Strawberry Banana Quinoa Muffin

So, this recipe caught my eye and I had to try it. Quinoa is something that we enjoy in my house and I have been on the hunt for a good breakfast muffin that can be frozen. These turned out great! Very easy to make (once your quinoa is cooked) and at only 3 points per muffin there will make a nice filling breakfast with some fruit. I am hoping they freeze well, so we will try that out tonight :)

Some switches I could try next time would be to add blueberries, chocolate chips, raspberries, peanut butter or little pieces of cream cheese. With this particular mix I would potentially try adding some spices that you would normally add to carrot cake. I think that would be great!

I got the recipe from another site so I will post that below. She worked it out that these muffins will cost only about .30 per muffin which is FABULOUS!

Enjoy!

Ingredients
1 1/3 c quinoa flour (whole wheat or all purpose is fine if you don’t have access to quinoa flour)
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 c firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 T melted butter
1 t vanilla extract
2 medium overripe bananas, mashed
1 c cooked quinoa
1 c finely chopped fresh strawberries
1-2 strawberries, thinly sliced (optional for garnish)

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 375°. Prepare a muffin or cupcake tin with cooking spray or muffin liners. In a small bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt, and set aside. In a separate, larger bowl, combine the brown sugar, butter, eggs & vanilla and whisk until smooth. Mix in the dry flour mixture a couple tablespoons at a time, stirring together until completely incorporated.

2. When all the flour has been mixed in, add the mashed bananas and the quinoa, and mix well. Add the chopped strawberries (juice & all!) and fold into the muffin batter. Divide the batter among the prepared muffin cups. Place one strawberry slice on top of each muffin, and bake for about 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the muffins comes out clean.

3. Remove from oven and cool for a couple of minutes before removing muffins from pan. Cool on a rack for about 10 minutes, or until ready to serve. Serve for brunch or take some with you to for a quick weekday breakfast, and enjoy!

http://www.poorgirleatswell.com/2012/02/recipe-strawberry-banana-quinoa-muffins.html

Better Butter Chicken

So this recipe is one of my favourites. The recipe is taken from the "Eat, Shrink and Be Merry" cookbook and these girls are great at taking something normally "not so healthy" and making a healthier version. I hope you enjoy! I ALWAYS do!

The way I make it it is 6 servings (approx. 1 cup each) the weight watchers point are SO low... 5 point per serving. If you add rice, it is about 5 points for a cup of rice. Nice and light but SO DELICIOUS!!!

INGREDIENTS

2 tbsp butter (I use marjarine)

1 cup chopped onions

2 tsp minced garlic

1 tbsp grated gingerroot

1 tsp chilil powder (make sure you use a milder one if you have kids :)

1/2 tsp ground tumeric

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 can (19 oz.) diced tomatoes

2 tbsp. tomato paste

1 tbsp. brown sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

1 whole cooked rotisserie chicken, skin removed and meat cut up (I do use cooked chicken breast on a regular basis)

1/3 cup light (5%) cream

1/4 cup light sour cream or plain yogurt (often I will just use about 2/3 of light sour cream and no light cream)

DIRECTIONS

1. melt butter in deep 10 inch skillet over medium heat.

2. Add onions and garlic, cook slowly, stirring often until onions are tender, about 5 minutes.

3. Add gingerroot, chili powder, tumeric and cinnamon. Cook 1 more minute.

4. Add undrained tomatoes, tomato paste, brown sugar, salt and pepper.

5. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 mintes, stirring occasionally.

6. Add cut up chicken, cream and sour cream. Simmer uncovered for 5 more minutes. Remove from heat.

7. Serve over hot basmati rice if desired.

8. Enjoy!

This recipe is also great to make and freeze for lunches or future dinners.

Skinny Enchiladas

So, perhaps I should have checked the points on this recipe (and maybe my ingredients) before I convinced myself I was making it. Regardless it looks good, smells good and although probably not up to our Mexican (okay so mexicanish) friends standards it will potentially taste good???? I hope!

