Chicken Noodle Stew

We were supposed to have Beer Can Chicken.....then the rain came.....and we no longer have a canopy on the back deck thanks to the wind storm last week.....so what better way to use a whole chicken than some good ole comfort food! This started out to be chicken soup and then I decided to make it a bit more hearty. I know....I know.....it's too hot outside to have a 'soup' for a meal. Wrong!!!

CHICKEN NOODLE STEW

Makes a lot

Guesstimating a 1 Cup Serving = 4 PointsPlus™ (see My Spin)

1 whole chicken

water to cover chicken
2 cups sliced carrots
2 cups sliced celery
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup zucchini and squash, sliced & halved
salt, pepper, basil to taste
2 bay leaves
2 Knorr Chicken Homestyle Stock containers (picture below)
6 oz. No Yolks noodles

Wash the chicken and discard the neck and gizzard 'stuff' (unless you want to keep for future use). Put the chicken in a large stock pot and cover with water. Cook until the chicken is no longer pink. Skim the foamy/fatty 'gunk' from the top of the water. Remove the chicken from the pot; remove the skin and discard. Remove the meat from the bones and tear/cut into bite-size pieces; return to pot of chicken water. Add all the remaining ingredients EXCEPT the noodles.

Simmer until veggies are tender. Add the noodles and cook until al dente. Remove the 2 bay leaves and enjoy!!!

MY SPIN: The reason I'm 'guesstimating' the PointsPlus™ on a serving of this deliciousness is because one doesn't want to spend tons of time making sure exactly how many noodles or bits of chicken is put into the bowl. And for the veggies, use what you have on hand.....but if you don't have celery in your fridge, go buy some for this recipe.

Now for the 'legal mumbo-jumbo' to keep me out of court!! *** The PointsPlus™ value for this recipe was calculated by me (Jan Gomes) and is not an endorsement or approval of this recipe by Weight Watchers International, Inc., the owner of the PointsPlus™ registered trademark. ***

Later!

Loving Life(time)!

Jan

Basic Spaghetti Sauce

I must really like Kitchen Therapy!! Last Monday I visited my favorite Veggie Lady, Vickye, and bought what seemed like a ton of tomatoes!!! Seriously......it felt like I was carrying a ton!!!



I used the tomatoes in the left sink to make stewed tomatoes (sorry, no pics or recipe because I forgot to take pics and can't find what I did with that recipe!). I used the tomatoes in the right sink for this recipe. It called for 30 pounds of tomatoes.....so I weighed them and it came out to 30 pounds exactly! Yes, Vickye, you were right! This is a tweaked version of the recipe Vickye gave me.....her recipe said to saute' the onions, garlic and bell peppers but I opted to not do that...you can if you want to!

BASIC SPAGHETTI SAUCE

Makes 72 Servings

1 Serving = 1/2 cup = 1 PointsPlus™

30 pounds of tomatoes

1 1/2 cup onions, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 1/2 cup green bell pepper, chopped
2 1/2 TBSP salt
2 tsp ground black pepper
2 TBSP Italian seasoning
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup olive oil

Wash tomatoes. Remove the skin, core & cut into quarters. Put these in a HUGE pot with all the other ingredients and bring to a boil.

This pic is to show how big the pot is that I used....that's a 1 cup measuring cup.



Reduce heat and simmer until the liquid is reduced by @1/3 (or to your preference). Let cool completely. Bag & freeze (or you can 'can' them.....again, your preference).

I made 12 bags containing 3 cups each. I had less than a cup left after that so I put that in with some stuffed peppers that I made and froze.

Now you have the basic sauce so when you serve pasta, you can add mushrooms (which wouldn't add any PointsPlus™) ….... or you could saute' some low fat ground beef or turkey sausage, just don't forget to add PointsPlus™ if you do!

Now for the 'legal mumbo-jumbo' to keep me out of court!! *** The PointsPlus™ value for this recipe was calculated by me (Jan Gomes) and is not an endorsement or approval of this recipe by Weight Watchers International, Inc., the owner of the PointsPlus™ registered trademark. ***

Later!

Loving Life(time)!
Jan

Baked Penne Ratatouille

I figured it was time for a recipe for 'real food' instead of a dessert type one.  This is one of those recipe that you can add more of the veggies listed if you wanted to and it wouldn't add PointsPlus™ to it.  We had this for 'dinner' this afternoon along with stuffed peppers (no, I don't measure so I won't be sharing that recipe and I just say the one I had was 5 PointsPlus™).

