Spaghetti Squash Casserole

Okay, so many of you have probably seen me mention on a number of occasions that I was going to try spaghetti squash. I also bought it on a few occasions and sadly let it spoil. I had bought some last week and was determined to give it a shot.


I googled many a recipe it and realized it has so many options with it! I thought for my first try I would do a basic casserole, "spaghetti", meat, sauce and a little cheese on top! Much to my surprise it was DELICIOUS! I would highly recommend it and I will definately be giving it another shot in my kitchen (maybe multiple shots really).

For my first time doing it, as I was keeping it simple, I wanted to just learn how to cook it and make it into "spaghetti". I found a great site that was most helpful. Although the microwave instructions said 6-8 minutes I would likely recommend 8-10 minutes on mine, but this is completely dependant on your machine. Next time I will try roasting them in the oven as I think that would give a ton of flavour. As for size, I had no idea how much "spaghetti" would come out, so I bought 3 small ones and it filled a 9X13 pan perfectly. The website is as follows. http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/cooking/a/spagsquash.htm

For mine, I simply fried up 1 pound of lean ground beef, added onions, garlic and other dried green seasonings (basil, oregano and Newfoundland savoury). I then added 1 large can of pasta sauce, some salt and pepper, and a can of corn (which I drained). I stirred the sauce into the "spaghetti" in a 9X13 pan and added about 1.5 cups of shredded light cheese to the top. Baked for about 30 minutes, then broiled for about 5. My 9X13 pan split into 8 servings (which were HUGE) came in at 6 points. You could easily make smaller servings though!

It was devine, delicious, scrumptious, so yummy and loved by all :) Even my picky eaters (except one, who you may know, has yet to try as she is afraid, so if you see her please tell her to try it, its really good).

See ya!

ONE HUNDRED ~ 100 ~ ONE HUNDRED, its just a number....but is it?

• In the year 100, the wheelbarrow made its first appearance in China
• it is the sum of the first 10 odd numbers 
• it is the minimum number of yards for a par 3 hole in golf
• an estimated 75% of Canadians live within 100 miles of the US border (I am one of them)
• a sneeze travels out of your mouth at 100 mph
• a jiffy is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second
• an ant can lift 100 times its weight
• 100 is the amount of pounds i have shed!!!!! 

I have recently reached a very special milestone and wanted to share it with you! I have recently reached my 100 pound goal. Still not at my final goal but definately closer!!! I would ask you all to join with me on this last leg of my journey as I try to reach my goal by my 30th birthday; only 5 months away but only 36 pounds to lose! 

So, what does losing 100 pounds look like you ask? well, it looks like meal planning (although not as much as I would like to as I am one super busy mama); it looks like cutting out my love for cake, cookies, chocolate (well not cutting out but really limiting myself, like one small slice of cake rather than 6); it looks like eating more veggies (a whole lot more veggies); it looks like trying new things (like green beans which I now love, leeks, which are ok, and next up on the list is spaghetti squash); it looks like eating more chicken and turkey rather than ground beef and ribs (although I do still have those things too); it looks like grabbing a banana rather than a chocolate bar (which i can now successfully do); it looks like early mornings at the gym (which I have managed to go from a very rough 5 minutes on the stairmaster, to doing a good steady pace on the stairmaster for a full hour); it looks like a gym membership picture that gets questioned (also passport but that will have to be updated soon); it looks like spinning classes, agua fitness classes, no sweat classes, strength classes; it looks like a whole lot of support from my amazing husband (who lets me go to all these classes, gotta say I am the luckiest girl in the world to have him); it looks like a whole lot of support from him with words or encouragement as well (like I said he is pretty amazing!); it looks like a mom who can take better care of her kids as I can run and chase them; it looks like fitting into clothes that have been too small for years and THEN those clothes getting too big (my new motto is "I'll shrink into it"); it looks like having a wedding dress that is WAY too big; it looks like more energy, more confidence, more strength, more flexibility; it looks like support of friends and family (in not encouraging me to eat the wrong things as well as going to the gym with me); and on and on and on!!!  

