{pasta salad}

24 servings

208 cals., 9 g. fat, 1 g. fiber

WW points: 4

24 oz. curly pasta
3 c. broccoli
1 lb. cheese, cubed
1 cucumber, cubed
1/2 onion, finely diced
1 bottle Light Italian dressing


Mix together and refrigerate. Tastes better after sitting at least a couple of hours.

{potato casserole}

12 servings

310 cal., 18 g. fat, 3 g. fiber

WW points : 7

7 medium potatoes
1/4 c. butter,, melted
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 c. sour cream
1/2 c. milk
2 c. grated cheese
1/2 onion, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1 c. cornflake crumbs
2 T margarine

Cook(boil) potatoes until firm. Grate into 9x13 pan (peel and all) Combine other ingredients and pour over potatoes. Mix well. Bake at 350 for 30-40 min. Put cheese on top long enough to melt.

Variation: You can just mix all the cheese in the casserole and then top with crushed corn flakes (About 1 c. mixed with 2 T butter) Spread on top before baking.

{pretzel time}

12 servings

177 cals., 3 g. fat, 1 g. fiber

You might be able to get more fiber in there by using wheat flour or fiber fortified flour

WW points: 4

These were so yummy, soft and chewy. Just like pretzel time.

2 1/2 tsp. dry yeast
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 1/8 tsp. salt
1 1/2 C warm water
3 C all-purpose flour
1 C bread flour (I used all regular flour)
2 C warm water
2 Tbsp. baking soda
2 Tbsp. butter (we used margarine), melted
2 Tbsp. coarse kosher salt

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast, brown sugar and salt in 1 1/2 cups warm water. Stir in flour, and knead dough on a floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, and turn to coat the surface. Cover, and let rise for one hour.

Combine 2 cups warm water and baking soda in an 8 inch square pan.

After dough has risen, cut into 12 pieces. Roll each piece into a 3 foot rope, pencil thin or thinner. Twist into a pretzel shape, and dip into the baking soda solution. Place on parchment covered cookie sheets, and let rise 15 to 20 minutes.
Bake at 450 for 8 to 10 minutes, or until golden brown. Brush with melted butter, and sprinkle with coarse salt, garlic salt or cinnamon sugar.
FOOTNOTES
When forming the ropes, roll each one to about half the length you want, then set it aside while you roll the rest. By the time you get back to the first rope, it will have rested enough to roll further.

{BLT salad}

6 servings

432 cals., 22 g. fat, 2 g. fiber

WW points: 10

from Taste of Home magazine.

I'm loving these dishes that they're doing that are easy and that only require a few ingredients. Nate LOVED this.

Cook 2 cups spiral pasta (I used the tri-color kind)
drain.
Cook and crumble 1/2 lb. bacon
Add 1 large chopped tomato
and 1/2 c. ranch salad dressing
Toss with pasta.
Combine with 3 cups torn romaine before serving

We added the ranch dressing last to help the salad hold up better, and to make sure we got how much we wanted. It was delicious!

{breadsticks and pizza dough}

Just an all around good bread dough. Very yummy and easy to make. Bread sticks only need to rise about 1.5 hours.  Thanks again to Our Best Bites for the image and recipe.

Breadsticks
print recipe text only

1 1/2 c. warm (105-115 degrees) water
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. yeast
1/2 tsp. salt
3-4 1/2 c. flour


In a large bowl (the bowl of your mixer, if you have one), combine water, sugar, and yeast. Let stand for 10 minutes or until yeast is bubbly.

Add salt and stir. Add 1 1/2 c. flour and mix well. Gradually add more flour (usually between 3-4 cups, depending on your elevation and your humidity) until dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl and it barely sticks to your finger.

Spray a glass or metal bowl with cooking spray and place dough in the bowl.
Cover and allow to rise for 45 minutes or until doubled in bulk.

Remove from bowl and place on a lightly-floured surface. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Roll into a rectangle and cut into 12 strips with a pizza cutter.
Roll out each piece of dough into a snake and then drape over your forefinger and twist the dough. Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining 11 pieces of dough. Try to space them evenly, but it's okay if they're close; pulling apart hot bread is one of life's greatest pleasures!

Cover pan and allow dough to rise for another 30 minutes.

