Oatmeal Raisin Muffins - 6 points

Do you love oatmeal raisin cookies? Either you are now dreaming of them or you are making an "ick" face - it seems like they are a love them or hate them type of treat. I love them. I would, many times, rather have oatmeal raisin than chocolate chip - it is true. I love the texture of the oatmeal, the caramelization on the raisins, the spice of the cinnamon. I would eat them all day long.  Which is why I was so happy to find that this recipe yields a muffin that tastes just like an oatmeal raisin cookie. So indulgent, so perfect, so not even a crumb of one left in my house this evening.

Oatmeal Raisin Muffins - From In the Kitchen with the AWA
1 cup oats
1 cup buttermilk
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup flour
1/3 cup melted butter
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup raisins

1. Place the oats and buttermilk in a bowl and seal. Refrigerate overnight.
2. Mix flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, soda, cinnamon, and raisins in a medium bowl.
3. Add egg and butter to the oat mixture. Add oat mixture to flour and mix well. Spoon into greased muffin tins.
4. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes.
5. Yields 12, 6 point muffins

Did any of you see the lovely story about this man on the news?

At the end of the U2 concert on Saturday, Bono leaned over to talk to someone in the crowd. He then motioned to some of the security people to pull the man up on stage. We (the crowd) went wild, of course, to see this guy make it to the stage. Bono was heard asking the man what he wanted to play and then asking the stage crew to hand him Bono's guitar. The man requested "All I Want is You" and told the crowd that his wife's name is Andrea - omg he was going to play for his wife with U2! He also said he was nervous - which got a big laugh. He did an excellent job - earned years of points with his wife - and then, when he started to give the guitar back to Bono - Bono told him to keep it! Wicked cool.

The story made it into the news today because the man -who is named Adam - is blind. He was holding a sign that said something equivalent to "Blind Guitar Player: Bring me up" If you want to see the actual performance, click here.  Be forewarned that, if you are a big sap like me, you will probably cry.

My husband has never sung to me on stage in front of 50,000 people, but he has done it in front of a few hundred people a couple of times. I am lucky to have a man who sings to me. This is one of my most frequent serenades...

Random Recipe Challenge - Cappuccino Mousse - 6 points

I always have so much fun with the Random Recipe challenge, hosted by Dom at Belleau Kitchen. Somehow, it always ends up being a bit of a trip. This month's challenge was to flip to a random page in your most recently gifted cookbook and make the recipe thereon.

I am lucky that the book my husband gave me a few weeks ago is a real gem.

The All New Good Housekeeping Cook Book is not exactly new; it was published in 2001. Stone picked up a copy, along with two other great cookbooks, at our favorite used bookstore (you can imagine that being married to a librarian means often being surprised with new books). This is the kind of "Bible" cookbook that you could cook from for the rest of your life and be quite happy. It is my new "go-to" cookbook for fail safe recipes.

I was completely thrilled when the recipe I opened to was "Cappuccino Mousse". It is difficult to explain how much I love and depend upon coffee. I guess the word would be addict.

My relationship with coffee started at an early age. My mother and father used to give an endless number of dinner parties. After the meal, my mother would always go around with a tray displaying delicate cups filled with tempting smelling coffee to offer her guests. I wanted a cup so badly; they smelled like heaven and all of the adults seem to really enjoy them. When I was seven, my mother got rather tired of me begging for a cup and decided that her problem would be solved if she let me have some. After all, what seven year old likes coffee? I did. I loved it. From that point on, coffee was a special treat. (Until college, when it became a complete necessity.)

I had a great time making this recipe. It was very easy to follow and I always find whipping cream fun to cook with. The coffee brandy that I used for the liqueur smelled divine and will find itself into many a cocktail later, I am sure. The only downside was waiting overnight for the mousse to set.

