Two Novice Chefs, One Tiny Kitchen

I’m revisiting another recipe that I’ve made before. I’ve calculated the WW points using e-tools and taken some new pictures. It was a quick and easy dinner for a Thursday night (Office night!!) and I served it with spinach salad with warm bacon dressing. Best part was I got to use one of my new tart pans for the first time. Loved it!! The 11 inch was the perfect size for the Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust.

Broccoli-Cheddar Quiche (from Weight Watchers online)

6 oz pie crust, 9-inch, refrigerated
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup red onion(s), chopped
1 1/4 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1 cup low-fat shredded cheddar cheese
1 large egg(s)
2 large egg white(s)
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
10 oz frozen chopped broccoli, thawed and well-drained
1 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Press pie crust into bottom and up sides of a 9-inch, removable-bottom tart pan (I used my 11 inch) or a 9-inch pie pan; refrigerate until ready to use.

To make filling, heat oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until soft, about 3 minutes. Transfer onion to a large bowl and add ricotta cheese, cheddar cheese, egg, egg whites, mustard, oregano, salt and pepper; mix well and fold in broccoli. Spoon mixture into prepared crust and level surface with a wooden spoon; sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Bake until a knife inserted near center comes out clean, about 35 to 40 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before slicing into 8 pieces.

Serves 8

WW pts per serving = 6

Oh sweet mercy this pasta was so so so good!  The toasted pine nuts truly made the dish, they are small but packed with so much flavor!  Kind of high in WW points, but worth it!  Tastes great reheated for lunch the next day too!

Spinach-Feta Pasta with Pine Nuts (adapted from recipezaar)

Ingredients:

8 oz pasta (I used campanelle)
1.5 T extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 oz crumbled low fat feta cheese
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
3 T toasted pine nuts
fresh spinach to taste (I used 5 big handfuls, I love the stuff!)

Directions:

Cook pasta according to package directions, drain and set aside.  Heat olive oil in large deep skillet or wok, add garlic and saute over medium heat for about 30 seconds, being careful not to let garlic brown.  Stir in cooked pasta.  Stir in feta and Parmesan cheese and cook for 2-3 minutes, until feta cheese just starts to melt and pasta and cheese is thoroughly melted through.  Stir in spinach and continue to heat until spinach barely starts to wilt.  Take pasta off heat and stir in the pine nuts.  Transfer to serving dish and serve.

Serves 4

WW pts per serving = approx. 8

I’ve made stuffed shells before, but this time I wanted to make a more WW friendly recipe. I had a tub of fat free ricotta cheese that needed to be used up so that was my inspiration. In general, I think fat free cheese is terrible. The shredded stuff certainly is. When “melted” (I use that term lightly) it often comes out waxy. I can’t stand it. Ricotta is a different consistency, but I was a little nervous about the taste, so I made sure to add plenty of other things to this mixture to give the filling a great taste. I think I succeeded!

5 Cheese & Spinach Stuffed Shells (made up by me!)

12 oz package pasta shells
15 oz fat free ricotta cheese
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 of a small onion, chopped
1/3 cup Kraft grated parmesan and romano cheese
1/4 cup grated asiago cheese
10 oz. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeeze dry
1 egg
1 teaspoon oregano
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups of your favorite marinara sauce (26 oz, I use Tyler’s favorite Classico Spicy Tomato and Basil)
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese or italian cheese blend

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Place shell pasta in the pot, cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until al dente, and drain. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 glass pan.

Mix ricotta, garlic, onion, spinach, parm/romano, asiago cheese, oregano, salt and pepper, and egg in a bowl.

Stuff the cooked pasta shells with the cheese mixture (I used my medium Pampered Chef scooper, made stuffing them quick and very easy!) , and arrange in the prepared baking dish. Cover evenly with the 2 cups of marinara sauce. Top with mozzarella cheese. Bake 15-25 minutes in preheated oven, or until bubbly.

Serves 5 (4 shells per serving)

WW points per serving= approx. 8
(kind of high, but they are very filling. You could decrease the points by decreasing the amount of parm/romano and asiago you use, I plugged in all the info into etools to approximate the pts. value.)

I’ve had this recipe bookmarked for a long long time, I’m not sure what took me so long to make it, but here ya go!  It was delicious!  Definitely a keeper.  I love roasting veggies, so easy and they taste so good!  My favorite way to eat broccoli is of course, covered in cheese.  Covers over the broccoli flavor.  Well cheesy broccoli isn’t exactly figure friendly, so I wanted broccoli infused with flavor.  This recipe delivers on flavor!  Plus you can add a smidge of parmesan cheese on top, perfect!

