Eggplant Lasagna

Who says PBS has to be boring? In our world without cable, I was perusing the free antenna tv stations and stumbled on this recipe for Eggplant Lasagna. Now, I must say, the dude cooking had a grill pan, that he cooked his eggplant in, and he probably used more oil than I did, but I think I still turned out pretty good. Ed liked it, even said it was better than he thought it was going to be! I think Next time, I will use OIL and I will use less sauce, and less cheese, as it wasn't very lasagna-ie in texture. But still tasty, nonetheless. I think that some Turkey Pepperoni slices in there would be delish!

Ingredients:
1 large eggplant, cut in thin slices, lengthwise
1 jar Light Ragu Tomato & Basil Pasta Sauce (1 lb 10 oz size)
20 g or 8 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
18 g light mozzarella shredded cheese
McCormick Italian Herb Seasoning Grinder (or other Italian spices)
(optional)
1/2 lb ground turkey, browned

Preheat oven to 450.
Coat with oil spray and seasoning; Grill Eggplant slices til tender.
In an 8x8 glass baking dish, that has been sprayed with pan spray, assemble lasagna, layering eggplant, sauce, cheese, repeat. Bake for about 15 minutes or until cooked through.

Serve and enjoy!


makes 4 servings @ 5 Points+ each without the turkey.
makes 4 servings @ 8 Points+ each with the turkey.

I think I will skip the turkey and throw in some pepperoni next time!

Linked at :
fit and fabulous fridays

Secret Recipe Club: Pineapple Pumpkin Oatmeal Bars

Sorry for the initial confusion with this post!

This is month #2 participating in The Secret Recipe Club. I was excited to get my assignment email from Amanda (who puts in SO MUCH HARD WORK organizing this each month!!) This month I was assigned The Wednesday Baker. :waves: Hi Andi!!! She has so many super fabulous recipes on her blog that it was hard to decide what to make. Her Tuna Melt Sliders were high up on the list but I ended up making the Pineapple Oatmeal Bars. Here is the recipe with my adjustments:

Preheat oven to 375 and spray a pan (would be best in an 11x7, but all I had was 13x9) with pan spray

Ingredients: Crust:

1/4 cup light brown sugar (26g)

1 1/4 cup rolled oats (100 g)

1/4 cup all purpose flour (30g)

17g oats, processed in processor to make oat flour

28g softened butter ( I used land o lakes soft buttery spread)

77 g pumpkin puree

3 packets splenda with fiber

Mix the dry ingredients together and combine well.  Reserve 1/4 cup of this to sprinkle over the top before baking. then stir in pumpkin and soften butter til well incorporated. Spread evenly in bottom of pan (this took a little bit of time, as my pan was bigger and i had to work REALLY HARD =) to get it spread over the bottom!)

20 oz can crushed pineapple, drained

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/2 cup 1% milk

1 egg yolk

61 g pumpkin puree

1/4 cup white sugar

3 packets splenda with fiber

Combine these ingredients and heat in sauce pan until it starts to thicken. Pour over crust in pan, and sprinkle with the reserved oat topping. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean and edges are browning.

Makes 12 servings at 3 Points+ Each.

These were yummy, definitely different than anything else that I have ever made! I will make these again for sure!

linked at :

This chick cooks

fit and fabulous fridays

Eat at Home Ingredient Spotlight: Pineapple 

Pina Colada Chicken

Drool worthy? I think so. Super Easy and Super yummy.
Recipe inspiration from Healthy Delicious. I have made it the fried way, but I honestly think I like the baked version better. Less mess =)

Ingredients:
326 g Thin Sliced Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast(Sorry! grams easier than ounces at this point. I started with .92 lb chicken, but didnt use 3.2 oz?)
1/3 cup panko bread crumbs
30g sweetened coconut flakes
1/2 cup pineapple juice (used about 1/4 cup)