Cappuccino Mousse
1 envelope plus 1 tsp unflavored gelatin
1/3 plus 1/2 cup milk
1 cup espresso or very strong brewed coffee
1/2 cup plus 1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp coffee-flavored liqueur
1 1/3 cups heavy or whipping cream
pinch ground cinnamon

1. In a small saucepan, evenly sprinkle gelatin over 1/3 cup milk; let stand 5 minutes. Stir in coffee. Place over low heat, stirring frequently, 2 to 3 minutes, until gelatin is dissolved. Remove from heat; add 1/2 cup sugar, stirring until dissolved. Stir in remaining 1/2 cup milk and liqueur. Transfer to large bowl.
2. Place bowl in a larger bowl of ice water. With rubber spatula, stir just until mixture mounds slightly when dropped from spoon, about 15 minutes. Remove from water bath.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, whip 1 cup cream on medium speed until soft peaks form. Fold 1/3 of cream into coffee mixture until well blended. Gently fold in beaten cream. Spoon mixture into 8 coffee cups or 6 oz custard cups. Cover and refrigerate until set, 4 hours or up to overnight.
4. Just before serving, in a small bowl, beat remaining 1/3 cup cream, remaining 1 tsp sugar, and cinnamon until stiff peaks form. To serve, spoon dollop of whipped cream into each mousse.
5. Yields 8, 6 point servings
 
The recipe calls for 8 coffee or custard cups. I don't have eight matching anything in my kitchen, so I used a variety of containers.

The taste was amazing. It had the flavor of a really good latte, with a consistency as light as a cloud. The danger is that it is so light that you are tempted to have seconds....and thirds, which would be quite bad for the waistline.

I am so glad that I took this challenge. This recipe was great as a breakfast dish and would be lovely for a dinner dessert as well. It will definitely become part of my regular rotation. My love affair with coffee goes on. Love affair plus coffee - that makes me think of those dramatic Gold Blend commercials that I used to see on tapes people sent from America. Does anyone else remember these?

Thank you, Dom, for another adventure in cooking.

Spicy Sweet Potatoes - 6 points, Menu Plan

In my opinion, one of the most inspiring sites on the Internet is Sizing Down the Diva. One of the Diva's favorite dishes is a sweet potato recipe from the New York Times. Trusting in her good taste, I gave it a go. Yum, indeed! The combination of sweet and spice is a favorite of mine, and this is a vitamin rich example of that combo. You can see the original recipe by clicking here. Since I like my potatoes with some extra spice, I adjusted the recipe slightly.

Spicy Sweet Potatoes

1 tsp olive oil

2 medium onions, quartered

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp + 2 tsp paprika

2 tsp cayenne pepper

4 tbsp chipotle sauce

8 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 cup white wine

1. Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Add the onion and a generous pinch of salt. Cook, stirring, until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds to a minute. Stir in the paprika, cayenne and chipotle sauce, and cook, stirring, about one minute.

2. Add the sweet potatoes, and stir for about a minute until coated with the onion and spice mixture. Add the white wine, enough water to cover the sweet potatoes halfway (1 1/2 to 2 cups), and salt to taste. Bring to a boil, lower the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer 30 to 40 minutes until the potatoes are tender and the sauce thick. Taste and adjust salt.

Menu Plan

Monday

tempeh with sate sauce

Tuesday

out

Wednesday

tamale pie

Thursday

round steak in mushroom gravy

Friday

sweet and sour meatballs

Saturday

green rice casserole

I do hope to be a bit more active in my blogging this week. Hopefully, after 1 1/2 rounds of antibiotics and a rather painful shot in my hip, I am going to be back to normal soon. 

Family Hamburger Soup - 6 points

Here is an easy soup recipe from Pillsbury. I love a good beef vegetable soup on a chilly day like the one we had today in Tennessee. This soup has the decency to work equally well by following the directions below or by slow cooking in a crock pot. I do appreciate versatility in a soup.

Family Hamburger Soup- adapted from Pillsbury Annual Recipes 2008

1 lb lean ground beef

1/4 cup chopped onion

2 cups potatoes, diced or shredded

1 cup sliced celery

1 bag frozen mixed vegetables

5 cubes chicken bouillon

5 cups water

1 can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1. In a large saucepan, cook ground beef and onion over medium high heat 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until beef is thoroughly cooked; drain.

