The great misadventures of Chicken and Dumplings

Oh my goodness, who would have thought that my nemesis would be chicken and dumplings? Well it was! Well not really the dumplings, it was the chicken. But let me start from the beginning.

Brooklynn and James just LOVE chicken and dumplings. They are always talking about it. My sister and friend told me that it was not hard to make. So I pulled out my "Simply Delicious" Weight Watchers cookbook and looked up a recipe.

3 1/2 lb chicken (pulled apart) {There lies my problem}

2 small carrots

2 small celery

1 onion

3/4 cups baking mix

1/3 c. fat free milk

3 c. low sodium chicken broth

salt and pepper to taste

1 tbsp parsley

The first thing the recipe told me was to pull apart the raw chicken...wh...wh...what? Pull apart and take off the skin of a raw, whole chicken? How was I supposed to do this? It must have looked very comical, because James was peeking through the window of the kitchen grinning at me as I tore this little *%#&^%& apart. After about 25 minutes I said, that is enough chicken.

I browned chicken, then added the chopped veggies and browned them as well (about 6 minutes each) then I added the broth and let it simmer for 35 minutes. I mixed the milk and baking mix and parsley together to make the dumplings. After the 35 minutes I dropped the dumplings in and let it simmer with a cover 20 minutes, then without a cover for 15 more minutes. The end result was super yummy, but next time...I get chicken breasts. AJ opted out because of the carrots, but it fed 4 adults, 2 children (with B and James having two helpings). No leftovers, that's my goal!

MMM...MMM...Mini Caesar Salad Bites

Tonight at our house was a night of mini's, or tapas, depending on who you talk to. I decided to make this a game for the kids. I made all different tapas and color coded them with toothpicks. The more fruit, veg, meat the kids eat the more toothpicks. The most toothpicks wins! One of the dishes was a big surprise. Mini Caesar Salad Bites. Lettuce leaves, small chicken bites, prosciutto, anchovies, homemade dressing, hard boiled egg. Yum! They are little and so great!

I got pre-made chicken that just needed warmed up.

Broiled prosciutto

2 hard boiled eggs

sliced anchovies

lettuce leaves pulled apart

miracle whip

white vinegar

water

Parmesan cheese

For dressing, mix 1 tbsp of mayo, 1 tbsp of water and 1 tsp of white vinegar.

I pulled apart the lettuce leaves and set them as cups.

Put the pieces of chicken in the cups.

Put the sliced egg and prosciutto in the cup.

Put an anchovy on top.

Sprinkled parm on top.

Poured dressing over the top

Yummy Summer Obsession

This yummy Summer obsession was first introduced to me by my friend Kim. We used to barbecue almost every weekend last summer and I dearly miss hanging out together!

Strawberry Pretzel Salad
ingredients:

2 c. crushed pretzel pieces

2 tbsp. brown sugar

3/4 c. butter, melted

1/2 c. mini chocolate chips

8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened (we used weight watchers)

1 c. sugar8 oz. tub of Cool Whip (we used fat free)

2 regular boxes of strawberry Jello

2 c. boiling water

About 10 ounces of frozen fruit (we used strawberries) thawed and drained

instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Crush regular pretzels in a zip lock bag with something heavy. In a large bowl, mix 2 cups of crushed pretzel, 2 tbs. brown sugar, and 2/3 cup of melted butter. Press mixture firmly into the bottom of a 9×13 baking pan. Bake for 8 minutes then allow to cool. Mix Jello packets and boiling water until dissolved. Stir in thawed fruit then place mixture in the fridge to chill while you make the middle layer. Stir together softened cream cheese, 1 cup of sugar, and thawed tub of Cool Whip until nicely mixed. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips over the cooled pretzel crust. Spread the cream cheese mixture evenly on top the crust. Then top with the fruit-jello mixture. Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight.

Yummy 4 point Veal

So let me pre-empt by saying I have never had veal before! I was against it because of the treatment of the animals...but all good Chef's must use all good food. So I sucked it up and decided to make Veal (one of my husband's favorites.) I made Veal Cutlets with Wine Braised Mushrooms (for you fellow WWers it was only 4 points per serving).

