The Nifty Foodie

Amy

Oven “fried” Chimichangas

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My fiance and I had some leftover rotisserie chicken from Target to use up. So, I searched online for ideas and found this great recipe for chimichangas on Recipezaar. Even better, it’s healthy!

Oven Fried Chimichangas
Source: Recipezaar

Ingredients:

  • 2/3 cup picante sauce or your favorite salsa
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves, crushed
  • 1 1/2 cups cooked chicken, chopped
  • 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
  • 2 green onions, chopped with some tops (about 1/4 cup)
  • 6 (8 inch)  flour tortillas
  • 2 tablespoons margarine, melted
  • shredded cheddar cheese, for serving
  • chopped green onion, for serving
  • picante sauce, for serving

Directions:

  1. Mix the chicken, picante sauce/salsa, cumin, oregano, cheese and onions together in a bowl.
  2. Place about 1/4 cup of the chicken mixture in the center of each tortilla.
  3. Fold the opposite sides over filling.
  4. Roll up from bottom and place seam-side down on a baking sheet.
  5. Brush with melted margarine.
  6. Bake at 400°F for 25 minutes or until golden.
  7. Garnish with additional cheese and green onion and serve salsa on the side.

These came out pretty good. I would add more cheese for next time, but I think this is a definite keeper in the recipe file for us!

WC Fall Exchange

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So, every 1-2 months, there is a gift exchange between members of the “What’s Cooking” board on the Nest. I always have fun compiling the package, as well as getting the surprise package. This time was no exception!

Carrie of Carrie’s Sweet Life sent me a Silpat and spoonula. I used those this weekend to do some baking, which I’ll post about in the near future. Let’s just say these are both AWESOME additions to my kitchen!! Thanks so much, Carrie!!!! Can’t wait to use these more in the kitchen!!!

Elephant Cookies!

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My fiance’s nephew just turned 3 years old, and for his birthday, I volunteered to make cookie favors. His favorite animal (of the moment) is an elephant, so I went on the search for an elephant cookie cutter. I found a great set called “Noah’s Ark” at Macy’s that had an elephant. Then, I used the standard Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix (remember I’m still on the search for that PERFECT cookie recipe, so in the meantime, I use my trusty mix) and went to town!

This is the first time I worked with flood icing, so I think I did pretty well considering! I’m now ready to make fun Christmas cookies using my experience with the icing!

Eggnog Cookies and a couple of recipe revisits!

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For my last day at my old job, my coworkers asked me to bring in some goodies for them. I decided to make Cranberry White Chocolate Pistachio Biscotti (scroll down a bit for the recipe), Eggnog Cookies and Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake Brownies.

The treats went over really well!

Here’s the recipe for eggnog cookies. These left for a very subtle spice taste, so if you want more eggnog, add more. Many people on Allrecipes adapted the recipe that way.

Eggnog Cookies
Source: Allrecipes

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/4 cups white sugar
  • 3/4 cup butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup eggnog
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
  2. Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg.
  3. Cream sugar and butter until light. Add eggnog, vanilla, and egg yolks; beat at medium speed with mixer until smooth. Add flour mixture and beat at low speed until just combined. Do not overmix.
  4. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet 1 inch apart. Sprinkle lightly with nutmeg. Bake 20 to 23 minutes until bottoms turn light brown.

 

Dixie-booscotti!

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Ok, I love my dog, Dixie. (Who doesn’t love their dog?) She’s such a little trooper dog. She’s a hunting dog for my dad, and she is 8 years old. Even at 8, she is very fit, but she gets SO tired. It’s cute to see her knocked out all day, twitching (chasing ducks in her dreams).

Here she is falling asleep! 🙂

Anyway, I decided to make her (not so) little self a happy dog. I made her Rachael Ray’s “Isabooscotti”.

I didn’t drizzle carob, because I couldn’t get it to melt well, and didn’t want to add crisco at the chance of making her sick. So, it’s plain biscotti. 🙂

Isabooscotti
Source: Rachael Ray

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 2 pinches ground cinnamon
  • 1 cup chunky peanut butter (I used fresh ground peanut butter from Whole Foods. I spoil her 🙂 )
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 cup carob chips

Directions:

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 400°F.
  2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Place the peanut butter in a medium bowl and microwave at high power to soften, 5-10 seconds. Whisk in the milk, then stir the mixture into the dry ingredients.
  3. Shape the dough into a long, flattened log and place on a greased baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes; remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Slice the log crosswise on an angle into 1-inch-thick pieces. Set the slices on their sides (they should look like biscotti) and bake until crisp, 10-12 minutes more. Transfer to a rack to cool.
  4. Melt the carob in a microwave or on the stovetop over low heat. Thin the melted carob with 1 tablespoon water, if needed. Using a spoon, drizzle the melted carob over the biscuits. Let cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

