pizza dough
• 1 1/4 cup chicken; I used a rotisserie chicken, but you can use whatever you have. Grilled chicken cut into strips would be perfect
• 3/4 red pepper, sliced into thin strips
• 3/4 yellow pepper, slicked into thin strips
• 1/2 red onion, sliced into thin strips
• 3/4 to 1 cup jerk sauce; I used a bottle jerk sauce from the grocery. My boyfriend likes a lot of sauce, so I used a cup.
• 2 tbs* habanero jelly; you can leave this out if can't find or don't like it really hot
• 1 cup provolone cheese, shredded or cut into strips; divide into 1/2 cup portions
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 2 tbs green onion, diced

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees; or whatever your dough instructions say.
2. Work dough to fit a circle pizza pan. Use flour as needed.
3. Cook pizza dough for 10 minutes. 
4. While dough is cooking, saute peppers and onions for 5 minutes over medium until slightly softened. Remove and set aside.
5. Mix together jerk sauce with jelly, if using.
6. Add chicken to skillet used for peppers and onions, add 2 tbs of jerk sauce, and cook over med-low to heat and cover with sauce. Remove and set aside.
7. When pizza crust is done, cover with jerk sauce, chicken, layer of cheese, veggies, and top with remaining cheese.
8. Bake for 20 minutes.
9. Remove and top with green onions.

Tips and Tricks

• It was cheaper to buy the small sweet peppers than large whole peppers. They worked perfectly. Cut about 8 of them if using.
• I only had provolone sandwiches slices on hand, so I used 6 slices cut into thin strips.
• Feel free to use whatever jerk sauce you have on hand or make your own!

Tomato Sauce Two Ways

In our house, there is a great debate over what makes a good tomato sauce. My boyfriend prefers a sauce that has a lot of texture due to vegetables and cooks for awhile, making the sauce a sweet and giving it a thick consistency. I like more of a marinara style sauce, that only has onions (sometimes), large chunks of tomatoes, and has a slightly acidic taste due to not cooking the sauce for as long. Due our differences, and the fact that I wanted to convince him a bit that my preference was the best, I decided to make two sauces. We served them with the Italian Meatballs I made this past weekend. Both were very good (still like mine a bit better), however, one was much more simple to make than the other.

The first sauce recipe below took a good portion of the day to cook. I have to say, I felt quite Italian doing this. I imagined myself as an old Italian woman, preparing Sunday dinner for her family of 30. I'm gonna be as up front and honest with you as I can about this sauce. It isn't the recipe to make if you are short on time, want instant results or think that the more you stir it, watch it, or turn the heat up, the faster it will cook...that will not happen. What will happen is A. your sauce will taste like a pot full of different flavors and very acidic B. you will have a sore arm from stirring so much or C. you will burn the sauce and no one is going to eat burnt sauce. If you don't think you have the time, about 5 hours, or the patients, skip on down to the second recipe. Like I said before, both are great recipes that are sure to please, how much time you have and what result you want will be the deciding factors.

Tomato Sauce Two Way


Hearty and Slow Cooked Version

• 2 28 oz. can of canned tomatoes; San Marzano if you can find them, they will make all the difference
• 1 12 oz can crushed tomatoes
• 3 tbs olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 stick of celery, diced
• 1 stick unsalted butter, divided in 2 tbs and 6 tbs
• 2 tbs salt
• 1 tbs black pepper

1. Heat olive oil and 2 tbs of butter in large pot or dutch oven over medium heat.
2. Add onions and cook until the onions are translucent. Do not brown them.
3. Add celery, carrot, and garlic and cook for 5 minutes until carrots are softened, but not falling apart.
4. Add canned tomatoes, with juice, can of crusted tomatoes, butter, salt and pepper. 
5. Cook on medium to medium high until small bubbles appear and pop.
6. Cover and turn down to a simmer, and cook for 4 to 5 hours, stirring periodically and tasting, adding salt and pepper as needed. 