When there's about 15 minutes to go, preheat your oven to 425. When done rising, bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Rub some butter on top of the breadsticks (just put a ziploc bag on your hand, grab some softened butter, and have at it) and sprinkle with garlic bread seasoning or the powdery Parmesan cheese in a can and garlic salt.

Or you could sprinkle them with cinnamon sugar.

{tortillas of the flour variety}

recipe and photo Courtesy taste of home

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup water
• 3 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

• In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Stir in water and oil. Turn onto a floured surface; knead 10-12 times, adding a little flour or water if needed to achieve a smooth dough. Divide dough into eight portions. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion into a 7-in. circle.
• In a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray, cook tortillas over medium heat for 1 minute on each side or until lightly browned. Keep warm. Yield: 8 tortillas.

Easy and YUMMY!!! Never go back. Well I wish I could say I never went back. But these were seriously so good. The closest thing I've had to cafe rio.

{roasted asparagus}

Roasted Asparagus
from The Sister's Cafe

INGREDIENTS:

1 bunch thin asparagus, ends trimmed*

1 Tb. extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 tsp coarse salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 425.
2. Spread out asparagus spears in a large shallow roasting pan or cookie sheet.
3. Drizzle with olive oil; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Shake roasting pan gently so asparagus is completely coated in oil.
4. Roast in oven until spears are just tender. Cooking time will depend on thickness of asparagus, about 10 minutes for medium-thick asparagus. You may need to shake pan halfway through cooking time to keep spears from sticking.

(*Trim ends of asparagus by snapping off the bottoms of the stalks. They will break off naturally right where the woody part starts.)

Best Asparagus I've ever had. I went to a meeting recently where they talked about eating right. The asian lady sitting next to me said that American's don't like vegetables because they don't know how to cook them. When you steam them you tend to overdo them and they don't taste near as good. Stir fry or roast... or grill... SO good and doesn't add that much fat. You can even use fat free options like I can't believe it's not butter spray, or light pam. SO yummy!

{lettuce wraps}

PF Chang's Lettuce Wraps

INGREDIENTS:

3 tablespoons oil
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup water chestnuts
2/3 cup mushrooms
3 tablespoons chopped green onions
1 teaspoon minced garlic
4-5 leaves iceberg lettuce

Special Sauce:

1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 TB soy sauce
2 TB rice wine vinegar
2 tsp ketchup
1 tsp lemon juice
1/8 tsp sesame oil
1 TB hot mustard
2 tsp water
1-2 tsp garlic and red chile paste

Stir Fry Sauce:

2 TB soy sauce
2 TB brown sugar
1/2 tsp rice wine vinegar

DIRECTIONS:

1. Make the special sauce by dissolving the sugar in water in a small bowl. Then add soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ketchup, lemon juice and sesame oil. Mix well and refrigerate this sauce until you're ready to serve.
2. Combine the hot water with the hot mustard and set this aside as well. Eventually add your desired measurement of mustard and garlic chili sauce to the special sauce mixture to pour over the wraps. (I actually just leave the mustard and chili sauce separate because I don't like them mixed in with the special sauce.)
3. Bring oil to high heat in a wok or large frying pan. Saute chicken breasts for 4 to 5 minutes per side or done. Remove chicken from the pan and cool.
4. Place water chestnuts, mushrooms, and chicken in the food processor and chop until all pieces are bite-size.
5. Prepare the stir fry sauce by mixing the soy sauce, brown sugar, and rice vinegar together in a small bowl.
6. Chop green onions and garlic.
   
7. With the pan on high heat, add a tablespoon of vegetable oil.
8. Add chicken, garlic, onions, water chestnuts, and mushrooms to the pan.
9. Add the stir fry sauce to the pan and saute the mixture for a couple minutes then serve it in the lettuce"cups".
10. Top with Special Sauce.

Kind of labor intensive for just a side dish or appetizer, but I surprisingly loved these. Does anybody know where to get those little rice noodle things, though?

{cilantro lime rice}

INGREDIENTS:
3 cups hot cooked rice
2 small limes, juiced
1 lime, zest of
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1 tsp salt

DIRECTIONS:
1. Once rice is cooked, fluff with a fork.
2. Add lime juice, lime zest, cilantro, and salt to rice.
3. Stir well.

We often make this now to accompany our mexican dishes.

