Cream Based Soup

When you don't have cream of chicken or any cream condensed soup for that matter this recipe is an excellent substitute. I found it from Southern Food.com and it's a yummy substitute!!!! I bet it would be a great start to any cream based soup.

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup low-fat or fat free milk
• salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir in flour; keep stirring until smooth and bubbly. Remove from heat and add the chicken broth and milk, a little at a time, stirring to keep smooth. Return to heat. Bring sauce to a gentle boil; cook, stirring constantly, until it thickens. Taste and add salt and pepper, as needed to taste.

Use in casseroles in place of condensed cream soups.
This cream soup base can be varied by using vegetable broth, sauteéd chopped celery, celery seed, or sauteéd chopped mushrooms. Add herbs and or seasonings, as desired.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

Krusteaz Recipe
1 pouch quick bread Krusteaz Pumpkin mix
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1 cup quick oats
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
3 Tbs water
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven 375 degrees. Place quickbread mix and butter in medium bowl. Using an electric mixer, mix on medium speed for 1 minute. Add egg, oats, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and water. Continue to mix on medium speed until dough forms. Stir in chocolate chips. Used rounded tablespoon dough for each cookie, form balls. Place 2" apart onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake 11-13 minutes. Makes 2 dozen cookies.

Paula Dean's Creamy Butternut Squash Soup

 I wanted to make sure that I had this recipe. It's my favorite Butternut Squash Soup and I was afraid the Food Network would take it off their website. So here is this fabulous soup. Serves 4. Takes aprox. 15 minutes for prep and 40 minutes to cook. Enjoy!!

2 pounds butternut squash, halved, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 1/2 cups diced onion
2 carrots, peeled and diced
3 (13 3/4-ounce) cans chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup light cream or heavy cream
Sour cream, for garnish

Directions

In a medium saucepan, combine squash, onion, carrots, broth and salt. Simmer, uncovered, until squash is very tender, about 40 minutes. Puree soup in a blender or food processor with the butter. Whisk cream into soup. Serve in wide, shallow bowls with a dollop of sour cream, if desired.

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/creamy-squash-soup-recipe/index.html?oc=linkback

Sweet Cafe Rio Pork

Recipe from http://jamiecooksitup.net/2010/01/sweet-cafe-rio-pork/

Time: 5-8 hours slow cooking

Yield: 8 servings 

1   3 lb pork loin roast (be sure the roast is completely thawed)
1   16 oz jar salsa (2 C salsa)
1 can green chilies
½ C brown sugar
1 can black beans, undrained
Tortillas
Cheese
Lettuce
Tomato
1. In the bottom of a large crock pot mix salsa, green chilies, brown sugar, and black beans.
2. Add the pork roast and cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 7 hours depending on how hot your crock pot cooks things. 
3. Take the meat out of the Crockpot and shred it up with a fork.
4. Return meat to the Crockpot and cook 1 more hour.
5. Serve on tortillas with cheese, lettuce and tomatoes.

I like to serve this as a build your own salad/burrito. It's so yummy and I love this version of Cafe Rio Pork because it uses no soda. 

Black Bean Soup

Recipe by Our Best Bites

1 T olive oil

4 large cloves garlic, roughly chopped

3/4 C diced carrots (about 2 med carrots)

3/4 C diced celery (about 2 ribs)

1 C diced onion (about 1 sm-med onion)

2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained- I use dry beans.

1 3.5oz can green chilies

2 cans low-sodium beef broth

1 t kosher salt

1/8 tsp black pepper

1/2 t chili powder

1/4 t cumin

1/2 t dry oregano leaves

1 bay leaf

Optional Toppings: sour cream, tortilla chips, grated cheese, chopped cilantro, etc.

**If you use dry black beans, make sure you prepare them in the morning, otherwise you'll need to use canned. What I usually do is take about 1/2 cup dried beans and rinse them. Then I place them in a pot and boil them for 10 minutes and then turn off the heat and let them sit covered  for the rest of the day. It usually takes 6 hours to soften the beans, if you want to speed it up, just boil them for another ten minutes after you let them sit for 3 hours. That should do the trick. 

Place a large stock pot on the stove-top and set to medium-high heat.  When pan is warm, add olive oil.  Add carrots, celery, onion, and garlic and saute 4-5 minutes.

 

Add in the black beans, chilies, and beef broth. Stir to combine and then add the salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin, oregano, and bay leaf.

Simmer uncovered for about 20-25 minutes or until carrots are tender.

Remove from heat. Remove bay leaf from soup. 

Place soup in a blender. (You could use an immersion blender in place of this step) Place lid on blender, but remove the stopper in the lid to let heat escape. Place a paper towel over the hole to avoid splatters. 

Puree soup until completely smooth.  Optionally you could pulse until a semi-chunky soup is achieved. Squeeze in the juice from one lime and pulse to combine.

Ladle into bowls and top with desired toppings. Serve with extra lime wedges.  Makes about 8 C soup.