Oven Roasted Broccoli with Lemon, Chili-Garlic Oil and Parmesan
(as seen on Shawnda’s blog, originally from Pinch My Salt)

Ingredients:

1 bunch of broccoli (approx 3 cups)
¼ C. extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, smashed
¼ t. crushed red pepper (optional)
Juice of ½ lemon
Kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper
Fresh grated Parmigiano Reggiano

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Heat the oil and garlic in a small saucepan over low heat. Make sure the heat is low and that the garlic is not cooking too fast. Set timer for five minutes.
3. While garlic oil is heating, wash and cut your broccoli into pieces. I cut the flowerets into halves and/or quarters and leave a couple inches of stem attached to each piece.
4. After the oil and garlic has heated for five minutes (the garlic should be turning golden brown, not burning!), add the crushed chili if using, heat for an additional minute then turn off stove.
5. Strain chili-garlic oil into a large, heat-proof mixing bowl then add the broccoli.
6. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon into the bowl then add a pinch of coarse salt (keep in mind that the cheese will add more saltiness) and several grinds of black pepper (if you don’t have a pepper grinder, why not??).
7. Toss everything together well with a big wooden spoon so that each piece of broccoli has a thin coating of oil.
8. Using tongs, so that the excess oil drains off, remove the broccoli to a rimmed baking sheet and spread it out in a single layer.
9. Place broccoli in a preheated 425 degree oven for about 10 minutes. If your oven tends to be hot, check the broccoli earlier. If you like it to be extra tender, leave it in longer. At 10 minutes, the broccoli will have started to caramelize on the bottom and may even look a little burnt but don’t worry, it will taste good!
10. While the broccoli is roasting, grate some fresh Parmesan cheese (I prefer parmigiano reggiano).
11. When the broccoli is done to your liking, immediately toss it with as much cheese as you desire and enjoy!

Serving =  1/2 cup broccoli

WW points per serving = 3

Although it hasn’t quite been a year yet, our very first blog entry was our Easter meal from 2007. We celebrated just the 2 of us in our little 1 bedroom apartment in D.C. This year we are back in Kansas, near family and in a slightly larger apartment much better suited for entertaining. My parents came over for lunch today, and we’ll be having dinner at Tyler’s parents home tonight. For lunch we wanted a meal that we could prepare quickly after church. We also wanted to try at least one new recipe, so we picked a bruschetta appetizer to tide us over until the rest of the meal was ready. It was all delicious and it was so nice to celebrate Easter with family!

Easter Menu:
bruschetta
chop salad w/chicken
mushroom rigatoni bake
asparagus with balsamic browned butter
texas sheet cake (recipe now updated w/WW points)
and pink lemonade!

Bruschetta with Tomato and Basil (from delish)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs tomatoes (we used a mixture of roma and hot house, the ripest we could find)
2 small cloves of garlic, minced
5 large leaves basil, finely chopped
2 tsp fresh chopped parsley
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
coarse salt & black pepper, to taste

1 baguette loaf
3 Tbsp olive oil, or more as desired
1 clove garlic

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Remove seeds and juice from tomatoes; dice. In a small bowl, combine tomatoes, garlic, 1 Tbsp olive oil, balsamic vinegar. Add basil & parsley. Season with salt & pepper to taste. Set aside.

Slice the baguette on a diagonal about 1/2 inch thick slices. Coat one side of each slice with olive oil using a brush. Place on a cooking sheet, olive oil side down and bake 5-6 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and rub each piece of toast on the olive oil side using a clove of garlic, allowing the juices sink into the bread (Ok I confess I tried this but got impatient and gave up, we were in a hurry!) Serve immediately with prepared tomato & basil mixture.

Yields: approximately 2 dozen.

I really love pesto and can’t wait for summer when I can grow a few basil plants on our deck so I have it free for the taking! This pasta was so simple to make, unfortunately it didn’t reheat very well for lunch the next day, not really sure why, but it lost the strength of it’s flavor. So make it in small batches and eat it fresh I bought fresh pasta at the store and it was good, but not so much better than the dried stuff that I was blown away. It did shave about 10 minutes off the cooking time though, which is always nice when you’re in a hurry! We’ll definitely be making this again, and I’ll hopefully make a double batch of pesto so I have more for later!

Fresh Fettuccine with Homemade Pesto

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups lightly packed fresh basil leaves
2 T pine nuts, toasted
2 T low sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, sliced
1/4 t salt
1 (9-ounce) package fresh fettuccine (I found it in the produce section at HyVee, but I’ve also seen it in the dairy section at other stores)
3 T shredded Parmesan cheese
Freshly ground pepper, to taste

Preparation:

1. To prepare the pesto, puree the basil, pine nuts, broth, oil, garlic, and salt in a blender or food processor until a smooth paste is formed.

2. Meanwhile, cook the fettuccine according to package directions, drain, and transfer to a bowl and keep warm. Add the pesto and the parmesan, toss to coat. Serve with the pepper.

Serves 4 (one generous cup of pasta)

WW points per serving: 5

Source: Take-Out Tonight: 150+ Restaurant Favorites to Make At Home, Simon & Schuster, New York, 2002

I was really happy with this recipe! Tyler said he thinks he’d like it more without the ginger, but my taste buds said it was fine You could change this recipe up with many different kinds of vegetables. I couldn’t find shiitake mushrooms (our store NEVER has them) so I used cremeni instead.