Preheat oven to 400.
Mix panko and coconut together
Coat both sides of chicken in pineapple juice then in crumb mixture. Place on baking sheet lined with foil.
Bake for 15-20 or until cooked through and golden brown. (it is perfectly acceptable to stand by the oven and savor the smell!) Carefully remove from foil so the bottom layer of coconut doesn't stick!
ENJOY!

this was SUPER yummy. I will be doing this again. I will get Ed's verdict when he gets home from school :)
Makes 4 servings @ 4 Points+ each. As you can See below, he liked it! :)

Linked @
Hunk of Meat Monday
This Chick Cooks
Made it on Monday
Cast Party Wednesday
Full Plate Thursday
Fit and Fabulous Friday
Melt in your Mouth Monday
Mop it up Monday

Cream of Wheat Pancake with Strawberry Blueberry Sauce

<3 'Nuff said!

Ingredients:
1 Cream of Wheat Pancake
Palmful Fresh Blueberries
3-4 fresh strawberries, stems removed, diced
1 packet sweetner
sprinkle of cinnamon

Rinse berries together in collander. Sprinkle with sweetner ( I used Splenda with fiber) and cinnamon. Let sit for about 5 minutes. Put Berries in a cup and mash with a wire wisk. You can use a blender or a food processor, but I like the chunks in my sauce, plus I dislike washing the blender if not necessary! Mush to desired consistency, and top pancake with sauce. Serve and Enjoy

Mmmm, Mmmm, Mmmm! Sauce = 0 Points+
Pancake = 6 Points+


Featured on:

Linked at:
Melt in Your Mouth Monday

Full Plate Thursday

Apple Cranberry Almond Oatmeal Pancakes with Strawberry Blueberry Cream Cheese Sauce

Whether you make the sauce to go on it or not, you NEED to try these. Easy, simple, just as the other oatmeal pancake recipes I have posted. The secret ingredient is Quaker Hearty Medleys Apple Cranberry Almond Instant Oatmeal. One of the Walmart's here near town had it on clearance over the weekend, so I bought a box. Eating just as regular oatmeal: Fabulous
Eating it as a pancake: Super Fab =)

Pancake ingredients:
1 packet Apple Cranberry Almond Quaker Oatmeal
1 egg
enough water to get batter to desired consistency

Mix ingredients together and pour in to a preheated skillet that has been sprayed with pan spray. Cook 3-5 minutes on each side or until done.

While your pancake is cooking, get:
3 strawberries, rinsed, pat dry, stems removed and diced
a palm full of blueberries, rinsed, pat dry
1 oz light cream cheese

Nuke the cream cheese for about 10 second to soften, dump in the berries and mush together, leaving as chunky or as smooth as you want.

Pancake = 6 Points+
Cream Sauce = 3 Points+
or 9 Points+ for all of it.
Pretty Steep for me for breakfast but it is SO good! :)
Indulge, live a little!

linked at:
Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Heart Smart: Recipes for a Healthy Heart

Oven "fried" Zucchini Chips

When I started chopping the zucchini for the Zucchini Stir fry, I realized that almost 2 pounds of squash chops up to be a lot more than I thought! Ed and I both love Fried Squash, and I have been wanting to try Zucchini Fries, but I didn't have all of the ingredients, so I figured I would try a basic simple recipe and see how it went. It is definitely NOT Oil Fried Squash, but it did turn out pretty tasty!

Ingredients:
175g Zucchini, thinly sliced in rounds
1/4 cup 1% milk
1/4 cup italian bread crumbs


Preheat oven to 400 and line a baking sheet with foil. Spray lightly with PAM. Dip each squash round in the milk, then coat with bread crumbs, spacing them evenly apart on the baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes, then flip and cook for another 7 or so.

Makes 2 servings @ 2 Points+ Each

Zucchini Stir Fry

Easy enough and tasty to boot!