Nutritional Information (1 C soup, w/o toppings):

125 calories, 2g fat, 8g fiber

2 Weight Watcher points

Grilled Fish Tacos

This has probably been my favorite way to cook Mahi Mahi!!! When you buy it fresh, the fillet usually has skin on one side of it, which grosses me out. I have a hard time with fish to start with and the less I have to deal with the skin, the better. Grilling the fish makes it easy to flake off the fish and disguard the skin. Yeah!!! Plus the marinade is wonderful. I love recipes that make the fish taste non-fishy!! And this one definitely meets that criteria. I usually tell my kid they are eating chicken. Surprise!!!

Time: about an 1 hour 20 minutes

Recipe adapted from the Food Network/ Bobby Flay

Serving for 4-6 people

 

Tacos:
1 pound white flaky fish, such as mahi mahi
1/4 cup canola oil
1 lime, juiced
1 tablespoons ancho chili powder
1 jalapeno, coarsely chopped, or a dash of red pepper

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
8 flour tortillas 

 

Pureed Tomato Salsa:
3/4 teaspoon peanut oil
1/4 small red onion, coarsely chopped
 1 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1 large ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 jalapeno, sliced, or 1/4 tsp red pepper

 1 teaspoon chipotle hot sauce
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
Salt and pepper

Garnish:
Shredded white cabbage
Hot sauce
Sour cream
Thinly sliced red onion
Thinly sliced green onion
Chopped cilantro leaves
Pureed Tomato Salsa, recipe follows

Directions
Preheat grill to medium-high heat. Place fish in a medium size dish. Whisk together the oil, lime juice, ancho, jalapeno, and cilantro and pour over the fish. Let marinate for 15 to 20 minutes. Remember, if you marinate it longer than that, the lime will cook your fish, and you don't want that. 

 

While your fish is marinating put together your pureed salsa. Preheat grill or use side burners of the grill. Heat oil in medium saucepan, add onions and garlic and cook until soft. Add tomatoes, serrano and jalapeno and cook until tomatoes are soft, about 15 to 20 minutes. Puree the mixture with a hand-held immersion blender until smooth and cook for an additional 10 to 15 minutes. Add the hot sauce, cilantro and lime juice and season with salt and pepper, to taste. 

Remove the fish from the marinade place onto a hot grill, flesh side down. Grill the fish for 4 minutes on the first side and then flip for 30 seconds and remove. Let rest for 5 minutes then flake the fish with a fork.

Place the tortillas on the grill and grill for 20 seconds. Divide the fish among the tortillas and garnish with any or all of the garnishes.

Per serving: Calories: 418; Total Fat: 20 grams; Saturated Fat: 2 grams; Protein: 26 grams; Total carbohydrates: 33 grams; Sugar: 2 grams; Fiber: 3 grams; Cholesterol: 83 milligrams; Sodium: 502 milligrams

Layered Rainbow Jello

5 small boxes Jello
1 pint sour cream (I've also used plain greek non-fat yogurt)
whipped topping

Mix one box jello with 1 c. boiling water.  Divide portion in half.  To one of the portions add 3 T. cold water and pour into 9 X 13 pan refrigerate about 1 hour to set.  To the other half add 1/3 c. sour cream while hot and beat with a wire wisk.  Pour onto 1st layer after in sets. Refrigerate until set.  Continue with each box of jello.  Frost with whipped topping.

Tomato Walnut Tilapia

 Prep/Total Time: 20 min. 
Yield: 4 Servings
Recipe adapted from Taste of Home

Ingredients:
4 tilapia fillets (4 oz each)
salt and pepper
lemon pepper
1 Tbs butter
1 medium tomato, thinly sliced

Topping:
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
2 Tbs lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp butter, melted

 Rinse fillets with cold water and pat dry. Sprinkle fillets with salt, pepper, and lemon pepper. In a large skillet coated with cooking spray, cook fillets in butter over medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. 
Transfer fish to a broiler pan or baking sheet; top with tomato.
Combine the topping ingredients; spoon over the tops.
Broil 3"-4" from the heat for 2-3 minutes or until topping is lightly browned and fish flakes easily with a fork.

Nutritional Facts 1 fillet equals 205 calories, 10 g fat (3 g saturated fat), 67 mg cholesterol, 265 mg sodium, 7 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 24 g protein. 

Loved this recipe!! It wasn't fishy at all and I was concerned because the fish didn't have any lemon juice on it. What I really liked was the crunchy walnut topping. 

Grilled Chicken with Tomato and Cucumbers

Recipe from : family.com
Hands-On Time: 15 minutes
Ready In: 30 minutes
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
oil as needed
1 medium tomato, seeded and chopped, about 1/2 cup
1/2 small cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped, about 1/4 cup
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Heat grill over medium flame, or coals.
2. While grill heats, toss together tomato, cucumber, onion, cilantro, lime juice and salt. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Brush chicken breasts with oil and grill until no longer pink; about 7-8 minutes per side. 

Loved this recipe!! I was surprised I liked the cucumber salsa. My husband even added some green peppers and I didn't mind it.  I bet it would be great with some mild fish such as Tilapia or Mahi- Mahi.