2. Stir in remaining ingredients. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer for 18 to 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally.

3. Yields 7, 6 point servings

Have you made your way over to Suzy Eats?  If you haven't, you really should. She has a great blog going, full of fabulous recipes. Suzy recently received a Stylish Blogger Award and was sweet enough to pass it on to me. The instructions require me to choose some bloggers to whom I pass on the award. Of course, I am going to cheat, since I am nothing if not rebellious to rules. 


I believe that my readers/ followers are amazing people who share terrific recipes, good humor, excellent writing, and honesty. You have given me courage to share my thoughts and encouragement when I need it. I would very much like to give this award to all of you. Please feel free to post it on your blog; if you would like, please leave a link of a recent/favorite post on your blog in the comment section below. I would love to have a list of all the cool things you have been writing about. 

Cornish Game Hens in Cranberry Sauce - 6 points

This was my second attempt at Cornish game hens. The first attempt was fine, but nothing special. Since this is an all white meat bird, very low in points, I was determined to try again. It seemed like every recipe I found involved a stuffing. As much as I love carbs of all kinds, I wanted to make a recipe that didn't use bread or rice. Finally, I found a recipe on WholeFoodsMarket.com that looked scrumptious.  I planned to follow the directions - I really did. But, well, I changed one little thing here and one little thing there until I had changed most of the ingredients.

This dish was so delicious! I thought that it might be reminiscent of Thanksgiving with the cranberry and poultry. Not so. The fruits had a light, tangy, tropical flavor that did not remind me of Thanksgiving cranberry sauce at all. The fresh taste of the sauce was the perfect compliment to the gamey, rich meat. It was the perfect dish to enjoy on a wintery night when spring seems a little too far away. If I didn't know it was six points, I would have felt guilty for eating something so indulgent.

Cornish Game Hens in Cranberry Sauce
12 oz frozen cranberries
1 medium ruby red grapefruit, peeled, seeded, and chopped
1 1/2 cups chopped mango
1/3 cup Splenda or other non-calorie sweetener
1 oz white wine
2 whole, skinless Cornish game hens
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

1. Combine fruit and Splenda in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently to prevent sticking. Reduce heat to low, add wine, and cover. 
2. Cut hens in half along the side of the backbone. Salt and pepper liberally on both sides, being sure to get under arms and legs. Place hens in a casserole dish or large cast iron skillet.
3. From the pot, remove a 1/4 cup of juice only and pour over the hens.
4. Roast hens in 400F oven 25 minutes, or until juices run clear. Top with fruit sauce.
5. Makes 4, 6 point servings

Roasted hens...

 Hens with fruit sauce...



Macaroni and Tomatoes - 6 points

You might think from reading my blog and seeing all of the references to Southern food traditions that I am a Southerner. I am not. I suppose I am “from” the Midwest, since I was born and spent the first five weeks of my life there. I have lived in many different places and on a few different continents. In all of my travels, I have never found reason to complain about the food – every culture I have encountered has unique preparations, distinct flavors, and delicious food!

Since living in the southern United States, I have enjoyed learning about Southern cooking and, in particular, about the food traditions of Tennessee. When I first moved here, one of the menu items that often gave me pause was “macaroni and tomatoes”. I just couldn’t fathom exactly what that could be. Was it a regional name for marinara and spaghetti? Was it a casserole? It turns out that it is exactly what it sounds like – macaroni (usually elbow) and tomatoes mixed together in a big pot.

My version has a few more ingredients than the one you would get at, let’s say, Lambert’s Café. But, it still gives the basic idea of the dish – and is very filling for just 6 points!

