Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps

With the Olympics over, the blog should get back on track. Sorry for the lack of regular posting, but I seriously could not pull myself away from watching the games. At work Friday, we were watching goofs and f'ups...they were hilarious. Of course I feel awful for the athletes. They practice for years for minutes of completion, sometimes only seconds, so when you see them bust ass or trip over their feet, you feel for them. However, that doesn't mean that I didn't laugh and laugh, and watch it again and again...in slow motion at times. This clip isn't from this years Olympics, but someone at work found it while we were watching other bloopers. Warning, make sure you aren't eating and/or drinking, unless you are trying to get food or drink everywhere. Again, I do feel for these athletes; I know this has to be the worst feeling in the world, but I'm sure in years to come, they will look back and laugh a bit...maybe.

Well, on to the recipe, which was not a flop at all. Seeing how my craving for anything buffalo has been pretty strong lately, I decided to whip up a healthier version of buffalo chicken. I make a similar recipe as this, but inspired by Asian lettuce wraps similar to those you find at P.F. Changs. I have to say, they came out great and the filling would also make a great appetizer served in the little canal of celery or baked in dough cups. Great for people that are trying to eat lo-carb or just something spicy, but not as filling as traditional wings. I also make my own blue cheese dressing because I find the ones at the store to be lacking something, don't quite know what, but I just don't like them. I served these with tater tots, classy, but that's what I had on hand.

Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps

• 1 pound ground chicken breast
• 1 packet Hidden Valley Spicy Ranch seasoning
• 1/3 cup Franks hot sauce
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 package Boston bib lettuce
• Carrots, green onion, and blue cheese to serve

1. In a large skillet, cook chicken until half done.
2. Add celery and onion and cook until chicken no longer pink.
3. Add spicy ranch seasoning and hot sauce.
4. Cook until thinkened a bit, about 5 minutes.
5. Place small amount in lettuce left and top as desired.

Blue Cheese Dressing

• 2 tbs blue cheese crumbles
• 3 tbs light sour cream
• 3 tbs low-fat mayonnaise
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• Salt and pepper
• Milk, to thin if necessary

1. Place all ingredents in blender and blend until smooth.
2. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Add a bit of milk to thin out if needed.

Tips and Tricks

• Use ground turkey if you can't find ground chicken, or if that is what you have on hand.
• Use whatever toppings you like. Ranch dressing, carrots, celery, onions, green onions, additional hot sauce, etc.

Cookies and Cream Pudding Cookies

I don't know why I make stuff like this. I can't be trusted to keep them in the house without eating a few a day, and that really does nothing for my weight loss goals, but push them rather away. I made these since we were having people come over before we went to the beer festival. Of course, only 2 of them were eaten, leaving over 2 dozen for me to stare at and have a battle in my head over good and evil. It didn't help either that when we got home, a bit tipsy, that cookies sounded amazing and I practically turned into the Cookie Monster. Needless to say, I brought them to work as fast as I could Monday morning where they were gone in 3 minutes. I even brought in the rest of the Oreos that were left after making these...like I said, I can't be trusted with sweets.

Not only were these easy to put together, the final outcome was amazing! It was the perfect mix between chocolate and cream, and the centers were still a bit chewy. I made these larger then they were suppose to be because I thought they looked better, also like those huge cookies you get at Disney World. There is nothing that I would change about this recipe and would definitely make them again...but only if I was immediately taking them somewhere else. In all, it made just over 2 dozen cookies, but could make more if you cut down on the size of each cookie. I like to bake mine a single sheet at a time to ensure even cooking. I don't even want to guess what the WW PP+ is for these bad boys, so I'm not going to look it up, LOL. Enjoy!

Cookies and Cream Pudding Cookies

• 2 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 package Oreo pudding mix
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups white chocolate chips
• 15 double stuffed Oreos, crushed, but still with good size pieces

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour and baking soda. Set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, cream together sugars, butter, and pudding.
4. Add eggs and vanilla, mix until combined.
5. Stir in flour mixture, then mix with electric mixer until combined.
6. Fold in chips and cookies.
7. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray, then drop cookies just bigger than a golf ball, evenly spread out.
8. Bake for 10-11 minutes.