BAKED PENNE RATATOUILLE

Makes 6 Servings

1 Serving = 6 PointsPlus™

1/2 package (7 oz.) whole grain penne pasta

1 TBSP olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 cup eggplant cut into 1” pieces
3/4 cup zucchini, sliced
3/4 cup squash, sliced
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 of a 12 oz jar of roasted red bell peppers, drained & chopped
3/4 of a 24 oz. jar of tomato & basil pasta sauce
1 cup fat-free mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup goat cheese crumbles
dried basil (optional)

Heat oven to 350º. Spray an 8x8” (2 quart) baking dish.

Cook & drain pasta according to package, using the minimum cooking time. Return pasta to pot.

While pasta is cooking, heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic; cook & stir 30 seconds.  Add eggplant, zucchini, squash & salt. Cook @8 minutes until tender, stirring frequently. Add roasted peppers & cook @2 minutes more until heated through.

 

Add vegetables and pasta sauce to the pasta in the pot; mix well. Spoon into the baking dish.



Sprinkle with goat cheese and then mozzarella cheese. If desired, sprinkle with dried basil.



Bake uncovered for @30 minutes or until bubbly and the cheese is melted.



MY SPIN: Abe didn't like the goat cheese, but I did. If you've never had it, it's creamy and slightly tangy but mild. So I guess if I make it again, no goat cheese <sigh>. I would also add more garlic....probably double it. And if you like mushrooms, I think they would be good in this as well.

Now for the 'legal mumbo-jumbo' to keep me out of court!! *** The PointsPlus™ value for this recipe was calculated by me (Jan Gomes) and is not an endorsement or approval of this recipe by Weight Watchers International, Inc., the owner of the PointsPlus™ registered trademark. ***

Later!

Loving Life(time)!
Jan

Blueberry Cinnamon Donuts

I bought another gallon of blueberries and froze them. This batch of berries came from the garden of a lovely couple out on Highway 60. You can pick 2 gallons, keep one and pay $10 for it OR they pick and you pay $20 for the gallon. Guess which way I went! LOL   Now I need to find new ways to use blueberries and a few people have been asking about donuts. So......here ya go!!!

BLUEBERRY CINNAMON DONUTS

Makes 10 Donuts

1 Donut = 2 PointsPlus™

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup Splenda granulated
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
3/4 cup fat-free egg substitute
5 TBSP buttermilk (see My Spin)
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup fresh frozen blueberries

Preheat oven to 350º. Spray donut pan.....be sure to spray the center part!!

In a large bowl, combine flour, Splenda, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg. Whisk to combine.

In a medium bowl, whisk together egg substitute, buttermilk, applesauce and vanilla. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients and fold until just combined.

Fold in the blueberries.

Fill donut pan @2/3 full.



Bake @10 minutes or until wooden toothpick comes out clean (so be sure to 'stab' it where there are no blueberries!).

Cool on a rack lined with parchment paper.

MY SPIN: I will confess....I don't like milk so I use powdered milk in my recipes. I found a powdered buttermilk which made me happy.



 I 'tweaked' the cinnamon.....if you don't want your donuts to taste as cinnamon-y as I like them, you can use 1 tsp instead of 1 1/2. Be sure to spray your donut pan well, especially around the center part......these WILL stick!!!!

I forgot to spray the pan for the first batch. These are from the first batch and they stuck....and the donut pan was NOT easy to clean.

And my new cake set.....the one I bought because I couldn't get the Trifle Dish....works nicely to 'display' these yummy donuts......just like you'd see in a diner!

Now for the 'legal mumbo-jumbo' to keep me out of court!! *** The PointsPlus™ value for this recipe was calculated by me (Jan Gomes) and is not an endorsement or approval of this recipe by Weight Watchers International, Inc., the owner of the PointsPlus™ registered trademark. ***

Later!

Loving Life(time)!
Jan

It's Trifle-ing!

Well, I thought I'd try something different that I've wanted to do for a while. I went to the local WalMart to buy a Trifle Dish and there were none on the shelf.....got someone to check their inventory and she said there is supposed to be one in the store.....but I ended up with a cake set.....got in the check-out line and the young lady in front of me had the last Trifle Dish in her shopping cart!!!!!  Oh well! Anyway, I thought this would be so simple, but it's a tad more 'involved' than I anticipated. First I didn't make the cake until today.....should've made it yesterday. Then I forgot to take both bags of blueberries out of the freezer as well as the whipped topping. And then I forgot to buy milk so I had to make it (I keep powdered milk on hand for cooking) before I could make the pudding. Then I had to slice the strawberries. And THEN I could put it all together. Was it worth it? You betcha!!!!

