Pizza Stuffed Chicken Breasts

This is another Dashing Dish recipe by Katie Farrell.

You can view her website here.

Ingredients

1 1/4 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella

1/2 cup pizza sauce divided(points vary depending on what sauce you use- I used Ragu Pizza Quick)

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp Italian seasoning

12 turkey pepperoni slices


Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray.

Place one chicken breast at a time in a large Ziploc bag and use the smooth side of a tenderizing mallet to thin out the breast.

Try not to tear the meat and work to make it a uniform thickness but don't stress if it's not perfect.

Mine aren't perfect by any means.

Place the chicken on the baking sheet.

In a small bowl mix the mozzarella, pizza sauce and all of the spices together.

Spread 1/4 of the mixture evenly over each chicken breast.  Roll up each breast and place seam side down on the baking sheet.

Pour the remaining pizza sauce over the top of the chicken and place 3 pepperonis on top of each chicken breast.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through or a meat thermometer registers a minimum of 165 degrees.

This serves 4 and comes out to 4 pts per serving!!!

Remember points will vary depending on what sauce you use.  I used the Ragu Pizza Quick sauce but you could also use Classico brand Tomato & Basil marinara.  It's 1 point lower per item but when it's in the recipe builder there is no difference.  

This is one that I didn't have to ask my husband's opinion on.  He volunteered that it was "really, really good".

Needless to say we both cleaned our plates tonight.  

This wasn't too time consuming or difficult to make and it tasted great!

Yet another great WW friendly recipe!

1 Pt Poppy seed Salad Dressing!

This is another great find from a Connect friend, melbella116.

Panera's Poppyseed salad dressing is only 1 pt!

And, it's really good!

It doesn't have a chemical sort of taste.

It's sweet and sour and super yummy.

I think I'm throwing Olive Garden's Light salad dressing over in favor of this one for my work lunches.

Well, at least for a while.

  

And, look-  It's my new 2 Tbsp measuring spoon!  It looks like a lot when it's in there.

Oh my how I love the little things.

Enjoy your guilt free salad!

Risotto With Bacon & Shrimp

I've only made risotto a couple of times.

The last time I made it it turned out way too salty.

So, this time I used unsalted broth for cooking.

This time is also different because I used my pressure cooker to make this for the very first time.

If you haven't ever made risotto it can be kind of tricky.

It's not something you can make leisurely and walk away for a while as it cooks.

I think that's why the idea cooking it in a pressure cooker, where I actually could walk away, was a appealing.


Ingredients

2 cups of preferred, unsalted broth(I used chicken broth)

1 cup of risotto

1/4 cup grated Parmesan

4 slices pre-cooked Hormel Black Label bacon

1 cup chopped fresh mushrooms

1/4 cup white wine

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 lb shrimp of preferred size(I used the popcorn sized shrimp today)

1 yellow onion, finely chopped

1 Tbsp of olive oil


Instructions

Heat the oil in the pressure cooker and then add the onion.  Saute until it is cooked through, about 7 minutes.

Add in the mushrooms and garlic powder.  Cook another 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently.

Next add in the risotto, again, stirring frequently.  Cook for a couple minutes.

Now add in the wine to deglaze the pan and then add in your broth.

Bring it to a boil and then put the lid on.  Bring the pressure to the first ring(lower level) and set the timer to cook for 7 minutes.

See?  You can have 7 whole minutes to walk away, if you're comfortable cooking with your pressure cooker and it's stabilized at the first ring. ;)

After it finishes cooking use the cold water or quick release method of reducing pressure.

Remove the pan from heat and then add in the cheese and shrimp and stir to combine.

Finally, top with crumbled bacon and serve hot.

This serves 4 and comes out to 9 points per serving.

That's a little higher than this point hoarder is usually willing to spend but it's worth it.

This is definitely comfort food.  Somehow it begs to be eaten with candlelight and soft music with someone special.  Mmmmm.....

 Happy Cooking!!!

The Scoop

Okay first, a quick laugh.

I bought this shirt for myself because I thought it was really funny.

I told my husband that the correct answer would be "No.  I'm positive".  

Yes, I'm cracking myself up again.

Sometimes I have to remind my husband that I'm the funny one in the relationship.  hee hee hee

Secondly,  I just wanted to show you the measuring spoons I just bought.

Do you see what I see?

Yup!  A 2 Tbps measuring spoon!

Cool huh?  So many things, like salad dressings, use 2 Tbsp as a serving.

This makes it easy peasy.  

This is another great Connect find.  This comes from a member named heavens13.

If you have Connect I'd highly recommend following her.  

She is real and she is positive, funny and fun.

There are so many wonderful people on Connect.  If you haven't tried it lately you might just take another look.