Tomato Heavy, Marinara Style, Quick Sauce

(Picture coming soon, sorry!)

• 1 28oz cans of tomatoes; San Marzano if you can find them, they will make all the difference
• 1 large onion, cut into two large pieces
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1 tbs salt
• 1/2 tbs black pepper
• 1/2 garlic powder

1.  In a large pot or dutch oven over medium high heat, add the tomatoes, onion, and butter.
2. Cook until small bubbles appear and pop.
3. Cover and turn down to a simmer and cook for an hour to an hour and a half, stirring occasionally to break down large pieces of tomato.
4. Remove onion, add salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
5. Cook for 15 minutes, test, and season accordingly.

Italian Meatballs

This past weekend, the boyfriend and I went to Disney World. The heat was ridiculous. There are still days that you just don't get use to it, though I have lived here for 20 years, hot is hot! Then add all the people and the strollers at Magic Kingdom, the crazy amount of strollers, driven by people that you would think they just learned how to walk, let alone stroll the damn things, and the heat becomes unbearable. Don't get me wrong, I love children and understand the need for the stroller at the park, but damn, pay attention people! I like my heals, my shins bruise easily, and my toes can't take one more over grown kid in a stroller rolling over them. The next day we went to Animal Kingdom and Epcot. It was much better. There weren't nearly as many people, and definitely not close to as many strollers; plus there is alcohol and a cold beer can really make things much better. It was a great weekend all in all, but Sunday we came home and it was time for me to cook!

I have been wanting Italian for the last week or so. While Epcot has a delicious Italian restaurant, eating there and trying to walk around the park just doesn't work. So, when we got home I decided to make some real Italian meatballs. I have never made meatballs, but enjoy them with I have them, so I thought, what the hell, I'll give them a try. I have to admit, it was hard to get them flavored well, but after about five rounds of add seasoning and testing small portions, I finally got them seasoned how I wanted to. Because of this, the portions below are as close as I could get them, but make sure you cook up small test size portions before you decided to roll them all up and cook them all. I also made homemade tomato sauce. Now, that was pretty damn good if I do say so, but will post that tomorrow in another post. Cabs are heya! Sorry, I couldn't resist, I don't even watch the show, but damn that line is catchy.

Italian Meatballs

• 1 pound ground beef, 85/15
• 1 pound ground pork
• 1 large onion, small dice
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp red chill flakes
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 1/2 cup finely shredded Romano cheese
• 1 1/2 cups stale white bread
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 3 tbs Italian parsley
• 2 tbs Italian seasoning
• 1 tbs garlic powder
• 1 1/2 tbs salt
• 1 tbs black pepper
• 1/4 cup olive oil, for pan frying

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Heat 2 tablespoon of olive oil in large skillet over medium heat, then add onions and cook for 5 minutes until translucent.
3. Add garlic and red chili flakes and cook for 2 minutes, making sure not to brown the garlic.
4. Remove and let cool.
5. In a large mixing bowl, mix ground beef and ground pork together until combined.
6. Add onions and garlic mixture, eggs, cheese, bread, and parsley. Mix well until combined.
7. Add Italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt, and pepper and mix until well combined.
8. Heat a small amount of oil in pan over medium high heat and cook a small test sample. Taste and add more seasonings as needed. 
9. Roll into balls, a bit larger than a golf ball. 
10. Eat half of the olive oil in a pan, add meatballs so they don't touch, and cook on all sides until browned. They will not be cooked all the way through.
11. Put on cooking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.
12. Continue steps 9 through 11 until all meatballs are made.
13. Serve with Tomato Sauce and pasta.