Macaroni and Tomatoes

6 oz veggie pasta (elbow or rotini)

3 cloves garlic, minced

¾ cup 2% mozzarella, shredded

3 tsp olive oil

1 can diced tomatoes, drained

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.
2. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, mix garlic, cheese, and oil.
3. Once pasta is cooked, drain the water and return the pasta to the pot. Stir in the tomatoes and return the pot to the stove for 2-3 minutes, just to warm tomatoes.
4. Add pasta and tomatoes to the oil mixture in the bowl. Stir until combined.
5. Yields 3, 6 point servings 

Thank you to Mateja for this very lovely award:) You are awfully sweet.



Dulce De Leche Bars - 6 points

Here is one of the lessons I have learned from Weight Watchers – treats should be worth their calories. I used to eat hamburgers all the time, so I was willing to grab a bland, unseasoned patty from whatever fast food restaurant was closest. Now that I am being more health conscious, I only get a hamburger once in a blue moon. And, I am not settling for any old hamburger! It needs to be juicy, perfectly seasoning, and dripping with good toppings.

The same goes for sweets. I used to grab a stale cookie from the teachers lounge table, a snack cakes from the vending machine after lunch, and a big bowl of ice-cream after supper. Now that I rarely get sweets, I am not settling for a stale cookie or a packaged cake! I want to make sure every treat I get is truly a treat!

There was a Mexican food party at work yesterday, so I decided to make a really indulgent treat. I know this is not a traditional Mexican dessert but since dulce de leche is one of my favorite Mexican sweets, I decided these bars would work for the party. They were so amazing! There was not a crumb left to bring home, and everyone raved about the crispy crust, the smooth dulce de leche, and the lightness added by the fluffy topping. I highly recommend it when you next decide to reward your hard work!

Dulce De Leche Bars

36 chocolate sandwich cookies

6 tbsp butter, melted

2 cans sweetened condensed milk

8 oz fat free whipped topping

5 small toffee/chocolate bars

1. Poke two holes in the top of each can of sweetened condensed milk. Place cans in a medium pot; fill the pot with water until the cans are 2 cm short of being covered.
2. Place the pot over low heat for 2-4 hours, covered. The longer you leave the cans on the stove, the thicker the dulce de leche will become. (I left mine for 4 hours so that the bars would slice more easily.)
3. Place chocolate bars in the food processor. Pulse at three-second intervals, just until the chocolate is crushed.
4. Place cookies and butter in a food processor. Process for 2-3 minutes, until cookies are completely crumbed and mixture holds together well.
5. Press cookie mixture into the bottom of a 9x11 inch cake pan to form crust. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.
6. Spread dulce de leche over your crust. Allow the mixture to cool completely.
7. Sprinkle half of the crushed chocolate bars over the dulce de leche. Spread with whipped topping; sprinkle remaining chocolate on top.
8. Yields 28, 6 point servings

Here is a picture I took of the top of the dessert after I finished it.

Here is a side view, showing you the layers:

I was planning on taking a picture of one of the slices I brought home. What I ended up bringing home was an empty dish! So, no picture. Oh well, it tasted great!

Chicken Paprikash - 6 points

Chicken Paprikash
3 lbs baked or rotisserie chicken meat, pulled apart
2 medium onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cube chicken bouillon
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 medium tomato, diced
1 green bell pepper, cut into 1 inch strips
1 cup fat free sour cream

1. Heat large skillet over medium heat. Spray with non-stick cooking spray. Add onions and garlic; saute until onions are tender.
2. Stir in bouillon, water, paprika, salt, black pepper, tomato, and chicken. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Stir in bell pepper; simmer for an additional 15 minutes.
4. Stir in sour cream and leave on the stove just long enough for the contents of the skillet to reheat.
5. Yields 8, 6 point servings

Old Fashioned Chicken Pot Pie- 6 points

My fab friend Lisa sent me a Weight Watchers recipe for chicken pot pie and told me I had to try it. Since Stone was sick, I thought this would be a fitting comfort food for his dinner. Of course, I had to mess with the recipe because I didn't have exactly what it called for. You can take Lisa's word for it that the WW version is divine, and my word that the adapted version is splendid.