INGREDIENTS for enchiladas

9 large tortillas (low carb La Tortilla available at Costco or Walmart in Bellingham)

1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast meat (I used 10 ounces of a dark/white meat mix I had)

1 cup chopped onion (didn't have onion, so I used a small amount of onion powder, shhh don't tell hubby)

1 cup chopped bell pepper (I used 1/2 red 1/2 green)

1/2 cup non fat greek yogurt (I used light Daisy sour cream, please do not use a light sour cream unless it is thick)

1/2 cup shredded low fat mexican cheese

INGREDIENTS for sauce

3/4 cup salsa

1/4 cup non fat yogurt (same as above, I used sour cream)

1/4 cup low fat shredded cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 and lightly spray a 9 X 13 baking dish with cooking spray.

2. Saute onions and peppers in small skillet until onions are lightly browned.

3. Mix veggies with yogurt, chicken and cheese.

4. Spred 1/4 cup of mixture down middle of tortilla, roll it up and place seam down in baking dish.

5. Mix salsa and yogurt for sauce in small bowl and evenly cover tortillas, sprinkle with cheese

6. Cover with foil and bake for 15-20 minutes.

7. ENJOY ~ which is what I am going to do as I can hear my timer now! Come back to hear how it was!

King Ranch Casserole

Sorry just a quite intro for this one as I am getting behind :) It turned out pretty good. Definately needs some tweeking...like extra seasoning in the sauce and maybe actually using the proper tortillas that it calls for. But other than that it was pretty good. A great size for 2 adults, 2 kids. Multiply the recipe if you have a larger family or would like leftovers.

INGREDIENTS

1 green bell pepper (I used red)

1/2 medium onion, chopped (I used 1 whole onion AND I added garlic)

1 can cream of mushroom OR cream of chicken

1 can ROTEL tomatoes (I was not sure what these were so I used diced tomatoes with oregano, basil and garlic, apparantly it is tomatoes with chile peppers or jalepenos)

6 ounces cubed chicken (I used rotiserie chicken that was leftover and frozen)

4 corn tortillas, torn in pieces (We used high fiber, low carb, whole wheat tortillas)

1/3 cup shredded mexican cheese

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Saute pepper and onion (and garlic) in skillet with pam. Add soup, tomatoes and chicken. Alternate layers of tortillas and soup mix. Sprinkle cheese on top.

2. Bake at 325 for 40 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

3. ENJOY~

Grandma's Casserole

Apparantly this recipe was a Weight Watchers recipe from about 20 years ago. When calculated it turns out to be 7 points plus per serving and this recipe makes a 9X13 dish with 8 servings so a fairly decent size.

It was VERY easy to make, so simple... Saute, simmer, stuff into pan and bake. I am looking forward to it. I did, however, add a little extra garlic as I personally think garlic makes everything taste better. Hopefully it doesn't prove me wrong today :)

INGREDIENTS

1 chopped onion

1 chopped green pepper

2 tablespoons butter (I used marjarine)

16 oz. ground turkey, cooked (I used 20 oz uncooked)

1 teaspoon seasoning salt

1 teaspoon pepper

12 oz. tomato puree (I used tomato sauce as this is all I had)

15 oz. diced tomatoes in a can

2 cups water

8 oz. uncooked egg noodles

8 oz. shredded cheddar (I only used 4 oz. as thats all I had and simply I was being lazy and didn't want to shred more, also it lightened it up by a whole point per serving:)

DIRECTIONS

1. SAUTE first 3 ingredients (I also added 2 teaspoons garlic)

2. Add next 6 ingredients and simmer for 15 minutes.

3. Pour a little sauce in 9X13 dish and top with noodles

4. Cover noodles with remaining sauce and top off with cheese

5. Cook for 45 minutes at 350 degrees

6. ENJOY

Come back later to find out how it turned out.

More than a chef - not a recipe

So, I thought I would take a small post and properly introduce myself. To start I would NEVER in a million years consider myself a chef, but the title was catchy :) What do you think?

To start, I was born in Newfoundland, and lived in many different parts of Canada through out my life. I have a mom, a dad, a brother and 2 sisters. I ended up in BC after meeting the man of my dreams and getting to know him over a series of months on http://www.christiancafe.com. Gotta say he is pretty amazing and I am one lucky girl. We got married shortly after I moved out here and lived hap

pily ever after :) lol, well okay that was my fairy tale dream but yea pretty much we did :)

We were blessed with Gabriella in 2008 and Judah came in 2009, also a blessing. Gabby is a mini me and Judah is a complete replica of my husband Jim. Both are pretty amazing kids (I saw with a small grin) and I love them very much, like them most days as well! They both like to constantly remind me to pray for patience, which is a work in progress to say the least.