Tips and Tricks

• Getting these things seasoned can be tricky. Just keep adding Italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt and pepper and testing small portions until you get the right flavor. Everyone has a different pallet.
• Serve on toasted hoogie rolls with provolone cheese and tomato sauce for a meatball sub.
• You can bake them without browning them on the stove to be a bit healthier. Cook for 25 minutes.
• Veal would be a great addition to the meat used, if you can find it, use equal portions of each.
• 
  

No Bake Peanut Butter Pie

Happy Forth of July to everyone!! I hope everyone's day was spent with friends, family, a cold one, some fireworks and of course, remembering what today is really about. In my case, I was at work, but because I chose to take Friday off instead so I could have a three day weekend. We didn't have any plans for today, so instead, made plans to go to Disney for the weekend. The boyfriend and I have yearly passes, so we like to go whenever we can. The weather is typical of Florida tonight; rainy and overcast, so fireworks might not happen. Even better that we are going to Disney, because their fireworks are amazing.

Seeing that I didn't get to participate in any BBQs today, I decided to make hotdogs tonight for dinner. Since a hotdog really isn't 't the most amazing recipe (though, I did have some sample hotdogs made all up at Publix tonight that I might just have to make and post about...very outside of the box and delicious), I decided that a good dessert was in order. I had a tube of Cool Whip in the fridge that I hadn't used and peanut butter sounded delicious. I've seen several recipes on the net about no bake peanut butter pies, so I decided to take a "slice" at it. The cool thing about this recipe is you can either go full fat or you can go Weight Watchers and healthy. Since I had more full fat ingredients on hand, that's the way that I went (I try to use what I have before I go shopping and already killed my WW for the week going out to eat for a friends going away and with Disney is this weekend...let's just say, there's always next week.) I used an Oreo crust to add a bit of chocolate and topped with with a few chocolate chips for looks. I have both recipes below. If made with lighter or fat free ingredients, 4 points a slice.

No Bake Peanut Butter Pie

• 5 oz cream cheese, softened or low-fat cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/3 heaping cup peanut butter or low-fat peanut butter
• 1 tub whipped topping or low-fat or fat-free whipped topping
• 1 Oreo pie crust or low-fat gram cracker crust

1. With an electric mixer on high, mix cream cheese and powdered sugar until well blended.
2. Add peanut butter and mix until well blended. 
3. Fold in whipped topping. Make sure you fold and don't mix or the whipped topping will loose its volume and turn to liquid.
4. Pour topping into pie crust.
5. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours.

Tips and Tricks

• Fold in broken up peanut butter cups or peanuts for extra texture.
• For a fun twist, use Nutella instead of peanut butter.
• Top with hot fudge or chocolate sauce for a bit more chocolate.
• Make a crust of crushed Nutter Butters for an extra peanut butter blast of flavor!

Sausage Cream Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms

Man, I was lazy when it came to cooking this past weekend. Well, actually, that is not a fair statement. Saturday, the boyfriend had another softball tourney, so we were at the fields all day. Though they didn't win, it was nice to hang out with sister and baby and read my new book; Evil at Heart by Chelsea Cain...though it's the last in a 3 part series, I read it because it was on sale ($3, what what!) and glad I did. It was so good and now going back and reading the first two. Not the usual way I would do it, but hey, I needed something new to read. I recommend to anyone that likes murder thrillers and can stand some gruesome stuff (like eyeballs and spleens, just to name a few.) Sunday, we took it easy in the morning, finished my book, then went out to have some drinks, followed by more drinks at home and played the Wii. I totally killed it in bowling, but golf...not so much. Weird thing is, I can actual play golf pretty decent in real life, but suck at bowling. Whatever, it was fun and even more fun with some drinks, lol.

Now to the recipe. This is actually from a couple of weeks ago. Going through my phone, I realized that I never posted on it and really enjoyed them and due to being lazy, had nothing new from the weekend to post on. Stuffed mushrooms are a great way to use up the extra mushrooms you might have from a recipe and can be done a million different ways depending on the ingredients you have (if you come up with a good variation, let me know!) In my case, I had extra sausage left from making Sausage Gravy and always have cream cheese on hand. These beauties were done in about 25 minutes, from start to finish and tasted much fancier then they were to make (something this good you would think took tons of time and expensive ingredients.) The amount is to stuff 8 mini portabellas, but depending on size, you might be more or less.

