Sick? Smack the Sick Out of Ya with some of Grandma’s Corn Chowda

So, I’m sick   Bleh.  Of course it comes at the worst time, too.  Why wouldn’t it?  I had my last day of work on Friday, and start back as a full-time student….tomorrow.  Nice, huh?  When I’m feeling yucky, there’s nothing that sounds better than one of my Mom’s or Grandma’s soups…chicken noodle, vegetable….corn chowder!  YUM!

When waking up Saturday morning with this lovely grossness, I knew I needed something to kick it out, and found just the thing with Grandma’s Corn Chowder (or CHOWDA, as I like to say ).  Since corn isn’t a “free” vegetable on the new WW Points Plus program, I had been staying away from corn chowder.  But, well…WW points were far from my mind this weekend AND, I’m oh-so-glad I decided to let it in, as it was so much healthier (and delicious) than I had ever remembered.  The thick, rich, and delicious soups seems like it could be UBER high in WW Points Plus, BUT it’s actually not!!!!!! YAY……Corn Chowda for EVERYONE!!!!

And to make this delicious soup even better, it’s EXTREMELY easy!

Grandma’s “Smack the Sick Out of Ya” Corn Chowda

Ingredients

5 slices bacon

1 large onion, diced

2 cups whole kernel corn, drained

1 cup diced cooked potatoes (I used canned–just drained very well)

1 can (10.5 oz) Healthy choice cream of mushroom soup

2.5 cup skim milk

1 tsp salt

Extra salt & pepper (either add to the entire soup or each bowl….taste and season to your preference)

Directions:

So, here’s the easiest recipe ever.

In the bottom of a large Dutch oven, fry the bacon.  Once fried, remove to a paper towel-lined plate.

Without removing the bacon grease (I know…*GASP* We are using bacon grease, but don’t worry…it’s calculated in the PP numbers), add the onions to the Dutch oven/grease and cook until the onions are tender.

Add the remaining ingredients to the onions.  Stir and mix well.

Bring the soup to a boil, stirring occasionally. While the soup is cooking, crumble the cooled bacon to use as a “topper”

SERVE!

See? I told ya it’s easy!!!  The bacon can be used as a little “extra”, so below in the WW PP, I’ve given the options of with and without bacon (although remember that even if you aren’t using the bacon on top, it is best to use bacon grease for the soup for the delicious flavor).

I believe the soup needs a little extra salt and pepper, but I like to allow each person to do that with their serving as some prefer a sweeter soup, and some spicier.  Myself…I enjoy a little kick to mine so I add quite a bit of freshly ground pepper.  Just an fyi…..

Makes 6 cups

 

EAT UP & ENJOY!

 

WW Points Plus Information*

Per serving: 1 cup or 1/2 cup

6 Servings (1 cup): With bacon- 5 PP    Without bacon-4 PP

12 Servings (1/2 cup): With bacon- 3 PP   Without bacon-2 PP

*NOTE: Remember that when I say “without bacon”, I’m not saying don’t fry the bacon at the beginning—you need that–but don’t sprinkle crumbled bacon on top at the end.  Delicious, but not necessary, in my opinion

No Fear the Squash Savior is HERE!!!! DELICIOUS, Never Fail Stuffed Acorn Squash!

There are somethings in our house that NEVER get old. I wish I could say it was ME, but unfortunately that’s not the case   A couple of months ago, I hit my “old” birthday (in my eyes anyway)….30.  *gag*.  So, in honor of “being old”, here’s something that NEVER gets old in our house…..delicious and EASY food.

Here’s a secret….*shhh* don’t tell ANYONE…especially Mr. Amanda   The big secret? I like to make food that LOOKS and TASTES like it took me hours in the kitchen…..but doesn’t.  Ok, so sometimes it still takes me hours, but that’s only because I have a bit of ADD and end up doing twenty other things at the same time

Now, back to this squash.  It is one of those “fake-out” dishes..I think we could eat it EVERY.SINGLE. NIGHT and never get tired of it.  And the best part about it is that, if I have squash….I CAN make it every single night if I want because it’s THAT easy!  Is it really fancy or a new idea? Absolutely not, but what I’ve found lately is that a lot of people are afraid of how to cook squash, or how to even handle them (Don’t worry, I have your back on this! EASY directions below).

Here’s a bit of an interesting story about this (and any other squash-type dish).  One of my bestest buddies, Miss Kiki, lives in the UK.  When visiting the US in 2009 (Geez..has it been that long ago?!), we met her and her husband in Chicago.  While at dinner, we discussed many things that were different between the US and UK.  One of the things that Kiki mentioned was the fact that we always eat squash and some other vegetables (pumpkin, acorn, sweet potato etc) as sweet/dessertish type foods, whereas they eat them as savory dishes in the UK.  The idea of putting sugar on a sweet potato, pumpkin as a pie, and squash with sugar and fruit was unheard of. I was intrigued, and still think about it to this day, but yet cannot bring myself to eat them as savory.  In my mind, there’s nothing better than a sweet potato loaded with butter and sugar (or marshmallows!), pumpkin pie, and this DELICIOUS SWEET Stuffed Acorn Squash!

