Thursday, September 6, 2012

0025. Bubble up Enchiladas

Start off with browning some ground turkey or beef, whichever you prefer.

Open a can of biscuits and cut the biscuits into 4ths, like the picture shows above.

Add in your favorite jar/can of enchilada sauce. Or if you’re feeling up to it make your own. Here you can also add in other ingredients to, like corn or black beans.

Layer your biscuits on the bottom of the dish and spread the biscuits out.

Add in the beef mixture on top of the biscuits.

Then top it with some cheese and bake in the oven for 25 minutes at 350. Serve with your favorite taco toppings.

Nutrition Info: Calories 390 | Fat 11.5g | Carbohydrate 36g | Fiber 2g | Protein 33g

Weight Watcher Recipes 6 points (old points)

Points Plus: 10

Serves 6

1 pound lean ground turkey
1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce

1 (8oz ) can of tomato sauce (this optional, I do not use this but the recipe says to add it in with the enchilada sauce)
1 16 oz can reduced fat refrigerator biscuits
1 ¼ cups shredded low fat Mexican Cheese

Extra Ingredients
Green Onions, black olives, salsa, etc.
Fat Free Sour Cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brown turkey and drain if needed. Mix in a can of enchilada sauce and tomato sauce. Cut the refrigerated biscuits into fourths and stir them in the meat mixture. Then you just dump it all in a greased casserole (I use 8 X 11) and bake for 25 minutes until the biscuits are cooked through. Usually I use a tooth pick to see if the biscuits are done. Take out of oven and sprinkle cheese on top. Bake an additional 10 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Notes: Add in a can of black beans or corn (when the beef is cooking in the pan), or sprinkle with some green onions. Top with a tablespoon of fat free sour cream.

You can make into 8 servings

0024. Brie and Apple tart

In a pinch you can wrap crescent rolls around apple and brie slices and pop 'em in the oven. The cheese is a little understated so don't be shy with it. You might also consider bringing another cheese or two to the party if you have other interesting fruit and cheese pairings on hand.

Individual Brie and Apple Tarts

1 box (2 sheets) of puff pastry, thawed
1 green apple
1 Tbsp brown sugar, divided
1 Tbsp butter, divided
1/4 tsp cinnamon, divided
1 medium wedge of brie
1 egg
flour (for rolling)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

Unfold 1 sheet of puff pastry onto a lightly floured board and roll it slightly with a floured rolling pin until it's a 10 by 10-inch square. Cut the sheet into quarters with a sharp knife. Place a good-sized slice of brie and 3 or 4 this slices of apple the middle of each of the 4 squares. Sprinkle apples with cinnamon and brown sugar and top with a pat of butter. Brush the border of each pastry with egg wash and fold 2 opposite corners to the center, brushing and overlapping the corners of each pastry so they firmly stick together. Brush the top of the pastries with egg wash. Place the pastries on the prepared sheet pan. Repeat with the second sheet of puff pastry.

Bake the pastries for about 20 minutes, rotating the pan once during baking, until puffed and brown. Serve warm.

0023. Banana Split Pie

Crust

· 2 cups crushed graham crackers

· 1/2 cup sugar

· 1/2 c. butter

Mix together. Press into 9×13 pan. Bake at 350° for 15 minutes. Cool completely.

Filling

· 16 oz. cream cheese

· 1 cup sugar

· 1 teaspoon vanilla

Cream together. Spread over cooled crust.

Layers – (on top of cream cheese filling)

1. Three sliced bananas.

2. 12 oz. can crushed pineapple, well drained

3. 12 oz. whipped topping

4. 1/2 cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)

5. Chocolate syrup (drizzle over all)

6. 4 oz. maraschino cherries, halved

Refrigerate several hours, until served.

*** Make sure the pineapple covers the bananas well. They’ll keep the bananas from getting brown too fast.

*** This is a good one to make for a crowd, because it needs to be eaten about 24-hours after being made… again, because of the bananas.