Vegetable Stir-Fry (from Weight Watchers)

Ingredients:

3 T reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 T rice vinegar
1 T canola oil
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced (I used a mix of frozen peppers)
1/4 lb fresh shitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
2 t grated peeled fresh ginger
2 1/2 cups cold cooked brown rice
1/3 cup thinly sliced green onions
1 cup frozen peas, thawed (I left these out because I HATE peas)
1/4 t crushed red pepper

Directions:
Combine the soy sauce and vinegar in a small bowl, set aside. Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet or wok set over high heat until a drop of water sizzles in it. Add the bell pepper, mushrooms, and ginger; stir-fry until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the rice, stirring well to break up any clumps; stir-fry until heated through, 3-4 minutes. Sprinkle the soy sauce mixture over the rice. Add the green onions and crushed red pepper, stir-fry 1 minute. Serve at once.

1 serving =2/3 cup stir fry.

WW points per serving=3

Source: Adapted from Weight Watchers All-Time Favorites: Over 200 Best-Ever Recipes from the Weight Watchers Test Kitchens, Wiley Publishing, 2008.

This sandwich recipe caught my eye today as it was on the opposite page of the recipe we used for lunch.  I wanted a quick and easy meal for dinner and this was perfect!  If you like goat cheese this is absolutely a must try!  We’re still working on perfecting our method of roasting red peppers.  Peeling them still seems to be more difficult than it should, but I think it’s because we’re not roasting them long enough.

Roasted Red Pepper and Goat Cheese Sandwiches

Ingredients:

1 large red bell pepper, seeded and halved
1/4 pound goat cheese, softened
4 whole-wheat English muffins, split and toasted (I couldn’t find whole wheat ones at HyVee or SuperTarget, so we bought whole grain instead.)
Arugula leaves

Directions:
Preheat the broiler.  Line a baking sheet with foil; place the bell pepper pieces, cut-side down, on a baking sheet.  Broil 5 inches from the heat, turning occasionally with tongs, until lightly charred, about 10 minutes.  Wrap the pieces in the foil and let steam for 20 minutes.  When the pieces are cool enough to handle, peel and cut each piece in half.

Spread about 2 tablespoons of goat cheese on the bottom half of each muffin.  Top cheese with one piece of roasted pepper and several arugula leaves; cover sandwiches with muffin tops.

Makes 4 sandwiches

WW points: 5 points per sandwich

Source: Take-Out Tonight: 150+ Restaurant Favorites to Make At Home, Simon & Schuster, New York, 2002

Happy Valentine’s Day!  Tyler took charge this year, planning out a nice menu, shopping, and doing the cooking!  I’ll admit I did help a bit with a few things though, but I was careful not to take charge or boss him around the kitchen.  He thanked me for not going all Gordon Ramsey a la Hells Kitchen on him :)  By working together we got dinner on the table by 7:15!  I was prepared for another 3 hour cooking ordeal but this went much faster!  Our dinner menu:

chicken stuffed with garlic and herbed goat cheese
garlicky green beans
spaghetti tossed in red pepper pesto
bruschetta with red pepper pesto
chocolate dipped strawberries (same as last V-day!)

Bruschetta with Red Pepper Pesto (from Weight Watchers)

Ingredients:

2 red bell peppers, seeded and quartered
1 cup lightly packed fresh basil leaves
2 garlic cloves, sliced
2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 loaf of french bread/italian bread/baguette sliced into 24 pieces and toasted
1 oz Parmesan cheese, shaved

1.  Preheat the broiler.  Line a baking sheet with foil; place the bell peppers on the baking sheet.  Broil 5 inches from the heat, turning occasionally with tongs, until lightly charred, about 10 minutes.  Let cool slightly.

2.  Thinly slice 1/4 cup of the basil leaves; set aside for garnish.  Puree the bell peppers, the remaining 3/4 cup basil, the garlic, pine nuts, oil, salt, and pepper in a blender or food processor.  Transfer the pesto to a small bowl.

3.  Spread 1 scant tablespoon of the pesto on each toast slice; top with a few of the reserved sliced basil leaves and a shaving or two of the Parmesan.

Serves 8 (3 pieces of toast per serving)

4 WW points per serving

Source: Take-Out Tonight: 150+ Restaurant Favorites to Make At Home, Simon & Schuster, New York, 2002 

Big football games call for great dip. It’s nice to have something yummy to munch on so you don’t bite your nails off worrying about whether or not your favorite team will win. I served this dip with a French baguette that I picked up from the store, but tortilla chips would also go well with it. Apparantly there is a “spinach shortage” right now and my local store won’t get fresh spinach in until February 1st. So frozen it was, and I thought it was still great!

Hot Spinach Dip (original recipe from Delish)

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1/2 cup skim milk
8 ounces light cream cheese
3 dashes Worcestershire sauce
3 dashes Tabasco
3/4 - 1 cup part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 tsp paprika
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Heat olive oil in large skillet. Saute onions and garlic, until softened and onions lightly browned. Add milk and heat. Stir in cream cheese until smooth. Add spinach, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, and 1/2 cup mozzarella; stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in paprika. Pour into a shallow baking dish; sprinkle with remaining mozzarella. Bake until golden brown, 15-20 minutes.