Blueberry Crumble

This dessert is so delicious and easy, you wouldn't guess that it is low in sugar and has healthful ingredients. I've been making it like mad while the blueberries are in season. I eat it topped with whipped light cream.

1 pint blueberries, picked over, washed and stems removed
2 T sugar

For crumble topping:

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, diced

Spread blueberries in an 8x8" glass baking dish and sprinkle the 2 T sugar over them.

Put crumble ingredients in mixer and mix until dough looks moist and sandy with small lumps. Spread crumble evenly over blueberries. Bake 45-50 min at 350.

Brown Sugar Brownies

I got this recipe off the back of the bag of brown sugar that I normally buy at Walmart. When making the batter I was worried that they would be too cakey, because I prefer fudgier brownies. They raised fairly high while cooking and it looked exactly like a chocolate cake, but when I pulled it out of the oven and let it cool, it fell a little and they were so fudgy and delicious! We shared these brownies with company and got rave reviews! Ice cream was the perfect side to balance out the richness!

Ingredients:

1 cup packed DARK brown sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 eggs
2 ounces (2 squares) unsweetened chocolate, melted
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup coursely chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 325. Grease 8x8x2-inch baking dish. In large bowl beat sugar and butter until fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Beat in chocolate, then flour. Stur in nuts. Pour into pan. Bake 25 minutes. Cool in pan and cut into bars. Dust with powdered sugar. (I made a double batch and did it in a 9x13 pan and just cooked it a little longer)

Corn Salsa Dip

Here is a super easy and yummy "face lift" to boring old salsa and chips

1 can of southwestern style corn (it's right by the canned corn and has beans it in)
1 or 2 avocados (depending on how much you want in your dip)
Container of fresh salsa (Rojo's or Costco's works best, don't use PacePicante)
Garlic Salt to taste
1 lime
Mission Chips, or any other chips you like

Instructions:
Half and slice your avocados and cut into smaller bits (just a bit bigger than the corn kernels)
Mix all ingredients in a bowl together and add your garlic salt to taste
Squeeze your lime over salsa just to keep your avocados from browning

Will make enough for about 4 to 6 people
Enjoy!

Zucchini Cookies

I wanted to let everyone know about "whole wheat PASTRY flour"! It's made from soft summer wheat instead of the usual hard winter wheat. It's not so rough as reg. whole wheat and you can substitute it for all-purpose white flour in recipes using baking powder or soda as leavening, i.e. cookies, pancakes, muffins, etc!! I found some in the health food section of Smith's. I have been having fun experimenting with it and have been really pleased. One of my tries involves this cookie recipe I got from Cooks.com and substituted the ww pastry flour. The consistency is soft and spongey, more like pumpkin cookies. They are so chock-full of healthy stuff, I let my kids have as many as they want, and I chuckle smugly as they eat...

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup whole grain old fashioned oats
1 cup shredded zucchini
1 cup walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and beat well. Mix flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt together and add to butter mixture. Beat well. Stir in rest of the ingredients. Drop by teaspoon on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Cool on rack. Makes 24 large ones or 48 small ones.

Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole

2-4 chicken breasts, cooked and cut up
1 tube Ritz crackers, crushed
1 can cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1 can cream of chicken soup, undiluted
8 oz. sour cream
1 Tbs. poppy seeds

Topping:
1 tube Ritz crackers, crushed
3-4 Tbs. butter, melted

In large bowl, combine all ingredients except for topping. Pour into a casserole (I use a 11x7) dish. Combine topping ingredients and sprinkle on top of casserole. Bake at 325 for 30-35 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Grape Salad

3-4 c. green grapes
3-4 c. red grapes
1 c. sour cream
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. sugar
1 Tbs. vanilla
Topping:
1/3-1/2 c. brown sugar
1 c. chopped pecans

Wash and dry grapes thoroughly. Mix other ingredients with mixer until smooth. Fold in grapes. Top salad with sprinkles of brown sugar and nuts. Cover and refrigerate 6-8 hours or overnight.

Kashi GoLean Muffins

I enjoy the Kashi Go Lean Crunch cereal. It is good in milk or on top of some yogurt. Yum! Last week I decided to try the regular Kashi Go Lean cereal. It couldn't really be that different than the crunch cereal, could it? The answer is yes, it could! I barely managed to choke down a bowl that had sugar and bananas on it. So I decided to look for some recipes to use this healthy cereal in; I wasn't going to waste a whole box, and I wasn't going to be able to eat it plain! I came upon this recipe for muffins, which I tweaked a little. They aren't super amazing muffins, but with a little honey they were good, and definitely better than the plain cereal! My kids ate them happily, and didn't suspect how healthy they are.