 

Pumpkin (White) Chocolate Chip Cookies

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I made these pumpkin cookies last week, since I was on a serious pumpkin kick, as you can tell from previous entries. These were a little too sweet with the white chocolate chips, in my opinion. So, next time, I’ll omit them and let the pumpkin shine!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Source: Allrecipes

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup canned pumpkin
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil (I did 1/2 cup applesauce, of course!)
  • 1 egg
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon milk
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I used white chocolate chips)
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional and omitted)

Directions:

  1. Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and egg. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt. Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir in. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well.
  2. Add in the vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts.
  3. Drop by the spoonful on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly brown and firm.

 

Pumpkin Bread

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After yesterday’s pumpkin cheesecake brownies, I had to use up a good bit of the leftover pumpkin. So, I searched blogs until I found Katie’s adaptation for a classic pumpkin bread that would use up all the rest of that yummy pumpkin before it went bad in the fridge!

Of course, I subbed applesauce for butter here. It was still very good though! 🙂 Thanks Katie!

Classic Pumpkin Bread
Source: Good Things Catered adapted from Joy of Cooking

Ingredients:

  • 1 ½ c. all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • ¼ tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 3 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp ground cloves
  • 1/3 c. milk
  • ½ tsp vanilla
  • 6 Tbsp butter, at room temp (I used applesauce instead)
  • 1 c. granulated sugar
  • 1/3 c. packed brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 c. pumpkin puree

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Have all ingredients at room temp and prepare 9×5 loaf pan.
  3. Whisk together flour, soda, powder, salt and spices thoroughly.
  4. In another bowl combine milk and vanilla.
  5. In large bowl of mixer beat butter until creamy (about 30 sec).
  6. Gradually add sugars and beat on high speed until lightened in texture (3-4 min).
  7. Beat in eggs one at a time.
  8. Add pumpkin puree on low speed until just blended.
  9. Add flour mixture in 3 parts alternating with the milk mixture in 2 parts beating on low or stirring with spatula until just combined. (Don’t overmix here! Really just stir until just combined. Sorry, I watch too much Alton Brown….)
  10. Scrape batter into pan and spread evenly.
  11. Bake about 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. (It took me about 75 minutes)

Ok, drumroll for the POINTS* value (with my applesauce change in there)….

Serves: 12
POINTS*: 3

YAY! So, POINTSwise, this doesn’t make for a bad breakfast at all!! 🙂 Enjoy!

Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake Brownies

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So, yesterday I realized that I wanted to bake with more pumpkin. The Fall is only here another month and a half, so I need to enjoy pumpkin while it feels right! I saw on Cara’s Cravings a picture of these beautiful swirly pumpkin cheesecake brownies and knew I just had to try it. Thanks for the recipe, Cara!

As far as for the diet, I didn’t really skinny it up that much (not that it really needed it as you will see in the POINTS* value), because it was election night and heck, I knew my family needed some fun food to enjoy the night with! I did make some changes on here, though.

Pumpkin Spice Cheescake Brownies
Adapted from: Cara’s Cravings

Ingredients:

Brownie Batter

  • 3/4 cup butter, melted (used 1/2 cup butter, 1/4 cup applesauce)
  • 1 cup sugar]
  • 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder
    (added 1/4 oz. semisweet baking chocolate)
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp cinnamon

Cheesecake Batter

  • 6 oz cream cheese, softened
  • 1 egg
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 2 tbsp flour
  • 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp each ground ginger and ground cloves (I used 1/2 tsp nutmeg instead)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease an 8×8″ square metal baking pan.
  2. Beat together melted butter, sugar, and vanilla, then beat in eggs one at a time. Combine dry ingredients and then gradually stir into butter mixture with a wooden spoon. In separate bowl, beat together cheesecake batter ingredients.
  3. Spread about 2/3 of chocolate batter into prepared pan, and spoon cheesecake batter over. Dollop remaining brownie batter over cheesecake batter. Swirl the batters together by running a butter knife back and forth through the pan.
  4. Bake for 40 minutes, or until center is set. Cool completely on wire rack and chill before cutting and serving.

img_7054
Don’t they just look great? Ok, I won’t keep you waiting. Here’s the POINTS* value.

