Mini Chocolate Fudge Cookie Bites (weight watcher friendly)

I know we are all looking to eat healthier, these little cookies are perfect to satisfy any sugar craving I might have.  They are bite-size, so one is not enough.  Luckily they are only 1 point each.

1/3 cups cocoa (without sugar)
1/4 cup margarine, softened
3/4 cup sugar, white (I might try reducing this and substituting the difference with splenda or something like that)
4 oz. applesauce, unsweetened
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour, white
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
powder sugar to sprinkle on top

Preheat oven to 375.  Coat cookie sheets with spray.  Place cocoa, margarine and sugar in a medium bowl; beat with an electric mixer.  Add applesauce and vanilla; beat to blend.  In another small bowl, stir together flour, baking powder and salt.  Stir flour mixture into cocoa batter with a wooden spoon.  Shape batter into 48 marble-sized balls  (I did a little bigger, about 1/2 a small spoon ).  Arrange 1 inch apart on cookie sheets.  Bake until set, about 8 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow cookies to stand for 1 minute.  Remove to wire rack and cool; sprinkle with a little powder sugar.  You can store any extra in freezer -safe containers and save for another day.

p.s. The first time I made these I made them what I thought was "marble sized" and I got like 5 dozen.  This time I made them too big and only got 3 dozen (so maybe 1.3 points per cookie, but WW rounds to the nearest whole number).

Healthy Peanut Butter and Chocolate No Bakes

1 Cup of Peanutbutter – use the healthy stuff (I used Adams Natural PB, the kind you have to stir)



1 Cup of honey



1/2 Cup of ground almonds (I just chopped up some almonds really fine)



1/2 Cup of ground flaxseed



3 Cups of oats



Dark chocolate or regular chocolate chips – as many as you like.



Mix it all up and roll them into balls. Then keep them in the refrigerator.


These are really good and will satisfy your peanut butter/chocolate cravings.

"Breaded" Baked Chicken

Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 cup almond meal
1 cup coconut flour
1 tablespoon garlic powder
Black pepper to taste
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs (or breasts, legs, etc)
Coconut oil

Preheat oven to 350. Whisk eggs in one dish and in a separate dish mix dry ingredients. Dip chicken pieces one at a time into the egg, then roll in breading mixture until covered on both sides.
Place chicken in a glass baking dish that has been lightly greased with coconut oil (important if you want it to brown). Bake for 45-60 min or until juices run clear.

Serves 4-5

(I would 1/2 this recipe for my family of 4. It breads a lot of chicken.)

Baked Chicken & Potatoes Italiano

This recipe is courtesy of The Food Nanny. I like it because it's super simple, and there aren't too many ingredients. It's also healthy!

Baked Chicken & Potatoes Italiano

6 medium russet potatoes (about 2lbs), quartered lengthwise. (Peeling optional)

1 large white onion, thickly sliced

Olive or Canola Oil

6 chicken thighs

6 chicken drumsticks

2 Tbsp fresh rosemary leaves, or 2 tsp dried

Kosher Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Place the potato & onion pieces in a sheet pan or other large baking pan. Drizzle 2 Tbsp of the oil over them & stir to coat.

3. Remove the skin from the chicken pieces if desired. Rub oil over the chicken and place in pan between the potatoes & onions. Sprinkle w/ rosemary, salt, & pepper.

4. Bake for 30 minutes. Turn the potatoes & continue baking until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender, 15 to 25 more minutes. Transfer to large platter & serve immediately.

Cabbage-Apple Salad

I follow the Super Healthy Kid blog and I've used many recipes.  My goal is to use more and there is nothing I love better then a fresh healthy salad, especially this time of year.  So we tried this one tonight. I tweaked it just a tad.  The picture is from SHK blog.  Plus, the last year I have learned to love cabbage.  I use it a ton in Oriental cooking.

Here is the recipe:
Bagged shredded cabbage (as much as you like)
Cut up apples
Cranberries
Sliced Almonds
I didn't have cranberries so I just used extra apples.

Dressing:
Favorite poppy-seed dressing (which I didn't have on hand so I made my own)
Recipe:
1/2 cup fat free miracle whip
1/4 cup  milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 cup white vinegar
1 Tbsp. poppy seeds
(I don't really like the taste of miracle whip, so I used 1/4 cup mayo and a 1/4 cup regular miracle whip- then I added some salt and a bit of apple cider vinegar, because I love it!)
Yummy! I love it, my kids were ok with it, but I'm going to be munching on this tomorrow.

Lemon Pesto Chicken & Raviolis

I really wish I could remember where I found this recipe. I might have even printed it off of this site! I just found it in my cookbook one day, and can't remember where I got it. Anyway, I made it for the first time last week, and it was really good!

