Strawberry Cream Cheese Cupcakes

Adopted from a friend's recipe


Ingredients:
1 box yellow cake mix
1 can diet sprite
1 package low-fat cream cheese
Strawberry jelly
Cream cheese icing
Strawberries (optional)

I substituted a diet sprite for other ingredients you could mix with the cake, in order to save calories. If you prefer, instead of the diet soda, you could use:
3 eggs
1/3 cup olive oil
½ cup sour cream

1. Mix the cake mix with the diet soda or eggs, olive oil and sour cream.

2. Fill cup holders 1/3 the way full with cake mix

3. Put a ball of cream cheese and a little bit of strawberry jelly in the center of each cupcake


4. Put another layer of cake mix over the cream cheese and jelly (see picture above)

5. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees F for about 8 minutes (check with a toothpick)

6. Cover with cream cheese and add strawberries to the top if you wish.



Nutrition
170 calories
5.8g fat
6mg cholesterol
174mg sodium
28.1g carbohydrates
19.2g sugar
1.3g protein

While the diet soda cupcakes are a little healthier, I think these taste best with the eggs, olive oil and sour cream. I love cream cheese so these are some of my favorite desserts!

Lemon Sugar Cookies

Made from The Food Network Kitchens Cookbook, p. 248

Don't be fooled by the crumbling cookies - they tasted amazing! The Food Network cookbook recipe suggested baking the cookies on parchment paper. Unfortunately, my cookies stuck to the paper, making it hard to peel them off. I tried spraying the second pan of parchment paper w/ PAM and still had the problem of the cookies sticking. Does anyone have any suggestions for me? Maybe next time I will just bake them on the cookie pan. Despite the cookies looking like they do, these were a big hit and were gone quickly.

Recipe says it makes 24 cookies, I made closer to 30 - nutrition info assumes 24 cookies.

Nutrition (1 cookie):
147 calories
8.1g fat
37mg cholesterol
58mg sodium
17.2g carbohydrates
9.1g sugar
1.5g protein

King Ranch Casserole

Made exactly according to the Eating Well recipe

As I copied this recipe almost exactly from the website, I will not post it here. The only differences were:

1) I omitted the canola oil and instead sprayed the skillet with PAM - saves a few calories

2) I omitted the salt - why add extra sodium?

4) I went with a red bell pepper

3) I used fat-free cheddar - and more than 1/2 a cup. I used enough to cover the top layer of the dish

4) The recipe doees not specify what kind of chicken. I used chicken thigh as that was all that was in our freezer, but I think chicken breast would have worked better

Nutrition (according to the Eating Well website, based on 6 servings)

301 calories

5g fat

44mg cholesterol

458mg sodium

38g carbohydrates

6g fiber

25g protein

I'll admit, that close up probably doesn't look very appealing. But this recipe will definitely be used on a regular basis. For being low in both calories and sodium, it tasted really good. I like spicy food, but my tolerance for spice is low - this dish was just spicy enough to satisfy me without being too hot. My fiance commented that it tasted like there were beans in this - but I hate beans, so there were definitely none there! Must have been the flour/yogurt making this so creamy that tricked him.

PMS Cookies

Named by a family member because they are the perfect mix of sweet and salty. I found these at a holiday party a couple of years ago, so I'm not sure where the recipe originated from.

Ingredients:

Pretzels

Rolos

M&M's (red and green for holidays)

1. Place one layer of pretzels on a plate. Set one rolo on each pretzel, and one M&M on each rolo.

2. Put in microwave for about 25 seconds. As soon as they are done, lightly push on the M&M on top to spread the rolo out over the pretzel.

Nutrition (per 2 cookies):

72 calories

2.9g fat

1.45mg cholesterol

49mg sodium

11.25g carbohydrates

0.6g fiber

8.15g sugar

0.3g protein

These desserts are extremely easy to make and have always been a hit at parties I have taken them to - they disappear right away. You can see in the picture, I mistakenly bought peanut M&M's this time, so I tried a few with those, but I think that plain M&M's work best.