Old Fashioned Chicken Pot Pie
1 small onion, chopped
2 cups mushrooms, sliced
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 cups frozen, mixed vegetables
1 cube chicken bouillon
1 cup water
3 cups chopped roasted chicken breast
2 tsp tapioca flour (put 2 tsp minute tapioca through food processor or coffee grinder)
1/2 cup fat free yogurt
4 refridgerated reduced fat crescent rolls

1. Heat large skillet over medium heat. Spray with kitchen spritzer or non-stick cooking spray. Add onions and mushrooms; saute until tender.
2. Add spices, chicken, bouillon, water and vegetables to skillet. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
3. Stir tapioca and yogurt into skillet. Simmer 5 additional minutes.
4. Transfer contents of skillet to a medium casserole dish. Arrange four crescents around the edges, leaving  a whole in the middle.
5. Bake in a 375F oven for 15 minutes.
6. Yields 6, 6 point servings

The Weight Watchers version can be seen here.

My version can be seen below.

Thank you fab friend Lisa for the great recipe. As always, you rock!

Boston Butt Roast Stew - 6 points

Sick again today - yuck! Lucky for me, Stone came over to make biscuits for breakfast. I can't get him to give up his recipe (Southerners are protective of their biscuit recipes) but I will keep working on him. We stuffed them with All Fruit Apricot Spread with Fiber and topped them with Fat Free Cool Whip. 5 points for 2. Yum!

He helped me put dinner in the crock pot before he left.

Boston Butt Roast Stew
3 lb Boston butt roast (pork shoulder)
2 onions, sliced
10 Roma tomatoes, grated (I used a food processor attachment)
1 1/2 glasses red wine
2 cups water
salt and pepper to taste

1. Place all ingredients in crock pot. Cook over high heat for 8 -10 hours. Before serving, use a fork to break apart the meat - it should fall of the bone into stew sized pieces.
2. Makes 12, 6 point servings

Rice is one of my comfort foods, so I had my 1/3 serving over a cup of basmati rice (which I cooked in my Pampered Chef microwave rice cooker).

Now I am off to drink my 4th cup of Breathe Easy tea with honey and then to get a good night's sleep.

Stollen Pudding with Apricot Brandy Sauce - 15 Points

You know how people complain about getting fruit cake for Christmas? I'm sure you've heard the jokes about using it as a paperweight or the comments about "who eats that?" Well, I love fruit cake. I really do. I am a good German American girl, and I can totally chow down on some dark rum cherry fruit cake or a nice, light stollen. This is good, because it seems that German American families like to give each other fruit cake.

Even thought I love it, I still get too much of it. After all, I am single. So, really, how many fruit cakes can I physically eat? That's okay, though, because too much fruit cake means...pudding!

My family is coming for Sunday lunch tomorrow, which means that I am cooking Sunday lunch tonight. We all go to church, and I don't feel like cooking a big meal after sitting in church and Sunday school. Sunday at my house means crock pot or something that reheats well. Guess what reheats really well. Pudding!

Stollen is a traditional German fruit bread. Every woman in my family thinks that she makes the best stollen in the world. Perhaps I will share some of their recipes with you sometime. For now, let's start with the pudding. You can buy any fruit bread at a store and make this recipe. It will knock your socks off.

Stollen Pudding
4 cups milk (I use soy)
1/2 cup salted butter
1 cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
4 eggs
12 cups stale stollen, cubed
1 cup golden raisins
1. Heat the milk and butter in a microwave safe bowl until the butter has completely melted.
2. In a large bowl, mix sugar, cinnamon, and eggs until smooth. Stir in stollen and raisins. Pour milk over the mixture, and gently turn until the stollen is well coated.
3. Pour the mixture into a deep casserole dish. Place the dish in a larger, rectangular pan.
4. Place the pan, with the casserole dish in it, in an oven heated to 350. When the pan is secured on the rack, pour boiling water into the pan all around the casserole (about 1 1/2 deep). Do not pour the water before putting the pan in the oven or you run a greater risk of scalding yourself!
5. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes. Remove the casserole dish from the pan before removing the pan from the oven. This, again, lowers your chance of scalding yourself. 