0022. Baked tacos

If you want the tacos crunchy, you will want to make sure you place the shells so they are not touching each other. If you want to save time, you can use packaged taco seasoning instead.
Ingredients:
2lbs ground beef
4 teaspoons dried minced onion
3 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (16 ounce) can refried beans
2 cups shredded Colby-jack cheese
18-20 hard taco shells
Optional Condiments-
lettuce (shredded)
tomato (diced)
Salsa
Guacamole

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a small bowl combine dried minced onion, chili powder, cornstarch, garlic powder, cumin, oregano, and cayenne pepper. Mix well and set aside.
Step 2: In a large skillet brown ground beef over medium-high heat. Drain off any excess liquid. Add refried beans, tomato sauce, and prepared taco seasoning. Mix well.
Step 3: Spoon the taco meat mixture into the taco shells and place into a 9 x 13 inch baking dish, standing up. Sprinkle cheese over the top of the taco meat in each shell. Place into the oven and bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the tacos are heated through. Remove from the oven and top with any optional condiments for serving.
(Makes 8-10 Servings)

0021. baked cream cheese spaghetti

This isn't quite the recipe I usually use when baking a spaghetti casserole, but I found it on Pinterest and it looks really good.

12 oz spaghetti
1 (28 ounce) jars prepared spaghetti sauce
1 lb lean ground beef
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 clove garlic, minced
8 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.

In a skillet, brown the ground beef until cooked through; drain fat and stir in spaghetti sauce. Set aside.

Cook spaghetti according to directions on packet. Drain and place cooked spaghetti in bowl. Add cream cheese, Italian Seasoning and minced garlic. Stir until cream cheese is melted and the spaghetti is thoroughly coated.


Lightly grease a 9x13" pan. Spread a small amount of meat sauce in the bottom of the dish. Put spaghetti on top of sauce and top with remaining meat sauce. Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top.

Bake for 30 minutes, until bubbly.

0020. bacon wrapped jalapeno chicken bites

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 10 mins

Total time: 30 mins

Serves: 16 bite-sizes

Chicken spread with cream cheese and jalapenos, rolled and wrapped with bacon, then grilled.

Ingredients

§ 8 chicken tenders, flattened and cut in two

§ 3-ounce package softened cream cheese

§ 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped

§ 8 slices bacon, cut in half

Instructions

1. Dab 1/2 teaspoon (more or less) of cream cheese on top of each chicken tender. Sprinkle a scant 1/4 teaspoon of peppers over cream cheese. Fold or roll chicken to enclose cream cheese mixture. Wrap each roll with one piece of bacon and secure with a toothpick.

2. Grill until bacon is brown and crispy on both sides.

Notes

Be sure to wear plastic gloves when handling fresh jalapenos. The oil will attach itself to your hands and is not easily washed away. An inadvertent swipe of the hand close to your eyes could be an unforgettable experience.

For reference, if you are substituting for the chicken tenders (i.e. dark meat, large pieces of chicken breast, game meat), the size of the tenders I used were 5-6 inches long and 2-3 inches wide before flattening and cutting in half.

Try flattening meat inside a zip-lock bag as pictured above. No flying pieces, no contamination on your cutting board from the chicken, and cleanup is super easy.

0019. bacon wrapped chicken

Chicken, and bacon, better yet, crispy bacon. They are two of my favorite foods both in one easy recipe. I had some extra boneless-skinless chicken breasts on hand and was looking for an easy dinner which brings us today’s recipe for Bacon Wrapped Chicken. What really surprised me was the amount of ingredients in this recipe, there are very few! I feel the chive and onion cream cheese is a huge ingredient in the flavor department and does most of the work for you. Try and pound the chicken breasts down with a mallet as thinly as possible because they will roll up a lot easier. If you want to do some outdoor grilling these can also be grilled as well. They go great with a side dish of pasta or flavored rice. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
12 boneless skinless chicken breasts halves
2 (8 oz) cartons chive and onion cream cheese
12 slices of bacon
salt (to taste)
2 tablespoons butter

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Between 2 sheets of wax paper with a mallet flatten chicken breasts to ½” thickness.
Step 2: Spread 3 tablespoons of cream cheese over each chicken breast. Then Dot with butter and season with salt. Wrap with bacon and stick a toothpick through the rolled chicken breast to hold it together. Roll up and stick a toothpick through to hold it together.
Step 3: Bake uncovered for 35-40 minutes (or until juices run clear).
Step 4: Turn on the broiler and broil six inches from the heat for 5 minutes or until the bacon is crispy.