Ingredients:
375g or 13.25 oz sliced zucchini
1/2 cup water
palm full of chopped onions
1 tablespoon garlic powder
Garlic Pepper Grinder Seasoning
Sprinkle of salt

Preheat skillet over medium heat, spray with PAM. Add in squash and spices, top with water and stir. Cover and stir frequently til squash is cooked through.

A healthy pretty side for 0 Points+. Makes 2 servings.

Mesquite Lemon Pepper Chicken Tenders

Sometimes {most of the time} I want something and I don't know what it is. So that is when you go in the kitchen and just start mixing things together.

Ingredients
1.14 lb chicken tenderloin
5 tablespoons lemon pepper marinade
5 tablespoons Mesquite Marinade

Let meat marinade for at least 30 minutes. I let mine sit for about 24 hours. Then bake or grill as desired. I baked mine at 375 for 20 minutes. PERFECTO =)

Easy and tasty.
makes 4 servings @ 4 Points+ Each

Cream of Wheat Pancakes

Just another happy spin off of Oatmeal Pancakes!

1 packet instant cream of wheat ( I used Healthy Grain Maple Brown Sugar)
1 Egg
Sprinkle of cinnamon
Enough Water to get batter to desired consistency.


Combine ingredients together and pour in to a preheated (medium heat) skillet. Cook for about 3-5 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Serve and enjoy!

I put just a tad tad amount of light syrup on mine, but it would be great with fruit topping or cream cheese.

Just the pancake itself is 6 Points+. Don't forget to add any extra for your toppings!

This was good. It was more dense (if possible!) than that oatmeal pancakes and the texture was grainier. But overall, good in my book and worth repeating!

Single Serving Strawberry Shortcakes

On the topic of Nilla Wafers, I threw this together earlier and it was AWESOME. Just make sure you have really good fresh strawberries. Me thinks this would be fab with blueberries or bananas as well!

Ingredients:
4 Reduced fat Nilla Wafers
2 large strawberries, stems removed and halved
9 grams (1 serving) cool whip free

Divide the cool whip between the Wafers, top with strawberry and enjoy.
Easy and Delish!

2 Points+ for all 4, or if you want to share, you can have 2 for 1!

Nilla Yogurt Freeze

I found a pretty awesome deal on Nilla wafers, so now I have a few boxes to do creative things with.
I started with the recipe on the side of the box, which has just a few ingredients and is very versatile. They suggest using regular size muffin cups and whole nilla wafers, but I wanted to make mini ones.

Ingredients:
24 Reduced Fat Nilla Wafers, cut in halves
12 oz you favorite flavor low fat yogurt ( I used 2 x 6 oz cups, one peach and one strawberry)
144 g Cool Whip Free, thawed, halved. ( if you don't have a food scale, I determined the amount to use by filling one of the 6 oz yogurt cups about 3/4 full, per 6 oz yogurt, so that should be a decent guideline)

In a mini muffin tin, put in 24 liners.
Place half of a Nilla wafer in the bottom of each one.
If you are doing all one flavor, mix all of the yogurt with all of the cool whip.
If you are doing 2 flavors as I did, mix each 6 oz of the yogurt with 1/2 of the cool whip and stir til well combined.
Divide the yogurt mixture among the liners, approx 1 tablespoon in each one. Once all 24 cups are full, top each with another 1/2 of a Nilla wafer.
Freeze and serve. It takes about 1 hour for them to freeze through.

1 mini Nilla Yogurt freeze = 1 Points+

YUMMY! Next time, I may try Greek yogurt, or mix up some interesting flavor combinations. This is really super easy and tasty!

Watermelon Balls with Chili Powder

Why yes, I may have completely flipped my lid, but this is actually pretty good. Growing up, I saw people put salt on watermelon and that just doesn't make any sense to me!
I spotted this idea over Eat At Home Cooks and had to try it!

Easy, just cut up your melon and sprinkle with the chili powder.

Enjoy!

A different flavor for sure, but good nonetheless.

The longer the spices sit on the melon, the more you can taste the individual flavors

Very neat indeed!