So, here is an easy and AMAZING dish to ease your way into squash…in a sweet way….maybe I’ll post a savory recipe on of these days Sorry, Kiki

Never Fail Stuffed Acorn Squash

Ingredients

1 acorn squash

1/4 cup Brown Sugar Splenda, divided

Spray Butter

1 Tb light maple syrup

1/4 cup raisins

2 small apples, peeled, cored and chopped

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground allspice

Directions:

First–so many people are so scared to handle squash, but I’m here to tell you–there’s nothing to fear.  Remember, I am not into difficult.  I’m all about easy   So, grab a glass of wine and let’s tackle this squash.

The easiest parts of all…… go ahead and preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Then, line a baking sheet with foil.

Now..back to that stinkin’ squash.  Here’s what you do (and you will soooo thank me later for this).  Take a good long knive and begin to score (but deep) where you plan to cut the squash in half.  I start up at the top, and score down the sides–cutting every couple of inches.  Then, pop that bad boy in the microwave–just in there by itself– on HIGH for 2 minutes.

Once the 2 minutes are up, pull the squash out–it will be a bit hot.  BE CAREFUL. Now, use your long knife to finish cutting through and around, dividing the squash into two equal halves.  Did that make sense?!  The idea is to not have to use much force after microwaving (like you would have to if you DIDN’T microwave it) .

Now, use a large spoon to clean out the “gunk”–the strings and seeds.  Then, place those cleaned out halves on the foil-lined pans, cut side up.  If the halves don’t sit level, use a good knife to sliver a small piece off the bottom, to make a flat and stable surface.

In EACH squash half, spray liberally with spray butter, sprinkle with ~1.5 tsp Brown Sugar Splenda,  1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp allspice, and drizzle with ~ 1.5 tsp light maple syrup.  Remember this is for EACH half–don’t divide these amounts in 2!

Set aside.

In a medium bowl, add your chopped apples and raisins.  Spray liberally with spray butter.  Add remaining 3 Tb Brown Sugar Splenda and remaining 1 tsp cinnamon.  Mix well.

Then, divide the mixture between the two squash halves.

Pop in the oven and bake ~ 30-40 minutes, depending on your oven.  Just watch to be sure nothing starts to burn! The squash is done when you can easy put a fork into the squash “meat” and the apples are softening.

Remove from the oven.  Allow to cool a couple of minutes, as they will be VERY hot.  Then, serve just as is…with the squash being it’s own bowl

EAT UP..and I KNOW you will ENJOY!!!!

Nutritional Information:

Weight Watchers Points PLUS

Servings = 2

Per Serving= 2 PP

Moussa-who? Yummy, delicious, and Traditional? MOUSSAKA!

Here is something you don’t know about me…..I become obsessed.  I watch a tv show or read a book about someone, and then I’m even more intrigued and obsessed with that person.  Now, don’t make fun…but I did this with Jessica Simpson (as I was watching “Newlyweds”), I’ve done it with The Duggars (from 19 Kids and Counting)….I just become absolutely intrigued and obsessed with these people.

So, my latest obsession?  Hoda Kotb from the 4th Hour of the Today Show.  For Christmas, my parents bought me her book.  I read it in 3 days.  So, in honor of my new obsession, I saw her on the 4th hour last week (I believe) and her and KLG’s mom were making some of their personal recipes.  They looked delicious, so I decided to give them a try!

This recipe is Hoda’s mom’s recipe for Moussaka.  Yes…. it sounds funny.  But what is it?!  Moussaka is a Mediterranean/Middle Eastern dish that varies depending on the region.  The common ingredients are usually eggplant and meat!  If it’s layered, the type of meat used, has other veggies, includes tomato sauce, and how the eggplant is prepared  are all varied…….so, is this traditional moussaka?  No idea   But, what I DO KNOW is that it’s delicious!

**NOTE:  There is no picture of this…why?  It’s not pretty….at least, when I dished it up, it was NOTHING I would want to take a picture of.  BUT…it takes good

Moussa-who?  MOUSSAKA

Ingredients

1 eggplant

1 lb  lean ground beef

1 large onion, thinly sliced

1/2 tsp allspice

1 Tb fresh dill, chopped

1 Tb fresh parsley, chopped

1/2 tsp garlic powder

salt and pepper, to taste

3 Tb extra virgin olive oil

1/2 can (6 oz)  tomato paste

1 jar (24 oz) tomato & basil sauce **Classico is lowest in points!**

1 Tb pine nuts, lightly toasted in a bit of melted butter

Directions:

First, an hour before you are ready to begin cooking, slice your eggplant (~1/2 in thick) in either rounds, or length-wise (doesn’t matter). Place it in a collander, with the collander sitting either on top of a plate or in the sink.  Salt the eggplant (be sure every piece gets salted) and let the eggplant sit for at least an hour.  This will allow the salt to draw the extra water out of the eggplant before lightly frying.