Ingredients

• 1 lb. Veal scaloppine


• 1/4 c. all purpose flour


• 2 tsp evoo (extra virgin olive oil) divided


• 1 (8 oz package) of pre-sliced mushrooms


• 1/4 c. of sliced green onions


• 1/3 c. low sodium beef or chicken broth (I prefer chicken)


• 1/4 c. your favorite dry wine (I used Cupcake Riesling)


• 1/4 c. water


• 1/2 c. chopped seeded tomato


• 1/2 tsp. salt


• 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper


• 2 tbsp. chopped basil (if you use dry only do 1 1/2 tbsp.)

Instructions

Dredge veal in flour. Heat nonstick skillet over medium/high heat. Add veal and cook 2 minutes per side. Transfer veal to a serving platter; cover and keep warm. Add mushrooms and green onions to renderings in pan and saute 1 1/2 minutes until tender. Combine broth, wine, and water. Add to pan, scraping pan to loosen those yummy brown bits. Stir in tomato, salt and pepper. Then add veal back in to rewarm it.

I put it over brown rice (2 points) and serve. So good, I only ate a small piece of veal but James ate the entire pan...LOL

Enjoy!

Blogger's change

So I think I'm going to change the blog up a bit...I think I want to make it an easy recipe site for working moms (or non working moms). A site where they can have fun go to recipes. Some kid friendly, and some probably not. Stuff I make up and stuff I just love! I'm not generally very crafty or creative but I have an insane passion for cooking! I always share my favorite recipes with my friends because they always ask...LOL

For my first recipe:

Jamie's jalapeno popper burgers

These can be made with real meat or soy (which is a staple in our house)

Ingredients

5 fresh jalapenos

1 lb ground beef (I used Laura's Lean 4% fat)

fresh shallot

3/4 cup of panko bread crumbs

salt

pepper

1 egg or egg substitute (I used sub)

Worcestershire sauce (to taste)

1 container of cream cheese (I use Weight Watcher's Whipped because it's so yummy!)

Instructions

Dice up jalapenos very small. Dice up shallot to preferred size. Mix jalapeno, shallot, panko, salt, pepper, Worcestershire, and egg in bowl. Add to 1 lb. of beef. Mix up very well. Make your hamburgers and flatten out. Take a teaspoon of cream cheese (a bit more if you want, but not too much or the burger won't bind) and place the cheese in the middle. Seal the burger around the cheese and flatten to nice size. Repeat with remaining 3 burgers. Grill for about 5 minutes on each side or longer if you want them well done.

You can also make mini sliders with this! Super good, and mix up the ingredients. For the kids instead of jalapenos I put any veggie or ingredient they want and instead of cream cheese I put shredded Cheddar in theirs. They are so yummy!!!

Enjoy!

Water!

You know, I'm always telling my kids about drinking 8 glasses of water a day. Brooklynn said to me the other day..."You know Mom, it's not as easy as you think." Thinking that I obviously know more than my 7 year old I told her, in my best mom voice, "Why yes it is!" Then she said, "Then you do it." Well, normally I would get annoyed at her snippity comment, but this time I thought I will. And I'll show you.

Well, phew! Did I show her! This morning I picked up 2 bottles of 33.8 oz. water. I figured that if I had only 2 bottles it wouldn't seem like a tough feat. So I got to work and cracked open the first bottle at about 9:15 (after my coffee). I chugged along rather quickly, not realizing how thirsty I was. At around 11:00 I hadn't realized that I had finished the entire 33.8 oz bottle. Wow, one down. That was too easy. So I cracked open the second one. I figured I would be able to tell Brooklynn just how easy it was that Mommy finished before lunch.

At gulp 3 of the second bottle I took a bathroom break. And that's when the flood gates opened, so to speak. Holy mother of God! This was not a good idea at work! Without going into too much detail. I have excused myself so many times that my boss asked if I was okay. I explained that I had just consumed 67 oz of water and what did she say to that? She chuckled. Well it was louder than a chuckle. She asked if the kids had anything to do with this. Was it that obvious?

Needless to say, I can tell Brooklynn that it is, in fact, possible to drink 8 glasses of water a day. Just not at work.

And look at me! I blogged... ;-P

Friday Foto