As you can see I could keep going forever and the amazing benefits of losing 100 pounds, but I would rather show you. Below you will see some photos, some are old, some are new. This will really give you a picture of what 100 pounds looks like.

Our wedding day - Feb 2005

Our trip to Mexico, November 2008

Me hiking with the tots (the start of the journey) early 2010

 

April 2011

Christmas 2011 in my amazing sweater!!! 

February 2012 on our anniversary weekend

Gabbys 4th birthday May 2012

June 2012 with a new little friend

Taco Soup {Slow Cooker}

Thought I would switch up the chicken today and utilize my favourite kitchen appliance, Betsy, my crock pot! :)

This is currently cooking and smells DELISH! I did make a few changes however. They are as follows, I did drain my beans (which I used black beans) and I drained my corn. We like thicker soup so, this worked out better! I may also add some additional taco seasoning to spice it up slightly :)

Also, at a mere 5 points plus per serving this is a great choice! We will serve it with some salad and other things, but yea! This recipe gets you 9 (nine) 1 cup servings! 

Enjoy! Come back later for an update and "maybe" some pictures!

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef

1 small onion (or half of a large onion), diced

1 can beef broth

1 can diced tomatoes and green chiles, undrained

1 can pinto beans, undrained

1 can kernel corn, undrained

1 packet taco seasoning

1 packet dry ranch dressing mix

1 cup water

Directions:

In a pan, brown and crumble ground beef along with diced onion.

I season my ground beef with a little salt & pepper.

 Drain excess grease.

 Put ground beef and onion mixture in slow cooker.

Add in diced tomatoes, corn, pinto beans and beef broth.

Fill tomato can with water (about 1 cup).

Add water to mixture.

 Stir in packet of ranch dressing mix

 And packet of taco seasoning.

 Give it all a good stir and set on low for 6 to 8 hours.

Serve with crushed corn tortilla chips, sour cream, Mexican cheeses and chopped green onion. Yummmm!

Enjoy!

Recipe comes from http://www.thecountrycook.net/2012/01/taco-soup-slow-cooker.html in case you are interested! 

"Sticky Chicky" - baked chicken in a sticky, sweet BBQ sauce

Okay so I got a new recipe book collection last week and I LOVE it! It is the authors of both "Looneyspoons" and "Eat, Shrink and be Merry". They take good yummy favourite recipes and make them healthy.

I saw this recipe and it sounded delicious so I thought I would give it a try. And guess what? It was DELICIOUS!!! Weight Watchers Points Plus comes in at 1 point for the sauce, plus the weight of your chicken. That is fantastic if you ask me! And the kids loved it too! We served it up with some baked potatoes.

So, that said, here is the recipe.

INGREDIENTS
8 boneless, skinless, chicken thighs or breasts
1/2 cup BBQ sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup maple syrup OR liquid honey
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp grated gingerroot
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp cornstarch

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 400F. Spray a 9 X 13 baking pan with cooking spray. Arrange chicken in pan in single layer.
2. To make sauce, whisk together remaining ingredients, except cornstarch, in a medium bowl. Pour evenly over chicken. Turn pieces to coat both sides with sauce. Bake, uncovered, for about 40 minutes (or until chicken is no longer pink in the center.
3. Remove chicken from pan but keep warm. Carefully pour sauce from pan into a small pot. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Combine cornstarch with an equal amount of water and mis until smooth. Add to sauce. Cook until sauce is bubble and has thickened, about 1 minute. Serve hot chicken with extra sauce on top.


Makes 8 servings
Per serving - 287 calories; 7.1 g fat; 35g protein; 19g carbs; 0.5g fiber

Chicken Teriwacky

Okay, so this recipe comes straight out of the Looneyspoons collection. I would highly recommend these books as they take recipes that we all LOVE and make them lighter. (Butter Chicken recipe from here as well).