Oh, and laughter?  It's good for the soul and I'm convinced if you laugh hard enough you earn fit points!!!!!!!

Keep on laughing!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Pudding

This one is easy peasy.

I got it from a Connect member called fluffyterry.  

Ingredients

1 packet of sugar free chocolate pudding mix

1 Premiere Protein chocolate shake

1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk

Instructions

Mix and eat!

How'd you like that for simple?

If you make this two servings it comes out to 4 points a piece.

It was a little difficult to get the lumps out but the flavor was good and you can't get much easier than this.  

Happy Cooking!

Smoky Opa Feta Dill Dressing

My favorite low point salad dressing has got to be Opa's Feta Dill.

It is 1 pts of heavenly!

I love it so much I sometimes use it as a dipping sauce for my veggies.

That's some yum, yum.

But, still, I've been thinking about how it could possibly be even better...

So, I decided to experiment a little.

Since I had left over adobo sauce I decided to mix just 1/4-1/2 tsp of the adobo with the Opa Feta Dill dressing.

It was yumbo!!!

Oh, so good!

But, you may not have that sauce on hand so another great substitute is smoked paprika spice.

I tried adding just 1/4 tsp of smoked paprika and got a similar smoky flavor without the hot and spicy aspect.

So your assignment, if you choose to accept it, is to start experimenting a little.

My experiments didn't add any unnecessary points and they gave it a whole new taste and depth of flavor.

It's not so much that I won't eat it the old way.  It's more that now I just have another option.

Sometimes we can get bored of eating the same old thing, even if we really love it.

So here's to spicing it up!!!

Have fun experimenting!

Asparagus, Mushroom & Provolone Roll Up

This is one of those I threw together this afternoon.

One of my favorite sandwiches is Einstein Brothers thin bagel with asparagus, mushrooms and egg whites.

Oh, how I love it!!!

It's really not too terribly high in points either.

One of those sandwiches comes out to 8 pts.

However, I was at home craving that sandwich and not wanting to drive across town to get it.

So I made my own version.

This is a serving for one.


Ingredients

1 Tbsp low fat Veganaise(or low fat mayo)(2 pts)

1 tsp adobo sauce

1 small can(6-8 oz) of precooked sliced mushrooms, drained

1 Mama Lupe low carb or Xtreme Wellness tortilla(1 pt each)

asparagus(I cooked up a whole bunch of these and ate some as a side and saved some for later)

salt and pepper to taste

dash of garlic powder

1 slice Ultra thin provolone(1 pt)

1/3 cup liquid egg whites


Instructions

Preheat the oven to 425 F.  Spray a Pyrex dish with cooking spray.

Wash the asparagus and cut off the woody ends.  Place in the Pyrex dish and add in the mushrooms, salt, pepper and garlic powder.

Toss and roast for 15-17 minutes.

In a small bowl or ramekin mix the Veganaise and adobo sauce.  Spread evenly over the tortilla.

In a separate small skillet fry up the egg whites and don't stir.  It will come out like a little pancake.

Add that to your tortilla and then top with asparagus, mushrooms and provolone.

Roll up and enjoy!

This was SO FREAKING GOOD!!!!

This really hit the spot and satisfied my craving.

It also comes out to 4 pts!  

That's like a half price deal!  Woo hoo!!!

Happy Cooking!

Red Kuri Squash

I ran into this little cutie when I was at our local health food store.

Being a lover of squash I thought I'd tried most every variety but this little guy had previously eluded me.

So, for this post, nothing fancy.  When I taste a vegetable I've never tasted for the very first time I don't like to make a recipe with it.  

I just want to taste it plain and really get an understanding of it's complexity and flavor.

The great thing here is that this one is organic so I can eat the skin.  

I simply washed it, seeded it and then cut it into bite sized chunks and roasted it on an foil lined baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray.

I roasted this for 50 minutes or so on 425 F.  I stop just when a slight char starts to form.

I did eat this with a little salt but that's it.

And the taste?

This reminded me of butternut squash.  

And, you'll be happy to know that like it's wintry brother this little squash is also 0pts.

You know I love trying new things, especially when they're good for you and 0 pts.  

I'll have to think up something beautiful to do with my next one.   

Happy Cooking!

Premier Protein

Many of my WW pals really love Premier Protein shakes and more recently I've been hearing about how wonderful it is in coffee.  

And, it's low in points!

So, today I tried it.  I put the chocolate Premier Protein in my coffee.

The verdict?

It's really good!

The really great news is it's only 1 point for the small amount it takes to fill up your mug.

That's a 1 pt coffee drink!

If you drink the whole container it's 2 pts.  

Not a bad way to go to get your coffee fix.