Corn, Bell Pepper & Onion

Adopted from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook

Ingredients

PAM
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped

15.25 ounce can sweet corn, whole kernel

2 tbsp butter, unsalted

1 tbsp onion powder

1 tbsp garlic powder

1. Spray a skillet with PAM. Add the green bell pepper and onion and cook on medium heat for 2-3 minutes.

2. Add the corn, butter, onion powder & garlic powder; stir and heat for another 2-3 minutes.

Nutrition (6 servings):
98 calories

4.5g fat

10mg cholesterol

37mg sodium

14.1g carbohydrates

2.2g fiber

3.9g sugar

2.4g protein

This dish is extremely easy and fast, and it tastes great! Adding some red bell pepper would make it the perfect side dish for Christmas dinner.

French Onion Turkey Burgers

Adopted from Campbell's cookbook



Ingredients:
4 Jennie-O Turkey Burgers
4 slices mozzarella cheese
2 cans Campbell's french onion soup
2 loaves Thomas' Sahara whole-wheat pita bread - cut into halves
wheat thins

1. Cook the turkey burgers using a George Foreman grill at 300 degrees for 10 minutes.

2. In a separate skillet, heat the french onion soup at low-medium heat. After the turkey burgers are cooked, add them to the skillet.

(You could also just cook the turkey burgers in the skillet and then add the soup on top after they are cooked)

3. Place a slice of cheese on each of the burgers and let it melt.

4. Cut the pita bread into halves, and then cut each burger in half. Fill each pita with half of the burger. Serve with a bowl of french onion soup for dipping.

Note: you can add parmasean cheese and croutons to the soup. I added fat-free wheat thins because I had no croutons and it tastes just as good to me!

Nutrition:
366 calories
16g fat
115mg cholesterol
1, 348mg sodium
26g carbohydrates
4g fiber
6g sugar
30g protein

This meal is a favorite of mine. It's easy to make and doesn't take much time. You can also substitute different cheeses on the burgers, use hamburger buns instead of pita bread, and mix up what you put into your soup - parmesan cheese and croutons are my favorite, but I work with whatever I have. It can be a little messy to eat, trying to dip the burger into the soup, but it's definitely worth it.

Swiss Chicken Penne

Adopted from Eating Well



Ingredients:
3-4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
12 oz whole wheat penne
1 cups cauliflower florets
PAM spray
1 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup white wine (I used Chardonnay)
3 cups fat-free milk
3 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1 cup swiss cheese, shredded
1 tsp Dijon mustard

1. Poach the chicken breasts in a large pot: bring a pot of water with the chicken breasts to a boil (I cut them into halves first), and then reduce the heat a little and let them simmer until they are no longer pink in the center. This will make them easy to shred by just pulling them apart.

2. In another pot, bring water to a boil. Add the whole wheat penne and the cauliflower. When the penne is ready, drain it and rinse with cold water.

3. Spray a saucepan with PAM. Add onion and cook on medium heat for a few minutes. Then add the wine, milk, flour and pepper. Bring to a boil and stir until it becomes thickened. Reduce the heat and begin to add the cheese a little at a time until it is melted.

4. Add chicken and mustard to the onion sauce and then pour it over the penne to serve.

Nutrition (8 servings, from Calorie Count):
Calories: 400
Fat: 7.7g
Cholesterol: 87mg
Sodium: 148mg
Carbohydrates: 39.9g
Fiber: 5.2g
Sugar: 5.9g
Protein: 40.9g



This dish was fairly easy for me to make. I tried to get the chicken, penne and onion sauce all going at the same time and it was manageable. The final product was okay. I was looking for something healthy, and it tasted healthy - just a little bland. When I try new recipes I always ask my fiance, "Is this something you would want me to make again?" This recipe passed that test, but not with too much excitement. Next time I would try a different cheese with more flavor or maybe more pepper or some garlic to spice it up a little.