I chose this recipe today as I had most of the ingredients and it is a grilled recipe, which means I don't have to turn on the oven! YAY! That said I will be cooking rice with it, but perhaps my rice cooker could come outside too. I plan to serve it with grilled red peppers (which in itself sounds DELICIOUS!!)

Marinade
2 tbsp each of soy sauce, freshly squeezed lime juice( I used lemon juice), liquid honey, ketchup, and green onion (which i did not have so I hope it turns out, lol)
1 tbsp grated gingerroot
2 tsp grated orange zest (which I had but completely forgot to add, whoops)
1 tsp minced garlic

Mix all the ingredients in marinade together in small dish,


Directions
Place chicken breast (about 1.5 pounds...I used thighs) in a large heavy duty resealable plastic bag. Add marinade and seal bag. Shake the bag a bit to coat the chicken. Marinate for at least 4 hours, or overnight if possible. **I think mine will be marinating for about 3.5 hours**

Preheat grill to a medium setting. Remove chicken from marinade and place on grill rack that is lightly greased. Grill for about 15 minutes, turning occasionally, until chicken is no longer pink in the center. Sprinkle chicken with toasted sesame seeds before serving. (These will also be omitted as I don't have any)

ENJOY!!! and come back later for pictures and an update!!!

Coconut Curry Stir Fry - yum

This recipe is from an Americas Test Kitchen Light Cookbook. I was very nervous as I am not a huge curry fan and the thought of making a stir fry terrified me. I told my husband he could choose a couple recipes and if I liked them I might make them even if they scare me "a little".

I prepared in the afternoon for this and had all my cutting, chopping, slicing, mixing and other prep ready to go. I had also read through the recipe multiple times so I knew which order to cook things. I was ready for this super fast meal. I later learned that there is a special name for that preparation, some french term, that I have since forgotten...sorry hunny!

We ended up serving it over basmati rice and it was just d

elicious. Even the kids and our picky eater friend loved it (Okay so our picky eater friend [lets call her PEF] maybe didn't love it but didn't hate it despite her hatred for coconut, I know right, COCONUT). I am about to enjoy my small plate of leftovers and plan to make this recipe along with other stir frys in the future.

Basic Stir Fry

3/4 pound protein

2 teaspoons low sodium soy sauce

2 teaspoons dry sherry

3 medium cloves garlic, minced or pressed

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

3 scallions, white parts only

5 teaspoons vegetable oil

1 1/2 lbs prepared vegetables

1. Toss the protein with soy sauce and sherry in a medium bowl. In small bowl, combine the garlic, ginger, scallion whites and 2 teaspoons of the oil.

2. Heat 1 more teaspoon oil in a 12 inch non stick skillet over high heat until just smoking. Add the protein and cook, stirring occasionally and breaking up clumps., until lightly browned, 1-4 minutes. Transfer to a clean bowl.

3. Add 1 more teaspoon oil to pan and return to high heat until shimmering. Add longer cooking vegetables to pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp tender, 1-5 minutes.

4. Add the remaining teaspoon oil and faster cooking vegetables and cook until vegetables are crisp tender, 30 sec-1 minute.

5. Clear the center of the pan and add the garlic mixture. Cook, mashing the garlic mixture into the pan with the back of a spatula, until fragrant, about 45 seconds. Stir the garlic mixture into the vegetables. Add the protein and toss to combine. Whisk the sauce (made below) to recombine, then add it to the pan and bring to a simmer. Off the heat, toss until the protein and vegetables are well coated with the sauce and sizzling hot. Serve immediately.

Cocunut Curry Stir Fry Sauce

2/3 cup unsweetened light coconut milk

6 tbsp. low sodium chicken broth

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon corn starch

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons curry powder

1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1. Combine all ingredients except the curry powder and pepper flakes in a small bowl and set aside.

