Green Bean Casserole

Here's a simple recipe for a super delicious green bean casserole I made last night. One benefit of my diet is being able to use ingredients that taste wonderful (like french fried onions) in smaller amounts! This is definitely something i'm going to make often. Comfort food without the guilt!


Ingredients:
2 Cans Cut Green Beans (drained)
6 Tbsp French Fried Onions (I crushed them up into smaller pieces)
1 Can Campbell's Healthy Request Cream of Chicken Soup
2 Tbsp. Fat Free Sour Cream
2 Tbsp Fat Free Milk
2 tsp. Low Sodium Soy Sauce
1/2 tsp. Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp. Onion Powder
1/4 tsp. Pepper
1/4 tsp. Salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a bowl, mix together green beans, 2 Tbsp. french fried onions, cream of chicken soup, sour cream, milk, soy sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper & salt.
3. Pour into casserole dish and bake for 20-25 minutes.
4. Sprinkle 4 Tbsp. french fried onions over the top of the casserole and bake for an additional 5 minutes.

Recipe Yields 4 Servings

Serving Size = 1 Cup

Serving = 132 calories, 4g fat

WW Points = 2 pts.

Stuffed Bell Peppers

I decided to stick with the "stuffed" theme I have going on. There are not many things I love more than a good stuffed pepper. This is by far one of my favorite recipes ever. I highly suggest you try it. You'll be glad you did!


Ingredients:
4 Medium Green bell peppers
1 Pound 96% fat free Ground Beef
1.5 Cups Cooked white rice
1 (15oz) Can tomato sauce
1 (8oz) Can tomato sauce
2 Tbsp + 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tsp. Garlic Powder
1 Tsp. Onion Powder
3/4 Tbsp. Oregano
3/4 Tbsp. Basil
1 2pt package of Weight Watchers shredded cheddar cheese







1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Blanch peppers for 12-15 mins. I like my peppers a little on the softer side when I eat them, so I go for the full 15 mins.

3. Cut tops off of peppers, remove all seeds and place the peppers in a baking dish.

4. Cook ground beef and season as you like. I usually season mine with some onion powder, garlic powder, salt & pepper.

5. Stir in cooked rice, 15oz can tomato sauce & 2 Tbsp. + 1 Tsp. worcestershire sauce. Fill the peppers with the mixture.

6. In a separate bowl, combine 8oz can tomato sauce, 1 tsp. garlic powder, 1 tsp. onion powder, oregano & basil. Pour equal amounts of sauce over each pepper.

7. Top each pepper with 1/4 package of shredded cheese.

8. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes.

Recipe Yields 4 Servings

Serving Size = 1 Pepper

Serving = 356 calories, 4.5g fat

WW Points = 7 pts per serving

Stuffed Mushrooms

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July! We spent the day at my mother-n-law's house with some family & friends BBQing then went to the local fireworks show which was amazing! Since most of our family is trying to watch what they eat we decided to make some extra lean hamburgers and Ball Park's Fat Free Franks. Let me just say that I am still surprised at how tasty the fat free dogs are and each one is only 1 WW point. Now, if you pair that with Sara Lee's 80 calories & delightful hot dog buns you have yourself a 2 point meal! I am completely in love with Sara Lee's low calorie breads at the moment and i'm not sure if i'll ever buy other hamburger or hot dog buns again.

Now for the good stuff. I wanted to make a super-delicious appetizer and I remembered a recipe I used to make for stuffed mushrooms and decided to play with it to make it diet-friendly. It was my absolute favorite stuffed mushroom recipe ever. It is so creamy, flavorful and now it's healthy! I don't think it gets any better than this. Here's the result:


Ingredients:
Vegetable Oil Spray
12 Whole mushrooms
2 Cloves garlic
1 Container Weight Watchers Reduced Fat Whipped Cream Cheese (8oz)
1/4 Cup Grated parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp. Sliced green onion
1/4 Tsp. Pepper
1/8 Tsp. Cayenne pepper
1/4 Tsp. Onion powder

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray your baking sheet or baking dish with the vegetable oil.

2. Coat a skillet with vegetable oil spray. Wash mushrooms and remove the stems. Chop the stems into itty bitty pieces and place into skillet.

3. Mince garlic and add to skillet.

4. Fry until the mushroom pieces are no longer moist. Remove from heat.

5. Mix together the mushroom/galic mixture, cream cheese, parmesan cheese, green onion, pepper, cayenne pepper & onion powder. Fill the mushrooms. It's going to look like they're overstuffed, but that's just how you want it!

6. Place in your baking dish and bake for 18-20 minutes, until mushrooms are a deep brown color and are looking nice and juicy.

7. Enjoy them.

Recipe Yields 6 servings

Serving Size = 2 mushrooms

Serving = 130 calories, 5g fat

WW Points = 3 pts per serving

Green Stuff [the remix]

One of my favorite desserts growing up was a mixture of pistachio pudding, whipped cream, cottage cheese, pineapples and marashino cherries; also known as green stuff. This is my healthier version of green stuff, a.k.a green stuff [the remix].


Ingredients:
1 cup low-fat cottage cheese with fiber
1 box sugar free, fat free pistachio pudding
1 container fat free whipped topping
1 8oz can pineapple chunks







1. Grab a bowl & pour in the pudding mix.

2. Drain pineapple juice from can and add to pudding mix. Stir it up until it's nice and gloopy. Is gloopy a word?

3. Mix in the cottage cheese and stir it all together.

4. Fold in whipped topping.

5. Throw in the pineapple chunks and stir it around.

6. Put it in the fridge for a few hours and voila! You have yourself a wonderful, delightful & delicious dessert to enjoy without feeling guilty!



Recipe yields 3 servings

Serving size = 1 cup

Serving = 231 calories, >1g fat

WW Points = 5 pts per serving

First post

I just thought I should start off by saying hello! I started this blog because I needed a place to put all my recipes so that friends, family and whoever else could enjoy them. What fun is it coming up with delicious recipes when you can't share them with anyone? Since i'm currently on the weight watchers diet, i'm trying to find low-calorie/low-fat ways of making my favorite foods without losing any of the flavor. One of my main problems with dieting has always been that I never feel full. I can only eat so many salads before my stomach demands fettuccini, enchiladas, hamburgers and cheesy potato skins covered in bacon. So my mission now is to find healthy & delicious ways of making those foods while sticking to my diet plan. Enjoy!