5-6 chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces

3 Tbsp Olive Oil or Canola Oil

1/2 Pesto Packet (like taco seasoning packets)

2 Tbsp. Lemon juice

1 Cup milk

2 small yellow squash

2 small zucchini

2 Tomatoes

1/4 C. Parmessan

Salt & Pepper to taste

In a skillet, add in oil, and chicken. While chicken is browning, add in lemon juice, and cut the squash and zucchini into slices. When the chicken is brown on each side, (still pink in the middle), add in the squash & zucchini. Sprinkle pesto packet over everything in the skillet. Pour the milk on top, and mix around until everything is coated. Salt & pepper. Let cook at medium heat for about 10 minutes (until veggies are soft but not soggy). Add in sliced tomato and parmessan, stir. Remove from heat.

Serve over raviolis, or in my case, (I didn't have raviolis on hand), serve over pasta.

But here's another tip: Try it served over the Herb & Butter flavored Pasta Roni. I had some leftover from the kids dinner the next night, so I tried it. It was SO yummy!

I have used many of your recipes and now it is my turn. This is a quick and easy one dish meal that we love.

Baked Chicken Fajitas

1 pound chicken breasts, cut into thin strips

1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes with green chilies, drained

1 medium onion, cut into thin strips

1 medium green pepper, cut into thin strips

1 medium red pepper, cut into thin strips

2 Tablespoons canola oil

2 teaspoons chili powder

2 teaspoons cumin

¼ teaspoon salt

Flour tortillas, warmed

In a 9 x 13 baking dish coated with cooking spray, combine the chicken , tomatoes, onion and peppers.
Combine the oil, chili powder, cumin and salt. Drizzle over chicken mixture, toss to coat.
Bake, uncovered, at 400° for 20 – 25 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink and vegetables are tender. Serve with tortillas. Serves about 6

This is what it looks like before the oven...........This is what it looks like after.

I rarely follow a recipe exactly so I changed this up a little. I used tomatoes and a jalapeno pepper from my garden to replace the canned tomatoes. I also I didn't have a ripe red pepper so used green ones, also from my garden. I like to add garlic to everything to that was added in too. We serve these with some sour cream and grated cheese (everything is better with cheese, right?) chips and salsa Enjoy!

Confetti Bean Dip

I've had lots of requests for this recipe, so here it is! I don't have a picture of it though. So next time I make it, I'll take a pic and put it on here. You'll just have to trust that it is DELICIOUS, without seeing the pic! ;)

Confetti Bean Dip

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can shoepeg corn, no need to drain
6 roma tomatoes, diced
3 avocadoes, diced
Fresh cilantro, finely chopped
Juice of 1 lime

Mix above ingredients together, then mix:

1 pkg. dry Italian dressing mix
1/4 cup white vinegar

Add that mixture to the rest, stir, and enjoy!
Serve with tortilla chips.

Pear and Feta Salad

Dressing:
3 tbsp pure maple syrup
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
3 tbsp canola oil
salt/pepper to taste

Salad:
Lettuce of your choice
Feta Cheese crumbles (or blue cheese)
Dried cranberries
Toasted walnuts
Diced pear

Toss until combined.

More Granola

Maybe it's just the season for Granola, but my boys have wanted this for a long time and I finally got Cheerios on sale this week at Winco (.98 a box- Wahoo!)
I grew up on this granola. When I think of childhood memories and yummy food this is one that I will always remember. This isn't a crunchy granola. We eat it either plain, on yogurt, or mostly just pour milk on top and eat it like cereal. Yields over 15 cups.

10 cups oats
4 cups Cheerios
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup honey
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
1/2 tsp salt

Mix well in a big bowl and heat in 350 oven for 10 min. Stir and heat another 5 min. Let cool and transfer to plastic containers.

You can add any dried fruit and a little less sugar, but I didn't have any this time so it's going to be plain.

Granola

Again, this recipe is from the Kitchen Cafe blog. I have fallen in love with that blog and made several recipes from her. This granola is fabulous! I thought we would have a problem eating it all within the two weeks, I was dead wrong. The entire batch was gone in two days, so I made another. I finished it off this morning, it lasted 3 days. It's great. You can mix it up a little and add what you want, great fiber and tastes divine with half a yogurt on top. Sooo good!

Homemade granola

6.5 cups old fashioned rolled oats (not quick cooking)
2.5 cups basic sweetened coconut
1 cup raisins
1 cup dried cranberries
1 1/4-1 1/2 cups sliced almonds (or whole, chopped, slivered or a combination – I used slivered)
1 1/4 cups pecans (whole or chopped to the size you like)
1/2 cup high-quality honey
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup flax seeds
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well to distribute oil and honey evenly. Spread a thin layer of mixture on two rimmed baking sheets (half sheet pans) lined with parchment paper (I used my silpat liners). Bake for 15-20 minutes stirring mixture and rotating sheets half way through until mixture is an even golden brown. Be careful to watch granola: it will quickly turn from golden to burnt and will continue to cook as it cools when you take it out of the oven. Mixture will be moist when it comes out of the oven but will crisp and clump as it cools. Keeps for 1-2 weeks.

Variations:
• Substitute any of the nuts for other nuts such as cashews, walnuts or peanuts (it’s nice to leave some of the nuts whole as it varies the texture)
• Add additional dried fruit such as apricots or dates
• Add 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• For extra-nutty granola increase proportion of nuts

I always add the 1/2 tsp vanilla. I think next time I will add some chopped dried apricot.