Stollen Pudding should be served with Apricot Brandy Sauce. Of course, if you are like me, you can also just drink the sauce. But, you shouldn't. It is very, very bad for your hips.

Apricot Brandy Sauce
2 cups dark brown sugar
1 cup salted butter
1/2 cup apricot brandy

Heat all ingredients over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar is completely dissolved.

For Weight Watcher's fans, the Stollen Pudding makes 16, 9 point servings. The Apricot Brandy Sauce makes 16, 6 point servings.

Shrimp Ragout - 6 points

I am one of the prime enemies of the cow. I love a big juicy hamburger, the kind that drips grease and tomato juice and mayonnaise when you take a bite. I love a medium-rare porter house steak with a thick crust of pepper. I fantasize about succulent pot roast slow cooked with golden potatoes and white onions. None of those things, as you can imagine, is on the Weight Watcher's list of acceptable foods.

Seafood is normally a rare dish in my house, but it is low on points and I am very hungry. So, I made a trip to the store and got to know the man being the seafood counter. I came home with shrimp, scallops, orange roughy, mahi-mahi, and swordfish. I started out with the shrimp. I had an open bottle of a favorite wine, which inspired me to try a shrimp ragout. It was delicious! I was amazing! It was so good I had to close my eyes and curl my toes when I took my first bite.

Shrimp Ragout
1 pounds of shrimp, cleaned
2 cups chopped tomatoes
1 cup white wine
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, roughly chopped
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
1/2 cup thinly sliced red bell pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Saute onions and peppers in oil until tender. Add tomatoes and heat to boiling. Turn down the heat to medium low; add wine, parsley, salt, and pepper. Heat until parsley beings to wilt. Add shrimp. Cook for 15 minutes over medium low heat to allow sauce to thicken.  Makes four, six point servings of YUM.

A note about cooking with wine: bad wine = bad food. I have a friend who is a chef. She swears that it doesn't matter what wine you use when you cook and recommends that you go as cheap as possible to lower costs. I think that she is generally a rational person, but that in this particular department she is full of crap.  Generally when you cook with wine you are making a sauce. You will cook the sauce down after adding the wine, which will concentrate the flavor. Cook down a good wine, and you will be left with a sauce that deeply resonates  every lovely note of your chosen vintage. Cook down a bad wine, and all you will taste is the bitterness of skunky brew. 

For this ragout, I actually used one of my favorite blush wines - Mad Housewife White Zinfandel. The labels are as amusing as the wine is delicious.

Southwestern Breakfast Sandwhich - 6 Points

Two days on Weight Watchers and my body is in detox mode. No matter how many vegetables and fruits I eat, I keep craving Butterfinger Blizzards and buffalo chicken strips and open faced roast beef sandwiches and peanut butter fudge. A month of eating whatever I want has taught my body to expect high energy food, and it is not liking the high fiber, low fat, sugar free diet I have suddenly imposed on it.

This morning I woke up ravenous. I wanted a giant breakfast sandwich with eggs, sausage and cheese on a super sized bagel. And that would cost me...twenty Weight Watcher's points. Almost all of my points for the entire day! I decided to try and concoct my own breakfast sandwich. Granted, it does not hold a candle to the French toast bagel sandwich I was craving, but for six points this taste very good and it filled me up.

Southwestern Breakfast Sandwich
3 egg whites
2 Tbs fat free salsa
1 slice Kraft 2% milk cheddar cheese
1 English muffin

1. Place the egg whites in a microwave safe custard cup. Stir in the salsa until just mixed (do not beat). Microwave the egg whites on medium power for 3 minutes. Check the egg whites to ensure they have cooked through. If not, microwave at 15 second intervals until the eggs are completely done.
2. Toast the English muffin until  it begins to brown.
3. To layer your sandwich, place the egg white mixture on one half of the English muffin, followed by the cheese, and top with the remaining muffin half. Let the sandwich sit until the cheese has begun to melt.

Enjoy!