TRIFLE

Makes 12 Servings

1 Serving = 3 PointsPlus™

1 Angel Food cake mix

2 (1 oz. each) packages Sugar Free/Fat Free White Chocolate Jell-O pudding
@3 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
@ 1 cup strawberry sauce (see My Spin)
@20 fresh strawberries, hulled & sliced
1/2 of 8 oz. container of Fat Free whipped topping

Make the Angel Food cake according to the package instructions. You will, however, only use 1/2 of the cake for this.



Make the pudding according to the package instructions.

To assemble the Trifle:

Make sure the cake is completely cooled. Cut the cake into large chunks and cover the bottom of the trifle dish. Top with strawberry sauce, a layer of pudding, a layer of blueberries, a layer of pudding and the final layer will be the fat free whipped topping.

 Garnish with sliced strawberries and blueberries.

REFRIGERATE!!!!!

My Spin: I made my own strawberry sauce using mashed fresh strawberries.  The combinations for a Trifle can be endless.....you can use different flavors of pudding as well as different fruits. Experiment!!!

I put some blue squiggles/balloons and silver stars in the upside down base of the cake set. Then I put some festive napkins around the base.....thanx Susan B for the napkins and plates!



Now for the 'legal mumbo-jumbo' to keep me out of court!! *** The PointsPlus™ value for this recipe was calculated by me (Jan Gomes) and is not an endorsement or approval of this recipe by Weight Watchers International, Inc., the owner of the PointsPlus™ registered trademark. ***

Later!

Loving Life(time)!
Jan

Peach Crustless Pie

Hey! Remember all those peaches I bought and had to use? Well I bought more......because they were so good. I found a recipe I really really wanted to try, but couldn't find the cute little quiche dishes. Again had that wish going through my head.....wish I was independently wealthy and could open a kitchen gadget store in town. So, back to square one. I decided to try this. The color is pretty and the flavor is as well.  It's the same recipe as the Strawberry Crustless Pie with the obvious substitution of peaches.

PEACH  CRUSTLESS  PIE

Makes 8 Servings

4 cups fresh peaches, peeled/pitted/cut up

1 (1.5 oz.) box of fat-free/sugar-free vanilla instant pudding mix

2 (.3 oz.) box of sugar-free peach Jell-O

2 cups of water

Place peaches in a 9-inch pie plate.

In a small saucepan, mix pudding and water; bring to almost boiling.  Remove from heat and mix in the Jell-O crystals.  Pour over the peaches.

Chill at least one hour.

This can be served 'as is' or with a dollop of fat-free whipped topping.

Enjoy!

Later!

Loving Life!

Jan





Peach Bundt Cake

Peaches! I love peaches! And it's a good thing because I still have peaches! Tonight I really needed some Kitchen Therapy and this is what I came up with. I got to use my new peach (potato) masher that Jodie D. gave me at Friday's meeting. I can't believe I didn't have one....and this is a nice one (see the pic below). Anyway.....on to the peachy goodness!

PEACH BUNDT CAKE

Makes 16 Servings

1 Serving = 4 PointsPlus™

1 cup Splenda granulated

1/2 cup light butter
3/4 cup fat-free egg substitute
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 cups mashed peaches
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350º. Spray bundt pan and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and Splenda granulated.

  Add egg substitute; mix thoroughly.

Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

 

Add peaches and dry ingredients alternately to the egg mixture, beating well after each addition.

  Add vanilla and nuts.





Spoon into pan.

Bake for 1 hour or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Let stand inverted on a plate until cool. Tap sides of pan if necessary to release the cake.

MY SPIN: I already added 1/2 tsp cinnamon.....and would probably just make it a heaping tsp.....but I LOVE cinnamon!!! And don't forget to spray your bundt pan on your open dishwasher door!  

Now for the 'legal mumbo-jumbo' to keep me out of court!! *** The PointsPlus™ value for this recipe was calculated by me (Jan Gomes) and is not an endorsement or approval of this recipe by Weight Watchers International, Inc., the owner of the PointsPlus™ registered trademark. ***

Later!
Loving Life(time)!
Jan