2. Add the curry powder and pepper flakes to the garlic mixture in step 1 of the stir

Yankee Pot Roast and Veggies - Crock Pot

This recipe was found in a crock pot recipe book. I have never really made a good pot roast. I do have to admit, this is my first time cooking with parsnips and had to look them up on google while at the grocery store. Come back later for an update!

INGREDIENTS

2 1/2 pounds beef chuck pot roast

salt and pepper

3 unpeeled medium baking potatoes (about 1 pound) cut into quarters

2 large carrots, cut into 3/4 inch slices

2 stalks celery, cut into 3/4 inch slices

1 medium yellow onion, sliced

1 medium yellow onion, sliced

1 large parsnip, cut into 3/4 inch slices

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon dried rosemary

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 cup 99% fat free, reduced sodiu beef broth

DIRECTIONS

1. Trim excess fat from beef and discard. Cut beef into serving sized pieces; sprinkle with salt and pepper.

2. Combine potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, parsnip, bay leaves, rosemary and theym in crock pot. Place beef over vegetables. Pour broth over beef. Cover' cook on LOW 8 1/2 - 9 hours, or until beef is tender.

3. Trasnfer beef to serving platter. Arrange vegetables around beef. Remove and discard bay leaves before serving.

Makes 12 servings.

Lemon Blackberry Cheesecake

So we had a family gathering to go to and it was my turn to bring dessert. I made a couple varieties of cookies and some brownies (chocolate, peanut butter, banana brownies, which were delicious!), but I thought I should make a new recipe. I came across this one and remembered I had frozen blackberries in the freezer and my husbands family enjoys lemony things so it sounds great!

This recipe as you can imagine is not weight watchers friendly, but we wanted to make it a little more friendly. The below recipe and picture is taken directly from ivillage.com. The original recipe is 10 weight watchers points per serving (that is if it is cut into 17 pieces, I know it is a weird number, lol). With my revisions it comes out to 4 points plus per serving. All I changed was using fat free sour cream (I buy mine in the states as their fat free sour cream is still quite thick) and I also changed it to fat free cream cheese (also bought in the states). I was absolutely amazed when I calculated and 2 pounds of regular cream cheese was almost 90 points and fat free was only like 25 (that is by memory only, lol)

Overall, taking out all the fat did change it, it was more creamy that a normal baked cheesecake but we really enjoyed it and nobody even guessed it was light! Good luck!

Lemon-Blackberry Cheesecake

This two-layer cheesecake looks cool and tastes better. It is nice to see the pure cheesecake layer above the berries, but if you’re in a rush you really don’t need to divide the batter; just add the purée and berries to the entire batter and omit that step.

From My Family Table: A Passionate Plea for Home Cooking, by John Besh

Dessert

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Ingredients

3 tablespoons butter, softened		1 cup sour cream
1 cup graham cracker crumbs		1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 pounds cream cheese		1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups sugar		1 1/2 pints blackberries
3/4 cup milk		Zest and juice of 1 lemon
4 eggs

Yield: 8 Servings

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directions

Total:

• 1
  
  

  Preheat the oven to 350˚. Grease a 9-inch springform pan with 1 tablespoon of the butter. Mix the graham cracker crumbs with the remaining 2 tablespoons butter in a medium bowl. Press onto the bottom and halfway up the sides of the pan.

• 2

  In a large bowl, use a handheld mixer to combine the cream cheese with the sugar until smooth. Blend in the milk, then beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing just enough to incorporate. Mix in the sour cream, flour, and vanilla until smooth. Divide the mixture between two bowls.

• 3

  In a food processor or blender, purée 1 pint of the blackberries with the lemon zest and juice. Pour the purée into one bowl of the cheese mixture along with the remaining 1⁄2 pint of whole blackberries and mix well.

• 4

  Pour the blackberry filling on top of the prepared crust. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and pour the remaining filling over the top. Return to the oven to bake for 1 hour, until the topping is set. Chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve
  .