{parmesan potato balls}

Seriously! So good! We made these as a meal, but you could definitely use them as a side dish. I even thought that if you're trying to cut out the fat, you could leave off the gravy, and make the insides as normal mashed potatoes. They are so flavorful! Yay!

2 1/2 lbs. potatoes (3 large)
2 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 T milk
1 T butter, softened
1/4 c grated parmesan cheese
1 T chopped green onion
2 1/2 t onion soup mix
1/8 t hot pepper sauce
1/2 t salt
dash pepper
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 c crushed cornflakes

place potatoes in a large sauce pan and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and cook for 15-20 minutes or until tender. Drain. In a large bowl, mash the potatoes. Beat in the cream cheese, milk, butter until smooth. Stir in parmesan cheese, onion, soup mix, salt, hot pepper sauce and pepper. Shape into 1 1/2 inch balls. Place the egg and cornflakes in separate shallow bowls. Dip potato balls in egg then roll in crumbs. Place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 400 for 15-18 minutes or until crisp and golden brown.

{chicken pasta salad}

I actually made this for a main course. It gives the traditional pasta salad a little bit extra umph... I hope you enjoy!

1 pkg (12 oz) tricolor spiral pasta
2 c cubed part-skim mozzarella cheese
2 c cubed cooked chicken
1 large green pepper, chopped
1 large sweet red pepper, chopped
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
2 cans sliced ripe olives, drained
6 green onions
1 pkg. (3 1/2 oz) sliced pepperoni, halved
1/2 c vegetable oil
1/3 c red wine vinegar
1 t italian seasoning
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper

Cook pasta according to package directions; rinse with cold water and drain well. In a large serving bowl, combine the cheese, chicken, peppers, mushrooms, olives, green onions, pepperoni and pasta.

In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients. Pour over salad; toss to coat. Cover and refrigerated until serving. Toss before serving.

My mushrooms and green onions went bad so those weren't included, and then I voluntarily excluded the olives because we don't like them. I'm sure you can do that with any of the ingredients. We LOVED it. So refreshing on a summer day.

{Tasty Pork Ribs} and {Spicy Potato Wedges}

When we had Sam and Sarah over for their birthday dinner, they LOVED this... Thus, I decided to make this post. I love these recipes especially because they are yummy AND easy! We've had the potato wedges 3 times in the past two weeks. An excellent, low-calorie side dish. Sorry, there's no pictures...

Tasty Pork Ribs
8 bone-in country style pork ribs (I used the kind without bones)
1 c ketchup
1 c barbecue sauce
1/4 c brown sugar, packed
1/4 c worcestershire sauce
1 T balsamic vinegar
1 T molasses
1 garlic clove, minced
2 T dried minced onion
1 t cajun seasoning
1 t ground mustard
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper

Combine all in Crock Pot. Cook on low for 6-7 hours

Spicy Potato Wedges
1/4 c vegetable oil
1 T chili powder
2 t onion powder
2 t garlic salt
1 t sugar
1 t paprika
3/4 t salt
1/4 to 1/2 t cayenne pepper
3-1/2 pounds large red potatoes, cut into wedges. (I've used brown and yellow skinned)

In a large bowl, combine all except potatoes; add potatoes and toss to coat. Arrange in a single layer on greased baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until potatoes are tender and golden brown, turning once.
YIELD: 8 servings

{Onion Sausage Quesadillas}

A sweet Mexican entree!

3 medium sweet onions, diced (I used 2)
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 T butter
1-2 T brown sugar
3/4 lb. bulk italian sausage
1-1/2 cups shredded swiss cheese, divided
8 flour tortillas (8 inches)

In a large skillet, cook onions and garlic in butter over medium heat until tender. Stir in brown sugar. Cook for 15-20 minutes or until onions are golden brown, stirring frequently; remove and keep warm.
In the same skillet, cook sausage over medium heat until no longer pink; drain.
In a bowl, combine the sausage, 1 cup swiss cheese and onion mixture. place four tortillas on two greased baking sheets; springle each with 1 T swiss cheese. Top with sausage mixture and remaining cheese and tortillas.
Bake at 425 for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Cut each quesadilla into six wedges.

note:filling can be made ahead of time.
note: we just grilled them on a pancake grill and they turned out awesome!

Recipe: Lisa Harrington (Taste of Home)