 Sausage Cream Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms

• 8 small portabella mushroom caps, steams removed
• 3 oz cream cheese
• 3 oz breakfast sausage
• 3 tbs Parmesan cheese
• 1 glove garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1 tbs butter, melted
• 1/4 cup white wine (cooking wine is fine or chicken broth)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cook sausage in skillet until down.
3. Add sausage, cream cheese, parmesan cheese, garlic, salt and pepper in a bowl. Mix well until combined.
4. Stuff mixture in mushrooms evenly until all used.
5. Combined melted butter with panko crumbs.
6. Top each mushroom with panko crumbs.
7. Put mushrooms in baking dish and pour white wine in bottom of dish. 
8. Cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes.
9. Remove foil and bake for an additional 5 minutes.
10. Remove from oven and enjoy!

Tips and Tricks

• Use whatever ingredients you have handy. Crab meat mixed with cream cheese, red peppers, onions and parsley would be delicious!
• The wine is what helps steam the mushroom and makes for a consistent texture. You can use chicken or vegetable broth if you dont have or would not like to use wine.
• If you like them cheesy, add more cheese :) Mozzarella or Italian blend would work very well.
• If you would like to make a meal of these, use full size portabellas!

Hawaiian Glazed Grilled Chicken

I have to be honest, this was not a recipe from this weeks dinner, however it's healthy, so I kept my promise of only posting healthy recipes this week. Last night I was in the taco mood (I know this is very surprising for you, I never eat Mexican), so I made the Grilled Chicken Tacos with Cilantro Lime Slaw and BBQ Grilled Onions. I really can't get enough of the flavors in those. Boyfriend decide to go tortilla-less for one of his and mix the chicken, slaw, onions, sour cream, and black beans all together. I think he is on to sometime, because it was extremely good; plus I could eat even more of that since I wasn't eating the points on the tortilla, double awesome. Have you heard that if you drink a full glass of water before each meal, you will not eat as much? Well, I tried that little trick out this week and it's true! I have read that often time you are thirsty, but misconstrue that and think you are hungry. I will keep working on drinking more water, especially before I eat.

I know I told you guys about finishing the Hunger Games, but boyfriend just finished as well, so we have had some discussion on how they were. I won't give anything away, but good to know that he feels the same way about the whole thing. I looked up who they are considering for the role of Finnick and have to say that I was surprised. Mainly because I don't really know one of the actors (he is in the new Battleship movie and I think too old looking), one (who's named Armie Hammer...really?!) is the guy that played the twins in the Social Network movie and in my opinion is again, too old looking, and the other is the kid from the Tron movie and I think, is the best fit based on looks alone. It will be interesting to see who they go with. Well, I guess I should talk a bit about this recipe. I was looking for a good marinade for chicken when I came across a version of what is below. I liked the idea of soy sauce and honey, sweet and salty, but decided to kick it up with red chili flakes and add cilantro to mine at the end which really made it fresh and lively. Of course, as with all marinades, the long you can let it sit and party, the better. We enjoyed this will grilled corn on the cob and grilled zucchini. WW points for chicken, 4 points for one breast worth.

Hawaiian Glazed Grilled Chicken

• 3 skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 3 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tbs honey
• 1 tbs vegetable oil
• 1 tsp lime juice
• 1 tsp chopped garlic
• 1 tsp chili flakes

1. Mix all ingredients besides chicken in a bowl and combine. 
2. Add chicken to marinade and let it party for at least 4 hours if not overnight. 
3. Screwier on kabobs and grill.

 Tips and Tricks

• If you don't have honey, use brown sugar.
• Omit the chili flakes if you don't like heat.
• Spray the grill with cooking spray to prevent sticking.
• Screwier with veggies to make a complete meal.