Banana Yogurt Muffins

Once again, I had bananas that got a bit too ripe before we had a chance to eat them. I have some frozen along with other fruits to use in my Yonanas, but STILL had some left! This is just another easy variation on Banana Muffins......and very low in P+!!!

BANANA YOGURT MUFFINS

Makes 12 Muffins

1 Muffin = 2 PointsPlus®

3 medium ripe bananas, mashed
½ cup fat-free egg substitute
½ cup unsweetened applesauce
½ cup fat-free plain Greek yogurt
½ cup brown sugar, lightly packed
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup white whole wheat flour
½ cup all-purpose flour MINUS 1 TBSP
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350º. Either line a muffin tin with liners or spray lightly.

Don't forget to spray the muffin tin on your dishwasher door to save cleanup!



Place the bananas in a large mixing bowl and mash them with a fork.

Add the egg substitute, applesauce, brown sugar and vanilla to the mashed bananas; mix well

Add the flours, baking soda, salt and cinnamon; mix just until the flours are incorporated.

Spoon the batter evenly into the muffin tin. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes until the tops of the muffins are golden brown and a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

MY SPIN: Everyone knows I love cinnamon, so my ½ tsp was more like 1 tsp.

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!
Jan

Chicken Marengo

Every once in a while, a good story is behind a good recipe.  " Marengo is a city south of Turin in the Piedmont region of Italy; it was there that Napoleon defeated the Austrians in 1800. Not in the habit of eating before a battle, he was starving after the victory and commanded his chef, Dumand, to whip something up. Desperate for ingredients, he sent foragers out to search for food and what materialized was a scrawny chicken, a few crayfish, a handful of tomatoes, some eggs, garlic, and a frying pan. Dumand got to work. What he created left Napoleon begging for more, and he ordered that after each battle, this dish must be served." What has since evolved into Chicken Marengo follows.....at least my version of it!

CHICKEN MARENGO

Makes 4 Servings

I did NOT do the P+ for this.

3 boneless/skinless chicken cutlets, pounded to an even thickness and cut into bite-size pieces
Salt & pepper to taste
½ cup all-purpose flour
3 TBSP canola oil
1 medium sweet onion, sliced
½ pound mushrooms, sliced
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded & julienned
2 TBSP tomato paste
½ cup white wine
½ cup low sodium beef broth
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, drained
½ TBSP light butter

Season the chicken with salt & pepper; dredge in flour.

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the chicken. Saute' until a light golden color. Remove from the skillet to a plate; set aside.

In the same pan, add the onion, mushrooms and peppers and saute' until soft, about 5 minutes. Season with salt & pepper.

Stir in the tomato paste and cook for @2 minutes.

Turn up the heat and add the wine. Let it reduce for @3 minutes.

Add the beef broth and diced tomatoes. Once this begins to bubble, add the chicken and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook @3 minutes or until the chicken is heated through.

Turn off the heat and stir in the butter.

Serve immediately.

MY SPIN: I would serve this over either egg noodles or linguine. We ate so late last night that we opted to skip that part.  I didn't figure up the P+ on this recipe because it would depend on how many pieces of chicken you ate and/or if you served it over pasta and how much of that you ate. Every once in a while it's nice to 'throw caution to the wind' and just eat enough of something to be satisfied.

Later!

Loving Life!
Jan

Pineapple Crumble

I know it's strawberry season, but it's nice to have something a little different now and then. I don't know why, but I have a couple of cans of pineapple chunks and needed to either use them in something 'creative' or just chill and eat them. This is just using pineapple instead of peaches.....or apples.....or blueberries. It's different.......and it's good!

PINEAPPLE CRUMBLE

Makes 9 Servings

1 Serving = 4 PointsPlus®

 

½ cup light butter, softened
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, divided
1 cup Splenda granulated, divided
¼ cup fat-free egg substitute
1/3 cup light sour cream
1 ½ tsp vanilla
1 (20 oz) can pineapple chunks, drained

Preheat oven to 350°. Line an 8x8-inch pan with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray; set aside.

In a large bowl, add the butter, 1 cup of the flour and ½ cup of the Splenda. Using 2 forks or a pastry cutter, cut butter into dry ingredients until a 'gritty' mixture with pea-sized buttery bits form. Reserve ¾ cup of this mixture; set aside.