An hour later, when a lot of water has been drawn out of the eggplant, pat each slice dry and set aside.

In a large saute pan (or other high-sided pan), add the 3 Tb EVOO.  Heat over medium to medium-high heat.

Once the oil is hot, salt and pepper both sides of the eggplant slices and lightly fry them in the hot oil.  Remove to a paper towel lined plate to drain after they are done.   It will probably take a couple of batches in order to fry all eggplant slices.

In the remaining oil, add the thinly sliced onion.  If cooking the eggplant at medium high, reduce heat to MEDIUM. “Fry” the onion until it becomes yellow in color (I have fry in ” because it doesn’t become crispy like we generally think of when we discuss frying but that is the words used to describe it by Hoda’s mom).

Add the ground beef, allspice, dill, parsley, and garlic powder to the onions and oil.  Mix everything together well and simmer/cook together until the ground beef is cooked through–approximately 15 minutes.

At this point, go ahead and PREHEAT your oven to 375 degrees! And while you’re at it, you can go ahead and quickly toast your pine nuts in a tiny bit of butter (in a skillet over about medium heat)

Add the tomato paste and tomato/basil sauce to the meat mixture. Mix well, and continue to cook together for another 15 minutes.

Once cooked together thoroughly, put the meat/tomato mixture in the bottom of a 9 x 13 glass baking dish.  Top with the fried eggplant, and sprinkle the toasted pine nuts on top.

Bake, in the PREHEATED 375 degree oven, for ~ 20 minutes, or until it bubbles around the edges.

EAT UP & ENJOY!

POINTS PLUS VALUE:

4 servings: 9.5 PP

6 servings:  6 PP

8 servings: 4.5 PP

12 servings: 3 PP

For Fun…..Amazing “Knock You Naked Brownies”

I have to say, I planned to add this BEFORE NYE so everyone could make this before the New Year and not break their resolutions to lose weight   Unfortunately, I didn’t get around to it, but I HAVE to share this.

There are some things that I have to have every year during the holidays–sugar cookies (which I FAILED at this year…miserably), cathedral windows (think rocky road), truffles, and fudge.  Since Mr. Amanda and I live hours away from my family, I knew that if I was going to have these things this year, I would need to make a bunch of goodies myself.  I made a list of about 10 things I wanted to make–old and new–that I had found in my family’s cookout and the internet.  When Mr. Amanda saw this list he wanted to know who was going to eat all of the treats (remember, we live a fairly healthy lifestyle), and I said I planned to give a lot of it away (*tiny white lie*).  So, I did take 2 small plates to some family members, but for the most part, all of the treats stayed at our house

So, since I was planning to give all of these goodies “away”, I made tons of goodies…..one of the new recipes I tried from the internet was called “Knock You Naked Brownies”.  I was intrigued.  Any recipe that claims to make you take off all your clothes must be powerful!  Thinking they would probably be just your regular brownies, I started them at about 11pm (nice, eh?).  It was a process, and I must say, I wasn’t sure they were going to be any good.  So, I let them cool after baking.  Then, Mr. Amanda and I cut a couple of pieces to try.  O….M….G.  I think my clothes instantly fell to the kitchen floor (my apologies for the awful mental picture).  These are definitely, BY FAR, the best brownies I’ve EVER EVER EVER had in my LIFE!  AMAZING!  Chocolatey, gooey caramel…just AWESOME!!!

Please remember, this is NOT a recipe for a diet.  I didn’t even calculate the points below–they are just going to be ridiculous!  So, save these for a special occasion (and no, a special occasion is not Monday )….and enjoy them with your family and/or friends who can also share the points and calories

Amazing “Knock You Naked Brownies”

Ingredients

1 package German chocolate cake mix

1 cup chopped nuts

1/3 cup + 1/2 cup evaporated milk, divided

1/2 cup melted butter

60 caramels unwrapped (one 14 oz package)

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine dry cake mix, nuts, 1/3 cup evaporated milk and melted butter.  Press half of the batter into the bottom of a greased 9 x 13 baking dish.  Bake in preheated oven for 8 minutes.

On the stove melt caramels with remaining 1/2 cup evaporated milk.  Original recipe said to do it on a double boiler, but I don’t have one and it worked just fine combining it in a saucepan.  When caramel mixture is well mixture.  Pour over baked layer.  (This is where I thought I had screwed up–it is PROBABLY supposed to cool completely, but mine hadn’t completely, and when I poured the caramel on, it bubbled up and caramel went under the bottom layer…was still delish though!).  Cover with chocolate chips and chill for an hour or until the caramel is hard.

Once the caramel is hard, press remaining batter on top.  Return to oven and bake 28 minutes  (supposedly less if you want gooier brownies…I cooked mine for 28 minutes and they were fairly gooey, BUT my oven is crap and everything takes longer.  SO, I would probably start checking around 20 min to see how the cake layer is cooking).  Let cool before cutting.

Then…eat up, and BELIEVE ME, you WILL enjoy!