Serves: 20 (I made them small because they are very flavorful brownies and you don’t need much to give the sweet tooth what it wants!)
POINTS*: 4

 

Pumpkin Pie

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With the time change, I was anxiously awaiting Desperate Housewives to come on at 8. However, it was 5:30 and dark! I realized I needed to make the time zoom a little faster, so I decided to make a pumpkin pie.

Not just any pumpkin pie, a Weight Watchers friendly pumpkin pie! I found this great recipe in Cooking Light, believe it or not. I’m being completely serious when I say I cannot tell the difference between normal pumpkin pie and this pumpkin pie!

Pumpkin Pie
Source: Cooking Light

Ingredients:

Filling:

  • 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 3/4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 (12-ounce) can evaporated low-fat milk
  • 2 large egg whites
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 (15-ounce) can unsweetened pumpkin

Crust:

  • 1/2 (15-ounce) package refrigerated pie dough (such as Pillsbury) (I used premade frozen crust)
  • Cooking spray

Topping: (I omitted this topping and subbed some Cool Whip Fat Free)

  • 1/4 cup whipping cream
  • 1 tablespoon amaretto (almond-flavored liqueur)
  • 2 teaspoons powdered sugar

Directions:

  1. Position oven rack to lowest position and preheat oven to 425°.
  2. To prepare filling, combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add pumpkin, and stir with a whisk until smooth.
  3. To prepare crust, roll dough into an 11-inch circle; fit into a 9-inch pie plate coated with cooking spray. Fold edges under and flute.
  4. Pour pumpkin mixture into the crust. Place pie plate on a baking sheet. Place baking sheet on lowest oven rack. Bake at 425° for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350° (do not remove pie from oven); bake an additional 50 minutes or until almost set. Cool completely on wire rack.
  5. To prepare topping, beat cream with a mixer at high speed until stiff peaks form. Add the amaretto and powdered sugar, and beat until blended. Serve with pie.

Serves 12.

POINTS*: 4.5/slice (with 1 tbsp. whipped topping included)

Seriously, try this recipe for the holiday season. You will not be disappointed! 🙂 This is now going to be a favorite I’m bringing to every holiday I’m asked to bring a dish for!

Crispy Yogurt Chicken

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I love baked chicken, but the problem I have is getting it crispy on both sides. Makes frying seem so much better, even though I’ve never fried chicken.

When I saw this recipe, I was very interested. I thought, wow, I bet the yogurt lends some moisture and the lemon might tenderize the meat a little while baking. After seeing many raving reviews on this recipe, I decided to go for it and try it! My local Albertson’s had boneless, skinless breasts at $1.68/lb too!

Crispy Yogurt Chicken
Source: The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients:

  • Chicken breasts (we used 3 chicken breasts which I split in half)
  • 2 cups plain, unflavored yogurt (we used fat free)
  • 2-3 cloves garlic
  • Parsley (I was cheap and used dried but PW recommended fresh)
  • The juice of one lemon
  • Salt
  • Butter
  • 2 cups (approx.) Panko Bread Crumbs

Directions:

  • Begin by pouring 2 cups of plain yogurt into a mixing bowl. Peel and mince a couple cloves of garlic and add them to the yogurt. Next, chop up a small amount of fresh parsley and add to the yogurt as well. To this, add the juice of one lemon. Mix together to combine.
  • Rinse your chicken and pat it dry. Then, give it a nice sprinkling of salt.
  • In another bowl, place the panko crumbs. Add a little salt and stir together.
  • Butter a baking dish. (I used parchment to save calories). Place the chicken, one piece at a time into the yogurt mixture, thoroughly coating it. Then, roll the chicken in the panko. Cover each piece with bread crumbs and place in the baking dish.
  • Finally, place a slice of butter over the large part of each chicken piece.


I ended up double buttering some pieces because they were so large (though I split the breasts).

  • Cover with foil and bake in a 350 degree oven for 1 – 1 1/4 hours, removing the foil for the last 15 minutes of cooking. When the chicken is nice and golden, remove from the oven and enjoy!

POINTS*: 6 (We didn’t use all the panko and yogurt so I estimated a little bit less used for a more accurate POINTS value)

This really was crispy chicken on both sides! Just look at that color!

However, I will say, this lacked some kick in it. Next time, I’ll add a little hot sauce and Tony’s to the yogurt mixture to make it a little more Louisianian. We will definitely make this again!

I ended up making onion soup potatoes, and rebaking the leftover green bean casserole and garlic bread to complete the meal!