Transfer remaining mixture into the prepared pan and using your fingertips or the back of a spatula, lightly press into the pan to form a crust. Bake for 10 minutes.

While crust bakes, in the same bowl used to make the crust mixture, add the egg substitute, ½ cup of the Splenda, sour cream, vanilla and ¼ cup of flour. Whisk until smooth; set aside.

Remove crust from oven and evenly top with the pineapple chunks (the entire crust won't be covered).

Carefully and evenly spread the sour cream mixture over the pineapple chunks, being sure to get into the corners.

 

Evenly sprinkle the reserved crust mixture over the top.

 

 

Bake for 35 – 40 minutes. Allow to cool on a rack for at least 1 hour before cutting.

MY SPIN: This can be served 'as is' or with a dollop of fat-free whipped topping or a scoop of ice cream. If you use ice cream, be sure to figure in the P+ value for it.

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!
Jan

Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake

I had a few strawberries left from the other day that really needed to be used. I made this quick little cheesecake and ate the rest!

STRAWBERRY SWIRL CHEESECAKE

Makes 8 Servings

1 Serving = 5 PointsPlus®

¼ cup fat-free milk
2 tsp vanilla
½ cup fat-free egg substitute
¾ cup Splenda granulated
¼ cup Original Bisquick mix
2 packages Neufchatel cream cheese, softened, cut into 16 pieces
1 cup fresh strawberries, hulled and washed
2 TBSP Splenda granulated

Preheat oven to 325º. Lightly spray the bottom only of a 9” glass pie plate. Set aside.

In a blender, place the milk, vanilla, egg substitute, ¾ cup Splenda and Bisquick. Cover and blend on high for @15 seconds.

Add cream cheese. Cover and blend for 2 minutes.

Pour into pie plate.

In same blender, place ½ cup strawberries and 2 TBSP Splenda. Cover and blend on high for 15 – 20 seconds until smooth. 

 

 

Drop by teaspoonfuls on top of the cream cheese mixture. With a toothpick, swirl strawberry sauce.

Bake 28 – 32 minutes or until about 2: of the edge of the pie is set and the center is still soft and slightly wiggly. Cool completely at room temp and then in the refrigerate at least 4 hours before serving.

MY SPIN: This can be served 'as is' or garnished with other strawberries and fat-free whipped topping.

My piece, 'as is' because I ate the rest of the strawberries!!!

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!
Jan

No Butter Shrimp Scampi

Abe & I went to the 21st Annual 174th AHC reunion last weekend in Ft. Walton Beach, FL.  We always stop at Sexton's Seafood Market in Destin on our way home to buy fresh seafood.  It's THE best place, in our opinion, to get fresh seafood.  We always bring home some shrimp and usually just do peel & eat shrimp. There has been a Shrimp Scampi recipe floating around Facebook for a few days and I decided to tweak it a tad and made it for dinner last night. This is so incredibly easy and delicious! The hardest part is peeling & deveining the shrimp. But it's so worth it!!!

NO BUTTER SHRIMP SCAMPI

Makes 4 Servings

Did NOT figure P+ value for this*

 

4 TBSP olive oil

@ 1 ¼ pounds medium raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
6 – 8 cloves of garlic, minced
½ cup low or no sodium chicken broth
½ cup white cooking wine
¼ cup lemon juice
1/8 cup minced parsley
salt & pepper to taste

In a large non-stick skillet, heat the oil. Saute the shrimp until just pink. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the shrimp to a platter and keep warm.

The hardest part of this recipe is peeling and deveining the shrimp. UGH.

In the skillet, combine the broth, wine, lemon juice, garlic, parsley, salt & pepper. Bring to a boil. Boil, uncovered, until the sauce is reduced by half.

Spoon the sauce over the shrimp and serve over angel hair pasta or linguine.

MY SPIN: I have fresh garlic, but got lazy and used the jarred stuff.....which is just as good. I used a heaping tablespoon, but we love garlic! I served this over angel hair pasta.

*I did NOT figure up the P+ value for this recipe because it would depend upon how much pasta and how many pieces of shrimp you'd eat.

Enjoy!

Loving Life!
Jan