Tips and Tricks

• You can use single stuffed Oreos if you don't like an much cream filling.
• To make the dough go further, make each only a tbsp big, and bake for 9 minutes.
• Put Oreo cookies in a large zip lock bag and crush with rolling pin.

Buffalo Chicken Casserole

As promised, last nights recipe! Speaking of last night, did anyone watch the woman's gymnastics team competition? It was absolutely amazing! The dedication that those girls have at such a young age is inspiring. When my alarm went off this morning for my morning workout, I thought "If a 13 year old has the dedication to make it to the Olympics, then I can get out of bed to workout for 30 minutes." Phelps also won his 19th Olympic metal!! I don't even know where to start with that. Some people dream and work their entire lives just to make it to the games, but this mofo has gone to 3 different games AND won 19 metals...and he still has more events left! Truly amazing!! What's not amazing are the selfish pricks on Facebook that think it's funny to post the results before most of us can watch. I had a "friend" do this yesterday with the gym results and literally wanted to kick his ass. You know he was that little bastard child in 2nd grade telling all his classmates that Santa isn't real. You would think he would have grown out of it, or gotten his ass kicked, but some people just don't grow up. In any event, I've blocked his post for the rest of the Olympics and maybe permanently.

This recipe deserves at least a bronze. It was good points wise, filled my urge for chicken wings, and made enough for leftovers. The only thing that I would change is adding more hot sauce to the sauce, it needed a bit more spice in our opinion. The veggies were perfect and would be a great way for parents trying to get their kids to eat them. I got the recipe from a Cooking Light magazine and stayed fairly true to the recipe. The only changes I made were adding a packet of spicy ranch seasoning, cut down on the amount of pasta (saving points!), added more hot sauce, and added a bit of low fat cheddar cheese to the sauce. The boyfriend liked it but though it needed some more spice as well. All in all, it was a great meal that I will definitely make again WW P+ 9 points per serving, 8 servings in total.

 Buffalo Chicken Casserole

• 2 cups shredded chicken
• 1/2 box or 5 oz high fiber elbow macaroni
• 3 carrots, diced
• 3 stalks celery, diced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 packet Hidden Valley spicy ranch
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 3 cups 1% milk
• 1/3 cup cornstarch
• 1 cup Frank's hot sauce
• 1/2 cup low-fat cheddar, shredded
• 1 tsp salt
• 5 oz blue cheese crumbles
• Green onion for topping

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cook macaroni for 2 minutes less then box time. Set aside.
3. Saute carrots, celery, and onions in olive oil over medium for 10 minutes.
4. Add shredded chicken, spicy ranch, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes. Turn to low to keep warm while sauce is made.
5. While that is cooking, mix milk and cornstarch together until there are no lumps.
6. Cook over medium heat, stirring often. Don't leave this alone, it will burn.
7. Once the sauce has thickened (coats back of a spoon), remove from heat and add hot sauce, salt, and shredded cheddar.
8. Mix sauce with chicken mixture.
9. In a 9x13 or deep casserole dish, add half the pasta on bottom layer.
10. Add half the chicken mixture to next layer.
11. Add half blue cheese.
12. Repeat steps 8 through 10 ending with layer of blue cheese.
13. Place casserole dish on cookie sheet, and bake for 30 minutes.
14. Top with green onions if desired.

Tips and Tricks

• Shredded chicken is made by boiling chicken breast for 10-12 minutes, then shredding with two forks. Make extra for chicken salad or enchiladas.
• Add extra hot sauce to sauce if you like it more spicy.
• Add additional hot sauce to chicken mixture for even more of a kick. 
• Add full box of pasta if you would like a larger casserole. I cut it by half of the original recipe to save points.

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.