Aside from "all my cooking" and my mommy and wife duties I do many other things. I do daycare in my home, I do photography on the weekends, I volunteer in many capacities at our church, I enjoy gardening, snowboarding, riding bike an

d I own a ton of scrapbooking and card making supplies. Notice I said I own, rather than I do, lol....I like to have the stuff just in case one day I feel the need to scrapbook or make a card.

So, I do daycare in my home, this was a decision we made early in marriage. I wanted to be able to stay ho

me and take care of our children, so I returned to school and took my Early Childhood Education so that I would be legit in everything. So now I stay home and teach my own children, how AWESOME is that! That said, Gabby does attend preschool 2 times a week and it is one of the BEST things that ever happened, totally allows me and her to get along better.

My photography business is a work in progress as well. Photography has ALWAYS been a hobby of mine for as long as I can remember and once I got my first DSLR camera I quickly realized that I wanted to make this a career. I started taking photos for friends and family and then started to advertise where people seemed to really like my work. I am always on the look out for new clients and love getting to know more families. That being said I really need to start putting up pictures of my food that I am cooking. Check out my website http://www.pattigerbrand.com

My volunteer time is shared between the nursery, leading bible study and being a part of a medium sized group with my husband. I also very much enjoy coffee dates with friends and my bestest friend, my hubby.

My gardening is something you will probably hear more about once gardening season starts. I do square foot gardening and last year was by far my best year! Lots of potatoes, strawberries, zucchini, garlic, fresh herbs, carrots. To say the least I learned to follow the directions and even though I think dumping a bunch of carrot seeds in one hole is a good idea (lol) I think this coming season I will limit it to one or two (okay "maybe" three).

So, that is a bit about me, I hope it al

lows you to get to know me a little bit, any questions feel free to ask! Need prayer? Also, feel free to ask!

Good luck with the recipes and blessings on you and your families!

Chicken Paella - crock pot

Okay, so this is something I wouldn't normally choose to eat on my own doing, but I am trying to be adventurous. Seems it is pretty much just chicken, rice, veggies and spices I thought it can't be that bad. This newest food I have never cooked with but will today is turmeric. (Hubby may correct me, but to the best of my knowledge I have never cooked with it).

This is a lighter recipe (7 points plus per serving) and this recipe makes 4 servings. I have already prepared it and am just waiting for dinner time to try it. It is as easy as throwing everything in the crock pot, turning it on and going about your day. In this particular recipe though, I will have to cook the rice at some point during the day and add it in ONLY for the last 15 minutes along with the frozen peas. This is an excellent idea as some of these crock pot recipes have created some pretty mushy rice. Come back later for an update on how it went.

INGREDIENTS

1 pound uncooked boneless, skinless chicken thighs, (4 4 oz thighs)

2 medium fresh tomatoes, chopped

1 medium uncooked onion, chopped

1 medium uncooked bell pepper, chopped (I used 1 red pepper and 1/2 yellow pepper)

1/2 cup canned chicken broth

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/3 cup frozen green peas

2 cups cooked white rice

INSTRUCTIONS

Place all ingredients (EXCEPT PEAS AND RICE) in crock pot (at least 4 quarts in size). Cover and cook on low for 5 hours (my particular crock pot cooks hot so I am doing 4 hours).

Add peas and rice; cook uncovered until peas are tender (about 15 minutes). Yields about 1 1/2 cups per serving (includes 1 chicken thigh per serving)

ENJOY!

Chocolate Meringue Cookies

So these sounded good in theory, however mine somewhat failed or so I think. They are really flat and quite crispy. I followed the recipe perfectly so I don't know what happened. And these take FOREVER to cook (3 hours) so make sure you are home for some time.

I have included some other recipes on the bottom which I might try next time as these are really low in points and nice a sweet.