Kashi Go Lean Muffins

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 3/4 cup Kashi Go Lean cereal
3/4 cup skim milk plus a dash of vanilla
1/4 cup honey
1 egg
1/4 cup applesauce
1 medium ripe banana

Directions

Spray muffin tin cups with cooking spray and preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine cereal and milk and let stand for 3-4 minutes. Add the honey and egg whites to cereal mixture and beat well. Stir in apple sauce and banana. Add flour mixture and mix only until dry ingredients are moistened. Fill sprayed muffin tins. Bake for 25 minutes. Makes 12 muffins.


The original recipe called for light vanilla soy milk, but I don't do the soy milk thing so I used skim milk and a dash of vanilla. The original also called for two egg whites, but since I'm not on that much of a healthy kick I just used one whole egg. It also didn't call for the cinnamon, which I added (I add it to basically all of my sweet baked goods). If you have any Go Lean cereal hanging around that you just couldn't bring yourself to eat, now you know what to do with it!

Peanut Buttery Cereal Treats

INGREDIENTS:

1 c. light corn syrup {i like Karo}

1 c. sugar {regular white sugar}

2 c. creamy peanut butter {i like JIF}

5-6 cups of Raisin Bran Extra cereal*

DIRECTIONS:

Bring the corn syrup and sugar to a boil. Stir it up real good now.Take it off the heat and stir in the peanut butter. Get to Stirrin! Then pour it over the cereal in a big bowl & Stir like the dickens!! Plop it by spoonfuls onto wax paper & let 'em cool. Then eat them babies up! Or You can lightly spray a 13x9" pan {with like Pam or another cooking spray} and get a little of that spray on your fingers and press the peanut buttery cereal goodness into the pan & let it cool. Then you would cut them into squares & serve.

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* you can also use basic corn flakes or just Raisin Bran... or Cranberry Almond Crunch... anything really-- AND as long as there are flakes.

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Just do not use a "sugary sweet" cereal like Cap'n Crunch, Lucky Charms, Golden Grahams, Fruit Loops, or Trix etc..... talk about sweetness overkill if you do!

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Mu husband and one of my kids don't even like Raisins or dry fruit whatsoever... but they chowed down on these treats!!!

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Ü

~Merrianne~

Fruited Moroccan Chicken and Curried Couscous

1 tbsp Moroccan seasoning (or Carribean Jerk or similar)
1 lb chicken breast tenders
Cooking spray
1 tsp olive oil
16 dried apricot halves
1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream

Sprinkle seasoning on chicken. Coat large nonstick skillet with cooking spray; add oil. Place over medium-high heat until hot. Add chicken; cook 3 min on each side or until chicken is lightly browned.
While chicken cooks, cut apricot halfs into slivers. Place in a glass measure; add water to cover. Cover with lid or plastic wrap, and microwave on high for 2 min., drain well.
Remove chicken from heat; stir in apricots and sour cream.

Curried Couscous with Walnuts

1 can (14 1/2 oz) fat-free chicken broth
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp curry powder
2 tbsp chopped walnuts
1/2 cup sliced green onions
10 oz couscous

Combine broth, water and curry powder, bring to a boil. Stir in couscous, cover, remove from heat and let stand 5 min. Fluff with fork and stir in walnuts and green onions.

Of course you can use any side dish, but these go very well together with a salad on the side....very quick and yummy! Came out of the 5 Ingredient 15 Minute cookbook from Cooking Light...a great buy!

Parmesan Chicken Noodle

My friend brought this meal over after I had my baby (almost 2 years ago!) and we loved it. I finally got the recipe from her. This is a great weeknight meal and very kid friendly.

Parmesan Chicken Noodle
8 oz Angel Hair pasta, cooked
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cup milk
1/2 - 1 cup Parmesan Cheese
2 cups cooked chicken, chopped

Place cooked noodles in bottom of casserole dish. In saucepan melt butter, add flour, add chicken broth. Cook until thick & bubbly. Add milk, stir in Parmesan cheese and chicken. Pour sauce & chicken over noodles. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. (This recipe makes a lot of sauce, so you could easily get away with cutting it down a bit.)

Poaching Chicken
I finally learned how to poach chicken perfectly. Before, it always turned out a little on the tough side - No matter how many different ways I tried it. Everyday Food Magazine taught me the trick. (If you already knew how to do this to perfection, good for you! If not, this will help you so much!!)

Place chicken in a large, shallow skillet or pot. Add water to cover and season with salt. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce to a bare simmer; cook 5 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and let chicken stand, covered, until cooked through, 12-14 minutes. Remove chicken from liquid and let cool completely. The chicken stays moist and tender - perfect for this dish and also for cold salads.