Please if you can make them nice and fluffy let me know. :)

• 4 large egg whites
• ½ teaspoon distilled white vinegar or ½ teaspoon cider vinegar
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 4 tablespoons cocoa powder

Directions:

1. 1
   Beat egg whites till frothy.
2. 2
   Add vinegar and beat till soft peaks form.
3. 3
   Increase the mixer to high and gradually add in the sugar until glossy peaks form.
4. 4
   Beat in vanilla.
5. 5
   Add cocoa and mix by hand.
6. 6
   Line two cookie sheets with foil and (lightly) spray with Pam.
7. 7
   Drop mixture by tablespoon fulls about 1 in apart on pans.
8. 8
   Should make 44 cookies.
9. 9
   Bake at 200 degrees F for 3 hours.
10. 10
    Let cool completely on cookie sheet for about 1 hours.
11. 11
    Remove and store leftovers in an air proof container.

OTHER OPTIONS

http://www.weightwatchers.ca/food/rcp/index.aspx?recipeId=81501

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chocolate-meringue-cookies/

Crock Pot Jambalaya

• This sounds super yummy! Chicken, rice, shrimp and a whole lot of veggies and herbs. I have not had jambalaya in a long long time. I think maybe since Trinidad, so this should be fun! I also really like the idea of cooking the rice first and simply adding it to the recipe right before I serve it.

  Come back later for the result of this recipe.

  
  

  Ingredients:

• 12 ounces boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 ½ cups green peppers , chopped
• 1 medium onion , chopped
• 2 celery ribs , sliced
• 4 garlic cloves , minced
• 1 (14 ounce) can whole tomatoes (I used diced)
• ¹⁄₃; cup tomato paste
• 1 (10 ½ ounce) can beef broth
• 1 tablespoon parsley
• 1 ½ teaspoons basil
• ½ teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 lb shrimp , shelled
• 3 cups cooked rice

Directions:

1. 1
   Cut chicken into 1 inch pieces.
2. 2
   Put all ingredients (EXCEPT shrimp and rice) in crock pot.
3. 3
   Cover; cook on low for 8 hours.
4. 4
   Add shrimp the last 20 minutes of cooking.
5. 5
   Stir in rice before serving.

Deep Dish Pizza Casserole

This recipe was SOOOO easy to prepare and I bet with a working fridge you could prepare it a day in advance and just pop it in the oven.

Come back later to see how it tasted.

This recipe makes 6 servings and each serving is worth 8 points plus.

INGREDIENTS

1 lb ground beef

1 (15 oz) can chunky Italian - style tomatoes

cooking spray

1 (10 oz) can refridgerated pizza dough

6 oz. shredded part skim mozzarella cheese

DIRECTIONS

1.Preheat oven to 425F

2. Cook meat in a non skillet over medium high heat until browned, stirring until it crumbles. Drain and return to skillet. Add tomatoes, and cook until heated through. **(I also added some extra garlic)**

3. While meat cooks, coat 13 X 9 inch baking dish with cooking spray. Unroll pizza dough, and press into bottom and halfway up side of the baking dish. Top the pizza with meat mixture.

4. Bake uncovered for 12 minutes. Top with cheese and bake for 5 minutes or until crush is browned and cheese melts. Cool 5 minutes before serving.

Crock Pot Ham & Potato Au Gratin

I came across this recipe on food.com and it looks so yummy! The fact that it is a crock pot recipe makes it even better. I am excited to try this tonight.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups lean ham, diced

4 cups potatoes, diced raw

1 cup onions, chopped

3/4 cup reduced fat cheddar cheese, shredded

1 (10 3/4 oz) can cream of celery OR cream of chicken soup (low fat option)

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes

1 teaspoon yellow mustard

DIRECTIONS

Spray your crock pot with cooking spray (or use the super easy and great for clean up crock pot liners). Combine ham, potatoes and onions. Sprinkle cheese on top. In a small bowl mix together soup, pepper, parsley and mustard. Pour over potatoes and ham and mix well to combine.

Cover and cook on low for 8 hours (I am going for 5 hours as my crock pot has been cooking hot recently. However, i will check it at about 4 hours and put on high if need be.)

Makes 6 - 1 cup servings at 4 points plus per serving.